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THE
or
FLAVIU8 JOSEPHUS,
THE
^flulsesi i^lisit^t^lapiw I
CONTAINING
TWENTV iiUUt^s uF THE J JEWISH ANTIQUITIES,
SEVEN BOOKS OF THE JEWISH WAK,
AND
« «ni I, IFF. OF JOSKFHUS,
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK, ACCORDING TO HAVERCAMP'S ACCURATE EDITION,
TOGETUKR WITH
C.rplanatorp j^otes m\j ^h^txu-^. j
PARALLEL TEXTS OF BCKIPTDREj THE TRUE CHRONOLOGY OF THE SEVERAL HISTORIES; AN ACCOUNT OF THE JEWISH COINS,
WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES; AND A COMPLETE INDEX.
BY THE LATE
^VILLIAM WIIIS'ION. M. A,
PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN THE DNIVERSITV OF CAMBRIDGE, «ic. iia
REVISED, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES,
BY 'li>-: i:* V ■ ^ ^-{.EL BUllDEIl, A.M.
Of CUrt Hall, Cunbridge ; Lecturer of pa, that we may not be ill-treated ;
that we may not be abused; that we may
not be hindered from making use of our own
to the learning their sacred rites and religious customs ;
and to the meditation on the law of Moses.
AB.14.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
customs ; nor be despoiled of our goods, nor
be forced by lliese men to do what we our-
selves forco nobody to do. For these privi-
leges of ours are not only according to justice,
but have formerly been granted us by you.
And we are able to read to you many de-
crees of the senate, and the tables that con-
tain them, which are still extant in the capitol,
concerning these things : which, it is evident,
were granted after you had had experience
of our fidelity towards you ; which ought to
be valid, though no such fidelity had been.
For you have hitherto preserved what people
were in possession of, not to us only, but al-
most to all men ; and have added greater
advantages than they could have hoped for :
and thereby your government is become a
great advantage to them. And if any one
were able to enumerate the prosperity you
have conferred on every nation, which they
possess by your means, he could never put
an end to his discourse. But that we may
demonstrate that we are not unworthy of all
those advantages we have obtained, it will be
sufficient for us to say nothing of other things,
but to speak freely of this king who now
governs us, and is now one of your ancestors.
And indeed in what instance of good will as
to your house hath he been deficient ? What
mark of fidelity to it hath he omitted.'^ What
token of honour hath he not devised.'* What
occasion for his assistance of you hath he not
regarded at the very first.-* What hindereth
therefore, but that your kindnesses may be as
numerous as his benefits to you have been.'*
It may also perhaps be fit not here to pass
over in silence the valour of his father Anti-
pater ; who, when Caesar made an expedition
into Egypt, assisted him with two thousand
armed men ; and proved inferior to none,
neither in the battles at land, nor in the ma-
nagement of the navy. And what need I say
any thing of how great weight those soldiers
were at that juncture? or how many, and
how great presents they were vouchsafed by
Caesar? And truly I ought before now to
have mentioned the epistles which Caesar
wrote to the senate : and how Anti pater had
honours and the freedom of the city of Rome
bestowed upon him. For these are demon-
strations both that we have received these
favours by our own deserts, and do on that
account petition for your confirmation of
VOL. II. NOS. 49 ii 50.
them ; from whom we had reason to hope for
them, though they had not been given us be-
fore: both out of regard to our king's dispo-
sition towards you, and your disposition to-
wards him. And farther, we have been in-
formed by those Jews that were there, with
what kindness thou camest into our country;
and how thou ofTeredst the most perfect sacri-
fices to God, and honouredst him with re-
markable vows : and how thou gavest the
people a feast, and acceptedst of their own
hospitable presents to thee. We ought to
esteem all these kind entertainments made
both by our nation and our city, to a man
who is the ruler and manager of so much of
the public affairs, as indications of that friend-
ship which thou hast returned to the Jewish
nation ; and which hath been procured them
by the family of Herod. So we remind thee
of these things in the presence of the king.
now sitting by thee; and make our request
for no more but this ; that what you nave
given us yourselves, you will not see taken
away by others."
When Nicolaus had made this speech,
there was no opposition made to it by the
Greeks. For this was not an inquiry made,
as in a court of justice ; but an intercession
to prevent violence to be olTcred to the Jews
any longer. Nor did the Greeks make any
defence of themselves : or deny what it is
supposed they had done. Their pretence
was no more than this, that while the Jews
inhabited in their country, they were entirely
unjust to them, in not joining in their worship.
But they demonstrated their generosity m
this ; that though they worshipped according
to their own institutions they did nothing that
ought to grieve them. So when Agrippa
perceived that they had been oppressed by
violence, he made answer, that on account of
Herod's good will and friendship, he was
ready to grant the Jews whatsoever they
should ask : and that their reqi csts seemed
in themselves just : and that if they requested
any thing farther, he should not scruple to
grant it them ; provided they wer*? no way
to the detriment of the Roman government.
But that, while their request was no more
than this, that what privileges they had al-
ready given them might not be abrogated, he
confirmed this to them, that they might con-
tinue in the observance of their own customs.
. C
8
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVI
without any one offering them the least injury.
And when he had said thus, he dissolved the
assembly. Upon which Herod stood up, and
saluted him, and gave him thanks for the kind
disposition he shewed to them. Agrippa also
took this in a very obliging manner, and
saluted him again, and embraced him in his
arms. After which he went away from Les-
bos. But the king determined to sail from
Samos to his own country : and when he had
taken leave of Agrippa, he pursued his voy-
age, and landed at Caesarea in a kw days ;
as having favourable winds. He then went
to Jerusalem, and there gathered all the peo-
ple to an assembly; not a few being there out
of the country also. So he came to them,
and gave them a particular account of all his
journey, and of the affairs of all the Jews in
Asia ; how by his means they would live with-
out injurious treatment for the time to come.
He also told them of the good fortune he had
met with ; and how he had administered the
government; and had not neglected any thing
which was for their advantage. And as he
was very joyful, he now remitted to them the
fourth part of their taxes for the last year.
Accordingly they were so pleased with his
favour and speech to them, that they went
their ways with great gladness, and wished
the king all manner of .happiness.
CHAP. III.
OF THE DISTURBANCES WHICH AROSE IN HEROD'S FAMILY
ON HIS PREFERRING ANTIPATER, HIS ELDEST SON, BE-
FORE THE REST.
BUT the affairs in Herod's family were
more and more in disorder, and became
more severe upon him, by the hatred of
Salome to the young men Alexander and
Aristobulus : which descended as it were by
inheritance, from their mother Mariamne.
And as she had fully succeeded against their
mother ; so she proceeded to that degree of
madness and insolence, as to endeavour that
none of her posterity might e left alive, who
might have it in their power to revenge her
■ death. The young men had also somewhat
of a bold and uneasy disposition toward their
father; occasioned by the remembrance of
what their mother had unjustly suffered ; and
by their own ambition of governing. The
old grudge was also renewed; and they cast
reproaches on Salome and Pheroras : who
requited the young men with malicious de-
signs, and actually laid treacherous snares for
them. Now this hatred was equal on both
sides ; but the manner of exerting it was dif-
ferent. For the young men were rash ; re-
proaching and affronting the others openly :
and were inexperienced enough to think it
most generous to declare their minds in that
undaunted manner. But the others made use
of calumnies after a subtle and spiteful man-
ner; still provoking the young men, and ima-
gining that their boldness might in time turn
to the offering violence to their father. For
inasmuch as they were not ashamed of the
pretended crimes of their mother, nor thought
she suffered justly ; these supposed that might
at length exceed all bounds, and induce them
to think they ought to be avenged on their fa-
ther; though it were by despatching him with
their own hands. At length the whole city
was full of these discourses : and, as is usual
in such contests, the unskilfulness of the young
men was pitied : but the contrivance of Sa-
lome was too hard for them, and what impu-
tations she laid upon them came to be be-
lieved, by means of their own conduct. For
they were so deeply affected with the death
of (heir mother, that while they said both she
and themselves were in a miserable case, they
vehemently complained of her pitiable end :
which indeed was truly such ; and said that
they were themselves in a pitiable case also ;
because they were forced to live with those
that had been her murderers, and to be par-
takers with them.
These disorders increased greatly : and the
king's absence had afforded a fit opportunity
for that increase. But as soon as Herod was
returned, *and had made the aforementioned
speech to the multitude, Pheroras and Salome
immediately dropped some hints as if he were
in great danger; and as if the young -men
openly threatened, that they would not spare
him any longer, but would revenge their mo-
ther's death upon him. They also added
another circumstance, that their hopes were
fixed on Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia ;
that they should be able by his means to come
to Caesar, and accuse their father. Upon
hearing these things, Herod was greatly dis-
» An. 13.
AV. 14.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
turbed; and indeed was the more astonished
because the same things were related to him
by some others also. He then called to mind
his former calamity, and considered, that the
disorders in his family had hindered him from
enjoying any comfort with those that were
dearest to him, or with his wife whom he
loved so well. And suspecting that his fu-
ture troubles would soon be heavier and
greater than those that were past, he was
in great confusion of mind ; for Divine Pro-
vidence had in reality conferred upon liim
a great many outward advantages for his
happiness, even beyond his hopes. But the
troubles he had at home were such as he
never expected to have met with ; and ren-
dered him unfortunate. Nay both sorts came
upon him to such a degree, as no one could
imagine; and made it a doubtful question,
whether, upon the comparison of both, he
ought to have exchanged so great a success
of outward good things for so great misfor-
tunes at home ; or whether he ought not to
have chosen to avoid the calamities relating
to his family, though he had, for a compen-
sation, never been possessed of the admired
grandeur of a kingdom.
As he was thus disturbed and afflicted, in
order to depress these young men, he brought
to court another of his sons, named Antipater,
that was born to him when he was a private
man.* Yet did he not then indulge him as
he did afterwards, when he was quite over-
come by him, and let him do every thing as
he pleased; but rather Avith a design of de-
pressing the insolence of the sons of Ma-
* This Antipater was Herod's eldest son by Doris, a
woraan of no quality, whilst himself was a private man ;
for which reason he kept him and his mother, for some
time at a distiuice from court : but when he began to
take oifencc at Alexander and Aristobulus, his two sons
by Mariamne, he thereupon treated him with a great
deal of distinction, and, in a full assembly of the people,
declared him his immediate heir to the crown. After the
death of Mariamne's sons, he had nothing that stood in
his way, but only the life of his father Heroo : and, to
get rid of him, he formed a conspiracy with his uncle Phe-
roras, (who, at this time, was in some disgrace with his
brother the king,) to have him poisoned. But, that there
might be no suspicion of his being concerned in the thing,
he procured some of his friends to send for him to Rome,
(where he had been before under Agrippa's protection,)
on pretence of waiting upon Augustus. Herod, however,
having found out the whole plot, wrote to his son, without
giving him the least hint of it, to hasten his journey
home, lest something should happen in his absence to big
riamne, and managing this elevation of his,
so that it might be for a warning to them.
For this bold behaviour of theirs would not
be so great, if they were once persuaded
that the succession to the kingdom did not
appertain to them alone ; or must of neces-
sity come to them. So he introduced Anti-
pater as their antagonist; and imagined, that
he made a good provision for discouraging
their pride : and that after this was done to
the young men, there might be a proper sea-
son for expecting these to be of a better dis-
position. But the event proved otherwise
than he intended. For the young men
thought he did them a very great injury.
And as Antipater was a shrewd man, when
he had once obtained this degree of freedom,
and began to expect greater things than he
had before hoped for, he had but one single
design in his head ; and that was to distress
his brethren; and not at all to yield them
the pre-eminence; but to keep close to his
father, who was already alienated from them
by the calumnies he had heard about them ;
and 8o ready to be wrought upon in any way
his zeal against them should advise him to
pursue; that he might be continually more
and more severe against them. Accordingly
all the reports that were spread abroad,
came from him; while he avoided himself
the suspicion as if those discoveries pro-
ceeded from him. But he rather chose to
make use of those persons for his assistants
that were unsuspected, and such as might be
believed to speak truth by reasons of the
good will they bore to the king. And in-
great disadvantage ; whereupon he returned into Pa-
lestine, without the least suspicion of what had passed.
When he came to Jerusalem, his friends, who attended
him, were not permitted to enter the palace ; and when
he went to embrace the king, the king thrust him from
him, upbraiding him with the murder of his brothers
Alexander and Aristobulus ; and with the parricide which
he intended to have committed on his person, and whereof
he accused him the next day, before Quintilius Varus,
the governor of Syria. The proof was so plain against
him, that Antipater, having nothing to say in his justifica-
tion, was loaded with irons, and put in prison. But while
he was there, a false report being spread, that Herod
was dead, he begged of his keeper to set him at liberty,
and made him large promises if he would do it, which
being brought to his father's ear, as weak as he was, (for
he died in a few days after,) he raised himself upon his
elbow, and, calling one of his guards, sent him that
moment to despatch his son. £.
C2
10
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xvr.
deed there were already not a few who cul-
tivated a friendship with Antipater in hopes
of gaining somewhat by him : and these Avere
the men who most of all persuaded Herod ;
because they appeared to speak thus out of
their good will to him. And while these
joint accusations, from various foundations,
supported one another's veracity, the young
men themselves afforded farther occasions to
Antipater also. For they were observed to
shed tears often, on account of the injury
that Avas offered them; and spake of their
mother; and among their friends they ven-
tured to reproach their father, as not acting
justly by them. All which things were with
an evil intention reserved in memory by An-
tipater, against a proper opportunity : and
when they were told to Herod, with aggrava-
tions, increased the disorders so much, that
it brought a great tumult into the family.
For while the king was very angry at thq
imputations that were laid upon the sons
of Mariamne, and Avas desirous to humble
them; he still increased the honour that he
had bestowed on Antipater; and was at last
so overcome by his persuasions, that he
brought his mother to court also. He also
wrote frequently to Cjesar in favour of him,
and more earnestly commended him to his
care particularly. And aaIich Agrippa was
returning to Rome, after he had finished his
*ten years' government in Asia,- Herod sailed
from Judea : and when he met with him he
had none with him but Antipater ; whom he
delivered to Agrippa; that he might take him
along with him, together with many presents;
that so he might become Caesar's friend : in-
somuch that things already looked as if he
had all his father's favour; and that the
young men were already entirely rejected
from any hopes of the kingdom.
CHAP. IV.
OF HEROd's accusation of ALEXANDER AND ARISTGBULTJS
BEFORE Ci;SAR ; ALEXANDER'S DEFENCE, AND RECON-
CILIATION TO HIS FATHER.
OW what happened during Antipater's
absence, augmented the honour to
N
* This interval often years for the duration of Marcus
Agrippa's government in Asia, seems to be true, and
agreeable to the Roman history. See Usher's Annals at
A. M. 3892.
which he had been promoted, and his appa-
rent eminence above his brethren. For he
made a great figure in Rome ; because He-
rod had sent recommendations of him to all
his friends there. Only he was grieved that
he was not at home, nor had proper oppor-
tunities of perpetually calumniating his bre-
thren. And his chief fear was, lest his father
should alter his mind, and entertain a more
favourable opinion of the sons of Mariamne.
And as he had this in his mind, he did not
desist from his purpose ; but continually sent
from Rome any such stories as he hoped
might grieve and irritate his father against
his brethren : under pretence, indeed, of a
deep concern for his preservation; but in
truth such as his malicious mind dictated to
him, in order to purchase a greater hope of
his succession; which yet was already great
in itself And thus he did till he had ex-
cited such a degree of anger in Herod, that
he was already become very ill-disposed to-
wards the young men. But still, while he
delayed to exercise so violent a disgust
against them, and that he might either be
too remiss, or too rash, and so offend, he
thought it best to sail to Rome,t and there
accuse his sons before Caesar; and not to
indulge himself in any such crime as might
be heinous enough to be suspected of im-
piety. But as he Avas going up to Rome, it
happened that he made such haste as to
meet with Caesar at the |city of Aquileia.
So when he came to Caesar, he asked for a
time for hearing this great cause, wherein
he thought himself very miserable : and pre-
sented his sons there; and accused them
of their mad actions, and of their attempts
against him. He said, that they were ene-
mies to him; and, by all the means they
were able, did their endeavours to shew
their hatred to their own father; and would
take away his life, and so obtain his king-
dom, after the most barbarous manner. That
he had poAver from Caesar to dispose of it,
not by necessity, but by choice, to him Avho
should exercise the greatest piety towards
him : while these his sons were not so desi-
rous of ruling, as they^ were, upon a disap-
t An. 11.
j Although Herod met Augustus at Aquileia, yet was
this accusation of his sons deferred till they came to
Rome, as we are particularly informed in the history of
AN,
11.3
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
11
pointment thereof, to expose their own hie;
if so be they miglit but deprive tlieir father of
his life, so wild and polluted was their mind
become out of their hatred to him. That
whereas he had a long time borne this mis-
fortune, he was now compelled to lay it be-
fore Caesar; and to pollute his ears with such
language. While he himself wished to know ,
what severity they had ever suffered from
him? or what hardship he had ever laid upon
them to make them complain of him: and
how they could think it just that he should
not be lord of that kingdom which he, in a
long time, and with great dangers, had
gained; and not allow him to keep it, and
dispose of it to him that should deserve it
best: and this, with other advantages, he
proposed as a reward for the piety of such a
one as might hereafter imitate the care he
had taken of it: and that such a one might
gain so great a requital. And that it was an
impious thing for them to pretend to meddle
with it beforehand. For he who had ever
the kingdom in his view, at the same time
reckoned upon procuring the death of his
father: because otherwise he could not ob-
tain the government. That as for himself, he
had hitherto given them all that he was able,
and what was agreeable to such as are sub-
ject to royal authority, and the sons of a king;
what ornaments they wanted, with servants
and delicate fare, and had married them into
the most illustrious families;, the one, 'Aris-
tobulus, to his sister's daughter; but Alex-
ander tothedaughter of king Archelaus. And,
what was the greatest favour of all, when
their crimes were so very bad, and he had
authority to punish them, yet had he not
made use of it against tllem, but had brought
them before Caesar their common benefactor,
and not used the severity which either as a
father who had been impiously abused, or
as a king who had been treacherously as-
saulted, he might have done, he made them
stand upon the level with him in judgment.
That, however, it was necessary that all this
should not be passed over without punish-
ment, nor himself live in the greatest fears.
Nay that it was not for their own advantage
the War, I. 23. Though what he tliere says belonged
distinctly to Alexander, the eldest brother ; I mean bis
oeing brought to Rome ; is here J'lstiy extended to both
the brothers : and that not only in our copies, but in that
to see the light of the sun after what they
had done, and they would certainly suffer
the greatest punishments that ever were
known among mankind.
These were the accusations which Herod
laid with great vehemency against his sons
before Caesar. Now the young men, both
w hile he was speaking, and chieHy at his con-
cluding, wept, and were in confusion. As to
themselves, they knew in theirown conscience
they were innocent: but because they were
accused by their father they were sensible,
as the truth was, that it was hard for them to
make their apology. Since though they were
at liberty to speak their minds freely, as the
occasion required, and might with force and
earnestness refute the accusation; yet was it
not now decent so to do. There was, there-
fore, a difficulty how they should be able to
speak; and tears, and at length a deep groan,
followed: while they were afraid that if they
said nothing, they should seem to be in this
difficulty from a consciousness of guilt. Nor
had they any defence ready, by reason of
their youth, and the disorder they were under.
Yet was not Caesar unapprised, when he
looked upon them in the confusion they were
in, that their delay to make their defence did
not arise from any consciousness of great
enormities ; but from their unskilfulness and
modesty. They were also commiserated by
those that were there in particular: -and they
moved their father's affections in earnest, till
he had much difficulty to conceal them.
But when they saw there was a kind dis
position arisen both in him and in Caesar,
and that every one of the rest did either shcl
tears, or at least did all grieve with their,;
one of them, whose name was Alexander,
called to his father, and attempted to answer
his accusation, and said,
" O father! the benevolence thou hast
shewi! to us is evident, even in this very ju-
dicial procedure. For hadst thou had any
pernicious intentions about us, thou hadst not
produced us here before the common saviour
of all. For it was in thy power, both as a
king, and as a father, to punish the guilty.
But by thus bringing us to Home, and making
of Zonaras, also. Nor is there reason to doubt, but they
were both at this solemn hearing by Augustus : although
the defence was made by Alexander alone, who was the
elder brother, and one that could speak very well.
12
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVI.
Caesar himself a witness to what is done,
thou intiraatest a design to save us. For no
one that hath an intention to slay a man, will
bring him to the temples, and to the altars.
Yet are our circumstances still worse. For
we cannot endure to live any longer, if it be
believed that we have injured such a father.
Nay, perhaps it would be worse for us to
live with this suspicion upon us, that we have
injured him, than to die without such guilt.
And if our open defence may be taken to be
true, we shall be happy both in pacifying
thee, and in escaping the danger we are in.
But if this calumny so prevail, it is more than
enough for us that we have seen the sun this
day. Which why should we see, if this sus-
picion be fixed upon us.'* It is easy to say of
young men, that they desire to reign; and to
say farther, that this evil proceeds from the
case of our unhappy mother. This is abun-
dantly sufficient to produce our present mis-
fortune out of the former. But consider well,
whether such an accusation does not suit all
such young men, and may not be said of all
promiscuously.'* For nothing can hinder him
that reigns, if he have children, and their
mother be dead, but the father may have a
suspicion upon all his sons; as intending
some treachery to him. But a suspicion is
not sufficient to prove such an impious prac-
tice. Now let any man say, whether we have
actually and insolently attempted any such
thing, whereby actions, otherwise incredible,
used to be made credible.'* Can any body
prove that poison hath been prepared.'' or
prove a conspiracy of our equals, or the cor-
ruption of servants, or letters written against
thee.'* Though indeed there are none of
those things but have sometimes been pre-
tended in way of calumny, when they were
never done. For a royal family that is at
variance with itself is a terrible thing: and
that which thou callest a reward of piety,
often becomes, among very wicked men, such
a foundation of hope, as makes them leave
no sort of mischief untried. Nor does any
* Since some prejudiced men have indulged a wild
suspicion, as we have supposed already, XV. 11. that
Josephus's history of Herod's rebuilding the temple is no
better than a fable ; it may not be amiss to take notice
of this occasional clause, in the speech of Alexander be-
fore his father Herod, in his and his brother's vindication :
which mentions the temple, as known by every bodv to
have been built by Herod. See John ii. 20. See 'also
one lay any wicked practices to our charge.
But as to calumnies by hearsay, how can he
put an end to them, who will not hear Avhat
we have to say.-* Have we talked with too
great freedom.'' yes: but not against thee:
for that would be unjust : but against those
that never conceal any thing that is spoken
to them. Have either of us lamented our
mother.'* yes: but not because she is dead,
but because she was evil spoken of by those
that had no reason so to do. Are we desi-
rous of that dominion which we know our
father is possessed of.-* For what reason can
we do so.'* If we already have royal honours,
as we have, should not we labour in vain.f*
And if we have them not, are not we in hopes
of them.'' Or supposing we had killed thee,
could we expect to obtain thy kingdom, w hile
neither the earth Avould let us tread upon it,
nor the sea let us sail upon it, after such an
action as that.i* Nay, the religion of all thy
subjects, and the piety of the whole nation,
would have prohibited parricides from assu-
ming the government; and *from entering
into that most holy temple which was built
by thee. But suppose we had made light
of other dangers, can any murderer go un-
punished while Ca;sar is alive.-* We are thy
sons: and not so impious, or so thoughtless,
as that comes to; though perhaps more un-
fortunate than is convenient for thee. But
in case thou neither findest any cause ot
complaint, nor any treacherous design; what
sufficient evidence hast thou to make such a
wickedness of ours credible.'* Our mother is
dead indeed. But then, what befell her might
be an instruction to us to caution, and not an
incitement to wickedness. We are willing
to make a larger apology for ourselves; but
actions never done, do not admit of discourse.
Nay we will make this agreement with thee,
and that before Csesar, the lord of all, who is
now a mediator between us: if thou, O father!
canst bring thyself, by the evidence of truth,
to have a mind free from suspicion concern-
ing us, let us live: though even then we
another speech of Herod's own, to the young men that
pulled down his golden eagle from the front of the tem-
ple : where he takes notice, " that the building of the
temple cost him a vast sum ; and that the Asmoneans,
in those 125 years they held the government, were not
able to perform so great a work, to the honour of God, as
this was." XVII. 6.
UN. 11]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
13
should live in an unhappy way ; for to be ac-
cused of great acts of wickedness, though
falsely, is a terrible thing. But if thou hast
any fear remaining, continue thou in thy pious
life: we will give this reason for our own con-
duct. Our life is not so desirable to us, as
to desire to have it, if it tend to the harm of
our father who gave it us."
When Alexander had spoken thus, Caesar,
who did not before believe so gross a ca-
lumny, was still more moved by it : and
looked intently upon Herod, and perceived
he was a little confounded : the persons there
present were also under an anxiety about the
young men ; and the fame that was spread
abroad made the king hated. For the very
incredibility of the calumny, and the com-
miseration which the flower of youth and
beauty of body which were in the young men,
pleaded for assistance. And the more so on
this account, that Alexander had made their
defence with dexterity and prudence. Nay,
they did not themselves any longer continue
in their former countenances ; which had
been bedewed with tears, and cast down-
wards to the ground: but now there arose in
them hope of the best. And the king himself
appeared not to have had foundation enough
to build such an accusation upon; he having
no real evidence wherewith to convict them.
Indeed he wanted some apology for making
the accusation. But Caesar, after some delay,
said, " that although the young men were
thoroughly innocent of that for which they
were calumniated, yet had they been so far
to blame, that they had not demeaned them-
selves towards their father, as to prevent
the suspicion which was spread abroad
concerning them." He also exhorted Herod
to lay all such suspicions aside, and to be re-
conciled to his sons; for that it was not just
to give any credit to such reports concerning
his own children : and that this repentance
on both sides might still heal those breaches
that had happened between them, and might
improve their good will to one another,
whereby those on both sides excusing the
rashness of their suspicions, might resolve to
bear a greater degree of affection towards
each other than they had before. After Cae-
sar had given them this adiAonition, he beck-
oned to the young men. When, therefore
they were disposed to fall down to make in-
tercession to their father, he took them up,
and embraced them, as they were in tears ;
and took each of them distinctly in his arms:
till not one of those that were present, whe-
ther freeman or slave, but was deeply affected
with what they saw.
Then did they return thanks to Caesar, and
went away together; and with them went
Antipater, with a hypocritical pretence that
he rejoiced at this reconciliation. And in
the last days they were with Caesar, Herod
made him a present of three hundred talents;
as he was then exhibiting shews and largesses
to the people of Rome. And Caesar made
him a present of half the copper mines in
Cyprus; and committed the care of the other
half to him ; and honoured him with other
gifts and incomes. And as to his own king-
dom, he left it in his own power to appoint
which of his sons he pleased for his suc-
cessor ; or to distribute it in parts to every
one : that the dignity might thereby come to
them all. But when Herod was disposed to
make such a settlement immediately, Caesar
said, he would not give him leave to deprive
himself, while he was alive, of the power
over his kingdom or over his sons.
After this, Herod returned to Judea again.
But during his absence, no small part of his
dominions about Trachon had revolted ;
whom yet the commanders he left there had
vanquished, and compelled to a submission
again. Now as Herod was sailing with his
sons, and was come over against Cilicia, to
the island Eleusa, which has now changed its
name for Sebaste ; he met with Archelaus,
kingofCappadocia, who received him kindly;
as rejoicing that he was reconciled to his
sons ; and that the accusation against Alexan-
der, who had married his daugliter, was at an
end. They also made one another such pre-
sents as it became kings to make.
From
thence Herod came to Judea, and to the tem-
ple : where he made a speech to the people,
concerning what had been done in his jour-
ney; he also discoursed to (hem about Cae-
sar's kindness to him, and about as many of
the particulars he had done, as he thought
for his advantage other people should be ac-
quainted with. At last he turned his speech^
to the admonition of his sons : and exhorted
those that lived at court, and the rest of the
multitude, to concord : and informed them,
14
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVI
that his sons were to reign after him. Anti-
pater first : and then Alexander and Aristo- .
bulus, the sons of Mariamne. But he desired
that at present they should all have regard
to himself, and esteem him king and lord of
all : since he was not jet hindered by old
age ; but was in that period of life when he
must be the most skilful in governing : and
that he was not deficient in other arts of ma-
nagement that might enable him to govern
the kingdom well, and to rule over his chil-
dren also. He farther told the rulers under
him, and the soldiery, that in case they would
look upon him alone, their life would be led
in a peaceable manner : and they would
make one another happy. And when he had
said this, he dismissed the assembly. This
speech was acceptable to the greatest part
of the audience, but not so to them all. For
the contention among his sons, and the hopes
he had given them, occasioned thoughts and
desires of innovations among them.
CHAP. V.
)F herod's celebration of the games that were to
RETURN EVERY FIFTH YEAR, UPON THE BUILDING OF
CfSAREA ; AND OF HIS BUILDING AND ADORNING MANY
OTHER PLACES.
ABOUT this time it was that Caesarea
Sebaste, which he had built, was fi-
nished. The entire building being accom-
plished in *the tenth year, the solemnity of it
fell into the twenty-eighth year of Herod's
reign ; and in the hundred and ninety-second
mpiad. There was accordingly a great
'al and most sumptuous preparations
made in order to its dedication. For he had
appointed a contention in music, and games
to be performed naked. He had also gotten
ready a great number of those that fight sin-
gle combats, and of beasts for the like pur-
pose. Horse races also, and the most charge-
able of such sports and shews as used to be
exhibited at Rome and in other places. He
consecrated this combat to Caesar, and or-
dered it to be celebrated every fifth year.
* These famous shews and sports seem to have been
truly exhibited at Caesarea in this 28th year of Herod, or
A. 10. before the Christian sera: as Abp. Usher deter-
mines at A. M. 3994, which was in the 3d year also of the
192d Olympiad: and perfectly agrees with Josephus's
determination.
He also sent all sorts of ornaments for it out
of his own furniture, that it might want no-
thing to make it decent. Nay tJulia, Cajsar's
wife, sent a great part of her most valuable
furniture from Rome : insomuch that he had
no want of any thing. The sum of them all
was estimated at five hundred talents. Now
when a great multitude was come to that
city, to see the shews ; as well as the ambas-
sadors whom other people sent, on account
of the benefits they had received from Herod;
he entertained them all in the public inns,
and at public tables; and with perpetual
feasts : this solemnity having in the day time
the diversions of the sights, and in the night
time such merry meetings as cost vast sums
of money, and publicly demonstrated the
generosity of his soul. For in all his under-
takings he was ambitious to exhibit what ex-
ceeded whatsoever had been done before of
the same kind. And it is related that Caesar
and Agrippa often said, that the dominions
of Herod were too little for the greatness of
his soul ; for that he deserved to have both
all the kingdom of Syria, and that of Egypt
also.
After this solemnity and these festivals
were over, Herod erected another city in the
plain called Capharsaba : where he chose
out a fit place, both for plenty of water and
goodness of soil: and proper for the produc-
tion of what was there planted ; a river en-
compassing the city itself, and a grove of the
best trees for magnitude being round about
it. This he named Antipatris, from his father
Antipater. He also built upon another spot
of ground above Jericho, of the same name
with his mother, a place of great security,
and very pleasant for habitation ; and called
it Cypres. He also dedicated the finest
monuments to his brother Phasaelus ; on ac-
count of the great natural afTection there had
been between them ; by erecting a tower in
the city itself, not less than the tower of Pha-
ros, which he named Phasaelus : which was
at once a part of the strong defences of the
city, and a memorial for him that was de-
t The wife of Angustns, whom the Roman authors ge-
nerally style Livia, is by Josephus and some others, called
Julia : especially by those that wrote after Augustus had
in his will adopted her into the .Julian fomily : as both
Hudson and Spanheim here informs. See also Dean Al
drich's notes on the History of the War, I. 28 and II. 9.
AN. 10.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
15
ceased; because it bare his name. He also
built a city of the same name in the valley
of Jericlio, as you go from it northward :
whereby lie rendered the neighbouring coun-
try more fruitful, by the cultivation its inha-
bitants introduced. And this also he called
Phasaelus.
But as for his other benefits, it is impossi-
ble to enumerate them : those which he be-
stowed on cities, both in Syria, and in Greece;
and in all the places he came to in his voy-
ages. For he seems to have conferred, and
that after a most plentiful manner, what
would minister to many necessities ; and the
building of public works; and gave them the
money that was necessary to such works as
wanted it; to support them upon the failure
of their other revenues. But what was the
greatest and most illustrious of all his works,
he erected Apollo's temple at Rhodes, at
his own expense; and gave them a great
number of talents of silver for the repair of
their fleet. He also built the greatest part
of the public edifices for the inhabitants of
*Nicopolis, at Actium. And for the Antio-
chians, the inhabitants of the principal city
of Syria, where a broad street cuts through
the place lengthways, he built cloisters along
it on both sides ; and laid the open road with
polished stone; and was of very great ad-
vantage to the inhabitants. And as to the
Olympic games, which were in a very low
condition, by reason of the failure of their
revenue, he recovered their reputation ; and
appointed revenues for their maintenance;
and made that solemn meeting more venera-
ble, as to the sacrifices and other ornaments.
And by reason of this vast liberality, he was
» generally declared in their inscriptions to
be one of the perpetual managers of those
games.
Now some there are who stand amazed
at the diversity of Herod's nature, and pur-
poses.t For when we have respect to his
magnificence, and the benefits which he
bestowed on all mankind; there is no pos-
sibility for even those that had the least re-
* Dr. Hudson gives us here the words of Suetonius,
eoncerning this Nicopolis, when Augustus rebuilt it.
' And that the memory of the victory at Actium might
be celebrated the more afterward, he built Nicopolis at
Actium ; and appointed public shews to be there ex-
hibited every fifth year." In August. § 18.
VOL. n. — NOS. 49 & 50.
spect for him, to deny, or not openly to con-
fess, that he had a nature vastly beneficent.
But when any one looks upon the punish-
ments he inflicted, and the injuries he did,
not only to his subjects, but to his nearest
relations; and takes notice of his severe
and unrelenting disposition there; he will
be forced to allow, that it was brutish, and
a stranger to all humanity. Insomuch that
these men suppose his nature to be different,
and sometimes at contradiction with itself.
But I am of another opinion, and imagine
that the occasion of both these sorts of ac-
tions was one and the same. For being a
man ambitious of honour, and quite over-
come by that passion, he was induced to be
magnificent, wherever there appeared any
hopes of a future memorial, or of reputation
at present. And as his expenses were be-
yond his abilities, he was necessitated to be
harsh to his subjects. For the persons on
whom he expended his money were so many,
that they made him a very bad procurer of
it. And because he was conscious that he
was hated by those under him, for the inju-
ries he did them; he thought it not an easy
thing to amend his offences: for that was
inconvenient for his revenue: he, therefore,
strove on the other side to make their ill
will an occasion of his gains. As to his own
court, therefore, if any one were not very ob-
sequious to him in his language, and would
not confess himself to be his slave, or but
seemed to think of any innovation in his go-
vernment; he was not able to contain him-
self; but prosecuted his very kindred and
friends ; and punished them as if they were
enemies. And this wickedness he under-
took out of a desire that he might be him-
self alone honoured. Now for my asser-
tion about that passion of his, we have the
greatest evidence, by what he did to honour
Caesar, and Agrippa, and his other friends.
For the honours he paid to them who were
his superiors, the same did he desire to be
paid to himself. And what he thought the
most excellent present he could make ano-
t The disposition of man is discovered by the different
circumstances in which he is placed, and the events in
which he takes an active part. So that the same indi-
vidual will, at different times, appear, and really act dif-
ferent from, and even inconsistent to himself. B.
D
16
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xvr.
thcr, he discovered an inclination to have the
like presented to himself. But now the Jew-
ish nation is by their law a stranger to all
such things, and accustomed to prefer righte-
ousness to glory ; for which reason that na-
tion was not agreeable to him; because it
•was out of their power to flatter the king's
ambition with statues, temples, or other such
performances. And this seems to me to have
been at once the occasion of Herod's crimes
as to his own courtiers, and counsellors : and
of his benefactions to foreigners, and those
that had no relation to him.
CHAP. VI.
OF THE AMBASSAGE OF THE JEWS IN CYRENE AND ASIA
TO C^SAR, CONCERNING THE COMPLAINTS THEY HAD
TO MAKE AGAINST THE GREEKS ; ALSO COPIES OF THE
EPISTLES WHICH CilSAR AND AGRIPPA WROTE TO THE
CITIES FOR THEM.
"^j-QYV *the cities ill treated the Jews in
j[_^ Asia, and all those also of the same na-
tion who lived in fLibya, which joins to Cy-
rene ; while the former kings had given them
equal privileges with the other citizens ; but
the Greeks affronted them at this time : and
that so far as to take away their sacred mo-
ney, and to do them mischief on other par-
ticular occasions. When therefore they were
thus afflicted, and found no end of the bar-
barous treatment they met with among the
Greeks, they sent ambassadors to Caesar on
those accounts. He gave them the same pri-
vileges as they had before : and sent letters
to the same purpose to the governors of the
provinces: copies of which I subjoin here;
as testimonials of the ancient favourable dis-
position the Roman emperors had towards us.
" Caesar Augustus, high-priest and tribune
pf the people, ordains thus. Since the nation
* An. 9.
t Take here Reland's remarkable note : " Libya which
joins to Cyrene. That many Jews were there, we also
learn, Acts ii. 10. In Egypt, and in the parts of Libya
about Cyrene. For which cause the Libyan, and Cyre-
nian, and Alexandrian Jews, are often joined together.
Thus says Syncellas Chronograph, p. 347. Of what hap-
pened in the reign of Trajan : the Jews that were in Libya,
and Cyrene, and Egypt, and Alexandria. Wherefore
when Acts vi. 9. the synagogues of Libystine and Alexan-
drian and Cyrenian Jews are joined together, I do not
doubt but that those are understood ; and that the reading
Libertines in the acts of the Apostles, is a corrupt reading.
It is known that Libystine is formed from Libya, as well as
of the Jews hath been found grateful to the
Roman people not only at this time, but in
time past also, and chiefly Hyrcanus the high-
f>riest, under Jmy father Caesar the emperor,
t seemed good to me and my counsellors, ac-
cording to the sentence and oath of the peo-
ple of Rome, that the Jews have liberty to
make use of their own customs, according to
the law of their fathers, as they made use of
them under Hyrcanus the high-priest of Al-
mighty God ; and that their sacred money be
not touched, but be sent to Jerusalem ; and
that it be committed to the care of the receiv-
ers at Jerusalem: and that they be not obliged
to go before any judge on the sabbath day,
nor on the ||day of the preparation to it, after
the ninth hour. But if any one be caught
stealing their holy books, or their sacred
money ; whether it be out of the synagogue,
or public school, he shall be deemed a sacri-
legious person, and his goods shall be brought
into the public treasury of the Romans. And
I give order, that the testimonial which they
have given me, on account of my regard to
that piety which I exercise toward all man-
kind, and out of regard to Caius Marcus
Censorinus, together with the present decree
be proposed in that most eminent place
which hath been consecrated to me by the
community of Asia at Ancryna. And if any
one transgress any part of what is above de-
creed, he shall be severely punished." This
was inscribed upon a pillar, in the temple of
Caesar.
"Caesar to Norbanus Flaccus, sendeth
greeting. Let those Jews, how many soever
they be, who have been used according to
their ancient custom, to send their sacred
money to Jerusalem, do the same freely."
These were the decrees of Caesar.
Agrippa also wrote after the following
Libyan ; as in Catullus ; A lioness on the Libystine moun-
tains ; i. e. on the Libyan mountains." I shall here add
also, that the Armenian version has here Libyans, in-
stead of Libertines ; which is a strong confirmation of
Reland's determination.
J Augustus here calls Julius Casar his father, though
by birth he was only his uncle ; on account of his adop-
tion by him. See the same XIV. 14. and the like
XVIII. 6.
11 This is authentic evidence that the Jews, in the days
of Augustus, began to prepare for the celebration of the
sabbath at the ninth hour on Friday ; as the tradition of
the elders, it seems, then required.
AN. 9.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
17
manner, on behalf of the Jews. " Agrippa,
to the magistrates, senate and people, of the
Ephesians, sendeth greeting. 1 will, that the
care and custody of the sacred money that is
carried to the temple at Jerusalem, be left to
the Jews of Asia, to do with it according to
tlieir ancient custom : and that such as steal
that sacred money of the Jews, and flee to a
sanctuary, shall be *taken thence and de-
livered to the Jews : by the same law that
the sacrilegious persons are taketi thence. I
have also written to Sylvanus the praetor, that
no one compel the Jews to come before a
judge on the sabbath day."
" Marcus Agrippa, to the magistrates,
senate, and people of Cyrene, sendeth greet-
ing. The Jews of Cyrene have interceded
with me for the performance of what Augus-
tus sent order to Flavius, then prajtor of
Libya, and to the other procurators of that
province, that the sacred money may be sent
to Jerusalem freely; as hath been their custom
from their forefathers. They complaining
that they are abused by certain informers,
and under pretence of taxes which were not
due, are hindered from sending them : which
I command to be restored without any dimi-
nution or disturbance given to them. And if
any of that sacred money in the cities be
taken from their proper receivers, I farther
enjoin that the same be exactly returned to
the Jews in that place."
"Caius Norbanus Flaccus, proconsul, to
the magistrates of the Sardians, sendeth greet-
ing. Caesar hath written to me, and com-
manded me not to forbid the Jews, how many
soever they be, from assembling together,
according to the customs of their forefathers :
nor from sending their money to Jerusalem.
I have therefore written to you, that you may
know that both Caesar and I would have you
act accordingly."
Julius Antonius, the proconsul, also wrote
to the same effect: — "To the magistrates,
senate and people, of the Ephesians. As I
* This decree of Marcus Agrippa, for taking sacrile-
gious persons out of a sanctuary, is of kin to the law of
Moses, Exod. xxi. 14. " If a man come presumptuously
open his neighbour, to slay him with guile ; thou shalt
lake him from mine altar, that he may die."
t The remaining part of this chapter is remarkable ;
as justly distinguishing natural justice, religion, and moral-
ity, from positive institutions in all countries ; and evi-
was dispensing justice at Ephesus, on the
ides of February, the Jews that dwell in Asia
demonstrated to me, that Augustus and Agrip-
pa had permitted them to use their own laws
and customs ; and to offer those first-fruits,
which every one of them freely offers to the
Deity, on account of piety ; and to carry
them in a company together, to Jerusalem,
without disturbance. They also petitioned
me, that I would confirm what had been
granted by Augustus and Agrippa by my own
sanction. I would therefore, have you take^
notice, that according to the will of Augustus
and Agrippa I permit them to do according
to the customs of their forefathers, without
disturbance."
I have been obliged to set down these
decrees, because the present history of our
own acts will go generally among the Greeks;
and I have hereby demonstrated to them,
that we have formerly been in great esteem,
and have not been prohibited by those go-
vernors we were under from keeping any of
the laws of our forefathers : nay, that we
have been supported by them, while we fol-
lowed our own religion, and the worship we
paid to God. And I frequently make men-
tion of these decrees, in order to reconcile
other people to us; and to take away the
causes of that hatred which unreasonable
men bear to us. As for our fcustoms, there
is no nation which always makes use of the
same : and in every city almost we meet with
them different from one another. But natu-
ral justice is most agreeable to the advantage
of all men equally, both Greeks and Barba-
rians. To which our laws have the greatest
regard : and thereby render us, if we abide
in them after a pure manner, benevolent and
friendly to all men. On this account we
have reason to expect the like return from
others: and to inform them that they ought
not to esteem difference of positive institu-
tions a sufficient cause of alienation : but
join with us in the pursuit of virtue and pro-
dently preferring the former before the latter : as did the
true prophets of God alwiiys under the Old Testament ;
and Christ and his Apostles, under the new. Whence Jo-
sephus seems to have been, at this time, nearer Chris-
tianity than were the Scribes and Pharisees of his age :
who as we know from the New Testament, were entirely
of a different opinion and practice.
D 2
i^
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xn.
bity. F'or this belongs to all men in common:
and of itself alone is sufficient for the preser-
vation of human life.
CHAP. VII.
OF Herod's violation of david's sepilchre ; in con-
sequence OF which the sedition in his family
GREATLY INCREASED.
HEROD, in the mean time, had spent
vast sums about the cities, both with-
out and within his own kingdom. And as he
had before heard that Hyrcanus, who had
been king before him, had *opened David's
sepulchre, and taken out of it three thousand
talents of silver, fand that there was still a
greater number left behind : he opened that
sepulchre by night, and went into it; and
endeavoured that it should not be known in
the city; but took only his most faithful
friends with him. As for money, he found
none ; but that furniture of gold, and those
precious goods that were laid up there : all
of which he took away. However, he had a
great desire to make a more diligent search,
and to go farther in, even as far as the very
bodies of David and Solomon : but two of
his guards were slain, by a flame that burst
out upon those that went in ; as the report
was. So he was terribly affrighted, and went
out; and built a propitiatory monument of
white stone, at the mouth of the sepulchre :
and that at a great expense also. And even
|Nicolaus his historiographer makes mention
of this monument built by Herod ; though he
does not mention his going down into the se-
pulchre : as knowing that action to be of ill
repute. And many other things he treats of
in the same manner in his book. For he
wrote in Herod's life time, and so as to please
him ; touching upon nothing but what tended
to his glory : and either concealing, or openly
excusing, many of his notorious crimes. And
as he was desirous to put handsome colours
on the death of Mariamne, and her sons;
* See Book XIII. chap. 8.
t An opinion universally prevails throughout the East,
that vast treasures are hid in the earth ; and especially
entombed with the dead. This has induced many avari-
cious persons to violate the sanctuary of the grave ; and
likewise induce the oriental people to be very jealous of
the visits of travellers. B.
J It is here worthy observation, how careful Josephus
was as to the discovery of truth in Herod's history ; since
which were barbarous actions in the king;
he tells falsehoods about the incontinence of
Mariamne, and the treacherous designs of his
sons upon him: and thus he proceeded in his
whole work : making a pompous encomium
upon what just actions he had done; but
earnestly apologizing for his unjust ones.
Indeed a man may have a great deal to say
by way of excuse for Nicolaus. For he did
not so properly write this as a history for
others : as somewhat that might be subser-
vient to the king himself As for ourselves,
who come of a family nearly allied to the
Asmonean kings, and on that account having
an honourable place, which is the priesthood,
we think it indecent to say any thing that is
false about them : and accordingly we have
described their actions after an unblemished
and upright manner. And although we reve-
rence many of Herod's posterity, who still
reign, yet do we pay a greater regard to truth
than to them : and this tliough it sometimes
happens that we incur their displeasure by
so doing.
And indeed Herod's troubles in his family
seemed to be augmented, by reason of this
attempt he made upon David's sepulchre.
Whether divine vengeance increased the ca-
lamities he lay under, in order to render
them incurable ; or whether fortune made an
assault upon him in those cases, wherein the
seasonableness of the cause made it strongly
believed that the calamities came upon him
for his impiety. For the tumult was like a
civil war in his palace : and the hatred to-
wards one another was like that where each
one strove to exceed another in calumnies.
However, Antipater used stratagems per-
petually against his brethren ; and that very
cunningly. While abroad he loaded them
with accusations ; but still took upon him
frequently to apologize for them; that this
apparent benevolence to them might make
him be believed, and forward his attempts
against them ; by which means he after vari-
he would not follow Nicolaus of Damascus himself, so
great an historian, where there was reason to suspect that
he flattered Herod. Which impartiality in history Jose-
phus here solemnly professes : and of which impartiality
he has given more demonstrations than almost any other
historian. But as to Herod's taking great wealth out of
David's sepulchre, though I cannot prove it, I strongly
suspect it from this very history.
AN. 9.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
19
ous manners, deceived his father: who be-
lieved that all he did was for his preservation.
Herod also recoramended Ptolemy who was a
great director of the affairs of his kingdom to
Antipater; and consulted with his mother
about the public affairs also. And indeed
these were all in all; and did what they
pleased; and made the king angry against
any other persons, as they thought it might
be to their own advantage. But still the
sons of Mariamne were in a worse condi-
tion perpetually. And while they were thrust
out, and set in a more dishonourable rank,
who yet, by birth, were the most noble; they
could not bear the dishonour. And for the
women, Glaphyra, Alexander's wife, the
daughter of Archelaus, hated Salome; both
because of her love to her husband, and be-
cause Glaphyra seemed to behave herself
somewhat insolently towards Salome's daugh-
ter, who was the wife of Aristobulus.
Now besides this second contention, tliat
cad fallen among them, neither did the king's
orother Pheroras keep himself out of trouble;
out had a particular foundation for suspicion
and hatred. For he Avas overcome with the
charms of his wife, to such a degree of mad-
ness, that he despised the king's daughter, to
whom he had been betrothed; and wholly
bent his mind to the other, who had been but
a servant. Herod was also grieved by the
dishonour that was done him: because he
had bestowed many favours upon him, and
had advanced him to that height of power,
that he was almost a partner with him in the
kingdom, and saw that he had not made him a
due return for his favours; arid esteemed
himself unhappy on that account. So upon
Pheroras's unworthy refusal, he gave the
damsel to Phasaelus's son. But after some
time, when he thought the heat of his bro-
ther's affection was over, he blamed him for
his former conduct, and desired him to take
his second daughter, whose name was Cypres.
Ptolemy also advised him to leave off" affront-
ing his brother, and to forsake her whom he
had loved; for that it was a base thing to be
80 enamoured of a servant, as to deprive him-
self of the king's good will to him, and be-
come an occasion of his trouble, and make
himself hated by him. Pheroras knew that
this advice would be for his own advantage ;
particularly because he had been accused
before, and forgiven. So he put his wife
away, although he already had a son by her;
and engaged to the king, that he would take
his second daughter, and agreed that the
thirtieth day after should be the day of mar-
riage; and sware that he would have no far-
ther com ersation with her whom 4ie had put
away. But when the thirty days were over,
he was such a slave to his affections, that he
no longer performed any thing he had pro-
mised; but continued still with his former
wife. This occasioned Herod to grieve openly,
and made him angry; w hile the king dropped
one word or other against Pheroras perpetu-
ally, and many made the king's anger an op-
portunity for raising calumnies against him.
Nor had the king any longer a single quiet
day or hour; but occasions of a fresh quarrel
arose among his relations, and those that
were dearest to him. For Salome was of a
harsh temper, and ill-natured to Mariamne's
sons: nor would she suffer her own daughter,
who was the wife of Aristobulus. one of those
young men, to bear good will to her husband;
but persuaded her to tell her, if he said any
thing to her in private: and when any mis-
understanding happened, she raised a great
many suspicions out of it. By which means
she learned all their concerns; and made the
damsel ill-natured to the young man. And
in order to gratify her mother she often said,
that the young men used to mention Mari-
amne when they were by tliemselves: and
that they hated their father; and were con-
tinually threatening, that if they had once got
the kingdom, they would make Herod's sons
by his other wives country schoolmasters;
for that the present education which was
given them, and their diligence in learning,
fitted them for such an employment. And as
for the women, whenever they saw them
adorned with their mother's clothes, they
threatened that instead of their present gaudy
apparel, they should be clothed in sackcloth,
and confined so closely that they should not
see the light of the sun. These stories were
presently carried by Salome to the king; who
was troubled to hear them, and endeavoured
to make up matters, but these suspicions
afflicted him; and, becoming more and more
uneasy, he believed every thuig against every
body. However, upon his rebuking his sons-,
and hearing the deience they made for them-
20
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVI.
selves, he was easier for a %vhile: though a
little afterward much worse accidents came
upon them.
Pheroras came to Alexander, the husband
of Glaphyra, who was the daughter of Arche-
laus, and said, he had heard from Salome,
that Herod was enamoured of Glaphyra; and
that his passion for her was incurable. When
Alexander heard that, he was all on fire,
from his youth and jealousy; and he inter-
preted the instances of Herod's obliging be-
haviour to her which were very frequent, for
the worse; which came from those suspicions
he had on account of that word which fell
from Pheroras. Nor could he conceal his
grief at the thing, but informed him what
words Pheroras had said. Upon which Herod
was in a greater disorder than ever. And
not bearing such a false calumny, which was
to his shame, he was much disturbed at it;
and often lamented the wickedness of his
domestics, and the ill requitals they had
made him. So he sent for Pheroras, and re-
proached him, and said: — "Thou vilest of
all men! art thou come to that unmeasurable
and extravagant degree of ingratitude, as not
only to suppose such things of me, but to
speak of them .'' I now indeed perceive what
thy intentions are. It is not thy only aim to
reproach me, when thou usest such words to
my son; but thereby to persuade him to plot
against me, and get me destroyed by poison.
And who is there, if he had not a good genius
at his elbows, as hath my son, but would not
bear such a suspicion of his father; but
would revenge himself upon him .'' Dost thou
suppose that thou hast only dropped a word
for him to think of; and not rather hast put
a sword into his hand for him to slay his
father.'' And what dost thou mean, when
thou really hatest him and his brother, to
pretend kindness to them, only in order to
raise a reproach against me, and talk of such
things as no one but such an impious wretch
as thou art could either devise in their mind,
or declare in their words. Begone thou that
art such a plague to thy benefactor, and thy
brother; and may that evil conscience of
thine go along with thee: while I still over-
come my relations by kindness ; and am so
far from avenging myself of them, as they de-
serve; that I bestow greater benefits upon
them than they are worthy of."
Hereupon Pheroras, who was caught in the
very act of his villany, said that it was Salome
who was the framer of this plot; and that the
words came from her. But as soon as she
heard that (for she was at hand,) she cried
out, like one that would be believed, that no
such thing ever came out of her mouth; that
they all earnestly endeavoured to make the
king hate her, and to make her away; be-
cause of the good will she bore to Herod;
and because she was always foreseeing the
dangers that were coming upon him; and
that at present there were more plots against
him than usual, for while she was the only
person who persuaded her brother to put
away the wife he now had, and to take the
king's daughter, it was no wonder if she were
hated by him. As she said this, and tore her
hair, and beat her breast, her countenance
made her denial to be believed: but the per-
verseness of her manners declared at the
same time her dissimulation in these pro-
ceedings. But Pheroras was caught between
them, and had nothing plausible to offer in
his own defence. While he confessed that
he had said what was charged upon him, but
was not believed when he said he had heard
it from Salome. So the confusion among
them was increased, and their quarrelsome
words one to another. At last the king, out
of his hatred to his brother and sister, sent
them both away: and when he had com-
mended the moderation of his son, and that
he had himself told him of the report, he went
in the evening to refresh himself After such
a contest as this had fallen out among them,
Salome's reputation suffered greatly: since
she was supposed to have first raised the
calumny. And the king's wives were grieved
at her, as knowing she was a very ill-natured
woman, and would sometimes be a friend,
and sometimes an enemy, at different sea-
sons. So they perpetually said one thing or
other against her; and somewhat that now
happened made them bolder in speaking
against her.
There was one Obodas, king of Arabia, am
inactive and slothful man in his nature. But
Sylleus managed most of his affairs for him.
He was a shrewd man, although but young;
and was handsome withal. This Sylleus,
upon some occasion, coming to Herod, and
supping with him, saw Salome; and set his
AN. 9.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
21
heart upon her: and understanding that she
Avas a widow, he discoursed with her. Now
because .Salome was at this time less in favour
with her brother, she looked upon Sylleus,
with, some passion; and was very earnest to
be married to him. And on the following
days there appeared many indications of
their agreement together. Now the women
carried this news to the king, and laughed at
the indecency of it. Accordingly Herod in-
quired about it of Pheroras, and desired him
to observe at supper, how their behaviour was
towards each other: and he learnt, that by
the signals which came from their heads and
their eyes, they both were evidently in love.
After this, Sylleus the Arabian, being sus-
pected, went away; but came again two or
three months afterward ; as it were on that
very design, and spake to Herod about it,
and desired that Salome might be given him
in marriage; for that this affinity might not
be disadvantageous to his atlairs, by an union
with Arabia; the government of which coun-
try was already in effect under his power,
and more evidently would be his hereafter.
Accordingly when Herod discoursed with his
sister about it, and asked her, whether she
were disposed to this match? she immedi-
ately agreed to it. But when Sylleus was
desired to come over to the Jewish religion,
and then he should marry her; and that it
was impossible to do it on any other terms;
he would not hear that proposal, but went his
way. For he said that, it he should do so,
he should be stoned by the Arabs. Then
did Pheroras reproach Salome for her incon-
tinency; as did the women much more: and
said, that Sylleus had debauched her. As
for that damsel, whom the king had betrothed
to his brother Pheroras, but he had not taken
her, as I have before related, because he was
enamoured of his former wife; Salome de-
sired of Herod she might be given to her son
by Costobarus: but he was dissuaded from it
by Pheroras: who pleaded, that this yotmg
man would not be kind to her, since his father
had been slain by him, and that it was more
just that his son, who was to be his successor
in the tetrarchy, should have her. Accord-
ingly the damsel, upon this change of her
espousals, was disposed of to this young man,
the son of Pheroras: the king giving, for her
portion, an hundred talents.
CHAP. VUI.
OF FRE8H DISTURBANCES WHICH AROSE IN HEROd'S FA-
MILY ; THE HARSH TREATMENT OF ALEXANDER, AND HI8
SUBSEQUENT RECONCILIATIOR TO HIS FATHER.
rilHE affairs of Herod's family were no
1 better; but perpetually became more
troublesome. And an accident happened,
which proceeded so far as to bring great diffi-
culties upon him. There were certain eu-
nuchs whom the king had: and, on account
of their beauty, he was very fond of them:
and the care of bringing him drink was en-
trusted to one of them; of bringing him his
supper to another; and of putting him to
bed to a third, who also managed the princi-
pal affairs of the government. Now some
person told the king that these eunuchs were
corrupted by his son Alexander, with great
sums of money. And wiien they were asked
whether Alexander had had criminal conver-
sation with them, they confessed it: but said,
they knew of no farther mischief of his
against his father. But when they were
more severely tortured, and were in the ut
most extremity, and the tormentors, out of
compliance with Antipater, stretched the
rack to the very utmost; they said, that
Alexander bore great ill will and innate ha-
tred to his father; and that he told them,
that Herod despaired to live much longer;
and that in order to cover his great age, he
coloured his hair black; and endeavoured
to conceal what would discover how old he
was. But that if he would apply himself to
him, when he should attain the kingdom;
which, in spite of his father, could come to
no one else; he should quickly have the
first place in that kingdom under him. For
that he was now ready to take the kingdom,
not only as his birth-right; but by the pre-
parations he had made for obtaining it: be-
cause a great many of the rulers and a great
many of his friends, were on his side, and
those, ready both to do and suffer wliatso-
ever should come on that account.
Herod heard this confession, with mingled
emotions of rage and fear: some parts of it
seeming to him reproachful, and sotae making
him suspicious of dangers which attended
him, insomuch that on both accounts he was
provoked; and bitterly afraid lest some more
heavy plot was laid against him than he
22
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xyi.
siioultl be then able to escape. He, there-
tore, sent about spies to watch such as he
suspected. For he was now overwhelmed
with suspicion and hatred against all about
him: and indulging abundance oi" those sus-
picions, in order to his preservation, he con-
tinued to suspect those that Mere guiltless.
Nor did he set any bounds to himself: but
supposing that those who stayed with him
had the most power to hurt him, they were
to him very frightful. And for those that did
not use to come to him, it seemed enough to
name them to make them suspected: and he
thought himself safer when they were de-
stroyed. And at last his domestics were
come to that pass, that, being no way secure
of escaping themselves, they began accusing
one another: imagining that he who first
accused another was most likely to save
himself. Yet Avhen any had overthrown
others, they were hated: and they were
thought to suffer justly, who unjustly accused
others; and they only thereby prevented
their own accusation. Nay, they now exe-
cuted their own private enemies by this
means, and when they were caught they
were punished in the same way. Thus these
men contrived to make use of this opportu-
nity, as an instrument, and a snare, against
their enemies: yet wheo they tried it, were
themselves caught also in the same snare
which they laid for others. And the king
soon repented of what he had done, because
he had no clear evidence of the guilt of those
whom he had slain. And yet, what was still
more severe in him, he did not make use of
his repentance in order to leave off doing the
like again; but in order to inflict the same
punishments upon their accusers.
In this state of disorder were the affairs of
the palace: and Herod had already told
many of his friends directly, that they Ought
not to appear before him, nor come into the
palace: and the reason of this injunction was,
that when they were there he had less free-
dom of acting, or a greater restraint on him-
self on their account. For at this time it was
that he expelled Andromachus and Gemel-
lus; men who had of old been his friends;
and been very useful to him in the affairs of
his kingdom; and been of advantage to his
family by their ambassages, and counsels;
and had been tutors to his sons; and had, in
a manner, the first degree of freedom with
him. He expelled Andromachus, because
his son Demetrius was a companion to Alex-
ander; and Gemellus, because he knew that
he wished him well: having been with him
in his youth, when he was at school, and ab-
sent at Rome. These he expelled out of
his palace; and was willing enough to have
done worse by them. But, that he might not
seem to take such liberty against men of so
great reputation, he contented himself with
depriving them of their dignity, and of their
power to hinder his wicked proceedings.
Now the author of all these mischiefs was
Antipater; who, when he knew what a mad
and licentious way of acting his father was in,
he hurried him on; and then thought he
should bring him to do somewhat to purpose,
when every one that could oppose him was
taken away. When, therefore, Andromachus
and his friends were driven away, and had
no discourse nor freedom with the king any
longer; the king in the first place examined
by torture all whom he thought to be faithful
to Alexander, whether they knew of any of
his attempts against him: but these died
without having any thing to say to that mat-
ter. This, however, only made the king more
zealous after discoveries; when he could not
find out what evil proceedings he suspected
them of. As for Antipater, he was very saga-
cious to raise a calumny against those that
were really innocenl; as if their denial were
only their constancy and fidelity to Alexan-
der; and thereupon provoked Herod to dis-
cover, by the torture of great numbers, what
attempts were still concealed. Now there
was a certain person among the many that
were tortured, who said, that he knew the
young man had often said, that when he was
commended as tall in stature, and a skilful
marksman; and that in his other commend-
able exercises he exceeded all men ; these
qualifications given him by nature, though
good in themselves, were not advantageous
to him; because his father was grieved at
them, and envied him for them: and that
when he walked along with his father, he
endeavoured to depress and shorten himself,
that he might not appear too tall: and that
when he shot at any thing, as he was hunting,
when his father was by, he missed his mark
on purpose; for he knew how ambitious his
KV. 9.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
23
father was of being superior in such exer-
cises.* So \v})en the man Avas tortured about
his saying, and had ease given liis bo«ly after
it, he added, that he. had his brother Aristo-
bulus for his assistance ; and contrived to He
in wait for their father, as they were hunting,
and kill hint : and when they had done so, to
flee away to Rome, and desire to have the
kingdom given them. There were also let-
ters of the young man found, written to his
brother; wherein he complained, that his
father did not act justly in giving Antipater
a country whose yearly revenues amounted
to two hundred talents. Upon these con-
fessions Herod presently thought he had
somewhat to depend on, in his own opinion,
as to his suspicion about his son. So he
took up Alexander and bound him. Yet
did he still continue to be uneasy, and was
not quite satisfied of the truth of what he
had heard. And when he came to recol-
lect himself, he found that they had only
made juvenile complaints, and contentions;
and that it was an incredible thing, that
when his son should have slain him, he
should openly go to Rome to beg the king-
dom. So he was desirous to have some surer
mark of his son's wickedness ; and was very
solicitous about it, tliat he might not appear
to have condemned him to be put in prison
too rashly. So he tortured the principal of
Alexander's friends, and put not a few of them
to death, without getting any of those things
out of them which he suspected. And while
Herod was very busy about this matter, and
the palace was full of terror and trouble, one
of the younger sort, when he was in the ut-
most agony, confessed, that Alexander had
sent to his friends at Rome, and desired that
he might be quickly invited thither by Caesar;
and that he could discover a plot against him;
that Mithridates, king of Parthia, was joined
in friendship with his father against the Ro-
mans, and that he had a poisonous potion
ready prepared to Ascalon.
To these accusations Herod gave credit;
and enjoyed hereby, in his miserable case,
some sort of consolation, in excuse of his
rashness ; as flattering himself with finding
tilings in so bad a condition. But as for the
* Ambition is not more despicable in itself, and in the
eyes of others, than it is tormenting to the person in
whose breast it reigns ; especially if it invade the
VOL. II. — N08. 49 & .50.
poisonous potion, which he laboured to dis-
cover, he could find none. As for Alexan-
der, he Avas very desirous to aggravate the
vast misfortunes he was under. So he pre-
tended not to deny the accusations, but
punished the rashness of his father with a
greater crime of his own; and perhaps he
was willing to make his father ashamed of
his easy belief of such calumnies ; he aimed
especially, if he could gain belief to his sto-
ry, to plague him, and his whole kingdom.
For he wrote four letters, and sent them to
him, saying, that he need not torture any
more persons, for he had plotted against
him; and that he had for his partners Phe-
roras, and the most faithful of his friends;
and that Salome came in to him by night, and
that she lay with him whether he would or
no; and that all men were come to be of
one mind, to make away with him as soon as
they could ; and so get clear of the continual
fear they were in from him. Among these
were accused Ptolemy, and Sapinnius; who
were the most faithful friends to the king.
And what more can be said .'* but that those
who before were the most intimate friends,
were become wild beasts to one another; as
if a certain madness had fallen upon them:
while there was no room for defence or refu-
tation, in order to the discovery of the truth ;-
but all were at random doomed to destruc-
tion. So that some lamented those that were
in prison; some those that were put to
death ; and others lamented that they were
in expectation of the same miseries. And a
melancholy solitude rendered the kingdom
deformed, and quite the reverse of that hap-
py state it was formerly in. Herod's own life
also was entirely disturbed ; and because he
could trust nobody, he was sorely punished
by the expectation of farther misery. For he
often fancied in his imaginatiori, that his son
had fallen upon him,, or stood by him with a
sword in his hand. And thus was his mind
night and day intent upon this thing, and he
revolved it over and over, no otherwise than
if he were under a distraction.
But when Archelaus, king o( Cappadocia,
heard of the state that Herod was in, he was
in great distress about his daughter, and the
minds and destroy the peace, of such near rela-
tives. B.
24
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVI.
youp.g man her husband; and grieving with
Herod, as with a man that was his friend, on
account of so great a disturbance as he was
under, he came to Jerusalem,* on purpose to
compose their difierences. And when he
found Herod in such a temper, he thought
it wholly unseasonable to reprove him, or to
pretend that he had done any thing rashly;
for that he should thereby naturally bring
him to dispute the point ; and, by still more
and more apologizing for himself, to be the
more irritated. He went, therefore, another
Avay to work in order to correct the former
misfortunes; and appeared angry at the
young man and said, that Herod had been
so very mild, that he had ?iot acted a rash
part at all. He also said he would dissolve
his daughter's marriage with Alexander: nor
could in justice spare his own daughter, if
she were conscious of any thing, aiid did not
inform Herod of it. When Archelaus ap-
peared to be of this temper, and otherwise
than Herod expected or imagined ; and, for
the main, took Herod's part, arid was angry
on his account ; the king abated of his harsh-
ness, and took occasion from his appearing
to have acted justly hitherto, to come by de-
grees to put on the afTection of a father; and
was on both sides to be pitied. For when
some persons refuted the calumnies that
were laid on the young man, he was thrown
into a passion; but when Archelaus joined
in the accusation, he was dissolved into tears
and sorrow, after an afTectionate . manner.
Accordingly he desired, that he would not
dissolve his son's marriage ; and became not
so angry as before for his oflfences. So when
Archelaus had brought him to a more mode-
rate temper, he transferred the calumnies
to his friends ; and, said it must be owing to
them, that so young a man, and one unac-
quainted with malice, was corrupted; and
he supposed that there was more reasgn to
suspect the brother, than the son. Upon
which Herod was very much displeased at
* An. 8.
t This Titius is mentioned by Strabo, XVI. page 616.
whence Dr. Hudson corrected the common reading of
Titus. Which reading of Strabo is so fully confirmed by
one Greek, and the greatest part of the Latin copies of Jo-
sephus, that it may justly be preferred before the other.
J An. 7.
II This country, which is so called by the Greeks from
its rough and craggy mountains, together with Ituraea,
Pheroras; who, indeed, had now no one that
could make a reconciliation between him
and his brother. So when he saw that Ar-
chelaus had the greatest power with Herod,
he betook himself to him, in the habit of a
mourner, and like one that had all the signs
upon him of an undone man. Upon this Arche-
laus did not overlook the intercession he made
to him, nor yet did he undertake to change
the king's disposition towards him immedi-
ately. And he said that it was better for
him to come himself to the king, and confess
himself the occasion of all ; that this w ould
make the king's anger not to be so extrava-
gant towards him; and that then he would
be present, and assist him. When he had
persuaded him to this, he gained his point
withboth of them : and the calumnies raised
against the young man were, beyond all ex-
pectation, wiped off. And Archelaus, as
soon as he had made the reconciliation,
went away to Cappadocia; having proved,
at this juncture of time, the most acceptable
person to Herod in the world. On which
account he gave him the richest presents, as
tokens of his respect; and, being on other
occasions magnanimous, he esteemed him
one of his dearest friends. He also made
an agreement with him, that he would go to
Rome, because he had written to Caesar
about these affairs. So they went together as
far as Antioch ; and there Herod made a re-
conciliation between Archelaus, and fTitius,
the president of Syria, who had been greatly
at variance; and so returned back to Judea.
CHAP. IX.
OF THE REVOLT OF THE TRACHONITES ; AND THE ACCU-
SATION LAID AGAINST HEROD AT ROME.
WHEN Herod had been at Rome, and
was come back again, a war arose
between him and the Arabians,! on the fol-
lowing occasion. The inhabitants of Tra-
chonitis,|| after Caesar had taken the country
made in our Saviour's time one tetrarchy, i. e. one fourth
part, or rather division, (for they were not equal I'lrts,)
of the kingdom of Herod the Great when he died. It
was anciently called Argob, Deut. iii. 13, and, according
to the best account, is bounded to the east by Arabia
Deserta ; to the west, by Batanaea ; to the south, by Itu-
raea ; and to the north by the country of Damascus : and
as it was a province full of rocky hills, which served
for a harbour to a great number of thieves and robbers.
I
AN. 8.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
25
from Zenodorus, and added it to Herod, had
not now power to rob; but were forced to
plough the land, and to live quietly, which
was a thing they did not like. And when
they did take that pains, the ground did not
produce much fruit. However at the first
the king M'ould not permit them to rob; and
so they abstained from that unjust way of
living upon their neighbours; which pro-
cured Herod a great reputation for his care.
But when he was sailing to Rome, in order
to accuse his son Alexander, and to commit
Antipater to Caesar's protection ; the Tra-
chonites spread a report as if he were dead;
and revolted from his dominion, and betook
themselves again to their accustomed way of
robbing their neighbours. At which time the
king's commanders subdued them during his
absence. But about forty of the principal
robbers, being terrified by those that had
been taken, left the country, and retired into
Arabia : Sylleus entertaining them, after he
had missed of marrying Salome, and giving
them a place of strength, in which they dwelt.
So they overran not only Judea, but all Cce-
lesyria also, and carried off the prey ; while
Sylleus afforded them places of protection
and quietness during their wicked practices.
But when Herod came back from Rome,
he perceived that his dominions had greatly
suffered by them: and since he could not
reach the robbers themselves, because of
the secure retreat they had in that country,
and which the Arabian government afforded
them ; and yet being very uneasy at tlie in-
juries they had done him, he went all over
Trachonitis, and slew their relations. Here-
upon these robbers were more angry than
before: it being a law among them to be
avenged on the murderers of their relations
by all possible means. So they continued
to tear and rend every thing under Herod's
dominion, with impunity. Then did he dis-
course about these robberies *with Saturni-
nus and Volumnius, and required that they
should be punished. Upon which occasion
they still the more confirmed themselves in
their robberies; and became more numerous,
and made very great disturbances; laying
it often found employment for Herod the Great, (as we
may see in the history of Josephus,) to expel them.
Wells's Geography of the A^ew Testament; and Whitby's
Table. B.
waste the countries and villages that be-
longed to Herod's kingdom, and killing
those men whom they caught : till these un-
just proceedings came to be like a real war:
for the robbers were no^v bcconu' about a
thousand. At which Herod was sore dis-
pleased ; and required the robbers, as well
as the money which he had lent Obodas, by
Sylleus, which was sixty talents; and since
the time of payment was now past, he desired
to have it paid him. But Sylleus, who had
laid Obodas aside, and managed all by him-
self, denied that the robbers were in Arabia,
and put off the payment of the money.
About which there was a hearing before
Saturninus and Volumnius, who were the
presidents of Syria. At last he, by their
means, agreed, that within thirty days Herod
should be paid his money ; and that each of
them should deliver up the other's subjects
reciprocally. Now as to Herod, there was
not one of the others subjects found in his
kingdom, either as doing any injustice, or
on any other account. But it was proved,
that the Arabians had the robbers amongst
them.
When the day appointed for payment was
past, without Sylleus's performing any part
of his agreement, and he was gone to Rome,
Herod demanded the money; and that the
robbers that were in Arabia should be de-
livered up: and, by the permission of Satur-
ninus and Volumnius, he executed the jtidg-
ment himself upon those that were refractory.
He took an army into Arabia ; and when he
came to the garrison wherein the robbers
were, he made an assault upon them, and
took th^m all, and demolished the place,
which was called Raepta; but did no harm
to any others. But as the Arabians came to
their assistance, under Naceb their captain,
there ensued a battle, wherein a few of He-
rod's soldiers, and Naceb, the captain of the
Arabians, and about twenty of his soldiers
fell; while the rest betook themselves to
flight. So when he had brought these to
punishment, he placed three thousand Idu-
means in Trachonitis, and thereby restrained
the robbers that were there. He also sent
* These joint presidents of Syria, Saturninus and Vo-
lumnius, were not, perhaps, of equal authority ; but the
latter like a procurator under the former : as the leamed
Norris, and Dr. Hudson, determine.
E2
26
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVI.
an account to the captains that were about
Phoenicia, and demonstrated that he had
done nothing but what he ought to do, in
punisning the refractory Arabians; which
upon an exact inquiry, they found to be no
more than what was true.
However, messengers Avere hastened away
to Sylleus to Rome, and informed him what
had been done ; and, as is usual, aggravated
every thing. Now Sylleus had already insi-
nuated himself into the knowledge of Caesar,
and was then about the palace. And, as
soon as he heard of these things, he put on a
mourning habit, and went in and told Caesar,
that Arabia was afflicted with war ; and that
all his kingdom was in great confusion, upon
Herod's laying it waste with his army : and
he said, with tears in his eyes, that two thou-
sand five hundred of the principal men among
the Arabians had been destroyed ; and that
their captain Naceb, his familiar friend and
kinsman, was slain; and that the riches that
were at Raepta were carried off; and that
Obodas was despised, whose infirm state of
body rendered him unfit for war ; on Avhich
account neither he, nor the Arabian army,
were present. He also added invidiously,
that he would not himself have come out of
the country, unless he had believed that Cae-
sar would have provided that they should all
have peace one with another : and that, had
he been there, he would have taken care that
the war should not have been to Herod's ad-
vantage. Caesar was provoked when this
was said ; and asked no more than this one
question, both of Herod's friends that were
there, and one of his own friends who were
come from Syria, whether Herod had led an
army thither .'' and when they were forced to
confess so much, Caesar, without staying to
hear for what reason he did it, and how it was
done, grew very angry, and wrote to Herod
sharply. The sum of his epistle was this,
that <' Whereas of old he had used him as his
friend: he should now use him as his subject."
Sylleus also wrote an account of this to the
Arabians : who were so elevated with it, that
they neither delivered up the robbers that
fled to them, nor paid the money that was
due : they retained those pastures also which
* This Aretas was now become so established a name
for the kings of Arabia, at Petra and Damascus, that
when the crown came to this EneaSj he changed his name
they had hired, and kept them without pay-
ing their rent : and all this because the king
of the Jews was now in a low condition, by
reason of Caesar's anger at him. Those of
Trachonitis also made use of this opportu-
nity, and rose up against the Idumean garri-
son, and followed the same way of robbing
with the Arabians, who had pillaged their
country; and were more rigid in their unjust
proceedings, not only in order to get by it,
but by way of revenge also.
Now Herod was forced to bear all this;
that confidence of his being quite gone, with
which Caesar's favour used to inspire him :
for Caesar would not admit so much as an
ambassage from him, to make an apology;
and when they came again, he sent them
away without success. So he was cast into
sadness and fear; and Sylleus's circumstan-
ces grieved him exceedingly; who was now
believed by Caesar, and was present at Rome:
nay, sometimes aspiring higher. Now it came
to pass, that Obodas was dead ; and Eneas,
whose name was afterwards changed to *Are-
tas, took the government. For Sylleus en-
deavoured by calumnies to get him turned
out of his principality, that he might himself
take it. With which design he gave much
money to the courtiers, and promised much
money to Caesar : who, indeed, was angry
that Aretas had not sent to him first, before
he took the kingdom. Yet did Eneas send
an epistle and presents to Caesar; and a
golden crown, of the weight of many talents.
Now that epistle accused Sylleus, as having
been a wicked servant, and having killed
Obodas by poison; and that, while he was
alive, he had governed him as he pleased ;
and had also debauched the wives of the
Arabians; and had borrowed money, in or-
der to obtain the dominion for himself. Yet
did not Caesar give heed to these accusations;
but sent his ambassadors back, Avithout re-
ceiving any of his presents.
But, in the mean time, the affairs of Ju-
dea and Arabia became worse and worse;
partly because of the anarchy they were
under, and partly because, as bad as they
were, nobody had power to govern them.
For of the two kings, the one was not yet
to Aretas ; as Havercamp here justly observes. See the
note on XIII. 15.
AK. 7.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
27
confirmed in his kingdom; and so had not
authority Bulficicnt to restrain the evil-doers.
And as for Herod, Ca;sar was angry at him.
lor having avenged him; and so he was
compelled to bear all the injuries that were
offered him. At length, when he saw no end
of the mischief which surrounded him, he re-
solved to send ambassadors to Rome again :
to see whether his friends had prevailed ;
and to address themselves to Caesar himself.
And the ambassador he sent thither was Ni-
colaus of Damascus.
CHAP. X.
herod's sohs are confined on the false accusation
of eurycles : syllevs is accused by nic0i.au9 of
damascus.
THE disorders about Herod's family and
children about this time grew much
worse : for it now appeared, that fortune
threatened the greatest and most insupport-
able misfortunes possible to his kingdom.
Its progress and augmentation at this time
arose on the following occasion : One Eury-
cles, a Lacedaemonian, (a person of note
there ; but a man of a perverse mind, and so
cunning in his ways of voluptuousness and
flattery, as to indulge both, and yet seem to
indulge neither of them ;) came in his travels
to Herod, and made him presents; but so
that he received more presents from him.
He aho took such proper seasons for insinu-
ating himself into his friendship, that he be-
came one of the most intimate of the king's
friends. He had his lodging in Antipater's
house ; but he had not only access, but free
conversation with Alexander; as pretending
to him, that he was in great favour with Ar-
chelaus, king of Cappadocia. Whence he
pretended much respect to Glaphyra ; and,
in an occult manner, cultivated a friendship
with them all : but always attending to what
was said and done ; that he might be fur-
nished with calumnies to please them all. In
short, he behaved himself so to every body
in his conversation, as to appear to be his
particular friend : and he made others be-
lieve, that his being any where was for that
person's advantage. So he won upon Alex-
ander, who was but young ; and persuaded
nim, that he might open his grievances to
him with assurance. So he declared to him
how his father was alienated from him. He
related to him also the affairs of his mother,
and of Antipater; that he had driven them
from their proper dignity, and had the power
over every thing himself; that no part of this
was tolerable, since his father was already
come to hate them ; and -he added, that he
would neither admit them to his table, nor to
his conversation. Such were the complaints
of Alexander about the things that troubled
him. And these discourses Eurycles carried
to Antipater ; and told him, he did not inform
him of this on his own account, but, that be-
ing overcome by his kindness, the great im-
portance of the thing obliged him to do it ;
and he warned him to have a care of Alexan-
der : for that what he had said was spoken
with vehemence ; and that, in consequence
of what he said, he would certainly kill him
with his own hand. Hereupon Antipater,
thinking him to be his friend by this advice,
gave him presents upon all occasions ; and at
length persuaded him to inform Herod of
what he had heard. So when he related to
the king Alexander's ill temper, as discovered
by the words, he had heard him speak, he
was easily believed by him : and he thereby
brought the king to that pass, turning him
about by his words, and irritating him, till he
increased his hatred to him, and made him
implacable ; which he shewed at that very
time ; for he immediately gave the informer a
present of fifty talents. Eurycles then went
to Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, and com
mended Alexander before him ; and told him
that he had been many ways of advantage to
him, in making a reconciliation between him
and his father. So he got money from him
also, and went away, before his pernicious
practices were found out. But when Eury-
cles was returned to Lacedaemon, he did not
leave off' doing mischief: and so, for his many
acts of injustice, he was banished from his
own country.
But the king of the Jews was not now in
the temper he was in formerly towards Alex-
ander and Aristobulus ; when he had been
content with hearing their calumnies when
others told him of them. But he was now
come to that pass as to hate them himself,
and to ui^e men to speak against them ;
though they did not do it of themselves. He
also observed all that was said, and put ques-
28
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xvl
lions, and gave ear to every one that would
but speak, if they could but say any thing
against them; till at length he heard, that
Euaratus of Cos was a conspirator with Alex-
ander; which thing to Herod was the most
agreeable news imaginable.
But still a gre.iter misfortune came upon
the young men, while the calumnies against
them were continually increased ; and, as a
man may say, one would think it was every
one's endeavour to lay some grievous thing to
their charge, which might appear to be for
the king's preservation. There were two of
Herod's body-guards, who were in great es-
teem for their strength and tallness, Jucundus
and Tyrannus. These men having been cast
off' by Herod, who was displeased at them,
now used to ride along with Alexander; and,
for their skill in their exercises, were in great
esteem with him; and had some gold and
other gifts bestowed on them. Now the
king, having an immediate suspicion of these
men, had them tortured. They endured the
torture courageously for a long time ; but at
last confessed, that Alexander would have
persuaded them to kill Herod, when he was
in pursuit of the wild beasts ; that it might be
said, he fell from his horse, and was run
through with his own spear : for that he had
once such a misfortune formerly. They also
shewed where there was money hidden in
the stable under ground ; and they convicted
the king's chief hunter, that he had given the
young men the royal hunting spears, and
Aveapons to Alexander's dependents, at Alex-
ander's command.
After these the commander of the garrison
of Alexandrium was caught and tortured.
For he was accused of having promised to
receive the young men into his fortress, and
to supply them with that money of the king's
whicli was laid up there. Yet did not he
acknowledge any thing of it himself; but his
son came in, and said it was so, and delivered
op the writing; which, so far as could be
guessed, was in Alexander's hand. Its con-
tents were these : " When we have finished
bj' God's help, all that we have proposed to
do, we will come to you. But do your en-
deavours, as you have promised to receive
us into your fortress." After this writing was
produced, Herod had no doubt about the
treacherous designs of his sons against him.
But Alexander said, that Diophantus, the
scribe, had imitated his hand : and that the
paper was maliciously drawn up by Antipa-
ter. For Diophantus appeared to be very
cunning in such practices; and, as he was
afterward convicted of forging other papers,
he was put to death for it.
The king then produced those that had
been tortured before the multitude at Jericho,
in order to have them accuse the young men.
These accusers many of the people stoned
to death: and when they were going to kill
Alexander and Aristobulus likewise, the king
would not permit them to do so ; but re-
strained the multitude, by the means of Pto-
lemy and Pheroras. However, the young
men were put under a guard, and kept in '
custody, that nobody might come at them;
and all that they did or said was watched :
and the reproach and fear that they were in
was little or nothing different from those of
condemned criminals. And Aristobulus was
so deeply affected, that he brought Salome,
who was his aunt and his mother-in-law, to
lament with him for his calamities, and to
hate him who had suffered things to come to
that pass : when he said to her, " Art thou
not in danger of destruction also ; while the
report goes that thou hadst disclosed before-
hand all our affairs to Sylieus, when thou
wast in hopes of being married to him .'"'
But she immediately carried those words to
her brother. Upon this he was out of pa-
tience, and gave command to bind him ; and
enjoined them both, now they were kept se-
parate one from the other, to write down the
ill things they had done against their father,
and bring the writings to him. So when this
was enjoined them, they wrote, that they had
laid no treacherous designs, nor made any
preparations against their father; but that
they had intended to flee away, and that by
the distress they were in ; their lives being
now uncertain and tedious to them.
About this time there came an ambassador
out of Cappadocia, from Archelaiis, whose
name was Melas. He was one of the princi-
pal rulers under him. So Herod being de-
sirous to shew Archelaus' ill will to him,
called for Alexander, as he was in his bonds,
and asked him again concerning his flight ;
whither, and how they had resolved to re-
tire.'' Alexander replied, to Archelaus, who
AN
.7.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEW&
29
had promised to send them away to Rome;
but that they had no wicked nor mischievous
designs against their father; and that nothing
of" that nature, which their adversaries had
charged upon them, was true; and that their
desire was, that he might have examined
Tyranrms and Jucundus more strictly; but
that they had been suddenly slain by means
of Antipater, who put his own friends among
the. multitude for that purpose.
When this was said, Herod commanded
that both Alexander and Melas should be
carried to Glaphyra, Archelaus's daughter;
and that she should be asked, whether she
did not know somewhat of Alexander's trea-
cherous designs against Herod? Now as
soon as they were come to her, and she saw
Alexander in bonds, she beat her head; and,
in a great consternation, uttered a deep and
moving groan. The young man also burst
into tears. This was so distressing a spec-
tacle to those present, that, for a great while,
they were not able to say or to do any thing.
But at length Ptolemy, who was ordered to
bring Alexander, bade him say, whether his
wife were conscious of his actions.'' He re-
{)lied, " How is it possible that she whom I
ove better than my own soul, and by whom
I have had children, should not know what I
do.-*" Upon which she cried out, that she
kneiv of no wicked designs of his; but that
yet if her accusing herself falsely would tend
to his preservation, she would confess it all.
Alexander replied, " There is no such wick-
edness as those, who ought the least of all so
to do, suspect; which either I have imagined,
or thou knowest of; but this only, that we had
resolved to retire to Archelaus, and from
thence to Rome." This she also confessed:
upon wliich Herod supposing that Archelaus's
ill will to him was fully proved,- sent a letter
by Olympus and Voluranius, and bade them,
as they sailed by, to touch at Eleusa of Cili-
cia, and give Archelaus the letter. And that
when they had expostulated with him, that
he had a hand in his sons' treacherous de-
sign against him, they should thence sail to
Rome. And that, in case they found Nicolaus
had gained any ground, and that Caesar was
no longer displeased at him, he should give
him his letters, and the proofs which he had
ready to shew against the young men. As
to Archelaus, he made this defence for him-
self, that he had promised to receive the
young men, because it was both for their own
and their father's advantage so to do; lest
some too severe procedure should be gone
upon in that anger and disorder they were
in on occasion of the present suspicions. But
that still he had not engaged to send them to
Caesar; and that he had not promised any
thing else to the young men, that could shew
any ill w ill to him.
When these ambassadors were come to
Rome,* they had a favourable opportunity of
delivering their letters to Cajsar; because
they found him reconciled to Herod. For
the circumstances of Nicolaus's ambassage
had been as follows: as soon as he was come
to Rome, and was about the court, he did not
first of all set about what he was come for
only, but he thought fit also to accuse Syl-
leus. Now the Arabians, even before he
came to talk with them, were quarrelling one
with another; and some of them left Sylle-
us's party, and joining themselves to Nico-
laus, informed him of all the wicked things
that had been done; and produced to him
evident demonstrations of the slaughter of a
great number of Obodas's friends by Sylleus.
For when these men left Sylleus, they had
carried off with them those letters, whereby
they could convict him. When Nicolaus saw
such an opportunity afforded him, he gladly
embraced it in order to gain his own point
afterward ; and endeavoured immediately to
effect a reconciliation between Caesar and
Herod. For he was fully satisfied, that if ho
should desire to make a defence for Herod
directly, he should not be allowed that liber-
ty; but that if he desired to accuse Sylleus, an
occasion would present itself of speaking on
Herod's behalf. So wlien the cause was
ready for a hearing, and the day was ap-
pointed, Nicolaus, while Aretas's' ambassa-
dors were present, accused Sj Ileus, and said,
that he imputed to him the destruction of the
kingObodas, and of many otlK;r of the Arabi-
ans; that he had borrowed money for no good
design; and he proved that he had been guilty
of adultery, not only with the Arabian, but
with Roman women also. And he added,
that above all the rest he had alienated
Caesar from Herod ; and that all that he had
• An. 6.
30
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVI.
said about the actions of Herod were falsi-
ties.
When Nicolaus was come to this topic,
Caesar stopped him from going on; and de-
sired him only to speak to this affair of He-
ro'ing done a most famous ex-
ploit. Nor was that behaviour unworthy of
thee. But if thy intentions were otherwise,
thou art worse than they : while thou didst
contrive to hide thy treachery against thy
father, thou didst hate them, not as plotters
against thy father, (for in that case thou
hadst not thyself fallen upon the like crime ;)
but as successors of his dominions, and
more worthy of that succession than thy-
self. Thou wouldst kill thy parent after thy
brethren, lest thy lies raised against them
might be detected; and lest thou shouldest
sutler what punishment thou hadst deserved,
thou hadst a mind to exact that punishment
of thy unhappy father; and didst devise
suc;h a sort of uncommon parricide, as the
world never yet saw. For thou, who " art
his son, didst not only lay a treacherous
design against him; and didst it while he
loved thee, and liad been thy benefactor;
had made thee in reality his partner in the
kingdom; and had openly declared thee his
successor; while thou wast not forbidden to
taste the sweetness of authority already; and
hadst the firm hope of what Mas future by
thy father's determination, and the security
of a written testament : but, for certain, thou
didst not measure these things according
to thy father's virtuous disposition, but ac-
cording to thine own thoughts and inclina-
tions; and wast desirous to take the part
that remained away from thy too indulgent
father; and songhtest to destroy him with
thy deeds, whom thou in words pretendest
to preserve. Nor wast thou content to be
wicked thyself, but thou filledst thy mothers
head with thy devices, and raised distur-
bances among thy brethren; and hadst the
boldness to call thy father a wild beast:
while thou hadst thyself a mind more cruel
than any serpent: whence thou sendest out
that poison among thy nearest kindred and
greatest benefactors; and invitedst them to
assist thee and guard thee ; and didst hedge
thyself in on all sides, by the artifices of
both men and women, against an old man :
as though that nndnd of thine were not suffi-
cient of itself to support so great a hatred
as thou hadst against him. And here thou
appearest after the tortures of freemen, of
domestics, of men, and of women, who have
been examined on thy account ; and after
the informations of thy fellow-conspirators,
as making haste to contradict the truth ; and
hast thought of ways, not only how to take
thy father out of the world, but to disannul ]
that written law which is against thee ; and
the virtue of Varus; and the nature of jus-
tice. Nay, such is that impudence of thine
on which thou confidest, that thou desirest
to be put to the torture thyself: whilst thou
allegest, that the tortures of those already
examined thereby have made them tell lies,*
46
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xrn.'
that those that have been the dehverers
of thy father, may not be allowed to have
spoken the truth ; but that thy tortures may
be esteemed the discoverers of truth. Wilt
not tliou, O Varus, deliver the king from
the injuries of his kindred? Wilt not thou
destroy this wild beast, which hath pre-
tended kindness to his father, in order to
destroy his brethren ? while yet he is him-
self alone ready to carry off the kingdom
immediately, and appears to be the most
sanguinary butcher of them all. For thou
art sensible that parricide is a general in-
jury, both to nature and to common life; and
that the intention of parricide is not inferior
to its perpetration : and he who does not
punish it is injurious to nature itself." •
Nicolaus added farther, what belonged to
Antipater's mother; and whatsoever she had
prattled like a woman; as also about the
*predictions, and the sacrifices relating to
the king; and whatsoever Antipater ha,d
done lasciviously in his cups and his amours
among Pheroras's women; the examinations
upon torture; and whatever concerned the
testimonies of the witnesses : which were
many, and of various kinds ; some prepared
beforehand, and others sudden answers ;
which farther declared and confirmed the
preceding evidence. For those men who
were not unacquainted with Antipater's
})ractices, but had concealed them out of
iear, when they saw that he was exposed
to the accusations of the former witnesses;
and that his good fortune, which had sup-
ported him hitherto, had now evidently be-
trayed him into the hands of his enemies,
who were indeed insatiable in their hatred,
told all they knew of him. And his ruin
was now hastened, not so much by the en-
mity of those that were his accusers, as by
his gross, impudent, and wicked contrivan-
ces ; and by his ill will to his father and his
brethren: while he had filled their house
with disturbance, and caused them to mur-
der one another; and was neither open in his
hatred, nor kind in his friendship; but just
so far as served his own turn. Now there
was a great number who for a long time
beforehand had seen all this, and especially
such as were naturally disposed to judge
* See chap. 2.
of matters by the rules of virtue; because
they were used to determine about affairs
without passion; but had been restrained
from making any open complaints before;
these, upon the leave now given them, pro-
duced all that they knew before the public.
The demonstrations also of these wicked
facts could be no way disproved ; because
the many witnesses there were did neither
speak out of favour to Herod, nor were they
obliged to keep what they had to say silent,
out of suspicion of any danger they were in;
but they spake what they knew, because
they thought such actions very wicked;
and that Antipater deserved the greatest
punishment : and indeed not so much for
Herod's safety, as on account of the man's
own wickedness. Many things were also
said, by a great number of persons, who
were no way obliged to say them. Inso-
much, that Antipater, who used generally to
be very shrewd in his lies and impudence,
was not able to say one word to the con-
trary. When Nicolaus had left off speak-
ing, and had produced the evidence; Varus
bade Antipater make his defence; if he had
prepared any thing whereby it might ap-
pear that he was not guilty of the crimes he
was accused of. For that as he was himself
desirous, so did he know that his father was
in like manner desirous also, to have him
found entirely innocent. But Antipater fell
down on his face, and appealed to God, and
to all men, for testimonials of his innocence;
desiring that God would declare by some
evident signals that he had not laid any
plot against his father. This being the
usual method of all men destitute of virtue;
that when they set about any wicked un-
dertakings, they fall to work according to
their own inclinations; as if they believed
that God was unconcerned in human affairs :
but when once they are found out, and are
in danger of undergoing the punishment due
to their crimes, they endeavour to overthrow
all the evidence against them by appealing
to God. And this was the thing which An-
tipater now did : for whereas he had done
every thing, as if there were no God in the
world ; when he was on all sides distressed
by justice, and when he had no other ad-
vantage to expert from any legal proofs, by
which he might disprove the accusations
AN. 4.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
47
laid against him; he impudently abused the
majesty of God; and ascribed it to his power,
that he liad been preserved hitherto; and
{jroduced before them ail the dillicuUies he
lad ever undergone in his bold endeavours
for his father's preservation.
So when Varus, upon asking Antipater
what he liad to say for himself, found that he
had nothing to say, besides his appeal to God;
and saw that there was no end of that; he
bade them bring the potion before the court;
that he might see what virtue still remained
in it. And when it was brought, and one that
was condemned to die had drank it, by Va-
rus's command, he died presently. Then
Varus got up, and departed out of the court;
and went away the day following to Antioch,
where his usual residence was: because that
was the palace of the Syrians. Hereupon
Hero son of Ezekias, be the same
with that Theiidiu" mentioned. Acts v. 3C. Josephus must
hare omitted him. For th.it other Theudas, whom he
afterwards mentions under Fadus the Roman governor,
XX. 5. is much too late to correspond to him that is men-
part of the king's troops deserted to them :
while Rufus and Gratus, who had three thou-
sand of the most warlike of Herod's army w ith
them, who were men of active bodies, went
over to the Romans. There was also a band
of horsemen, under the command of Rufus,
which also went over to the Romans. How-
ever, the Jews went on with the siege; and
dug mines under the palace walls; and be-
sought those that were gone over to the other
side, not to be their hindrance, now they had
such a proper opportunity for the reco^ ery of
their country's ancient liberty. And Sabinus
was desirous of going away with his soldiers :
but was not able to trust himself with the
enemy, on account of what mischief he had
already done them: and he took this pretended
lenity of theirs for an argument why he should
not comply with them. And, because he ex-
pected that Varus was coming, he still bore
the siege.
Now at this time there were ten thousand
other disorders in Judea, which were like
tumults ; because a great number put them-
selves into a warlike posture, either out of
hopes of gain to themselves, or out of eimiity
to the Jews. In particular two thousand of
Herod's old soldiers who had been already
disbanded, got together in Judea itself, and
fought against the king's troops; although
Achiabus, Herod's first cousin, opposed them.
But as he was driven out of the plains into the
mountainous parts, by the military skill of
those men, he kept himself in the fastnesses
that were there, and saved what he could.
There was also fJudas, the son of that
Ezekias who had been head of the robbers,
which Ezekias was a very strong man, and
had witli great difficulty been caught by
Herod. This Judas having gotten together a
multitude of men of a profligate cliaracter
about Sepphoris in Galilee, made an assault
upon the palace there, and seized upon all the
tioned in the Acts. The names Theudas, Thaddeus, and
Judas, differ but a little. See Archbishop Usher's Annals
at A. M. 4001. However, since Josephus does not pre-
tend to reckon up the heads of all those ten thousand dis-
orders in Judea, which he tells us were then abroad, the
Theudas of the Acts might be at the head of one of those
seditions, though not particularly named by him. Thug
he informs us here, and Of the War, 11. 4. that certain of
the seditions came and burnt the royal palace at Amathus,
or BetharamphtH, upon the river Jordan. Perhaps their
leader, who is not named, might be this Theudas.
60
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVII
^voapollS that were laid up in it, and with thrm
armed every one of those that were Avi(h him,
and carried a^^ ay wliat money was left there ;
and he became terrible to all men, by tearing
and rending those that came near him ; and
all this in order to raise himself, and out of an
ambitious desire of the royal dignity. And
he hoped to obtain that as the reward, not of
his virtuous skill in war, but of his extrava-
gance in doing injuries.
There was also Simon, who had been a
slave of Ilerod the king's, but in other re-
spects a comely person, of a tall and robust
body; he was one that was much superior to
others of his order, and had had great things
committed to his care. This man was ele-
yated at the disorderly state of things, and
was so bold as to put a diadem on his head ;
while a certain number of the people stood by
him, and declared him to be a kingj and he
thought himself more worthy of that dignity
than any one else. He burnt down the royal
palace at Jericho, and plundered what as
left in it. He also set fire to many other of the
king's houses in several parts of the country,
and utterly destroyed them; and permitted
those that were with him to take what was
left in them for a prey. And he would have
done greater things, unless care had been
taken to repress him immediately. For Gra-
tus, when he had joined himself to some Ro-
man soldiers, took the forces he had with
him, and met Simon ; and after an obstinate
fight, no small part of those that came f om
Perea, who were a disordered body of men,
and fought rather in a bold than in a skilful
manner, were destroyed. And although Simon
had saved himself, by fleeing away through a
certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him and
cut ofT his head. The royal palace also at
Amathus, by the river Jordan, was burnt
down by a party of men that were got toge-
ther, as were those belonging to Simon. And
thus did a wild fury spread itself over the na-
tion, because they had no king to keep the
multitude in good order; and because those
foreigners, who came to reduce the seditious
to sobriety, did, on the contrary, set them
more in a flame; because of the injuries they
ofTered them, and the avaricious management
of their affairs.
One Athronges also, a person neither emi-
nent by the dignity of his progenitors ; nor
for any great wealth he was possessed of; but
one that had in all respects been a shepherd
only, and was not known by any body ; yet
because he was, a tall man, and excelled
others in the strength of his hands, was so
bold as to set up for king. This man thought
it so sweet a thing to do more than ordinary
injuries to others, that although he should be
killed, he did not much care if he lost his life
in so great a design. He had also four bre-
thren, who were tall men themselves, and
were believed to be superior to others in the
strength of their hands; and thereby were en-
couraged to aim at great things, and thought
that strength of theirs would support them in
retaining the kingdom. Each of these ruled
over a band of men of their own ; for those
that joined them were very numerous. Tl.ey
were every one of them also commanders.
But when they came to fight, they were sub-
ordinate to him, and fought for him. While
he put a diadem about his head, and assem-
bled a council to debate about what things
should be done; and all things were done
according to his pleasure. And Ihis man re-
tained his power a great while : he was also
called king ; and had nothing to hinder him.
from doing what he pleased. lie also, as
well as his brethren, slew a great many both
of the Romans, and of the king's forces; and
managed matters with the like hatred to each
of them. The king's forces they fell upon,
because of the licentious conduct they had
been allowed under Herod's government ;
and they fell upon the Romans, because of
the injuries they had so lately received from
them. But in process of time, they grew more
cruel to all sorts of men. Nor could any one
escape from one or other of these seditions.
Since they slew some out of the hopes of gain ;
and others from a mere custom of slaying
men. They once attacked a company of
Romans at Emmaus, who were bringing corn
and weapons to the army ; and fell upon Arius
the centurion, who commanded the company,
and shot forty of the best of his foot-soldiers.
But the rest of them were affrighted at their
slaughter, and left their dead behind, but
saved themselves by the means of Gratus; who
came with the king's troops that were about
him to their assistance. Now these four bre-
thren continued the war a long while, by such
sort of expeditions, and harassed the Romans;
AN. 3.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
61
but (lid their own nation also a great deal of
mischief. Yet were they afterwards subdued.
One of them in a fight with Gratus; another
with Ptolemy. Archelaus also took the eldest
of them prisoner; while the last of them was
so dejected at tlie other's misfortune, and saw
so plainly that he had no way left to save him-
seli, his army being worn away with sickness
and continual labours, that he also delivered
himself up to Archelaus, upon his promise and
oath to preserve his lile. But these things
came to pass a good while afterward.
And now Judea was full of robberies. And
as the several companies of the seditious
found any one to head them, he was created
a king immediately, in order to do mischief
to the public. They were in some small
measure indeed, and in small matters, hurtful
to the Romans : but the murders they com-
mitted upon their own people lasted a long
while.
As soon as Varus was informed of the state
of Judea, by Sabinus's writing to him, he was
afraid for the legion he had left there. So he
took the two other legions, (for there were
three legions in all belonging to Syria,) and
four troops of horsemen; with the several
auxiliary forces which either the kings, or
certain of the tetrarchs, afforded him ; and
made what haste he could to assist those that
were then besieged in Judea. He also gave
order that all that were sent out for this ex-
pedition should hasten to Ptolemais. The
citizens of Berytus gave him one thousand
five hundred auxiliaries, as he passed through
their city. Aretas also, the king of Arabia
Petraj, out of his hatred to Herod, and in order
to purchase the favour of the Romans, sent
him no small assistance; besides their foot-
men and horsemen. And when he had col-
lected all his forces together, he committed
part of them to his son, and to a friend of his,
and sent them upon an expedition into Galilee,
which lies in the neighbourhood of Ptolemais.
Accordingly, they made an attack upon the
enemy, and put them to flight, and took Sep-
phoris, and made its inhabitants slaves, and
burnt the city. But Varus himself pursued
his march for Samaria, with his- whole army.
Yet did he not meddle with the city of that
name, because it had not joined with the se-
ditious; but pitched his camp at a certain
village that belonged to Ptolemy, whose name
was Arus; which the Arabians burnt, out of
their hatred to Herod, and out of the enmity
they bore to his friends. Thence they marched
to another village, whose name was Sampho;
which the Arabians plundered and burnt;
although it was a fortified and a strong place.
And all along this march nothing escaped
them; but all places were full of fire and
slaughter. Emmaus was also burnt by Va-
rus's order, after its inhabitants had deserted
it ; that he might avenge those that had there
been destroyed. From thence he marched
to Jerusalem: whereupon those Jews whose
camp lay there, and who had besieged the
Roman legion, not bearing the coming of this
army, left the siege imperfect. But as to the
Jerusalem Jews, when Varus reproached
them bitterly for what had been done, they
cleared themselves of the accusation ; and
alleged that the conflux of the people was
occasioned by the feast; that the war was
not made with their approbation, but by the
rashness of the strangers; while they were on
the side of the Romans, and besieged together
with them, rather than having any inclination
to besiege them. There also came before-
hand to meet Varus, Joseph, the cousin ger-
man of king Herod; as also Gratus and Rufus;
who brought their soldiers along with them ;
together with those Romans who had been
besieged. But Sabinus did not come into
Varus's presence, but stole out of the city
privately, and went to the sea side.
Upon this. Varus sent a part of his army
into the country, to seek out those that had
been the authors of the revolt: and when they
were discovered, he punished some of them
that were most guilty, and some he dismissed.
Now tlie number of those that were crucified
on this account were two thousand. After
which he disbanded his army, which he found
no way useful to him in the affairs he came
about. For they behaved themselves very
disorderly, and disobeyed his orders, out of
regard to that gain which they made by the
mischief they did. As for himself, when he
was informed that ten thousand Jews were
gotten together, he made haste to catch them.
But they did not proceed so far as to fight
him: but by the advice of Archiabus they
came together, and delivered themselves up
to him. Hereupon Varus forgave the crime
of revolting to the multitude ; but sent their
62
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVII,
several commanders to Caesar. Many of
these Caesar dismissed: but for the several
relations of Herod, who had been among
these men in this war, they were the only
persons whom he punished; who, without
the least regard to justice, had fought against
their own kindred.
CHAP. XL
OF AN AMBASSAGE OF THE JEWS TO C1E.SXB. ; AND THE
CONFIRMATION OF HEROd's TESTAMENT.
WHEN Varus had settled these affairs,
and had placed the former legion at
Jerusalem, he returned to Antioch. But as
for Archelaus, he had new sources of trou-
bles* came upon him at Rome, on the fol-
lowing occasions ; for an ambassage of the
Tews was come to Rome : Varus having per-
mitted the nation to send it ; that they might
petition for the liberty of living by their own
laws. Now the number of the ambassadors
that were sent by the authority of the nation
was fifty, to which they, joined above eight
thousand of the Jews, that Avere at Rome
already. ' Hereupon Ca3sar assembled his
friends, and the chief men among the Ro-
mans, in the temple of Apollo, which he had
built at a vast charge. Whither the ambas-
sadors came; and a multitude of the Jews
that were there already, came with them : as
did also Archelaus, and his friends. But as
for the several kinsmen which Archelaus
had, they would not join themselves with
him, out of their hatred to him; and yet
they thought it too gross a thing for them to
assist the ambassadors against him : as sup-
posing it would be a disgrace to them, in
Caesar's opinion, to think of thus acting, in
opposition to a man of their own kindred.
Philip also was come hither out of Syria, by
the persuasion of Varus, with this principal
intention to assist his brother ; for Varus was
his great friend. But still so that if there
should any change happen in the form of
government, which Varus suspected there
would; and, if any distribution should be
made on account of the number that desired
the liberty of living by their own laws ; that
* Every station of life is exposed to trouble and dan-
ger. Trials, like the waves and billows, which rapidly
he might not be disappointed, but might have
his share in it.
Now upon the liberty that was given to
the Jewish ambassadors to speak, they who
hoped to obtain a dissolution of the regal
government, began to accuse Herod of his
iniquities ; and declared that he was indeed
in name a king, but that he had taken to
himself that uncontrolable authority which
tyrants exercise over their subjects ; and had
made use of that authority for the destruction
of the Jews ; and did not abstain from mak-
ing many innovations among them, accordii;g
to his own inclinations. And that whereas
there were a great many who perished by
that destruction he brought upon them ; they
that survived were far more miserable than
those that suffered under him; not only by
the anxiety they were in from his looks and
disposition towards them, but from the dan-
ger their estates were in of being taken
away by him. They said he was continually
adorning those cities that lay in their neigh-
bourhood, but were inhabited by foreigners ;
but so that the cities belonging to his own
government, were ruined, and utterly de-
stroyed. That whereas when he took the
kingdom, it was in an extraordinary flourish-
ing condition, he had filled the nation with
the utmost degree of poverty. And when,
upon unjust pretences, he had slain any of
the nobility, he took away their estates ; and
when he permitted any of them to live, he
condemned them to the forfeiture of what
they possessed. And besides the annual im-
positions which he laid upon every one of
them, they were to make liberal presents to
himself, to his domestics and friends; and
to such of his slaves as were vouchsafed the
favour of being his tax-gatherers; because
there was no way of obtaining an exemption
from unjust violence, without giving either
gold or silver for it. That they Avould say
nothing of the corruption of the chastity of
their virgins, and the reproach laid on their
wives for incontinency ; and those things
acted after an insolent and inhuman manner;
because it was not a smaller pleasure to the
sufferers to have such things concealed, than
it would have been not to have suffered them.
succeed one another, perpetually accumulate upon man
in his present state. B.
AK. 2.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
63
That Herod had put such abuses upon them
as a wild beast would not have put on tliem,
if power had been given him. And that
although their nation had passed through
many subversions, and alterations of govern-
ment, their history gave no account of any
calamity they had ever been under that
could be compared with this, which Herod
had brought upon them. That it was for
this reason, they thought they might justly
• salute Archelaus as king; upon the suppo-
iition, that whosoever should be set over
their kingdom, he would appear more mild
to tliem than Herod had been; and that
they joined with him in the mourning for his
father, in order to gratify him; and were
ready to oblige him in other poii'ts also, if
they could meet with any degree of mode-
ration from him. But that he seemed to be
afraid least he should not be deemed Herod's
own son: and so without any delay, he let
the nation understand his meaning; and this
before his dominion was well established ;
since the power of disposing of it belonged
to Caesar, who could ever give it to him or
not, as he pleased. That he had given a
specimen of his future virtue to his subjects,
and with what kind of moderation and good
administration he would govern them, by
his first y;tion which concerned his own
citizens, and God himself also ; when he
made the slaughter of three thousand of his
own countrymen at the temple. How then
could they avoid the just hatred of him, who,
to the rest of his barbarity, had added this,
as one of their crimes, that they had opposed
and contradicted him in the exercise of his
authority.'* Now the main thing they required
was that they might be added to Syria, and
be put under the authority of such presi-
dents as should be sent to them. For that
it would thereby be made evident, whether
* This assertion is not true. See XIV. 9, XV. 3, and
XVI. 9.
t Since Josephus here informs us, that Archelaus had
one half the kingdom of Herod, and presently informs us
farther, that Archelaus's annual income, after an abate-
ment of one quarter for the present, was 600 talents : we
may thence gather pretty nearly, what was the yearly
income of Herod the great: I mean about 1600 talents:
which, at the known value of 3000 shekels to a talent,
and about 2s. lOd. to a shekel in the days of Josephus,
see the Note on III. 8, amounts to 680,000/. sterling per
VOL. II. — NOS. 53 & 54.
they were really a seditious people, and
generally fond of innovations; or whether
ihey would live in an orderly manner, if they
might have governors of any moderation set
over them.
Now when the Jews had said this, Nico-
iaus vindicated the king from those accusa-
tions, and said, that as for Herod, since he
had never been thus *accuscd all the lime
of his life, it was not fit for those that might
have accused him for lesser crimes than
those now mentioned, and might have pro-
cured him to be punished, during his life
time, to bring an accusation against him now
he was dead. He also attributed the ac-
tions of 'Archelaus to the Jews' injuries to
him: who, affecting to govern contrary to
the laws, and going about to kill those that
would have hindered them from acting un-
justly, when they were by him punished for
what they had done, made their complaints
against him. So he accused them of their
attempts for innovation ; and of the plea-
sure they took in sedition ; by reason of
their not having learned to submit to justice,
and to the laws ; but still desiring to be su-
perior in all things.
When Cajsar had heard these pleadings,
he dissolved the assembly; but a few days
afterward he appointed Archelaus, not in-
deed to be king of the whole country ; but
ethnarch of the one half of that which had
been subject to Herod; and promised to
give him the royal dignity hereafter, if he
governed his part virtuously. But as for the
other half, he divided it into two parts ; and
gave it to two other of Herod's sons, Philip
and Antipas : that Antipas who disputed with
Archelaus for the whole kingdom. Now it
was that Perea and Galilee paid their tribute,
which tamounted annually to two hundred
talents : while Batanea, with Trachonitis, as
annum. Which income, though great in itself, bearing
no proportion to his vast expenses every where visible in
Josephus, and to the vast sums he left behind him in his
will, chap. 8, and 11, the rest must have arisen, either
from his confiscation of those great men's estates whom
he put to death, or made to tine for the saving of their
lives ; or from some other heavy methods of oppression,
which such savage tyrants usually exercise upon their
miserable subjects : or rather from these several methods
put together : all which yet seem much too small for his
expenses ; being drawn from do larger nation than that
64
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVII.
well as Aiiranitis, with a *ccrtaiu pari, of
what was called the fhouse of Zoiiodorus,
paid the tribute of one hundred talents to
Philip. But Idumea and Judca, and the
country of Samaria, paid tribute to Arche-
laus ; but had now a fourth part of that
tribute taken off by the order of Caesar,
Avho decreed them that mitigation, because
they did not join in this revolt with the rest
of the multitude. There were also certain
of the cities which paid tribute to Arche-
laus ; Strato's tower and Sebaste, with Joppa
and Jerusalem. For as to Gaza, Gadara,
and Hippos, they were Grecian cities; which
Caesar separated from his government, and
added to the province of Syria. Now the
tribute money that came to Archclaus every
year from his own dominions amounted to six
hundred talents.
And so much came to Herod's sons from
their father's inheritance. But Salome, be-
sides what her brother left her by his will,
which were Jamnia, Ashdod, and Phasaelis,
and five hundred thousand drachmae of coined
silver, received from Caesar a present of a
royal habitation at Ascalon. In all, her an-
nual revenues amounted to sixty talents ; and
her dwelling-house was within Archelaus's
government. The rest also of the king's re-
lations received what his will allotted them.
Moreover Caesar made a present to each of
Herod's two virgin daughters, besides what
their father left them, of two hundred and
fifty thousand drachmae of silver, and married
them to Pheroras's sons. He also granted all
that was bequeathed to himself to the king's
sons, which was one thousand five hundred
talents; excepting a few of the vessels, which
he reserved not so much for their great value,
of the Jews, which was very populous, but without tlie
advantage of trade, to bring them riches. So that I can-
not but strongly suspect that no small part of this wealth
arose from another source, I mean from some vast sums
he took out of David's sepulchre, but concealed from the
people. See the note on VII. 15.
* Take here a very useful note of Grotius's, on Luc.
III. 1, here quoted by Dr. Hudson. "When Josephus
says, that some part of the house or possession of Zeno-
dorus's (i. e. Abilene) was allotted to Philip : he thereby
declares that the larger part of it belonged to another.
This other was Lysanias ; whom Luke mentions ; of the
posterity of that Lysanias who was possessed of the same
country called Abilene from the city Abila ; and by others
Chalcidene, from the city Chalcis : when the government
as because they were memorials of the de-
ceased king.
CHAP. XII.
CONCERHING A SPURIOUS ALEXANDER.
WHEN these affairs had been settled^
by Caesar, a certain young man, by
birtli a Jew, but brought up by a Roman
freedman in the city Sidon, engrafted him-
self into the kindred of Herod by the resem-
blance of his countenance; which those that
saw him attested to be that of Alexander, the
son of Herod, whom he had slain. And this
was an incitement to him to endeavour to ob-
tain the government. So he took to him, as
an assistant, a man of his own country, (one
that was well acquainted with the affairs of
the palace; but on other accounts an ill man;
and one whose nature made him capable of
causing great disturbances to the public;
and one that became a teacher of such a
mischievous contrivance to the other,) and
declared himself to be Alexander, and the
son of Herod; but stolen away by one of those
that were sent to slay him: who in reality
slew other men in order to deceive the spec-
tators, but saved both him and his brother
Aristobulus. Thus was this man elated, and
able to impose on those that camg to him.
And when he was come to Crete, he made
all the Jews that came to discourse with him
to believe hixn to be Alexander.
And when he had gotten much money,
which had been presented to him there, he
passed over to Melos. There he got much
more money than he had before ; out of the
belief they had, that he was of the royal fa-
mily, and their hopes that he would recover
of the east was under Antonias ; and this after Ptolemy,
the son of Menneus ; from which Lysanias this country
came to be commonly called, the country of Lysanias.
And as after the death of the former Lysanias, it was
called the tetrarchy of Zenodorus ; so after the death
of Zenodorus, or when the time for which he hired it
was ended, when another Lysanias, of the same name
with the former, was possessed of the same country,
it began to be called again the tetrarchy of Lysanias.
However, since .Tosephus elsewhere, XX. 7, clearly dis-
tinguishes Abilene from Chalcidene, Grotius must be
here so far mistaken.
t Tetrarchy.
t An. 2.
AN. 1.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
65
his father's principality, and reward his bene-
factors. So he hastened to Rome ; and was
conducted thither by those strangers who
entertained him. He was also »o tbrtunate,
as upon his landing at *Dicearchia, to bring
the Jews tliat were there into the same delu-
sion. And not only other people, but also
those that had been friendly with Herod, or
had a kindness for him, joined themselves
to tills man as to their king. The cause
of it was, that men were glad of his pre-
tences; which were seconded by the like-
ness of his countenance: which made those
that had been acquainted with Alexander
strongly believe that he was the very same
person : and this they confirmed to others
by oath. Insomuch that when the report
went about that he was coming to Rome, the
whole multitude of the Jews that were there
went out to meet him: ascribing it to Divine
Providence that he had so unexpectedly es-
caped ; and being very joyful on account of
his mother's family. And when he was come,
he was carried in a royal litter through the
streets ; and all the ornaments about him
were such as kings were adorned withal:
and this was at the expense of those that en-
tertained him. The multitude also flocked
about him greatly, and made mighty accla-
mations to him : and nothing was omitted
which could be thought suitable to one who
had been so unexpectedly preserved.
When this thing was told Caesar, he did
not believe it : because Herod was not easily
to be imposed upon in such afTairs as were of
great concern to him. Yet having some sus-
picion it might be so, he sent one Caledus, a
freedman of his, and one that had conversed
with the tyoung men themselves; and bade
him bring Alexander into his presence. So
he brought him, being no more accurate in
judging about him than the rest of the multi-
tude. Yet did not he deceive Caesar. For
although there were a resemblance between
him and Alexander; yet was it not so exact,
as to impose on such as were prudent, in dis-
cerning. For this spurious Alexander had
his hands rough, by the labours he had been
put to : and instead of that softness of body
which the other had, and this as derived
* Piiteoli.
from his delicate and generous education;
this man, for the contrary reason, had a rug-
ged body. When, therefore, Caesar saw how
the master and the scholar agreed in this
lying story, and in a bold way of talking:
he inquired about Aristobulus, and asked
what became of him, who was said (o have
been stolen away togeilier miIIi him: and
for what reason it was that he did not come
along with him, and endeavour to recover
that dominion which was due (o his high
birth also.-* And when he said, that he had
been left in the isle of Crete, for fear of the
dangers of the sea; that in case any acci-
dent should come to himself, the pos'/^rity of
Mariamne might not utterly perish, but that
Aristobulus might survive, and punish those
that laid such treacherous designs against
them. And when he persevered in his af-
firmations, and the autlior of the imposture
agreed in supporting it, Cicsar took the young
man by himself, and said to him, "If thou
wilt not impose upon me, thou shalt escape
with thy lite. Tell me then, who thou art.^
and who it was that had boldness enough to
contrive such a cheat as this ? For this
contrivance is too considerable a piece ol
villany to be undertaken by one of thy age."
Accordingly, because he had no other way
to take, he told Caesar the contrivance, and
after what manner, and by whom it was
planned. So Caesar, upon observing the
spurious Alexander to be a strong active
man, and fit to work with his hands, that
he might not break his promise to him, put
him among those that were to row among
the mariners: but slew him that induced
him to do what he had done. For as for
the people of Melos, he thought them suf-
ficiently punished, in having thrown away
so much of their money -upon this spurious
Alexander. And such was the ignominious
conclusion of this bold contrivance.
CHAP. XIII.
OF A SECOND ACCUSATION AGAINST ARCHELAVS ; AND ITIS
BANISHMENT TO VIENNA.
' t
w
HEN Archelaus entered on his eth-
narchy, and was come into Ju-
t Alexander and Aristobi'liis.
-" 2
66
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xvit.
dea,* he accused Joazar, the son of Boethus,
of assisting the seditious; and took away the
high-priesthood from him, and put Eleazar
his brother in his place. He also magnifi-
cently rebuilt the royal palace that had been
at Jericho, and he diverted half the water,
with which the village of Neara used to be
watered; and drew off that water into the
plain, to water those palm-trees which he
had there planted. He also built a village,
and put his own name upon it, and called it
Archelaus. Moreover he ttransgressed the
law of our fathers, and married Glaphyra,
the daughter of Archelaus; who had been
wife of his brother Alexander ; which Alex-
ander had children by her; while it was a
thing detestable among the Jews, to marry
the brother's Avife. Nor did this Eleazar
abide long in the high-priesthood. Jesus,
the son of Sie, being put in his room, while
he was still living.
But on the tenth yearj of Archelaus's go-
vernment, both his brethren, and the princi-
pal men of Judea and Samaria, not being
able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical
usage; accused him before Caesar; and that
especially because they knew he had broken
those commands which obliged him to be-
have himself with moderation. Hereupon
Caesar was very angry; and called for Arche-
laus's steward, who took care of his affairs at
Rome; and thinking it beneath him to write
to Archelaus, he bade him sail away as soon
as possible, and bring him to Rome. So the
man made haste in his voyage; and when he
came to Judea, he found Archelaus feasting
with his friends. So he told him his errand,
and hastened him away. And when he was
come to Rome, Caesar, upon hearing what
certain accusers of his had to say, and what
reply he could make, both banished him, and
appointed Vienna a city of Gaul, to be the
place of his habitation, and took his money
away from him.
Now before Archelaus was gone up to
Rome upon this message, he related this
dream to his friends : that he saw ten ears of
corn, full of wheat, perfectly ripe: which ears,
as it seemed to him, were devoured by oxen.
* A. D. 1.
t Spanheim seasonably observes here, that it was for-
bidden the Jews to marry their brother's wife, when she
And when he was awake and gotten up, be-
cause the vision appeared to be of great im-
portance to him, he sent for the diviners ;
whose study was employed about dreams.
And while some were of one opinion, and
some of another; (for all their interpretations
did not agree,) Simon, a man of the sect of
the Essenes, desired leave to speak his mind
freely, and said, that the visions denoted a
change in the affairs of Archelaus, and then
not for the better: that oxen, because that
animal takes uneasy pains in his labours, de-
noted afflictions: and indeed denoted farther,
a change of affairs; because that land which
is ploughed by oxen cannot remain in its
former state. And that the ears of corn be-
ing ten, determined the like number of years;
because an ear of corn grows in one year :
and that the time of Archelaus's government
was over. And thus did this man expound
the dream. Now on the fifth day after this
dream came first to Archelaus, his steward
arrived to summon him before Caesar.
The like accident befell Glaphyra, his
wife, who was the daughter of king Arche-
laus, who, as I said before, was married,
while she was a virgin, to Alexander the son
of Herod, and brother of Archelaus. But
since it happened that Alexander was slain
by his father, she married Juba, the king of
Libya; and when he was dead, and she lived
in widowhood in Cappadocia with her father,
Archelaus divorced his former wife Mari-
amne, and married her; so great was his
affection for this Glaphyra ; who during her
marriage to him saw the following dream.
She thought she saw Alexander standing by
her; at which she rejoiced, and embraced
him with great affection; but he complained
of her, and said, " O Glaphyra! thou provest
that saying to be true, which assures us, that
women are not to be trusted. Didst not thou
pledge thy faith to me .'' and wast not thou
married to me, when thou wast a virgin ? and
had we not children between us .'' Yet hast
thou forgotten my affection out of a desire of
a second husband. Nor hast thou been
satisfied with that injury thou didst me, but
thou hast been so bold as to procure thee a
had children by her first husband : and that Zonaras cites
or interprets the clause before us accordingly.
i A. D. 7.
A. D. I.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
67
third husband, and in an indecent and impu-
dent manner hast entered into my house, and
hast been married to Archelaus, my brother.
However, I will not forget thy former kind
affection for me ; but will set thee free from
every such reproachful action ; and cause
thee to be mine again as thou once wast."
When she had related this to her female
companions, in a few days' time she departed
this life.
Now I did not think these histories impro-
per for the present discourse : both because
my discourse now is concerning kings ; and
otherwise also on account of the advantage
hence to be drawn, as well for the confirma-
tion of the immortality of the soul, as of the
providence of God over human affairs. But
if any one do not believe such relations, let
him enjoy his own opinion : but let him not
hinder another, that would thereby encourage
himself in virtue. So Archelaus's country,
was added to the province of Syria : and
Cyrenius, one that had been consul, was
sent by Caesar to take an account of the peo-
ple's effects in Syria, and to sell the house of
Archelaus.
68
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWs.
[book XVIII.
BOOK XVIII.
Containing an Interval of Thirty-two Years.
FROM THE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS, TO THE JJEPARTURE OF THE JEWS FROM BABTLOK.
CHAP. I.
OF THE TAXATION OF SYRIA AND JUDEA J AND THE AP-
POINTMENT OF COPONIUS TO BE PROCURATOR OF JUDEA.
ALSO CONCERNING JUDAS OF GALILEE ; AND THE SECTS
THAT WERE AMONG THE JEWS.
NOW Cyrenius, a Roman senator, who
had gone through other magistracies,
Jill he had been made consul, and who, on
other accounts, was of great dignity, came at
this time into Syria, with a few others; being
sent by Caesar to be a judge of that nation,
and to take an account of their substance.
Coponius also, a man of the equestrian order,
was sent together with him ; to have the su-
preme power over the Jews. Moreover Cy-
renius came himself into Judea, which was
now added to the province of Syria, to take
an account of their substance, and to dispose
of Archelaus's money. But the Jews, al-
though at the beginning they took the report
of a taxation heinously; yet did they leave off
any farther opposition to it, by the persuasion
of Joazar, who was the son of Boethus, and
high-priest. So being over-persuaded by
* Since St. Luke once, Acts v. 37. and Josephus four
several times, calls this Judas, who was the author of that
seditious doctrine and temper which brought the Jewish
nation to utter destruction, a Galilean : but here, Josephus
calls him a Gaulonite, of the city of Gamala ; it is a great
question where he was born : whether in Galilee on the
west side, or in Gaulonitis on the east side of the river
Jordan. While, in Book XX. chap. 6. he is not only
called a Galilean, but it is added to his story, " As I have
signified in the books that go before these ;" as if he had
still called him a Galilean in those Antiquities before, as
well as in that particular place ; as Dean Aldrich observes,
Of the War, II. 8. Nor can one well imagine why he
should here call liim a Gaulonite, when he afterwards
Joazar's words, they gave an account of their
estates, without any dispute. Yet was there
one *Judas, a Gaulonite, of the city Gamala;
who taking with him fSaddouk, a Pharisee,
became zealous to draw them to a revolt :
who both said that this taxation was no better
than an introduction to slavery; and exhorted
the nation to assert their liberty. As if they
could procure them happiness and security
for what they possessed, and an assured en-
joyment of a still greater good ; which was
that of the honour and glory they would
thereby acquire for magnanimity. I'hey also
said that God would not otherwise be assist-
ing to them, than upon their joining with one
another in such counsels as might be success-
ful, and for their own advantage: and this es-
pecially if they would set about great exploits;
and not grow weary in executing the same.
So men received what they said with plea-
sure: and this bold attempt proceeded to a
great height. All sorts of misfortunes also
sprang from these men ; and the nation was
infected with this doctrine to an incredible
degree. One violent war came upon us after
calls him a Galilean. As for the city of Gamala, whence
this Judas was derived, it determines nothing ; since there
were two of that name ; the one in Gaulonitis, the other
in Galilee. See Reland, on the city or town of that name.
t It seems not very improbable to me, that this Sad-
douk, the Pharisee, was the same man of whom the
Rabbins speak, as the unhappy, but undesigning occa-
sion of the impiety or infidelity of the Sadducees. Nor
perhaps had the men this name of Sadducees till this
very time ; though they were a distinct sect long before.
See the note on XIII. 10. and Dean Prideaux as there
quoted. Nor do we, that I know of, find the least foot-
steps of such impiety or infidelity of these Sadducees be-
fore this time.
A. D. 7.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
69
another; and we lost our friends, who used to
alleviate our pains : there were alsa very
j^reat robberies, and murders of our principal
men. This was done, in pretence indeed,
for the public welfare; but in reality, from (he
hopes of gain to themselves. Hence arose
seditions, and from them murders of men ;
Avhich sometimes fell on those of their own
people; (by the madness of these men to-
wards one another; while their desire was,
that none of the adverse party might be left;)
and sometimes on their enemies. A famine
also coming upon us, reduced us to the last
degree of despair: as did also the taking and
demolishing of cities. Nay, the sedition at
last increased so high, that the very temple
of God was burnt down by the enemies' fire.
Such were the consequences of this, that the
customs of our fathers were altered, and such
a change was made, as added a mighty weight
towards bringing all the destruction, which
these men occasioned by their thus conspir-
ing together. For Judas and Sadducus, who
excited a fourth philosophic sect among us,
and had a great many followers therein,
filled our civil government with tumults, and
laid the foundations of future miseries, by this
system of philosophy, which we before were
unacquainted with. Concerning which I will
discourse a little : and this the rather, be-
cause the infection which spread thence
among the younger sort, who were zealous
for it, brought the public to destruction.
The Jews, for a great while, had three
sects of philosophy peculiar to themselves.
The sect of the Essenes, the sect of the Sad-
ducees, and that of the Pharisees. " Of which
sects, although I have already spoken in the
second book of the Jewish War; yet will I
a little touch upon them now.
Now the Pharisees live meanly, and de-
spise delicacies in diet; and they followed
the conduct of reason; and what that pre-
scribes to them as good for them to do. They
also pay a respect to such as are in years :
nor are they so bold as to contradict them in
* Or, Providence.
t This important doctrine never was or could be posi-
tively asserted, but under the sanction of revelation. All
doubt and uncertainty respecting it is now removed, be-
cause life and immortality are brought to light by the
Gospel. B.
t It seems, by what Josephus says here, and Philo
himself elsewhere. Op. p. 676. that these Essenes did
any thing which they have introduced. And
when they determine that all things are done
by *fate, they do not take away the freedom
from men of acting as they think lit : since
their notion is, that it hath pleased God to
make a temperament; whereby what he wills
is done; but so that the will of man can act
virtuously or viciously. They also believe
that souls have an immortal vigour in them :
and that under the earth there will be re-
wards, or punishments; according as (hey
have lived virtuously or viciously in (his life:
and the latter are to be detaitied in an ever-
lasting prison; but that the former shall have
power to revive and live again. On account
of which doctrines they are able to persuade
the body of the people : and whatsoever they
do about divine worship, prayers, and sacri-
fices, (hey perform according to their direc-
tion. Insomuch, that the cities give great
attestations to them, on account of their vir-
tuous conduct, both in the actions of their
lives, and their discourses.
But the doctrine of the Sadducees is, that
souls die with the bodies. Nor do they re-
gard the observances of any thing besides
what the law enjoins them. For they think
it an instance of virtue to dispute with those
teachers of philosophy whom they frequent.
But this doctrine is received but by a few ;
yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But
they are able to do almost nothing of them-
selves. For when they become magistrates,
as they are unwillingly and by force some-
times obliged to be, they addict themselves
to the notions of the Pharisees, because the
multitude would not otherwise bear them.
The doctrine of the Essenes is this ; that
all things are best ascribed to God. They
teach the immortality of souls;t and esteem
that the rewards of righteousness are to be
earnestly striven for. And when they Jsend
what they have dedicated to God unto the
temple, they do not offer sacrifices: bccanso
they have more pure lustrations of (heir own.
On which account they are excluded from
not use to go up to the Jewish festivals at Jerusalem ; or
to offer sacritices there. Which may be one great occa- -
sion why they are never mentioned in the ordinary book? '
of the New Testament : though in the Apostolical Con-
stitutions they are mentioned ; as those that otjserved the
customs of their forefathers, VI. 6. and that without any
such ill character, as is there laid upon the other sectf
among that peof le.
70
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xvm.
the common court of the temple: but offer
their sacrifices themselves. Yet is their
course of Hfe better than that of other men :
and they entirely addict themselves, to hus-
bandry. It also deserves our admiration,
how much they exceed all other men that
addict themselves to virtue, and this in righ-
teousness: and indeed to such a degree, that as
it has never appeared among many other men,
either Greeks or Barbarians, even for a little
time, it has endured for a long time among
them. This is demonstrated by that institu-
tion of theirs, which will not suffer any thing
to hinder them from having all things in
common : so that a rich man enjoys no more
of his own wealth than he who has nothing.
There are about four thousand men that live
in this way : and neither marry wives, nor
are desirous to keep servants: as thinking
the latter tempts men to be unjust ; and the
former gives a handle to domestic quarrels.
But as they live by themselves, they minister
one to another. They also appointed cer-
tain stewards to receive the incomes of their
revenues, and of the fruits of the ground;
such as are good men, and priests ; who are
to get their corn and their food ready for
them. They none of them differ from others
of the Essenes in their way of living: but
do the most resemble those Dacae, who are
called Polistae,* or dwellers in cities.
But of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy
Judas the Galilean was the author. These
men agree in all other things with the Pha-
risaic notions; but they have an inviolable
attachment to liberty ; and say that God is to
be their only ruler and lord. They also do
not value dying any kind of death; nor in-
deed do they heed the deaths of their rela-
tions and friends; nor can any such fear make
them call any man lord. And since this im-
moveable resolution is well known to a great
many, I shall speak no farther about that
matter. Nor am I afraid that any thing I
have said of them should be disbelieved: but
* Who these noXigai in Josephus, or KWjai in Strabo,
among the Pythagoric Dacse were, it is not easy to de-
termine. Scaliger offers no imnrobable conjecture, that
some of these Dacae lived alone, hke monks, in tents, or
caves : but that others of them lived together in built
cities ; and thence were called by such names as implied
the same.
t Harduin finds fault with Josephus, for saying the
taxation under Cyreniug fell out in the 37th year after
rather fear that what I have said is beneath
the resolution they shew when they undergo
pain. And it was in Gessius Florus's time
that the nation began to go mad with this
distemper; who was our procurator; and
who occasioned the Jews to go wild with it,
by the abuse of his authority; and to make
them revolt from the Romans. And these
are the sects of the Jewish philosophy.
CHAP. II.
OF THE ERECTION OF SEVERAL CITIES IN HONOUR OF CjESAR;
THE SUCCESSION OF PRIESTS AND PROCURATORS; AND THE
AFFAIRS OF PHRAATES, AND THE PARTHIANS.
WHEN Cyrenius had disposed of Arche-
laus's money ; and when the taxings
were come to a conclusion, which were made
in tthe thirty-seventh of Ca3sar's victory over
Antony at Actium ; he deprived Joazar of
the high-priesthood, which dignity had been
conferred on him by the multitude ; and ap-
pointed Ananus, the son of Scth, to be high-
priest. Herod and Philip, in the mean time,
had each of them received their own tetrar-
chy, and settled the affairs thereof. Herod
also built a wall about Sepphoris, which is
the security of all Galilee, and made it the
metropolis of the country. He also built a
wall round Betharamphtha, which was itself
a city also; and called it Julias, from the
name of the emperor's wife. When Philip
also had built Paneas, a city at the fountains
of Jordan, he named it Caesarea. He also
advanced the village Bethsaida, situate at
the lake Gennesareth, unto the dignity of
a city, both by the number of hihabitants
it contained, and its other grandeur: and
called it by the name of Julias, in honour
of Caesar's daughter.
Now as Coponius, who was sent along
with Cyrenius, was exercising his office of
procurator, and governing Judea, the follow-
ing accidents happened. As the Jews were
celebrating the feast of unleavened bread,
the Actiac victory, but without any just occasion in the
world. That battle is known to have been fought between
Augustus and Mark Antony in the beginning of Septem-
ber, in the 31st year before the Christian era. To which
add 36 years to the beginning of September, A. D. 6.
In the next year to which naturally falls the banishment
of Archelaus, and the taxation under Cyrenius, to the
37th year of the Actiac victory, A. D. 7. See Authentic
Records, part II. page 1103, 1104.
A. D,
7-]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
ii
which we call the Passover, it was customary
for the priests to open the temple gates just
after midnight. When, therefore, those gates
were first opened, some of the Samaritans
came privately into Jerusalem, and threw
about dead men's bones in the cloisters. On
which account the Jews atlerward excluded
them out of the temple, which they had not
used to do at sucli festivals: and on otiier ac-
counts, also, they watched the temple more
carefully than they had formerly done. A
little after this accident, Coponius returned
to Rome, and Marcus Ambivius came to be
his successor in that government. Under
whom Salome, the sister of king Herod, died;
and left to Julia (Caesar's wife) Jamnia, all
its toparchy, and rhasaelis in the plain, and
Archelais; where is a great plantation of
palm-trees; and their fruit is excellent in its
kind. After him came Annius Rufus. Un-
der whom died Caesar, the second emperor
of the Romans : the duration of whose reign
was fifty-seven years,* six months, and two
days, of which time Antonius ruled together
with him fourteen years : but the duration of
his life was seventy-seven years. Upon his
death, Tiberius Nero, his wife Julia's son,
succeeded. He was now the third emperor ;
and he sent Valerius Gratus to be procurator
of Judea, and to succeed Annius Rufus. This
man deprived Ananus of the high-priesthood ;
and appointed Ismael, the son of Phabi, to be
high-priest. He also deprived him in a little
time, and ordained Eleazar, the son of Ana-
nus, who had been high-priest before. But
when he had held the sacerdotal office for a
year, Gratus deprived him of it, and gave it
to Simon, the son of Camithus. And when
he had possessed that dignity no longer than
a year, Joseph Caiaphas was made his suc-
cessor. When Gratus had done these things,
he went back to Rome, after he had tarried
in Judea eleven years: when Pontius Pilate
came as his successor.
And now Herod the tetrarch, who was in
great favour with Tiberius, built a city of the
same name with him, and called it Tiberius.
He built it in the best part of Galilee, at the
* These fifty-seven yfcars are from Julius Cesar's death.
t Numbers xix. II — 14.
I We may here take notice, as well as in the parallel
pnrti of the books Of the War, II. 9, that after the death
of Herod the Great, and the succession of Archelaus, Jo-
VOL. n. SOS. 53 & 51.
lake of Gennesareth. There are warm baths
at a little distance from it, in a village named
Emmaus. Strangers came and inhabited this
city ; a great number of the inhabitants were
Galileans also : and many were necessitated
by Herod to come thither out of the country
belonging to him; and were by force com-
pelled to be its inhabitants. Some of them
were persons of condition. He also admitted
poor people; and those such as were col-
lected from all parts, to dwell in it. Nay,
some of them were not quite freemen. And
these he was a benefactor to, and made them
fi"ee in great numbers ; but obliged them not
to forsake the city, by building them very
good houses at his own expense, and by giv-
ing them land also. For he was sensible that
to make this place a habitation was to trans-
gress the Jewish ancient laws: because many
sepulchres were to be here taken away, in
order to make room for the city Tiberius.
Whereas our laws pronounce that such in-
habitants are uncleant for seven days. J
About this time died Phraates, king of the
Parthians, by the treachery of Phraataces,
his son, upon the following occasion. When
Phraates had had legitimate sons of his own,
he had also an Italian maid-servant, whose
name was Thermusa; who had been formerly
sent to him by Julius Caesar, among other
presents. He first made her his concubine :
but being a great admirer of her beauty, and
in process of time having a son by her, whose
name was Phraataces, he made her his legiti-
mate wife, and had a great respect for her.
Now she was able to persuade him to do any
thing that she said ; and was earnest in pro-
curing the government of Parthia for her son.
But still she saw that her endeavours would
not succeed, unless she could contrive how to
remove Phraates's legitimate sons out of the
kingdom. So she persuaded him to send those
his sons, as pledges of his fidelity, to Rome :
and they were sent to Rome accordingly;
because it was not easy for him to contradict
her commands. Now while Phraataces was
alone brought up in order to succeed in the
government, he thought it very tedious to
sephus is very brief in his accounU of Judea; till near his
own time. I suppose the reason is, that after the large his-
tory of Nicolaus of Damascus, including the life of Herod,
and probably the succession and first actions of his sons,
he bad but few good histories of those times before him.
72
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xvni.
expect that government by his father's dona-
tion as his successor. He therefore formed
a treacherous design against his father, by
his mother's assistance; with whom, as the
report went, he had criminal conversation.
So he was hated for both these vices ; while
his subjects esteemed his wicked love of his
mother to be ntf way inferior to his parricide:
and he was by them in a sedition expelled
out of the country, before he grew too great,
and died. But as the best sort of the Par-
thians agreed, that it was impossible they
should be governed without a king ; while it
was also their constant practice to choose
one of the family of Arsaces ; (nor did their
law allow of any others; and they thought
this kingdom had been sufliciently injured
already by the marriage with an Italian con-
cubine, and by her issue ;) they sent ambas-
sadors, and called Orodes to take the crown :
for the multitude would not otherwise have
borne them; and though he was accused of
very great cruelty, and was of an untractable
temper, and prone to wrath, yet still he was
one of the feimily of Arsaces. However, they
made a conspiracy against him, and slew
him; and that, as some say, at a festival,*
and among their sacrifices ; for it is the cus-
tom there to carry their swords with them.
But, as the more general report is, they slew
him when they had drawn him out a hunting.
So they sent ambassadors to Rome, and de-
sired they would send one of those that were
there as pledges, to be their king. Accord-
ingly Vonones was preferred before the rest,
and sent to them : for he seemed capable of
such great fortune, which two of the greatest
kingdoms under the sun now offered him; his
own, and a foreign one. However, the Bar-
barians soon changed their minds, they being
naturally of a mutable disposition; upon the
supposition, that this man was not worthy to
be their governor. For they could not think
of obeying the commands of one that had
been a slave; for so they called those that
had been hostages ; nor could they bear the
ignominy of that name: and this was the
more intolerable, because then the Parthians
must have such a king set over them, not by
right of war, but in time of peace. So they
* Treachery is usually the companion of cruelty. The
most perfidious conduct has often been displayed on such
occasions as these. Men being then off their guard, and
presently invited Artabanus, king of Media,
to be their king ; he being also of the race
of Arsaces. . Artabanus complied with the
ofTer that was made him, and came to them
with an army. So Vonones met him, and
at first the multitude of the Parthians stood
on his side, and he put his army in array;
but Artabanus was beaten, and fled to the
mountains of Media. Yet did he a little af-
ter gather a great army together, and fought
with Vonones, and beat him. Whereupon
Vonones fled away on horseback, with a few
of his attendants about him, to Seleucia. So
when Artabanus had slain a great number
and this after he had gotten the victory, by
reason of the great dismay the Barbarians
were in, he retired to Ctesiphon, with a great
number of his people : and he now reigned
over the Parthians. But Vonones fled away
to Armenia : and as soon as he came thither
he had an inclination to have the government
of the country given him; and sent ambas-
sadors to Rome for that purpose. But be-
cause Tiberius refused it him, and because
he wanted courage, and because the Parthian
king threatened him, and sent ambassadors to
denounce war against him if he proceeded :
and because he had no way to regain any
other kingdom ; (for the people of authority
among the Armenians about Niphates joined
themselves to Artabanus:) he delivered up
himself to Silanus the president of Syria:
who out of regard to his education at Rome,
kept him in Syria; while Artabanus gave
Armenia to Orodes, one of his own sons.
At this time died Antiochus, king of Com-
magene: whereupon the multitude contended
with the nobility; and both sent ambassadors
to Rome. For the men of power were desir-
ous that their government might be changed
into the form of a Roman province : while the
multitude Avere desirous to be under kings, as
their fathers had been. So the senate made
a decree, that Germanicus should be sent to
settle the aflfairs of the East ; fortune hereby
taking a proper opportunity for depriving
him of his life. For when he had been in
the East, and settled all affairs there, his
life was taken away by a poison which
Piso gave him.
perhaps least able to defend themselves, fall an easy prey
to their betrayers. B.
A. D. 27.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
73
CHAP. III.
OF A SEDITION OF THE JEWS AGAINST PONTIUS PILATE ;
REMARKS CONCERNING CHRIST ; AND WHAT BEFELL PAU-
LINA AND THE JEWS AT ROME.
BUT now * Pilate, the procurator of Ju-
dea, removed the army from Ca;sarea,
to Jerusalem, to take their winter-quarters
there, in order to abolish the Jewish laws.
So he introduced Ca;sar's images, which were
upon the ensigns, and brought them into the
city: whereas our law forbids us the very
making of images. On which account the
former procurators were wont to make their
entry into the city with such ensigns as had
not those ornaments. Pilate was the first
who brqught those images to Jerusalem, and
set them up there : which was done without
the knowledge of the people, because it was
done in the night time. But as soon as they
knew it, they came in multitudes to Csesarea,
and interceded with Pilate many days, that
he would remove the images. And when he
would not grant their request, because this
would tend to the injury of Caesar; while yet
they persevered in it: on the sixth day he
ordered his soldiers to have their weapons
privately, while he came and sat upon the
judgment-seat, which seat was so prepared in
the open place of the city, that it concealed
the army that lay ready to oppress them.
And when the Jews petitioned him again, he
gave a signal to the soldiers to encompass
them round; and threatened that their pu-
nishment should be no less than immediate
death, unless they would leave off disturbing
» A. D. 27.
t A. D. 28.
I These .lews, as they are here called, whose blood
Pilate shed on this occasion, may very well be those Ga-
lilean Jews, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifices ; Luke xiii. 1, 2. These tumnlts being usually
excitfcd at some of the great festivals, when they slew
abundance of sacrifices ; and the Galileans being com-
monly more busy in such tumults than those of Judea
and .'erusalem ; as we learn from the history of Ar-
chelaus, XVII. 9, and chap. 10. Though, indeed,
Josephtis's present copies say not one word of those
eighteen, upon which the tower of Siloam fell and
slew them, which the fourth verse of the same thir-
teenth chapter of St. Luke informs us of. But since our
Gospel teaches us, Luke xxiii. (i, 7, that when Pilate
he:ire good will tliey bare his
"iatlier. Now there was one Tliallus, a freed-
iiiaii ol'Cajsars, otwhom lie borrowed a mil-
lion ol' drachmiu: and thence repayed An-
toiiia the debt he owed her. And by spending
the overplus in paying his court to ('aius, he
became S person of great authority with him.
Now as the friendship which Agrippa had
for Caius was come to a great height, there
liappened some words between them, as tiiey
once were in a chariot together, concerning
Tiberius : Agrippa praying to God (for they
two sat by themselves,) that Tiberius might
soon go oil' the stage, and leave the govern-
ment to Caius, who was in every respect more
worthy of it. Now Eutychus, who was Agrip-
pa's freedman, and drove his chariot, heard
these words: and at that time said nothing
of them. But w hen Agrippa accused him of
stealing some garments of his, (which was
certainly true ;) he ran away from him. But
when he was caught, and brought before Piso
the governor of the city: and the man was
asked why he ran away ? he replied, that he
had somewhat to say to Caesar, that tended
to his security and preservation. Accord-
ingly Piso bound him, and sent him to Capreai.
But Tiberius,t according to his usual custom,
kept him still in bonds : being a delayer of
affairs, if there ever was any other king or
tyrant that was so. For he did not admit
ambassadors quickly; and no successors were
despatched away to governors or procurators
of the provinces, that had been formerly sent,
unless they Were dead. Whence it was, that
he was so negligent in hearing the causes of
prisoners. Insomuch that when he was asked
by his friends, what was the reason of his de-
lay in such cases ? he said, that he delayed
to hear ambassadors, lest upon their quick
dismission, other ambassadors should be ap-
pointed, and return upon him; and so he
should bring trouble upon himself, in their
public reception and dismission. That he
permitted those governors who had been
once sent to their governments to stay there
a great while, out of regard to the subjects
that were under them. For that all govern-
ors are naturally disposed to get as much as
* Germanicus.
f This dihitory temper of Tiberiiis's is confirmed by
Tacitus, Aooal. I. 8. as Spanheim here observes. The
they can : and that those who are not to fix
there, but to stay a short time, and that at an
uncertainty when they shall be turned out, do
the more severely hurry themselves on to
fleece the people. But that if their govern-
ment be long continued, they arc, at last, sa-
tiated with the spoils; and so become less
sharp in their pillaging. But that if succes-
sors are sent quickly, the poor subjects who
are exposed to them, as a prey, will not be
able to bear the new ones: while they shall
not have the same time allowed them w herein
their predecessors had filled themselves, and
so grow more unconcerned about getting
more. And this because they are removed
before they have had time for their oppres-
sions. He gave them an example to shew
his meaning. A great number of flies came
about the sore places of a man that had been
wounded. Upon which one of the slanders
by pitied the man's misfortune; and thinking
he was not able to drive those flies away him-
self, was going to drive them away for him.
But he prayed him to let them alone. The
other, by w ay of reply, asked him the reason
of such a preposterous proceeding in pre-
venting relief from his present misery.'' To
which he answered, if thou drivest these flies,
thou wilt hurt me worse. For as these are
already full of my blood, they do not crowd
about me, nor pain me so much as befoi e, but
are sometimes more remiss ; while the fresh
ones that come almost famished, and find me
quite tired down, will be my destruction.
" For this cause therefore," said Tiberius.
" I am careful not to send such new govern-
ors perpetually to those of my subjects, who
are already sufiiciently harassed by many
oppressions, as may, like these flies, farther
distress them. And so, besides their natural
desire of gain, may have this additional in-
citement to it, that they expect to be sud-
denly deprived of that pleasure which they
take in it."
Now as a farther attestation to what I say
of the dilatory nature of Tiberius, I appeal to
this practice itself For although he were
emperor twenty-two years, he sent in all but
two procurators to govern the nation of the
Jews; viz. Gratup, and his successor in the
game thing is observed by Suetonius also, in Tiber. § 41,
63. See the note on Moses Chorenensis's History of Ar-
menia, page 139.
84
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVIII
government, Pilate. Nor was he in one way
of acting with respect to the Jews ; and in
another with respect to the rest of his sub-
jects. He farther informed them, that even
in tlie hearing of the causes of prisoners he
made such delays; " Because," said he, " im-
mediate death to those that must be con-
demned to die would be an alleviation of
their present miseries; while those wicked
wretches have not deserved any such favour:
but I do it, that by being harassed with the
present calamity, they may undergo greater
misery."
On this account it was that Eutychus could
not obtain a hearing: but was kept still in
prison. However, some time afterward, Ti-
berius came from Capreoe to Tuscalanum :
which is about a hundred furlongs from Rome.
Agrippa then desired of Antonia that she
would procure a hearing for Eutychus, let
the matter whereof he ' accused him prove
what it would. Now Antonia was greatly
esteemed by Tiberius on all accounts; from
the dignity of her relation to him, who had
been his brother Drusus's wife; and from her
*eminent chastity. For though she were still
a young woman, she continued in her widow-
hood, and refused all other matches: although
Augustus had enjoined her to be married to
somebody else. Yet did she all along pre-
serve her reputation from reproach. She
had been also the greatest benefactress to
Tiberius when there was a very dangerous
plot laid against him by Sejanus; a man who
had been her husband's friend, and who had
(he greatest authority, because he was gene-
ral of the army, and when many members of
the senate, and many of the freedmen joined
with him, and the soldiery was corrupted, and
the plot wa» come to a great height. Now
Sejanus had certainly gained his point, had
not Antonia's boldness been more wisely con-
ducted, than Sejanus's malice. For when
she had discovered his designs against Tibe-
rius, she wrote him an exact account of the
whole; and gave the letter to Pallas, the
most faithful of her servants, and sent him to
* This high commendation of Antonia for marrying but
once, given here, and supposed elsewhere, XVII. 13.
and this, notwithstanding the strongest temptations, shews
how honourable single marriages were, both among the
Jews and the Romans, in the days of Josepbus, and of the
Apostles, and takes away much of that surprise which the
modern protestants ha%'e at those laws of the Apostles,
Caprese, to Tiberius : who, when he under-
stood it, slew Sejanus, and his confederates.
So that Tiberius, who had her in great esteem
before, now looked upon her with still greater
respect, and depended upon her in all things.
Accordingly, when Tiberius was desired by
Antonia to examine Eutychus, he answered ;
" If, indeed, Eutychus hath falsely accused
Agrippa of what he hath said of him, he hath
had sufHcient punishment, by what I have
done to liim already : but if, upon examina-
tion, the accusation appear to be true, let
Agrippa have a care, lest, out of a desire of
punishing his freedman, he do not rather
bring a punishment upon himself" Now
when Antonia told Agrippa of this, he was
still more pressing that the matter might be
examined into. So Antonia, upon Agrippa's
entreating her continually to beg this favour,
took the following opportunity: As Tiberius
once lay at ease on his sedan, and was car-
ried about; and Caius, her grandson, and
Agrippa, were before him, after dinner; she
walked by the sedan, and desired him to call
Eutychus, and have him examined. To which
he replied, " O Antonia ! the gods are my
witnesses, that I am induced to do what I am
going to do, not by my own inclination, but
because I am fo-rced to it by thy prayers."
When he said this, he ordered Macro, Avho
succeeded Sejanus, to bring Eutychus to him.
Accordingly, without any delay, he was
brought. Then Tiberius asked him, what
he had to say against this man who had given
him his liberty.'' Upon which he said, "O
my lord, this Caius, and Agrippa with him,
were once riding in a chariot, when I sat at
their feet; and among many other discourses
that passed, Agrippa said to Caius, O that the
day would once come, when this old fellow
would die, and name thee for the governor of
the habitable earth ! For then this Tiberius,
his grandson, would be no hindrance, but
would be taken off by thee, and that earth
would be happy, and I happy also." Now
Tiberius took these to be truly Agrippa's,
words : and bearing a grudge withal at
where no widows, but tho«e who had been the wives of
one husband only, are taken into the church list: and no
bishops, priests, or deacons, are allowed to marry more
than once, without leaving off to officiate as clergymen any
longer. See Luke ii. 3G. 1 Tim. v. 11, IS.^'iii. 2, 12.
Tit. i. 6. Constitut. Apnst. II. 1, 2. III. 1, 2. VI. 17.
Can. XVII. Grot, in Luke ii, 36.
A. D. 36.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
8f>
Agrippa, because, when he had commanded
him lo pay his respects to Tiberius, his grand-
son, and the son of Drusus; Agrippa had not
paid him tliat respect, but disobeyed his com-
mands, and transferred all his regard to
Caius ; he said to Macro, " Bind this man."
But Macro not distinctly knowing which of
tiiem it was whom he bade him bind; and not
expecting that he would have any such thing
done to Agrippa, he forebore ; and came to
ask more distinctly what it was that he said ?
But when Ca;sar had gone round the Hippo-
drome, he found Agrippa standing. " For
certain," said he, " Macro, this is the man I
meant to have bound." And when he still
asked, which was to be bound ? he said,
Agrippa. Hereupon Agrippa began to make
supplication for himself: putting him in mind
of his son,* with whom he was brought up;
and of Tiberius his grandson, whom he had
educated : but all to no purpose. For they
led him about bound, even in his purple gar-
ments. It was also very hot weather, and
they had but little wine to their meal: so that
he was very thirsty He was also in a sort
of agony ; and took this treatment of him
heinously. As he, therefore, saw one of
Caius's slaves, whose name was Thaumastus,
carrying some water in a vessel, he desired
that he would let him drink. So the servant
gave him some water to drink: and he drank"
heartily, and said, "O thou boy, this service
of thine will be for thy advantage: for if I
once get clear of these bonds, I will soon pro-
cure thee thy freedom of Caius, who hast not
been wanting to minister to me now I am in
bonds, in the same manner as when I was in
my former state and dignity." Nor did he
tdeceive him in what he promised; but made
him amends for what he had now done. For
when afterward Agrippa was come to the
kingdom, he took particular care of Thau-
mastus, and procured him his liberty from
Caius, and made him the steward over his
own estate : and when he died he left him to
Agrippa his son, and to Bernice his daughter,
to minister to them in the same capacity.
The man also grew old in that honourable
* Drusns.
t Promises should be inviolably performed : especially
when made in distress, and as excitements to obtain the
friendly offices of others in our exigency. B.
\ An owl.
post, and therein died. But all this happened
a good while later.
Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before the
royal palace, and leaned on a certain tree for
grief; with many others who were in bonds
also. And as a certain bird, which the Ro-
mans call Bubo,{ sat upon the tree on which
Agrippa leaned, one of those that were bound,
a German by nation, saw him, and asked a
soldier, who that man in purpiC was.-* and
when he was informed that his name was
Agrippa, and that he was by nation a Jew,
and one of the principal men of that nation;
he asked leave of the soldier, ||to whom he
was bound, to let him come nearer to him,
for that he had a mind to inquire about
some things relating to his country: which
liberty when he had obtained, and as he
stood near to him, he said thus to him by an
interpreter: —
" This sudden change of thy condition,
O young man, is grievous to thee; as bring-
ing on thee a manifold and very great adver-
sity. Nor wilt thou believe me when I foretell
how thou wilt get clear of this misery, which
thou art now under: and how Divine Provi-
dence will provide for thee. I, however, ap-
peal to my own country gods, as well as to
the gods of this place, who have awarded
these bonds to us ; that all 1 am going to say
about thy concerns shall neither be said for
favour, nor bribery; nor out of an endeavour
to make thee cheerful without cause. For
such predictions, when they fail, make the
grief at last and in earnest more bitter than
if the party had never heard of any such
thing. However, though I run the hazard
of my own self. I think it fit to declare to
thee the prediction of the gods. It cannot
be that thou shouldest long continue in these
bonds: but thou wilt soon be delivered from
them, and wilt be promoted to the highest
dignity and power; and thou wilt be envied
by all those who now pity thy hard fortune;
and thou wilt be happy till thy death, and
wilt leave thine happinei^s to the children
whom thou shalt have. But do thou remem-
ber, when thou seest this bird again, that
II Dr. Hudson here takes notice, out of Seneca, Epistle
Vth, that this was the custom of Tiberius ; to couple the
prisoner, and the soldier that guarded him, together in
the game chain.
86
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xvni
thou wilt then live but five days longer.
This event will be brought to pass by that
God who hath sent this bird hither to be a
sign unto thee. And I cannot but think it
unjust to conceal what I foreknow concern-
ing thee: that by thy knowing beforehand
what happiness is coming upon thee, thou
mayest not regard thy present misfortunes.
But when this happiness shall actually befall
thee, do not forget what misery I am in my-
self, but endeavour to deliver me."
When the German had said this, he made
Agrippa laugh at him, as much as he after-
wards appeared worthy of admiration. But
now Antonia took Agrippa's misfortune to
heart. However, to speak to Tiberius on his
behalf she took to be a very diflicult thing,
and indeed quite impracticable, as to any
hope of success. Yef did she procure of
Macro that the soldiers that kept him should
be of a gentle nature : and that the centurion
who was over them, and was to diet with him,
should be of the same disposition : and that
he might have leave to bathe himself every
day: and that his freedmen and friends might
come to him; and that other things that
tended to ease him might be indulged him.
So his friend Silas came in to him; and two of
his freedmen, Marsyas and Stechus, brought
him such sorts of food as he was fond of; and
indeed took great care of him. They also
brought him garments, under pretence of
selling them : and when night came on, they
aid them under him; and the soldiers as-
sisted them ; as Macro had given order to
do beforehand. And this was Agrippa's con-
dition during six months.
Now Tiberius, upon his return to Capreae,
*fell sick ; at first his distemper was but
gentle; but as it increased upon him, he had
small or no hopes of recovery. Hereupon he
commanded Euodus, who was that freedman
whom he most of all respected, to bring tthe
children to him: for that he wanted to talk to
them before he died. Now he had at present
no sons of his own alive: for Drusus, who was
his only son, was dead : but Drusus's son,
Tiberius, was living; whose additional name
was Gemellus. There was also living Caius,
the son of Germanicus, who was the son of
* A D. 37.
his brother Drusus. He was now grown up,
and had had a liberal education, and was
well improved by it, and was in esteem and
favour with the people on account of the ex-
cellent character of his father Germanicus;
who had attained the highest honour among
the multitude, by the firmness of his virtuous
behaviour; by the easiness and agreeable-
ness of his conversing with the multitude;
and because the dignity he was in did not
hinder his familiarity with them all, as if they
were his equals. By this behaviour he was
not only greatly esteemed by the people and
the senate, but by every one of those nations
that were subject to the Romans; some ol
whom were affected when they came to him,
with the gracefulness of their reception by
him: and others Avere affected in the same
manner by the report of the soldiers that had
been with him. And upon his death there
Mas a lamentation made by all men: not such
a one as was to be made in way of flattery
to their rulers, Avhile they did but counterfeit
sorrow, but such as was real. While every
body grieved at his death, as if they had lost
one that was near to them. And truly such
had been his easy conversation with men,
that it turned greatly to the advantage of his
son among all. And among others, the sol-
diery were so peculiarly affected toward
him, that they reckoned it an eligible thing,
if need were, to die themselves, if he might
but obtain the government.
But when Tiberius had given order to
Euodus to bring the children to him the next
morning, he prayed to his country's gods to
shew him a manifest signal, which of those
children should come to the government; be-
ing very desirous to leave it to his son's son ;
but still depending upon what God should
foreshew concerning them, more than upon
his own opinion and inclination. So he made
this to be the omen ; that the government
should be left to him who should come to him
first the next day. When he had thus resolv-
ed within himself, he sent to his grandson's
tutor, and ordered him to bring the child to
him early in the morning: as supposing that
God would permit him to be made emperor.
But God proved opposite to his designation :
t Tiberius, his grandson ; and Caius, his brother Dru-
sus's grandson.
A. D.
37.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
87
I
for whileTiberius was thus contriving matters,
and as soon as it was day, he bade Euodus
to call in that child which should be there
ready. So he went out, and found Caius be-
fore the door: for Tiberius was not yet come,
but staid waiting for his breakfast. For
Euodus knew nothing of what his lord in-
tended. So he said to Caius, " Thy father
calls thee," and then brought him in. As
soon as Tiberius saw Caius, he rellected on
the power of God ; and how the ability of
bestowing the government on whom he
would was entirely taken from him : and
thence he was not able to estabhsh what he
had intended. So he greatly lamented that
this power of establishing what he had be-
fore contrived was taken irom him : and that
his grandson Tiberius was not only to lose
the Koman empire by this fatality, but his
own safety also; because his preservation
would now depend upon such as would be
more potent than himself; who would not
be able to protect him. But he would be
feared and hated by him thai had the su-
preme authority : partly on account of his
being next to the empire, and partly on ac-
count of his perpetually contriving to get
the government, both in order to preserve
himself, and to be at the head of affairs also.
Now Tiberius had been much addicted to*
astrology, and the calculation of nativities:
and had spent his life in the esteem of what
predictions had proved true, more than those
whose profession it was. Accordingly when
he once saw Galba coming in to him, he
said to his most intimate friends, that there
came in a man that would one day have the
dignity of the Roman empire. So that Ti-
berius was more addicted to all sorts of divi-
ners than any other of the Roman emperors :
because he had found them to have told him
truth in his own affairs. And, indeed, he
was now in great distress upon this accident
that had befallen him, and was very much
grieved at the destruction of his grandson,
,which he foresaw : and complained of him-
self, that he should have made use of such
* Thia is a known thing oinong the Roman historians
and poets, that Tiberius was greatly addicted to aatrology
and divination.
t Of the slaughter of this Tiberius, the grandson of
Tiberius Caesar, by Caius Caesar, his brother Dnuus's
grandsoD, when he was come to the empire ; see Philo's
VOL. II. NOS. 55 fc 56.
a method of divination beforehand : while it
was in his power to have died without grief
by this knowledge of futurity : whereas he
was now tormented by his foreknowledge of
the misfortune of such as were dearest to
him, and must die under that torment. Now
although he were disordered at this unex-
pected revolution of the government to
those for whom he did not intend it, he
spake thus to Caius, though unwillingly,
and against his own inclination, " O child !
although Tiberius be nearer related to me
than thou art, I, by my own determination,
and the conspiring suffrage of the gods, do
give, and put into thy hands, the Roman
empire. And I desire thee never to be un-
mindful when thou comest to it, either of my
kindness to thee who set thee in so high a
dignity, or of thy relation to Tiberius. But
as thou knowest that I am, together with,
and after the gods, the procurer of so great
happiness to thee; so 1 desire that thou wilt
make me a return for my readiness to assist
thee, and wilt take care of Tiberius, be-
cause of his near relationship to thee. Be-
sides which, thou art to know, that while
Tiberius is alive, he will be a security to
thee, both as to empire, and as to thy own
preservation: but if he die, that will be but
a prelude to thy own misfortunes. For to
be alone under the weight of such vast af-
fairs is very dangerous. Nor will the gods
suffer those actions, which are unjustly done,
contrary to that law which directs men to
act otherwise, to go off" unpunished." This
was the speech which Tiberius made; which
did not persuade Caius to act accordingly;
although he promised so to do. But when
he was settled in the government, he ttook
off" this Tiberius, as was predicted by the
other: as he was also himself, in no long
time afterward, slain by a secret plot laid
against him.
Tiberius appointed Caius to be his suc-
cessor, having survived but a few days, and
then died, after he had held the government
twenty-two years, five months, and three days.
legation to this Caius, page 995, D. E. and page 996,
who assures us, that Caius obliged him to kill himself.
Though I here prefer the testimony of Suetonius, who
says, that Caius sent a tribune, who slew him suddenly,
when he expected no such thing. In Caio, § 25, which
best agrees with Josephus also.
N
88
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVIII.
Now Caius was the fourth emperor. But
when the Romans understood that Tiberius
was dead, they rejoiced at the good news; but
liad not courage to beheve it. Not because
they were unwilling it should be true; for
they would have given large sums of money
that it might be so; but because they were
afraid, that if they shewed their joy when the
news proved false, their joy would be openly
known, and they should be accused for it, and
be thereby undone. For this Tiberius had
brought a vast number of miseries on the best
families of the Romans; since he was easily
inflamed with passion in all cases : and was
of such a temper, as rendered his anger ir-
revocable, till he had executed the same:
although he had taken a hatred against men
without reason. For he was by nature fierce
in all the sentences he gave, and made death
the penalty for the slightest offences. Inso-
much that when the Romans heard the ru-
mour about his death gladly, they were re-
strained from the enjoyment of that pleasure,
by the dread of such miseries as they fore-
saw would follow, if their hopes proved ill
founded. Now Marsyas, Agrippa's freed-
man, as soon as he heard of Tiberius's death,
came running to tell Agrippa the news. And
finding him going out to the bath, he gave
him a nod, and said in the Hebrew tongue,
*" The lion is dead." Who, understanding
his meaning, and being overjoyed at the
news, "Nay," said he, "but all sorts of
thanks and happiness attend thee for this
news of thine. Only I wish that what thou
sayest may prove true." Now the centurion
who was sent to keep Agrippa, when he saw
with what haste Marsyas came, and what joy
Agrippa had from what he said, he had a
suspicion that his words implied some great
innovation of affairs; and he asked them
about what was said. They at first diverted
the discourse : but upon his farther pressing
Agrippa, without more ado, told him ; for he
was already become his friend. So he joined
with him in that pleasure which this news oc-
casioned; because it would be so fortunate
to Agrippa: and made him a supper. But as
they were feasting, and the cups went about,
* This name of a lion is often given to tyrants, espe-
cially by the Jews, such as Agrippa, and probably his
freedman Marsyas, in effect were ; Ezek. xix. 1 — 9.
Esther xir. 13. 2 Tim. ir. 17. They are also some-
there came one who said, that Tiberius was
still alive ; and would return to the city in a
few days. At this news the centurion was
exceedingly troubled, because he had done
what might cost him his life, to have treated
so joyfully a prisoner, and this upon the news
of the death of Ca;sar. So he thrust Agrippa
from the couch whereon he lay, and said,
" Dost thou think to cheat me by a lie about
the death of the emperor, without punish-
ment } And shalt not thou pay for this mali-
cious report at the price of thine head.''"
When he had so said, he ordered Agrippa
to be bound again, (for he had loosed him
before ;) and kept a severer guard over him
than formerly. And in this evil condition
was Agrippa that night. But the next day
the rumour increased in the city, and con-
firmed the news that Tiberius was certainly
dead ; insomuch that men durst now openly
and freely talk about it. Nay, some offered
sacrifices on that account. Several letters
also came from Caius; one of them to the
senate, which informed them of the death of
Tiberius, and of his own entrance on the
government ; another to Piso, the governor
of the city ; which told him the same thing.
He also gave order that Agrippa should be
removed out of the camp, and go to that
house where he lived beibre he was put in
prison. So that he was now out of fear as
to his own affairs; for although he was still
in custody, yet was it now with ease as to
his own affairs. Now as soon as Caius was
come to Rome, and had brought Tiberius's
dead body with him, and had made a sump-
tuous funeral for him, according to the laws
of his country, he was much disposed to set
Agrippa at liberty that very day. But An-
tonia hindered him. Not out of any ill will
to the prisoner, but out of regard to decency
in Caius ; lest that should make men believe
that he received the death of Tiberius with
pleasure, when he loosed one whom he had
bound, immediately. However, there did
not many days pass before he sent for him
to his house, and had him shaved, and made
him change his raiment. After which he
put a diadem upon his head, and appointed
times compared to, or represented by, wild beasts : of
which the lion is the principal. Daniel vii. 3 — 8. Apoc.
xiii. 1, 2.
A. D. 37.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
89
him to be king of the tetrarchy of Philip.
He also gave him the tetrarchy of Lysanias ;
and changed his iron chain for a golden one
of equal weight. He also sent Marullus to
be procurator of Judea.*
Now, in the second year of the reign of
Caius Caesar, Agrippa desired leave to sail
home, and settle the affairs of his govern-
ment : and he promised to return again,
when he had put the rest in order. So upon
the emperor's permission he came into his
own country, and appeared to them all un-
expectedly as a king; and thereby demon-
strated to the men that saw him, the power
of fortune ; when they compared his former
poverty with his present happy affluence.
So some called him a happy man, and others
could not well believe that things were so
much changed with him for the better.
CHAP. VII.
OF THE BANISHMENT OF HEROD THE TETRARCH.
BUT Herod ias, Agrippa's sister, who
now lived as wife to that Herod, who
was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, took this
authority of her brother in an envious man-
ner; particularly when she saw that he had
a greater dignity bestowed on him than her
husband had : since when he ran away, it
was because he was not able to pay his
debts^ and now he was come back, he was
in a way of dignity, and of great good for-
tune. She was therefore grieved, and much
displeased at so great a tnutation of his af-
fairs: and chiefly when she saw him march-
ing among the multitude with the usual en-
signs of royal authority, she was not able to
conceal how miserable she was, by reason
of the envy she had towards him. But she
excited her husband, and desired him that
he would sail to Rome, to court honours
equal to his : for she said, that she could not
bear to live any longer, while Agrippa, the
son of that Aristobulus, who was condemned
to die by his father; one that came to her
husband in such extreme poverty, that the
* Although Caius now promised to give Agrippa the
tetrarchy of Lysanias, yet was it not all actually con-
ferred upon him till the reign of Claudius, as we learn
XIX. 5.
t This hag been the pregnant cause of much mischief.
necessaries of life were forced to be en-
tirely supplied him day by day ; and when
he fled away from his creditors by sea, he
now returned a king. While he was himself
the son of a king; and, while the near rela-
tion he bore to royal authority called upon
him to gain the like dignity, he sat still,
and was contented with a mere private life.
" But Herod," said she, " although thou wast
formerly not concerned to be in a lower
condition than thy father, from whom thou
wast derived, yet do thou now seek after the
dignity which thy kinsman hath attained to.
And do not thou bear this contempt, that a
man who admired thy riches should be in
greater honour than thyself: nor suffer his
poverty to shew itself able to purchase
greater things than our abundance: nor do
thou esteem it other than a shameful thing,
to be inferior to one who, the other day,
lived upon thy charity. But let us go to
Rome; and let us spare no pains, nor ex-
penses, either of silver or gold ; since they
cannot be kept for any better use, than for
the obtaining of a kingdom."
But for Herod, he opposed her request at
this time, out of the love of ease,tand having
a suspicion of the trouble he should have at
Rome. So he tried to instruct her better.
But the more she saw him draw back, the
more she pressed him to it, and desired him
to leave no stone unturned in order to be a
king. And at last she left not off", till she
engaged him, whether he would or not, to
be of her sentiments; because he could no
otherwise avoid her importunity. So he got
all things ready| after as sumptuous a man-
ner as he was able, and spared for nothing,
and went up to Rome, and took Herod ias
along with him. But Agrippa, when he was
made sensible of their intentions and prepa-
rations, also prepared to go thither. And as
soon as he heard they set sail, he sent For-
timatus, one of his freedmen, to Rome, to
carry presents to the emperor, and letters
against Herod ; and to give Caius a parti-
cular account of those matters, if he should
have an opportunity. This man followed
For the sake of enjoying the present, to what distress and
calamity have many exposed themselves as it regarded
futurity : whereas it was possible for them, by the most
trifling sacrifices, to have secured lastine felicitv. B.
t A. D. 40.
N2
90
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XTin.
Herod so quick, and had so prosperous a
voyage, and came so little after Herod, that
while Herod was with Caius he came himself,
and delivered his letters. For they both
sailed to *Dicearchia, and found Caius at
Baise, a little city of Campania, at the dis-
tance of about five furlongs from Dicearchia.
There are in that place royal palaces, with
sumptuous apartments ; every emperor still
endeavouring to outdo his predecessors in
TJagnificence. The place also affords warm
baths, that spring out of the ground of their
own accord ; which are of advantage for the
recovery of the health of those that make
use of them; and besides they minister to
men's luxury also. Now Caius saluted Herod,
for he first met with him ; and then looked
upon the letters which Agrippa had sent him,
and which were written in order to accuse
Herod : wherein he accused him, that he
had been in confederacy with Sejanus against
Tiberius's government : and that he was now
confederate with Artabanus, king of Parthia,
in opposition to the government of Caius.
As a demonstration of which he alleged, that
he had armour sufficient for seventy thousand
men ready in his armory. Caius was moved
at this information; and asked Herod whether
what was said about the armour were true .''
And when he confessed there was such ar-
mour there, (for he could not deny the same,
the truth of it being notorious,) Caius took
that to be a sufficient proof of the accusation,
that he intended to revolt. So he took away
from him his tetrarchy, and gave it, by way
of addition, to Agrippa's kingdom. He also
gave Herod's money to Agrippa : and, by
way of punishment, awarded him a perpetual
banishment; and appointed Lyons, a city of
Gaul, to be his place of habitation. But
when he was informed that Herodias was
Agrippa's sister, he made her a present of
what money was her own : and told her, that
* Puteoli.
t This is a most remarkable chapter ; as containing
such instances of the interposition of Providence, as
have been always very rare among the other idolatrous
nations ; but of old very many among the posterity of
Abraham, the worshippers of the true God. Nor do
these seem much inferior to those in the Old Testa-
ment : which are the more remarkable, because, among
all their other follies and vices, the Jews were not at this
time idolaters ; and the deliverances here mentioned were
done in order to prevent their relapse into that idolatry.
it was her brother who prevented her being
put under the same calamity with her hus-
band. But she made this reply, " Thou in-
deed, O emperor, actest after a magnificent '
manner, and as becomes thyself in what thou
ofTerest me : but the kindness which I have
for my husband hinders me from partaking of
the favour of thy gift. For it is not just that
I, who have been made a partner in his pros-
perity, should forsake him in his misfortunes."
Hereupon Caius was angry at her, and sent
her with Herod into banishment; and gave
her estate to Agrippa. And thus did God
punish Herodias, for her envy at her brother;
and Herod also for giving ear to the vain dis-
courses of a woman. Now Caius managed
public affairs with very great magnanimity,
during the first and second years of his
reign; and behaved himself with such mo-
deration, that he gained the good will both
of the Romans themselves, and of his other
subjects. But in process of time he went
beyond the bounds of human nature, in his
conceit of himself: and, by reason of the
vastness of his dominions, made himself a
god; and took upon himself to act in all
things to the reproach of the Deity itself.
CHAP. VIII.
OF JTHE AMBASSAGE OF THE JEWS TO CAIUS ; AND OF
THE ORDERS GIVEN TO PETRONIUS TO MAKE WAR
AGAINST THE JEWS, UNLESS THEY WOULD RECEIVE
THE emperor's STATUE.
THERE was now a tumult in Alexandria,
between the Jewish inhabitants and
the Greeks: and Jthree ambassadors were
chosen out of each party that were at vari-
ance, who came to Caius. Now one of these
ambassadors from the people of Alexandria
was Apion; who uttered many blasphemies
against the Jews; and, among other things
that he said, he charged them with neg-
J Josephus here assures us, that the ambassadors from
Alexandria to Caius were on each part no more than three
in number, for the Jews and for the Gentiles, which are but
six in all. Whereas Philo, who was the principal ambassador
from the Jews, as Josephus here confesses, (as was Apion
for the Gentiles,) says, the Jews' ambassadors were them-
selves no fewer than five ; towards the end of his legation
to Caius : which, if there be no mistake in the copies, must
be supposed the truth. Nor in that case, would Josephus
have contradicted so authentic a witness, had he seen that
account of Pbilo's ; which that he ever did does not appear.
A. D,
40.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
91
lecting the honours that belonged to Caesar.
For that wliile all who were subject to the
Roman empire built altars and temples to
Caius, and in other .regards universally' re-
ceived him as they received the gods, these
Jews alone thought it a dishonourable thing
for them to erect statues in honour of him, as
well as to swear by his name. Many of these
severe things were said by Apion ; by which
he hoped to provoke Caius to anger at the
Jews, as he was likely to do. But Philo, the
principal of the Jewish ambassage, a man
eminent on all accounts, brother to *Alexan-
der the falabarch, and one not unskilful in
philosophy, was able to betake himself to
make his defence against those accusations;
but Caius prohibited him, atid bade him be-
gone. He was also in such a rage, that it
opeidy appeared he was about to do them
some very great mischief So Philo, being
thus aflfronted, went out, and said to those
Jews who were about him, that they should
be of good courage; since Caius's words in-
deed shewed anger at them, but in reality
had already set God against himself
Hereupon Caius, taking it very heinously
that he should be thus despised by the Jews,
sent Petronius to be president of Syria, and
successor in the government to Vitellius: and
gave him order to make an invasion into Ju-
dea, with a great body of troops: and if they
would admit of his statue willingly, to erect
it in the temple of God; but if they were ob-
stinate, to conquer them by war, and tlien to
do it. Accordingly Petronius took the go-
vernment of Syria, and made haste to obey
Caesar's epistle. He got together as great a
number of auxiliaries as he possibly could,
and took with him two legions of the Roman
army ; and came to Ptolemais, and there
wintered : as intending to set about the war
in the spring. He also wrote word to Caius,
what he had resolved to do: who commended
him for his alacrity, and ordered him to go
on, and to make war with them, in case they
would not obey his commands. But there
came many of the Jews to Petronius, to Ptole-
mais, to offer their petitions to him, that he
would not compel them to transgress and vio-
late the law of their forefathers. " But if."
* This Alexander, the alabarcb, or governor of the
Jews at Alexandria, and brother to Philo, is supposed by
Bishop Pearson, in Act. Apoat. page 41, 42. to be the same
said they, " thoa art entirely resolved to
bring iliis statue, and erect it, do thou first
kill us, and then do what thou hast resolved
on: for while we are alive we cannot permit
such things as are forbidden to be done by
the authority of our legislator, and by our
forefathers' determination that such prohibi-
tions are instances of virtue." But Petronius
was angry at them, and said, " If indeed I
were myself emperor, and were at liberty to
follow my own inclination, and then had de-
signed to act thus, these your words wouhl
be justly spoken to me. But now Caesar hath
sent to me, I am under the utmost necessity
of being subservient to his decrees ; because
a disobedience to them will bring upon me
inevitable destruction." Then the Jews re-
plied, "Since thou art so disposed, O Petro-
nius, that thou wilt not disobey Caius's epis-
tles, neitiier will we transgress the commands
of our law. And as we depend upon the ex-
cellency of our laws, and by the labours of
our ancestors have continued hitherto with-
out suffering them to be transgressed, we
dare not by any means suffer ourselves to be
so timorous, as to transgress those laws out of
the fear of death, which God hath determined
are for our advantage. And if we fall into
misfortunes we will bear them, in order to
preserve our laws; as knowing that those
who expose themselves to dangers have good
hope of escaping them, because God will
stand on our side, when out of regard to him
we undergo afflictions, and sustain the un-
certain turns of fortune. But if we should
submit to thee, we should be greatly re-
proached for our cowardice ; as thereby
shewing ourselves ready to transgress our
law; and we should incur the great anger of
God also, who, even thyself being judge, is
superior to Caius."
When Petronius saw by their words that
their determination was hard to be removed,
and that without a war he should not be able
to be subservient to Caius in the dedication
of his statue, and that there must be a great
deal of bloodshed, he took his friends, and
the servants that were about him, and hasted
to Tiberias ; as wanting to know in what
posture the affairs of the Jews were. And
with that Alexander who is mentioned by St. Luke, as of
the kindred of the high-priests. Acts iv. 6.
t The Jewish governor at Alexandria.
92
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XVIII.
many thousands of the Jews met him again,
Avhen he was come to Tiberias. These thought
they must run a mighty hazard if they should
have a war with the Romans ; but judged that
the transgression of the law was of much
greater consequence; and made supplication
to him, that he would by no means reduce
them to such distresses, nor defde their city
by the dedication of the statue. Then Petro-
nius said to them, " Will you then make war
with Caesar, without considering his great
preparations for war, and your own weak-
ness.-*" They replied, "We will not by any
means make war with him ; but still we will
die before we will see our laws transgressed."
So they threw themselves down upon their
faces, and stretched out their throats, and
said, they were ready to be slain. And this
they did for forty days together : and in the
mean time left off the tilling of their ground ;
and that while *the season of the year re-
quired them to sow it. Thus they continued
firm in their resolution, and proposed to
themselves to die willingly, rather than to see
the dedication of the statue.
When matters were in this state, Aristobu-
lus, king Agrippa's bi other, and Helcias the
Great, and the other principal men of that
family with them, went in unto Petronius, and
besought him, that since he saw the resolution
of the multitude, he would not make any
alteration, and thereby drive them to despair;
but would write to Caius, that the Jews had
an insuperable aversion to the reception of
the statue ; and hoAv they continued with him,
and left off the tillage of their ground : that
they were not willing to go to war with him,
because they were not able to do it; but were
ready to die with pleasure, rather than suffer
their laws to be transgressed. And that, upon
the lands continuing unsown, robberies would
grow up, on the inability they would be under
of paying their tributes. And that perhaps
Caius might be thereby moved to pity, and
not order any barbarous action to be done to
* What Josephus here relates as done by the Jews be-
fore seed-time, is in Philo, not far off the time when the
corn was ripe : who, as Le Clerc notes, differ here one
from the other. This is another indication that Josephus,
when he wrote this account, had not seen Philo's Legat.
ad Caium, otherwise he would hardly have herein dif-
fered from him.
t This Publins Petronius was after this still president
of Syria under Claudius ; and, at the desire of Agrippa,
them, nor think of destroying the nation.
That if he continued inflexible in his former
opinion, to bring a w^ar upon them, he might
then himself set about it. And thus did Aris-
tobulus, and the rest with him, supplicate
Petronius. So fPetronius, partly on account
of the pressing instances which Arislobulus
and the rest with him made ; and because of
the great consequence of what they desired,
and the earnestness wherewith they made the
supplication ; partly on account of the firmness
of the opposition made by the Jews, which he
saw, while he thought it a horrible thing for
him to be such a slave to the madness of Caius,
as to slay so many thousand men, only because
of their rehgious disposition towards God, and
after that to pass his life in expectation of
punishment : Petronius, I say, thought it much
better to send to Caius, and to let him know
how intolerable it was to bear the anger he
might have against him for not serving him
sooner, in obedience to his epistle : for that
perhaps he might persuade him; and that, if
his mad resolution continued, he might then
begin the war against them : nay, that in case
he should turn his hatred against himself, it
was fit for virtuous persons even to die for
the sake of such vast multitudes of men. Ac-
cordingly he determined to hearken to the
petitioners in this matter.
He then called the Jews together at Tibe-
rias, who came many thousands in number:
he also placed the army he now had with him
opposite to them; but did not discover his
own meaning, but the commands of the em-
peror ; and told them, that his wrath would
be executed without delay, on such as had the
courage to disobey what he had commanded,
and this immediately : and that it was fit for
him, who had obtained so great a dignity by
his grant, not to contradict him in any thing.
" Yet," said he, " I do not think it just to have
such a regard to my own safety and honour,
as to refuse to sacrifice them for your preser-
vation ; who are so many in number, and en-
published a severe decree against the inhabitants of Dora ;
who, in a sort of imitation of Caius, had set up a statue
of Claudius in a Jewish synagogue there. This decree is
extant, XIX. 6. and greatly confirms the present accounts
of Josephus ; as do the other decrees of Claudius rela-
ting to the like Jewish affairs, XIX. 5. To which 1 here
refer the inquisitive reader : as also to Usher's Annals,
at A. D. 42. till which year Petronius continued president
of Syria.
D. 40.]
ANTIQUITIES Ot THE JEWS.
93
deavour to preserve the regard that is due to
your law : which, as it hath come down to
you from your forefathers, so do you esteem
its preservation worthy of your utmost con-
tention. Nor, with the supreme assistance
and power of God, will I be so hardy as to
suffer your temple to fall into contempt, by
means of the imperial authority. I will there-
lore send to Caius, and let him know vyhat
your resolutions are, and will assist your suit
as far as I am able; that you may not be ex-
posed to suffer on account of the honest de-
signs you have proposed to yourselves. And
may God be our assistant; for his authority
is beyond all the contrivance and power of
men; and may he procure you the preserva-
tion of your ancient laws; and may not he be
deprived, though without your consent, of his
accustomed honours. But if Caius be irrita-
ted, and turn the violence of his rage upon
me, I will rather undergo all that danger and
aiHiction that may come either on my body or
my soul, than see so many of you perish,
while you are acting in so excellent a man-
ner. Do you, therefore, every one of you,
return to your own occupations, and attend
to the cultivation of your ground. I will, in
the mean time, send to Rome ; and will not
refuse to serve you in all things, both by my-
self and by my friends."
When Petronius had said this, and had dis-
missed the assembly of the Jews, he desired
the principal of them to take care of their
husbandry, and to speak kindly to the people,
and encourage them to have good hope of
their affairs. Thus did he readily bring the
multitude to be cheerful again. And now
did God shew his *presence to Petronius,
and signify to him, that he ^ould afford him
his assistance in his whole design; for he had
no sooner finished the speech that he made
to the Jews, but God sent down great show-
ers of rain, contrary to human expectation,
for that day was a clear day, and gave no
eign, by the appearance of the sky, of any
• Josephus here uses the solemn New Testament
words, wafxCia, and ^»i(pav!ia, the presence and appear-
ance of God, for the extraordinary manifestation of his
power and providence to Petronius, by sending rain in a
time of distress, immediately upon the resolution he had
taken to preserve the temple unpolluted at the hazard of
his own life, without any other miraculous appearance at
all in that case : which well deserves to be taken notice
rain : nay, the whole year had been subject
to a great drought, and made men despair of
any water from above, even when at any time
they saw the heavens overcast with cloud.-;
insomuch that when such a great quantity of
rain came, and that in an unusual manner,
and without any expectation of it, the Jews
hoped that Petronius would by no means fail
in his petition for them. But as to Petronius,
he was mightily surprised v\ hen he perceived
that God evidently took care of the Jev\s,
and gave very plain signs of his appearance;
and this to such a degree, that those that
were much inclined to the contrary, had no
power left to contradict it. This was also
among those other particulars which he
fwrote to Caius: which all tended to dis-
suade him, and by all means to entreat him
not to make so many thousands of these men
go distracted : w hom if he should slay, (for
without war they would by no means suffer
the laws of their worship to be set aside,) he
would lose the revenue they paid him, and
would be publicly execrated by them for all
future ages. Moreover, that God, who was
their governor, had shewn his power most
evidently on their account; and that such a
power as left no room for doubt about it.
But king Agrippa, who now lived at Rome,
was more and more in the favour of Caius.
And he once made him a supper, and was
careful to exceed all others, both in expenses
and in such preparations as might contribute
most to his pleasure: nay, it was so far from
the ability of others, that Caius himself could
never equal, much less exceed it; such care
had he taken beforehand to exceed all men,
and particularly to make all agreeable to
Caesar. Hereupon Caius admired his under-
standing and magnificence, that he should
force himself to do all to please him, even be-
yond such expenses as he could bear ; and
was desirous not to be behind Agrippa in
that generosity which he exerted in order to
please him. So Caius, when he had drank
of here, and greatly illustrates several texts both in the
Old and New Testament.
t Josephus's account here of the contents of Petronius'g
epistle, greatly differs from that of Philo's ; Legat. page
1027, 1028. A? does also Agrippa's speech to Caius here
greatly differ from Agrippa's epistle to him in Philo ;
Legat. page 1031 — 1037. Which still farther prove that
Josephus never saw that legation.
91
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book xviir.
wine plentifully, and was merrier than or-
dinary, said thus, during the feast, M'hen
Agrippa drank to him: —
" 1 * knew before now, how great a respect
thou hast had for me, and how great kind-
ness thou hast shewed me, though with those
hazards to thyself, which thou undervventest
under Tiberius, on that account. Nor hast
tliou omitted any thing to shew thy good will
towards me, even beyond thy ability: whence
it would be a base thing for me to be con-
quered by thy affection. I am therefore de-
sirous to make thee amends for every thing,
in which I have been any way formerly defi-
cient : for all that I have bestowed on thee that
may be called my gifts is but little. Every
thing that may contribute to thy happiness
shall be at thy service ; and that cheerfully,
and so far as my ability will reach." And
this was what Caius said to Agrippa; think-
ing he would ask for some large country, or
the revenues of certain cities. But although
he had previously resolved what he would
ask, yet had he not discovered his intentions ;
but made answer immediately, that it was not
out of any expectation of gain that he formerly
paid his respects to him, contrary to the com-
mands of Tiberius : nor did he now do any
thing relating to him out of regard to his own
advantage, and in order to receive any thing
from him. That the gifts he had already be-
stowed upon him were great, and beyond the
hopes of even a craving man. "For," said he,
'• although they may be beneath thy power,
who art the donor ; yet are they greater than
my inclination and dignity, who am the receiv-
er." And as Caius was astonished at Agrip-
pa's inclinations, and still the more pressed
him to make his request for somewhat which
he might gratify him with, Agrippa replied,
" Since thou, O my lord, declarest, such is
thy readiness to grant, that I am worthy of
thy gifts, I will ask nothing, relating to my
own felicity ; for what thou hast already be-
stowed on me has made me excel therein;
but I desire somewhat which may make thee
glorious for piety,t and render the Divinity
assistant to thee in thy designs ; and may be
for an honour to me among those that inquire
* This behaviour of Caius to Agrippa is very like that
of Herod Antipas, his uucle, to Herodias, Agrippa's sister,
about John the Baptist, Mitt. xiv. 6 — 11.
t As this is the most hoDourable distinction which can
about it; as shewing that I never once fail
of obtaining what I desire of thee. For
my petition is this, that thou wilt no longer
think of the dedication of that statue, which
thou hast ordered to be set up in the Jewish
temple by Petronius."
Thus did Agrippa venture to cast the die
upon this occasion ; so great was the affair in
his opinion ; though he knew how dangerous
a thing it was so to speak : for had not Caius
approved of it, it had tended to no less than
the loss of his life. So Caius, who was
mightily taken with Agrippa's obliging be-
haviour, and on other accounts thinking it a
dishonourable thing to be guilty of falsehood
before so many witnesses, in points wherein
he had, with such alacrity, forced Agrippa to
become a petitioner ; and that it wotild look
as if he had already repented of what he had
said ; and because he greatly admired Agrip-
pa's virtue, in not desiring him to augment
his own dominions, either with larger reve-
nues or other authority ; but took care of the
public tranquillity, of the laws, and of the
Divinity itself; he granted him what he had
requested. He also wrote to Petronius, com-
mending- him for assembling his army, and
then consulting him about those affairs. " If
therefore," said he, " thou hast already erect-
ed my statue, let it stand : but if thou hast
not yet dedicated it, do not trouble thyself
farther about it; but dismiss thy army, and
go back, and take care of those affairs which
I sent thee about at first : for I have now no
occasion for the erection of that statue. This
I have granted as a favour to Agrippa; a
man whom I honour so very greatly, that I
am not able to contradict what he would
have, or what h^ desires me to do for him."
And this was what Caius wrote to Petronius :
which was before he received his letter, in-
forming him that the Jews were ready to re-
volt about the statue; and that they seemed
resolved to threaten war against the Romans,
and nothing else. When, therefore, Caius
was much displeased that any attempt should
be made against his government, as he was
a slave to base and vicious actions on all
occasions, and had no regard to what was
be attained, men should be ambitious of acquiring it ; es-
pecially as it never fails ultimately to obtain the respect
it deserves. B.
A. ». 40.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
95
virtuous and honourable ; and against whom-
soever he resolved to shew his anger, and
that for any cause whatsoever, he suflfered not
himself to be restrained by any admonition,
but thought the indulging his anger to be a
real pleasure ; he wrote thus to Petronius :
" Seeing thou esteemest the presents made
thee by the Jews to be of greater value than
my commands, and art grown insolent enough
to be subservient to their pleasure, I charge
thee to become tiiy own judge; and to con-
sider what thou art to do, now thou art under
my displeasure : for I will make thee an ex-
ample to the present and to all future ages,
that they may not dare to contradict the
commands of their emperor."
This was the epistle which Caius wrote:
but Petronius did not receive it while Caius
was alive ; that ship which carried it sailing
so slow, that other letters came to Petronius
before this, by which he understood that Caius
was dead : for God would not forget the dan-
gers Petronius had undertaken on account of
the Jews, and of his own honour. But when
» A. D. 41.
t I have liitlicrto compared .Tosephus's history with the
pretended lcg-.itio;i to Caius, as if it were genuine ; as I,
witli all learned men, supposed it to be when I wrote the
preceding notes. But upon this occasion 1 shall produce
some reasons, which have since occurred to me, on a
comparison of this pretended Philo and the real Josephus,
why I strongly suspect that neither this satirical legation,
nor its second part, as Photius esteemed it, 1 mean the
satire upon Flaccus, are genuine.
I. Josephus, who gives us here a most honourable tes-
timony to Philo, the principal of the three Alexandrian
ambassadors to Caius ; when he writes the history of the
ro here-
with his royal hands had been bound, he
hung it up within the limits of the temple,
over §the treasury : that it might be a me-
morial of the severe fate he had lain under,
and a testimony of his change for the better:
that it might be a demonstration how the
greatest prosperity may have a fall; and that
God sometimes raises up what is fallen down.
For this chain thus dedicated afforded a
document to all men, that king Agrippa had
been once bound in a chain for a small cause,
but recovered his former dignity again : a
little while afterward got out of his bonds,
and was advanced to be a more illustrious
king than he was before. Whence men may
understand that all that partake of human na-
ture, how great soever they are, may fall : and
that those that fall may regain their former
illustrious dignity again.
When Agrippa had entirely finished all the
duties of the divine worship, he removed
Theophilus, the son of Ananus, from the high-
priesthood, and bestowed that honour on
Simon, the son of Boethus, whose name was
also Cantheras : whose daughter king Herod
had married, **as I have already related.
Simon, therefore, had the high-priesthood,
with his brethren, and with his father; in like
of James the brother of John, and his imprisonment of
Peter, or his vain-glorious behaviour before he died, both
in Acts xii. 1, 2, 3, and here XIX. 4. vvill justify or allow.
Joscphus's character was probably taken from his son
Agrippa, jun.
II See Book XVlII.chap. 6.
§ This treasury-chamber seems to have been the same
in which our Saviour taught ; and where the people
offered their donations for the repairs or other uses of the
temple. Mark xii. 41. &c. Luke xxi. 1. John viii. 20.
«» Book XV. chap. 9.
126
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XIX.
manner as the three sons of Simon, the son
of Onias, had it formerly under the govern-
ment of the Macedonians : as we have re-
lated in a former book.*
When the king had settled the high-priest-
hood after this manner, he returned the kind-
ness which the inhabitants of Jerusalem had
shewn him. For he released them from the
tax upon houses, every one of which paid it
before: thinking it a good thing to requite
the tender afTection of those that loved him.
He also made Silas the general of his forces;
as a man who had partaken with him in many
of his troubles. But after a very little while
the young men of Doris, preferring a rash at-
tempt before piety, and being naturally bold
and insolent, carried a statue of Caesar's into
a synagogue of the Jews, and erected it there.
This procedure of theirs greatly provoked
Agrippa. For it plainly tended to the disso-
lution of the laws of his country. So he came
without delay to PubHus Petronius, who was
then president of Syria, and accused the peo-
ple of Doris. Nor did he less resent what
was done than did Agrippa. For he judged
it a piece of impiety to transgress the laws
that regulate the actions of men. So he
wrote the following letter to the people of
Doris, in an angry strain : —
" Publius Petronius, the president, under
Tiberius Claudius Caesar, Augustus, Germa-
nicus ; to the magistrates of Doris, ordains as
follows : Since some of you have had the
boldness, or madness rather, after the edict
of Claudius Caesar was published, for per-
mitting the Jews to observe the laws of their
country, not to obey the same; but have
acted in entire opposition thereto: as for-
bidding the Jews to assemble together in their
synagogue, by removing Caesar's statue, and
setting it up therein ; and thereby have of-
fended not only the Jews, but the emperor
himself; whose statue is more commodiously
placed in his own temple, than in a foreign
one; where is the place of assembling to-
gether; while it is but a part of natural justice,
that every one should have the power over
the places belonging peculiarly to themselves,
according to the determination of Caesar. To
say nothing of my own determination; which
it would be ridiculous to mention after the
Book XII. chap. 3.
emperor's edict; which gives the Jews leave
to make use of their own customs; as also
gives order that they enjoy equally the rights
of citizens with the Greeks themselves. I
therefore ordain, that Proculus Vitellius, the
centurion, bring those men to me, who, con-
trary to Augustus's edict, have been so inso-
lent, as to do this thing: at which those very
men who appear to be of principal reputation
among them have an indignation also; and
allege for themselves that it was not done
with their consent, but by the violence of
the multitude; that they may give an account
of what hath been done. I also exhort the
principal magistrates among them, unless
they have a mind to have this wicked action
esteemed to be done with their consent, to
inform the centurion of those that were guilty
of it; and take care that no handle be hence
taken for raising a sedition or quarrel among
them : which those seem to me to seek after,
who encourage such doings. While both I
myself, and king Agrippa, for whom I have
the highest honour, have nothing more under
our care, than that the nation of the Jews
may have no occasion given them of getting
together under the pretence of avenging
themselves, and become tumultuous. And
that it may be the more publicly known what
Caesar hath resolved about this whole matter,
I have subjoined those edicts which he hath
lately caused to be published at Alexandria:
and which although they may be well known
to all, yet did king Agrippa, for whom 1 have
the highest honour, read them at that time
before my tribunal, and pleaded that the
Jews ought not to be deprived of those rights
which Augustus hathg ranted them. I there-
fore charge you, that you do not, for the time
to come, seek for any occasion of sedition or
disturbance, but that every one be allowed
to follow tlieir own religious customs."
Thus did Petronius take care of this mat-
ter : that such a breach of the law might be
corrected ; and that no such thing might be
attempted afterwards against the Jews. And
now king Agrippa took the high-priesthood
away from Simon Cantheras, and put Jona-
than, the son of Ananus, into it again ; and
owned that he was more worthy of that dig-
nity than the other. But this was not a thing
acceptable to him, to recover his former dig-
nity. So he refused it, and said, " O king, I
A. D. 42.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
127
rejoice in the honour thou hast for rae ; and
take it kindly that thou uouldest give me
8uch a dignity of thine own inclinations : al-
tbougli God hath judged that I am not at all
worthy of the high-priesthood. I am satisfied
with having once put on the sacred garments.
For I then put them on after a more holy
manner, than I should now receive them
again. But if thou desirest that a person
more worthy than myself should have this
honourable employment, give me leave to
name thee such a one. I have a brother,
that is pure from all sin against God, and of
all offences against thyself. I recommend
him to thee, as one that is fit for this dig-
nity." So the king was pleased with these
words of his ; and passed by Jonathan ; and,
according to his brother's desire, bestowed
the high-priesthood upon Matthias. Nor was
it long before Marcus succeeded Petronius
as president of Syria
CHAP. vir.
OP THE CAUSE OF AGRIPFA's ANGER AGAINST SILAS ; HtS
REPARATION OF THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM ; AND THE
BENEFITS WHICH HE BESTOWED ON THE INHABITANTS
OF BERTTUS.
NOW Silas, the general of the king's
horse, because he had been faithful to
him under all his misfortunes, and had never
refused to be a partaker with him in any of
his dangers, but had oftentimes undergone
the most hazardous pains for him ; was full of
assurance, and thought he might expect a
sort of equality with the king, on account of
the firmness of the friendship he had shewn
to him. Accordingly, he would no where
let the king sit as his superior; and took
the like liberty in speaking to him upon all
occasions : till he became troublesome to the
king when they were merry together; ex-
tolling himself beyond measure, and often
J)utting the king in mind of the severity of
brtune he had undergone ; that he might, by
way of ostentation, demonstrate what zeal
he had shewn in .his service ; and was con-
tinually harping upon this string, what pains
he had taken for him; and much enlarged
* In ancient times, when the people were much ex-
posed to hostile armies, they were compelled to dwell in
VOL. II. — NOS. 69 ti 60.
still upon that subject. The repetition of
this so fre(iuently seemed to reproach the
king: insomuch that he took this ungovern-
able liberty of talking very ill at his hands.
For the commemoration of times when men
have been under ignominy, is by no means
agreeable to them; and he is a very silly
man who is perpetually relating to a person
what kindness he had done him. At last,
therefore, Silas had so thoroughly provoked
the king's indignation, that he acted rather
out of passion than good consideration ; and
did not only turn Silas out of his place, as
general of his horse, but sent him in bonds
into his own country. But the edge of his
anger wore off by length of time, and made
room for more just reasoning as to his judg-
ment about this man ; and he considered
how many labours he had undergone for
his sake. So when Agrippa was solemniz-
ing his birth-day, and he gave festival en-
tertainments to all his subjects, he sent for
Silas on the sudden to be his guest. But as
he was a very frank man, he thought he had
now a just handle given him to be angry;
which he could not conceal from those that
came for him ; but said to them, " What'
honour is this the king invites me to; which
I conclude will soon be over.'' For the king
hath not let me keep those original marks of
the good will whicli I once had from him ;
but he hath plundered me, and that unjustly.
Does he think that I can leave off that liberty
of speech, which, upon the consciousness of
my deserts, I shall use more loudly than be-
fore: and shall relate how many misfortunes
I have delivered him from; how many la-
bours I have undergone for him : whereby I
procured him deliverance and respect; as a
reward for which I have bonie the hardships
of bonds, and a dark prison; I shall never
forget this usage : nay, perhaps my very
soul, when it is departed out of the body,
will not forget the glorious actions I did on
his account." This was the clamour he
made : and he ordered the messenger to tell
it to the king. So he perceived that Silas
was incurable in his folly, and still suffered
him to lie in prison.
As for the walls of Jerusalem,* that were
fortified cities. Great and strong walls, were, therefore,
commonly erected for defence. Mencc it was always
s
128
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XIX.
adjoining to the new city, he repaired them
at the expense of the public, and built them
wider in breadth and higher in altitude. And
he had made them too strong for all human
power to demolish, unless Marcus, then
president of Syria, had by letters informed
Claudius CiBsar of what he was doing.
And when Claudius had some suspicion of
attempts for innovation, he sent to Agrippa
to leave off" the building of those walls pre-
sently ; so he obeyed, as not thinking it
proper to contradict Claudius.
Now this king was by nature very benefi-
cent, and liberal in his gifts, and very ambi-
tious to oblige people with large donations,
and he made himself very illustrious by the
many chargeable presents he made them : he
took delight in giving, and rejoiced in living
vi'ith good reputation. He was not at all like
that Herod who reigned before him. For
that Herod was ill-natured, and severe in his
punishments, and had no mercy on them that
he hated ; and every one perceived that he
was more friendly to the Greeks than to the
Jews : for he adorned foreign cities with
large presents in money, with building them
baths and theatres besides ; nay, in some of
those places he erected temples, and por-
ticoes in others ; but he did not vouchsafe to
raise one of the least edifices in any Jewish
city, or make them any donation that was
worth mentioning. But Agrippa's temper
was mild, and equally liberal to all men.
He was humane to foreigners, and made
them sensible of his liberality: he was in
like manner rather of a gentle and com-
passionate temper. Accordingly he loved
to live continually at Jerusalem; and was
exactly careful in the observance of the
laws of his country. He, therefore, kept
himself entirely pure ; nor did any day pass
over his head without its appointed sacri-
fice.
However, there was a certain man, named
Simon, of the Jewish nation, at Jerusalem,
who appeared to be very accurate in the
knowledge of the law. This man got toge-
usual for a besieging enemy to destroy the walls in order
to obtain a triumph ; and it was consequently the care of
tlie people to repair them in the season of leisure and
peace. B.
* A strange number of condemned criminals to be un-
der the sentence of death at once -, no fewefj it seems.
ther an assembly, while the king was absent
at Ca^sarea, and had the insolence to accuse
him as not living holily; and that he might
justly be excluded out of the temple, since
it belonged only to native Jews. But the
general of Agrippa's army informed him,
that Simon had made such a speech to the
people. So the king sent for him : and as
he was then sitting in the theatre, he bade
him sit down by him : and said to him with
a low and gentle voice, " What is there done
in this place that is contrary to the law.-*"
But he had nothing to say for himself, but
begged his pardon. So the king was more
easily reconciled to him than one could have
imagined; as esteeming mildness a better
quality in a king than anger, and knowing
that moderation is more becoming in great
men than passion. So he made Simon a
small present, and dismissed him.
Now as Agrippa was a great builder in
many places, he paid a peculiar regard to
the people of Berytus. For he erected a
theatre for them, superior to many other of
that sort, both in sumptuousness and ele-
gance : as also an amphitheatre, built at
vast expense: and besides these, he built
them baths and porticoes ; and spared for
no costs in any of his edifices, to render
them both handsome and large. He also
spent a great deal upon their dedication, arid
exhibited shews upon them ; and brought
thither musicians of all sorts, and such as
made the most delightful music, of the
greatest variety. He also shewed his mag-
nificence upon the theatre, in his great
number of gladiators: and there it w^as
that he exhibited the several antagonists, in
order to please the spectators; no fewer,
indeed, than *seven hundred men to fight
with seven hundred other men ; and allotted
all the malefactorst he had for this exer-
cise: that both the malefactors might rcr
ceive their punishment, and that this opera-
tion of war might be a recreation in peace.
And thus were these criminals all destroyed
at once.
than 1400.
t Such persons as were accused of great crimes, and
capitally punished, were frequently exposed to fight either
with men or wild beasts. See 1 Cor. xv. 32, and Oriental
Customs, Vol. 2, No. 1348. B.
A. D.
43.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
129
CHAP. VHI.
or THP A(.TI0N8 AND DEATH OF AURIPPA.
WHEN Agrippa had finished what I
have above related at Berytus, lie
removed to Tiberias, a city of Galilee. Now
he was in great esteem among other kings.
Accordingly there came to him *Autiochu3,
king of Commagena; Sampsigeramus, king of
Emesa; Cotys, who was king of the Lesser
Armenia ; and Polemo, who was king of
Pontus : as also Herod his brother, who
was king of Chalcis. All these he treated
with agreeable entertainments, and after an
obliging manner; and so as to exhibit the
greatness of his mind, and to appear worthy
of those respects which the kings paid to
him, by coming thus to see him. However,
while these kings staid with him, Marcus,
the president of Syria, came thither. So
the king, in order to preserve the respect
that was due to the Romans, went out of the
city to meet him, as far as seven furlongs.
But this proved to be the beginning of a
difference between him and Marcus : for
he took with him in his chariot those other
kings, as his assessors. But Marcus had a
suspicion what the meaning could be of so
great a friendship of these kings one with
another, and did not think so close an agree-
ment of so many potentates to be for the
interest of the Romans: he therefore sent
some of his domestics to every one of them,
and enjoined them to go their ways home,
without farther delay. This was very ill
* Of these five kings, Antiochus, king of Commagena,
is mentioned by Josephus elsewhere, in his War of the
Jews, II. 18. Sampsigeramus, king of Emesa, by him in
his Antiquities, XVIII. 5, and by Strabo, XVI. page 753.
Polemo, king of Pontus, by Tacitus Anmd. and II. 56, as
also by Entropius, VII. 9, who says, " He granted Pontus
to the Romans ; and thence it became a province under
them :" Herod of Chalcis by Josephus, just before.
But Cotys, king of Armenia, is, I think, no where clee
named.
t A. D. 43.
j Acts xii. 21, 22, 23.
H We have a mighty cry made here by some critics,
as if the great Eusebius had, on purpose, falsified this
account of Josephus's ; so as to make it agree with the
parallel account in the Acts of the Apostles. Because
the present copies of his citation of it. Hist. Eccles. II.
10, omit the words ^nSCJva in jfoiviit tiv(^, i. e. an owl on
a certain rope ; which Josephus's present copies retain,
and only have the explicatory word ayyeXov, or angel :
taken by Agrippa ; who, after that, became
his enemy. And now the took the high-
priesthood away from Matthias, and made
Elioneus, the son of Cantheras, high-priest
in his stead. lu
Now when Agrippa had reigned three
years over all Judca, he came to the city;
Caesarea, which was formerly called Strato's
Tower; and there he exhibited shews in
honour of Caesar, upon his being informed
that there was a certain festival celebrated
to make vows for his safety. At which fes-
tival a great multitude was gotten together
of the principal persons, and such as were
of dignity through his province. On the
second Jday of these shews, he put on a
garment made wholly of silver, and of a
contexture truly wonderful, and came into
the theatre early in the morning; at which
time the silver of his garment being illu-
minated by the first reflection of the sun's
rays upon it, shone out after a surprising
manner; and was so resplendent as to
spread a sort of dread over those that
looked intently upon him. And presently
his flatterers cried out, one from one place,
and another from another, that he was a
god. And they added, " Be thou merciful
to us; for although we have hitherto reve-
renced thee only as a man, yet shall we
henceforth own thee as superior to mortal
nature." Upon this the king did neither
rebuke them, nor reject their impious flat-
tery; but as he presently afterward looked
up, he ||saw an owl sitting on a certain rope
over his head ; and immediately understood
as if he meant that angel of the Lord which St. Luke
mentions as smiting Herod ; Arts xii. 23, and not that
owl which Josephus called an angel or messenger, for-
merly of good, but now of bad news to Agrippa. This
accusation is a somewhat strange one in the case of the
great Eusebius ; who is known to have so accurately
and faithfully produced a vast number of other ancient
records, and particularly not a few out of our Josephus
also, without any suspicion of prevaricBtion. Now not
to allege how uncertain we are, whether Josephus's and
Eusebius's copies of the fourth century were just like the
present in this clause, which we have no distinct evi-
dence of, the following words, preserved still in Euse-
bius, will not admit of any such exposition. This [bird]
says Eusebius, Agrippa presently perceived to be the
cause of ill fortune, as it was once of £;ood fortune to him.
Which can only belong to that bird the o'wl ; which as it
had formerly foreboded his hijppy deliverance from im-
prisonment, Antiq. XVIII. 6, so was it then foretold to
prove afterward the unhappy forerunner of his death, in
S2
130
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XIX.
that this bird was the messenger of ill ti-
dings, as it had once been the messenger
of good tidings to him; and fell into the
deepest sorrow : a severe pain also arose
in his belly, and began in a most violent
manner. He therefore looked upon his
friends, and said, " I, whom you call a god,
am commanded presently to depart this life;
while Providence thus reproves the lying
words you just now said to me. And 1
who was by you called immortal, am imme-
diately to be hurried away by death. But
I am bound to accept of what Providence
allots, as it pleases God; for we have by
no means lived ill ; but in a splendid and
happy manner." When he said this, his
pain was become violent. Accordingly he
was carried into the palace; and the rumour
went about every where, that he would cer-
tainly die in a little time. But the multitude
presently sat in sackcloth, with their wives
and children, after the law of their country,
and besought God for the king's recovery.
All places were also full of mourning and
lamentation. Now the king rested in a high
chamber; and as he saw them below lying
prostrate on the ground, he could not himself
forbear weeping. And when he had been
quite worn out by the pain in his belly for
five days, he departed this life;* being in
the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the
seventh year of his reign. For he reigned
four years under Caius Caesar ; three of
them were over Philip's tetrarchy only ; and
on the fourth he had that of Herod added
to it. And he reigned, besides those, three
years under the reign of Claudius Caesar.
In which time he reigned over the afore-
mentioned countries, and also had Judea
added to them, as well as Samaria and
five days' time. If the improper word aiTiov, or cause, be
changed for Josephus's proper word ii.yys'kav, angel or
messenger ; and the foregoing words fSaSuva. — iir! x"'^'^
T)v@J be inserted, Eusebius's text will truly represent
that in Josephus. Had this imperfection been in some
heathen author that was in good esteem with our modern
critics, they would have readily corrected these, as barely
errors in the copies : but being in an ancient Christian
writer, not so well relished by many of those critics,
nothing will serve but the ill grounded supposal of wilful
corruption and prevarication.
* A. D. 44.
t This sum of 12,000,000 drachmae, which is equal
to 3,000,000 shekels, i. e. at 2x. \0d. a shekel, equal
to 425,000Z. sterling, was Agrippa the Great's yearly in-
Caesarea. The revenues that he received
out of them were very great ; no less than
ttwelve millions of drachmae. Yet did he
borrow great sums from others ; for he
was so very liberal, that his expenses ex-
ceeded his income, and his generosity was
boundless.|
But before the multitude were made
acquainted with Agrippa's being expired,
Herod, the king of Chalcis, and Helcias, the
master of his horse, and the king's friend,
sent Aristo, one of the king's most faithful
servants, and slew Silas, who had been
their enemy, as if it had been done by the
king's own command.
CHAP. IX.
OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE JEWS AFTER THE DEATH OF
AGRIPPA ; AND THE APPOINTMENT OF CUSPIUS FADUS
TO BE PROCURATOR OF JUDEA.
AGRIPPA left behind him a son, Agrippa
by name, a youth in the seventeenth
year of his age ; and three daughters : one
of which, Bernice, was married to Herod,
his father's brother, and was sixteen years
old. The other two, Mariamne and Dru-
silla, were still virgins; the former was teu
years old, and Drusilla six. Now these
daughters were thus espoused by their
father: Mariamne to Julius Archelaus Epi-
phanes, the son of Antiochus, the son of
Chelcias ; and Drusilla to the king of Com-
magena. But when it was known that
Agrippa was departed this life, the inhabi-
tants of Caesarea and of Sebaste forgot the
kindness he had bestowed on them, and
acted the parts of the bitterest enemies:
for they cast such reproaches upon the de-
ceased as are not fit to be spoken of And
come, or about three quarters of his grandfather Herod's
income. He having abated the tax upon houses at Je-
rusalem, chap. 6, and was not so tyrannical as he had
been to the Jews. See the note on XVII. U. A large
sum this ! but not, it seems, sufficient for his extravagant
expenses.
I Reland takes notice here, not improperly, that Jo-
sephus omits the reconciliation of this Herod Agrippa to
the Tjrians and Sidonians. by the means of Blastus
the king's chamberlain, mentioned Acts xii. 20. Nor
is' there any history in the world so complete, as to
omit nothing that other historians take notice of, unless
the one be taken out of the other, and accommodated
to it.
A. D, 44.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
131
so many of them as were then soldiers,
which were very numerous, went to his
house, and hastily carried off the *statue8
of this king's daughters into the brothel
houses; and when they had set them on
the tops of those houses, they abused them
to the utmost of their power. They also
laid themselves down in public places, and
celebrated general feastings, with garlands
on their heads, and with ointments and liba-
tions to Charon; and drinking to one ano-
ther, for joy that the king was expired. Nay,
they were not only unmindful of Agrippa,
who had extended his liberality to them in
abundance, but of his grandfather Herod
also; who had himself rebuilt their cities,
and had raised them havens and temples at
vast expenses.
Now Agrippa, the son of the deceased,
was at Rome, and brought up with Claudius
Ca;sar. And when Caesar was informed that
• Agrippa was dead, and that the inhabitants
of Sebaste and Caesarea had abused him, he
was sorry for the first ncMS, and was dis-
pleased at the ingratitude of those cities.
He was, therefore, disposed to send Agrippa
junior away presently, to succeed his fatner
in the kingdom; and was willing to con-
firm it by his oatli. But those freedmen and
friends of his who had the greatest authority
with him, dissuaded him from it, and said,
that it was a dangerous experiment to per-
mit so large a kingdom to come under the
* Photius, who made an extract out of this chapter,
says they were not the statues or images, but the ladies i
government of so very young a man, and
one hardly yet arrived at years of discre-
tion, who would not be able to take suth-
cient care of its administration. So Ca;sar
thouglit what they said to be reasonable.
Accordingly he sent Cuspius Fadus to
be procurator of Judea, and of the entire
kingdom; and paid that respect to the de-
ceased, as not to introduce Marcus, who
had been at variance with him, into his
kingdom. But he determined in the first
place to send orders to Fadus, that he
should chastise the inhabitants of Caesarea
and Sebaste, for those abuses they had of-
fered to him that was deceased, and their
madness towards his daughters that were
still alive; and that he should remove that
body of soldiers that were at Ctesarea and
Sebaste, with the five regiments, into Pon-
tus, that they might do their military duty
there ; and that he should choose an equal
number of soldiers out of the Roman legions
that were in Syria, to supply their place.
Yet were not those that had such orders
actually removed: for by sending ambassa-
dors to Claudius, they mollified him, and got
leave to abide in Judea still. And these
were the very men that became the source of
great calamities to the Jews in after times,
and sowed the seed of that war which be-
gan under Florus. Whence it was that
when Vespasian had subdued the country,
he removed them out of his province.
themselves, which wore thus basely abused by the sol-
diere. Cod. CCXXXVIII.
1S2
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book tx.
BOOK XX.
Containing an Interval of Twenty-two Years.
FROM FADUS THE PROCURATOR, TO FLORUS.
CHAP. I.
OP A SEDITION OP THE PHILADELPHIANS AGAINST THE JEWS ;
AND OF THE VESTMENTS OF THE HIGH-PRIEST.
UPON the death of king Agrippa, which
we have related in the foregoing book,
Claudius Caesar sent Cassius Longinus as
successor to Marcus, out of regard to the
memory of king Agrippa ; who had often de-
sired of him by letters, while he was alive,
that he would not suffer Marcus to be any
longer president of Syria. But Fadus, as
soon as he was come procurator into Judea,
found quarrelsome doings between the Jews
that dwelt in Perea, and the people of Phila-
delphia, about their borders at a village
called Mia, that was filled with men of a war-
like temper : for the Jews of Perea had taken
up arms without the consent of their principal
men, and had destroyed many of the Phila-
delphians. When Fadus was informed of this
procedure, it provoked him very much, that
they had not left the determination of the
matter to him, if they thought that the Phila-
delphians had done them any wrong: but had
rashly taken up arms against them. So he
seized upon three of their principal men, who
were also the causes of this sedition, and
ordered them to be bound; and afterward
had one of them slain, whose name was Han-
nibal; and he banished the other two, Amram
and Eleazar. Tholomy also, a noted robber,
was, after some time, brought to him bound,
and slain; but not till he had done much
* The detention of persons as hostages to secure to one
party the good conduct of the other, has been a general
practice. In proportion to the importance of the occa-
mischief to Idumea and the Arabians : and,
indeed, from that time Judea was cleared of
robberies, by the care and providence of
Fadus. He also at this time sent for the high-
priests, and the principal citizens of Jerusa-
lem, and this at the command of the emperor;
and admonished them, that they should lay
up the long garment, and the sacred vest-
ment, which it is customary for nobody but
the high-priest to wear, in the tower of An-
tonia ; that it might be under the power of
the Romans, as it had been formerly. Now
the Jews durst not contradict what he said ;
but they desired Fadus, and Longinus,
(which last was come to Jerusalem, and had
brought a great army with him out of fear
that the rigid injunctions of Fadus should
force the Jews to rebel.) that they might, in
the first place, have leave to send ambassa-
dors to Caesar ; to petition him that the holy
vestments might remain under their own
power; and that, in the next place, they
would tarry till they knew what answer
Claudius would give to that request. So they
replied, that they would give them leave to
send their ambassadors, provided they w ould
give them their sons as pledges for their
peaceable behaviour.* And when they had
agreed so to do, and had given them the
pledges they desired, the ambassadors were
sent accordingly. But when, upon their
coming to Rome, Agrippa junior, the son of
the deceased, understood the reason why
they came, (for he dwelt with Claudius
sion, and the existence of jealousy, or the fear of trea-
chery, has always been the care with which they were
selected or approved. B.
A. D. 44.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
133
Caesar, as *we said before,) he besought
Ca'sar to grant the Jews their request, and
to send a message to Fad us accordingly.
Hereupon Claudius called for the ambas-
sadors, and told them, that he granted their
request ; and bade them return their thanks
to Agrippa for this favour, which had been
bestowed on them upon his intreaty; and
besides these answers, he sent the following
letter by them : —
" Claudius Ciesar, Gerraanicus, tribune of
the people the fifth time, designed consul the
fourth time, and imperator the tenth time, the
fatlicr of his country ; to the magistrates,
senate, and people, and the whole nation of
the Jews, sendeth greeting. Upon the pre-
sentation of your ambassadors to me by my
friend Agrippa, whom I have brought up,
and have now with me, and who is a person
of very great piety; who are come to give me
thanks for the care I have taken of your na-
tion, and to intreat me, in an earnest and
obliging manner, that they may have the holy
vestments, with the crown belonging to them,
under their power; I grant their request; as
that excellent person Vitellius, who is very
dear to me, had done before. And I have
complied with your desire, in the first place
out of regard to that piety which 1 profess,
and because I would have every one worship
God according to the laws of their own
country. And this I do also, because I shall
hereby highly gratify king Herod and
Agrippa junior, whose sacred regards to me,
and earnest good will to you, I am well ac-
quainted with; and with whom I have the
greatest friendship, and whom I highly es-
teem, and look on as persons of the best
character. Now I have written about these
affairs to Cuspius Fadus my procurator. The
names of those that brought me your letter
are, Cornelius, the son of Cero ; Trypho, the
son of Theudio ; Dorotheus, the son of Na-
• Book XIX. chap. 9.
t Here is some error in the copies, or mistake in Jo-
sephus. For the power of appointing high-priests, after
Herod king of Chakis was de<»d, ant came to pass, while Fadus was
procurator of Judea, that a certain
magician, whose name was jjTheudas, per-
suaded a great part of the people to take
their effects with them, and follow him to
the river Jordan. For he told them he was
a prophet; and that he would, by his own
command, divide the river, and afford them
an easy passage over it. And many were
deluded by his words. However, Fadus did
not permit him to make any advantage of
his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horse-
men out against them. Wlio, faljing upon
them unexpectedly, slew many of them, and
took many of them alive. They also took
Theudas alive, and cut off' his head, and car-
ried it to Jerusalem. This was what befell
the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fadus's
government.
And of Achilles : —
His purple garments, and his golden hairs,
Those he deforms in dust, and these he tears.
Iliad zviii.
Let men lament and im])1ore ever so much, or pour
ever so much dust upon their heads, God will not grant
what ought not to be granted.
Maximus Tyrius, Diss. xxx. p. 366. B.
t These pyramids or pillars, erected by Helena, queen
of Adiabene, netr Jerusalem, three in number, are men-
tioned by Eusebius, in his Eccles. Hist. II. 12, for which
Dr. Hudson refers us to Valesius's notes upon that place.
They are also mentioned by Pausanias, as hath been al-
ready noted, chap. 2. Reland guesses that now called
Absalom's Pillar may be one of them.
X A. D. 46.
II This Theudas, who arose under Fadus the procura-
tor, about A. D. 4.5 or 46, could not be that Theudas who
arose in the dayg of the taxing under Cyreniug ; or about
140
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XX.
Then came Tiberius Alexander, as suc-
cessor to Fad us. He was the son of Alex-
ander, the alabarch of Alexandria: which
Alexander was a principal person among all
his contemporaries, both for his family and
wealth. He was also more eminent for his
piety than his son Alexander: for he did
not continue in the religion of his country.
Under these procurators that great famine
happened in Judea, in which queen Helena
bought corn in Egypt, at a great expense,
and distributed it to those that were in
want : *as I have related already. And be-
sides this, the sons of Judas of Galilee were
now slain : I mean of that Judas, who caused
the people to revolt, when Cyrenius came to
take an account of the estates of the Jews ;
as we have shewnf in a preceding book.
The names of those sons were James and
Simon ; whom Alexander commanded to be
crucified. But now, Herod king of Chalcis
removed Joseph the son of Camydus, from
the high-priesthood ; and made Ananias, the
son of Nebedeus, his successor. And now
it was that Cumanus came as successor to
Tiberius Alexander : as also that Herod,
brother of Agrippa, the great king, departed
this life, in the eighth year of the reign of
Claudius Cajsar. He left behind him three
sons : Aristobulus, whom he had by his first
wife, with Bernicianus, and Hyrcanus, both
of whom he had by Bernice, his brother's
daughter. But Claudius Caesar bestowed
his dominions on Agrippa, junior.
Now while the Jewish affairs were under
the administration of Cumanus, there hap-
pened a great tumult at the city Jerusalem,
and many of the Jews perished therein. But
I shall first explain the occasion whence it
was derived. When that feast, which is
called the Passover, was at hand, at which
time a great multitude was gathered toge-
ther from all parts to that feast; Cumanus
was afraid lest some attempt of innovation
should then be made by them. So he or-
dered that one regiment of the army should
take their arms, and stand in the temple
A. D. 7. Acts V. 36, 37. Who that earlier Theudas
was, see the note on XVII. 10.
* See chap. 2.
t Book XVIII. chap. 1.
t This, and many more tumults and seditions, which
arose at the Jewish festivals, in Josephus, illustrate that
cloisters, to repress any attempts of innova-
tion, if perchance any such should begin.
And this was no more than what the former
procurators of Judea did at such festivals.
But on the fourth day of the feast, a cer-
tain soldier exposed his nudities to the mul-
titude. This put those that saw him into a
furious rage; and made them cry out, that
this impious action was itot done to reproach
them, but God himself. Nay, some of them,
reproached Cumanus, and pretended that
the soldier was set on by him. Which,
when Cumanus heard, he was also himself
not a little provoked at such reproaches
laid upon him: yet did he exhort them to
leave off such seditious attempts, and not
to raise a tumult at the festival. But when
he could not induce them to be quiet, for
they still went on in their reproaches against
him, he gave order that the whole army
should take their entire armour, and come
to the fortress of Antonia. But when the
multitude saw the soldiers there, they were
affrighted at them, and ran away hastily.
But as the passages were but narrow, and
as they thought their enemies followed them,
they were crowded together in their flight,
and a great number were pressed to death.
Nor indeed was the number fewer than
twenty thousand that perished in this tu-
mult. So instead of a festival, they had at
last a mournful day of it: and they all of
them forgot their prayers and sacrifices; and
betook themselves to lamentation and weep-
ing. So great an affliction did the obscene-
ness of a single soldier bring upon them.J
Now II before this mourning was over,
another mischief befell them. For some of
them that raised the first tumult, when they
were travelling along the public road, about
a hundred furlongs from the city, robbed
Stephanus, a servant of Caesar's, as he was
journeying, and plundered him of all that he
had with him. Which things when Cumanus
heard of, he sent soldiers immediately, and
ordered them to plunder the neighbouring
villages, and to bring the most eminent per-
cautious procedure of the Jewish governors, when they
said, Matt. xxvi. 5, Let us not take Jesus on the feast
day ; lest there be an uproar among the people ; as Re-
land well observes on this place. Josephus also takes
notice of the same thing, Of the War, I. 4.
II A. D. 50.
A. D.
53.J
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
141
sons among them in bonds to him. Now as
this devastation was making, one of the sol-
diers seized the laws of Moses, that lay in
one of those villages, and brought them out
before the eyes of all present, and tore them
to pieces. And this was done with reproach-
ful language, and much scurrility. Which
things when the Jews heard of, they ran
together in great numbers; and came down
to Cffisarea, where Cumanus then was, and
besought him that he would avenge, not
themselves, but the Deity, whose laws had
been aflronted. For that they could not
bear to live any longer, if the laws of their
forefathers must be affronted after this man-
ner. Accordingly Cumanus, out of fiear lest
the multitude should go into a sedition ; and
by the advice of his friends also, took care
that the soldier who had offered the affront
to the laws should be beheaded: and thereby
Eut a stop to the sedition which was ready to
e kindled a second time.
CHAP. VI.
A 4UARREL BREAKS OCT BETWEEN THE JEWS AND THE SA-
MARITANS J BUT IS TERMINATED BY CLAUDIUS C\ESAR.
NOW * a quarrel arose between the Sa-
maritans and the Jews, on the follow-
ing occasion. It was the custom of the Gali-
leans, when they came to the holy city at
the festivals, to take their journeys fthrough
the country of the Samaritans. And at this
time there lay in the road a village that was
called Ginea, situate in the limits of Samaria,
and the great plain; where certain persons
thereto belonging fought with the Galileans,
and killed a great many of them. But when
the principal of the Gahleans were informed
of what had been done, they came to Cu-
manus, and desired him to avenge the mur-
der of those that were killed. But he was
induced by the Samaritans, with money, to
do nothing in the matter. Upon which the
Galileans were much displeased ; and per-
suaded the multitude of the Jews to take
* A. D. 54.
t This constant passage of the GaUleans through the
country of Samaria, as they went to Judea ami Jerusalem,
illustrates several passages in the Gospels to the same pur-
pose, as Dr. Hudson rightly observes. See Luke xvii. 11.
John iv. 4. See .also Josephus in his own Life, sect. 62,
where that journey is determined to three days.
1 Our Saviour had foretold, that the Jews' rejection of
up arms, and to regain their liberty ; saying,
that slavery was in itself a bitter thing; but
that when it was joined with direct injuries,
it was perfectly intolerable. And when their
principal men attempted to pacify them, and
promised to endeavour to persuade Cumanus
to avenge those that were killed ; they would
not hearken to them; but took their weapons,
and entreated the assistance of Eleazar, the
son of Dineus, a robber, who had many years
resided among the mountains; and with his
assistance they plundered many villages of
the Samaritans. When Cumaims heard of
this action he took the band of Sebaste, with
four regiments of footmen, and armed the
Samaritans, and marched out against the
Jews, and caught them, and slew many of
them, and took a greater number alive.
Whereupon those that were the most emi-
nent persons at Jerusalem; both in regard
of the respect that was paid them, and 4he
families they were of, as soon as they saw to
what a height things were gone, put on sack-
cloth, and heaped ashes upon their heads :
and by all possible means besought the se-
ditious, and persuaded them that they would
set before their eyes,J the utter subversion
of their country, the conflagration of their
temple, and the slavery of themselves, their
wives, and children, which would be the con-
sequences of what they were doing; unless
they would cast away their weapons, and for
the future be quiet. These persuasions pre-
vailed upon them. So the people dispersed
themselves, and the robbers went again to
their places of strength. And after this time
all Judea was overrun with robberies.
But the principal of the Samaritans went
to Ummidius Quadratus, president of Syria,
who at that time was at Tyre ; and accused
the Jews of setting their villages on fire, and
plundering them ; and said withal, that they
were not so much displeased at what they
had suffered, as they were at the contempt
thereby shewn to the Romans: while if (hey
had received any injury, tliey ought to have
his Gospel would bring upon them, among other mise-
ries, these three ; which they themselves hern shew
they expected would be the consequences of iheir pre-
sent tumults and seditions. The utter subversion of
their country ; the conflagration of their temple ; and
the slavery of themselves, their wives, and children.
See Luke xii. 6, 24.
142
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
[book XX.
made them the judges of what had been done;
and not presently to make such devastations
as if they had not the Romans for their go-
vernors. On which account they came to
him in order to obtain that vengeance they
wanted. This was the accusation which the
Samaritans brought against the Jews. But
the Jews affirmed that the Samaritans were
the authors of this tumult, and that, in the
first place, Cumaims had been corrupted by
their gifts ; and passed over the murder of
those that were slain in silence. Which
allegations when Quadratus heard, he put off
the hearing of the cause ; and promised that
he would give sentence when he should come
into Judea, and should have a more exact
knowledge of the matter. So these men went
away, without success. Yet was it not long
before Quadratus came to Samaria; when,
upon hearing the cause, he supposed that the
Samaritans were the authors of that disturb-
ance. But when he was informed that certain
of the Jews were making innovations, he
ordered those to be crucified whom Cumanus
had taken captives. He then went to a cer-
tain village called Lydda, which was not less
than a city in largeness : and there heard the
Samaritan cause a second time, before his
tribunal ; and learned from a certain Samari-
tan, that one of the chief of the Jews, whose
name was Dortus, and four other innovators
with him, persuaded the multitude to revolt
from the Romans. Quadratus, therefore,
ordered them to be put to death : but still he
sent away Ananias the high-priest, and Ana-
nus the commander of the temple, in bonds
to Rome, to give an account of what they had
done to Claudius Caesar. He also ordered
the principal men, both of the Samaritans,
and of the Jews; as also Cumanus, the pro-
curator, and Celer, the tribune, to go to Italy,
to the emperor; that he might hear their
cause, and determine their differences one
with another. He then returned to the city
of Jerusalem, out of his fear that the multi-
tude of the Jews should attempt some inno-
vations. But he found the city in a peaceable
state, and celebrating one of the *usual festi-
vals of their country to God. So he believed
that they would not attempt any innovations;
,, j* The Passover.
t Not only with a view to mortify the individual, and
give publicity to the action, but to render it monitory
and left them at the celebration of the festival,
and returned to Antioch.
Now Cumanus, and the principal of the
Samaritans, who were sent to Rome, had a
day appointed them by the emperor, whereon
they were to have pleaded their cause about
the quarrels they had one with another. But
Caesar's freedmen, and his friends, were very
zealous on the behalf of Cumanus and the
Samaritans. And they had prevailed over
the Jews, unless Agrippa junior, who was
then at Rome, had seen the principal of the
Jews hard set, and had earnestly intreated
Agrippina, the emperor's wife, to persuade
her husband to hear the cause so, as was
agreeable to his justice ; and to condemn
those to be punished who were really the
authors of this revolt from the Roman govern-
ment. Whereupon Claudius was so well dis-
posed beforehand, that when he had heard,
the cause, and found that the Samaritans had
been the ringleaders in these mischievous
doings, he gave orders that those who came
up to him should be slain; and that Cumanus
should be banished. He also gave order that
Celer the tribune, should be carried back to
Jerusalem; and should be drawn through the
cityt in the sight of all the people, and then
should be slain.
CHAP. VII.
OF THE APPOIKTMEBT OF FELIX TO BE PROCURATOR OF
JUDEA : AS ALSO CONCERNING AGRIPPA JUNIOR, AND HIS
SISTERS.
CLAUDIUS nowj sent Felix, the brother
of Pallans, to take care of the affairs of
Judea. And when he had already completed
the twelfth year of his reign, he bestowed
upon Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip, and
Batanea: and added thereto Trachonitis, with
Abila : which last had been the tetrarchy of
Lysanias. But he took from him Chalcis;
when he had been governor thereof four
years. And Avhen Agrippa had received
these countries, as the gift of Caesar, he gave
his sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, king
of Emesa: upon his consent to be circum-
cised. For Epiphanes, the son of king Anti-
ochus, had refused to marry her; because
to others. This is certainly an important part of judicial
punishment. B.
t A. D. 63.
A. D.
53.]
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS.
149
after he had formerly promised her father to
embrace the Jewish rehgion, he would not
now perform tliat promise. He also gave
Mariamne in marriage to Archelaus the son
of Helcias; to whom she had been betrothed
formerly by Agrippa her father : and from
this marriage was ,« PREFACE.
[nsomuch that the affairs of the East were then exceeding tumultuous; while some hoped
for gain, and others were afraid of loss in such troubles. For the Jews hoped that all of
their nation who were beyond Euphrates would have raised an insurrection, together with
them. The Gauls also, in the neighbourhood of the Romans, were in motion ; and the Celtae
were not quiet : but all was in disorder after the death of Nero. And the opportunity now
offered induced many to aim at the royal power ; and the soldiery affected change, out of
the hope of getting money. I thought it tBicrefore an absurd thing to see the truth falsified in
affairs of such great consequence, and to take no notice of it : but to suffer those Greeks and
Romans that were not in the wars to be ignorant of these things, and to read either flatteries
or fictions ; while the Parthians, Babylonians, and the remotest Arabians, and those of our
nation beyond Euphrates, witL the Adiabeni,. by my means knew accurately both whence the
war begun, what miseries it brought upon us, and after what manner it ended.
These writers have indeed the confidence to call their accounts Histories ; but they seem
to me to fail of their own purpose, as well as to relate nothing that is sound : for they have
a mind to demonstrate the greatness of the Romans, while they still diminish and lessen the
actions of the Jews : as not discerning how it cannot be that those must appear to be great,
who have only conquered those that were little. Nor are they ashamed to overlook the
length of the war; the multitude of the Roman forces, who so greatly suffered in it; or the
might of the commanders whose great labours about Jerusalem will be deemed inglorious, if
what they achieved be reckoned but a small matter.
However, I will not go into the other extreme, out of opposition to those men who extol
the Romans: nor will I determine to raise the actions of my countrymen too high: but I
will prosecute the actions of both parties with accuracy. Yet shall I suit my language to
the passions I am under, as to the affairs I describe ; and must be allowed to indulge some
lamentations upon the miseries undergone by my own country. For that it was a seditious
temper of our own that destroyed it; and that they were the tyrants among the Jews who
brought the Roman power upon us, who unwillingly attacked us^ and occasioned the burning
of our holy temple, Titus Caesar, who destroyed it, is himself a witness ; who, during the
entire war, pitied the people who were kept under by the seditious! and did often voluntarily
delay the taking of the city, and allowed time to the siege in order to let the authors have
opportunity for repentance. But if any one make an unjust accusation against me, when I
speak so passionately about the tyrants or robbers, or sorely bewail the misfortunes of our
country ; let him indulge my affections herein, though it be contrary to the rules for writing
history: because it had so come to pass that our city Jerusalem had arrived at a higher degree
of felicity than any other city under the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the sorest
of calamities again. Accordingly it appears to me, that the *misfortunes of all men, from the
beginning of the world, if they be compared with those of the Jews, are not so considerable as
they were : while the authors of them were not foreigners neither. This makes it impossible
for me to contain my lamentations. But if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him
attribute the facts to the historical part, and the lamentations to the writer.
* That these calamities of the Jews, who were our Saviour's murderers, were to be the greatest that had ever
been since the beginning of the world, Christ had directly foretold. Matt. xxiv. 21. Mark xiii. 9. Luke xxi. 23, 24,
and that they proved to be such accordingly, Josephus is here a most authentic witness.
PREFACE. 159
However, I may justly blame the learned men among the Greeks, who, when such great
actions have been done in their own times, which, upon comparison, quite eclipse the old
wars, do yet sit as judges of those affairs, and pass bitter censures upon the labours of the
best writers of antiquity : which moderns, although they may be superior to the old writers
in eloquence, yet are they inferior to them in the execution of what they intended to do.
While these also write new histories about the Assyrians and Medes ; as if the ancient writers
had not described their affairs as they ought to have done; although these be as far inferior
to them in abilities, as they are different in their notions from them. For of old every one
undertook to write what happened in his own time; where tlieir immediate concern in the
actions made their promises of value, and where it must be reproachful to write lies, when
they must be known by the readers to be such. But then, an undertaking to preserve the
memory of Avhat hath not been before recorded, and to represent the affairs of one's own time
to those that come afterwards is really worthy of praise and commendation. Now he is to be
esteemed to have taken pains in earnest, not who does no more than change the disposition
and order of other men's works, but he who not only relates what had not been related before^
but composes an entire body of history of his own. Accordingly I have been at great charges,
and have taken very great pains about this history, though I be a foreigner, and to dedicate
this work as a memorial of great actions, both to the G recks and to the Barbarians. But for
some of our own principal men, their mouths are wide open, and their tongues loosed presently,
for gain and law-suits, but quite tied up when they are to write history ; where they must
speak truth, and gather facts together with a great deal of pains ; and so they leave the writing
such histories to weaker people, and to such as are not acquainted with the actions of princes.
Yet shall the real truth of historical facts be preferred by us, how much soever it be neglected
among the Greek historians.
To write concerning the antiquities of the Jews : who they were originally ; and how they
revolted from the Egyptians ; and what country they travelled over ; and what countries they
seized upon afterward ; and how they were removed out of them ; I think this not to be a fit
opportunity : and on other accounts also superfluous. And this because many Jews before
me have composed the histories of our ancestors very exactly; as have some of the Greeks
done it also ; and have translated our histories into their own tongue : and have not much
mistaken the truth in their histories. But tlien, where the writers of these affairs, and our
prophets, leave ofT, thence shall I take my rise, and begin my history. Now as to what
concerns that war which happened in my own time, I will go over it very largely, and
with all the diligence I am able. But for what preceded my own age, that I shall pass over
briefly.
For example, 1 shall relate, that Antiochus who was named Epiphanes, took Jerusalem by
force, and held it three years and three months ; and was then ejected out of the country by
the sons of Asmoneus. Afterwards, that their posterity quarrelled about the government, and
brought upon their settlement the Romans and Pompey ; that Herod also, the son of Antipater,
dissolved their government, and brought Sosius upon them; as also that our people made a
sedition after Herod's death, while Augustus was the Roman emperor, and Quintilius Varus
was in that country : and that the war broke out in the twelfth year of Nero ; with what
VOL. II. NOS. 61 & 62. Y
160 PREFACE.
happened, relating to Cestius ; and what places the Jews assaulted in a hostile manner in the
first sallies of the war.
I shall also relate that they built walls about the neighbouring cities; and that Nero, upon
Cestius's defeat, was in fear of the event of the war; and thereupon made Vespasian general
in this war; and that this Vespasian, with the *elder of his sons, made an expedition into the
country of Judea: what was the number of the Roman army that he made use of; and how
many of his auxiliaries were cut 6ff in all Galilee; and how he took some of its cities by force;
and others by treaty. Now when I am come so far, I shall describe the good order of the
Romans in war, and the discipline of their legions: the ampHtude of both the Galilees; with
its nature, and the limits of Judea. And I shall particularly go over what is peculiar to the
country : the lakes and fountains that are in them : and what miseries happened to every city
as they were taken ; and all this with accuracy, as I saw the things done, or suffered in them.
For I shall not conceal any of the calamities I myself endured ; since I shall relate them to
such as know the truth of them.
After this, I shall relate how, when the Jews' affairs were become very bad, Nero died ; and
Vespasian, when he was going to attack Jerusalem, was recalled to take the government upon
him : what signs happened to him, relating to his gaining that government ; and what mutations
of government happened at Rome ; and how he was unwillingly made emperor by the soldiers ;
and, upon his departure to Egypt, to take upon him the government of the empire, the affairs
of the Jews became very tumultuous; as also how the tyrants rose up against them, and fell
into dissensions amongst themselves.
I shall then relate how Titus marched out of Egypt into Judea the second time; as also
how, and where, and how many forces he got together; and in what state the city was by
means of the seditious at his coming; what attacks he made, and how many ramparts he cast
up; of the three walls that encompassed the city, and of their measures: of the strength of
the city, and the structure of the temple, and holy house; and besides, the measures of those
edifices, and of the altar ; and all accurately determined. A description also of certain of their
festivals, and fseven purifications of purity : and the sacred ministrations of the priests ;
with the garments of the priests, and of the high-priests : and of the nature of the most holy
place of the temple : without concealing any thing, or adding particulars to the known truth
of things.
After this I shall relate the barbarity of the tyrants towards the people of their own nation ;
as well as the indulgence of the Romans in sparing foreigners: and how often Titus, out of
his desire to preserve the city and the temple, invited the seditious to come to terms of
accommodation. I shall distinguish also the sufferings of the people, and their calamities ;
how far they were afflicted by the sedition, and by famine, till at length they were taken. Nor
shall I omit to mention the misfortunes of the deserters, nor the punishments inflicted on the
* Titus.
t These 7, or rather 5 degrees of purity or purification, are enumerated hereafter, V. 5. The Rabbins make 10
tlegrees of them ; as Reland there informs us.
PREFACE. 161
captives : as also how the temple was burnt, against the consent of Caesar : and how many
sacred things that had been laid up in the temple were snatched out of the fire : the destruction
also of the entire city, with the signs and wonders that preceded it: and the taking the tyrants
captives ; and the multitude of those that were made slaves; and into what different misfortunes
they were distributed. Moreover, what the Romans did to the remains of the wall, and how
they demolished the strong holds that were in the country ; and how Titus went over the
whole country, and settled its aflfairs : together with his return into Italy, and his triumph.
I have comprehended all these things in seven books: and have left no occasion for complaint
or accusation to such as have been acquainted with this war ; and I have written it down for
the sake of those that love truthj but not for those that please themselves with fictitious
relations.
Y2
THE
JEWISH WAR
BOOK I.
Containing an Interval of One Hundred and Sixty-seven Years.
FROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY ANTIOCHUS EPIPIIANES, TO THE DEATH OF HEROD THE GREAT
CHAP. I.
OF THE TAKIIfO OF JERUSALEM, AND THE PILLAGING OF THE
TEMPLE, BY ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES : ALSO CONCERNING
THE ACTIONS OF THE MACCABEES, MATTHIAS, AND JUDAS;
AND CONCERNING THE DEATH OF JUDAS.
AT the same time that Antiochus, who
was called Epiphanes, had a quarrel
with the sixth Ptolemy, about his right to
the whole country of Syria, a great sedition
broke out among the men of power in Judea,
and they had a contention about obtaining the
government; while each of those that were
of dignity could not endure to be subject to
their equals. However, Onias, one of the
high-priests, got the better, and cast the sons
of Tobias out of the city. Hereupon they
fled to Antiochus, and besought him to make
use of them for his leaders, and to make an
expedition into Judea: and the king being
thereto disposed beforehand, complied with
them, and came upon the Jews with a great
army, and took their city by force, and slew
a great multitude of those that favoured
Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers to plunder
* I see little difference in the several accounts in Jose-
phus about this Egyptian temple Onion ; of which large
complaints are iiwde by his commentators. Onias, it
■eemg, hoped to hare it made very like that at Jerusalem,
them without mercy. He also spoiled the
temple ; and put a stop to the constant prac-
tice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation
for three years and six months. But Onias,
the high-priest, fled to Ptolemy, and received
a place from him i.i tiie nomus of Hehopolis:
where he built a little city resembling Jerusa-
lem, and a temple that was *like its temple,
concerning which we shall speak more in its
proper place hereafter.
Now Antiochus was not satisfied, either
with his unexpected taking the city, or with
its pillage, or with the great slaughter he
had made there; but being overcome with
his violent passions, and remembering what
he had suffered during the siege, he com-
pelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their
country, and to keep their infants uncircum-
cised, and to sacrifice swine's flesh upon the
altar. Against which they all opposed them-
selves : and the most approved among them
were put to death. Bacchides also, who
was sent to keep the fortresses, having these
wicked commands joined to his own natural
barbarity, indulged all sorts of wickedness :
and of the same dimensions : and so he appears to have
really done, as far as he was able, and thought proper.
Of this temple, see Antiq. XIII. 3, and Of the War,
VII, 10.
loi
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[boor 1.
and tormented the worthiest of the inhabit-
ants, man by man, and threatened the city
every day with open destruction ; till at
length he provoked the sufferers, by the
extremity of his wicked doings, to avenge
themselves.
Accordingly Matthias, the son of Asmo-
neus, one of the priests who lived at a village
called Modin, armed himself together with
his own family, which had five of his sons in
it, and slew Bacchides with daggers; and
thereupon out of the fear of the garrisons of
the enemy, he fled to the mountains. And
so many of the people followed him, that he
Avas encouraged to come down from the
mountains, and to give battle to Antiochus's
generals; whom he defeated, and drove out of
Judea. So he came to the goverrmient by
this success, and became the prince of his
own people by their own free consent, and
then died, leaving the government to Judas,
his eldest son.
Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus would
not lie still, gathered an army out of his own
countrymen, and was the first that made a
league of friendship with the Romans; and
drove Epiphanes out of the country, when he
had made a second expedition into it; and
this by giving him a great defeat. And when
he was warmed by this success, he made an
assault upon the garrison that was in the city:
for it had not been cut off hitherto. So he
ejected them out of the upper city, and
drove the soldiers into the lower : which
part of the city was called the Citadel. He
then got the temple under his power, and
cleansed the whole place, and walled it
round about, and made new vessels for
sacred ministrations, and brought them into
the temple; because the former vessels had
been profaned. He also built another altar,
and began to offer the sacrifices. And when
the city had received its sacred constitution
again, Antiochus died ; and his son Antio-
chus succeeded him in the kingdom, and in
his hatred to the Jews.
. So this Antiochus assembled fifiy thousand
footmen, and five thousand horsemen, and
eighty elephants, and marched through Judea
into the mountainous parts. He then took
^ In the CHstern countries these animals usually ac-
coQipany an army. The majesty of the prince is fre-
Bethsura, which was a small city. But at a
place called Bethzacharias, where the pas-
sage was narrow, Judas met him with his
army. However, before the forces joined
battle, Judas's brother, Eleazar, seeing the
highest of the elephants* adorned with a
large tower, and with military trappings of
gold, and supposing that Antiochus himself
was upon him, he ran a great way before
his own army ; and cutting his way through
the enemy's troops he got up to the elephant.
Yet could he not reach him who seemed to
be the king, by reason of his being so high ;
but he ran his weapon into the belly of the
beast, and brought him down upon himself,
and was crushed to death : having done
no more than attempted great things, and
shewed that he preferred glory before litis.
Now he that governed the elephant was but
a private man : and had he proved to be An-
tiochus, Eleazar had performed nothing more
by this bold stroke, than that it might appear
he chose to die, when he had the bare hope
of thereby doing a glorious action. Nay,
this disappointment proved an omen to his
brother Judas how the entire battle would
end. It is true, the Jews fought bravely for
a long time ; but the king's forces being su-
perior in number, and having fortune on their
side, obtained the victory. And when a great
many of his men were slain, Judas took the
rest with him, and fled to the toparchy of
Gophna. So Antiochus went to Jerusalem,
and staid there but a {ew days; for he wanted
provisions; and so he went his way. He
left, indeed, a garrison behind him, such as
lie thought sufficient to keep the place; but
drew the rest of his army off, to take their
winter quarters in Syria.
Now after the king was departed, Judas
was not idle : for as many of his own nation
came to him, so did he gather those that had
escaped out of the battle together, and again
attacked Antiochus's generals, at a village
called Adaza: and being too hard for his ene-
mies in the battle, and killing a great number
of them, he was at last himself slain also. Nor
was it many days afterward that his brother
John had a plot laid against him by Antio-
chus's party, and was slain by them.
qiieiitly measured by their number, or the splendour
of their habiUments. B.
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
lea
CHAP. U.
COKCCRHINC JONATHAir, SIMON, AND JOHN HVRCAHV3, THE
« SVCCEbaORS OF JUDAS.
WHEN Jonathan, who was Judas's
brother, succeeded him, he behaved
himself with great circumspection in other
respects, with relation to his own people:
and corroborated his authority by preserving
his friendship with the Romans. He also
made a league with Antiochus the son. Yet
was not all this sulficient for his security: for
the tyrant Trypho, who was guardian to An-
tioclius's son, laid a plot against him; and be-
sides that endeavoured to take oiFhis friends;
and caught Jonathan by a stratagem, as he
was going to Flolemais to Antiochus, with a
few persons in his company, and put him in
bonds: and then made an expedition against
the Jews. But when he was afterward driven
away by Simon, who was Jonathati's brother,
and was enraged at his defeat, he put Jona-
thnii to death.
However, Simon managed the public affairs
after a courageous manner; and took Gazara,
Joppn, and Jamnia, which were cities in his
neighbourhood. He also got the garrison
under, and demolished the citadel. He was
afterwards an auxiliary to Antiochus against
Trypho, whom he besieged in Dora, before
lie went ofi his expedition against the Medes.
Yet could not he make the king ashamed of
his ambition, though he had assisted him in
the killing Trypho, for it was not long before
Antiochus sent Cendebeus, his general, with
an army to ravage Judea, and to subdue Si-
mon. Yet he, though he were now in years,
conducted the war as if he were a much
younger man. He also sent his sons with a
band of strong men against Antiochus; while
he took part of the army himself with him,
and fell upon him from another quarter. He
also laid a great many men in ambush in
many places of the mountains, and was supe-
rior in all his attacks upon them. And when
he had been conqueror after so glorious a
maimer, he was made high-priest ; and also
* Why this John, son of Simon, the high-priest anOMPEY was highly incensed at the be-
haviour of Aristobulus, and took him
* Of the fiunoiis palm-trees iind bal-iam about Jericho
aiul En^il.U, see the notes in Havcrcamp's edition, both
here, and 11.9. They are somewhat too long to be trans-,
cribed in this place.
into custody; and when he was come to the
city, he looked about where lie might make
his attack. For he saw the walls were so
firm, that it would be hard to overcome them;
and that the valley before the walls was terri-
ble; and that the temple, which was within
that valley, was itself encompassed with a
very strong wall. Insomuch, that if the city
were taktui, that temple would be a second
place of refuge for the enemy to retire to.
Now as he was long in deliberating about
this matter, a sedition arose among the people
within the city. Aristobulus's party being
w illing to fight, and to set their king at liberty:
« hile the party of Hyrcanus were for opening
the gates to Pompey. And the terror of the
people occasioned these last to be a very nu-
merous party; when they looked upon the
excellent order the Roman soldiers were in.f
J?o Aristobulus's party was worsted, and re-
tired into the temple, and cut ofT the commu-
nication between the temple and the city, by
breaking down the bridge that joined them
together; and prepared to make an opposition
to the utmost. But as the others had received
the Romans into the city, Pompey sent Piso,
one of his great officers, into the palace, with
an army, who distributed a garrison about the
city: because he could not persuade any one
of those that had fled to the temple to come to
terms of accommodation. He then disposed
all things that were round about them so as
might favour their attacks : as having Hyrca-
nns's party ready to afTord them both counsel
and assistance.
But Pompey himself filled up the ditch that
was on the north side of the temple, and the
entire valley also: the army itself being
obliged to carry the materials for that pur-
pose. And indeed it was a hard thing to fill
up that valley by reason of its immense depth:
especially as the Jews used all possible means
to repel them from their superior situation.
Nor had the Romans succeeded to their en-
deavours, had not Pompey taken notice of the
seventh day; on which the Jews abstain from
aO sorts of work, on a religious account ; and
raised his bank, but restrained his soldiers
from fighting on those days. For the Jcavs
t The discipline of the Roman army was very strict.
This certainly gjive them great advantages in fighting, and
accelerated their victories. H.
174
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I.
only acted defensively on sabbath days. But
as soon as Pon)pey had filled up the valley,
he erected high towers upon the bank, and
brought those engines which they had fetched
from Tyre near to the wall, and tried to batter
it down. And the slingers of stones beat
otl" those that stood above them, and drove
them away. But the towers on this side of the
city made very great resistance ; and Avere
indeed extraordinary, both for largeness and
magnificence.
Now liere it was that, upon the many hard-
ships which the Romans underwent, Pompey
could not but admire, not only at the other in-
stances of the Jews' fortitude, but especially,
that they did not intermit their religious ser-
vices, even when they were encompassed with
darts on all sides. For, as if the city were in
perfect peace, their daily sacrifices, and puri-
fications, and every branch of religious wor-
ship was still performed to God, with the ut-
most exactness. Nor indeed, when the temple
was actually taken, and they were every day
slain about the altar, did they leave off the
instances of their divine worship that were
appointed by their law. For it was in the
third month of the siege before the Romans
could, even with great difficulty, overthrow
one of the towers, and get into the temple.
Now he that ventured to get over the wall was
Faustus Cornelius, the son of Sylla; and next
after him were two centurions, Furius and
Fabius : and every one of these was followed
by a cohort of his own : who encompassed the
Jews on all sides, and slew them: some of
them as they were running for shelter to the
temple; and others as they, for a while, fought
in their own defence.*
And now did many of the priests, even when
they saw their enemies assailing them with
their swords in their hands, go on with their
divine worship, and were slain while they
were offering their drink-offerings, and burn-
ing their incense : as preferring the duties
about their worship to God before their own
preservation. The greatest part of them were
slain by their countrymen of the adverse fac-
tion ; and an innumerable multitude threw
themselves down precipices. Nay, some there
* Antiq. XIV. 4.
t Thus, says Tacitus, Cn. Pompeius first of all subdued
the Jews, and went into their temple, by right of conquest.
Hist. V. 9. Nor did he touch any of its riches ; as has
were who were so distracted among the insu-
perable ditficuUies they were under, that they
set fire to the buildings that were near to the
wall, and were burnt together with them.
Now of the Jews were slain twelve thousand;
but of the Romans very kw were slain : but a
greater number was wounded.
But there was nothing that affected the
nation so much, in the calamities they were
then under, as that their holy place, which
had been hitherto seen by none, should be
laid open to strangers. For tPompey, and
those that were about him, went into the
temple himsclfi whither it was not lawful for
any one to enter, but the high-priest, and saw
what was deposited therein: the candlestick,
with its lamps; and the table, and the pouring
vessels, and the censers : all made entirely of
gold; as also a great quantity of spices heaped
together: with two thousand talents of sacred
money. Yet did not he touch that money, nor
any thing else that was there deposited. But
he commanded the ministers about the temple,
the very next day after he had taken it, to
cleanse it; and to perform their accustomed
sacrifices. Moreover, he made Hyrcanus high-
priest ; as one that not only in other respects
had shewn great alacrity on his side, during
the siege; but as he had been the means of
hindering the multitude, that was in the coun-
try, from fighting for Aristobulus : which they
were otherwise very ready to have done. By
which means he acted the part of a good
general; and reconciled the people to him
more by benevolence than by terror. Now
among the captives, Aristobulus's father-in-law
was taken ; who was also his uncle. So those
that were the most guilty he punished with
decapitation, but rcAvarded Faustus, and those
that were with him, that had fought so bravely,
with glorious presents ; and laid a tribute upon
the country, and upon Jerusalem itself.
He also took away from the nation all those
cities that they had formerly taken, and that
belonged to Ccelesyria, and made them sub-
ject to him that was at that time appointed to
be the Roman president there : and reduced
Judea within its proper bounds. He also re-
built JGadara, that had been demolished by
been observed on the parallel place of the Antiquities,
XIV. 4. out of Cicero himself.
I The coin of this Gadara, still extant, with its date
from this era, is a certain evidence of this rebuilding by
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
176
the Jews; in order to gratify one Demetrius,
who was of Gadara, and was one ol" his own
froed-mcn. He also made other cities free
from their dominion, that lay in the midst ot'
(he country: such, 1 mean, as they had not
demoHshed before that time. Hippos, and
.Scythopolis, as also Pella, Semaria, and Ma-
rissa; and, besides tiicse,Ashdod,Jamnia, and
Arethusa; and in like manner he deidt with
the maritime cities, Gaza, Joppa, and Dora;
and that which was anciently called Slrato's
Tower, but was afterwards rebuilt, with
most magnificent edifices, and had its name
changed to Ciesarea, by king Herod. All
which he restored to their own citizens; and
put them under the province of Syria. Which
province, together with Judea, and the coun-
tries as far as Egypt and Euphrates, he com-
mitted to Scaurus, as their governor: and
gave him two legions to support him. He
then made all the haste he could to go througli
Cilicia, in his way to Rome; having Aristo-
bulus, and his children along with him, as his
captives. They were two daughters, and
two sons: one of which sons, Alexander, ran
away as he was going; but the younger, Anti-
gonus, with his sisters, were carried to Rome.*
CHAP. vm.
ADEXANDEH, SON OF ARISTOBULUS, HAKES AN EXPEDITION
AGAINST HYRCANOS ; BUT BEINC OVERCOME BV GABI-
N(PS, HE DELIVERS UP THE FORTRESSES TO HIM.; — ARIS-
T0BULU8 ESCAPES FROM ROME, AND ASSEMBLES AN ARMY :
BUT BEING BEATEN BV THE ROMANS, HE IS BROUGHT
BACK TO ROME. ALSO THE AFFAIRS OF GABINIUS, CRAS-
8V8, AND CASSIUS.
IN the mean time Scaurus made an expe-
dition into Arabia ; but was stopped by
the difficulty of the places about Petra. How-
ever he laid waste the country about Pella :
though even here he was under great hard-
ship: his army afflicted with famine. To
supply want, however, Hyrcanus alTorded him
assistance, and sent him provisions, by the
means of Antipater ; whom also Scaurus sent
to Aretas, as one Well acquainted with him,
Pompey : as Spanheim here assures us.
* Antiq. XIV. 4.
t Take ttie like aUestation to the truth of this submission
of Aretas, king of Arabia, to Scaurus the Roman general,
in the words of Dean Aldrich : " Hence, says he, is de-
rived that old and famous Denarius, belonpng to the Emi-
lian family, represented in Havercamp's edition, wherein
Aretas appears in a posture of supplication, and taking hold
VOL. II. — N08. 63 & 64.
to induce him to pay him money to buy his
peace. The king of Arabiaf complied with
the proposal; and gave him three hundred
talents. Upon which Scaurus drew ills army
out of Arabia.
NowAlexander, that son of Aristobuhis,who
ran away from Pompey, got a considerable
band of men together, and lay heavy upon
Hyrcanus, and over-ran Judea; and was like-
ly to overturn him quickly ; and, indeed, lie
had come to Jerusalem, and had ventured to
rebuild its wall that was thrown down by
Pompey, had not Gabinius, who was sent as
successor to Scaurus into Syria, shewed his
bravery, as in many other points, so in ma-
king an expedition against Alexander. Who.
as he was afraid that he would attack him, so
he got together a large army, composed of
ten thousand armed footmen, and fifteen hun-
dred horsemen. He also built walls about
proper places; Alexandrium, Hyrcanium, aiid
Machcerus, that lay upon the mountains of
Arabia.
However, Gabinius sent before him MarciTS
Antonius; and followed himself with his whole
army. But the select body of soldiers that
were about Antipater, and another body of
Jews under the command of Malichus and
Pitholaus, joined themselves to those captains
that were about Marcus Antonius, and met
Alexander; and this body was soon afterwards
joined by Gabinius, with his main army. And
as Alexander was not able to sustain the
charge of the enemies' forces, now they were
joined, he retired. But when he was come
near to Jerusalem, he was forced to fight; and
lost six thousand men in. the battle, three
thousand of whom fell down dead ; and three
thousand were taken alive. So he fled, with
the remainder to Alexandrium.
When Gabinius was come to Alexandrium,
because he found a great many there en-
camped, he tried, by promising them pardon
for their former offences, Jto induce them to
come over to him, before it came to an
engagement. But when they would hearken
of a camel's bridle with his left hand, and with biji riglit
hand presenting a branch of the frankincense tree: wuh
this inscription : M. SCAURUS EX S. C. and beneath,
REX ARETAS."
I This method was frequently adopted in order tn gjiln
men over to the opposing party ; thereby to weaken the
ranks they forsook, and proportionably to strengthen these
^p which they acceded. B.
Aa
176
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I.
to no terms of accommodation, lie slew a great
number of them ; and shut up many more in
the citadel. Now Marcus Antonius, their
leader, signalized his courage in this battle.
But Gabiiiius, leaving forces to take the cita-
del, went away; and settled the cities that had
not been demolished, and rebuilt those that
had been destroyed. Accordingly, upon his
injunctions, the following cities were restored;
Scythopolis, Samaria, Anthedon, Apollonia,
Jamiiia, Raphia, Marissa, Adoreus, Gamala,
Ashdod, and many others; while a great
number of men readily ran to each of them,
and became their inhabitants.*
When Gabinius, had taken care of these
cities, he returned to Alexandrium; and
pressed on the siege. So when Alexander
despaired of obtaining the government, he
sent ambassadors to him, and prayed him to
forgive what he had offended him in; and
gave up to him the remaining fortresses, Hyr-
canium and Macherus, as he put Alexan-
drium into his hands afterwards. All of these
Gabinius demolished ; at the persuasion of
Alexander's mother; that they might not be
receptacles of men in a second war. She was
now there, in order to mollify Gabinius; out
of her concern for her relations that were
captives of Rome; which were her husband,
and her other children. After this, Gabinius
brought Hyrcanus to Jerusalem ; and com-
mitted the care of the temple to him ; but
ordained the other political government to be
by an aristocracy. He also parted the whole
nation into five conventions : assigning one
portion to Jerusalem ; another to Gadara ;
that another should belong to Amathus; a
fourth to Jericho: and to the fifth division
was allotted Sepphoris, a city of Galilee. So
^the people were glad to be thus freed from
monarchical government; and were governed
for the future by an aristocracy.
Yet did Aristobulus afford another founda-
tion for new disturbances. He fled away
from Rome, and got together again many of
the Jews that were desirous of a change :
such as had borne an affection to him of old.
And when he had taken Alexandrium, he at-
tempted to build a wall about it. But as
* Antiq. XIV. 5.
t This history is confirmed by Dio Cassius, XXXIX.
page 117, excepting his mistake, as though Gabinius were
pow in Judea, before he went down into Egypt : and aa if
soon as fGabinius had sent an army against
him, under Sisenna, Antonius, and Servilius,
he was aware of it; and retreated to Macherus.
And as for the unprofitable multitude, he dis-
missed them: and only marched on with
those who were armed : being to the number
of eight thousand. Among these was Pitho-
laus ; who had been the lieutenant at Jerusa-
lem : but deserted to Aristobulus, with a
thousand of his men. So the Romans followed
him. And when it came to a battle, Aristo-
bulus's party, for a long while, fought coura-
geously, but at length they were overpowered
by the Romans : and five thousand of tliem
fell down dead; and about two thousand lied
to a certain little hill; but the thousand that
remained with Aristobulus brake through the
Roman army, and marched together to Ma-
cherus. And when the king had lodged the
first niglit upon its ruins, he was in hopes of
raising another army; if the war would but
cease a while. Accordingly he fortified that
strong hold, though it were done after a poor
manner. But the Romans falling upon him.
he resisted, even beyond his abilities, for two
days: and then was taken, and brought a
prisoner to Gabinius with his son, who had
fled away together with him from Rome. And
from Gabinius he was carried to Rome again.
Wherefore the senate piit him under confine-
ment ; but returned his children back to
Judea : because Gabinius informed them by
letters that he had promised Aristobulus's
mother to do so, for her delivering the for-
tresses up to him.J
But now, as Gabinius was marching to the
war against the Parthians, he was hindered
by Ptolemy : whom, upon his return from Eu-
phrates, he brought back into Egypt: making
use of Hyrcanus, and Antipater, to provide
every thing that was necessary far this expe-
dition. For Antipater furnished him with
money, weapons, corn, and auxiliaries. He
also prevailed with the Jews that were there,
and guarded the avenues at Pelusium, to let
them pass. But now, upon Gabinius's ab-
sence, the other part of Syria was in motion :
and Alexander, the son of Aristobulus brongbt
the Jews to a revolt again. Accordingly he
he subdued Aristobulus by his own labours. Which it
hence appears he did not by himself, but by his three lieu-
tenants only Sisenna, Antonius and Servilius.
I Antiq. XIV. 6.
800K I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
177
assembled a very great army, and set about
killing all the Romans that were in the coun-
try: hereupon *Gabinius was afraid: (tor he
was come back already out of" Egypt, in
consequence of tliese tumults;) and sent An-
tipater: who prevailed with some of the re-
volters to be quiet. However, thirty thou-
sand still continued with Alexander: who
was himself eager to fight. Accordingly Ga-
binius went out, and the Jews met him; and
as the battle was fought near mount Tabor,
ten thousand of them were slain; and the
rest of the multitude dispersed themselves,
and fled away. So Gabinius came to Jeru-
salem; and settled the government as Anti-
pater would have it. Thence he marched,
and fought, and beat the Nabateans. As for
Mithridates and Orsanes, who fled out of
Parthia, he sent them away privately: but
gave it out among the soldiers that they had
run away.
In the mean timeCrassus came as successor
to Gabinius in Syria. He took away all the
rest of the gold belonging to the temple of
Jerusalem, in order to furnish himself for his
expedition against the Parthians. He also
took away the two thousand talents, which
Pompey had not touched. But when he had
passed over Euphrates, he perished himself,
and his army with him. Concerning which
aflTairs, this is not a proper time to speak more
largely.
Now Cassius, afl;er Crassus, put a stop to
the Parthians; who were marching in order
to enter Syria. Cassius had fled into that
province: and when he had taken possession
of the same, he made an hasty march into
Judea. And upon his taking Tarichae, he
carried thirty thousand Jews into slavery.
He also, at the instigation of Anti pater, slew
Pitholaus, who had supported the seditious
followers of Aristobulus. Now Antipater
married a wife of an eminent family among
the Arabians, whose name wasCypros; and
had four sons born to him by her: Phasaelus,
and Herod, who was afterwards king; and be-
* Here Dean Aldrich refers us to the writers of the
aff^urs of Galiinius.
1 Dr. Hudson* supposes, that the words "We shall
speak," are to be blotted out : because in the parallel
place ofthe Antiquities XIV. 7, tlie words are, " As others
have declared." But 1 cannot agree to his emendation ;
since there are many more places in his present works
sides these, Joseph and Phcroras: and he had
a daughter whose name was Salome. Now
as he made himself friends among the men of
power every where, by the kind ollicos he did
them, and the hospitable manner that he treat-
ed them; so did he contract the greatest
friendship with tlie king of Arabia, by mar-
rying his relation. Insomuch that when he
made war with Aristobulus, he sent and in-
trusted his children with him. So when
Cassius had forced Alexander to come to
terms, and to be quiet, he returned to Eu-
phrates; in order to prevent the Parthians
from repassing it. Concerning which matter
fwe shall speak elsewhere.
CHAR IX.
aristobulcs and his son alexander are put to
death; the former by fompey's frjends, and the
latter by scipio. antipater cultivates a friend-
ship with c«sar, after pompev's death ; he also
performs great actions in that war, wherein he
assisted mithridates.
NOW upon the flight of Pompey, and of
the senate, beyond the Ionian Sea, Cae-
sar gotRome and the empire under his power ;
and released Aristobulus from his bonds.J
He also committed two legions to him, and
sent him in haste into Syria: as hoping that,
by his means, he should easily conquer that
country, and the parts adjoining to Judea.
But envy prevented any effect of Aristobu-
lus's alacrity, and the hopes of Ca?sar: for
he was taken off' by poison, given him by
those of Pompey's party: and for a long while
he had not so much as a burial vouchsafed
him in his own country; but his dead body
lay above ground, preserved in honey: until
it was sent to the Jews by Antony, in order
to be buried in the royal sepulchres.
His son Alexander also was beheaded by'^
Scipio, at Antioch; and that by the command
of Pompey: and upon an accusation laid
against him before his tribunal, for the mis-
chiefs he had done to the Romans. But Pto-
lemy, the son of iMenneus, who was then ruler
where Josephus refers to things related in Ms writing*,
and yet not now extant : which I have noted in the margin.
Possibly for "we shall speak," he wrote, "we have
spoken," as in other cases. But I choose rather to follow
the copies, than such uncertain conjectures ; as in the like
cases elsewhere.
J AnUq. XIV. 7.
Aa2
178
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I.
of Chalcb, under Libanus, took his brethren
to him, by sending his son Pliihppio for them
to Ascalon: who took Antigoniis, as well as
his sisters, away from Aristobulus's wife; and
brought them to his father. And falling in
love with the younger daughter, he married
lier: and was afterward slaiij by his father on
her account. For Ptolemy himself, after he
had slain his son, married her; whose name
was Alexandra: on account of which mar-
riage he took the greater care of her brother
and sister.
Now after Pompey was dead, Antipater
changed sides; and cultivated a friendship
with Cajsar. And since Mithridates of Per-
gamus, with the forces he led against Egypt,
was excluded from the *avenues about Pelu-
sium, and was forced to stay at Ascalon; he
persuaded the Arabians, among whom he had
lived, to assist him; and came himself to him
at the head of three thousand armed men.
He also encouraged the men of power in Sy-
ria to come to his assistance; as also of the
inhabitants of Libanus, Ptolemy, and Jambh-
cus, and another Ptolemy. By which means
the cities of that country came readily into
this war. Insomuch that Mithridates ventured
now, in dependance upon the additional
strength he had gotten by Antipater, to march
forward to Pelusium. And when they refused
him a passage through it, he besieged the
city. In the attack of which place Antipater
principally signalized himself For he brake
down that part of the wall which was
over against him, and leaped first of all into
the city, with the men that were about him.
Thus was Pelusium taken. But still, as
they were marching on, those Egyptian Jews
that inhabited the country, called the country
of Onias, stopped them. Then did Antipater
not only persuade them not to stop them; but
to afford provisions for their army. On which
account, even the people about Memphis
would not fight against them; but of their own
accord joined Mithridates. Whereupon he
went round about Delta; and fought the rest
of the Egyptians, at a place called the Jews'
Camp. Nay, when he was in danger in the
battle, with all his right wing, Antipater
wheeled about, and came along the bank of
the river to him: for he had beaten those that
* This is confirmed by Dio, xxxix. page 204.
opposed him, as he led the left wing. After
which success he fell upon those that pursued
Mithridates ; and slew a great many of
them; and pursued the remainder so far, that
ho took their camp: while he lost no more
than fourscore of his own men: as Mithri-
dates lost, during tlie pursuit that was made
after him, about eight hundred men. He wan
also himself saved unexpectedly: and became
an irreproachable witf>ess to Caesar of the
great actions of Antipater.
Hereupon Cffisar encouraged Antipater to
undertake other hazardous enterprises fur
him; and that by giving him great commen-
dations, and hopes of reward. In all which
enterprises he readily exposed himself to
many dangers, and became a most courageous
warrior; and had many wounds almost all
over his body, as demonstrations of his
valour. And when Casar had settled the
affairs of Egypt, and was returning into Syria
agaif), he gave him the privilege of a Roman
citizen;' and freedom from taxes; and ren-
dered him an object of admiration, by the
honours and marks of friendship he bestowed
upon him. On his account it was also that he
confirmed Hyrcarms in the high-priesthood.
CHAP. X.
ANTIPATER IS APPOINTED TO BE PROCURATOR OP JV-
DEA ; PHASAELUS TO BE GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM, AND
HEROD GOVERNOR OF GALILEE. HEROD IS SUMMONED
TO APPEAR BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM, BUT IS ACQUIT-
TED, SEXTUS CESAR IS TREACHEROUSLY KILLED BY
BA6SUS, AND SUCCEEDED BY MARCUS.
ABOUT this time JAntigonus, the son of
Aristobulus, came to Caisar; and be-
came, in a surprising manner, the occasion of
Antjpater's farther advancement. For where-
as he ought to have lamented that his father
appeared to have been poisoned on account
of his quarrels with Pompey; and to have
complained of Scipio's barbarity towards his
brother, and not to mix any invidious passion
when he was suing for mercy; besides those
things he came before Caesar, and accused
Hyrcanus and Antipater, of having driven
him and his brethren entirely out of their na-
tive country; and having acted in a great
many instances unjustly, and ej^lravagantly,
t See Antiquities, XIV. 8
BOOK
«.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
179
with respect to their nation, and that, as to
the assistance they had sent him into Egypt,
it was not done out ol good will to him, liut
out ol' the Tear they were in from forjner quar-
rels; and in order to gain pardon lor their
friendship to his enemy Pompey.
Hereupon Antipater threw away his gar-
ineiits,and shewed the multitude of the wounds
he had; and said, that "As to his good will
to CuBsar, he had no occasion to say a word ;
because his body cried aloud, though he said
nothing himself, lie wondered, however, at
Antigonus's boldness; while he was himself
no other than the son of an enemy to the
Romans, aiid of a fugitive ; and had it by
inheritance from his father to be fond of
innovations, and seditions, that he should
undertake to accuse other men before the
Roman governor, and endeavour to gain
some advantage to himself; wlien he ought
to be contented that he was suffered to live.
For that the reason of his desire of governing
public affairs, was not so much because he
was in want of it; but because, if he could
once obtain the same, he might stir up a
sedition among the Jews; and use what he
should gain from the Romans, to the injury
of those who gave it him."
When Caesar heard this, he declared Hyr-
canus to be the most worthy of the high-
priesthood : and gave leave to Antipater to
choose what authority he pleased. But he
left the determination to him that bestowed
the dignity upon him: so he was constituted
procurator of all Judea; and obtained leave
to *rebuild those walls of his country that
had been thrown down. These honorary
grants Caesar sent orders to have engraved
in the capitol ; that they might stand there,
•as indications of his own justice, and of the
virtue of Antipater.
But as soon as Antipater had conducted
C.'Bsar out of Syria, he returned to Judea.
And the first thing he did, was to rebuild that
wall of Jerusalem which Pompey had over-
throwji : and then to go over the country, and
to quiet the tumults that were therein. In
* What is here noted by Hudson and Spanheim, that
this erant of leave to rebuild the walls of the cities of
Judea was made l>y Julius Caisar, not as here to Antipater,
but to Hyrcanus. Antiq. XIV. 8, has hardly an appear-
ance of a contradiction. Antipater being now, perhaps,
considered only as Hyrcaaus's deputy, and minister.
doing this he partly threatened and partly ad-
vised, every one : and told tliem, that in case
they would submit to llyicanus, they would
li\e happily, and peaceably; and enjoy what
they pobsessed; and that with universal
peace and quietness. But that in case they
hearkened to such as had some frigid hopes,
by raising new troubles, to got themselves
some gain, they should then find him to be
their lord instead of their procurator; and
find Hyrcanus to be a tyrant, instead of a
king; and both the Romans and Ca;sar (o be
their enemies, instead of rulers. For that
they would not suffer him to be removed frotn
the government, whom they had made their
governor. And at the same time that he said
this, he settled the affairs of the country by
himself; because he saw that Hyrcanus was
inactive, and not fit to manage the affairs of
the kingdom, so he constituted his eldest son,
Phasaelus, governor of Jerusalem, and of tlx,-
parts about it : he also sent his next son, He-
rod, who was tvery young, with equal autiio-
rity into Galilee.
Now Herod was an active man, and soon
found proper materials for his spirit to work
upon. As, therefore, he found that Hczekias,
the head of the robbers, over-ran the neigh-
bouring parts of Syria with a great band of
men, he caught him, and slew him, and many
more of the robbers with him: which exploit
was chietly grateful to the Syrians. Inso-
much that hymns were sung in Herod's com-
mendation, both in the villages, and in the
cities; as having procured their quietness;
and having preserved what they possessed to
them. On this occasion he became acquaint-
ed with Sextus Caesar, a kinsman of the great
Caesar's, and President of Syria. A just emu-
lation of his glorious actions excited Phasae-
lus also to imitate him. Accordingly he pro-
cured the good will of the inhabitants of Je-
rusalem, by his own management of the city
affiirs; and did not abuse his power in any
disagreeable manner. Whence it came to
pass, that the nation paid Antipater the re-
spects that were due only to a king; and the
— — , — - —
Although he afterwards made a cypher of Hyrcanus ; and
under j^reat decency of behaviour to him, took the real
authority to himself.
t About twenty-five years of age. See the note on
Antiq. XIV. 9, and Polyb. XVII. page 75?;
180
WARS OF THE JEWS.
{book 1.
honours thej all yielded him were equal to
those due to an absolute lord. Yet did not
he abate any part of" that good will or fidelity
which he owed to Hyrcanus.
However, he found it impossible to escape
envy in such prosperity.* For the glory of
those young men affected even Hyrcanus
himself, privately; though he said nothing of
it to any body. But what he was principally
grieved at was the great actions of Herod,
and that so many messengers came one be-
fore another, and informed him of the great
reputation he got in all his undertakings.
There were also many people in the royal
palace, who inOamed his envy at him : those
I mean who were obstructed in their designs
by the prudence either of the young men, or
of Antipater. These men said, that by com-
mitting the public affliirs to the management
of Antipater and of his sons, he sat down with
nothing but the bare name of a king, without
any of its authority. And they asked him, how
long he would so far mistake himself, as to
breed up kings against his own interest ? For
that they did not now conceal the govern-
ment of affairs any longer; but were plainly
lords of the nation; and had thrust him out
of his authority: that this was the case when
Herod slew so many men without his giving
him any command to do it, either by word of
mouth, or by his letter: and this in contra-
diction to the Jews. " In case, therefore,"
said they, " he be not a king, but a private
man, he ought to come to his trial, and an-
swer it to the laws of his country : which do
not permit any one to be killed, till he hath
been condemned in judgment."
Hyrcanus was by degrees inflamed with
these discourses ; and at length could for-
bear no longer, but summoned Herod to take
his trial. Accordingly, by his father's ad-
vice, and as soon as the affairs of Galilee
would give him leave, he came up to Jeru-
salem, having previously placed garrisons in
Galilee. However he came with a sufficient
body of soldiers; so many, indeed, that he
might not appear to have with him an army,
able to overthrow Hyrcanus's government :
nor yet so few as to expose him to the insults
* " A man that hath no virtue in himself ever envieth
virtue in others : for men's minds will either feed upon
their own good, or upon other's evil : and who wanteth
the one will prey upon the other ; and whoso is out of
of those that envied him. However, Sextus
Cffjsar was in fear for the young man, lest he
should be taken hold of by his enemies, and
be brouglit to punishment. So he sent some
to denounce expressly to Hyrcanus, that he
should acquit Herod of the capital charge
against him; who acquitted him accordingly:
as being otherwise inclined also so to do, for
he loved Herod.
But Herod, supposing that he had escaped
punishment, without the consent of the king,
retired to Sextus, to Damascus; and got every
thing ready in order not to obey him, if he
should summon him again. Hereupon those
that were evil disposed irritated Hyrcanus^
and told him, that Herod had gone away in
anger, and was prepared to make war upon
him. And as the king believed what they
said, he knew not what to do: since he saw
his antagonist was stronger than he was him-
self And now, since Herod was made gene-
ral of Ccelesyria, and Samaria, by Sextus
Caesar, he was formidable; not only from the
good will which (he nation bore him, but by
the power he himself had. Insomuch, that
Hyrcanus fell into the utmost degree of terror,
and expected he would presently march
against him with his army.
Nor was he mistaken in the conjecture he
made. For Herod got his army together, out
of the anger he bare him for his threatening
him with the accusation in a public court, and
led it to Jerusalem, in order to dethrone Hyr-
canus. And this he had soon done, unless his
father and brother had gone out together, and
appeased his fury : and this by exhorting him
to carry his revenge no farther than to threat-
ening and aflfrighting; but to spare the king,
under whom he had been advanced to such a
degree of power; and that he ought not to
be so much provoked at his being tried, as to
forget to be thankful that he was acquitted.
Nor so long to think upon what was of a
melancholy nature, as to be ungrateful for his
deliverance. And if he ought to reckon that
God is the arbitrator of success in war, an
unjust cause is of more disadvantage than an
army can be of advantage. And that, there-
fore, he ought not to be entirely confident of
hope to attain another's virtue, will seek to come at even
hand by depressing another's fortune." Lord Bacon's
Essays, p. 21. B.
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
181
success, in a case, where he was to fight
against his king, his supporter, and one that
had often been his benetactor, and tliat had
never been severe to him, any otherwise than
as he had hearkened to evil counsellors: and
this no farther than by bringing a shadow of
injustice upon him. So Herod was prevailed
upon by these arguments; and supposed that
what he Ijad already done was sutlicient for
his future hopes, and that he had sufficiently
shewn his power to the nation.
In the mean time there was a disturbance
among the Romans about Apamia; and a civil
war occasioned by the treacherous *slaughter
of Sextus Ca?sar by Cecilius Bassus : w hich
he perpetrated out of iiis good will to Pompey.
He also took the authority over his forces.
But as the rest of Cicsar's commanders at-
tacked Bassus with their whole army, in
order to punish him for his murder of Ciesar,
Anlipater also sent them assistance, by his
sons, both on account of him that was mur-
dered ; and on account of that Ca;sar w ho
was still alive : both of whom were their
friends. And as this war proved to be of
a considerable length, Marcus came out of
Italy as successor to Sextus.
CHAP. XL
REROD IS MADE PROCURATOR OP ALL SYRIA. MALICHl'S
TAKES OFF ANTIPATER BV POISON ; WHEREUPON THE
TRIBUNES OF THE SOLDIERS ARE PREVAILED WITH TO
KILL HIM.
THERE was at this time a mighty war
raised among the Romans, upon the
sudden and treacherous slaughter oi Cajsar,
by Cassius and Brutus; after he had held
the government for fthree years, and seven
months. Upon this murder there were very
great agitations : and the great men were
mightily at difference one with another: and
every one betook himself to that party w here
they had the greatest hopes of advancing
themselves. Accordingly Cassius came into
• Many writers of the Roman history give an account of
this murder of Sextus Caesar ; and of the war of Apamia
upon that occasion. They are cited in Dean Aldrich's note.
t In the Antiquities, XIV.- 11. the duration of the reign
of Julius Caesar is three years and six months : but here
three years and seven months ; beginning rightly, says
Dean Aldrich, from his second dictatorship. It is proba-
ble the real duration might be three years, and between
six aad seven months.
Syria, in order to receive the forces that were
at Apamia; where he effected a reconcilia-
tion between Bassus and Marcus, and the
legions which were at diirerence with him.
So he raised the siege of Apamia ; and took
upon him the command of the army ; and
went about exacting tributes of the cities,
and demanding their money to such a degree
as they were not able to bear.
So he gave command that the Jews should
bring in seven hundred talents. Whereupon
Antipater, out of his dread of Cassius's threatt;.
parted the raising of this sum among his sons,
and among others of his acquaintance ; that
it might be done immediately : and among
them he required that Malichus, who was at
enmity with him, to do his part also : which
necessity forced him to do. ISow Herod, in
the first place, mitigated the passion of Cas-
sius, by bringing his share out of Galilee,
which was a huntlred talents. On which ac-
count he was in the highest favour with him.
And when he reproached the rest for being
tardy, he was angry at the cities themselves.
So he made slaves of Gophna and Emmaus.
and two others of less note. Nay, he pro-
ceeded as if he would kill Malichus, because
he had not made greater haste in exacting his
tribute. But Antipater prevetited (he ruin of
this man, and of the other cities ; and got into
jCassius's favour, by bringing in a hundred
talents immediately.
However, when Cassius was gone, Mali-
chus forgot the kindness that Antipater had
done him; and laid frequent plots against
him that had saved him: as making haste to
get him out of the way, who was an obstacle
to his wicked practices. But Antipater was
so much afraid of the power and cunning of
the man, that he went beyond Jordan, in order
to guard himself against his treacherous de-
signs. But when Malichus was caught in his
plot, he put upon Antipater's sons by his im-
pudence ; for he thoroughly deluded Phasa-
elus, who was the guardian of Jerusalem, and
I It appears evidently by Josophus's accounts, both
here, and in his Antiquities, XIV. 11. that this Cassius,
one of Caesar's murderere, was a bitter oppressor and ex-
!»ctor of tribute in Judea. These 700 talents amount to
about 300,000^ sterling : and are about half the yearly
revenue of king Herod aftenvards. See the note on
Antiq. XVII. 11. It also appears, that Galilee then paid
no more than 100 talents ; or the seventh part of the en-
tire sum to be levied in all the country.
182
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I,
Herod, who was intrusted with the weapons
of uar: and this by a great many excuses and
oaths: and persuaded them to procure his
recouciliation to his father. Thus \>as he
preserved again byAntipater, who dissuaded
Marcus, the then president of Syria, from his
resolution of killing Mahciius, on accourst of
liis attempts for innovation.
Upon the war between Cassius and Brutus
on one side, against the *younger Cajsar and
Antony on the other, Cassius and Marcus got
together an army out of Syria. And because
Herod was likely to have a great share in
nroviding necessaries, tliey then made him a
{irocurator of all Syria, and gave him an army
of foot and horse. Cassius promised him also
that, after the war was over, he would make
him king of .fudea. But it so happened, that
the power and hopes of his son became the
cause of his perdition. For as Malichus was
afraid of this, he corrupted one of the king's
cup-bearerst with money, to give a poisoned
potion to Anti pater. So he became a sacri-
fice to Malichus's wickedness ; and died at
a feast. He was a man in other respects ac-
tive in the management of affairs ; and one
that recovered the government to Hyrcanus,
and preserved it in his hands.
However, Malichus, when he was sus-
pected of poisoning Antipater, and when the
multitude were angry at him for it, denied it;
and made the people believe he was not
guilty. He also prepared to make a great
figure, and raised soldiers. For he did not
suppose that Herod would be quiet. Who,
indeed, came upon him with an army pre-
sently, in order to revenge his father's death.
But upon hearing the advice of his brother
Phasaelus, not to punish him in an open
manner, lest the multitude should fall into a
sedition, he admitted of Malichus's apology,
and professed that he cleared him of that
suspicion ; he also made a pompous funeral
for his father.
So Herod went to Samaria, which was then
in a tumult, and settled the city in peace.
After which, at the ^festival, he returned to
Jerusalem ; having his armed men with him.
Hereupon Hyrcanus, at the request of Mali-
chus, who feared his approach, forbade them
t This was an office of great consideration among the
ancients. Great men were _ frequently appointed to it,
to introduce foreigners to mix themselves
with the people of the country, while they
were ||purilying themselves. But Herod de-
spised the pretence, and him that gave that
conunand, and come in by night. Upon which
Malichus came to him, and bewailed Anti-
pater. Hero" ARABIA, HASTENS TO ROME ;
WHERE ANTONY AND t.tSAR JOIN THEIR INTEUESTS TO
MAKE IIIJI KINU OF THE JEWS,
NOW Herod did the more zealously pur-
sue his journey into Arabia, as making
haste to get money of the king, while his
brother was yet alive : by which money alone
it was that he hoped to prevail upon the co-
vetous temper of the barbarians to spare Pha-
saelus. For he reasoned thus with himself:
that if the Arabian king was too forgetful of
his father's friendship with him, and was too
covetous to make him a free gift, he would,
however, borrow of him as much as might
redeem his brother; and put into his hands,
as a pledge, the son of him that was to be
redeemed. Accordingly he led his brother's
son along with him, who was of the age of
seven years. Now he was ready to give three
hundred talents for his brother ; and intended
the intercession of the Tyrians, to get them
accepted. However, fate had been too quick
for his diligence: and, since Phasaelus was
dead, Herod's brotherly love was now in
vain. Moreover, he was not able to find any
lasting friendship among the Arabians. For
their king Malichus sent to him immediately,
and commanded him to return back out of his
country: and used the name of the Parthians
as a pretence for so doing: as though these
had denounced to him by their ambassadors
to cast Herod out of Arabia. While in reality
• Those who practise treachery towards others may
they had a mind to keep back what they had
owed to Antipater: and not be obliged to
make requitals to his sons, for the free gifts
the father had made them. He also took the
impudent advice of those who, equally with
himself, were willing to deprive Herod of
what Antipater had deposited among them.
And these men were the most potent of all
whom he had in his kingdom.
So when Herod had found that the Ara-
bians were his enemies, and this for those very
reasons whence he hoped they would have
been the most friendly ; and had given them
such an answer as his passion suggested ; he
returned back, and went to Egypt. He
lodged the first evening at one of the temples
of that country, in order to meet with those
whom he had left behind. But on the next
day word was brought him, as he was going
to Rhinocurura, that his brother was dead,
and how he came by his death. And when
he had lamented him as much as his present
circumstances would bear, he laid aside such
cares; and proceeded on his journey. But
after some time the king of Arabia repented
of what he had done ; and sent away messen-
gers to call him back. Herod, however, had
prevented them ; and was come to Pelusium;
and as he could not obtain a passage from
those that lay with the fleet, he besought their
captains to let him go by them. Accordingly,
out of the reverence they bore to the fame
and dignity of the man, they conducted him
to Alexandria. And when he came into the
city he was received with great splendour by
Cleopatra, who hoped he might be persuaded
to be commander of her forces in tlie expedi-
tion she was now about. But he rejected the
queen's solicitations ;
and being neither af-
frighted at the height of that storm whicli
then happened, nor at the tumults that were
now in Italy, he sailed for Rome.
But as he was in peril about Pamphylia,
and obliged to cast out the greatest part o.
the ship's lading, he, with difficulty, got safe
to Rhodes: a place which had been grievously
harassed in the war with Cassius. He was
there received by his friends, Ptolemy and
Sappinius. And although he was then in
want of money, he fitted up a three-decked
ship, of very great magnitude ; wherein he
certainly expect a retaliation upon themselves. B.
lan
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[BOOK'f:
and his friends sailed to *Brundusium, and
went thence to Rome, with all speed ; where
he tirst of all went to Antony, on account of
the friendship his father had with him; and
laid before him the calamities of himself and
his family ; and that he had left his nearest
relations besieged in a fortress; and had
sailed to him through a storm, to make a
supplication to him for assistance.f
Hereupon Antony was moved to compas-
sion at the change that had been made in
Herod's affairs : and this both upon his call-
ing to mind how hospitably he had been
treated byAntipater; but more especially on
account of Herod's own virtue. So he then
resolved to get him made king of the Jews,
whom he had himself formerly made tetrarch.
The contest also that he had with Antigo-
nus was another inducement: and that of no
less weight than the great regard he had for
Herod. For he looked upon Antigonus as a
seditious person, and an enemy of the Romans.
And as for Caesar, Herod found him better
prepared than Antony: as remembering the
wars he had gone through together with his
father; the hospitable treatment he had met
with from him ; and the entire good will he
had shewed to him : besides that activity
which he saw in Herod himself So he called
the senate together: wherein Massalas, and
after him Aratinus, produced Herod before
them, and gave a full account of the merits
of his father, and his own good will to the
Romans.
At the same time they demonstrated that
Antigonus was their enemy; not only because
he soon quarrelled with them, but because he
now overlooked the Romans, and took the
government by the means of the Parthians.
These reasons greatly moved the senate.
At which juncture Antony came in, and told
them, that it was" for their advantage in the
Parthian war that Herod should be king.
So they all gave their votes for it. And
when the senate was separated, Antony and
Caesar went out with Herod between them :
while the consul and the rest of the magis-
* This Brentesium, or Brundusium, has coins still
preserved ; on which it is written BPENAHSIOQN, as
Spanheim informs us.
t Antiq. XIV. 14.
t Antiq. XIV. 14.
trates, went before them; in order to ofTer
sacrifice, and to lay the decree in the capitol.
Antony also made a feast for Herod on the
iirst day of his reign.
CHAP. XV.
ANTIGONDS BESIEGES THOSE THAT WERE IN MASADA ;
BUT HERUD frees them FROM CONFINEMENT, ON HIS
RETURN FROM ROME ; AND MARCHES TO JERUSALEM :
WHERE HE FINDS SILO CORRUPTED By BRIBES.
IN the mean time,Antigonus besieged those
that were in Masada: who hud all other
necessaries in sufficient quantity, but were in
want of water. On which account Joseph,
Herod's brother, was disposed to run away
to the Arabians, with two hundred of his own
friends: because he had heard that Malichus
repented of his otTences with regard to Herod.
And he had been so quick, as to have been
gone out of the fortress already, unless on that
very night, when he was going away, there
had fallen a great deal of rain, insomuch
that his reservoirs were full of water : and so
he was under no necessity of running away.
After which, therefore, they made an irrup-
tion upon Antigonus's party, and slew a great
many of them : some in open battles, and some
in private ambush. Nor had they always
success in their attempts : for sometimes they
were beaten and ran away.f
In the mean time ||Ventidius, the Roman
general, was sent out of Syria, to restrain the
incursions of the Parthians, and after he had
done that, he came into Judea: in pretence,
indeed, to assist Joseph, and his party ; but
in reality to get money of Antigonus. And
when he had pitched his camp very near to
Jerusalem, as soon as he had got money
enough, he went away with the greatest part
of his forces. Yet still did he leave Silo, with
some part of them ; lest if he had taken them
all away, his taking of bribes might have
been too openly discovered. Now Antigonus
hoped the Parthians would come again to his
assistance ; and therefore cultivated a good
understanding with Silo in the mean time ;
II Dr. Hudson and Dean Aldrich both refer us, upon
this occasion, to Dio, XLVIII. as giving us this history of
Ventidius, when he was sent to assist Herod against Anti-
gonus.
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
189
lest any interruption should be given to his
hopes.
By this time Heroil had sailed out of Italy,
and was conie to Ptoleinais. And as soon as
he had gotten together a large army of
foreigners, and of his own countrymen, he
marched through Gahlee, against Antigonus:
wherein he was assisted both by Ventidius,
and Silo : whom *DelIius, a person sent by
Antony, persuaded to bring Herod into his
kingdom. Now Ventidius was at this time
among the cities, and composing the disturb-
ances which had happened by means of the
Parthians: wliile Silo was in Judea, corrupted
by tlie bribes that Antigorms had given him.
Yet was not Herod himself destitute of power;
but the number of his forces increased every
day, as he went along ; and all Galilee, with
few exceptions, joined themselves to him.
So he proposed to set about his niost neces-
sary enterprise, and that was at Masada ; in
order to deliver his relations from tiie siege
they endured. But still Joppa stood in his
way ; and hindered his going thither For
it was necessary to take that city first, which
was in the enemy's hands : that when he
should go to Jerusalem, no fortress might be
left in the enemy's power behind him. Silo
also willingly joined him: as having now a
plausible occasion of drawing ofT his forces
from Jerusalem. And when the Jews pur-
sued, and pressed upon him, in his retreat;
Herod made an excursion upon them, with a
small body of his men ; and soon put them
to flif his entire glorious progress: and was what
prevented Antigonus from being now con-
quered : who was already disposed to for-
sake the city.
Now when, at the evening, Herod had
already dismissed his friends, to refresh
themselves after their fatigue; and when he
was gone himself, while he was still hot in his
armour, like a common soldier to bathe him-
self, and had but one servant that attended
him; and before he was gotten into the bath,
one of the enemies met him in the face, with
a sword in his hand ; and then a second, and
then a third : and after that more of them.
These were men who had run away out of
the battle into the bath in their armour : and
they had lain there for some time in great
terror, and in privacy. And when they saw
the king, they trembled for fear; and ran by
him in a fright, although he were naked; and
endeavoured to get off" into the public road.
Now there was by chance nobody else at
hand, that might seize upon these men. And
for Herod, he was contented to have come to
no harm himself. So that they all got away
in safety.*
But on the next day Herod had Pappus's
head cut oflf^ who was the general for Anti-
gonus, and was slain in the battle ; and sent
it to his brother Pheroras ; by way of punish-
ment for their slain brother: for he was the
man that slew Joseph. Now as winter was
going off, Herod marched to Jerusalem, and
brought his army to the wall of it. This was
the third year since he had been made king
at Rome. So he pitched his camp before the
temple ; for on that side it might be besieged:
and there it was that Pompey took the city.
So he parted the work among the army, and^
demolished the suburbs; and raised three
banks; and gave orders to have towers built
upon those banks: and left the most laborious
of his acquaintance at the works. But he
went himself to Samaria, to take the daughter
of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, to wife;
who had been betrothed to him before : as
* Antiq. XIV. 15.
t Chiip. 12.
J This contempt of an enemy has in many instances
given rise to a fatsJ security, — a security which enervates
we have falready said : and thus he accom-
plished this, by the bye, during the siege of
the city. For he had his enemies in great
contempt already.]:
When he had thus married Mariamne, he
came back to Jerusalem, with a greater army.
Sosius also joined him with a large army ;
both of horsemen and footmen : which he
sent before him, through the midland parts;
while he marched himself along Phoenicia.
And when the wliole army Avas gotten toge-
ther, which were eleven regiments of footmen,
and six thousand horsemen, besides the Syrian
auxiliaries, which formed no small part of the
army, they pitched their camp near to the
north wall. Herod's dependance was upon
the decree of the senate : by which he was
made king. And Sosius relied upon Antony,
who sent the army that was under him to
Herod's assistance.
CHAP. XVIII.
OF THE REDUCTION OF JF.RUSAI.F.M BY irEROD AND SOStUS ,
AND THE DEATH OF ANTIGONUS : ALSO CONCERNING CI.E-
OPATRa's AVARICIOUS TEMPER.
NOW the multitude of the Jews tfiat were
in the city, were divided into several
factions. For the people that crowded about
the temple, being the weakest part of them,
gave it out, that as the times were, he was
the happiest and most religious man who
should die first. But as to ihe more bold
and hardy men, they got together in bodies,
and fell a robbing others, after various man-
ners : and these particularly plundered the
places that were about tlie city: and this be-
cause there was no food left, either for the
horses, or the man. Yet some of the warlike
men, who were used to fight regularly, were
appointed to defend the city, during the
siege: and these drove those that raised the
banks away from the wall, and these were
always inventing one engine or another to be
a hindrance to the engines of the enemy.
Nor had they so much success any way as in
the mines under gtoimd.
Now as for the robberies which were com-
mitted, the king contrived that ambushes
a powerful army ; and eventually reduces them nnderthe
power of a much weaker adversary. It ought, therefore,
very cautiously to be admitted. B.
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
19o
should be so laid, that they might restrain
their excursions : and as for the want ot" pr6-
vi^iions, he provided that they should be
brought to them from great distances. He
also was too hard for the Jews, by the Ro-
mans' skill ill the art of war : although they
were bold to the uttermost degree. Now they
durst not come to an open engagement with
the Romans, which was certain death: but
through their mines imder ground they would
appear in the midst of them on the sudden;
and before they could batter down one wall,
they built another in its stead. And, to sum
up all at once, they did not shew any want
either of pains-takiij^. or contrivances ; as
baving resolved to hold out to the very last.
Indeed, though they had so great an army
lying round about them, they bore a siege of
five months; till some of Herod's chosen men
ventured to get upon the wall, and fell into
the city : as did Sosius's centurions after
them. And now they first of all seized upon
what was about the temple; and upon the
pouring in of the army, there was a slaughter
of vast multitudes every where, by reason of
the rage the Romans were in at the length of
this siege; and by reason that the Jews, who
were about Herod, earnestly endeavoured
that none of their adversaries might remain.
So they were cut to pioces by great multi-
tudes, as they were crowded together in nar-
row streets, and in houses; or were running
away to the temple. Nor was there any
mercy shewn either to infants, or to the aged,
or to the weaker sex. Insomuch that although
the king sent about, and desired them to
spare the people, nobody could be persuaded
to withhold their right hand from slaughter;
but they slew people of all ages, like mad-
men. Then it was that Antigonus, without
any regard to his former, or to his present
fortune, came down from the citadel : and
fell down at .Sosius's feet: who, without
pilyina: him at all, upon the change of his
condition, laughed at him beyond measure,
and callertby of our notice,
fitness for action. Now that hope which de-
pends not on men's own power, but on others'
ill success, is a very ticklish thing. For there
is no certainty among men, either in their
bad or good fortune^. But we may easily
observe, that fortune is mutable, and goes
from one side to anotlier. And this you may
readily learn from examples among yourselves.
For w hen you were once victors in the former
fight, your enemies overcame you at last.
And very likely it will now happen so, that
those who think themselves sure of beating
you, will themselves be beaten. For when
men are very confident, they arc not upon
their guard ; while fear teaches men to act
with caution : insomuch, that I venture to
prove from your very timorousness, that you
ought to take courage. For when you were
more bold than you ought to have been, and
than I would have had you, and marched on,
Athenio's treachery took place. But your
present slowness, and seeming dejection of
mind, is to me a pledge and assurance of our
\ ictory. And indeed it is proper beforehand
to be thus provident : but when we come to
action we ought to erect our minds, and to
make our enemies, be tliey never so wicked,
believe, that neither any human nor providen-
tial misfortune can ever depress the courage
of Jews, while tliey are alive. Nor will any
of them ever overlook an Arabian, or suffer
such a one to become lord of liis good things :
whom he has in a manner taken captive, and
that many times also. And do not you dis-
turb yourselves at the quaking of inanimate
creatures: nor imagine that this earthquake
is a sign of another calamity. For such aflfed-
tions of the elements are according to the
course of nature : nor does it import any thing
farther to men, than what mischief it causes ,
immediately of itself Perhaps there may [
come some short sign beforehand in the ease
of pestilences, famines, and earthquakes: but
these calamities have their force limited by
that this seventh year of the reign of Herod, or the 3 1st
before the Christian era, contained the latter part of a
sabbatic year. On which sabbatic J car, therefore, this*
great earthquake ha|)pened in Judea.
t The persons of ambassadors have mostly been held
sacred by civilized nations. When violence has been
offered to them it has proceeded from that furious spirit
which contemns even the laws which hostile nations
observe in war. See Potter's Archxologia Grxca, vol
ii. p. 60. B.
198
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I.
themselves, without foreboding any other ca-
lamity. And indeed what greater mischief
can the war, though it should be a violent one,
do to us, than the earthquake hath done?
Nay, there is a signal of our enemies' destruc-
tion visible, and this not a natural one, nor
derived from the hand of foreigners ; but it is
this, that they have barbarously murdered
our ambassadors, contrary to the common law
of all mankind : and they have destroyed so
Biany, as if they esteemed them sacrifices for
God, in relation to this war. But they will
not avoid his great eye, nor his invincible
right hand. And we shall be revenged of
them presently, in case we still retain any of
the courage of our forefathers; and rise up
boldly to punish these covenant breakers.
Let every one therefore go on, and fight, not
so much for his wife, his children, or for tlie
danger his country is in, as for these ambassa-
dors of ours. Those dead ambassadors will
conduct this war better than we ourselves
who are alive. And if you will be ruled by
me, I will myself go before you into danger.
For you know well enough, that your courage
is irresistible, unless you hurt yourselves by
acting rashly."*
When Herod had encouraged them by this
speech, and he saw with what alacrity they
went, he offered sacrifice to God ; and after
that sacrifice he passed over the river Jordan,
with his army, and pitched his camp about
Philadelphia, near the enemy, and about a
fortification that lay between them. He then
shot at them at a distance, and was desirous
to come to an engagement. For some of them
had been sent beforehand to seize upon that
fortification. But the king sent some, who
immediately beat them off: Avhile he himself
went in the forefront of the army ; which he
put in battle array every day, and invited the
Arabians to fight. But as none of them came
out of their camp, (for they were in a terrible
fright, and their general, Elthemus, was not
able to say a word for fear) Herod came upon
them, and pulled their fortification to pieces.
By which means they were compelled to come
out : which they did in disorder, and so that
the horsemen and footmen were mixed toge-
ther. They were indeed superior to the Jews
* This speech of Herod's is set down twice by Jose-
phus : here, and Antiq. XV. 2. to the very s.ime purpose,
but by no means in the same words. Whence it ap-
in number ; but inferior in their alacrity : al-
though they were obliged to expose themselves
to danger by their very despair of victory.
Now while they made opposition, they had
not a great numl^er slain : but as soon as they
turned their backs, a great many were trod-
deli to pieces by the Jews; and a great many
by themselves, and so pejrished ; till five thou-
sand were fallen down dead in their flight :
while the rest of the multitude prevented their
immediate death by crowding into the fortifi-
cation. Herod encompassed these round,
and besieged them. And while they were
ready to be taken by their enemies in arms,
they had another additional distress upon
them, which was want of water. For the king
was above hearkening to their ambassadors .
and when they oflfered five hundred talents,
as the price of their redemption, he pressed
still hardei* upon them. And as they were
burnt up by their thirst, they came out, and
voluntarily delivered themselves up by multi-
tudes to the Jews: till in five days' time four
thousand of them were put into bonds; and
on the sixth day the multitude that were left
despaired of saving themselves, and came out
to fight : but Herod defeated them, and slew
again about seven thousand. Insomuch, that
he punished Arabia so severely, and so far
extinguished the spirit of the men, that he was
chosen by the nation for their ruler.
CHAP. XX.
HEROD IS CONFIRMED IN HIS KINGDOM BY CSSAR : AND
CULTIVATES A FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM BY MAGNIFICENT
PRESENTS ; WHILE THE EMPEROR RETURNS HIS KINDNESS,
BY BESTOWING ON HIM THAT FART OF HIS KINGDOM
WHICH HAD BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM IT BY CLEOPATRA ;
WITH THE ADDITION OF ZENODORUs's COUNTRY. .
NOW Herod was under an immediate
concern about a most important affliir,
on account of his friendship with Antony; who
was already fovercome at Actium by Caesar.
Yet was he more afraid than hurt : for Caesar
did not think he had quite undone Antony,
while Herod continued his assistance to him.
However, the king resolved to expose himself
to dangers. Accordingly he sailed to Rhodes,
where Coesar then abode ; and came to him
pears, that the sense was Herod's ; but the compositioa
Josephus's.
t September 2d. B. C. 31.
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
199
without his diadem, and in the habit and ap-
Eearaiice of a private pei-son ; but in liis be-
aviour as a king. So he concealed nothing
of the truth, but spake tlius before his face : —
" O Caesar, as 1 was made king of the Jews
by Antony, so do I profess that 1 have used
my royal authority in the best manner, and
entirely for his advantage. Nor will I conceal
this farther, that thou hadst certainly found
me in arms, and an inseparable companion
of his, had not the. Arabians hindered me.
However, I sent him as many auxiliaries as I
was able, and many thousand cori of con).
Nay indeed I did not desert my benefactor
after the blow that was given him at Actium.
But I gave him the best advice I was able,
when I was no longer able to assist him in the
war: and I told him, that there was but one
way of recovering his affairs, and that was to
kill Cleopatra : and I promised him that if she
were dead I would afford him money, and
walls for his security ; with an army, and my-
self to assist him in his war against thee. But
his aflfection for Cleopatra stopped his ears ;
as did God himself also : who hath bestowed
the government on thee. I own myself also
to be overcome together with him ; and with
his last fortune, I have laid aside my diadem,
and I am come to thee, having my hopes of
safety in thy virtue : and I desire that thou
wilt first consider, how faithful a friend, and
not whose friend, I have been."
To this speech Caesar replied : — " Thou*
shalt not only be in safety, but shalt be a king:
and that more firmly than thou wert before.
For thou art worthy to reign over a great
many subjects, by reason of the sincerity of
thy friendship. And do thou endeavour to be
equally constant in thy friendship to me, upon
my good success: which is what I depend
upon from the generosity of thy disposition.
However, Antony hath done well in preferring
Cleopatra to thee : for by this means we have
gained thee by her madness. And thus thou
hast begun to be my friend before I began to
be thine. On which account Quintus Didius
* This answer of Aiigustns's is strongly coofinned by
Plutarch, Appian, and Dio ; who mutually assist and cor-
rect one another's and Josephus's copies ; some of which
were otherwise difficult to be made out : as Aldrich and
Spanheim observe on this place.
t Since Josephus, both here, and in his Antiquities,
XV. 7. reckons Gaza, ivhich had been a free city among
the cities given Herod by Augustus, and yet implies that
VOL. II. — NOS. 65 ii 66.
hath written to me, that thou sentest him
assistance against the gladiators. 1 do there-
fore assure thee, that 1 will confirm the king-
dom to thee by a decree. I shall also en-
deavour to do thee some farther kindnesses
hereafter, that thou mayest find no loss in the
want of Antony."
When Caesar had spoken such obliging
things to the king, and had put the diadem
again about his head, he proclaimed what he
had bestowed on him by a decree : in which
he enlarged on the commendation of the
man after a magnificent maimer. Whereupon
Herod obliged him to be kind to him by the
presents he gave him ; and he desired him to
forgive Alexander, one of Antony's friends,
who was become a supplicant to him. But
Caesar's anger against him prevailed ; and he
complained of the many and very great of-
fences the man, whom he petitioned for, had
been guilty of; and by that means he rejected
his petition. After this, Caesar went for Egypt,
through Syria, when Herod received him with
royal and rich entertainments : and then did
he first of all ride along with Caesar, as he
was reviewing his army about Ptolemais, and
feasted him with all his friends : and then dis-
tributed among the rest of the army what w as
necessary to feast them with. He also made
a plentiful provision of water for them, when
they were to march as far as Pelusium, through
a dry country : which he did in like manner
at their return. Nor were there any neces-
saries wanting to that army. It was therefore
the opinion both of Caesar and his soldiers,
that Herod's kingdom was too small for those
generous presents he made them. F'or which
reason when Caesar was come into Egypt, and
Cleopatra and Antony were dead, he not only
bestowed other marks of honour upon him,
but made an addition to his kingdom, by
giving him not only the country which had
been taken from him by Cleopatra, but be-
sides that, Gadara, Hippos, and Samaria;
and of the maritime cities, fCaza, Anthedon,
Joppa, and Strato's Tower. He also made
Herod had made Costobarus a governor of it before, An-
tiquities, XV. 6. Harduin has some pretence for saying
that Josephus here contradicted himself. But perhaps
Herod thought he had sufficient authority tb ptit a go-
vernor into Gaza, after he was made tetrarch or king, in
times of war, before the city was entirely delivered intb
his hands by Augustus.
Dd
^-
200
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I.
him a present of four hundred Galatians as a
guard for his body, which they had been to
Cleopatra before. Nor did any thing so
strongly induce Caesar to make these pre-
sents, as the generosity of him that received
them.
Moreover, after the *first games at tActium,
he added to his kingdom both the region
called Trachonitis; and what lay in its neigh-
bourhood, Batanea, and the country of Aura-
nitis: and that on the following occasion.
Zenodorus, who had hired the house of Lysa-
nias, had all along sent robbers out of Tra-
chonitis among the Damascenes : who there-
upon had recourse to Varro, the president of
Syria; and desired of him that he would re-
present the calamity they were in to Caesar.
When Caesar was acquainted with it, he sent
back orders, that this nest of robbers should
be destroyed. Varro, therefore, made an ex-
pedition against them, and cleared the land
of those men, and took it away from Zenodo-
rus. Caesar did also afterward bestow it on
Herod, that it might not again become a re-
ceptacle for those robbers that had come
against Damascus. He also made him a pro-
curator of all Syria: and this on the tenth year
afterward, when he came again into that
province : and this was so established, that
the other procurators could not do any thing
in the administration without his advice. But
when Zenodorus was dead, Caesar bestowed
on him all that land which lay between Tra-
chonitis and Galilee. Yet what was still of
more consequence to Herod, he was beloved
by Caesar next after Agrippa, and by Agrippa
next after Caesar: whence he arrived at a
very great degree of felicity. Yet did the
greatness of his soul exceed it : and the main
part of his magnanimity was extended to the
promotion of piety.
* Since the battle at Actium, as we have seen, was in
the beginning of September, B. C. 31, and the next year
Augustus came first into Syria, B. C. 30, and again, ten
years afterwards, B. C. 20, as Josephns will inform us
presently, which was expressly Herod's 17th year ex-
piring, or 18th begun, Antiq. XV. 10. Herod's reign must
liave begun, B. C. 27, as has been already determined.
t Take here Dean Aldrich's note, which agrees with
Spanheim's determination. After the first games at Ac-
tium : that is on the first year of the second Actian games,
and the 15th year of the reign of Herod. For (as Jose-
phus says above, chap. 19.) the fight at Actium was in his
7th year. On the 3d year after which, (i. e. on the 10th
of Herod,) the first Actian games were celebrated, when
CHAP. XXI.
OF THE TEMPLE, CITIES, AND OTHER EDIFICES THAT WERE
BUILT BY HEROD ; THE MAGNIFICENCE HE SHEWED TO
FOREIGNERS ; AND HIS GENERAL GOOD FORTUNE.
IN the ^fifteenth year of his reign, Herod
rebuilt the temple, and encompassed a
piece of land about it with a wall: which
land was twice as large as that before en-
closed. The expenses he laid out upon it
were also very great, and the riches about it
were unspeakable. A sign of which you have
in the cloisters that were erected about the
temple ; and l|the citadel which was on its
north side. The cloisters he built from the
foundation : but the citadel he repaired at a
vast expense. Nor was it other than a royal
palace, which he called Antonia: in honour
of Antony. He also built himself a palace in
the upper city, containing two very large and
most beautiful apartments: to which the holy
house itself could not be compared in large-
ness. The one apartment he named Caesar-
eum; and the other Agrippium; from his two
great friends.
Yet did he not preserve their memory by
particular buildings only, with their names
given them ; but his generosity went as far as
entire cities. For when he had built a most
beautiful wall round a country in Samaria,
twenty furlongs long, and had brought six
thousand inhabitants into it, and had allotted
to it a most fruitful piece of land ; and in the
midst of this city, thus built, had erected a
very large temple to Caesar; and had laid
round about it a portion of sacred land of
three furlongs and a half; he called the city
§Sebaste : and settled the affairs of the city,
after a most regular manner.
And when Caesar had farther bestowed
upon him another additional country, he built
Caesar Octavianus was consul the 6th time : and M.
Vipsanius was also consul the second time. Die, LIII.
page 496.
I The 18th. See Antiq. XV. 11.
II This fort was first built, as it is supposed, by John
Hyrcanus, and called Baris : the tower or citadel. It was
afterwards rebuilt, with great improvements, by Herod,
under the government of Antonius ; and was named from
him the Tower of Antonia. And about the time when
Herod rebuilt the temple, he seems to have put his last
hand to it. See Antiq. XVIH. 5. Of the War, I. 3. and 5.
It lay on the north-west side of the temple, and was a
quarter as large.
§ From Sebastus, or Augustus.
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
201
him there also a temple of white marble ; near
the fountains of Jordan. Tlie place is called
Panium; where is a top of a mountain that
is raised to an immense height; and at its
side, beneath, or at its bottom, a dark cave
opens itself: within which is a horrible preci-
f>ice, that descends abruptly to a vast depth,
t coiitains an immense quantity of water,
which is immoveable: and when any body
lets down any thing to measure the depth of
the earth beneath the water, no length ot cord
is sufficient to reach it. Now the fountains of
Jordan, rise at the roots of this cavity out-
wardly : and, as some think, this is the utmost
origin of Jordan. But we shall speak of that
matter more accurately in our *folIowing
history.
But the king erected other places at Jeri-
cho also ; between the citadel Cypros, and
the former palace ; such as were better and
more useful than the former for travellers ;
and named them from the same friends of
his. In short, there was not any place of his
kingdom fit for the purpose, that was per-
mitted to be without somewhat that was for
Caesar's honour. And when he had filled his
own country with temples, he poured out the
like plentiful marks of esteem into his pro-
vince ; and built many cities which he called
Caesareas.
And when he observed that there was a
city by the sea side, called Strato's Tower,
that was so much decayed ; but by the hap-
piness of its situation, was capable of great
improvements, he rebuilt it all with white
stone, and adorned it with several most
splendid palaces ; wherein he especially
demonstrated his magnanimity. For the case
was, that all the sea shore between Dora and
Joppa, in the middle, between which this
city is situate, had no good haven : insomuch
that every one that sailed from Phoenicia for
Egypt was obliged to lie in the stormy sea,
by reason of the south wind that threatened
them. Which wind, if it blow but a little
fresh, such vast waves are raised, and dash
upon the rocks, that upon their retreat, the
• See Book III. chap. 10.
t That Josephus speaks truth, when he assures us that
" The haven of this Caesarea was made by Herod not
lesser, but rather larger, than that famous haven at Athens
called Pyraum," will appear, says Dean Aldrich, to him
who compares the descriptions of that at Athens in Tbucy-
sea is in a great ferment for a long way. But
the king, by the expenses he was at, and the
liberal disposal of them, overcame nature;
and built a haven larger than was the
tPyrdcum at Athens. And in the inner retire-
ments of the water he built other deep sta-
tions for the ships.
Now although the place where he built was
greatly opposite to his purposes, yet did he
so fully struggle with that difficulty, that the
firmness of his building could not easily be
conquered by the sea : and the beauty and
ornament of the works was such, as though he
had not any difficulty in the operation. For
when he had measured out as large a space
as we have before mentioned, he let down
stones into twenty fathom water: the greatest
part of which were fifty feet in length, nine in
depth, and ten in breadth; and some still
larger. But when the haven was filled up to
that depth, he enlarged tliat wall which was
thus already extant above the sea, till it was
two hundred feet wide. One hundred of
which had buildings before it, in order to
break the force of the waves : whence it was
called Procumatia, or the first breaker of the
waves ; but the rest of the space was under
a stone wall that run round it. On this wall
were very large towers: the principal and
most beautiful of which was called Drusium,
from Drusus ; who was son-in-law to Caesar.
There were also a great number of arches
where the mariners dwelt. And all the place
before them round about was a large valley,
or walk, for a quay or landing place to those
that came on shore. But the entrance was
on the north : because the north wind was
there the most gentle of all the winds.J At
the mouth of the haven were on each side
three great colossi, supported by pillars:
where those colossi that are on ycfir left hand,
as you sail info the port, are supported by a
solid tower : but those on the right hand are
supported by two upright stones, joined toge-
ther: which stones were larger than that
tower which was on the other side of the
entrance. Now there were continual edifices
dides and Paiisanias, with this of Ctesarea in Josephus
hero, and in the Antiq. XV. 9. and XVII. 9.
I For a particular account of the windt*. which usually
prevail in these parts, see Shaw's Travels, vol. i. p. 248,
8vo. B.
Dd 2
202
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I.
joined to the haven, which were also them-
selves of white stone : and to this haven did
the narrow streets of the city lead, and were
built at equal distances one from another.
And over against the mouth of the haven,
upon an elevation, there was a temple for
Caesar ; which was excellent, both in beauty
and largeness : and therein was a colossus of
CjEsar, not less than that of Jupiter Olympius;
which it was made to resemble. The other
colossus of Rome was equal to that of Juno
at Argos. So he dedicated the city to the
province ; and the haven to the sailors there :
but the honour of the building he ascribed to
*C8esar, and named it Csesarea accordingly.
He also built other edifices, the amphi-
theatre, theatre, and market-place, in a man-
ner agreeable to that denomination : and
appointed games every fifth year : and called
them, in like manner, Caesar's games : and he
first himself proposed the largest prizes upon
the hundred and ninety-second olympiad. In
which not only the victors, but those that
came next to them, and even those that came
in the third place, were partakers of his royal
bounty. He also rebuilt Anthedon ; a city that
lay on the coast, and had been demolished
in the wars, and named it Agrippeum.
Moreover he had so great a kindness for his
friend Agrippa, that he had his name engraved
upon that gate which he had himself erected
in the temple.t
Herod was also a lover of his father, if any
other person ever were so. For he made a
monument for his father; even that city
which he built in the finest plain that was in
his kingdom, and which had rivers and trees
in abundance, and named it Antipatris. He
also built a wall about a citadel that lay
above Jericho ; and it was a very strong, and
very fine building; and dedicated it to his
mother, and called it Cypros. Moreover he
dedicated a tower that was at Jerusalem, and
called it by the name of his brother Phasa-
elus; the structure, largeness, and magnifi-
cence, of which we shall describe hereafter.
He also built another city in the valley, that
* This building of cities by the name of Csesnr, as here,
and in the Antiquities, related of Herod by Josephiis, the
Roman Historians attest to ; as things then frequent in
the provinces of that empire : as Dean Aldrich observes
on this chapter.
t Antiq. XHI. 13.
leads northward from Jericho ; and named it
Phasaelis.
And as he transmitted to posterity the
names of his family and his friends, so did he
not neglect a memorial for himself; but built
a fortress upon a mountain towards Arabia,
and named it from himself |Herodium. And
he called that liill that was of the shape of a
woman's breast, and was sixty furlongs dis-
tant from Jerusalem, by the same name. He
also bestowed much curious art upon it, and
built round towers all about the top of it; and
filled up the remaining space with most costly
palaces round about : insomuch that not only
the sight of the inner apartments was splen-
did ; but great wealth was laid on the out-
ward walls and roofs. Besides this, he
brought a large quantity of water from a
great distance, and at vast charges : and
raised an ascent to it of two hundred steps,
of the whitest marble. For the hill was itself
moderately high, and entirely factitious. He
also built other palaces about the foot of the
hill, sufficient to receive the furniture that was
put into them. Insomuch, that on account of
its containing all necessaries, the fortress
might seem to be a city : but by the bounds
it had, a palace only.
And when he had built so much he shewed
the greatness of his soul to no small number
of foreign cities. He built palaces for exer-
cise at Tripoli, Damascus, and Ptolemais.
He built a wall about Byblus : as also large
rooms and cloisters, temples, and market-
places, at Berytus and Tyre : with theatres
at Sidon and Damascus. He also built
aqueducts for those Laodiceans who lived by
the sea-side : and for those of Ascalon he
built baths and costly fountains ; as also
cloisters round a court ; that were admirable,
both for their workmanship and largeness.
Moreover, he dedicated groves and meadows
to some people. Nay, not a few cities there
were which had lands of his donation; as if
they were parts of his own kingdom. He
also bestowed annual revenues, and those
forever, on the settlements for exercises ; and
I There were two cities, or citadels ; called Herodiums,
in Judea ; and both mentioned by Josephus not only here,
but Antiq. XIV. 13. XV. 9. Of the War, I. 13. 111. 3.
One of them was 200, and (he other GO furlongs distant
from Jerusalem. One of them is mentioned by Pliny,
Hist. Nat. V. 14.
BOOK I.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
203
appointed for them, as well as for the people
of Cos, that such rewards should never be
watiting. He also gave corn to all such as
wanted it ; and conferred upon Rhodes large
sums of money for building ships : and this
he did in many places, and frequently also.
And when Apollo's temple had been burnt
down, he rebuilt it at his own charges, after a
better manner than it was before. What
need 1 speak of the presents he made to the
Lysians and Samians.'' or of his great libera-
lity through all Ionia ? and that according to
every body's wants of them. And are not the
Athenians and Lacedaemonians, and Nicopo-
litans, and that Pergamus which is in Mysia,
full of donations that Herod presented them
withal .'' and as for that large open place
belonging to Antioch in Syria, did not he pave
it with polished marble; though it were twenty
furlongs long .'* and this when it was shunned
by all men before, because it was full of dirt
and filthiness ? when he besides adorned the
same place with a cloister of the same length.
It is true, a man may say these were favours
peculiar to those particular places, on which
he bestowed his benefits. But then, what
favours he bestowed on the Eleans was a
donation not only in common to all Greece,
but to all the habitable earth ; as far as the
glory of the Olympic games reached. For
when he perceived that they were come to
nothing, for want of money ; and that the only
remains of ancient Greece were in a manner
gone ; he not only became one of the com-
batants in that return of the fifth year games,
which iti his sailing to Rome he happened to
be present at, but he settled upon tliem
revenues in money for perpetuity. Insomuch,
that his memorial, as a combatant there, can
never fail. It would be an infinite task if I
should go over his payments of people's debts,
or tributes for them : as he eased the people
of Phasaelis, of Batanea, and of the small
cities about Cilicia, of those annual pensions
they before paid. However, the fear he was
in much disturbed the greatness of his soul;
lest he should be exposed to envy ; or seem
to hunt after greater things than he ought:
while he bestowed more liberal gifts upon
these cities than did their owners themselves.
Now Herod had a body suited to his soul :
* Here seems to be a small defect in the copies ; which
describe the wild beasts which were hunted in a certain
and was a most excellent hunter : where he
generally had good success, by means of his
great skill in riding. For in one day he caught
forty wild beasts. *That country breeds
also bears : and the greatest part of it is
replenished with stags and wild asses. He
was also such a warrior as could not be with-
stood. Many men, therefore, have stood
amazed at his readiness in his exercises;
when they saw him throw the javelin directly
forward, and shoot tire arrow upon the mark.
And then, besides these performances of his,
depending on his own strength of mind and
body ; fortinie was also very favourable to
him. For he seldom failed of success in his
wars : and when he failed he was not himself
the occasion of such failings: but he either
was betrayed by some ; or the rashness of his
own soldiers occasioned his defeat.
CHAP. XXII.
OF THE MURDER OF ARI8TOBULUS, AND HrRCAKVS, THE
HIGH-PRIESTS ; AND OF NARIAHNE THE QUEEN.
FORTUNE, however, was avenged on
Herod in his external great successes,
by raising him up domestic troubles : and he
began to have wild disorders in his family,
on account of his wife, of whom he was so
very fond. For when he came to the govern-
ment, he sent away her whom he had before
married, when he was a private person ; and
who was born at Jerusalem ; whose name was
Doris : and married Mariamne, the daughter
of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus. On
this account disturbances arose in his family:
and that in part very soon : but chiefly after
his return from Rome. For first of all he
expelled Antipater, the son of Doris, for the
sake of his sons by Mariamne, out of the city:
and permitted him to come thither at no
other times, than at the festivals. After this
he slew his wife's grandfather, Hyrcanus,
when he was returned out of Parthia to him:
under this pretence, that he suspected him of
plotting against him. Now this Hyrcanus had
been carried captive to Barzapharnes, when
he overran Syria: but those of his own
country beyond Euphrates were desirous he
would stay with them: and this out of the
commiseration (hey had for his condition. And
country by Herod, without naming any such country.
204
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book I.
had he complied with their desires, when
they exhorted him not to go over the river to
Herod, he had not perished. But the mar-
riage of his grand-daughter to Herod was his
temptation. For as he relied upon him, and
was over-fond of his own country, he came
back to it. Herod's provocation was this:
not that Hyrcanus made any attempt to gain
the kingdom : but that it was fitter for him to
be their king than for Herod.
Now of the *five children which Herod had
by Mariamne, two of them were daughters,
and three were sons: and the youngest of
these sons was educated at Rome, and there
died: but the two eldest he treated as those
of royal blood, on account of the nobility of
their mother: and because they were not
born till he was king. But then, what was
stronger than all this, was the love that he
bare to Mariamne ; and which inflamed him
every day to a great degree : and so far con-
spired with the other motives, that he felt no
other troubles, on account of her he loved
so entirely. But Mariamne's hatred to him,
was not inferior to his love to her. She had,
indeed, but too just a cause of indignation,
from what he had done ; while her boldness
proceeded from his affection to her. So she
openly reproached him with what he had done
to her grandfather Hyrcanus, and to her
brother Aristobulus. For he had not spared
this Aristobulus, though he were but a child.
For when he had given him the high-priest-
hood at the age of seventeen, he slew him
quickly after he had conferred that dignity
upon him. But when Aristobulus had put on
the holy vestments, and had approached to
the altar, at a festival, the multitude, in great
crowds, fell into tears ; whereupon the child
was sent by night to Jericho, and was there
dipped by the Gauls, at Herod's command, in
a pool, till he was drowned.f
For these reasons Mariamne reproached
Herod, and his sister, and mother, after a
most contumelious manner : while he was
dumb on account of his affection for her.
* These five children of Herod's by Mariamne are here
»et down by Spanheira, from Josephus, chap. 28. Antiq.
XVII. 1. and XVIII. 6, viz. three sons, Alexander, and
Aristobulus, and a third not named, as dying young at
Rome : with two daughters, Salampso, and Cypros. See
the note on Antiq. XVII. 1.
t See Antiquities, XV. 3.
Yet had the women great indignation at her,
and asserted that she was false to his bed ;
as thinking that calumny most likely to move
Herod to anger. They also contrived to have
many other circumstances believed, in order
to make the thing more credible: and accused
her of having sent her picture into Egypt to
Antony : and that her lust was so extravagant,
as to have thus shewn herself, though she
were absent, to a man that ran mad after a
woman; and to a man that had it in his power
to use violence to her. This charge fell like
a thunderbolt upon Herod : and put him into
disorder: and that especially, because his
love to her occasioned her to be jealous : and
because he considered with himself that Cle-
opatra was a shrewd woman : and that on
her account Lysanias the king was taken off;
as well as Malichus the Arabian: for his fear
did not only extend to the dissolving of his
marriage, but to the danger of his life.
When, therefore, he was about to take a
journey abroad, he committed his wife to
Joseph, his sister Salome's husband ; as to
one who would be faithful to him, and bare
him good will on account of their kindred.
He also gave him a secret injunction; that
if Antony slew him, he would slay her. But
Joseph, without any ill design, and only in
order to demonstrate the king's love to his
wife ; how he could not bear to think of being
separated from her, even by death itself,
discovered this grand secret to her. Upon
which, when Herod was come back, and as
they talked together, confirmed his love to
her by many oaths; and assured her that he
had never such an affection for any other
woman as he had for her. " Yes," Jsays she,
" thou didst, to be sure, demonstrate thy love
to me by the injunction thou gavest Joseph,
when thou commandest him to kill me !"
When he heard that this grand secret was
discovered, he was like a distracted man;
and said, that Joseph would never have dis-
closed that injunction of his, unless he had
debauched her. His passion also made him
J Here is either a greodies, or into
this world, which he grants to the good, looks somewhat
like a contradiction to St. Paul's account of the doctrine
of the Jews, that " they themselves allowed that there
should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and
unjust," Act" xxiv. 15. Yet because Josephus's account
is that of the Pharisees ; and St. Paul's that of the Jews
in general, and of himself, the contradiction is not very
certain.
I Hades includes the place of rewards as well as of
punishments.
II Matt. xvi. 13. Mark viii. 27.
§ Frequently mentioned in the New Testament.
244
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book 11.
Were trodden under foot. For those laws do
not permit any sort of image to be brought
into the city. Nay, besides the indignation
which the citizens had themselves at this
■procedure, a vast number of the people came
running out of the country. These came
zealously to Pilate toCa^sarea ; and besought
iiim to carry those ensigns out of Jerusalem,
and to preserve their ancient laws inviolable.
But upon Pilate's denial of their request, they
fell down prostrate upon the ground, and
continued immoveable in that posture, for
five days, and as many nights.
On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribu-
nal, in the open market-place ; and called to
him the multitude, as desirous to give them
an answer. And then gave a signal to the
soldiers, that they should all, as by agreement,
at once encompass the Jews with their wea-
pons. So the band of soldiers stood round
about the Jews, in three ranks. The Jews
were under the utmost consternation at that
unexpected sight. Pilate also said to them,
that they should be cut in pieces, unless they
would admit of Caesar's images : and gave
intimation to the soldiers to draw their swords.
Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal,
fell down in vast numbers together, and ex-
y)osed their necks bare; and cried out that
.hey would rather be slain than that their law
should be transgressed. Hereupon Pilate
was greatly surprised at their prodigious
superstition, and gave order that the ensigns
should be carried out of Jerusalem.
After this he raised another disturbance,
by expending that sacred treasure which is
called *Corban upon aqueducts; whereby he
brought water from the distance of four hun-
dred furlongs. At this the multitude had
indignation. And when Pilate was come to
Jerusalem, they came about his tribunal, and
made a clamour at it. Now when he was
apprised beforehand of this disturbance, he
mixed his own soldiers in their armour with
the multitude ; and ordered them to conceal
themselves under the habits of private men,
and not, indeed, to use their swords ; but
with their staves to beat those that made the
* This use of Corban, or Oblation, as here applied
to the sacred money dedicated to God in the treasury
of tho temple, illustrates our Saviour's words, Mark vii.
11, 12.
t Dean Aldrich produces here two testimonies that
clamour. He then gave the signal from his
tribunal, to do as he had bidden them. Now
the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of
them perished by the stripes they received ;
and many of them perished as trodden to
death by themselves. By which means the
multitude was astonished at the calamity of
those that were slain, and held their peace.
In the mean time Agrippa, the son of that
Aristobulus who had been slain by his father
Herod, came to Tiberius to accuse Herod
the tetrarch. Who not admitting of his
accusation, he staid at Rome, and cultivated a
friendship with others of the men of note, but
principally with Caius the son of Germa-
nicus, who was then but a private person.
Now this Agrippa, at a certain time, feasted
Caius. And as he was very complaisant to
him on several other accounts, he at length
stretched out his hands, and openly wished
that Tiberius might die; and that he might
quickly see him emperor of the world. This
was told to Tiberius, by one of Agrippa's
domestics. Who thereupon was very angry,
and ordered Agrippa to be bound ; and had
him very ill treated in prison for six months,
until Tiberius died ; after he had reigned
twenty-two years, six months, and three
days.
But when Caius was made Caesar, he fre-
leased Agrippa from his bonds, and made him
king of Philip's tetrarchy, who was now dead.
But when Agrippa had arrived at that degree
of dignity, he enflamed the ambitious desires
of Herod the tetrarch: who was chiefly
induced to hope for the royal authority by his
wife Herodias : for she reproaclied him for
his sloth; and told him that it was only
because he would not sail to Ciusar. that he
was destitute of that greater dignity. For
since Caesar had made Agrippa a king, from a
private person, much more would he advance
him from a tetrarch to that dignity. These
arguments prevailed with Herod : so that he
came to Caius. By whom he was punished
for his ambition, by being banished into
Spain. Far Agrippa followed him in order to
accuse him. To whom also Caius gave his
confirm what Josephus says, as to Caius's freeing
Agrippa from imprisonment, and bestowing the kingdom
of his grandfather Herod upon him : 1 mean Dio LIX.
page 645, and Phiio iu Flaccum, page 665, 666.
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
245
tetrarchy by way of addition. So Herod
died in Spain ; whither his wife had followed
him.*
CHAP. X.
OP THE ORDERS WHICH C-tllfS ISSUKD RELATIVE TO THE
ERECTIO.V OF HIS STATUE IM THE TEMPLE OF JERUSA-
LEM ; AND or THE COMODCT OF PETRONIUS.
NOW Caius Cajsar did so grossly abuse
the fortune he had arrived at as to take
himself to be a god ; and to desire to be so
called ; and to cut ofT those of the greatest
nobility out of his country. He also extended
his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly
he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem
to place his statue in the temple: fand com-
manded, that in case the Jews would not
admit of it, he should slay those that opposed,
and carry all the rest of the nation into cap
tivity. But God concerned himself with these
commands. However, Petronius marched
out of Antioch into Judea, with three legions,
and many Syrian auxiliaries. Now as to the
Jews, some of them could not believe the
stories that spake of a war : but those that
did believe them were in the utmost distress
how to defend themselves. And the terror
diffused itself presently through them all. For
the army was already come to Ptolemais.
This Ptolemais is a maritime city of Galilee
built in the great plain. It is encompassed
with mountains. That on the east side, sixty
furlongs off, belongs to Galilee: but that on
the south belongs to Carmel, which is distant
from it a hundred and twenty furlongs. And
that on the north is the highest of them all,
and is called by the people of the country,
the ladder of the Tyrians, which is at the
distance of a hundred furlongs. The very
small river JBelus runs by it, at the distance
of two furlongs. Near which there is
iJiMemnon's monument; and near it is a place
no larger than a hundred cubits, which
deserves admiration. For the place is round,
and hollow, and affords such sand as glass is
* Antiq. XVIII. 8.
t Whatever compliances the Jews might be disposed to
make to his will, it was highly improbable they would
concede this point, because their law was so express against
idolatry, ami they were remarkably tenacious of the sanctity
oftheir temple. B.
I This account of a place, near the mouth of the river
Belua in Phoenicia, whence came that sand out of which
made of: which place when it hath been
emptied by the many ships there loaded, it is
filled again by the wuids, which bring into it,
as it were on purpose, that sand which lay
remote, and was no more than bare common
sand: while this mine presently turns it intu
glassy sand. And what is still more wonder-
ful, that glassy sand which is superfluous, and
is once removed out of the place, becomes
bare common sand again. And this is the
nature of the place we are speaking of
But now the Jews got together in great
numbers, with their wives and children, into
that plain that was by Ptolemais; and made
supplication to Petronius, first for their laws,
and ni the next place for themselves. So he
was prevailed upon by the multitude of the
supplicants, and by their supplications ; and
iefl his army and the statue at Ptolemais, and
ihen went forward into Galihe; and called
together the multitude, and all the men of
note to Tiberias, and shewed tliem the power
of the Romans, and the threatenings of Caesar,
and besides this, proved that their petition
\yas unreasonable; because whil« all the na-
tions in subjection to them had placed the
images of Ca?sar in their several cities, among
the rest of their gods, for them alone to op-
pose it, was almost like the behaviour of re-
volters, and was injurious to Ca-sar.
And when they insisted on their law, and
the customs oftheir country ; and how it was
not only not permitted them to make either
an image of God, or, indeed, of a man, and to
put it in any despicable part oftheir country,
much less in the temple; Petronius replied,
" And am not I also bound to keep the law of
my own lord ? For if I transgress it, and
spare you, it is but just that I perish : while
he that sent me, and not I, will commence a
war against you : for I am under command as
well as you." Hereupon the whole multitude
cried out, that they were ready to suffer for
their law. Petronius then quieted them, and
said : " Will you then make war against
Cajsar .?" The Jews said, " We offer sacri-
the ancients made their glass, is a known thing in history :
particularly in Tacitus and Strabo, and more largely in
Pliny : as Aldrich and Spanheim here inform us.
II This Memnon had several monuments : and one of
them appears, both by Strabo and Diodorus, to have been
in Syria : anl
their garments, with which they stabbed those
that were their enemies : and when they fell
down dead, the murderers became a part of
those that had indignation against them. By
which means they appeared persons of such
reputation, that they could by no means be
discovered. The first man who was slain by
them was Jonathan, the high-priest. After
whose death many were slain every day :
while the fear men were in of being so served
was more aflUcting than the calamity itself;
and while every body expected death every
hour; as men do in war. So men were obliged
to look before them, and to take notice of
their enemies at a great distance : nor if their
friends were coming to them, durst they trust
them any longer. But, in the midst of their
suspicions and guarding of themselves, they
were slain. Such was the celerity of the
plotters against them, and so cunning was
their contrivance.*
There was also another body of wicked
men gotten together, not so impure in their
actions, but more wicked in their intentions;
which laid waste the happy state of the city
no less than did these murderers. These
were such men as deceived and deluded the
people, under pretence of divine inspiration,
but were procuring innovations and changes
of the government. And these prevailed with
the multitude to act like madmen ; and went
before them into the wilderness; as pretend-
ing that God would there shew them the sig-
nals of liberty. But Felix thought this proce-
dure was the beginning of a revolt. So he
sent some horsemen and footmen, both armed,
who destroyed a great number of them.
But there was an Egyptian false prophet
that did the Jews more mischief than the
former. For he was a cheat, and pretended
to be a prophet also; and got together tthirty
thousand men that were deluded by him.
These he led round about from the wilder-
ness to the mount which was called the mount
of Olives; and was ready to break into Jeru-
salem by force from that place : and if he
could but once conquer the Roman garrison
and the people, he intended to domineer over
them, by the assistance of those guards of his
that were to break into the city with him.
But Felix prevented his attempt; and met
* AnUq. XX. 8.
him with his Roman soldiers : while all the
t»eople assisted him in his attack upon them,
nsomuch that when it came to a battle, the
Egyptian ran away, with a few others, while
the greatest part of those that were with him
were either destroyed, or taken alive: but
the rest of the multitude were dispersed to
their homes, and there concealed themselves.
Now, when these were quieted, it happened
as it does in a diseased body, that another
part was subject to an iiiHammation. For
a company of deceivers and robbers got
together, and persuaded the Jews to revolt;
and exhorted them to assert their liberty:
inflicting death on those that contuiued in
obediejice to the Roman government; and
saying, that such as willingly choose slavery
ought to be forced from such inclinations.
For they parted themselves into different
bodies, and lay in wait up and down the
country, and plundered the houses of the great
men, and slew the men themselves, and set
the villages on fire ; and this till all Judea was
filled with the effects of their madness. And
thus the flame was every day more and more
blown up, till it came to a direct war.
There was also another disturbance at
Csesarea. Those Jews who were mixed with
the Syrians, that lived there, raising a tumult
against them, the Jews pretended that the
city was theirs ; and said that he who built it
was a Jew, meaning king Herod. The Syrians
confessed also that its builder was a Jew: but
they still said that the city was a Grecian
city : for that he who set up statues and
temples in it could not design it for Jews
On which account both parties had a contest
with one another: and this contest increased
so much, that it came at last to arms; and
the bolder sort of them marched out to fight
For the elders of the Jews were not able to
put a stop to their own people, that were
disposed to be tumultuous; and the Greeks
thought it a shame for them to be overcome
by the Jews. Now these Jews exceeded the
others, in riches and strength of body. But
the Grecian part had the advantage of assist-
ance from the soldiery. For the greatest
part of the Roman garrison was raised out of
Syria: and being thus related to the Syrian
part, they were ready to assist it. However,
t Four thousand. See Acts xxi. 38.
252
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book II.
the governors of the city were concerned to
keep all quiet: and whenever they caught
those that were most for fighting on either
side, they punished them with stripes and
bonds. Yet did not the sufferings of those
that were caught affright the remainder, or
make them desist. But they were still more
and more exasperated, and deeper engaged
in the sedition. And as Felix came once into
the market-place, and commanded the Jews,
when they had beaten the Syrians, to go their
Avays; and threatened them if they would not;
and they would not obey him: he sent his
soldiers out upon them, and slew a great many
of them : upon which it fell out that what
they had was plundered. And as the sedition
still continued, he chose out the most eminent
men on both sides, as ambassadors to Nero,
to argue about their several privileges.
CHAP. XIV.
OF THE SUCCESSION OF FESTUS, ALBINU9, AND FLORUS TO
THE PROCURATORSHIP OF JUDEA ; THE LATTER OF WHOM,
BV THE BARBARITV OF HIS GOVERNMENT, FORCES THE
JEWS INTO THE WAR.
NOW Festus succeeded Felix *as pro-
curator, and made it his business to
correct those that made disturbances in the
country. So he caught the greatest part of
the robbers, and destroyed a great many of
them. But Albinus, who succeeded Festus,
tdid not execute his office as the other had
done. Nor was there any sort of wickedness
that could be named, but he had a hand in it.
Accordingly he did, not only in his political
capacity, steal and plunder every one's sub-
stance; nor did he only burden the whole
nation with taxes ; but he permitted the rela-
tions of such as were in prison for robbery,
and had been laid there either by the senate
of every city, or by the former procurators,
to redeem them for money. And nobody re-
mained in the prisons, as a malefactor, but he
who gave him nothing. At this time it was
that the enterprises of the seditious at Jeru-
* A. D. 66.
t A. D. 62.
l Not long after this beginning of Florus, the most
wiclied of all the Roman procurators of Jndea, and the
immediate occasion of the Jewish war, at the 12th year of
Nero, and the 17th of Agrippa, or A. D. 66, the history in
the twenty books of Josephns's Antiquities ends. Although
salem were very formidable: the principal
men among them purchasing leave of Albinus
to go on with their seditious practices. While
that part of the people, who delighted in
disturbances, joined themselves to such as
had fellowship with Albinus. And every one
of these wicked wretches were encompassed
with his own band of robbers : while he him-
self, like an arch robber, or a tyrant, made a
figure among his company, and abused his
authority over those about him in order to
plunder those that lived quietly. The effect
of which was that those who lost their goods
were forced to hold their peace, when they
had reason to shew great indignation at what
they had suffered : but that those who had
escaped were forced to flatter him that de-
served to be punished ; out of the fear they
were in of suffering equally with others. Upon
the whole, nobody durst speak their minds;
but tyranny was generally tolerated. And at
this time were those seeds sown which brought
the city to destruction.
But although such was the character of
Albinus, yet did Gessius| Florus, who suc-
ceeded him Ijdemonstrate him to have been a
most excellent person, upon the comparison.
For the former did the greatest part of his
rogueries in private, and Avith a sort of dissi-
mulation. But Gessius did his unjust actions
to the harm of the nation after a most pom-
pous manner. And as though he had been
sent as an executioner to punish condemned
malefactors, he omitted no sort of rapine, or
of vexation. Where the case was really
pitiable, he was most barbarous ; and in
things of the greatest turpitude he was most
impudent. Nor could any one outdo him in
disguising the truth ; nor could any one con-
trive more subtle ways of deceit than he did.
He, indeed, thought it but a petty ofTence to
get money out of single persons : so he spoil-
ed whole cities, and ruined entire bodies of
men at once : and did almost publicly pro-
claim it in all the country over, tliat they had
liberty given them to turn robbers, upon this
Josephus did not finish those books till the 13th of Domi-
tian, or A. D. 93, twenty-seven years afterward. As he
did not finish their Appendix, containing an account of
his own life, till Agrippa was dead, which happened on
the 3d year of Trajan, or A. D. 100, as I have observed
before.
li A. I). 64.
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
263
condition, that he might go shares with them
in the spoils they got. Accordingly his
greediness of gain was the occasion that
entire toparchies were brought to desolation ;
and a great many of the people left their
own country, and fled into foreign provinces.
And while Cestius Gallus was president of
the province of Syria, nobody durst so much
as send an ambassage to him against Floras.
But when he was come to Jerusalem, upon
the approach of the feast of unleavened bread,
the people came about him to the number of
*three millions : these besought him to com-
miserate the calamities of their nation; and
cried out upon Florus as the ba;.e of their
country. But as he was present and stood
by Cestius, he laughed at their words. How-
ever, Cestius, when he had quieted the mul-
titude, and had assured them that he would
take care Florus should hereafter treat them
in a more gentle manner, returned to Antioch.
Florus also conducted him as far as Ca;sarea;
and deluded iiira : though he had at that very
time the purpose of shewing his anger at the
nation, and procuring a war upon them : by
which means alone it was that he supposed
he might conceal his enormities. For he
expected that if the peace continued, he
should have the Jews for his accusers before
Cie^ur: but that if he should procure them
to make a revolt, he should divert their laying
lesser crimes to his charge, by a misery tliat
was so much greater. He, therefore, every
day augmented their calamities, in order to
induce them to a rebellion.
Now at this timet it happened that the
Grecians at Ciesarea had been too hard for
the Jews, and had obtained of Nero the
government of the city; and had brought the
judicial determination. At the same time
began the war; in the twelfth year of the
reign of Nero, and the seventeenth of the
reign of Agrippa ; in the month Artemisius or
Jyar. Now the occasion of this war was by
no means proportionable to those heavy
calamities which it brought upon us. For the
* Here we may note that 3,000,000 of Jews were
present at a Passover, A. D. 65, which confirms what
Josephus elsewhere informs us of; that at the Passover a
htlle later they counted 25G,500 paschal lambs : which at
twelve to each lamb, which is no immoderate calculation,
come to 3,078,000. See VI. 9.
t A. D. 66.
I Take here Dr. Hudson's very pertinent note. " By
Jews that dwelt at Caesarea had a synagogue,
near a place whose owner was a certain
Cajsarean Greek. The Jews had endeavoured
frecjuently to purchase the possession of the
place; and had offered many times its value
lor its price. But as the owner overlooked
their offers, so did he raise other buildings
upon the place, in way of affront to them ;
and made workshops of them : and left them
but a narrow passage, and such as was very
troublesome for them to go along to their
synagogue. Hereupon the warmer part of
the Jewish youth went hastily to the work-
men, and forbade them to build there. But
as Florus would not permit them to use force,
the great men of the Jews, with John the
publican, being in the utmost distress what
to do, persuaded Florus, with the offer of
eight talents, to hinder the work. He then
being intent upon nothing but getting money,
promised he would do for them all they
desired of him ; and then went away from
Cajsarea to Sebaste, and left the sedition to
take its full course : as if he had sold a license
to the Jews to fight it out.
Now on the next day, which was the
seventh day of the week, when the Jews were
crowding apace to their synagogue, a certain
man of Cajsarea, of a seditious temper, got
an earthen vessel, and set it with the bottom
upward at the entrance of the synagogue ;
and sacrificed birds.J This thing provoked
the Jews to an incurable degree: because
their laws were affronted, and the place was
polluted. Whereupon the sober and more
moderate part of the Jews thought proper to
have recourse to their governors again: while
the seditious part, and such as were in the
fervour of their jouth, were vehemently
inflamed to fight. The seditious also among
the Gentiles of Caesarea stood ready for the
same purpose. For they had, by agreement,
sent the man to sacrifice beforehand, as ready
to support him. So that it soon came to blows.
Hereupon Jucundus, the master of the horse,
who was ordered to prevent the fight, came
this action," says he, " thekilUng of a bird over an earthen
vessel, the Jews were exposed as a leprous people ; for
that was to be done by.tlioir law in their cleansing of a
leper," (Levit. c. xiv.) It is also known that the Gen-
tiles reproached the Jews as subject to the leprosy ;
and believed that they were driven out of Egypt on that
account. This that eminent person Mr. Reland suggestad
to me.
2.'54
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book II.
thither : and took away the earthen vessel ;
and endeavoured to put a stop to the sedition.
But when he was overcome by the violence
of the people of Caesarea, the Jews caught
up their books of the law, and retired to
ISarbata: which was a place belonging to
them, distant from Caesarea sixty furlongs.
But John, and twelve of the principal men
with him went to Florus, to Sebaste ; and
made a lamentable complaint of their case ;
and besought him to help them: and, with
all possible decency, put him in mind of the
eight talents they had given him. But he had
the men seized upon, and put in prison, and
accused them for carrying the books of the
law out of Caisarea.
Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem,
although they took this matter very ill, yet
did they restrain their passions. But Florus
acted herein as if he had been hired ; and
blew up the war into a flame : and sent some
to take seventeen talents out of the sacred
treasure : and pretended that Caesar wanted
them. At this time the people were in con-
fusion, and ran together to the temple, with
prodigious clamours ; and called upon Caesar
by name ; and besought him to free them
from the tyranny of Florus. Some also of
the seditions cried out upon Florus, and cast
the greatest reproaches upon him ; and
carried a basket about, and begged some
n^oney for him; as for one that was destitute
of possessions, and in a miserable condition.
Yet was he not ashamed hereby of his love of
money ;* but was more enraged, and pro-
voked to get still more. And instead of
coming to Caesarea, as he ought to have
done, and quenching the flame of war
which was beginning thence ; and so ta-
king away the occasion of any disturb-
ances; on which account it was that he had
received a reward ; he marched hastily with
an army of horsemen and footmen against
Jerusalem : that he might gain his will by the
army of the Romans: and might, by his terror,
and by his threatenings, bring the city into
subjection.
Now the people were desirous of making
Florus ashamed of his attempt, and met his
soldiers with acclamations ; and put them-
* This is a passion not easily mortified. Those persons
in whom it is predominant generally sacrifice every con-
selves in order to receive him very submis-
sively. But he sent Capito, a centurion,
beforehand, with fifty soldiers ; to bid them go
back, and not now make a shew of receiving
him in an obliging manner, whom he had so
loudly reproached before. And said that it
was incumbent on them, in case they had
generous souls, and were free speakers, to
jest upon him to his face : and appear to be
lovers of liberty not only in words, but with
their weapons also. With this message the
multitude was amazed : and upon the coming
of Capito's horsemen into the midst of them
they were dispersed before they could salute
Florus, or manifest their submissive behaviour
to him. Accordingly they retired to their
own houses ; and spent that night in fear and
confusion.
Now. at this time Florus took up his quar-
ters at the palace; and on the next day he
had his tribunal set before it, and sat upon
it ; when the high-priests and the men of
power, and those of the greatest eminence in
the city came all before that tribunal: upon
which Florus commanded them to deliver up
to him those that had reproached him, and
told them that they should themselves par-
take of the vengeance to them belonging, if
they did not produce the criminals. But
these demonstrated that the people were
peaceably disposed, and they begged forgive-
ness for those that had spoken amiss; for
that it was no wonder that in so great a mul-
titude there should be some more daring than
they ought to be, and by reason of their youth
foolish also. And that it was impossible to
distinguish those that oflTended from the rest;
while every one was sorry for what he had
done, and denied it out of fear of what would
follow. That he ought, however, to provide
for the peace of the nation, and to take such
counsels as might preserve the city for the
Romans; and rather, for the sake of a great
number of innocent people, to forgive a few
that were guilty ; than for the sake of a few
of the wicked, to put so large and good a
body of men into disorder.
Florus was more provoked at this, and
called out aloud to the soldiers to plunder
that which was called the upper market-
sideration of character and esteem to gratify it, considering
gain as superior to every thing beside. B.
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
259
place, and to slay such as they met with: so
the soldiers taking this exhortation of their
commander in a sense agreeable to their
desire of gain, did not only plunder the place
they were sent to, but forcing themselves into
every house, they slew its inhabitants : so the
citizens fled along tlie narrow lanes, and the
soldiers slew those that tliey caught, and no
method of plunder was omitted : they caught
many of the quiet people, and brought them
before Florus, whom he first chastised with
stripes, and then crucified. Accordingly the
whole number of those that were destroyed
that day, with their wives and children, (for
they did not spare even the infants them-
selves,) was about three thousand and six
hundred. And what made this calamity the
heavier, was this new method of Roman
barbarity: for Florus ventured then to do
what no one had done before, that is to
have men of the *equestrian order whipped,
and nailed to the cross before his tribunal :
who although they were by birth Jews, yet
were they of Roman dignity notwithstanding.
CHAP. XV.
VERNICE PRESENTS A PETITION TO FLORUS, TO SPARE THE
JEWS, BUT IN VAIN : AND AFTER THE SEDITIOUS FLAME
IS QUENCHED, IT 18 REKINDLED BY FLORUS.
ABOUT this time tkiiig Agrippa was
going to Alexandria, to congratulate
Alexander upon his having obtained the
government of Egypt from Nero. But as his
sister Bernice was come to Jerusalem, and
saw the wicked practices of the soldiers, she
was sorely affected at it ; and frequently sent
the masters of her horse and her guards to
* Here we have examples of native Jews that were of
the equestrian order among the Romans ; and so ought
never to have been whipped or crucified, according to the
Roman laws. See almost the like case in St. Paul himself,
Acts xxii. 25 — 29.
t A. D. 66.
J This VOW which Bernice, here and elsewhere called
queen, not only as daughter and sister to two kings,
Agrippa the Great, and Agrippa, junior, but the widow
of Herod king of Chalcis, came now to accompli:ove the Romans, they
easily threw their darts upon them as they
made their approaches; and slew about two
hundred of them. But when the Romans had
gone round the mountains, and were gotten
into the parts above their enemies, the others
were soon beaten. Nor could they who had
only light armour on sustain the force of them
that fought them armed all over. Nor when
they were beaten could they escape the
enemy's horsemen. Insomuch that only some
few concealed themselves in certain places
elsewhere twice also, V. 11. and Antiq. XIX. 8.
t See chap. 14. '
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
27 J
hard to be come at, among the mountains,
while the rest, above two thousand in number,
were slain.
CHAP. XIX.
OF WHAT CESTIC8 DID AOAIHST THE JEWS ; HIS INVEST-
MENT OF JERUSALEM ; AND THE CALAMITIES HE UNDER-
WENT IN HIS RETREAT.
NOW Gallus, seeing nothing more that
looked towards an iiuiovation in Galilee,
returned with his troops to Csesarea. But
Cestius removed with his whole army, and
marched to *Antipalris. And when he was
informed that there was a great body of Jew-
ish forces gotten together m a certain tower
called fAphek, he sent a party before to
fight them. But this party dispersed the
Jews by aflfrighting them, before it came to a
battle. So they came, and finding their camp
deserted, they burnt it, as well as the villages
that lay about it. But when Cestius had
marched from Antipatris to Lydda, he found
the city empty of its men. For the Jwhole
multitude were gone up to Jerusalem to the
feast of tabernacles. Yet did he destroy fifty
of those that shewed themselves, and burnt
the city, and so marched forwards. And as-
cending by ||Bethoron, he pitched his camp
at a certain place called §Gabao', fifty fur-
longs distant irom Jerusalem.
But as for the Jews, when they saw the
war approaching to their metropolis, they left
the feast, and betook themselves to their arms.
And taking courage greatly from their multi-
tude, they went in a sudden and disorderly
manner to the fight, with a great noise ; and
without any consideration of the rest of the
seventh day : although the sabbath was the
day to which they had the greatest regard.
* In the road to Jerusalem.
t See Antiquities, VIII. 14.
J Here we have an eminent example of that Jewish
lan^age, which Dr. Wall truly observes we several times
find usud in the sacred writings ; I mean where the words
all, or whole multitade, &c. are used for much the great-
ei^t part only ; but not so as to include every person,
without exception. For when Josephus had said, that the
whole multitude, [all the males,] of Lydda were gone to
the feast of tabernacles, he immediately adds, that how-
ever no fewer than fifty of them appeared, and were slain
by the Romans. Other examples somewhat like this I
have observed elsewhere in Josephus ; but I think, none
so remarkable as this. See Wall's Critical Observations
on the Old Testament, page 49, 30.
VOL. II. — NOS. 71 & 72.
But that rage which made them forget their
religious observance of the sabbath, made
them too hard for their enemies in the fight.
With such violence, therefore, did they fall
upon the Romans, as to break into their ranks,
and to march through the midst of them;
making a great slaughter as they went. Inso-
much, that unless the horsemen, and such
part of the footmen as were not yet tired in
the action had wheeled round, and succoured
that part of the army which was not yet
broken, Cestius, with his whole army, had
been in danger. However, five hundred and
fifteen of the Romans were slain : of which
number four hundred were footmen, and the
rest horsemen : while the Jews lost only
twenty-two. Of whom the most valiant were
the kinsmen of **Monobazus, king of Adia-
bene : and their names were Monobazus, and
Kenedeus. And next to them were Niger of
Perea, and Silas of Babylon ; who had de-
serted from king Agrippa to the Jews. For
he had formerly served in his army. When
the front of the Jewish army had been cut
ofT, the Jews retired into the city. But still
Simon, the son of Giora, fell upon the backs
of the Romans, as they were ascending up
Bethoron, and put the hindmost of the army
into disorder ; and carried off many of the
beasts that carried the weapons of war; and
led them into the city. But as Cestius tarried
there three days, the Jews seized upon the
elevated parts of the city, and set watches at
the entrances, and appeared openly resolved
not to rest, when once the Romans should
begin to march.
Now when Agrippa observed that even the
affairs of the Romans were likely to be in
danger, while such an immense multitude of
their enemies had seized upon the mountains
We have also here two eminent facts to be observed,
viz. the first example, that I remember, in Josephus, of the
onset of the Jews' enemies upon their country when their
males were gone up to Jerusalem, to one of their three
sacred festivals : which, during the theocracy, God had
promised to preserve them from, Exod. xxxi\ . 24. The
second fact is, the breach of the sabbath by the seditious
Jews in an offensive fight ; contrary to the universal doc-
trine and practice of their nation in these ages ; and even
contrary to what they themselves afterward pnictised in
the rest of this war. See the note on Antiq. XVI. 2.
II See Chap. 12.
§ See Antiquities, VII. 1.
*» See Antiquities, XX. 2
Nn
272
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book II.
round about ; he determined to try what the
Jews would agree to by words : as thinking
that he should either persuade them all to de-
sist from fighting ; or however, that he should
cause the sober part of them to separate
from the opposite party. So he sent Borceus
and Phebus, the persons of his party that were
the best known to them; and promised that
Cestius should give them his right hand, to
secure them of the Romans' entire forgiveness
of what they had done amiss, if they would
throw away their arms, and come over to
them. But the seditious, fearing lest the
whole multitude, in hopes of security to them-
selves, should go over to Agrippa, resolved
immediately to fall upon and kill the ambas-
sadors. Accordingly they slew Phebus, be-
fore he said a word. But Borceus was only
wounded, and so prevented his fate by fleeing
away. And when the people were very angry
at this, they had the seditious beaten with
stones, and clubs ; and drove them before
them into the city.
But now Cestius, observing that the dis-
turbances that were begun among the Jews
aflbrded him a proper opportunity to attack
them, took his whole army along with him, and
put the Jews to flight, and pursued them to
Jerusalem. He then pitched his camp upon
the elevation called *Scopus, or the watch-
tower ; which was distant seven furlongs from
the city. Yet did not he assault them in
three days' time : out of expectation that
those within might perhaps yield a little : and
in the mean time he sent out a great many of
his soldiers into the neighbouring villages, to
seize upon their corn. And on the fourth
day, which was the thirtieth of the month
Hyperbereteus or Tisri, when he had put his
army in array, he brought it into the city.
Now the people were kept under by the sedi-
tious. But the seditious themselves were
greatly affrighted at the good order of the
Romans ; and retired from the suburbs, and
retreated into the inner part of the city, and
into the temple. But when Cestius was come
into the city, he set the part called fBezetha,
which is called Cenopolis or the new city, on
fire : as he did also to the timber-market.
After which he came into the upper city, and
pitched his camp over against the royal
* See Book V. chap. 2.
palace. And had he but at this very time
attempted to get within the walls by force,
he had won the city presently : and the war
had been put an end to at once. But Tyran-
nius Priscus, the muster-master of the army,
and a great number of the officers of the
horse, had been corrupted by Florus; and
diverted him from that attempt. And that
was the occasion that this war lasted so very
long; and thereby the Jews were involved in
such incurable calamities.
In the mean time many of the principal
men of the city were persuaded by Ananus, the
son of Jonathan, and invited by Cestius into
the city, and were about to open the gates for
him. But he overlooked this ofTer, partly
out of his anger at the Jews ; and partly be-
cause he did not thoroughly believe they were
in earnest. Whence it was that he delayed
the matter so long, that the seditious per-
ceived the treachery, and threw Ananus and
those of his party down from the wall, and
pelting them with stones, drove them into
their houses. But they stood themselves at
proper distances in the towers, and threw
their darts at those that were getting over
the wall. Thus did the Romans make their
attack against the wall for five days ; but to
no purpose. But on the next day Cestius
took a great many of his choicest men, and
with them the archers ; and attempted to
break into the temple at the northern quarter
of it. But the Jews beat them oflT from the
cloisters; and repulsed them several times
when they were gotten near to the wall : till
at length the multitude of the darts cut them
ofT, and made them retire. But the first rank
of the Romans rested their shields upon the
wall; and so did those that were behind
them ; and the like did those that were still
more backward ; and guarded themselves
with what they call Testudo ; the back of a
tortoise : upon which the darts that were
thrown fell, and slided off" without doing them
any harm. So the soldiers undermined the
wall, without being themselves hurt; and got
all things ready for setting fire to the gate of
the temple.
Now it was that a horrible fear seized upon
the seditious. Insomuch that many of them
ran out of the city, as though it were to be
t See Chap. 15.
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
273
taken immediately. But the people upon
this took courage; and where the wicked
part of" the city gave ground, thither did they
come, in order to set open the gates and to
admit Cestius as their benefactor. Who, had
he but continued the siege a little longer, had
certainly taken the city. But it was, I sup-
pose, owing to the *aversionGod had already
against the city and the sanctuary, that he was
hindered from putting an end to the war that
very day.
It then happened that Cestius was not con-
scious either how the besieged despaired of
success, nor how courageous the people were
for him : and so he recalled his soldiers from
the place ; and by despairing of any expec-
tation of taking it, without having received
any disgrace, he retired from the city, with-
out any reason in the world. But when the
robbers perceived this unexpected retreat of
his, they resumed their courage, and ran after
the hinder parts of his army, and destroyed
a considerable number of both their horse-
men, and their footmen. And now Cestius
lay all night at the canip, which was at Sco-
pus : and as he went on farther the next day,
he thereby invited the enemy to follow him ;
who still fell upon the hindmost, and de-
stroyed them. They also fell on the flank on
each side of the army, and threw darts upon
them obliquely. Nor durst those that were
hindmost turn back upon those who wounded
them behind : as imagining that the multitude
of those that pursued them was immense.
Nor did they venture to drive away those
that pressed upon them on each side; because
they were heavy with their arms, and were
afraid of breaking their ranks to pieces : and
because they saw the Jews were light, and
ready for making incursions upon them. And
this was the reason why the Romans suffered
greatly, without being able to revenge them-
* There may another very important, and very provi-
dential reason be here assi^ed, for this stranje and fool-
ish retreat of Cestius's : which, if Josephus had been now
a Christi.an, he might probahly have taken notice of also :
and th it is. the affording the Jewish Christians in the city
an opportnnitv of calling to mind the prediction and cau-
tion given them by Christ about 33| years before ; that
wbpn they should see the abomination of desolation, [the
idol'rtrons Roman armies, with the images of their idols,
in their ensigns, ready to lay Jerusalem desolate,] stand
where it ought not ; or, in the holy place. Or, when
they should see Jerusalem compassed with armies, they
selves upon their enemies. So they were
galled all the way ; and their ranks were put
into disorder; and those that were thus put
out of their ranks were slain. Among whom
were Priscus, the commander of the sixth le-
gion ; and Longinus the tribune ; and Emilius
feecuiidus, the commander of a troop of horse-
men. So it was not without difficulty that
they got to Gabao, their former camp ; and
that not without the loss of a great part of
their baggage. There it was that Cestius
stayed two days, and was in great distress to
know what he should do in these circum-
stances. But when, on the third day, he saw
a still greater number of enemies, and all the
parts round about him full of Jews, he under-
stood that his delay was to his own detriment :
and that if he stayed any longer there he
should have still more enemies upon him.
That he might flee the faster, therefore, he
gave orders to cast away what might hinder
the army's march. So they killed the mules,
and other creatures, excepting those that
carried their darts, and machines, which they
retained for their own use : and this princi-
pally because they were afraid lest the Jews
should seize upon them. He then made his
army march on as far as fBethoron. Now
the Jews did not so much press upon them
when they were in large open places. But
when they were penned up in their descent
through narrow passages, then did some of
them get before, and hindered them from
getting out of them, and others thrust the
hindmost down into the lower places: and
the whole multitude extended themselves,
over against the neck of the passage, and
covered the Roman army with their darts.
In which circumstances, as the footmen knew
not how to defend themselves, so the danger
pressed the horsemen still more : for they
were so pelted, thht they could not march
should then flee to the mountains. By complying with
which those Jewish Christians fled to the mountains of
Perea, and escaped this destruction. See Lit. Accompl.
of Proph. page 69, 70. Nor was there, perhaps, any one
instance of a more unpolitic, but more providential con-
duct than this retreat of Cestius visible during this whole
siege of Jerusalem ; which yet wits providentially such a
great tribulation, as had not been from the beginning of
the world to that time : no, nor ever should be. Ibid,
page 70, 71.
t See Chap. 12.
Nn2
274
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book II.
along the road in their ranks ; and the as-
cents were so high that the cavalry were not
able to march against the enemy. The pre-
cipices also, and valleys into which they fre-
quently fell, and tumbled down, were such
on each side of them, that there was neither
place for their flight, nor any contrivance
could be thought of for their defence : till the
distress they were at last in was so great,
that they betook themselves to lamentations,
and to such mournful cries as men use in the
utmost despair. The joyful acclamations of
the Jews also, as they encouraged one ano-
ther, echoed the sounds back again. These
last composing a noise of those that at once
rejoiced and were in a rage. Indeed things
were come to such a pass, that the Jews had
almost taken Cestius's entire army prisoners,
had not the night come on : when the Romans
fled to Bethoron ; and the Jews seized upon
all the places round about them, and watched
for their coming out in the morning.
Then it was that Cestius, despairing of ob-
taining room for a public march, contrived
how he might best run away. And when he
had selected four hundred of the most cou-
rageous of his soldiers, he placed them at the
strongest of their fortifications: and gave
order, that when they went up to the morning
guard, they should erect their ensigns ; that
the Jews might be made to believe that the
entire army was there still : while he himself
took the rest of his forces with him, and
marched, without any noise, thirty furlongs.
But when the Jews perceived, in the morn-
ing, that the camp was empty, they ran upon
those four hundred who had deluded them,
and immediately threw their darts at them,
and slew them : and then pursued after Ces-
tius. But he had already made use of a great
part of the night in his flight, and still marched
quicker when it was day. Insomuch that the
soldiers, through the astonishment and fear
they were in, left behind them their *engines
for sieges, and for throwing of stones ; and a
great part of their other instruments of war.f
So the Jews went on pursuing the Romans as
far as Antipatris. After which, seeing they
could not overtake them, they came back,
* See Book V. chap. 6.
t Many of the military machines in use in these early
ages were very lumhersome and unwieldly, so that they
were obliged, from necessity, to abandon them in particular
and took the engines, and spoiled the dead
bodies, and gathered the prey together which
the Romans had left behind, and came back
running and singing to their metropolis:
while they had themselves lost a few only ;
but had slain of the Romans five thousand
and three hundred footmen, and three hun-
dred and eighty horsemen. This defeat hap-
pened on the eighth day of the month Dius,
or Marhesvan, in the Jtwelfth year of the
reign of Nero.
CHAP. XX.
CESTIUS SENDS AMBASSADORS TO NERO. THE PEOPLE OF
DAMASCUS SLAY THOSE JEWS THAT LIVED WITH THEM.
THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM, AFTER PURSUING CESTIUS,
RETURN TO PREPARE FOR THE DEFENCE OF THEIR CITY ;
AND APPOINT SEVERAL GENERALS FOR THEIR ARMIES ;
PARTICULARLY JOSEPHUS, THE WRITER OF THESE BOOKS.
SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS ADMINISTRATION.
AFTER this calamity had befallen Ces-
tius, many of the most eminent of the
Jews swam away from the city, as from a
ship when it was going to sink. Costobarus
therefore, and Saul, who were brethren, toge-
ther with Philip, the son of Jacimus, the com-
mander of king Agrippa's forces, ran away
from the city, and went to Cestius. But how
Antipas, who had been besieged with them
in the king's palace, but would not now flee
away with them, was afterward slain by the
seditious, [|we shall relate hereafter. How-
ever, Cestius sent Saul, and his friends, at
their own desire, to Achaia, to Nero; to in-
form him of the great distress they were in ;
and to lay the blame of kindling the war upon
Florus : as hoping to alleviate his own dan-
ger, by provoking his indignation against
Florus.
In the mean time the people of Damascus,
when they were informed of the destruction
of the Romans, set about the slaughter of
those Jews that were among them. And as
they had them already cooped up in the place
of public exercises, which they had done out
of the suspicion they had of them, they
thought they should meet with no difliculty
in the attempt. Yet did they distrust their
exigency. B.
I A. D. 66.
II See Book IV. chap. 4.
_J
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
275
own wives; who were almost all of them ad-
dicted to the Jewish religion: on which ac-
count it was that their greatest concern was
how they might conceal the thing from them.
So they came upon the Jews, and cut their
throats, as being in a narrow place; in num-
ber ten thousand, and all of them unarmed :
and this in one hour's time, without any body
to disturb them.
But as to those who had pursued after Ces-
tius, when they were returned back to Jeru-
salem, they overbore some of those that fa-
voured the Romans by violence; and some
they persuaded by entreaties to join with
them; and got together in great numbers in
the temple ; and appointed a great many
generals for the war. *Joseph also, the son
of Gorion, and Ananus, the high-priest, were
chosen as governors of all affairs within the
city : and with a particular charge to repair
the walls. For they did not ordain fEleazar,
the son of Simon to that office ; although he
had gotten into his possession the prey they
had taken from the Romans, and the money
they had taken from Cestius; together with a
great part of the public treasures: because
they saw he was of a tyrannical temper ; and
that his followers were, in their behaviour,
like guards about him. However, the want
they were in of Eleazar's money, and the
subtle tricks used by him, brought all so
about, that the people were circumvented,
and submitted themselves to his authority in
all public affairs.
They also chose other generals for Idumea :
• From this name of Joseph, the son of Gorian, or
GorioD, the son of Joseph, as IV. 3. one of the governors
of Jerusalem, who was slain at the beginning of tiie tumults
by the zealots, IV. 6. the much later Jewish author of a
history of that nation, takes his title ; and yet personates
our true Josephus, the son of Matthias. But the cheat is
too gross to be put upon the learned world.
t See Chap. 19.
X See Book 1. chap. 1.
It We may observe here that the Idumeans, ns having
been proselytes of justice since the days of John Hyrcanus,
during about 195 years, were now esteemed as part of the
Jewish nation, and here provided with a Jewish com-
mander accordingly. See the note upon Antiq. XIII. 9.
§ See Antiquities, XII. 8.
** Antiq. XIII. 15.
tt We see here, and in Josephus*s account of his own
life, how exactly he imitated his legislator Moses; or
perhaps only obeyed what he took to be his perpetual
law, in appointing seven lesser judges, for smaller causes,
in particular cities ; and perhaps for the first hearing of
greater causes : with the liberty of an appeal to seventy-
Jesus, the son of Sapphias, one of the high-
priests ; and Eleazar, the son of Ananias, the
high-priest. They also enjoined JNiger, the
then governor of Ijldumea, who was of a fa-
mily that belonged to Perea beyond Jordan,
and was thence called tiie Peraite, that he
should be obedient to those forenamed com-
manders. Nor did they neglect the care of
other parts of the country : but Joseph, the
son of Simon, was sent as general to Jericho,
as was Manasseh to Perea : and John, the
Essene, to the toparchy of Thamna. Lydda
was also added to his portion, and Joppa, and
Emmaus. But John, the son of Matthias, was
made governor of the toparchies of Goph-
nitica, and §Acrabatene : as was Josephus,
the son of Matthias, both of the Galilees.
**Gamala also, which was the strongest city
in those parts, was put under his command.
So every one of the other commatnlers
administered the affairs of his portion with
what alacrity and prudence they were mas-
ters of. But as to Josephus, when he came
into Galilee, his first care was to gain the
good will of the people of that country : as
sensible that he should thereby have in ge-
neral good success, although he should fail
in other points. And being conscious that if
he communicated part of his power to the
great men, he should make them his firm
friends ; and that he should gain the same
favour from the multitude, if he executed his
commands by persons of their own country,
and with whom they were well acquainted,
he chose out ffseventy of the most prudent
one supreme judges : especially in those causes where life
and death were concerned. As Antiq. IV. 8. See also
Of the War, IV. 5. Moreover, we find that he imitated
Moses, a3 well as the Romans, in the number and distribu-
tion of the subaltern officers of his army : as Exod. xviii.
25. Deut. i. 15. and in his charge against the offences com-
mon among soldiers : as Deut. xxiii. 9. In all which he
shewed his great wisdom, piety, and skilful conduct in
martial affairs. Yet may we discern in his very high cha-
racter of Ananus the high-priest ; IV. 5. who seems to
have been the same who condemned St. James, bishop of
Jerusalem, to be stoned, under Albinus the procurator ;
that when he wrote these books, Of the War, he was not
so much as an Ebonite Christian. Otherwise he would not
have failed, according to his usual custom, to have reck-
oned his barbarous murder, as a just punishment upon him
for his cruelty to the chief, or rather only Christian bishop
of the circumcision. Nor, had he been then a Christian,
could he immediately have spoken so movingly of (he cau-
ses of the destruction of Jerusalem, without one word of
either the condemnation of James, or crucifixion of Christ :
as he did when he was become a Christian afterward.
27G
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book II.
,^-'
men, and those elders in age, and appointed
them to be rulers of all Galilee : as he chose
seven judges in every city to hear the lesser
quarrels. For as to the greater causes, and
those wherein life and death were concerned,
he enjoined that they should be brought to
him, and the seventy elders.
Josephus also, when he had settled these
rules for determining causes by the law, with
regard to the people's dealings one with ano-
ther, betook himself to make provision for
their safety against external violence. And
as he knew the Romans would fall upon
Galilee, he built walls in proper places :
about Jotapata, Bersabee, and Salamis ; and
besides these about Capharecco, Japha, and
Sigo, and what they call mount Tabor, and
Tarichea3, and Tiberias. He also built walls
about the caves near the *lake of Gennesar;
which places lay in the lower Galilee. The
same he did to the places of upper Galilee ;
IS well as to the rock called the rock of the
Achabari, and to Seph, and Jamnith, and
Meroth. And in Gaulanitis he fortified Se-
leucia, Sogane, and Gamala. But as to those
of Sepphoris, they were the only people to
whom he gave leave to build their own walls;
and this because he perceived they were
wealthy, and ready to go to war, without
standing in need of any injunction for that
purpose. The case was the same with Gis-
chala, which had a wall built about it by
John, the son of Levi himself, but with the
consent of Josephus. But for the building of
the rest of the fortresses, he laboured toge-
ther with all the other builders, and was
present to give the necessary orders for that
purpose. He also got together an army out
of Galilee of more than a hundred thousand
young men ; all which he armed with the
old weapons that he had collected together,
and prepared for them.
And when he considered that the Roman
power became invincible, chiefly by their
readiness in obeying orders, and the constant
exercise of their arms, he despaired of teach-
ing his men the use of their arms, which was
to be obtained by experience : but observing
that their readiness in obeying orders was
owing to the multitude of their officers, he
* See Antiquities, V. 1. XVIII. 2.
t I should think that an army of 60,000 footmen should
require many more than 250 horsemen : and we find Jo-
made his partitions in his army more after
the Roman manner ; and appointed a great
many subalterns. He also distributed the
soldiers into various classes, whom he had
put under captains of tens, and captains of
hundreds, and then under captains of thou-
sands; and besides these he had commanders
of larger bodies of men. He also taught them
to gi ve the signals one to another, and to call and
recall the soldiers by the trumpets; to expand
the wings of an army, and make them wheel
about; and when one wing had success, to
turn again to assist those that were hard set;
and to join in the defence of what had most
suffered. He also continually instructed
them in what concerned the courage of the
soul, and the hardiness of the body. And
above all he exercised them for war, by
declaring to them distinctly the good order
of the Romans : and that they were to fight
with men who, both by the strength of their
bodies and courage of their souls, had con-
quered in a manner the whole habitable
earth. He told them, that he should make
trial of the good order they would observe in
war, even before it came to any battle, in case
they would abstain from the crimes they
use to indulge themselves in: such as theft,
robbery, and rapine ; and from defrauding
theirown countrymen: and neverto esteem the
harm done to those that were so near of kin
to them any ad vantage to themselves. For that
wars are managed the best, when the warriors
preserve a good conscience; but that all such
as are ill men in private life, will not only have
those for enemies who attack them, but God
himself also for their antagonist.
Now he chose for the war such an army as
was sufficient: that is sixty thousand footmen,
aridt two hundred and fifty horsemen. And
besides these, on which he put the greatest
trust, there were about four thousand five
hundred mercenaries. He had also six
hundred men as his body-guards. Now the
cities easily maintained the rest of his army,
excepting the mercenaries. For every one
of the cities enumerated above, sent out
half their men to the army, and retained the
other half at home, in order to get provi-
sions for them. Insomuch that the one part
sephus had more horsemen under his command than 250
in his future history. 1 suppose the number of the
thousand is dropt in our present copies.
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
277
went to the war, and the other part to their
work ; and so those that sent out their corn,
were paid for it by those that were in arms,
by that security which they enjoyed from
them.
CHAP. XXI.
CONCERNING JOHN OK OISCHALA. THE STRATAGEMS USED
B« J0SEPHU8 AGAINST THE PLOTS JOHN LAID AGAINST
HIM ; AND THE RECOVERY OF CERTAIN CITIES WHICH
HAD REVOLTED FROM HIM.
NOW *as Josephus was thus engaged in
the administration of the affairs of
GaUlee, there arose a treacherous person,
fa man of Gischala, the son of Levi, whose
name was John. His character was that of
a very cunning and knavish person, beyond
the ordinary rate of the other men of eminence
there ; and for wicked practices lie had not
his fellow any where. Poor he was at first :
and for a long time his wants were a hindrance
to him in his wicked designs. He was a
ready liar: and yet very sharp in gaining
credit to his fictions. He thought it a point
of virtue to delude people; and would deceive
even such as were the dearest to him. He
was a hypocritical pretender to humanity ;
but where he had hopes of gain he spared not
the shedding of blood. His desires were ever
carried to great things ; and he encouraged
his hopes from those mean wicked tricks
which he was the author of He had also a
peculiarknack of thieving. Insome timehegot
certain companions in his impudent practices.
At first they were but a few : but as he pro-
ceeded on in his evil course, they became still
more and more numerous. He took care that
none of his partners should be easily caught
in their rogueries ; but chose such out of the
rest as had the strongest constitution of body,
and the greatest courage of soul, together
with great skill in martial affairs. So he got
together a band of four hundred men, who
came principally out of the country of Tyre;
and were vagabonds, that had run away
* The reader may observe a few variations in the cir-
cumstances relating to Josephus in this chapter, when
they are compared with the same Josephus's accounts in
the history of his own life. And I roust confess I think
those in his life ought, generally, to be corrected from
these in hi!< Books of the War. For as that life was written
by him about thirty years after these books of the War,
from its villages. And by the means of
these he laid waste all Galilee, and irritated
a considerable number, who were in great
expectation of a war then suddenly to arise
among them.
However, John's want of money had hither-
to restrained him in his ambition after com-
mand, and in his attempts to advance himself.
But when he saw that Josephus was highly
pleased with the activity of his temper, he
f)ersuaded him, in the first place, to entrust
lim with repairing the walls of his native city
Gischala: in which work he got a great deal
of money from the rich citizens. He after-
wards contrived a very shrewd trick; and
pretending that the Jews who dwelt in Syria
were obliged to make use of oil that was
made by others than those of their own
nation, he desired leave of Josephus to send
oil to their borders. So he bought four am-
phora? with such Tyrian money, as was of
the value of four Attic drachmic : and sold
every half amphora at the same price. And
as Galilee was very fruitful in oil, and was
peculiarly so at that time ; by sending away
great quantities, and having the sole privilege so
to do, he gathered an immense sum of money
together, which money he immediately used
to the disadvantage of him who gave him that
privilege. And, ashe supposed, (hatif he could
once overthrow Josephus, he should obtain
himself the government of Galilee, so he gave
order to the robbers that were under his com-
mand to be more zealous in their thievish ex-
peditions; that by the rise of many that desired
mnovations in the country he might either
catch their general in his snares, as he came
to the country's assistance, and then kill him ;
or if he should overlook the robbers, he might
accuse him for his negligence to the people
of the country. He also spread abroad a
report far and near, that Josephus was
delivering up the administration of affairs to
the Romans. And many such plots did he
lay in order to ruin him.
Now at the same time certain young men
he must have better recollected such circumstances at the
former time than at the latter. And it seems to me that
either these Books of the War were not then by him,
when he wrote his Life ; or that he therein trusted his
present memory too much, without consulting them,
t See chap. 20.
278
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book II.
of the village Darbaritta, who kept guard
in the great plain, laid snares for Ptolemy,
who was Agrippa's and Bernice's steward,
ai]d took from him all that he had with him :
among which things there were a great many
costly garments, and no small number of
silver cups, and six hundred pieces of gold;
yet were they not able to conceal what they
had stolen ; but brought it all to Josephus to
Taricheae. Hereupon he blamed them for the
violence they had offered to the king and
queen ; and deposited what they brought to
him with Eneas, the most potent man of
Taricheae, with an intention of sending the
things back to their owners at a proper time.
This act of Josephus's brought him into the
greatest danger. For those that had stolen
the things had an indignation at him; both
because they gained no share of it for them-
selves; and because they perceived before-
hand what was Josephus's intention, and that
he would freely deliver up what had cost
them so much pains, to the king and queen.
These ran away by night to several villages,
and declared to all men that Josephus was
going to betray them. They also raised great
disorders in all the neighbouring cities :
insomuch that in the morning a hundred
thousand armed men came running together.
This multitude was crowded together at the
Taricheae, and made a very peevish clamour
against him : while some cried out, that they
should depose the traitor; and others that
they should burn him. Now John irritated
a great many ; as did also one Jesus, the son
of Sapphias, who was then governor of
Tiberias. Then it was that Josephus's friends,
and the guards of his body were so affrighted
at this violent assault of the multitude, that
they all fled away but *four. And as he was
asleep they awaked him, as the people were
going to set fire to the house. And although
those four that remained persuaded him to
run away, he was neither surprised at his
being deserted, nor at the great multitude
that came against him: but leaped out to them
with his clothes rent, and ashes sprinkled on
his head; with his hands behind him; and
his sword hanging at his neck. At this sight
1 IS friends, especially those of Tiracheae, com-
* All but one. See his Life.
miserated his condition. But those that were
come out of the country, and those in their
neighbourhood to whom his government
seemed burdensome, reproached him : and
bade him produce the money which belonged
to them all immediately : and to confess the
agreement he had made to betray them. For
they imagined, from the habit in which he
appeared, that he would deny nothing of what
they had suspected concerning him : and that
it was in order to obtain pardon that he had
put himself into so pitiable a posture. But
this humble appearance was only designed as
preparatory to a stratagem of his: who there-
by contrived to set those that were so angry
at him at variance one with another, about
the things they were angry at. However, he
promised he would confess all. Hereupon he
was permitted to speak : when he said, " I
did neither intend to send this money back to
Agrippa, nor to gain it myself For 1 did never
esteem one that was your enemy, to be my
friend : nor did I look upon what would tend to
your disadvantage, to be my advantage. But,
O people of Taricheae, I saw that your city
stood in more need than others of fortifications
for your security : and that it wanted money
in order for the building it a wall. I was also
afraid lest the people of Tiberias and other
cities should lay a plot to seize upon these
spoils ; and therefore it was that I intended
to retain this money privately, that I might
encompass you with a wall. But if this does
not please you, 1 will produce what was
brought me, and leave it to you to plunder it.
But if I have conducted myself so well as to
please you, you may, if you think proper,
punish your benefactor."
Hereupon the people of Taricheae loudly
commended him: but those of Tiberias, with
the rest of the company gave him hard names,
and threatened what they would do to him.
So bothsides left off'quarrellingwith Josephus,
and began quarrelling one with another. So
he grew bold upon the dependance he had on
his friends, who were the people of Taricheae,
and about forty thousand in number; and spake
more freely to the whole multitude : and
reproached them greatly for their rashness:
and told them, that with this money he would
build walls about Taricheae; and would
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
379
put the other cities in a state of security also.
For that they should not want money if they
would but agree for whose benefit it was to
be procured, and would not surter themselves
to be irritated against him who procured it
for them.
Hereupon the rest of the multitude, that
had been deluded, retired : but yet so that
they went away angry. And two thousand
of them made an assault upon him in their
armour. And as he was already gone to
his own house, they stood without and
threatened him. On which occasion Josephus
again used a second stratagem to escape them.
For he got upon the top of his house, and
with his right hand desired them to be silent,
and said he could not tell what they would
have : nor could he hear what they said
for the confused noise. But he said he would
comply with all their demands, in case they
would but send some of their number in to
him that might talk with him about it. And
when the principal of them, with their leaders,
heard this, they came into the house. He
then drew them to the most retired part
of the house, and shut the door of that hall
where he put them: and then had them
whipped till every one of their inward parts
appeared naked. In the mean time the mul-
titude stood round the house ; and supposed
that he had a long discourse with those that
were gone in, about what they claimed of him.
He had then the doors set open immediately,
and sent the men out all bloody. Which so
terribly affrighted those that had before
threatened him, that they threw away their
arms, and ran away.
But as for John his envy grew greater upon
this escape of Josephus's ; and he framed a
new plot against him. He pretended to be
sick : and by a letter desired that Josephus
would give him leave to use the hot baths
that were at Tiberias, for the recovery of his
health. Hereupon Josephus, who hitherto
suspected nothing of John's plots against him,
wrote to the governors of the city, that they
would provide a lodging and necessaries for
John. Which favours when he had made
use of, in two days' time he did what he
came about. Some he corrupted with
delusive frauds ; and others with money :
VOL. II. — N08. 71 & 72.
and 80 persuaded them to revolt from Jose-
phus. Silas, however, who was appointed
guardian of the city by Josephus, wrote to him
immediately; and informed him of the plot
against him. Which epistle, when Josephus
had received, he marched with great dili-
gence all night, and came early in the morn-
ing to Tiberias. At which time the rest of
the multitude met him. But John, who sus-
pected that his coming was not for his advan-
tage, sent one of his friends, and pretended
that he was sick ; and that being confined to
his bed he could not come to pay him his
respects. But as soon as Joseplius had
gotten the people of Tiberias together at the
Stadium, and tried to discourse with them
about the letters that he had received, John
privately sent some armed men, and gave
them orders to slay him. But when the
people saw that the armed men were about
to draw their swords, they cried out. At
which cry Josephus turned himself about :
and when he saw that the swords were just
at his throat, he marched away in great
haste to the sea-shore; and left off" that
speech which he was going to make to
the people, upon an elevation of six cubits
high. He then seized on a ship which lay in
the haven ; and leaped into it, with two of
his guards; and fled away into the midst of
the lake.
Now the soldiers he had with him took up
their arms, and marched against the plotters.
But Josephus was afraid lest a civil war
should be raised by the envy of a few men,
and bring the city to ruin. So he sent some
of his party to tell them, that they should do
no more than provide for their own safety ;
that they should not kill any body ; nor
accuse any for the occasion they had afTorded
of a disorder. Accordingly these men obeyed
his orders, and were quiet. But the people
of the neighbouring country, when they were
informed of this plot, and of the plotter, got
together in great multitudes to oppose John.
But he prevented their attempt, and fled away
toGischala; while the Galileans came run-
ning out of their several cities to Josephus.
And as they were now become many thou-
sands of armed men, they cried out that they
were come against John, the common plotter
Oo
280
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book II.
against their interest : and would at the same
time burn him, and that city which had re-
ceived him. Hereupon Josephus told them
that he took their good will to him kindly :
but still he restrained their fury, and intended
to subdue his enemies by prudent conduct,
rather than by slaying them. So he excepted
those of every city which had joined in this
revolt with John, by name, who had readily
been shewn him by those that came from
every city; and caused public proclamation
to be made, that he would seize upon the
effects of those that did not forsake John
within five days' time, and would burn both
their houses, and their families with fire.
Whereupon three thousand of John's party
left him immediately : who came to Josephus,
and threw their arms down at his feet. John
then betook himself, together with his two
thousand Syrian runagates, from open at-
tempts, to more secret ways of treachery.
Accordingly he privately sent messengers to
Jerusalem to accuse Josephus, as having too
great power : and to let them know that he
would soon come, as a tyrant, to their metro-
polis, unless they prevented him. But this
accusation the people were aware of before-
hand ; and had no regard to it. However,
some of the grandees, out of envy, and some
of the rulers also, sent money to John pri-
vately ; that he might be able to get together
mercenary soldiers, in order to fight Josephus.
They also made a decree of themselves, for
recalling him from his government. Yet did
they not think that decree sufficient. So
they sent withal two thousand five hundred
armed men ; and four persons of the highest
rank among them. Joazar, the son of Nomi-
cus ; Ananias, the son of Sadduk, and Simon
and Judas, the sons of Jonathan ; all very
able men in speaking; that these persons
might withdraw the good will of the people
from Josephus. These had it in charge, that
if he would voluntarily come away they
should permit him to come and give an ac-
count of his conduct; but if he obstinately
insisted upon continuing in his government,
they should treat him as an enemy. Now
Josephus's friends had sent him word that an
army was coming against him : but they gave
him no notice beforehand what the reason of
their coming was : that being only known
among some secret councils of his enemies.
And by this means it was that four cities re-
volted from him immediately ; Sepphoris,
Gamala, Gischala, and Tiberias. Yet did he
recover these cities without war : and when
he had routed those four commanders by
stratagem ; and had taken the most potent of
their warriors, he sent them to Jerusalem.
And the people of Galilee had great nidigna-
tion at them, and were in a zealous disposition
to slay, not only these forces, but those that
sent them also, had not those forces prevented
it by running away.
Now John was detained afterward within
the walls of Gischala, by the fear he was in
of Josephus. But within a few days Tiberias
revolted again : the people within it inviting
king Agrippa to return to the exercise of his
authority there. And when he did not come
at the time appointed, and when a few Roman
horsemen appeared that day, they expelled
Josephus out of the city. Now this revolt of
theirs was presently known at Taricheae. And
as Josephus had sent out all the soldiers that
were with him to gather corn, he knew not
how either to march out alone against the re-
volters, or to stay where he was : because he
was afraid the king's soldiers might prevent
him if he tarried, and might get into the city.
For he did not intend to do any thing on the
next day, because it was the sabbath and
would hinder his proceeding. So he con-
trived to circumvent the revolters by a strata-
gem. And in the first place he ordered the
gates of Taricheae to be shut, that nobody
might go out, and inform those of Tiberias,
for Avhom it was intended, what stratagem he
was about. He then got together all the ships
that were upon the lake, which were found to
be two hundred and thirty: and in each of
them he put no more than four mariners. So
he sailed to Tiberias with haste, and kept at
such a distance from the city, that it was not
easy for the people to see the vessels : and
ordered that the empty vessels should float
up and down there ; while himself, who had
but seven of his guards with him, and those
unarmed also, went so near as to be seen.
But when his adversaries, who were still re-
proaching him, saw him from the walls, they
were so astonished that they supposed all the
ships were full of armed men, and threw down
BOOK II.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
281
their arms ; and by signals of intercession
they besought him to spare the city.
Upon this Josephus threatened them terri-
bly; and reproached them, that when they
were the first that took up arms against the
Romans, they should spend their force before-
hand in civil dissensions ; and do what their
enemies desired above all things ; and that
besides they should endeavour so hastily to
seize upon him who took care of their safety ;
and had not been ashamed to shut the gates
of their city against him that built their walls :
that, however, he would admit of any inter-
cessors that might make some excuse for
them : and with whom he would make such
agreement as might be for the city's security.
Hereupon ten of the most potent men of
Tiberias came down to him presently. And
when he had taken them into one of his ves-
sels, he ordered them to be carried a great
way off from the city. He then commanded
that fifty others of their senate, such as were
men of the greatest eminence, should come
to him ; that they also might give him some
security on their behalf After which, under
new pretences, he called forth others, one
after another, to make the leagues between
them. He then gave order to the masters of
those vessels which he had thus filled, to sail
away immediately for Taricheae ; and to con-
fine those men in the prison there. Till at
length he took all their senate, consisting of
six hundred persons; and about two thousand
of the populace ; and carried them away to
Tarichete.
And when the rest of the people cried out,
that it was one Clitus that was the chief
author of this revolt; they desired him to
spend his anger upon him only. But Jose-
phus, whose intention it was to slay nobody,
commanded one Levius, belonging to his
guards, to go out of the vessel in order to cut
off both Clitus's hands. Yet was Levius afraid
to go out by himself alone, to sucii a large
body of enemies, and refused. Now Clitus
saw that Josephus was in a great passion in
the ship, and ready to leap out of it, in order
* Such hard and cruel conditions, did victors, flushed
with success, and armed with power, compel the van-
quished to submit to. It appears hence how dearly
many purchase a wretchedly protracted mortal exist-
ence. B.
to execute the punishment himself. He beg-
ged, therefore, from the shore, that he would
leave him one of his hands, which Josephus
agreed to ; upon condition that he would nim-
self cut off the other hand. Accordingly he
drew his sword, and with his right hand cut
off his left.* So great was the fear he was in
of Josephus. And thus he took the people of
Tiberias prisoners; and recovered the city
again fwith empty ships, and seven of his
guard. Moreover, a few days afterward he
retook Gischala ; which had revolted with the
f)eople of Sepphoris; and gave his soldiers
eave to plunder it. Yet did he get all the
plunder together, and restored it to the inha-
bitants : and the like he did to the inhabitants
of Sepphoris, and Tiberias. For when he had
subdued those cities, he had a mind, by letting
them be plundered, to give them some good
instruction; while at the same time he re-
gained their good-will by restoring them their
money again.
CHAP. XXII.
THE JEWS MAKE READY FOR THE WAR ; AND SIMON THE
SON OF 0I0RA8 BEGINS PLUNDERING.
THUS were the disturbances of Galilee
quieted : and the people, upon their
ceasing to prosecute their civil dissensions,
betook themselves to make preparations for a
war with the Romans. Now in Jerusalem
the high-priest A nanus, and as many of the
men of power as were not in the interest of
the Romans, both repaired the walls, and
made a great many warUke instruments. Inso-
much that, in all parts of the city, darts, and
all sorts of armour were upon the anvil. Al-
though the multitude of the young men were
engaged in exercises without any regularity;
and all places were full of tumultuous doings.
But the moderate sort were exceeding sad :
and a great many there were who, out of the
prospect they had of the calamities that were
coming upon them, made great lamentations.
There were also such omens observed as were
1 I cannot but think this stratagem of Josephus's, which
is related both here and in his Life, to be one of the finest
that ever was invented and executed by any warrior
whomsoever.
Oo2
dis
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book. II.
understood to be forerunners of evils, by such
as loved peace : but were by those that
kindled the war interpreted so as to suit their
own inclinations. And the very state of the
city, even before the Romans came against
it, was that of a place doomed to destruction.
However, Ananus's concern was to lay aside,
for a while, the preparations for the war ; and
to persuade the seditious to consult their
own interest ; and to restrain the madness
of those that had the name of zealots. But
their violence was too hard for him. And
what end he came to we shall relate *here-
after.
But as for the fAcrabbene toparchy, Simon,
the son of Gioras, got a great number of those
that were fond of innovations together ; and
* See Book IV. chap. 5.
betook himself to ravage the country. Nor
did he only harass the rich men's houses, but
tormented their bodies, and appeared openly
to affect tyranny in his government. And
when an army was sent against him by
Ananus, and the other rulers, he and his re-
tired to the robbers that were at Masada;
and stayed there, and plundered the country
of Idumea with them ; till both Ananus, and
his other adversaries were slain ; and untill
the rulers of that country were so afflicted
with the multitude of those that were slain,
and with the continual ravage of what they
had, that they raised an army, and put garri-
sons into the villages, to secure them from
those insults. And in this state were the
affairs of Judea at that time.
t Antiq. XII. 1.
BOOK III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
283
BOOK III.
Containing an Interval of about One Year.
FROM VESPASIAN S COMING TO SUBDUE THE JEWS, TO THE TAKING OF GAMALA.
CHAP. I.
VUFASUH n aCNT INTO STRIA BT HERO ; IH ORDER TO
MAKE WAR AGAINST THE JEWS.
WHEN Nero was informed of the Ro-
mans' ill success in Judea, a con-
cealed consternation and terror, as is usual in
such cases, fell upon him. Although he open-
ly looked very big, and was very angry ; and
said, that what had happened was rather
owing to the negligence of the commander,
than to any valour of the enemy. And as he
thought it fit for him, who bare the burden of
the whole empire, to despise such misfortunes ;
he now pretended so to do : and to have a
soul superior to all such sad accidents. Yet
did the disturbance that was in his soul plain-
ly appear by the solicitude he was in how to
recover his affairs again.
And as he was deliberating to whom he
should commit the care of the East, now it
was in so great a commotion ; and who might
be best able to punish the Jews for their re-
bellion, and might prevent the same distemper
from seizing upon the neighbouring nations
also ; he found no one but Vespasian equal to
the task : and able to undergo the great
burden of so mighty a war. Seeing he was
«rown an old man already in the camp ; and
from his youth had been exercised in warlike
exploits. He was also a man that had long
* Take the confirmation of this, in the words of Sueto-
nius, here produced by Dr. Hudson. " In the reign of
Claudius," says he, " Vesp;uiian, for the sake of Narcissus,
was sent as a lieutenant of a legion into Germany. Thence
he removed into Britaia : and fought thirty battles with
ago pacified the West, and made it subject to
the Romans ; when it had been put into dis-
order by the Germans. He had also by his
arms recovered to them Britain, which had
been little known before.* Whereby he
procured to his father Claudius to have a
triumph bestowed on him, without any exer-
tion or labour of his own.
So Nero esteemed these circumstances as
favourable omens : and saw that Vespasian's
age gave him sure experience, and great
skill ; and that he had his sons as hostages for
his fidelity to himself; and that the flourishing
age they were in would make them fit instru-
ments under their father's prudence. Perhaps
also there was some interposition of Provi-
dence, which was paving the way for Vespa-
sian's being himself emperor afterward. Upon
the whole, he sent this man to take upon him
the command of the armies that were in Syria.
But this not without great encomiums and
flattering compliments, such as necessity re-
quired, and such as might mollify him into
compliance. So Vespasian sent his son Titus
from Achaia, where he had been with Nero
to Alexandria; to bring back with him fi-om
thence the fifth and the tenth legions : while
himself, when he had passed over the Hel-
lespont, came by land into Syria ; where he
gathered together the Roman forces ; with a
considerable number of auxiliaries from the
kings in that neighbourhood.
the enemy." In Vesp. § 4. We may also here note
from Josephus, that Claudius, the emperor, who triumphed
for the conquest of Britain, was enabled so to do by Vespa-
sian's conduct and bravery : and that he is here styled the
father of Vespasian.
284
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book III.
CHAP. II.
OF A GREAT SLAUGHTER OF THE JEWS ABOUT AgCALON :
AND THE ARRIVAL OF VESPASIAN AT PTOLEMAIS.
NOW the Jews after they had beaten
Cestius, were so much elevated with
their unexpected success, that they could not
govern their zeal : but like people blown up
into a flame by their good fortune, carried
the war to remoter places. Accordingly they
presently got together a great multitude of
all their most hardy soldiers, and marched
away for Ascalon. This was an ancient city,
distant from Jerusalem five hundred and
twenty furlongs ; and always at enmity with
the Jews. On which account they deter-
mined to make their first effort against it ;
and to make their approaches to it as near as
possible. This excursion was led on by three
men, who were the chief of them all, both for
strength, and sagacity : Niger called the Pe-
raite, Silas of Babylon, and John the Essene.
Now Ascalon was strongly walled about ; but
had almost no assistance to be relied on near
them. For the garrison consisted only of one
cohort of footmen, and one troop of horse-
men; whose captain was Antonius.
Those Jews, therefore, out of their anger,
marched faster than ordinary :* and as if they
had come but a little way, approached very
near the city, and were come even to it. But
Antonius, who was not much unapprised of
the attack they were going to make upon the
city, drew out his horsemen beforehand. And
being neither daunted at the multitude, nor
at the courage of the enemy, he received
their first attacks with great bravery : and
when they crowded to the very walls, he beat
them off! Now the Jews were unskilful in
war, but were to fight with those that were
skilful therein; they were footmen to fight
Avith horsemen ; they were in disorder, to fight
those that were united together; they were
poorly armed, to fight those that were com-
pletely so ; they were to fight more by their
rage, than by sober counsel ; and were ex-
posed to soldiers that were exactly obedient,
and did every thing they were bidden upon
the least intimation. So they were easily
beaten. For as soon as ever their first ranks
* As the evil passions give rise to war, at least in most
cases, so they predominate in its execution. Mankind is,
indeed, reduced to a most deplorable state of degeneracy,
were once in disorder, they were put to flight
by the enemy's cavalry ; and those of them
that came behind such as crowded to the wall,
fell upon their own party's weapons ; and be-
came one another's enemies. And this so
long till they all were forced to give way to
the attacks of the horsemen, and were dis-
persed all the plain over: which plain was
wide, and very fit for the cavalry. This cir-
cumstance was very commodious for the
Romans ; and occasioned the slaughter of
the greatest number of the Jews. For such
as ran away they could overrun them ; and
made them turn back. And when they had
brought them back after their flight, and
driven them together, they ran them through,
and slew a vast number of them: insomuch
that others encompassed others of them, and
drove them before them, whithersoever they
turned themselves, and slew them easily with
their arrows : and the great number there
were of the Jews seemed a solitude to them-
selves, by reason of the distress they were in
While the Romans had such good success, with
their small number, that they seemed to them ■
selves to be the greater multitude. And as the
former strove zealously under their misfor-
tunes, out of the shame of a sudden flight, and
hopes of the change in their success; so did the
latter feel noweariness, by reason of theirgood
fortune. Insomuch that the fight lasted till the
evening, till ten thousand of the Jews lay ^
dead; with two of their generals, John and '
Silas : and the greater part of the remainder
were wounded, with Niger, their remaining
general ; who fled away together to a small
city of Idumea, called Sallis. Some few also
of the Romans were wounded in this battle.
Yet were not the spirits of the Jews broken
by so great a calamity : but the losses they
had sustained rather quickened their resolu-
tion for other attempts. For overlooking the
dead bodies which lay under their feet, they
were enticed by their former glorious actions,
to venture on a second destruction. So when
they had lain still so little a while that their
wounds were not yet thoroughly cured, they
got together all their forces, and came with
greater fury, and in much greater numbers to
Ascalon. But their former ill fortune followed
when they are so easily and evidently urged to what is
evil, and with go much difficulty excited to that which is
good. B.
BOOK III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
286
them ; as the consequence of their unskilful-
ness, and other dcficieiices in war. For An-
tonius laid ambushes for them in the passages
they were to go through: where they fell into
snares unexpectedly : and where they were
compassed about with horsemen, before they
could form themselves into a regular body
for fighting : and were above eight thousand
of them slain. So all the rest of them ran
away; and with them Niger: who still did a
great many bold exploits in his flight. How-
ever, they were driven along together by the
enemy, who pressed hard upon them, into a
certain strong tower, belonging to a village
called Bezedel. However, Antonius and his
party, that they might neither spend any con-
siderable time about this tower, which was
hard to be taken; nor suffer their commander,
and the most courageous man of them all, to
escape from them, they set the wall on fire.
And as the tower was burning, the Romans
went away rejoicing ; as taking it for granted
that Niger was destroyed. But he leaped out
of the tower in a subterraneous cave, in the
innermost part of it, and was preserved. And
on the third day afterward he spake out of
the ground to those that, with great lamenta-
tion, were searching for him, in order to give
him a decent funeral. And when he was
come out, he filled all the Jews with an un-
expected joy ; as though he were preserved
by God's providence, to be their commander
for the time to come.
Now Vespasian took along with him his
army from Antioch, (which is the metropolis
of Syria, and without dispute, deserves the
place of the *third city in the habitable earth
that was under the Roman empire, bothinmag-
nitude, and other marks of prosperity,) where
he found king Agrippa, with all his forces,
waiting for his coming; and marched to Ptole-
mais. At this city also the inhabitants of
Sepphoris of Galilee met him, who were for
peace with the Romans. These citizens had
beforehand taken care of their own safety :
and being sensible of the power of the Ro-
mans, they had been with CestiusGallus, be-
fore Vespasian came; and had given their
faith to him, and received the security of his
right hand ; and had received a Roman gar-
* Spnnheim iind Reland both agree, that the two cities
here esteemed greater than Antioch, the metropolis of
Syria, were Rome and Alexandria. Nor is there any
rison. And at this time they received Vespa-
sian, the Roman general, very kindly; and
readily promised that they would assist him
against their own countrymen. Now the
general delivered them, at their desire, as
many horsemen and footmen as he thought
sufficient to oppose the incursions of the
Jews, if they should come against them. And,
indeed, the danger of losing Sepphoris would
be no small one, in this war, that was now be-
ginning; seeing it was the largest city of
Galilee, and built in a place by nature very
strong ; and might be a security of the whole
nation's fidelity to the Romans.
CHAP. m.
CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF GALILEE, SAMARIA, AND
fUDEA.
NOW Phoenicia and Syria encompass
about the Galilees ; which are two, and
called the Upper Galilee, and the Lower.
They are bounded towards the sun-setting
with the borders of the territory belonging to
Ptolemais, and by Carmel : which mountain
had formerly belonged to the Galileans, but
now belonged to the Tyrians. To this moun-
tain adjoins Gaba, which is called the city of
horsemen : because those horsemen that were
dismissed by Herod the king dwelt therein.
They are bounded on the south with Samaria,
and Scythopolis ; as far as the river Jordan.
On the east with Hippene, and Gadaris : and
also with Gaulanitis, and the borders of the
kingdom of Agrippa. Its northern parts are
bounded by Tyre, and the country of the Ty-
rians. As for that Galilee which is called the
Lower, it extends in length from Tiberias to
Zebulon; and of the maritime places fPtole-
mais is its neighbour. Its breadth is from the
village called Xaloth, which lies in the great
plain, as far as Bersabe, From which be-
ginning also is taken the breadth of the Upper
Galilee, as far as the village Baca: which
divides the land of the Tyrians, from it. Its
length is also from Meroth to Thella, a vil-
lage near to Jordan.
These two Galilees, of so great largeness,
and encompassed with so many nations of
foreigners, have been always able to make a
occasion for doubt in so plain a case.
t Once belonging to the tribe of Aser ; bnt afterwards
a sort of Gentile city.
286
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book 111,
strong resistance on all occasions of war. For
the Galileans are inured to war from their
infancy ; and have been always very nume-
rous. Nor has the country been ever desti-
tute of men of courage; or wanted a numerous
set of them. For their soil is universally rich,
and fruitful, and full of plantations of trees of
all sorts. Insomuch that it invites the most
slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its
fruilfulness. Accordingly it is all cultivated
by its inhabitants ; and no part of it lies waste.
The cities also lie here very thick ; and the
many villages there are here, are every where
so full of people, by the richness of their soil,
that the very least of *them contained above
fifteen thousand inhabitants.
In short, if any one will suppose that Galilee
is inferior to Perea in magnitude, he will be
obliged to prefer it before it in its strength.
For this is all capable of cultivation ; and is
every where fruitful. But for Perea, which is
indeed much larger in extent, the greater
part of it is desert, rough, and less disposed
for the production of the milder kinds of fruits.
Yet it has a moist soil, in other parts, and
produces all kinds of fruits; and its plains
are planted with trees of various sorts, but
the olive-tree, the vine, and the palm-tree,
are chiefly cultivated there. It is also suffi-
ciently watered with torrents, which issue out
of the mountains ; and with springs that never
fail to run, even when the torrents fail as they
do in the dog-days. Now the length of Perea
is from Macherus, to Pella; and its breadth
from Philadelphia, to Jordan. Its northern
parts are bounded by Pella, as we have al-
ready said ; as well as its western by Jordan.
The land of Moab is its southern border; and
its eastern limits reach to Arabia, and Silboni-
tis; and besides to Philadelphine, and Gerasa.
Now as to the country of Samaria, it lies
between Judea and Galilee. It begins at a
village that is in the great plain, called Ginea ;
and ends at the Acrabene toparchy : and is
entirely of the same nature with Judea. For
both countries are made up of hills and val-
lies ; and are moist enough for agriculture ;
and are very fruitful. They have abundance
of trees, and are full of autumnal fruit, both
that which grows wild, and that which is the
effect of cultivation. They are not naturally
watered by many rivers ; but derive their
* These were most probably the cities, not the villages.
chief moisture from rain-water, of which they
have no want. And for those rivers which
they have, all their waters are exceeding
sweet. By reason also of the excellent grass
they have, their cattle yield more milk than
do those in other places. And what is the
greatest sign of excellency, and of abundance,
they each of them are very full of people.
In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies the
village Anauth, which is also named Borceos.
This is the northern boundary of Judea. The
southern parts of Judea, if they be measured
lengthways, are bounded by a village ad-
joining to the confines of Arabia. The Jews
that dwell there call it Jordan. However,
its breadth is extended from the river Jordan,
to Joppa. The city Jerusalem is situate in
the very middle. On which account some
have, with sagacity enough, called that city
the navel of the country. Nor, indeed, is
Judea destitute of such delights as come from
the sea : since its maritime places extend as
far as Ptolemais. It was parted into eleven
portions. Of which the royal city Jerusa-
lem was the supreme; and presided over all
the neighbouring country, as the head does
over the body. As to the other cities that
were inferior to it, they presided over their
several toparchies. Gophna was the second
of those cities ; and next to that Acrabatta :
after them Thamna, Lydda, Emmaus, Pella,
Idumea, Engaddi, Herodium, and Jericho:
and after them came Jamnia, and Joppa : as
presiding over the neighbouring people. And
besides these there were the region of Ga-
mala, and Gaulanitis, Batanea, and Tracho-
nitis: which are also parts of the kingdom of
Agrippa. This last country begins at mount
Libanus, and the fountains of Jordan ; and
reaches breadthways to the lake of Tiberias;
and in length is extended from a village called
Arpha, as far as Julias. Its inhabitants are a
mixture of Jews and Syrians. And thus have I,
with all possible brevity, described the coun-
try of Judea, and those that lie round about it.
CHAP. IV.
JOSEPHUS MAKES AN ATTEMPT UPON SEPPHORIS, BUT IS RE-
PELLED.-TITUS COMES WITH A GREAT ARMY TO PTOLEMAIS.
OW fthe auxiliaries which were sent to
assist the people of Sepphoris, being a
N
t A. D. 67.
BOOK III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
287
thousand horsemen, and six thousand footmen,
under Placid us the tribune, pitched their
camp in two bodies, in the *great plain. The
foot were put into the city, to be a guard to
it ; but the horse lodged abroad in the camp.
These last, by marching continually one way
or other, and overrunning the parts of the
adjoining country, were very troublesome to
josephus, and his men. They also plundered
all the places that were out of the liberties of
the city, and intercepted such as durst go
abroad. On this account it was that Jose-
phus marched against the city ; as hoping to
take what he had lately encompassed with
so strong a wall, before they revolted from
the rest of the Galileans, that the Romans
would have had much ado to take it. By
which means he proved too weak, and failed
of his hopes ; both as to the forcing the place,
and as to his prevailing with the people of
Sepphoris, to deliver it up to him. But by
this means he provoked the Romans to treat
the country according to the laws of war.
Nor did the Romans, out of the anger they
bore at this attempt, leave off either by night,
or by day, burning the places in the plain ;
and stealing away the cattle that were in the
country; and killing whatsoever appeared
capable of fighting perpetually ; and leading
the weaker people as slaves into captivity.
So that Galilee was completely filled with
fire and blood. Nor was it exempted from
any kind of misery or calamity. For the only
refuge they had was, that when they were
Eursued, they could retire to the cities which
ad been walled by Josephus.
But as to Titus, he sailed over from Achaia
to Alexandria, and that sooner than the winter
season did usually permit. So he took with
him those forces he was sent for; and, marching
with great expedition, he came suddenly to
Ptolemais : and there finding his father, to-
gether with the two legions, the fifth and the
tenth, which were the most eminent legions,
of all, he joined them to that fifteenth legionf
which was with his father. Eighteen cohorts
followed these legions. There came also
five cohorts from Caesarea, with one troop of
* There were two great plains in Judea. See Reland,
torn. 1. chap. 55.
t This Antiochus was king of Commagene. Agrippa's
kingdom ha.
ought to leave it to his disposal to take that
being away from us. The bodies of all men
are indeed mortal, and are created out of
corruptible matter. But the soul is ever
immortal ; and is a portion of the divinity that
inhabits in our bodies. Besides, if any one
destroy or abuse a depositum he hath received
from a mere man, he is esteemed a wicked
and perfidious person. But then if any one
cast out of his body this divine depositum,
can we imagine that he who is thereby
affronted does not know of it ? Moreover, our
law justly ordains that slaves that run away
from their masters shall be punished, though
the masters they run away from may have
been wiqked masters to them. And shall we
endeavour to run away from God, who is the
best of all masters, and not think ourselves
guilty of impiety ? Do not you know that
those who depart out of this life according to
the law of nature, and pay that debt which
was received from God, when he that lent it
us is pleased to require it back again, enjoy
eternal fame; that their houses and their pro-
perty are sure; that these souls are pure, and
obedient, and obtain a most holy place in
heaven. From whence, in the revolutiotis of
ages, they are again sent into pure bodies.
While the souls of those whose hands have
acted madly against themselves, are received
by the darkest place in Hades: and while God,
who is our father, punishes those that offend
against either of them in their posterity. For
which reason God hates such doings : and the
crime is punished by our most wise legislator.
Accordingly our *la\vs determine, that the
bodies of such as kill themselves should be
exposed till the sun be set, without burial :
although at the same time it be allowed lawful
to bury our enemies sooner. The laws of
other nations also enjoin such men's hands to
be cut off", when they are dead, which had
been made use of in destroying themselves
when alive: while they reckoned, that as the
body is alien from the soul, so is the hand
alien from the body. It is therefore, my
friends, a right thing to reason justly, and not
add to the calamities which men bring upon
us, impiety towards our Creator. If we have
a mind to preserve ourselves, let us do it. For
to be preserved by those our enemies, to
whom we have given so many demonstrations
• Where this law of Moses is to be found 1 do nut know.
of our courage is no way inglorious. But if
we have a mind to die, it is good to die by the
hand of those that have conquered us. For
my part I will not run over to our enemies'
quarters, in order to be a traitor to myself.
For certainly I should then be much more
foolish than those that deserted to the enemy;
since they did it in order to save themselves ;
and I should do it for my own destruction.
However,! heartily wish the Romans may prove
treacherous in this matter. For if, after their
offer of their right hand for security, I be slain
by them, 1 shall die cheerfully, and carry away
with me the sense of their perfidiousness, as a
consolation greater than victory itself"
These and many similar motives did
Josephus use to these men, to prevent them
murdering themselves. But desperation had
shut their ears, as having long ago devoted
themselves to die; and they were irritated at
Josephus. They accordingly ran upon him
with their swords in their hands; one from
one quarter, and another from another, and
called him a coward : and every one of them
appeared openly, as if he were ready to smite
hun. But he calling to one of them by name ;
and looking like a general to another; and
taking a third by the hand ; and making a
fourth ashamed of himself by praying him to
forbear; and being in this conditiort distracted
with various passions, (as he well might, in
the great distress he was then in,) he kept off"
every one of their swords: and was forced to
do like such wild beasts as are encompassed
about on every side, who always turn them-
selves against those that last touched them.
Nay, some of their right hands were debilita-
ted by the reverence they bare to their gene-
ral, in these his fatal calamities, and their
swords dropped out of their hands; and not
a few of them there were who, when they aimed
to smite him with their swords, they were not
thoroughly either willing, or able, to do it.
However, in this extreme distress, he was
not destitute of his usual sagacity : but trust-
ing himself to the providence of God, he put
his life into hazard, in the following manner:
" Since," said he, " it is resolved among you
that you will die, come on, let us commit our
mutual deaths to determination by lot. He
whom the lot falls on first, let him be killed
by him that hath the second lot : and thus
fortune shall make its progress through us
Rr2
306
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book III.
all. Nor shall any of us perish by his own
right hand. For it would be unfair if, when
the rest are gone, somebody should repent,
and save himself." This proposal appeared
to them to be very just : and when he had
prevailed with them to determine this matter
by lots, he drew one of the lots for himself
also. He who had the first lot laid his neck
bare to him that had the next ; as supposing
that the general would die among them
immediately. For they thought death, if
Josephus might but diewith them, was sweeter
than life. Yet was he with another left to the
last : whether we must say it happened so by
chance, or whether by the providence of
God. And as he was very desirous neither
to be condemned by the lot, nor, if he had
been left to the last, to imbrue his right hand
' in the blood of his countryman, he persuaded
him to trust his fidelity to him, and to live as
well as himself
Thus Josephus escaped in the war with the
Romans, and in this his own war with his
friends, and was led by Nicanor to Vespasian.
But now all the Romans ran together to see
him ; and as the multitude pressed one upon
another about their general, there was a
tumult of avarious kihd. While some rejoiced
that Josephus was taken; some threatened
him; and some crowded to see him very near :
but those that were more remote cried out
to have this their enemy put to death : while
those that were near called to mind the
actions he had done, and a deep concern
appeared at the change of his fortune. Nor
were there any of the Roman commanders, how
much soever they had been enraged at him
before, but relented when they came to the
sight of him. Above all the rest Titus's valour,
and Josephus's patience under his afflictions,
made him pity him; as did also the commisera-
tion of his age, when he recalled to mind, that
but a little while ago he was fighting, but lay
^ now in the hands of his enemies: which made
him consider the power of fortune; and how
quick is the turn of affairs in war ; and how
no state of men is sure. For which reason
he then made a great many more to be of
' * I do not know where to find the law of Mose« here
■ mentioned by Josephus, and afterwards by Eleazar, VII. 8.
and almost implied in I. 13. by Josephus's commenda-
' tion of Phasaelis for doing so. I mean whereby Jewish
generals and people were obliged to kill themselves,
the same pitiful temper with himself, and in-
duced them to commiserate Josephus. He
was also of great weight in persuading his
father to preserve him. However, Vespasian
gave strict orders that he should be kept
with great caution, as though he would, in a
little time, send him to Nero.
When Josephus heard him give those or-
ders, he said, that he had somewhat in his
mind that he would willingly say to him alone.
When, therefore, they were all ordered to
withdraw, excepting Titus, and two of their
friends, he said, "Thou, O Vespasian, think-
est no more than that thou hast taken Jose-
phus himself captive. But 1 come to thee as
a messenger of great tidings. For had not I
been sent by God to thee, I knew what was
the *law of the Jews in this case ; and how
it becomes generals to die. Dost thou send
me to Nero? For what purpose.'' Are Nero's
successors till they come to thee still alive.'*
Thou, O Vespasian, art Caesar, and emperor;
thou, and this thy son. Bind me now still
faster, and keep me for thyself For thou, O
Caesar, art not only lord over me, but over the
land, and the sea, and all mankind. And
certainlyl deserve to be kept in closer custody
than I now am in, in order to be punished, if
I rashly affirm any thing of God." When he
had said this, Vespasian did not immediately
believe him; but supposed that Josephus said
this, as a cunning trick, in order to his own
preservation. But in a little time he was con-
vinced, and believed what he said himself to
be true. God himself erecting his expecta-
tions, so as to think of obtaiiung the empire;
and by other signs foreshewing his advance-
ment. He also found Josephus to have spoken
truth on other occasions. For one of those
friends that were present at that secret con-
ference, said to Josephus, " I cannot but
wonder how thou couldest not foretell to the
people of Jotapata, that they should be taken:
nor couldest foretell this captivity which hath
happened to thyself; unless what thou now
sayest be a vain thing, in order to avoid the
rage that is arisen against thyself " Josephus
replied, "I did foretell to the people of Jota-
rather than go into slavery under heathens. I doubt that
would have been no better than self-murder. And I believe
it was rather some vain doctrine, or interpretation of the
rigid Pharisees, or Essenes, or Herodians, than a just con-
sequence from any law of God delivered by Moses.
liOulii iJl.j
WARS OF THE JEWS.
.iO'i
pata that they would be taken on the forty-
seventh day; and that I should be caught
alive by the Romans." Now when Vespa-
sian had enquired of the captives privately
about these predictions, he found them to be
true ; and then he began to believe those
that concerned himself. Yet did he not set
Josephus at liberty from his bands; but be-
stowed on him suits of clothes, and other
precious gifts. He treated him also in a very
obliging manner, and continued so to do ;
Titus still joining his interest in the honours
that were done him.
CHAP. IX.
OF THE REDUCTION OF JOFPA AKD TIBERIAS.
NOW Vespasian returned to Ptolemais on
the fourth day of the month Panemus,
or Tamuz ;* and from thence he came to
Cuesarea, which lay by the sea-side. This
was a very great city of Judea, and for the
most part inhabited by the Greeks. The citi-
zens here received both the Roman army, and
its general, with all sorts of acclamations and
rejoicings ; and this partly out of the good
will they bore to the llomans, but principally
out of the hatred they bore to those that were
conquered by them. On which account they
came clamouring against Josephus in crowds ;
and desired he might be put to death. Blit
Vespasian passed over this petition concern-
ing him, as ofTered by the injudicious multi-
tude, with a bare silence. Two of the legions
also he placed at Caesarea, that they might
there take their winter quarters ; as per-
ceiving the city very fit for such a purpose.
But he placed the tenth and the fifth at Scy-
thopolis, that he might not distress Ctesarea
w ith the entire army. This place was warm,
even in winter; as it was suffocating hot in
the summer time, by reason of its situation in
a plain, and near to the sea of Galilee.
In the mean time there were gathered to-
gether as well such as had seditiously got out
Irora among their enemies, as those that had
escaped out of the demolished cities, which
were in all a great number; and repaired
Joppa, which had been left desolate by Ces-
tius, that it might serve them for a place of
* A. D. 67.
refuge. And because the adjoining region
had been laid waste in the war, and was not
capable of supporting them, they determined
to go off to sea. They also built a great
many piratical ships, and turned pirates upon
the seas near to Syria, Phoe.nicia, and Egypt;
and made those seas navigable to all men.
Now as soon as Vespasian knew of their con-
spiracy, he sent both footmen and horsemen
to Joppa; who entered the city, which was
unguarded, in the night time. However, those
that were in it perceived that they should be
attacked, and were afraid of it. Yet did they
not endeavour to keep the Romans out, but
fled to their ships, and lay at sea all night,
out of the reach of their darts.
Now Joppa is not naturally a haven, for it
ends in a rough shore; where all the rest of
it is straight, but the two ends bend toward
each other; where there are deep precipices,
and great stones that jet out into the sea ;
and where the chains wherewith Andromeda
was bound have left their vestiges, which at-
test to the antiquity of that fable. But the
north wind opposes and beats upon the shore,
and dashes mighty waves against the rocks,
which receive them, and renders the haven
more dangerous than the country they had
deserted. Now as these people of Joppa
were floating about in this sea, in the morning,
there fell a violent wind upon "them. It is
called by those that sail there the black north
wind : and there dashed their ships one
against another, and dashed some of them
against the rocks, and carried many of them
by force, whilst they strove against the oppo-
site waves, into the main sea : for the shore
was so rocky, and had so many of the enemy
upon it, that they were afraid to come to land.
Nay the waves rose so very high, that they
drowned tiiem. Nor was there any place
whither they could fly, nor any way to save
themselves : while they were thrust out of the
sea, by the violence of the wind, if they staid
where they were ; and out of the city, by the
violence of the Romans. And much lamenta-
tion there was wiien tlie ships were dashed
against one another, and a terrible noise when
they were brftken to pieces. And some of
the multitude that were in them were covered
with tiie waves, and so perished : and a great
many Avere embarrassed with shipwrecks.
But some of them thought that to die by their
308
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book III,
own swords was a lighter death than by the
sea; and so they killed themselves, before
they were drowned. Although the greatest
part of them were carried by the waves, and
dashed to pieces against the abrupt parts of
the rocks. Insomuch that the sea was bloody
a long way ; and the maritime parts were full
of dead bodies. For the Romans came upon
those that were carried to the shore, and
destroyed them. And the number of the
bodies that were thus thrown out of the sea
was four thousand and two hundred. The
Romans also took the city, without opposi-
tion, and utterly demolished it.
Thus was Joppa taken twice by the Romans
in a little time. But Vespasian, in order to
prevent these pirates from coming thither any
more, erected a camp there, where the cita-
del of Joppa had been : and left a body of
horse in it, with a few footmen : that these
last might stay there, and guard the camp ;
and the horsemen might spoil the country
that lay round it, and might destroy the
neighbouring villages, and smaller cities. So
these troops overran the country, as they
were ordered to do ; and every day cut to
pieces, and laid desolate the whole region.
Now, when the fate of Jotapata was related
at Jerusalem, a great many at the first dis-
believed it; .on account of the vastness of the
calamity; and because they had no eye-
witness to attest to the truth of what was re-
lated about it. For not one person was saved
to be a messenger of that news ; but a report
was spread abroad at random, that the city .
was taken : as such fame usually spreads bad
news about. However, the truth was known
by degrees, from the places near Jotapata,
and appeared to all to be too true. Yet there
were fictitious stories added to what was re-
ally done. For it was reported that Josephus
was slain at the taking of the city : which
piece of news filled Jerusalem full of sorrow.
In every house also, and among all to whom
any of the slain were allied, there was a la-
mentation for them. But the mourning for
the commander was a public one. And some
mourned for those that had lived with them ;
* See Dent, xxxiv. 8.
t These public motirners, hired upon the supposed
death of Josephus, and the real death of many more, il-
lustrate some passases in the Bible, which suppose the
game custom : as Matt. xi. 17. where the reader may
others for their kindred ; others for their
friends ; and others for their brethren : but
ail mourned for Josephus. Insomuch, that
the lamentation did not cease in the city be-
fore the *thirtieth day. And a great many
hired tmourners, with their pipes, who
should begin the melancholy ditties for
them.
But as the truth came out in time, it ap-
peared how the affairs of Jotapata really
stood. Yet was it found that the death of
Josephus was a fiction. And when they un-
derstood that lie was alive, and was among
the Romans, and that the commanders treated
him at another rate than they treated captives,
they were as vehemently angry at him now,
as they had shewed their good will before,
when he appeared to have been dead. He
was also abused by some as having been a
coward ; and by others as a deserter. And
the city was full of indignation at him, and of
reproaches cast upon him. Their rage was
also aggravated by their aflflictions, and more
inflamed by their ill success. And what usu-
ally becomes an occasion of caution to wise
men, I mean affliction, became a spur to them
to venture on farther calamities : and the end
of one misery became still the beginning of
another. They, therefore, resolved to fall
on the Romans the more vehemently ; as re-
solving to be revenged on him in revenging
themselves on the Romans. And this was the
state of Jerusalem as to the troubles which
no\^ came upon it.
But Vespasian, in order to see the kingdom
of Agrippa, while the king himself persuaded
him so to do : (partly in order to his treating
the general and his army in the best and most
splendid manner Iiis private affairs would
enable him to do ; and partly that he might,
by their means, correct such things as were
amiss in his government:) he removed from
that Caesarea which was by the sea-side, and
went to that which is called JCaesarea Phi-
lippi. And there he refreshed his army for
twenty days; and was himself feasted by king
Agrippa. Where he also returned public
thanks to God for the good success he had
consult the notes of Grotius.
f Of this Caesarea Philippi, (twice mentioned in our
New Testament, Matt. xvi. 13. Mark viii. 27.) there are
coins still extant : as Spanheim here informs as.
BOOK III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
309
had in liis undertakings.* But as soon as he
Mas informed that Tiberias was fond of inno-
vations, and that TarieheiC had revolted ;
both winch cities were parts of the kingdom
of Agrippa : and was satisfied Avithin himself
tliat the Jews were every wliere perverted
from their obedience to their governors; he
thought it seasonable to make an expedition
against these cities ; and that for the sake of
Agrippa; and in order to bring his cities to
reason. So he sent away his son Titus to
the other Cajsarea, that he might bring the
array that lay there to Scythopolis, which is
the largest of fDecapolis, and in the neigli-
bourhood of Tiberias : whither he came, and
where he waited for his son. He then came
with tliree legions, and pitched his c^mp
thirty furlongs ofT Tiberias, at a certain sta-
tion easily seen by the innovators. It is
named Sennabris. He also sent Valerian, a
decurion, with fifty horsemen, to speak peace-
ably to those that were in the city, and to
exhort them to give him assurances of their
tidelity. For he had heard that the people
were desirous of peace; but were obliged by
some of the seditious part to join with them,
and so were forced to fight for them. When
Valerian had marched up to the place, and
was near the wall, he alighted off his horse,
and made those that were with him do the
same, that they might not be thought to come
to skirmish with them. But before they
could come to discourse one with another,
the most potent men among the seditions
made a sally upon them, armed. Their leader
was one whose name was Jesus, the son of
Saphat; the principal head of a band of rob-
bers. Now Valerian, neither thinking it safe
to fight contrary to the commands of the
general, though he were secure of a victory;
and knowing that it was a very hazardous un-
dertaking for a few to fight with many ; for
those that were unprovided, to fight those
that were ready ; and being on other accounts
surprised at this unexpected onset of the
Jews, he ran away on foot : as did five of the
rest in like maimer, and left their horses
behind tiiem. Which horses Jesus led
away into the city ; and rejoiced, as if they
♦ As all success results from the favoar and blessing of
God, thanksgiving for his mercies is a proper expression
of gratitude ; and this should be pubbc, in proportion as
had taken them in battle, and not by trea-
chery.
Now the seniors of the people, and such
as were of principal authority among them,
fearing what w ould be the issue of this matter,
fled to the camp of the Romans. They then
took their king along w ith them, and fell down
before Vespasian, to supplicate his favour;
and besought him not to overlook them, nor
to impute the madness of a few to the whole
city ; to spare a people that had been ever
civil and obliging to the Romans: but to
bring the authors of this revolt to due punish-
ment ; who had hitherto so watched them,
that though they were zealous to give them
the security of their right hands of a long time,
yet could they not accomplish the same.
With these supplications the general com-
plied : although he were very angry at the
whole city about the carrying off his horses :
and this because he saw that Agrippa was
under a great concern for them. So when
Vespasian and Agrippa had accepted of their
right hands, by way of security, Jesus and
his party thought it not safe for them to con-
tinue at Tiberias ; so they ran aw ay to Ta-
richeae. The next day Vespasian sent Trajan
before, with some horsemen to the citadel,
to make trial of the multitude, whether they
were all disposed for peace. And as soon
as he knew that the people were of the same
mind with the petitioners, he took his army,
and went to the city. Upon which the citi-
zens opened to hitn their gates, and met liim
w ith acclamations of joy ; and called him
their saviour and benefactor. But as the
army was a great while in getting in at the
gates, they were so narrow, Vespasian com-
manded the south wall to be broken down,
and so made a broad passage for their en-
trance. However he charged them to ab-
stain from rapine and injustice in order to
gratify the king. And on his account spared
the rest of the wall; while Ihe king under-
took for them that they should continue
faithfij! to the Romans for the time to come.
And thus did he restore this city to a quiet
state, after it had been grievously afflicted by
the sedition.
the divine goodness towards us is seasonable and li-
beral. B.
t See Matt. iv. 23. and Mark r. 25.
310
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book III.
CHAP. X.
THE REDUCTION OK TARICHE.E. A DESCRIPTION OF THE
RIVER JORDAN, AND OF THE COUNTRY OF GENNESARETH.
l^TOW Vespasian pitched his camp be-
J_^ tween this city and Taricheae: but
lortified his camp more strongly, as suspect-
ing that he should be forced to stay there,
and have a long war. For all the innovators
had assembled together at Tarichea3 : as re-
. lying upon the strength of the city, and on
the lake that lay by it ; which is called by
the people of the country the lake of Gemie-
sareth. The city itself is situate like Tibe-
rias, at the bottom of a mountain : and on
those sides which are not washed by the sea
had been strongly fortified by Josephus,
though not so strongly as Tiberias. For the
wall of Tiberias had been built at the begin-
ning of the Jews' revolt, when he had great
plenty of money, and great power. But Ta-
richese partook only of the remains of that
liberality. Yet had they a great number of
ships gotten ready upon the lake; that in
case they were beaten at land, they might
retire to them ; and they were so fitted up
that they might undertake a sea fight also.
But as the Romans were building a wall
about their camp, Jesus and his party were
neither affrighted at their number, nor at the
good order they were in, but made a sally
upon them ; and at the very first onset the
builders of the wall were dispersed, and those
pulled what little they had built to pieces.
But as soon as they saw the armed men get-
ting together, and before they had suffered
any thing themselves, they retired to their
own men. But then the Romans pursued
them, and drove them into their ships, where
they launched out as far as might give them
the opportunity of reaching the Romans, with
what they threw at them, and then cast an-
chor, and brought their ships close, as in a
line of battle, and thence fought the enemy
from the sea, who were themselves at land.
But Vespasian hearing that a great multitude
of them were gotten together in the plain that
was before the city, he thereupon sent his
son, with six hundred chosen horsemen, to
disperse them.
But when Titus perceived that the enemy
was very numerous, he sent to his father,
and informed him, that he should want more
forces. But as he saw a great many of the
horsemen eager to fight before any succours
could come to them ; and that yet some of
them were privately under a sort of conster-
nation at the multitude of the Jews; he stood
in a place whence he might be heard, and
said to them, " My brave Romans ! it is right
for me to put you in mind of what nation you
are, in the beginning of my speech ; that so
you may not be ignorant who you are, and
who they are against whom we are going to
fight. For as ' to us Romans, no part of the
habitable earth hath been able to escape our
hands hitherto. But as for the Jews, that I
may speak of them too, though they have
been already beaten, yet do they not give
up the cause. And a sad thing it would
be for us to grow weary under our good suc-
cess, when they bear up under their misfor-
tunes. As to the alacrity which you shew
publicly, I see it, and rejoice at it. Yet am
I afraid lest the multitude of the enemy should
bring a concealed terror upon some of you.
Let such a one consider again, who we are
that are to fight ? And who those are against
whom we are to fight.'' Now these Jews,
though they be very bold, and great despisers
of death, are but a disorderly body, and un-
skilful in war, and may rather be called a
rabble than an army: while I need say no-
thing of our skill, and our good order. For
this is the reason why we Romans alone are
exercised for war in time of peace, that we
may not think of number for number, when
we come to fight with our enemies. For what
advantage should we reap by our continual
sort of warfare, if we must still be equal in
number to such as have not been used to war.''
Consider farther, that you are to have a con-
flict with men in effect unarmed, while you
are well armed ; with footmen, while you are
horsemen ; with those that have no good
general, while you have one. And as these
advantages make you in effect manifold more
than you are, so do their disadvantages
mightily diminish their number. Now it is
not the multitude of men, though they be
soldiers, that manage wars Avith success : but
it is their bravery that does it, though they
be but a few. For a few are easily set in
battle array, and can easily assist one ano-
ther; while over numerous armies are more
hurt by themselves, than by their enemies.
BOOK III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
311
Boldness and rashness, the effects of madness,
conduct the Jews. Those passions indeed
make a great 6gure when tliey succeed ; but
are quite extinguished upon the least ill suc-
cess. But we are led on by courage, obedi-
ence, and fortitude : which shew themselves
indeed in our good fortune, but still do not
for ever desert us in our ill fortune. Nay,
indeed, your fighting is to be on greater mo-
tives than those of the Jews. For although
they run the hazard of war for liberty, and
for their country ; yet what can be a greater
motive to us than glory ? and that it may
never be said, that after we have got dominion
of the habitable earth, the Jews are able to
confront us. We must also reflect upon this,
that there is no fear of our suffering any in-
curable disaster in the present case : for those
that are ready to assist us are many, and at
hand also. Yet is it in our power to seize
upon this victory ourselves : and I think we
ought to prevent the coming of those my
father is sending to us for our assistance; that
our success may be peculiar to ourselves, and
of greater reputation to us. And I cannot
but think this an opportunity wherein my
father, myself, and each of you, shall be all
put to the trial : whether he be worthy of his
former glorious performances : whether I be
his son in reality : and whether you be really
my soldiers : for it is usual for my father to
conquer. And for myself I should not bear
the thoughts of returning to him if I were
once taken by the enemy. And how will you
be able to avoid being ashamed, if you do not
shew equal courage with your commander,
when he goes before you into danger? For
you know very well, that I shall go into the
danger first, and make the first attack upon
the enemy. Do not you therefore desert me ;
but persuade yourselves that God will be as-
sisting to my onset. Know this also before we
begin, that we shall now have better success,
than we should have, if we were to fi^ht at a'
distance." ®
As Titus was saying this, an extraordinary
fury fell upon the men. And as Trajan was
already come before tlie fight began, with four
hundred horsemen, they were uneasy at it ;
because the reputation of the victory would
be dimuushed by being common to so many.
Vespasian had also sent both Antonius and
Silo, with two thousand archers j and had
VOL. II. — NOS. 73 & 74.
given It them in charge, to seize upon the
mountain that was over against the city, and
repel those that were upon the wall. Which
archers did as they were commanded, and
prevented those that attempted to assist them
that way. And now Titus made his own
horse march first against the enemy ; as did
the others march with a great noise after
him ; and extended themselves upon the plain
as wide as the enemy which confronted them :
by which means they appeared much more
numerous than they really were. Now the
Jews, although they were surprised at their
onset and good order, made resistance against
their attacks for a little while ; but when they
were pricked w ith their long poles, and over-
borne by the violent noise of the horsemen,
they came to be trampled under their feet
Many also of them w ere slain on every side ;
which made them disperse themselves, and
run to the city, as fast as every one of them
were able. So Titus pressed upon the hind-
most, and slew them : and of the rest some
he fell upon as they stood on heaps; and
some he prevented, and met them in the
mouth, and run them through. Many also he
leaped upon as they fell upon one another,
and trod them down, and cut off all the re-
treat they had to the wall, and turned them
back into the plain, till at last they forced a
passage by their multitude, and got away, and
ran into the city.
But now there fell out a terrible sedition
among them within the city. For the inhabi-
tants themselves, who had possessions there,
and to whom the city belonged, were not dis-
posed to fight from the very beginning. And
now the less so because they had been beaten.
But the foreigners, who were very numerous^
would force them to fight so much the more.
Insomuch that there was a clamour and a
tumult among them: as all mutually angry
one at another. And when Titus heard this
tumult, for he was not far from the wall, he
cried out, " Fellow-soldiers, now is the time.
And why do we make any delay ? when God
is giving up the Jews to us. Those that have
escaped our hands are in an uproar a«Tainst
one another. We hav« the city if we make
haste. But besides Jiaste, Me must undergo
some labour, and use some courage. For no
great things are to be accomplished widiuut
danger. Accordingly, we must not only pre-
Sg
312
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book ih.
%'ent their uniting again, which necessity will
soon compel them to do; but we must also
prevent the coming of our own men to our
assistance: that as few as .ve are we may
conquer so great a multitude, and may our-
selves alone take the city."
As soon as Titus had said this, he leaped
upon his horse, and rode apace down to the
lake : by which he marched, and entered into
the city the first of them all : as did the others
soon after him. Hereupon those that were
upon the walls were seized with a terror, at
the boldness of the attempt. Nor durst any
one venture to fight with him, or to hinder
him. So they left guarding the city; and
some of those that were about *Jesus fled
over the country : while others of them ran
down to the lake, and met the enemy in the
teeth. And some were slain as they were
getting up into the ships ; but others of them
as they attempted to overtake those that were
already gone aboard. There was also a great
slaughter made in the city, while those fo-
reigners, that had not fled away already,
made opposition : but the natural inhabitants
were killed without fighting. For in hopes
of Titus's giving them his right hand for
their security,t and out of a consciousness
that they had not given any consent to the
war, they avoided fighting, till Titus had slain
the authors of this revolt; and then put a stop
to any farther slaughters, out of commiseration
of these inhabitants of the place. But for
those that had fled to the lake, upon seeing
the city taken, they sailed as far as possibly
they could from the enemy.
Hereupon Titus sent one of his horsemen
to his father, and let him know the good news
of what he had done. At Avhich, as was
natural, he was very joyful : both on account
of the courage, and glorious actions, of Iiis
son. For he thought that now the greatest
part of the war was over. He then came
thither himself, and set men to guard the city ;
and gave them command to take care that
nobody got privately out of it, but to kill such
as attempted so to do. And on the next day he
went down to the lake, and commanded that
vessels should be fitted up, in order to pursue
those that had escaped in the ships. These
* See Chap. 9.
t This was designed as a pledge of his good will and
lenity towards them. Giving of the hand was a common
vessels were quickly gotten ready accordingly:
because there was great plenty of materials,
and a competent number of artificers.
Now this lake of Gennesareth is so called
from the country adjoining to it. Its breadth
is forty furlongs ; and its length an hundred
and forty. Its waters are sweet, and very
agreeable for drinking : they are finer than
the thick waters of other fens. It is also tem-
perate when you draw it up, and of a more
gentle nature than river or fountain water;
and yet always cooler than one would expect
in so diffuse a place as this is. Now when
this water is kept in the open air, it is as cold
as that snow which the country people are
accustomed to make by night in summer.
There are several kinds of fish in it, different
both to the taste and the sight from those
elsewhere. It is divided into two parts by
the river Jordan. Now Panium is thought to
be the fountain of Jordan ; but, in reality, it
is carried thither after an occult manner from
the place called Phiala. This place lies as
you go up to Trachonitis; and is a hundred
and .twenty furlongs from Csesarea; and is not-
far out of the road on the right hand. And
indeed it hath its name of Phiala (vial or
bowl) very justly, from the roundness of its
circumference, as being round like a wheel.
Its water continues always up to its edges,
without either sinking, or runnmg over. And
as this origin of Jordan was formerly not
known, it w as discovered so to be when Philip
was tetrarch of Trachonitis. For he had
chaff thrown into Phiala, and it was found at
Panium, where the ancients thought the foun-
tain head of the river was, whither it had
been therefore carried by the waters. As for
Panium itself, its natural beauty had been
improved by the royal liberality of Agrippa,
and adorned at his expense. Now Jordan's
visible stream arises from this cavern, and
divides the marshes and fens of the lake
Semechonitis. And when it hath run another
hundred and twejity furlongs, it first passes
by the city Julias, and then passes through
the middle of the lake Gennesareth. After
which it runs a long way over a desert, and
then makes its exit into the lake Asphaltites.
The country also that lies over against this
method among the Easterns, to signify their intention of
favour. B.
i
BOOK III.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
313
lake hath the same name of Gennesareth.
Its nature is wonderful, as well as its beauty.
Its soil is so fruitful, that all sorts of trees can
grow upon it ; and the inhabitants accord
ingly plant all sorts of trees there. For the
temper of the air is so well mixed, that it
agrees very well with those several sorts:
particularly the walnuts, which require the
coldest air, flourish there in vast plenty.
There are palm-trees also, which grow best
in hot air. Fig-trees also and olives grow
near them, which yet require an air that is
more temperate. One may call this place
the ambition of nature ; for it forces those
plants that are naturally enemies to one
another to agree together. It is a happy con-
tention of the seasons : as if every one of them
laid claim to this country. For it not only
nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruit,
beyond men's expectation ; but preserves
them also a great while. It supplies men
with the principal fruits, with grapes* and
figs, continually, during ten months of the
year^ and the rest of the fruits as they be-
come ripe together through the whole year.
For besides the good temperature of the air,
it is also watered from a most fertile fountain.
The people of the country call it Capharnaum.
Some have thought it to be a vein of the Nile,
because it produces the coracin fish as well as
that lake does which is near to Alexandria.
The lengtli of this country extends along the
banks of this lake, that bears the same name,
for thirty furlongs; and its breadth twenty.
And this is the nature of that place.
Bift now, when the vessels were gotten
ready, Vespasian put on shipboard as many
of his forces as he tliought sufficient to con-
quer those that were upon the lake, and set
sail after them. Now these which were
driven into the lake could neither fly to the
land, where all was in the enemies' hand, and
in war against them; nor could they fight
upon the level by sea. For their ships were
small, and fitted only for piracy; they were
too weak to fight with Vespasian's vessels :
• It may be worth our while to observe here, that near
this lake of Gennesareth grapes and figs hang on the trees
ten months of the year. We may observe also, that in
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechis. xviii. § 8, which was deli-
vered not long before Easter, there were no fresh leaves
of fig-trees, nor bunches of grapes, in Judea. So that
when St. Mark says, xi. 13, that our Saviour, soon after
and the mariners that were in them were so
few, that they were afraid to come near the
Romans ; who attacked them in great num-
bers. However, as they sailed round about
the vessels, and sometimes as they came near
them, they threw stones at the Romans, when
they were a good way ofll^ or came closer and
fought them. Yet did they receive the great-
est harm themselves in both cases. As for
the stones they threw at the Romans, they
only made a sound one after another : for
they threw them against such as were in their
armour. While the Roman darts could
reach the Je«s themselves. And when they
ventured to come near the Romans, they be-
came sufferers, before they could do any
harm to the other, and were drowned, they
and their ships together. As for those that
endeavoured to come to an actual fight, the
Romans ran many of them through with their
long poles. Sometimes the Romans leaped
into their ships with swords in their hands,
and slew them. But when some of them met
the vessels, the Romans caught them by the
middle, and destroyed at once their ships,
and themselves who were taken in them. And
for such as were drowning in the sea, if they
raised their heads up above the water, they
were either killed by darts, or caught by the
vessels. But if, in the desperate case they
were in, they attempted to swim to their ene-
mies, the Romans cut off their heads or their
hands. And indeed they were destroyed
after various manners, everywhere; till the
rest, being put to flight, were forced to get
upon the land, while tlie vessels encompassed
them about on the sea. But as many of these
were repulsed when they were getting ashore,
they were killed by the darts upon the lake :
and the Romans leaped out of their vessels,
and destroyed a great many more upon the
land. One might then see the lake all bloody,
and full of dead bodies : for not one of them
escaped. And a terrible smell, and a very
sad sight, there was on the following days
over that country. For as for the shores they
the same time of the year, came and found leaves on a fig-
tree near Jerusalem, but no figs, because the time of new
figs ripening was not yet ; he says very true. Nor were
they, therefore, other than old leaves which our Saviour
saw, and old figs, which he expected ; and which, even
with us, commonly hang on the trees all the winter long.
S-S2
311
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book III.
were full of shipwrecks, and of dead bodies
all swelled ; and as the corpses were inflamed
by the sun, and putrefied, they corrupted
the air. Insomuch that the misery was not
only the object of commiseration to the Jews,
but to those that hated them, and had been
the authors of that misery. This was the
result of the sea fight. The number of
the slain, including those that were killed
in the city before, was six thousand five
hundred.
After this fight was over, Vespasian sat
apon his tribunal at Taricheae, in order to
distinguish the foreigners from the old in-
habitants. For those foreigners appeared to
have begun the war. So he deliberated with
the other commanders, whether he ought to
save those old inhabitants or not .'' And when
those commanders alleged, that the dismission
of them would be to his own disadvantage,
because when they were once set at liberty,
they would not be at rest, since they would
be people destitute of proper habitations, and
would be able to compel such as they fled
to, to fight against the Romans; Vespasian
acknowledged, that they did not deserve to
be saved ; and that if they had leave given
them to retire, they would make use of it
against those that gave them that leave. But
still he considered with himself,* after what
manner they should be slain. For if he had
them slain there, he suspected the people of
the country would thereby become his ene-
mies. For it was not probable they would
bear that so many that had been supplicants
to him should be killed ; and to offer violence
to them, after he had given them assurances
* This is the most cruel and barbarous action that Ves-
pasian ever did in this whole war: as he did it with great
reluctance also. It was done both after public assurance
given of sparing the prisoners' lives ; and when all knew
and confessed that these prisoners were no way guilty of
any sedition against the Romans. Nor indeed did Titus
now give his consent, so far as appears ; nor ever act of
himself so barbarously. Nay, soon after this, Titus grew
quite weary of shedding blood, and of punishing the in-
of their lives, was repugnant to his own feel-
ings. However his friends were too hard for
him ; and pretended that nothing against Jews
could be any impiety ; and that he ought to
prefer what was profitable before what was
fit to be done, where both could not be made
consistent." So he gave them an ambiguous
liberty, to do as they advised ; and permitted
the prisoners to go along no other road than
that which led to Tiberias. So they readily
believed what they desired to be true, and
went along securely, with their effects, the
way which was allowed them ; while the
Romans seized upon all the road that led to
Tiberias, that none of them might go out of
it ; and shut them up in the city. Then came
Vespasian, and ordered them all to stand in
the stadium ; and commanded them to kill
the old men, together with the others that
were useless, which were in number a thou-
sand and two hundred. Out of the young
men he chose six thousand of the strongest,
and sent them to Nero, to dig through the
isthmus; and sold the remainder for slaves,
being thirty thousand and four hundred : be-
sides such as he made a present of to Agrippa.
For as to those who belonged to his kingdom,
he gave him leave to do what he pleased with
them. However the king sold these also for
slaves. But for the rest of the multitude, m ho
were Trachonites, and Gaulanites, and of
Hippos, and some of Gadara, the greatest
part of them were seditious persons, and
fugitives : who were of such shameful charac-
ters, that they preferred war before peace.
These prisoners were taken on the eighth
day of the month Gorpicus, or Elul.f
nocent with the guilty ; and gave the people of Gischala
leave to keep the Jewish sabbath, IV. 2. in the midst of
their siege. Nor was Vespasian disposed to do what he
did, till his officers persuaded him ; and that from two
principal topics : viz. that nothing could be unjust that
was done against Jews : and that when both cannot be con
sistent, advantage must prevail over justice.
t A. D. 67.
BOOK ir.j
WARS OF THE JEWS.
315
BOOK IV.
Containing an Interval of about One Year,
FROM THE SIEGE OP GAMALA, TO THE COMING OF TITD8 TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM.
CHAP. I.
THE glCGE AND TAKIHO OF OAMALA.
NOW all those Galileans who, after the
taking of" Jotapata, had revolted from
the Romans, did, upon the conquest of Tari-
cheae, deliver themselves up to them again.
And the Romans received all the fortresses,
and the cities; excepting Gischala, and those
that had seized upon mount Tabor. Gamala
also, which is a city over against Taricheaj,
but on the other side of the lake, conspired
with them. This city lay upon the borders
of Agrippa's kingdom, as also did Sogana,
and Seleucia. And these were both parts
of Gaulanilis. For Sogana was a part of that
called the upper Gaulanitis; as was Gamala
of the lower. While Seleucia was situate
at the lake Semechonitis, which lake is
thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in length.
Its marshes reach as far as the place Daphne:
which in other respects is a delicious place;
and hath such fountains as supply water to
what is called little Jordan, under the temple
of the *golden calf, where it is sent into great
Jordan. Now Agrippa had united Sogana
and Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the
very beginning of the revolt from the Romans.
Yet did not Gamala accede to them; but
relied upon the difficulty of the place, which
was greater than that of Jotapata. For it
was situate upon a rough ridge of a high
mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle.
• Here we have the exact situation of one of Jerobo-
am's golden calves, at the exit of little Jordan, into great
Jordan, near a place called Daphne, but of old Dan. See
the note on Anliq. VIH. 8. 2. But Reland suspects, that
Where it begins to ascend, it lengthens itself,
and declines as much downward before, as
behind. Insomuch that it is like a tcamel in
figure : from whence it is so named, although
the people of the country do not pronounce
it accurately. Both on the side and the face
of these are abrupt parts, divided from the
rest, and ending in deep vallies. Yet are the
parts behind, where they are joined to the
mountain, somewhat easier of ascent than
the other. But then the people belonging
to the place have cut an oblique ditch there,
and made that hard to be ascended also.
On its acclivity, which is straight, houses are
built, and those very thick and close to one
another. The city also hangs so strangely,
that it looks as if it would fall down upon
itself; so sharp is it at the top. It is exposed
to the south : and its southern mount, which
reaches to an immense height, was in the
nature of a citadel to the city: and above
that was a precipice, not walled about, but
extending itself to an immense depth. There
was also a spring of water within the wall, at
the utmost limits of the city.
As this city was naturally hard to be taken,
so had Josephus, by building a wall about it,
made it still stronger; as also by ditches and
mines under-ground. The people that were
in it were made more bold by the nature of
the place, than the people of Jotapata had
been : but it had much fewer fighting men
in it. And they had such a confidence in the
even here we should read Dan, instead of Daphne. There
being no where else any mention of a place called Daphne
here.ibouts.
t Uiunal is Hebrew for a camel.
316
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book IV.
situation of the place, that they thought the
enemy could not be too many for them. For
the city had been filled with those that had
fled to it for safety, on account of its strength.
On which account they had been able to re-
sist those whom Agrippa sent to besiege it,
for seven months together.
But Vespasian removed from Emmaus,
where he had last pitched his camp, before
the city Tiberias : (now Emmaus, if it be
interpreted, may be rendered a warm bath;
for therein is a spring of warm water, useful
for healing :) and came to Garaala. Yet was
its situation such that he was not able to en-
compass it all round with soldiers to watch
it. But where the places were practicable,
he set men to watch it, and seized upon that
mountain which was over it. And as the
legions, according to their usual custom, were
fortifying their camp upon that mountain, he
began to cast up banks at the bottom, at the
part towards the east, where the highest
tower of the whole city was, and where the
fifteenth legion pitched their camp ; while
the fifth legion did duty over against the
midst of the city, and whilst the tenth legion
filled up the ditches and the vallies. Now at
this time it was, that as king Agrippa was
come nigh the walls, and was endeavouring
to speak to those that were on the walls,
about a surrender, he was hit with a stone
on his right elbow, by one of the slingers.
He was then immediately surrounded by his
own men. But the Romans were excited to
set about the siege, by their indignation on
the king's account, and by their fear on
their own account; as concluding that those
men would omit no kinds of barbarity
against foreigners and enemies : who were so
enraged against one of their own nation, and
one that advised them to nothing but what
was for their own advantage.
Now when the banks were finished, which
was done on the sudden, both by the multi-
tude of hands, and by their being accustomed
to such work, they brought the machines.
But Chares and Joseph, who were the most
potent men of the city, set their armed men
in order, though already in a fright, because
they did not suppose that the city could hold
out long, since they had not a sufficient quan-
tity either of water, or of other necessaries.
However, their leaders encouraged them.
and brought them out upon the wall. And
for a while, indeed, they drove away those
that were bringing the machines. But when
those machines threw darts and stones at
them, they retired into the city. Then did
the Romans bring battering rams to three
several places, and made the wall shake and
fall. They then poured in over the parts of
the wall that were thrown down, with a
mighty sound of trumpets, and noise of ar-
mour, and with a shout of the soldiers, and
brake in by force upon those that were in
the city. But these men fell upon the Romans
for some time, at their first entrance, and
prevented their going any farther; and with
great courage beat them back. And the
Romans were so overpowered by the greater
multitude of the people, who beat them on
every side, that they were obliged to run into
the upper parts of the city. Whereupon the
people turned about, and fell upon their
enemies, who had attacked them, and thrust
them down to the lower parts : and, as they
were distressed by the narrowness and diffi-
culty of the place, slew them. And as these
Romans could neither beat those back that
were above them, nor escape the force of
their own men that were forcing their way
forward, they were compelled to flee into
their enemies' houses, which were low. But
these houses, being thus full of soldiers, whose
weight they could not bear, fell down sud-
denly. And when one house fell, it shook
down a great many of those that were under
it : as did those do to such as were under
them. By this means a vast number of the
Romans perished. For they were so terribly
distressed, that although they saw the houses
subsiding, they were compelled to leap upon
the tops of them. So that a great many
Avere crushed to powder by these ruins, and
a great many of those that got from them
lost some of their limbs. But still a greater
number were sufTocated by the dust that
arose from th^se ruins. The people of Ga-
mala supposed this to be an assistance
afforded them by God : and without regard-
ing what damage they suffered themselves,
they pressed forward, and thrust the enemy
upon the tops of their houses ; and when
they stumbled in the sharp and narrow
streets, and were perpetually falling down,
thev threw their stones or darts at them, and
BOOK IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
317
slew them. Now the very ruins afforded
them stones enough. And for iron weapons
the dead men of the enemy's side afforded
them what they wanted. For drawing the
swords of those that were dead, they made
use of them, to despatch such as were only
half dead. Nay, there were a great number
who, upon their falling down from the tops of
the houses, stabbed themselves, and died after
that manner. Nor, indeed, was it easy for
those that were beaten back to (lee away.
For they were so unacquainted with the ways,
and the dust was so thick, that tliey wandered
about without knowing one another, and fell
down dead among the crowd.
Those, therefore, that were able to find the
ways out of the city, retired. But now Ves-
pasian always stayed among those that were
hard set, for he was deeply affected with
seeing the ruins of the city falling upon his
army, and forgot to take care of his own
preservation. He went up gradually towards
the highest parts of the city before he was
aware, and was left in the midst of dangers :
having ordy a very (ew with him. For even
his son Titus was not with him at that time,
having been sent into Syria, to *Mucianus.
However, he thought it not safe to flee : nor
did he esteem it a fit thing for him to do.
But calling to mind the actions he had done
from his youth, and recollecting his courage ;
as if he had been excited by a divine fury he
covered himself and those that were with him
with their shields, and formed a testudo over
both their bodies, and their armour; and
bore up against the attacks of the enemy,
who came running down from the top of the
city : and without shewing any dread at tlie
multitude of tlic men, or of their darts, he
endured all, until the enemy took notice of
that divine courage that was in him, and re-
mitted of their attacks. And when they
pressed less zealously upon him, he retired ;
though without turning his back to them, till
he was gotten out of the walls of the city.
Now a great number of the Romans fell in
this battle: among whom was Ebutius, the
decurion ; a man wlio appeared not ordy in
this engagement, wlicreiti he fell, but every
* Tacitus very often mentions this Mucianus, as presi-
dent of Syria, and a great friend of Vespasian's, Hist, I.
pages^ 355, 397, 428, &c. 445, 466, 472, &c. 487, 505,
522, 527. And Spanheim assures us, that there are coins
where, and in former engagements, to be o^
the truest courage : and one that had done
very great miscliicf to the Jews. But there
was a centurion, whose name w^s Gallus,
who during this disorder, being encompassed
about, he and ten other soldiers, privately
crept into the house of a certain .person ;
where he heard them talking at supper, what
the people intended to do against the Romans,
or about themselves. ^For both the man
himself, and those with nim, were Syrians.)
So he got up in the' night time, and cut all
their throats, and escaped, together with his
soldiers, to the Romans.
Now Vespasian comforted his army, which
was much dejected by reflecting on their ill
success; and because they had never before
fallen into such a calamity : and besides this,
because they were greatly ashamed that they
had left their general alone in great dangers.
As to what concerned himself, he avoided to
say any thing, that he might by no means
seem to complain of it. But he said, '* We
ought to bear manfully what usually falls out
in war; and this by considering what the
nature of war is ; and how it can never be
that we must conquer without bloodshed on
our own side. For there stands about us that
fortune, which is of its own nature mutable.
You have killed many ten thousands of the
Jews; and, on the other hand, you have now
paid your small share of reckoning to fate.
And as it is the part of weak people to be too
much puffed up with good success ; so it is
the part of cowards to be too much affrighted
at that which is ill. For the change from
one to the other is sudden on both sides.
And he is the best warrior, who is of a sober
mind under misfortunes; that he may con-
tinue in that temper, and cheerfully recover
what had been lost formerly. And as for
what has now happened it was neither owing
to our effeminacy, nor to the valour of the
Jews; but the diflSculty of the place was the
occasion of their advantage, and of our dis-
appointment. Upon reflecting on which mat-
ter one might blame your zeal as quite
ungovernable. For when the enemy had
retired to their highest fastnesses, you ought
of his extant at this day. He is elsewhere spoken of by
Joscphus several times, under the same capacities, IV. 9,
10, and 11. Antiq. Xli. 3.
318
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[bock IV
to have restrained yourselves; and not, by
presenting yourselves at the top of the city,
to be exposed to dangers. But upon your
having obtained the lower parts of the city,
you ought to have provoked those that had
retired thither to a safe and settled battle :
"whereas in rushing so hastily upon victory,
you took no care of your safety. But this
incautiousness in war, and this madness of
zeal, is not a Roman maxim : while we per-
form all that we attempt by skill and good
order. That procedure is the part of bar-
barians, and is what the Jews chiefly support
themselves by. We ought, therefore, to re-
turn to our own virtue; and to be rather
angry, than any longer dejected, at this un-
lucky misfortune. And let every one seek
for his own consolation from his own hand.
For by this means he will avenge those that
have been destroyed, and punish those that
have killed them. For myself, I will en-
deavour, as I have now done, to go first
before you against your enemies, in every
engagement, and to be the last that retired
from it."
So Vespasian encouraged his army by this
speech. But for the people of Gamala, it
happened that they took courage for a little
while, upon such great and unaccountable
success as they had had. But when they con-
sidered with themselves, that they had now
no hopes of any terms of accommodation :
and reflecting that they could not get away ;
and that their provisions began already to be
short, they were exceedingly cast down, and
their courage failed them. Yet did they not
neglect what might be for their preservation,
so far as they were able : but the most cou-
rageous among them guarded those parts of
the wall that were beaten down: while the
more infirm did the same to the rest of the
wall that still remained round their city. And
as the Romans raised their banks, and at-
* These numbers in Josephus of 30 furlongs' ascent to
the top of mount Tabor, whether we estimate it by wind-
ing and gradual, or by the perpendicular altitude ; and of
26 furlongs' circumference upon the top: ds also the 13
furlongs for this ascent in Polybius : with Germinius's per-
pendicular altitude of almost 14 furlongs, here noted by
Dr. Hudson, do none of them agree with the authentic
testimony of Mr. Maundrell, an eye witness, page 112,
who says, he was not an hour in getting up to the top of
this mount Tabor : and that the area of the top is an
oval of about two furlongs in length, and one in breadth.
tempted to get into the city a second time,
a great many of them fled out of the city
through impracticable vallies, where no guards
were placed : as also through subterraneous
caverns. While those that were afraid ot
being caught, and for that reason staid in the
city, perished for want of food. For what
food they had was brought together from
all quarters, and reserved for the fighting
men.
And these were the hard circumstances
the people of Gamala were in. But now
Vespasian went about another work during
this siege ; and that was to subdue those that
had seized upon mount Tabor : a place that
lies in the middle between the great plain and
Scytliopolis ; whose top is elevated as high as
*thirty furlongs, and is hardly to be ascended
on its north side. Its top is a plain of twenty-
six furlongs, and all encompassed with a wall.
Now Josephus erected this wall in forty days'
time; and furnished it with other materials,
and with water from below. For the inhabi-
tants only made use of rain water. As,
therefore, there was a great multitude of
people gotten together upon this mountain,
Vespasian sent Placidus, with six hundred
horsemen, thither. Now as it was impossible
for liim to ascend the mountain, he invited
many of them to peace, by the offer of his
right hand for their security; and of his in-
tercession for them. Accordingly they came
down, but with a treacherous design : as well
as he had the like treacherous design upon
them on the other side. For Placidus spoke
mildly to them ; as aiming to take them, when
he got them into the plain. They also came
down, as complying with his proposals : but
it was in order to fall upon him when he was
not aware of it. However, Placidus's strata-
gem was too hard for theirs. For when the
Jews began to fight, he pretended to run
away: and when they were in pursuit of the
So I rather suppose Josephus wrote three furlongs for
the ascent or altitude, instead of thirty ; and six furlongs
for the circumference at the top, instead of 26. Since a
mountain of only three furlongs perpendicular altitude
may easily require an hour's ascent : and the circum-
ference of an oval of the foregoing quantity is near six
furlongs. Nor certainly could such a vast circumference
as 26 furlongs, or3| miles, at that height, be encompassed
with a wall, including a trench and other fortifications,
perhaps those still remaining, ibid, in the small interval of
40 days, as Josephus here says they were by himself.
BOOK nr."!
WARS OF THE JEWS.
319
Romans, he enticed them a great way along
the plain, and then made his horsemen turn
back. Whereupon he slew a great number
of them, and cut oflT the retreat of the rest of
the muUitude, and liindcred their return. So
they left Tabor and tied to Jerusalem. While
the people of the country came to terms with
him. For their water tailed them, and so
they delivered up the mountain and them-
selves to Placid us.
But of the people of Gamala, those that
were of the bolder sort (led away, and hid
themselves : while the more infirm perished
by famine. But the men of war sustained the
siege till the two and twentieth day of the
month Hyperbereteus, orTisri. When three
soldiers of the fifteenth legion, about the
morning watch, got under a high tower that
was near them, and undermined it, without
making any noise. Now when they either
came to it, which was in the night time, nor
when they were under it, did those that
guarded it perceive them. These soldiers
then upon their coming avoided imiking a
noise. And when they had rolled away five
of its strongest stones, they went away hastily:
whereupon the tower tell down of a sudden,
with a very groat noise, and its guard fell
headlong with it. So that those that kept
guard at other places were under such dis-
turbance that they ran away. The Romans
also slew many of those that ventured to op-
pose them : among whom was Joseph, who
was slain by a dart, as he was running away
over that part of the wall that was broken
down. But as those that were in the city
were greatly affrighted at the noise, they ran
hither and thither; and a great consternation
fell upon them, as though all the enemy had
fallen in at once upon them. Then it was
that Chares, who was ill, and under the phy-
sician's hands, gave up the ghost. The fear
he was in greatly contributing to make his
distemper fatal to him. But the Romans so
well remembered their former ill success,
that they did not enter the city till the three
and twentieth day of the aforementioned
month.
At that time Titus, who was now returned,
* This very destnictive mode of rnpellina; an attarking;
foe was practisfid when circumstance-! were favourable to
it. Hence it was usual for the soldiers to protect them-
jelves under large and broad shields so closely brought
TOL. H. XOS. 75 ii 76.
out of the indignation he had at the destruc-
tions the Romans had undergone while he
was absent, took two hundred chosen horse-
men, and some footmen with them, and en-
tered, without noise, into the citv. Now as
! the watch perceived that he wasconnng. tiicy
1 made a noise, and betook themselves to (heir
arms. And as his entrance was presently
known to those that were in t!)e city, some of
them caught hold of their children, and llieir
wives, and drew them after them, and (led
away to the citadel, with lamentations and
cries: while others went to meet Titus, and
were killed perpetually. But so many of
them as were hindered from running up to the
citadel, not knowing what in the world to do,
fell among the Roman guards: Mhile the
groans of those that were killed were prodi-
gious every where; and blood ran down over
all the lower parts of the city, from the upper.
But then Vespasian himself came to his as-
sistance against those that had (led to the
citadel ; and brought his whole army with
him. Now this upper part of the city was
every way rocky, and difficult of ascent, and
elevated to a vast altitude, and very full of
people on all sides, and encompassed with
precipices. Whereby the Jews cut oflf" those
that came up to them, and did much mischief
to others, by their darts, and the large stones
which they rolled down upon them.* While
they were themselves so high, that the ene-
mies' darts could hardly reach them. How
ever, there arose such a divine storm against
them, as was instrumental to their destruc-
tion. This carried the Roman darts upon
them ; and made those which they threw re-
turn back, and drove them obliquely away
from them. Nor could the Jews indeed stand
upon their precipices, by reason of the vio-
lence of the wind, having nothing that was
stable to stand upon. Nor could they see
those that were ascending up to them. So
the Romans got up, and surrounded them :
and some they slew, before they could defend
themselves; and others as they were de-
livering up themselves. And the remem-
brance of those (hat were slain at their former
entrance into the city increased their rage
into contact with each other as to screen them from danger,
and enable them to prosecute the assault. A representa-
tion of this military stratagem may be seen in Potter's
Archselogia Grseca, Vol. I. B.
Tt
320
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book ly
against them now. A great number also of
those that were surrounded on every side,
and despaired of escaping, threw their chil-
dren, their wives, and themselves also, down
the precipices, into the valley beneath: which,
near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a
vast depth. But it happened that the anger
of the Romans appeared not to be so extra-
vagant, as was the madness of those that were
now taken : for the Romans slew but four-
thousand ; whereas the number of those that
had thrown themselves down was found to
be five thousand. Nor did any one escape;
except two women, who were the daughters
of Philip; and Philip himself was the son of
a certain eminent man called Jacimus; who
had been general of king Agrippa's army.
And these did, therefore, escape, because
they lay concealed from the rage of the Ro-
mans, when the city was taken. For other-
wise they spared not so much as the infants ;
many of whom were flung down by them
from the citadel.
And thus was Gamala taken, on the three
and twentieth day of the month Hyperbere-
teus, or Tisri : whereas the city had first re-
volted on the four and twentieth day of the
month Gorpicus, or Elul.
CHAP. II.
THE SORRENDER OF OISCHALA ; WHILE JOHN FLEES AWAY
FROM IT TO JERUSALEM.
NOW no place of Galilee remained to be
taken, but the small city of Gischala :
whose multitude yet were desirous of peace.
For they were generally husbandmen ; and
always applied themselves to cultivate the
fruits of the earth. However, there were a
great number that belonged to a band of rob-
bers, that were already corrupted, and had
crept in among them : and some of the go-
verning part of the citizens were sick of the
same distemper. It was John, the son of a
certain man whose name was Levi, who drew
them into this rebellion, and encouraged them
in it. He was a cunning knave, and of a
temper that could put on various shapes:
very rash in expecting great things ; and very
sagacious in bringing about what he hoped
for. It was known to every body that he was
fond of war, in order to thrust himself into
authority. And the seditious part of the
people of Gischala were under his manage-
ment. By whose means the populace, who
seemed ready to send ambassadors, in order
to a surrender, waited for the coming of the
Romans in battle array. Vespasian sent
against them Titus, with a thousand horse-
men; but withdrew the tenth legion to IScy-
thopolis ; while he returned to Ca;sarea, with
the two other legions ; that he might allow
them to refresh themselves after their long
and hard campaign: thinking withal that
the plenty which was in those cities would
improve their bodies and their spirits, against
the difficulties they were to go through after-
wards. For he saw there would be occasion
for great pains about Jerusalem, which was
not yet taken, because it was the royal city,
and the principal city of the whole nation;
and because those that had run away from
the war in other places, got all together
thither. It was also naturally strong; and
the walls that were built around it made him
not a little concerned about it. Moreover,
he esteemed the men that were in it to be so
courageous, that even without the conside-
ration of the walls, it would be hard to sub-
due them. For which reason he took care
of, and exercised his soldiers beforehand for,
the work, as they do wrestlers, before they
begin their undertaking.
Now Titus, as he rode up to Gischala,
found it would be easy for him to take the
city upon the first onset. But knew withal,
that if he took it by force, the multitude would
be destroyed by the soldiers without mercy.
(Now he was already satiated with the shed-
ding of blood; and pitied the major part,
who would then perish, without distinction,
together with the guilty.) So he was rather
desirous the city might be surrendered up to
him upon terms. Accordingly, when he saw
the wall full of those men that were of the
corrupted party, he said fo them, that he
could not but wonder what it was they de-
pended on; when they alone staid to fight
the Romans, after every other cily was taken
by them. Especially when they had seen
cities, much better fortified than theirs, over-
thrown by a single attack upon them. While
as many as had entrusted themselves to the
■security of the Romans' right hands, which
he now offered to them, without regarding
their former insolence, enjoyed their own
BOOK rv.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
321
])ossessJoiis ill safety. For that wliile they
had hopes of recovering tljeir hberty, they
might be pardoned. But that their coiiliiiu-
aiice still in their opposition, when they saw
that to he impossible, was inexcusable. For
that, if they would not comply with such hu-
mane oilers, and right hands for security, they
should have experience of such a war as
would spare nobody ; and should soon be
made sensible, that their wall w ould be but a
trille, w hen battered by the Roman machines.
In depending on which they would demon-
strate themselves to be the only Galileans,
that were no belter than arrogant slaves and
captives.
Now norie of the populace durst not oidy
make a reply, but durst not so much as get
upon the wall. For it was all taken up by
the robbers : who were also the guard at the
gates, in order to prevent any of the rest from
going out, in order to propose terms of sub-
mission ; and from receiving any of the horse-
men into the city. But Jolin returned Titus
this answer: "That for himself he was con-
tent to hearken to his proposals : and that he
■would either persuade or torce those that re-
fused them. V'et he said, that Titus ought
to have such regard to the Jewish law, as to
grant them leave to celebrate that day, which
was the seventh day of the week : on w hich
it was unlaw ful not only to remove their arms,
but even to treat of peace also. And that
even the Romans were not ignorant, how the
period of the seventh day was among them a
cessation from all labours : and that he who
should compel them to transgress the law re-
specting that day, would be equally guilty
with those who were compelled to transgress
it. And that this delay could be of no disad-
vantage to him. For why should any body
think of doing any thing in the night, unless
it were to flee away ? which he might prevent
by placing his camp round about them. And
that they should think it a great point gained,
if they might not be obliged to transgress the
laws of their country. And that it would be
a right thing for him, who designed to grant
them peace, without their expectation of such
a favour, to preserve the laws of those they
saved inviolable." Thus did this man put a
* As darkness is so fivourahle to those who resort to
artifice when violence will not prevail, the utmost vigilance
trick upon Titus : not so much out of regard
to the seventh day, as to his own preservation.
For he was afraid lest he should be quite de-
serted, if the city should be taken; aiid had
his hopes of liie in that night, and in his llight
therein. Now this was the work of God ;
who, therefore, preserved this John, that he
might bring on the destruction of Jerusalem.
As also it was his work that Titus was pre-
vailed w ith by this pretence for a delay ; and
that he pitched his camp farther ofTllie city,
at Cydessa. This Cydessa was a strong Me-
diterranean village of the Tyrians; which
always hated, and made war against, the
Jews. It had also a great number of inha-
bitants, and w as well fortified : w hich made
it a proper place for such as were enemies to
the Jewish nation.
Now in the night time,* when John saw
that there was no Roman guard about the
city, he seized the opportunity directly: and
taking with him not only the armed men that
were about him, but a considerable number
of those that had little to do, together with
their families, he fled to Jerusalem. And, in-
deed, though the man was making haste to
get away, and was tormented with fears of
being a captive, or of losing his life, yet did
he prevail with himself to take out of the city
along with him a multitude of women and
children, as far as twenty furlongs: but there
he left them, as he proceeded farther upon his
journey: where those that were left behind
made sad lamentations. For the farther every
one of them was come from his own people,
the nearer they thought themselves to be to
their enemies. They also aflVighted them-
selves with this thought, that those who would
carry them into captivity were just at hand ;
and still turned themselves back at the mere
noise they made themselves in their hasty
flight : as if those from whom they fled were
just upon them. Many also missed their
ways: and the earnestness of such as aimed
to outgo the rest, threw down many of them.
And, indeed, there was a miserable destruc-
tion made of the women and children. While
some of them took the courage to call their
husbands and kinsmen back; and to beseech
them, with the bitterest lamentations, to stay
should be iised to prevent any advantage being taken ol it
The want of this care has often proved fatal. B.
Tt2
-/
322
WARS OF THE JEWS
t
BOOK IV
for tliem. But John's exhortation, who cried
out to them to save themselves, and (lee away,
prevailed. He said also, that if the Romans
should seize upon those whom they left be-
hind, tht'y would be revenged on them for it.
So this multitude that ran thus away was dis-
persed abroad ; according as each of tliem
was able to run, one faster or slower than
another.
Now on the next day Titus came to the
wall, to make the agreement. Whereupon
the people opened their gates, and came out
to meet him, with their children and wives;
and made acclamations of joy to him, as to
one that had been their benefactor, and had
delivered the city out of custody. They also
informed him of John's flight: and besought
him to spare them, and to come in, and bring
the rest of those that were for innovations to
punishment. But Titus, not so much regard-
ing the supplications of the people, sent part
of his horsemen to pursue after John. But
tliey could not overtake him, for he was got-
ten to Jerusalem before: they also slew six
thousand of the women and children who
went out with him : but returned back at)d
brought with them almost three thousand.
However, Titus was greatly displeased that
he had not been able to bring this John, who
had deluded him, to punishment. Yet he had
captives enough, as well as the corrupted part
of the city, to satisfy his anger, when it missed
of John. So he entered the city in the midst
of acclamations of joy. And when he had
given orders to the soldiers to pull down a
small part of the wall, as of a city taken in
war, he repressed those that had disturbed
the city rather by threatenings, than by exe-
cutions. For he thought that many would
accuse innocent persons, out of their own
private animosities and quarrels, if he should
attempt to distinguish those that were worthy
of punishment from the rest : and that it was
better to let a guilty person alone under his
fears, than to destroy with him any one that
did not deserve it. For that probably such
a one might be taught prudence, by the fear of
the punishment he had deserved ; and have a
shame upon him for his former offences, when
he had been forgiven. But that the punish-
ment of such as had been once put to death
could never be retrieved. However, he
placed a garrison in the city, for its security.
By which means he sliould restrain those that
nere for innovations ; and should leave those
that were peaceably disposed in greater se-
curity. And thus was all Galilee taken ; but
this not till after ' it had cost the Romans
much pains before it could be taken by
tltem.
CHAP. III.
CONCERNING JOHN OF GISCHAr.A ; THE ZEALOTS, AND THE
HlGlI-PHIESr ANANUS : ALSO OF THE SEDITIONS RAISED
BY THE JEWS IS JEKUSALEM.
UPON John's entry into Jerusalem, the
whole body of the people were in an
uproar: and ten thousand of them crowded
about every one of the fugitives that were
come to them ; and inquired what miseries
had happened abroad : when their breath
was so short, and iiot, and quick, that of itself
it declared the great distress they were in.
Yet did they talk big under their misfortunes,
and pretended to say, that they had not fled
away from the Romans, but came thither in
order ey did the same to the principal men of the
country. This caused a terrible consternation
among the people; and every one contented
himself with taking care of his own safety, as
they would do if the city had been taken in
war.
But these were not satisfied with the bonds
into which they had put the aforementioned
persons. Nor did they think it safe for them
to keep them thus in custody long: since
they were men very powerful, and had nu-
merous families that were able to avenge
them. Nay, they thought the very people
would perhaps be so moved at these unjust
ftrocecdings, as to rise in a body against them,
t was, therefore, resolved to have them slain.
Accordingly they sent one John, who was the
* Sec the name, Apoc. ii. 3.
324
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book IV.
most sanguinary of them all, to do that execu-
tion. Tliis man was also called the son of
*Dorcas, in the language of our country. Ten
more men went along with him into the prison,
with their swords drawn ; and so they cut the
throats of those that ^vere in custody there.
The grand pretence these men made for so
flagrant an enormity was, tliat these men had
had conferences with the Romans, for a surren-
der of Jerusalem to them: and so they said
tliey had slain only such as were traitors to
their common liberty. Upon the whole, they
grew the more insolent upon this bold prank
of theirs, as though they had been the bene-
factors and saviours of the city.
Now the people were come to that degree
of meanness and fear, and these robbers to
that degree of madness, that these last took
upon them to appoint thigh-priests. So when
they had disannulled the succession, accord-
ing to those families out of which the high-
priests used to be made, they ordained certain
unknown and ignoble persons for that office :
that they might have their assistance in their
wicked undertakings. For such as obtained
this highest of all honours, without any desert,
were Tbrced to comply with those that be-
stowed it on them. They also set the princi-
pal men at variance one with another, by
several sorts of contrivances and tricks : and
gained the opportunity of doing what they
pleased, by the mutual quarrels of those who
might have obstructed tlieir measures. Till
at length, when they were satiated with the
unjust actions they had done towards men,
they transferred their contumelious behaviour
to God himself, and came into the sanctuary
with polluted feet.
Now the multitude were going to rise
against them already. For Ananus, the most
ancient of the high-priests, persuaded them
* This name Dorcas in Greek, was Tabitha in Hebrew
or Syriac, as Acts ix. 36. Accordingly some of the ma-
nuscripts set it down here Tabetha, or Tabeta. Nor can
the context in Josephus be made out but by supposing
the reading to have been this, the son of Tabitha :
winch in the language of our country denotes Dorcas, or
a doe.
t Here we may discover the utter disgrace and ruin of
the high-priesthood among the Jews. When undeserv-
ing, ignoble, and vile persons were advanced to the holy
office by the seditious. Which sort of high-priests, as
Josephus well remarks here, were thereupon obliged to
comply with, and assist those that advanced them in, their
impious practices. The names of these high-priests, or
to it. He was a very prudent man, and had
perhaps saved the city if he could but have
escaped the hands of those that plotted
against him. Those men made tlie temple
of God a strong hold for them, and a place
whither they might resort, in order to avoid
the troubles they feared from the people: the
sanctuary was now become a refuge, and a
scene of tyranny. They also mixed jesting
among the miseries they introduced, which
was more intolerable tlian what they did ; for
in order to try what surprise the people w ould
be under, and how far their own power ex-
tended, they undertook to dispose of the
high-priesthood by casting lots for it : where-
as, as we have said already, it was to descend
by succession in a family. The pretence they
made for this strange attempt was an ancient
practice, while they said that Jof old it was
determined by lot. But in truth it was no
better than a dissolution of an undeniable
law, and a cunning contrivance to seize upon
the government, derived from those that pre-
sumed to appoint governors as they them-
selves pleased.
Hereupon they sent for one of the pontifical
tribes, which is called ||Eniachim, and cast
lots which of it should be the higli-priest.
By fortune the lot so fell as to demonstrate
their iniquity after the plainest manner; for
it fell upon one whose name Avas Phannias,
the son of Samuel, of the village Aphtha. He
was a man not only unworthy of the high-
priesthood, but that did not well know what
the high-priesthood was : such a mere rustic
was he. Yet did they bring this man, without
his own consent, out of the country, as if they
were acting a play upon the stage, and adorn-
ed him with a counterfeit face. They also
put upon him the sacred garments : and upon
every occasion instructed him what he was
rather ridiculous and profane persons, were Jesus the son
of Damneus ; Jesus the son of Gamaliel ; Matthias the
son of Theophilus ; and that prodigious ignoramus Phan-
nias, the son of Samuel. All which we shall meet with in
Josephus's future history of this war. Nor do we meet
with any other so much as pretended high-priest after
Phannias, till Jerusalem was taken and destroyed.
J Numbers xvii.
II This tribe or course of the high-priests or priests here
called Eniakim, seems to the learned Mr. Lowth, one
well versed in Josephus, to be that 1 Chron. xxiv. 12, the ,
Course of Jakim : where some copies have the Course of
Eliakim. And 1 think this to be by no means an impro-
bable conjecture.
iOOK IV.]
Wars of the jews.
323
to do. This horrid piece of wickedness was
sport and pastime with them. But occasioned
the other priests, who, at a distance, saw their
law made a jest of, to shed tears ; and sorely
to lament the dissolution of such a sacred
dignity.
Now the people could no longer bear the
insolence of this procedure; but did all to-
gether run zealously, in order to overthrow
that tyranny. And, indeed, they were Gorion
the son of Josepluis, and Symeon* the son of
Gamaliel, who encouraged them, by going up
and down when they were assembled together
in crowds, and as they saw them alone, to
bear no longer; but to indict punishment
upon these pests and plagues of their free-
dom : and to purge the temple of these base
polluters. The best esteemed also of the
high-priests, Jesus the son of Gamalas, and
Anaims the son of Ananus, when they were
at their assemblies, bitterly reproached the
people for their sloth, and excited them
against the zealots. For that was the name
they went by; as if they were zealous in good
undertakings; and were not rather zealous
in the worst actions, and extravagant in them
beyond the example of others.
Now, when the multitude were gotten to-
gether to an assembly, and every one was in
indignation at these men's seizing upon the
'sanctuary; at their rapine and murders; but
had not yet begun their attacks upon them :
(the reason of w-nich was, that they imagined
it to be a difficult thing to suppress these
zealots ; as, indeed, the case was :) Ananus
stood in the midst of them ; and casting his
eyes frequently at the temple, and having a
flood of tears in his eyes, he said, " Certainly
it had been good for me to die before I had
seen the house of God full of so manv abomi-
nations ; or these sacred places, that ought
not to be trodden upon at random, filled with
the lieet of these blood-shedding villains. Yet
do I, who am clothed with the vestments of
the high-priesthood, and am called by that
most venerable name of high-priest, still live,
and am but too fond of living: and caimot
endure to undergo a death, which would be
* This Sympon, the son of Gamaliel, is menfioneil as
the president of the Jewish Sanhedrim, and one that
perished in the destrnrtion of Jerusalem, by the Jewish
.Kabbins; as Iteland observes on this place. He also tells
at, that those Kabbins mention one Jesus, the son of
the glory of my old age. And if I were the
only person concerned, and as it were in a
desert, I would give up my life, and that alone
for God's sake. For to what purpose is it
to live among a people insensible of their
calamities, and where there is no notion re-
maining of any remedy for the miseries that
are upon them.'' For when you arc seized
upon you bear it : and when you are beaten
you are silent; and when people are murder-
ed nobody dares so much as to send out a
groan openly. O bitter tyranny tiiat we are
under ! But why do I complain of the tyrants .'
Was it not you, and your suflt'rance of them,
that have nom-ished them.-* Was it not you
that overlooked those that first of all got
together, for there were then but a few; and
by your silence made tiiem grow to be many."*
And by conniving at them when they took
arms, in elFect armed them against your-
selves ? You ought to have then prevented
their first attempts, when they began re-
proaching your relations. But by neglecting
that care in time, you have encouraged these
wretches to plunder men. When houses were
pillaged, nobody said a word : which was the
occasion why they carried off the owners of
those houses; and when they were drawn
through the midst of the city nobody came to
their assistance. They then proceeded to
put those whom you had betrayed into their
hands into bonds. I do not say how many,
and of what characters those men were
whom they thus served: but certainly they
were such as were accused by none, and con-
demned by none. And since nobody suc-
coured them when they were put into bonds,
the conse(|uence was, that you saw the same
persons slain. We have seen this also; so
that still the best of the herd of brute animals,
as it were, have been led to be sacrificed,
when yet nobody said one word, or moved
his right hand for their preservation. Will
you bear, therelbre? Will you bear to sec
your sanctuary trampled on? And will you
lay steps for these profane wretches, upon
which they may mount to higher degrees of
insolence ? Will not you pluck them down
Gamala, ;« once a hifrh-priest : but this long before the
destruction of Jenisak-m. .''o that if he were the same
person with this Jesna the son of Gamala, in Josephus, lie
must have lived to be very old, or they have been very
bad chronolc^ers.
'326
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book IV.
from their exaltation ? For even hy this
time they had proceeded to higher enormi-
ties, if they had not been able to overthrow
any thing greater than the sanctuary. They
have seized upon the strongest place of the
whole city ; you may call it the temple if
you please; though it be like a citadel or
fortress. Now while you Have tyranny in so
great a degree walled in, and see your ene-
mies over your heads, to what purpose is
it to take counsel.'' And what have you to
support your minds withal.'* Perhaps you
wait for tlie Romans, that they may protect
our holy places. Are our matters then
brought to that pass ? And are we come to
that degree of misery, that our enemies tliem-
selves are expected to pity us .'' O w retched
creatures ! Will not you rise up, and turn
upon those that strike you ? Which you may
observe in wild beasts themselves, that they
will avenge themselves on those that strike
them. Will not you call to mind every one
of you the calamities you yourselves have
suffered ? Nor lay before your eyes what
afflictions you yourselves have undergone .''
And will not such things incite your souls to
revenge.'' Is, therefore, that most honourable
and most natural of our passions, utterly lost,
I mean, the desire of liberty.'' Truly we are
in love with slavery, and in love with those
that lord it over us : as if we had received
that principle of subjection from our ances-
tors. Yet did they undergo many and great
wars for the sake of liberty. Nor were they
so far overcome by the power of the Egyp-
tians, or the Medes, but that still they did
what they thought fit, notwithstanding their
commands to the contrary. And what occasion
is there now for a war with the Romans ? (I
meddle not with determining whether it be
an advantageous and profitable war or not:)
What pretence is there for it .'' Is it not that
we may enjoy our liberty ? Besides, shall we
not bear the lords of the habitable earth to
be lords over us, and yet bear tyrants of our
own country.'' Although I must say that sub-
mission to foreigners may be borne, because
fortune hath already doomed us to it: while
submission to wicked people of our own na-
tion is too unmanly, and brought upon us by
our own consent. However, since I have had
occasion to mention the Romans, I will not
conceal a thing that, as I am speaking, comes
into my mind, and afTects me considerably.
It is this, that though we should be taken by
them, (God forbid the event should be so,)
yet can we undergo nothing that will be worse
than what these men have already brought
upon us. How then can we avoid shedding
tears, when we see the Roman donations in
our temple, while we withal see those of our
own nation taking our spoils, and plundering
our glorious metropolis, and slaughtering our
men : from which enormities those Romans
themselves would have abstained. To see
those Romans never going beyond the bounds
allotted to profane persons ; nor venturing
to break in upon any of our sacred customs;
"ay.
having a
horror on their minds when
they view at a distance those sacred walls :
while some that have been born in this very
country, an'd brought up in our customs, and
called Jews, do walk about in the midst of
the holy places, at the very time when their
hands are still reeking with the slaughter of
their own countrymeii. Besides, can any
one be afraid of a war abroad, and that with
such as will have comparatively much greater
moderation than our own people have.-* For
truly, if we may adopt our words to the things
they represent, it is probable one may here-
after find the Romans to be the supporters of
our laws; and those within ourselves the
subverters of them. And now I am persuaded
that every one of you here come satisfied,
before I speak, that these overthrowers of our
liberties deserve to be destroyed ; and that
nobody can so much as devise a punishment,
that they have not merited by what they have
done; and that you are all provoked against
them by their wretched actions, whence you
have suffered so greatly. But perhaps many
of you are affrighted at the multitude of these
zealots, and at their audaciousness; as well
as at the advantage they have over us in
their being higher in place than we are.
For these circumstances, as they have been
occasioned by your negligence, so will they
become still greater by being still longer
neglected. For their multitude is every
day augmented, by every ill man's running
away to those that are like to themselves.
And their audacity is, therefore, inflamed, be-
cause they meet with no obstruction to their
designs. And for their higher place, they
will make use of it for engines also, if we give
BOOK IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
327
them time to do so. But be assured of this,
that if we go up to fight them, they will be
made tamer by their own consciences : and
what advantages they have in the height of
their situation, they will lose by the opposition
of their reason. Perhaps also God himself,
who hath been affronted by them, will make
what they throw at us return against them-
selves : and these impious wretches will be
killed by their own darts. Let us but make
our appearance before them, and they will
come to nothing. However, it is a right thing,
if there should be any danger in the attempt,
to die before these holy gates ; and to spend
our very lives, if not for the sake of our wives
ar)d children, yet for God's sake, and for the
sake of his sanctuary. I will assist you both
with my counsel, and with my hand. Nor
shall any sagacity of ours be wanting for your
support, nor shall you see thati will be sparing
of my body neither."
By these motives Ananus encouraged the
multitude to go against the zealots ; although
he knew how difficult it would be to disperse
them: because of their multitude, their youth,
and the courage of their souls ; but chiefly
because of tlieir consciousness of what they
had done : since they would not yield : as
not so much as hoping for pardon at the last
for their enormities. However, Ananus re-
solved to undergo whatever sufferings might
come upon him, rather than overlook things
now they were in such great confusion. So
the multitude cried out to him, to lead them
on against those whom he had described in
his exhortation : and every one was most
readily disposed to run any hazard on that
account.
Now while Ananus was choosing out his
men, and putting those that were proper for
his purpose in array for fighting, the zealots
got information of his undertaking : (for there
were some who went to them, and told them
all that the people were doing :) and were
irritated at it, and leaping out of the temple
in crowds, and by parties, spared none whom
* It is worth noting here that this Ananus, the best of
the Jews at this time, and the high-priest, who was so
very uneasy at the profanation of the Jewish courts of the
temple by the zealots, did not, however, scruple the
profanation of the court of the Gentiles : as in our Saviou r's
days it was very much profaned by the Jews, and made
a market-place ; nay, a den of thieves, without scruple :
VOL. n. — NOS. 75 & 76.
they met with. Hereupon Ananus suddenly
assembled the populace : who were more
numerous,indeed,than the zealots, but inferior
to them in arms, because they had not been
regularly put into array for fighting. But the
alacrity that every body shewed supplied all
other defects on both sides. The citizens
taking up so great a passion as was stronger
than arms, and deriving a degree of courage
from the temple, more forcible than any mul-
titude whatsoever. And, indeed, these citi-
zens thought it was not possible for them to
dwell in the city, unless they could cut off the
robbers that were in it. The* zealots also
thought, that unless they prevailed, there
would be no punishment so bad, but it would
be inflicted on them. So their conflicts were
conducted by their passions : and at the first
they only cast stones at each other in the city,
arul before the temple, and threw their jave-
lins at a distance. But when either of them
were too hard for the other, they made use
of their swords : and great slaughter was
made on both sides, and a great number were
wounded. As for the dead bodies of the
people, their relations carried them out to
their own houses. But when any of the zealots
were wounded, he went up into the temple,
and defiled that sacred floor with his blood.
Insomuch that one may say, it was their blood
alone that polluted our sanctuary. Now in
these conflicts the robbers always sallied out
of the temple, and were too hard for their
enemies. But the populace grew very angry,
and became more and more numerous, and
reproached those that gave back, and those
behind would not afford room to those that
were going off, but forced them on again : till
at length they made their whole body to turn
against their adversaries, and the robbers
could no longer oppose them, but were forced
gradually to retire into the temple ; when
*Ananus and his party fell into it at the same
time together with them. This horribly af-
frighted the robbers, because it deprived
them of the ffirst court. So they fled into the
Matt. xxi. 12, 13; Mark xi. 15, 16, 17. Accordingly
Josephus himself, when he speaks of the two inner
courts, calls them both holy places : but, so far as I
remember, never gives that character of the court of the
Gentiles. See v. 9.
t The court of the Gentiles.
Uu
328
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book IV
*inner court immediately, and shut the gates.
Now Ananus did not think fit to make any
attack against the holy gates ; although tiie
other threw their stones and darts at them
from above. He also deemed it unlawful to
introduce the multitude into that court, before
they were purified. He, therefore, chose out
of them all by lot, six thousand armed men ;
and placed them as guards in the cloisters.
So there was a. succession of such guards one
after another : and every one was forced to
attend in his course. Although many of the
chief of the city were dismissed by those that
then took on them the government, upon
their hiring some of the poorer sort, and
sending them to keep the guard in their
stead.
Now it was John, who ran away from Gis-
chala, that was the occasion of all these being
destroyed. He was a man of great craft,
and bore about him in his soul a strong pas-
sion after tyranny; and at a distance was the
adviser in these actions. And, indeed, at this
time he pretended to be of the people's
opinion ; and went all about with Ananus,
when he consulted the great men every day;
and in the night time also, when he went
round the watch. But he divulged their
secret to the zealots ; and every thing that
the people deliberated upon was by his
-means known to their enemies, even before
it had been well agreed upon by themselves.
And by way of contrivance how he might not
be brought into suspicion, he cultivated the
greatest friendship possible with Ananus, and
with the chief of the people. Yet, did this
over-doing of his turn against him. For he
flattered them so extravagantly, that he was
but the more suspected : and his constant
attendance every where, even when he was
not invited to be present, made him strongly
suspected of betraying their secrets to the
enemy : for they plainly perceived that they
understood all the resolutions taken against
them at their consultations. Nor was there
any one whom they had so much reason to
suspect of that discovery as this John. Yet
was it not easy to get rid of him, so potent
was he grown by his wicked practices. He
was also supported by many of those eminent
men, who were to be consulted upon all con-
* The court of Israel.
siderable affairs. It was, therefore, thought
reasonable to oblige him to give them
assurance of his good will upon oath. Ac-
cordingly John took such an oath readily,
that he would be on the people's side, and
would not betray any of their counsels or
practices to their enemies ; and would assist
them in overthrowing those that attacked
them : and that both by his hand, and his
advice. So Ananus, and his party believed
his oath ; and did now receive him to their
consultations without further suspicion. Nay,
so far did they believe him, that they sent him
as ambassador into the temple, to the zealots,
with proposals of accommodation. For they
were very desirous to avoid the pollution of
the temple, as much as they possibly could :
and that no one of their nation should be
slain therein.
But now this John, as if his oath had been
made to the zealots, and for confirmation of
his good will to them, and not against them,
went into the temple, and stood in the midst
of them, and spake as follows : That he had
run many hazards on their accounts, and in
order to let them know of every thing that was
secretly contrived against them by Ananus, and
his party. But that both he and they should
be cast into the most imminent danger, unless
some providential assistance were afforded
them. For that Ananus made no longer delay,
but had prevailed with the people to send
ambassadors to Vespasian, to invite him to
come presently, and take the city. And that
he had appointed a fast for the next day
against them ; that they might obtain admis-
sion into the temple on a religious account ;
or gain it by force, and fight with them there.
That he did not see how long they could
either endure a siege, or how they could fight
against so many enemies. He added farther,
that it was by the providence of God he was
himself sent as an ambassador to them, for an
accommodation. For that Ananus did, there-
fore, offer them such proposals, that he might
come upon them when they were unarmed.
That they ought to choose one of these two
methods : either to intercede with those
that guarded them, to save their lives; or to
provide some foreign assistance for themselves.
That if any fostered themselves with the
hopes of pardon, in case they were subdued,
they had forgotten what desperate things they
i
BOOK IV.J
WARS OF THE JEWS.
329
had done ; or could suppose, that as soon as
the actors repented, those that had suffered
by them must be presently reconciled to them:
while those tliat have done injuries, though
they pretend to repent of them, are fre-
quently hated by the otliers for that sort of
repentance. And that the sufferers, when
they get the power into their hands, are usually
still more severe upon the actors : that the
friends and kindred of those that had been
destroyed would always be laying plots against
them ; and that a large body of people were
very angry on account of their gross breaches
of their laws, and illegal judicatures. Inso-
much, that although some part might commi-
serate them, those would be quite overborne
by the majority.
CHAP. IV.
OF THE ATTEMPT OF THE IDUMEANS TO SUCCOl'R THE
ZEALOTS OK JERUSALEM ; THEIR EXCLUSION OUT OF THE
CITY ; THE SPEECH OF JESUS, ONE OF THE HIOH-
FRIE8TS, AND SIMON's REFLT.
BY this crafty speech John made the
zealots afraid. Yet durst he not directly
name what foreign assistance he meant ; but
in a covert way only hinted at the Idumeans.
But now that he might particularly irritate the
leaders of the zealots, he calumniated Ananus,
that he was about a piece of barbarity, and
did in a special manner threaten them. These
leaders were Eleazar, the son of Simon ; who
seemed the most plausible man of them all,
both in considering what was fit to be done, and
in the execution of what he had determined
upon; and Zacharias the son of Phalek. Both
of whom derived their families from the priests.
Now when these two men had heard, not only
the common threatenings which belonged to
them all, but those peculiarly levelled against
themselves; and besides how Ananus and his
party, in order to secure their own dominion,
had invited the Romans to come to them: (for
that also was part of John's falsehood :) they
hesitated a great while what they should do,
considering the shortness of the time by which
they were straitened, because the people were
prepared to attack them very soon ; and be-
cause the suddenness of the plot laid against
them had ahsost cut off* all their hopes of
getting any foreign assistance. For they might
be under the height of all their afflictions,
before any of their confederates could be
informed of it. However, it was resolved to
call in the Idumeans. So they wrote a short
letter to this effect: that "Ananus had imposed
on the people, and was betraying their metro-
polis to the Romans. That they themselves
Fiad revolted from the rest, and were in cus-
tody in the temple, on account of the pre-
servation of their liberty. That there was
but a small time left, wherein they might hope
for their deliverance. And that unless they
would come immediately to their assistance,
they should themselves be soon in the power
of Ananus, and the city would be in the power
of the Romans." They also charged the
messengers to tell many more circumstances
to the rulers of the Idumeans. Now there
were two active men proposed for the carrying
this message, and such as were able to speak,
and to persuade them that things were in this
posture: and, what was a qualification still
more necessary than the former, they were
very swift of foot. For they knew well enough
these would immediately comply with their
desires : as being ever a tumultuous and dis-
orderly nation ; always on the watch upon
every motion ; delighting in mutations ; and
upon being flattered ever so little, and peti-
tioned, they soon take up their arms, and put
themselves into motion, and hasten to a battle,
as if it were to a feast. There was, indeed,
occasion for quick dispatch in the carrying of
this message: in which point the messengers
were no way defective. Both their names were
Ananias : and they soon came to the rulers of
the Idumeans.
Now these rulers were greatly surprised at
the contents of the letter, and at what those
that came with it farther told them. Where-
upon they ran about the nation like madmen,
and made proclamation that the people should
come to war. So a multitude was suddenly
gotten together, sooner indeed than the time
appointed in the proclamation : and every
body caught up in their arms, in order to main-
tain the liberty of their metropolis. And
twenty thousand of them were put into battle
array, and came to Jerusalem, under four
commanders; John, and Jacob the son of
Sosas, Simon the son of Cathlas, and Phineas
the son of Clusothus.
Uu2
330
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book it.
Now this exit of the messengers was not
known either to Ananus, or to the guards.
But the approach of the Iduraeans was known
to him. For as he knew of it before they
came, he ordered the gales to be shut against
them, and that the walls should be guarded.
Yet did not he by any means think of fighting
against them; but, before they came to blows,
to try what persuasions would do. Accord-
ingly Jesus, the eldest son of the high-priests
next to Ananus, stood upon the tower that was
over against them, and said thus : " Many
troubles, indeed, and those of various kinds,
have fallen upon this city. Yet in none of
them I have so much wondered at her fortune
as now : when you are come to assist wicked
men ; and this after a very extraordinary
manner. For I see that you are come to
support the vilest of men against us, and this
with so great alacrity, as you could hardly
put on the like, in case our metropolis had
called you to her assistance against barbari-
ans. And if I had perceived that your army
was composed of men like unto those who
invited them, I had not deemed your attempt
so absurb. For nothing does so much cement
the minds of men together, as the alliance
there is between their manners. But now for
these men who have invited you, if you were
to examine them one by one, every one of
them would be found to have deserved ten
thousand deaths. For the very rascality and
ofTscouring of the whole country,* who have
spent in debauchery their own substance,
and by way of trial beforehand, have madly
plundered the neighbouring villages and
cities ; in the upshot of all, have privately run
together into this holy city. They are robbers,
who by their prodigious wickedness have
profaned this most sacred floor, and who are
to be now seen intoxicating themselves in
the sanctuary, and expending the spoils of
those whom they have slaughtered upon their
insatiable appetites. As for the multitude
that is with you, one may see them so decently
adorned in their armour, as it would become
them to be, had their metropolis called them
to her assistance against foreigners. What
can a man call this procedure of yours, but
the sport of fortune, when he sees a whole
* Of such characters armies are too often composed.
This easily accounts for the excesses committed by them ;
for those who have before acted without any principle
nation coming to protect a sink of wicked
wretches } I have for a good while been in
doubt what it could possibly be that should
move you to do this so suddenly. Because
certainly you would not take all your armour
on behalf of robbers, and against a people
of kin to you, without some very great cause
for so doing. But we have had an item that
the Romans are pretended ; and that we are
supposed to be going to betray this city to
them. For some of your men have lately-
made a clamour about those matters, and
have said they are come to set their metropolis
free. Now we cannot but admire at these
wretches, in their devising such a falsehood
as this against us. For they knew there was
no other way to irritate against us men that
were naturally desirous of liberty ; and on
that account the best disposed to fight against
foreign enemies ; but by framing a tale as if
we were going to betray that most desirable
thing, liberty. But you ought to consider
what sort of people they are that raise this
calumny ; and against what sort of people
that calumny is raised ; and to gather the
truth of things, not by fictitious speeches,
but out of the actions of both parties. For
what occasion is there for us to sell ourselves
to the Romans .'* while it was in our power
not to have revolted from them at the first;
or when we had once revolted, to have re-
turned under their dominion again : and this
while the neighbouring countries were not
yet laid waste. Whereas it is not an easy
thing to be reconciled to the Romans, if we
were desirous of it, now they have subdued
Galilee, and are thereby become proud and
insolent. And to endeavour to please them
at the time when they are so near us, would
bring such a reproach upon us, as were
worse than death. As for myself, indeed, I
should have preferred peace with them before
death: but now we have once made war upon,
and fought with them, I prefer death, with
reputation, before living in captivity under
them. But farther, whether do they pretend
that we, who are the rulers of the people, have
sent thus privately to the Romans, or hath it
been done by the common suffrages of the
people? If it be ourselves only that have done
as it regarded themselves, cannot be expected to be
influenced by it as it concerns others. B.
BOOK IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
331
it, let them name those friends of ours that
have been sent, as our servants, to manage
this treachery. Hath any one been caught
as he went out on this errand ; or seized upon
as he came back ? Are they in possession
of our letters ? How could we be concealed
from such a vast number of our fellow-citi-
zens, among whom we are conversant every
hour, while what is done privately in the
country is, it seems, known by the zealots ;
who are but few in number, and under con-
finement also; and are not able to come out
of the temple into the city ? Is this the first
time that they are become sensible how they
ought to be punished for their insolent ac-
tions? For while these men were free from
the fear they arc now under, there was no
suspicion raised that any of us were traitors.
But if they lay this charge against the people,
this must have been done at a public consulta-
tion, and not one of the people must have dis-
sented from the rest of the assembly. In
which case the public fame of this matter
would have come to you sooner than any par-
ticular indication. But how could that be?
Must there not then have been ambassadors
sent to confirm the agreements? And let
them tell us who this ambassador was, that
was ordained for that purpose. But this is
no other than a pretence of such men as are
loth to die, and are labouring to escape those
punishments that hang over them. For if
fate had determined that this city was to be
betrayed into its enemies' hands, no other
than these men that accuse us falsely could
have the impudence to do it. There being
no wickedness wanting to complete their im-
pudent practices, but this only, that they be-
come traitors. And now you, Idumeans, are
come hither already with your arms, it is your
duty, in the first place, to be assisting to your
metropolis, and to join with us in cutting oflT
those tyrants that have infringed the rules of
our regular tribunals ; that have trampled
upon our laws, and made their swords the ar-
bitrators of right and wrong. For they have
seized upon men of great eminence, and
under no accusation, as they stood in the
midst of the market-place, and tortured them
with putting them into bonds; and without
bearing to hear what they had to say, or what
supplications they made, they destroyed them.
You may, if you please, come into the city.
though not in the way of war, and take a view
of the vestiges still remaining of what I now
say ; and may see the houses that have been
depopulated by their rapacious hands ; with
those wives and families that are in mourning
for their slaughtered relations. As also you
may hear their groans and lamentations all
the city over: for there is nobody but hath
tasted of the incursions of these profatie
wretches. Who have proceeded to that de-
gree of madness, as not only to have trans-
ferred their impudent robberies out of the
country, and the remote cities, into this city,
the very face and head of the whole nation ;
but out of the city into the temple also. For
that is now made their receptacle, and refuge,
and the fountain head whence their prepara-
tions are made against us. And this place,
which is adored by the habitable world, and
honoured by such as only know it by report,
as far as the ends of the earth, is trampled
upon by these wild beasts born among our-
selves. They now triumph in the desperate
condition they are already in, when they hear
that one people are going to fight against
another people; and one city against ano-
ther : and that your nation hath gotten an
array together against its own bowels. In-
stead of which procedure it were highly fit
and reasonable, as I said before, for you to
join with us in cutting off these wretches;
and in particular to be revenged on them for
putting this very cheat upon you : I mean for
having the impudence to invite you to assist
them, whom they ought to have stood in fear
of, as ready to punish them. But if you have
some regard to these men's invitation of you,
yet may you lay aside your arms, and come
into the city under the notion of our kindred,
and take upon you a middle name between
that of auxiliaries, and of enemies ; and so
become judges in this case. However, con-
sider what these men will gain by being called
into judgment before you, for such undenia-
ble and such flagrant crimes : who would not
vouchsafe to hear such as had no accusations
laid against them to speak a word for them-
selves. However, let them gain this advan-
tage by your coming. But still, if you will
neither take our part in that indignation we
have at these men, nor judge between us;
the third thing I have to propose is this, that
you let us both alone, and neither insult upon
332
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book IV.
our calamities, nor abide with these plotters
against their metropolis. For though you
should have never so great a suspicion that
some of us have discoursed with the Romans,
it is in your power to watch the passage into
the city : and in case any thing that we have
been accused of is brought to light, tlien to
come, and defend your metropolis, and to in-
flict punishment on those that are found guilty.
For the en^my cannot prevent you, who are
now so near to the city. But if, after all,
none of these proposals seem acceptable and
moderate, do not you wonder that the gates
are shut against you, while you continue in
arms."
Thus spake Jesus. Yet did not the multi-
tude of the Idumeans give any attention to
what he said, but were in a rage, because
they did not meet with a ready entrance into
the city. The generals also had indignation
at the offer of laying down their arms; and
looked upon it as equal to a captivity, to
throw them away at any man's injunction.
But Simon, the son of Cathlas, one of their
commanders, with much difficulty quieted the
tumult of his own men, and stood so that the
high-priests might hear him, and said as fol-
lows : " I can no longer wonder that the pa-
trons of liberty are under custody in the tem-
ple, since there are those that shut the gates
of our *common city to their own nation ; and
at the same time are prepared to admit the
Romans into it ; nay, perhaps, are disposed to
crown the gates with garlands at their coming;
while they speak to the Idumeans from their
towers, and enjoin them to throw down those
arms which they have taken up for the pre-
servation of its libei'ty. And while they will
not entrust the guard of our metropolis to their
kindred, profess to make them judges of the
differences that are among them : nay, while
they accuse some men of having slain others
without a legal trial, they do themselves con-
demn a whole nation after an ignominious
manner. And have now walled up that city
from their own nation, which used to be open
to even all foreigners that came to worship
there. We have, indeed, come in great haste
* This appellation of Jerusalem, given it here by Simon,
the general of the Idumeans, " the common city of the
Idumeans," who were proselytes of justice, as well as of
the original native Jews, greatly confirms that maxim of
the Rabbins, here set down by Reland, that Jerusalem
to you, and to a war against our own country-
men. And the reason why we have made
such haste is, that we may preserve that free-
dom which you are so unhappy as to betray.
You have probably been guilty of the like
crimes against those whom you keep in cus-
tody ; and have, I suppose, collected together
the like plausible pretences against them also,
that you make use of against us. After which
you have gotten the mastery of those within
the temple, and keep them in custody ; while
they are only taking care of the public affairs.
You have also shut the gates of the city in
general against nations that are the most
nearly related to you. And while you give
such injurious commands to others, you com-
plain that you have been tyrannized over by
them: and fix the name of unjust governors
upon such as are tyrannized over by your-
selves. Who can bear your abuse of words,
while they have a regard to the contrariety
of your actions ? Unless you mean that those
Idumeans do now exclude you out of your
metropolis, whom you exclude from the sacred
offices of your own country. One may, in-
deed, justly complain of those that are be-
sieged in the temple ; that when they had
courage enough to punish those traitors, whom
you call eminent men, and free from any ac-
cusations, because of their being your com-
panions in wickedness ; they did not begin
with you, and thereby cut ofT beforehand the
most dangerous parts of this treason. But if
these men have been more merciful than the
public necessity required, we that are Idu-
means will preserve this house of God ; and
will fight for our common country ; and will
oppose by war as well those that attack them
from abroad, as those that betray them from
within. Here will we abide before the walls
in our armour, until either the Romans grow
weary in waiting for you, or you become
friends to liberty, and repent of what you
have done against it."
Now the Idumeans made an acclamation
to what Simon had said. But Jesus went
away sorrowful : as seeing that the Idumeans
were against all moderate counsels ; and that
was not assigned, or appropriated, to the tribe of Benja-
min or Juilrth, but every tribe had equal right in it : at
their coming to worship there, at the several festivals.
See a little before, Chap. 3.
BOOK lY.j
WARS OF THE JEWS.
1133
the city was besieged on both sides. Nor,
indeed, were the minds of the Idumeans at
rest: for they were in a rage at the injury
that had been offered them, by their exclusion
out of the city : and when they thouglit the
zealots had been strong, but saw nothing of
theirs to support them, they were in doubt
about the matter; and many of tliem repented
that they had come thither. But the shame
that would attend them in case they returned
without doing any thing at all, so far over-
came their repentance, that they lay all night
before the wall, though in a very bad en-
campment. For there broke out a prodigious
storm in the night, with the utmost violence,
and very strong winds, with the largest show-
ers of rain, with continual lightnings, terrible
thunderings, and amazing concussions and
bellowings of the earth. These things were
a manifest indication* that some destniclion
was comi[ig upon men, when the system of
the world was put into this disorder ; and
any one would guess that these wonders
foreshewcd some grand calamities that were
coming.
Now the opinion of the Idumeans, and of
the citizens, was one and the same. The
Idumeans thought that God was angry at
their taking arms ; and they should not es-
cape punishment for making war upon their
metropolis : while Ananus and his party
thought, that they had conquered without
fighting; and that God acted as a general for
them. But truly they proved both ill con-
jectures at what was to come; and made
those events to be ominous to their enemies,
while they were themselves to undergo the
ill effects of them. For the Idumeans fenced
one another by uniting their bodies into one
band, and thereby kept themselves warm :
and connecting their shields over their heads,
were not so much hurt by the rain. But the
zealots were more deeply concerned for the
danger these men were in, than thf>y were for
themselves; and got together, and looked
about them to see whether they could devise
any means of assisting them. The more vio-
lent sort of them thought it best to force their
guards with their arms; and after that to fall
into the midst of the city, and publicly open
* There certiinly are intimations of future events af-
for*
he was of a barbarous disposition, and bore
great anger at this nation. By which means
it came to pass, that Idumea was greatly
depopulated. And as one may see all the
woods behind despoiled of their leaves by
locusts, after they have been there ; so was
there nothing left behind Simon's army, but a
desert. Some places they burnt down ; some
they utterly demolished ; and whatsoever
grew in the country they either trod it down,
or fed upon it: and by their marches they
made the ground that was cultivated harder
and more untractable than that which was
barren. In short, there was no sign remaining
of those places that had been laid waste, lliat
ever they had had a being. r
This success of Simon's excited the zealots
afresh. And though they were afraid to fight
him openly in a fair battle, yet did they laj
ambushes in the passes, and seized upon his
wife, with a considerable number of her at-
tendants: whereupon they came back to the
city rejoicing, as if they had taken Simon him-
self captive ; and were in present expectation
that he would lay down his arms, and make
supplication to them for his wife. But instead
of indulging any merciful affection, he grew
very angry at tliem for seizing his beloved
wife. So he came to the wall of Jerusalem;
and, like wild beasts when they are wounded,
and cannot overtake those that wounded them,
he vented his spleen upon all persons whom
he met with. Accordingly he caught all those
that were come out of the city gates, either to
gather herbs or sticks, who were unarmed,
and in years; he then tormented them, and
destroyed them, out of the immense rage he
was in: and was almost ready to taste the
very flesh of their dead bodies. He also cut
off" the hands of a great many, and sent them
into the city, to astonish his enemies, and in
order to m.ike the people fall into a sedition,
and desert those that had been the authors ol
his wife's seizure. He also enjoined them to
tell the people that Simon swore by the God
of the universe, that unless they would restore
him his wife, he would break down their wall,
and inflict the like punishment upon all the
citizens, without sparing any age : and with-
this day ; and that particularly for an eminent mart or
meeting of mercbaats there every year, as the traveller!
inform us.
348
WARS OP THE JEWS.
[book IV.
out making any distinction between the guilty
and the innocent. These threatenings so
greatly affrighted, not the people only, but
the zealots themselves also, that they sent his
wife back to him : upon which he became a
little milder, and left off" his perpetual blood-
shedding.
But sedition and civil war prevailed, not
only over Judea, but in Italy also. For now
Galba was slain in the midst of the Roman
market-place. Then was Otho made emperor,
and fought against Vitellius, who set up for
emperor also : for the legions in Germany
had chosen him. But when he gave battle
. to Valens and Cecinna, who were Vitellius's
g^erals, at Betriacum in Gaul, Otho gained
the advantage on the first day: but on the
second day Vitellius's soldiers had the victory.
And, after much slaughter, Otho slew himself,
when he had heard of this defeat at Brixia,
and after he had managed the public affairs
*three months and two days. fOtho's army
also came over to Vitellius's generals, and he
came himself down to Rome, with his army.
But in the mean time Vespasian removed
from Ca?sarea, on (he fifth day of the month
Desius, or Sivan, and marched against those
places of Judea which were not yet over-
thrown. So he went up to the mountainous
country, and took those two toparchies that
were called the Gophnitic and Acrabattene
toparchies. After which he took Bethel and
JEphraim, two small cities. And when he
had put garrisons into them, he rode as far
as Jerusalem : in which march he took many
prisoners, and many captives. But Cerealis,
one of his commanders, took a body of horse-
men and footmen, and laid waste that part of
Idumea which was called the Upper Idumea :
and attacked Caphethra, which pretended to
be a small city, and took it at the first onset,
and burnt it down. He also attacked Capha-
rabim and laid siege to it ; for it had a very
strong wall. And when he expected to spend
a long time in that siege, those that were
within opened their gates on the sudden, and
came to beg pardon, and surrendered them-
selves up to him. When Cerealis had con-
quered them, he went to Hebron, another
* Suetonius differs hardly three days from Josephus,
and says Otho perished on the 95th day of his reign. In
Othoii. See the note on chap. 11.
t A. D. 69.
ancient city, situate in a mountainous country,
not far off Jerusalem. And when he had
broken into the city by force, what multitude
and young men were left therein he slew, and
burnt down the city. So that as now all the
places were taken, excepting Herodium,
Masada, and Macherus, which were in the
possession of the robbers ; so Jerusalem was
what the Romans at present aimed at.
Now, as soon as Simon had set his wife
free, and recovered her from the zealots, he
returned back to the remainders of Idumea :
and driving the nation before him, from all
quarters, he compelled a great number of
them to retire to Jerusalem. He followed
them himself also to the city, and encom-
passed the wall all round again. And when
he met with any labourers, that were coming
thither out of the country, he slew them.
Now this Simon, who was without the wall,
was a greater terror to the people than the
Romans themselves : as were the zealots who
were within it more heavy upon them than
both of the other. And during this time did
the mischievous contrivances and courage ot
John corrupt the ||hody of the Galileans.
For these Gahleans had advanced this John,
and made him very potent : who made them
a suitable requital, from the authority he had
obtained by their means, for he permitted
them to do all things that any of (hem de-
sired. While their inclination to plunder was
insatiable : as was their zeal in searching the
houses of the rich. And for the murdering
of the men, and abusing of the women, it was
sport to them. They also devoured what
spoils they had taken, together with their
blood ; and indulged themselves in feminine
wantonness, without any disturbance, till they
were satiated therewith. While they decked
their hair, and put on women's garments, and
were besmeared over with ointments : and,
that they might appear very comely, they had
paints under their eyes ; and were guilty of
such intolerable uncleanness, that they in-
vented unlawful pleasures, and rolled them-
selves up and down the city, as in a brothel
house ; and defiled it entirely with their im-
puie actions. Nay, while their faces looked
J See John xi. 54.
I! Those that came out of Galilee with John of Gis-
chala.
BOOK IV.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
349
I
like the faces of women, they killed with their
right hands : and when their gate was eflemi-
nate, they presentl)" attacked men, and become
warriors: and drew their swords from under
tlieir finely dyed cloaks, and ran every body
through whom they met with ; however, Si-
mon waited for such as ran away from John,
and was the more sanguinary of tlie Iw o. And
he who escaped the tyrant within the wall,
was destroyed by the other that lay before
the gates. So that all attempts of deserting
to the Romans were cut oHJ as to those that
had a mind so to do.
Yet did the army that was under John
raise a sedition against him : and all the
Idumeans separated themselves from the
tyrant, and attempted to destroy him: and
tliis out of their envy at his power, and ha-
tred of his cruelty. So they got together,
and slew many of the zealots, and drove the
rest before them into that royal palace that
was built by Grapte, who was a relation of
*lzates, king of Adiabene : the Idumeans fell
in with them, and drove the zealots out thence
into the temple, and betook themselves to
plunder John's effects. For both he himself
was in that palace ; and therein had he laid
up the spoils he had acquired by his tyranny.
In the mean time the multitude of those
zealots that were dispersed over the city ran
together to the temple, unto those that had
fled thither : and John prepared to bring
them down against the people and the Idu-
means: who were not so much afraid of being
attacked by them, because they were them-
selves better soldiers than they, as at their
madness, lest they should privately sally out
of the temple, and get among them, and not
only destroy them, but set the city on fire also.
So they assembled themselves together, and
(he high-priests with them, and took counsel,
after what manner they should avoid their
assault. Now it was God who turned their
opinions to the worst advice, fand thence
they devised such a remedy to get themselves
free, as was worse than the disease itself
• See Antiq. XX. 2.
t This God can easily effect by leaving men to their own
uninfluenced counsel and wisdom. B.
{ Take here Reland's small scheme of the situation of
these four towers, erected in the temple, in the court of
Isniel, as follows :
Accordingly, in order to overthrow John, they
determined to admit Simon: and earnestly to
desire the introduction of a second tyrat)t into
the city. This resolution they brought to
perfection, and sent Matthias, the high-priest,
to beseech this Simon to come in to them, of
whom they had so often been afraid. Those
also that had fled from the zealots in Jerusa-
lem joined in this request, out of the desire
they had of preserving their houses, and their
effects. Accordingly he, in an arrogant man-
ner, granted them his lordly protection; and
came into the city, in order to deliver it from
the zealots. The people also made joyful
acclamations to him, as their saviour and their
preserver. But when he was come in, with
iiis army, he took care to secure liis own au-
thority ; and looked upon those that had
invited him in to be no less his enemies, than
those against whom the invitation was
intetided.
And thus did Simon get possession of Jeru-
salem, in the third year of the war, in the
month Xanthicus, or Nisan. Whereupon
John, with his multitude of zealots, as being
both prohibited from coming out of the
temple, and having lost their power in the
city, (for Simon and his party had plundered
them of what they had,) were in despair of
deliverance. Simon also made an assault
upon the temple, with the assistance of the
people ; while the others stood upon the
cloisters, and the battlements, and defended
themselves from their assaults. However, a
considerable number of Simon's party fell ;
and many were carried off" wounded. For
the zealots threw their darts easily from a
superior place, and seldom failed of hitting
their enemies. But having the advantage of
situation, and having withal erected four very
large towers beforehand, that their darts
might come from higher places, Jone at the
north-east corner of the court, one above the
Xystus ; the third at another corner, over
against the lower city ; and the last was
erected above the top of the Pastophoria:
Above the
Xystus.
Above the
top of the
Pastophoria
The corner over
against the low-
er city.
The tower at the
north-east corner
of the court.
350
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book IV
where one of the priests stood of course, and
gave *a signal belorehand, with a trumpet, at
the beginning of every seventh day, in the
evening twilight : as also at the evening, when
that day was finished ; as giving notice to the
people when they were to leave off work,
and when they were to go to work again.
These men also set their engines to cast
darts and stones withal, upon those towers,
with their arohers and slingers. And now
Simon made his assault upon the temple
more faintly, by reason that the greatest part
of his men grew weary of that work. Yet did
he not leave off his opposition : because his
army was superior to the others : although
the darts which were thrown by the engines
were carried a great way, and slew many of
those that fought for him.
CHAP. X.
JP THE ELEVATION OF VESPASIAN TO THE IMPERIAL
DIGNITY, AND THE EMANCIPATION OF JOSEPHUS FROM
HIS BONDS.
ABOUT this time heavy calamities came
about Rome on all sides. For Vitellius
was come from Germany with his soldiery ;
and drew along with him a great multitude of
other men besides. And when the spaces
allotted for soldiers could not contain them,
he made all Rome itself his camp ; and filled
all the houses with the armed men. Which
men, when they saw the riches of Rome, with
those eyes which had never seen such riches
before, and found themselves shone round
about on all sides with silver and gold, they
had much ado to contain their covetous de-
sires ; and were ready to betake themselves
to plunder, and to the slaughter of such as
should stand in their way. And this was the
state of affairs in Italy at that time.
But when Vespasian had overthrown all
the places that were near to Jerusalem, he
returned to Caesarea, and heard of the trou-
bles that were at Rome, and that Vitellius was
emperor, this produced indignation in him :
although he well knew how to be governed,
* This beginning and ending the obserrance of the
Jewish seventh day, or sabbath, with a priest's blowing of
a trumpet, is remarkable ; and no where else mentioned,
that I know of. Nor isReland's conjecture here impro-
bable ; that this was the very place that has puzzled our
Commentators so long, called Musach Sabbati, the " covert
as well as to govern : and could hot, with any
satisfaction, own him for his lord, who acted
so madly, and seized upon the government,
as if it were absolutely destitute of a governor.
And as this sorrow of his was violent, he was
not able to support the torments he was under;
nor to apply himself farther in other wars,
when his native country was laid waste. But
then, as much as his passion excited him to
avenge his country, so much was he restrained
by the consideration of his distance there-
from. Because fortune might prevent him,
and do a world of mischief before he could
himself sail over the sea to Italy : especially
as it was still the winter season : so he re-
strained his anger, how vehement soever it
was at this time.f
But now his commanders and soldiers met
in several companies, and consulted openly
about changing the public affairs : and out of
their indignation, cried out, "At Rome there
are soldiers that live delicately: and when they
have not ventured so much as to hear the fame
of war, they ordain whom they please for our
governors ; and in hopes of gain make them
emperors, while you have gone through so
many labours, and are grown into years under
your helmets, give leave to others to use such
a power ; when you have among yourselves
one more worthy to rule than any whom they
have set up. Now what juster opportunity
shall they ever have of requiting their gene-
rals, if they do not make use of this that is
now before them.'* while there is much juster
reasons for Vespasian's being emperor, than
for Vitellius : as they are themselves more
deserving, than those that made the other
emperors. For they have undergone as great
wars as have the troops that come from Ger-
many. Nor are they inferior in war to those
that have brought that tyrant to Rome ; nor
have they undergone smaller labours than
they. For neither will the Roman senate,
nor people, bear such a lascivious emperor as
Vitellius; if he be compared with their chaste
Vespasian. Nor will they endure a most
barbarous tyrant, instead of a good governor;
of the Sabbath :" if that be the true reading, 2Kings xvi.
18. Because here the proper priest stood dry, under a
covering to proclaim the beginning and ending of every
Jewish sabbath.
t A. D. 69.
1
BOOK nr.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
351
nor choose one that hath *no child, to preside
over them instead of him that is a father.
Because the advancement of men's own chil-
dren to dignities is certainly the greatest se-
curity kings can have for themselves. Whe-
ther, therefore, we estimate the capacity of
govertiing from the skill of a person in years,
we ought to have Vespasian ; or whether
from the strengtii of a young man, we ought
to have Titus: for by this means we shall
have the advantage of both their ages. For
they will alFord strength to those that shall
be made emperors : tliey having already three
legions, besides other auxiliaries from the
neighbouring kings; and will have farther all
the armies in the east to support them : as
also those in Europe, so far as they are out of
the distance and dread of ViteUius: besides
such auxiliaries as they may have in Italy
itself; that is, Vespasian's tbrother, and his
Jother son : the one of which will bring in a
great many of those young men that are of
dignity; while the other is entrusted with the
government of the city : which office of his
will be no small means of Vespasian's ob-
taining the government. Upon the whole, the
case may be such, that if we ourselves make
farther delays, the senate may choose an em-
peror whom the soldiers, who are the saviours
of the empire, will hold in contempt."
These were the discourses the soldiers had
in their several companies. After which they
got together in a great body; and, encou-
raging one another, they ||declared Vespasian
emperor; and exhorted him to save the go-
vernment, which was now in danger. Now
Vespasian's concern had been for a conside-
rable time about the public. Yet did he not
intend to set up for governor himself, though
his actions shewed him to deserve it : while
he preferred that snfety which is in a private
life, before the dangers in a state of such dig-
* The Roman author^ that now remmn, says Viteliius
had children : whereas Jo«ej)hiis introduces here the Ro-
man soldiers in Judea saying, he had none. Which of
thcpe assertions w;w the truth, 1 know not. Spanheiin
thinks he had given a peculiar reason for calling Viteliius
childless, though he really had children. Diss, de Num.
page 649, C50. To which it appears very difficult to give
our assent.
t This brother of Vespasian was Flavius Sabinus, as
Suetonius informs ns, in Vitell. § 15. and in Vespas. § 2.
He is also named by Josephus presently, chap. 1 1 .
I Domilian.
I! It is jtlain by the nature of the thing, as well as by Jo-
VOL. II. — xos. 77 & 7C.
nity. But when he refused the empire, the
commanders insisted the more earnestly upon
his acceptance: and the soldiers came about
him. with their drawn swords, and threatened
to kill him, unless he would now live accord-
ing to his dignity. And Mhen he had shewed
his reluctance a great while, and had endea-
voured to thrust aw.iy this dominion from him,
he at length, being not able to persuade
them, yielded to their solicitations that would
salute him emperor.
So upon the exhortations of Mucianus, and
the other commanders, that he would accept
of the empire ; and upon that of the rest of
the army, wlio cried out, that they were
willing to be led against all his opposers, he
was in the first place intent upon gaining the
dominion over Alexandria; as knowing that
Egypt was of the greatest consequence in
order to obtain the entire government, be-
cause of its supplying of corn to Rome : which
corn, if he could be master of, he hoped to
dethrone Viteliius; supposing he should aim
to keep the empire by force : (for he would
not be able to support himself, if the multi-
tude at Rome should once be in want of food:)
and because he was desirous to join ihe two
legions that were at Alexandria to the other
legions that were with him. He also con-
sidered with himself, that he should then
have that country for a defence to himself
against the uncertainty of fortune. For
§Egypt is hard to be entered by land ; and
hath no good havens by sea. It hath on the
west the dry deserts of Libya; and on the
south Siene, that divides it from Ethiopia; as
well as the cataracts of the Nile, that cannot
be sailed over : and on the east the Red Sea,
extended as far as Coptns ; and it is fortified
on the north by the land that reaches Syria;
together with that called the Egyptian Sea ;
having no havens in it for .ships. And thus is
sephus and Eutropius, that Vespasian was first of all salu-
ted emperor in Judea ; and not till some time afterward in
Egypt. Whence Tacitus'sand Suetonius's present copies
must be corrected ; when they both say, that he was first
proclaimed in Egypt, and th.it on the calends of July : while
they still say, it was the fifth of the nonqs or the ides of
the same July before he was proclaimed in Judea. I sup-
pose the month they there intended was June, and not July,
as the copies now have it. Nor does Tacitus's coherence
imply less. See Essay on the Revelation, page 13C.
§ Here we have an authentic description of the bounds
and circumstances of Egypt, in the days of Vespasian and
Titus.
Zz
352
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book. IV.
Egypt walled about on every side. Its length,
between Pelusium and Siene, is two thousand
furlongs; and the passage by sea from Plin-
thine to Pelusium is three thousand six hun-
dred furlongs. Its ri\*er Nile is navigable as
far as the city called Elephantine : the cata-
racts hindering ships from going any farther.
The haven also of Alexandria is not entered
by the mariners without difficulty, even in
times of peace. For the passage inward is
narrow, and full of rocks, that lie under water,
which oblige the mariners to turn from a
straight direction. Its left side is blocked up
by works made by men's hands on both sides.
On its right side lies the island called Pharos,
which is situate just before the entrance, and
supports a very great tower, that atTords the
sight of a fire to such as sail within three hun-
dred furlongs of it; that ships may cast an-
chor a great way off in the night time, by
reason of the difficulty of sailing nearer.
About this island are built very great piers ;
against which, when the sea dashes itself, and
its waves are broken against those boundaries,
the navigation becomes very troublesome, and
the entrance through so narrow a passage is
rendered dangerous. Yet is the haven itself,
when you are got into it, a very safe one ;
and of thirty furlongs in extent. Into which
is brought what the country wants in order
to its happiness ; as also what abundance the
country affords, more than it wants itself, is
hence distributed into all the habitable earth.
Justly, therefore, did Vespasian desire to
obtain that government, in order to corrobo-
rate his attempts upon the whole empire. So
lie immediately sent to Tiberius Alexander,
who was then governor of Egypt and of Al-
exandria, and informed him, what the army
had put him upon, and how he, being. forced
to accept of the burden of the government,
was desirous to have him for his confederate
and supporter. Now as soon as Alexander
had read this letter, he readily obliged the
legions, and the multitude, to take the oath of
fidelity to Vespasian ; both of which willingly
complied with, him : as already acquainted
* See Book III. chap. 8.
t As Daniel was preferred by Darius and Cyrus, on
account of his having foretold the destruction of the Baby-
lonian monarchy by their means, and the consequent ex-
altation of the Medes and Persians, Dan. v. 6. or rather,
as Jeremiah, when he was a prisoner, was set at liberty,
and honourably treated by Nebuzaradan, at the command
with the courage of the man, from his conduct
in their neighbourhood. Accordingly Vespa-
sian, looking upon himself as already entrusted
with the government, got all things ready for
his journey to Rome. Now fame carried this
news abroad, more suddenly than one could
have thought, that he was emperor over the
east. Upon which every city kept festivals,
and celebrated sacrifices, and oblations, for
such good news. The legions also that were
in Mysia and Pannonia, who had been in com-
motion a little before, on account of this inso-
lent attempt of Vitellius, were very glad to
take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian, upon
his coming to the empire. Vespasian then
removed from Csesarea to Berytus : w here
many ambassages came to him from Syria,
and many from other provinces : bringing
with them from every city crowns, and the
congratulations of the people. Mucianus
came also, who was the president of the pro-
vince, and told him with what alacrity the
people received the news of his advancement,
and how tlie people of every city had taken
the oath of fidelity to him.
So Vespasian's good fortune succeeded to
his wishes every where : and the public af-
fairs were, for the greatest part, already in his
hands. Upon which he considered, that he
had not arrived at the government without
divine providence ; but that a righteous kind
of fate had brouglit the empire under his
power. For as he called to mind the other
numerous signals, which had foretold he
should obtain the government, so did he re-
member what Josephus had said to him, when
he ventured to *foretell his coming to the
empire, while Nero was alive. So he was
much concerned that this man was still in
bonds with him. He then called for Mucia-
nus, together with his other commanders and
friends ; and in the first place he informed
them what a valiant man Josephus had been,
and what great hardships he had made him
undergo in the siege of Jotapata. After that
he related those tpredictions of his which he
had then suspected as fictions, suggested out
of Nebuchadnezzar, on account of his having foretold the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians : Jer. xl. 1 — 6.
so was our Josephus set at liberty, and honourably treated,
on account of his having foretold tlic advancement of Ves-
pasian and Titus to the Rom:m empire. All these are
most eminent instances of the interposition of divine pro-
vidence, and of the certainty of divine predictions, in the
BOOK IT.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
353
of the fear he was in ; but which had by this
time been demonstrated to be divine. " It is
a shameful thing," said he, " that this man
who hath foretold my coming to the empire
beforehand, and been the minister of a di-
vine message to me, should still be retained
in the condition of a captive or prisoner."
So he called for Josephus, and commanded
that he should be set at liberty. Whereupon
the commanders promised themselves glori-
ous things, from this requital Vespasian made
to a stranger. Titus was then present with
his father, and said, " O father, it is but just
that the scandal of a prisoner should be taken
oflf Josephus, together with his iron chain.
For if we do not barely loose his bonds, but
cut them to pieces, he will be like a man that
had never been bound at all." For that is
the usual method as to such as have been
bound without a cause. This advice was
agreed to by Vespasian. So there came a
man in, and cut the chain to pieces : while
Josephus received this testimony of his in-
tegrity for a reward ; and was also esteemed
a person of credit as to futurities.
CHAP. XI.
tJPOH THE CONQUEST AND SLAUGHTER OF VITELLIUS, VES-
PASIAN HASTENS HIS JOURNEY TO ROME ; BUT TITUS
RETURNS TO JERUSALEM.
NOW, when Vespasian had given answers
to the ambassagps, and had disposed of
the places of power *justly, and according to
every one's deserts, he came to Antioch : and
consulting which way he had best take, he
preferred to go for Rome, rather than to
march to Alexandria; because he saw that
Alexandria was sure to him already ; but that
the afTairs at Rome were put into disorder by
Vitellius. So he sent Mucianus to Italy, and
committed a considerable army both of horse-
men and footmen to him. Yet was Mucianus
afraid of going by sea, because it was the
middle of winter ;t and so he led his army
on foot through Cappadocia and Phrygia.
great rcvotulions of the four monarchies. Several such-
like examples occur botli in the aacred and other histories.
As in the rase of Joseph in Es^pt ; of Jaddua the high-
priest, in the days of Alexander the Great, kc.
* This is well observed by Josephus, that Vespasian,
in order to secure his success, and establish his govern-
ment at first, distributed his offices and places upon the
In the mean time Antonius Primus took the
third of the legions that were in Mysia, for
he was president of that province, and made
haste, in order to fight Vitellius. Whereupon
Vitellius sent away Cecinna, with a great
army : hanng a mighty confidence in him,
because of his having beaten Otho. This
Cecinna marched out of Rome in great haste,
and found Antonius about Cremona in Gaul:
which city is in the borders of Italy. But
when he saw that the enemy was numerous,
and in good order, he durst not tight them :
and as he thought a retreat dangerous, so he
began to think of betraying his army to An-
tonius. Accordingly he assembled the cen-
turions and tribunes that were under his com-
mand, and persuaded them to go over to An-
tonius; and this by diminishing the reputa-
tion of Vitellius's alFairs, and by exaggerating
the power of Vespasian. He also told them,
that " With the one there was no more than
the bare nama< of dominion ; but with the
other was the power of it. And that it were
better for them to prevent necessity, and gain
favour; and, while they were likely to be
overcome in battle, to avoid the danger be-
forehand ; and go over to Antonius willingly.
That Vespasian was able of himself to subdue
what had not yet submitted, without their as-
sistance : while Vitellius could not preserve
what he had already with it."
Cecinna said this, and much more to the
same purpose ; and persuaded them to com-
ply with him : and both he and his army de-
serted. But the very same night the soldiers
repented of what they had done : and a fear
seized on them, lest, perhaps, Vitellius, who
.sent them, should get the better. And draw-
ing their swords, they assaulted Cecinna, in
order to kill him. And the thing had been
done by them, if the tribunes had not fallen
upon their knees, and besought them not to
do it. So the soldiers did not kill him, but
put him in bonds, as a traitor: an^were
about to send him to Vitellius. When Anto-
nius Primus heard of this, he raised up his
foot of justice ; and bestowed them on such as best de-
served them, and were best fit for them. Which wise
conduct, in a mere heathen, ought to put those rulers and
ministers of state to shame who, professing Christianity,
act otherwise ; and thereby expose themselves and their
kingdoms to vice and to destruction,
t A. D. 69.
Zz2
354
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book IV
men immediately, and made them put on
their armour, and led them against those that
had revolted. Hereupon they put themselves
in order of" battle, and made a resistance for
a while: but were soon beaten, and fled to
Cremona. Then did Primus take his horse-
men, and cut off' their entrance into the city,
and encompassed and destroyed a great mul-
titude of them before the city; and fell into
the city together with the rest, and gave leave
to his soldiers to plunder it. And here it was
tiiat many strangers, who were merchants, as
well as many of the people of that country
perished: and among them Vitellius's whole
army, being thirty thousand and two hun-
dred; while Antonius lost no more of those
that came with him from Mysia than four
thousand and five hundred. He then *loosed
Cecinna, and sent him to Vespasian, to tell
him the good news. So he came, and was
received by him, and covered the scandal of
his treachery, by the unexpected honours he
received from Vespasian.
Now, upon the news that Antonius was ap-
proaching, tSabinus took courage at Rome,
and assembled those cohorts of soldiers that
kept watch by night : and in the night time
seized upon the capitol. And as the day
came on, many men of character came over
to him, with Domitian, his brother's son :
whose encouragement was of very great
weight for the compassing the government.
Now Vitellius was not much concerned at
Ihis Primus ; but was very angry at those that
had revolted with Sabinus : and thirsting, out
of his own natural barbarity, after noble
blood, he sent out that part of his army which
came along with him to fight against the cap-
itol : and many bold actions were done on
this side, and on the side of those that held
the Jtemple. But at last the soldiers that
came from Germany, being too numerous for
the others, got the hill into their possession.
* This deliverer of Cecinna, and his sending to Vespa-
sian, are -dso in Tacitus, Hist. Ill, 31. as Spanheim here
observes.
t The brother of Vespasian.
I The capitol, where was Jupiter's famous temple.
II The numbers in Josephns, chap. 9. for Galba, seven
months seven days, for Otho, three months two days, and
here for Vitellius, eight months live days, do not agree
with any of the Roman historians : who also disagree
among themselves. And, indeed, Scaliger justly com-
plains, as Dr. Hudson observes on chap. 9. § 2. that this
Where Domitian, with many other of the
principal Romans, providentially escaped:
while the rest of the multitude were entirely
cut to pieces ; and Sabinus himself was
brought to Vitellius, and then slain. The
soldiers also plundered the temple of its or-
naments, and set it on fire. But now, within
a day's time, came Antonius, with his army;
and were met by Vitellius and his army : and
having had a battle, in three several places,
the last were all destroyed. Then did Vitel-
lius come out of the palace, in his cups, and
satiated with an extravagant and luxurious
meal, as in the last extremity. And being
drawn along through the multitude, and
abused with all sorts of torments, his head
was cut of!' in the midst of Rome ; having re-
tained the government ||eight months and five
days; and had he lived much longer, I can-
not but think the empire would not have been
sufficient for his lust. Of the others that were
slain were numbered above fifty thousand.
This battle was fought on the third day of the
month Apelleus, or Casleu. On the next day
Mucianus came into the city, w ith his army ;
and ordered Antonius and his men to leave off
killing. For they were still searching the
houses, and killed many of Vitellius's sol-
diers, and many of the populace, as suppo-
sing them to be of his party : preventing by
their rage any accurate distinction between
them and others. He (hen produced Domi-
tian, and recommended him to the multitude,
until his father should come himself So the
people being now freed from their fears,
made acclamations of joy for Vespasian, as '
for their emperor; and kept festival days for
his confirmation, and for the destruction of
Vitellius.
And now, as Vespasian was come to Alex-
andria, this good news came from Rome; and
at the same time came embassies from all
§his own habitable earth, to congratulate him
period is very confused and uncertain in the ancient au-
thors. They were (uohably some of them contemporary
together for some time. One of the best evidences we
have, I mean Ptolemy's Canon, omits them all, as if they
did not altogether reign one whole year : nor had a single
Tholh or New-Year's-Day, (which then fell upon August
6.) in their entire reigns. Dio also, wlio says that Vitel-
lius reigned a year within ten days, does yet estimate all
their reigns together at no more than one year, one month
anil two days.
§ The whole Roman empire.
BOOK rv.]
WAIIS OF THE JEWS,
355
upon his advancement. And though this
Alexandria was the greatest olall cities next
to Rome, it proved too narrow to contain the
multitude that then came to it. So upon this
confirmation of Vespasian's entire govern-
ment, whicii was now settled; and upon the
unexpected dehverance of the pubUc afTairs of
the Romans from ruin ; Vespasian turned his
thouglits to what remained unsubdued in Ju-
dea. However, he himself made haste to go
to Rome, as the winter was now almost over;
and soon set the atTairs of Alexandria in order:
but he sent his son Titus, with a select part
of his army, to destroy Jerusalem. So Titus
marcfied on foot as far as Nicopolis ; which
is distant twenty furlongs from Alexandria.
There he put his army on board some long
ships, and sailed upon the river along the
Mendesian Nomus, as far as the city Thmuis.
There he got out of the ships, and walked on
* Zoim in the Old Testament.
t There arc coins of this Casian Jupiter, still extant, as
foot, and lodged all night at a small city called
*Tanis. His second station was Heracleo-
polis; and his third Pelusium. He then re-
freshed his army at that place, for two days.
And on the third passed over the mouth of
the Nile at Pelusium. He then proceeded
one station over the deseri, and pitched liis
camp at the temple of the fCasian Jupiter;
and on the next day at Ostracine. This sta-
tion had no water: but the people of the coun-
try make use of water brought from other
places. After this he rested at Rhinocolura ;
and from thence he went to Raphia, which
was his fourth station : this city is the begin-
ning of Syria. For his fifth station he pitched
his camp at Gaza. After which he came to
Ascalon, and thence to Jamnia, and after that
to Joppa, and from Joppa to Caisarea: having
taken a resolution to gather all his other
forces together at that place. ">
Spanheim here informs us.
356
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book v.
BOOK y.
Containing an Interval of near Six Months.
FROM THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM, TO THE GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE
JEWS WERE REDUCED.
CHAP. I.
CONCERNING THE SEDITIOUS AT JERUSALEM ; AND THE
TERRIBLE MISERIES WHICH AFFLICTED THE CITY BY
THEIR MEANS.
WHEN Titus had marched over that
desert which lies between Egypt and
Syria, in the manner before mentioned, he
came to Caesarea : having resolved to set his
forces in order at that place, before he began
the war. Nay, indeed, Avhile he was assisting
his father at Alexandria, in settling that go-
vernment which had been newly conferred
upon them by God, it so happened, that the
sedition at Jerusalem was revived, and parted
into three factions: and that one faction
fought against the other. Which partition in
such evil cases may be said to be a good thing,
and the effect of divine justice. Now as to
the attack the zealots made upon the people,
and which I esteem the beginning of the city's
destruction, it hath been already explained
after an accurate matmcr; as also whence it
arose, and to how great a mischief it was in-
creased. But for the present sedition, one
should not mistake if he called it a sedition
begotten by another sedition : and to be like
a wild beast grown mad, which, for want of
* This appears to be the first time that the zealots
ventured to pollute this most sacred court of the tem-
ple, which was the court of the priests, wherein the
temple itself and the altar stood. So tliat the conjecture
of those that would interpret that Zacharias, who was
food from abroad, fell now upon eating its
own flesh.
For Eleazar, the son of Simon, who made
the first separation of the zealots from the
people, and made them retire into the
temple, appeared very angry at John's inso-
lent attempts, which he made every day upon
the people. For this man never left ofT mur-
dering. But the truth was, that he could not
bear to submit to a tyrant, who set up after
him. So he, being desirous of gaining the
entire power and dominion to himself, revolted
from John, and took to his assistance John
the son of Chelcias, and Sinion the son of
Ezron, who were among the men of greatest
power. There was also with him Hezekiah,
the son of Chobar, a person of eminence.
Each of these were followed by a great many
of the zealots. These seized upon the *inner
fcourt of the temple, and laid their arms
upon the holy gates, and over tlie holy fronts
of that court. And because they had plenty of
provisions, they were of good courage. For
there was great abundance of what was
consecrated to sacred uses, and they scrupled
not the making use of them. Yet were they
afraid on account of their small number. And
when they had laid up their arms there, they
did not stir from the place they were iu. Now
slain between the temple and the altar several months
before, IV. 5, as if 'he were slain there by these zealots,
is groundless : as I have noted on that place already.
t The court of the priests.
BOOK v.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
357
as to John, what advantage he had above
Eleazar in the multitude of his followers, the
like disadvantage he had in the situation he
was in: since he had his enemies over his
head. And as he could not make any assault
upon them without some terror, so was his
anger too great to let him be at rest. Nay,
although he suffered more mischief from
Eleazar and his party than he could inflict
upon them, yet would he not leave off' assault-
ing them. Insomuch that there were continual
sallies made one against another; as well as
darts thrown at one another, and the temple
was defiled every where with murders.
But the tyrant Simon, the son of Gioras,
whom the people had invited in, out of the
hopes they had of his assistance in the great
distresses they were in ; having in his power
the upper city, and a great part of the lower,
did now make more vehement assaults upon
John, and his party : because these were
fought against from above also. Yet was he
beneath their situation, when he attacked
them : as were they beneath the attacks of
the others above them. Whereby it came to
pass, that John did both receive and inflict
great damage, and that easily : as he was
fought against on both sides. And the same
advantage that Eleazar and his party had
over him, since he was beneath them ; the
same advantage had he, by his higher situa-
tion, over Simon. On which account he easily
repelled the attacks that were made from
beneath, by the weapons thrown with their
hands only: but was obliged to repel those
that threw their darts from the temple above
him, by his engines of war. For he had such
engines as threw darts, javelins, and stones ;
and that in no small number. By which he
did not only defend himself from such as
fought against him, but also slew many of the
priests, as they were about their sacred minis-
trations. For notwithstanding these men were
mad with all sorts of impiety, yet did they
still admit those that desired to ofier their
sacrifices; although they took care to search
the people of their own country beforehand ;
and both suspected and watched them. While
they were not so much afraid of strangers :
* The Leviteg.
t This is an excellent reflection of Josephus : including
his hopes of the restoration of the Jews, upon their re-
pentance. See Antiquities, IV. 8. Which is the grand
who although they had gotten leave of them,
how cruel soever they were, to come into that
court, were yet often destroyed by this sedi-
tion. For those darts that were thrown by
the engines came with such force, that they
went over all the buildings, and reached as
far as the altar, and the temple itself: and
fell upon the priests, and *those that were
about the sacred offices. Insomuch that many
persons who came thither with great zeal
from the ends of the earth, to offer sacrifices,
at this celebrated place, which was esteemed
holy by all mankind, fell down before their
own sacrifices, and, sprinkled that altar which
was venerable among all men, both Greeks
and Barbarians, with their own blood, till the
dead bodies of strangers were mingled toge-
ther with those of their own country ; and
those of profane persons witli those of priests :
and the blood of all sorts of dead carcasses
stood in lakes in the holy courts themselves.
And now, O most wretched city ! what misery
so great as this didst thou suffer from the
Romans, when they came to purify thee from
thy intestine hatred .'' For thou couldst be
no longer a place fit for God; nor couldst
thou long continue in being, after thou hadst
been a sepulchre for the bodies of thy own
people; and hadst made the holy house itself
a burying place in this civil war. Yet fmay-
est thou again grow better, if perchance thou
wilt hereafter appease the anger of that God
who is the author of thy destruction. But I
must refrain myself from these passions by
the rules of history : since this is not a proper
time for domestic lamentations, but for histori-
cal narrations ; I, therefore, return to the
operations that follow in this sedition.
Now there were three treacherous factions
in the city, the one parted from the other.
Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred
first-fruits, came against John in their cups.
Those that were with John plundered the
populace, and went out with zeal against
Simon. This Simon had his supply of pro-
visions from the city, in opposition to the
seditious. When, therefore, John was as-
saulted on both sides, he made his men turn
about, throwing darts upon those citizens that
Hope of Israel, as Miinasseh ben Israel, the famous Jewish
Rabbi, styles it, in his small but remarkable treatise on
that subject ; of which the Jewish prophets are every
where full.
358
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book v.
came up against him, from the cloisters he
had in his possession ; while he opposed those
that attacked him from the temple, by his
engines of war. And if at any time he was
freed from those that were above him, which
happened frequently, from their being tired
or inebriated, he sallied out with a greater
number upon Simon and his party. And tiiis
he did always in such parts of the city as he
could come at, till he set on fire those houses
- that were full of *corn, and of all other pro-
visions. The same thing was done by Simon,
when, upon the others' retreat, he attacked
the city also : as if they had on purpose done
it to serve the Romans, by destroying wliat
the city had laid up against the siege ; and
by thus cutting off the nerves of their own
power. Accordingly, it came to pass, that
all the places that were about the temple
were burnt down ; and were become an in-
termediate desert space, ready for fighting on
both sides of it : and almost all that corn
was burnt, which would have been sufficient
for a siege of many years. So they were
taken by means of the famine : which it was
impossible they should have been, unless they
had thus prepared the way for it by this pro-
cedure.
Now, as the city was engaged in a war on
all sides, from these treacherous crowds of
wicked men ; the people of the city between
them were, like a great body, torn in pieces.
The aged men, and the women, were in such
distress by their internal calamities, that they
wished for the Romans ; and earnestly hoped
for an external war, in order to their delivery
from their domestic miseries. The citizens
themselves were under a terrible consterna-
tion and fear. Nor had they any opportunity
of taking counsel, and of changing their con-
duct. Nor were there any hopes of coming
to an agreement with their enemies : nor
could such as had a mind flee away. For
guards were set at all places ; and the heads
of the robbers, although they were seditious
one against another in other respects, yet did
they agree in killing those that were for peace
* This destruction of such a vast quantity of corn and
other provisions, as was sufficient for many years, was the
direct occasion of that terrible famine, which consumed
incredible numbers of Jews in Jerusalem during its siege.
Nor probably could the Romans have taken this city, after
all, had not these seditious Jews been so infatuated as thus
with the Romans; or were suspected of an
inclination to desert to them, as their common
enemies. They agreed in nothing but this,
to kill those that were innocent. The noise
also of those that were fighting was incessant
both by day and by night : but the lamenta-
tion of those that mourned exceeded the
other. Nor was there ever any occasion for
them to leave off their lamentations; because
their calamities came perpetually one upon
another : although the deep consternation they
were in prevented their outward wailing.
But being constrained by their fear to conceal
their inward passions, they were inwardly
tormented ; w ithout daring to open their lips
in groans. Nor was any regard paid to those
that were still alive by their relations : nor
was there any care taken of burial for those
that were dead. The occasion of both which
was, that every one despaired of himself.
For those that were not among the seditious
had no great desires of any thing; as expect-
ing for certain, that they should very soon be
destroyed. But for the seditious themselves,
tiiey fought against each other while they trod
upon the dead bodies, as they lay heaped
one upon another : and taking up a mad rage
from those dead bodies that were under their
feet, became the fiercer thereupon. They,
moreover, were still inventing somewhat or
other that was pernicious against themselves.
And when they had resolved upon any thing,
they executed it without mercy ; and omitted
no method of torment, or of barbarity. Nay,
John abused the fsacred materials ; and em-
ployed them in the construction of his engines
of war. For the people and the priests had
formerly determined to support the temple,
and raised the holy Iiouse twenty cubits
higlier. For king Agrippa had, at a very
great expense, and with very great pains,
brought thither such materials as were pro-
per for that purpose ; being pieces of timber
very well worth seeing, both for their straight-
nesH, and their largeness. But the M'ar coming
on, and interrupting the work, John had them
cut, and prepared for building him towers, he
madly to destroy what Josephus here justly styles, " The
nerves of their power."
t This limber we see was designed for the rebuilding
those twenty additional cubits of the holy house above the
hundred which had fallen down some years before. Sec
the note on Aotiq. XV. 11.
BOOK v.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
359
finding them long enough, to oppose from
them, those his adversaries that fought him
from the temple that was above him. He
also had them brought, and erected behind
the inner court, over against the west end of
the cloisters; where *alone he could erect
them. Whereas the other sides of that court
had so many steps, as would not let them come
nigh enough to the cloisters.
Thus did John hope to overcome his ene-
mies by these engines; constructed by his
impiety. But God himself demonstrated that
his pains would prove of no use to him, by
bringing the Romans upon him before he had
reared any of his towers. For Titus, when
he had gotten together part of his forces
about him, and had ordered the rest to meet
him at Jerusalem, marched out of Ca?sarea.
He had with him those three legions, that
had accompanied his father when he laid
Judea waste: together with that twelfth le-
gion which had been formerly beaten with
Cestius. Which legion, as it was otherwise
remarkable for their valour, so did it march
on now with greater alacrity, to avenge them-
selves on the Jews, as remembering what they
had formerly suffered from them. Of these
legions he ordered the fifth to meet him, by
going through Emmaus ; and the tenth to go
up by Jericho. He also moved himself, to-
gether with the rest. Besides which inarched
those auxiliaries that came from the kings,
being now more in number than before : toge-
ther with a considerable number that came
to his assistance from Syria. Those also that
had been selected out of these four legions,
and sent with Mucianus to Italy, had their
places filled up out of those soldiers that
came out of Egypt with Titus : which were
two thousand men, chosen out of the armies
at Alexandria. There followed him also three
thousand drawn from those that guarded the
river Euphrates. As also there came Tibe-
rius Alexander, who was a friend of his, most
valuable both for his good will to him, and
for his prudence. He had formerly been
governor of Alexandria, but was now thought
worthy to be general of the army, under
Titus. The reason of this was, that he had
* Tlicre being no gate on the west, and only on the
west side of the court of the priests, and so no steps there ;
this was the only side that the seditious, under this John
VOL. Ifc .\OS.
■7 tif 78.
been the first who encouraged Vespasian
very lately to accept this his new dominion :
and enjoined himself to him, with great fide-
lity, when things were uncertain, and fortune
had not yet declared for him. He also fol-
lowed Titus, as a counsellor; very useful to
him in this war, both by his age, and skill in
such affairs.
CHAP. II.
TITUS MARCHES TO JERUSALEM, AND IS IN DANGER, WHILE
TAKING A VIEW OF THE CITY.— OF THE PLACE ALSO
WHERE HK PITCHED HIS CAMP.
NOW as Titus was upon his march into
the enemies' country, the auxiliaries,
that were sent by the kings, marched first :
having all the other auxiliaries with them.
After whom followed those that were to pre-
pare the roads, and measure out the camp.
Then came the commanders' baggage ; and
after that the other soldiers, who were com-
pletely armed to support them. Then came
Titus himself, having with him another select
body; and then came the pikemen. After
whom came the cavalry belonging to that
legion. All these came bofore the engines.
And after these engines came the tribunes,
and the leaders of the cohorts, with their
select bodies. After these came the ensigns,
with the eagle : and before those ensigns came
the trumpeters belonging to them. Next came
the main body of the army in their rank :
every rank six deep. The servants belonging
to every legion came after these, and before
these last their baggage. The mercenaries
came last ; and those that guarded them
brought up the rear. Now Titus, according
to the Roman usage, went in the front of the
army, after a decent manner ; and marched
through Samaria, to Gophna ; a city that had
been formerly taken by his father, and was
then garrisoned by Roman soldiers. And
when he had lodged there one night, he
marched on in the morning : and when he
had gone as far as a day's march, he pitched
his camp at that valley which the Jews, in
their own tongue, call The Valley of Thorns,
near a certain village called Gabaoth Saul •
of Gischala, could bring their engines close to the cloister*
of that court endways, though upon the floor of the court
of Israel.
3A
360
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book
which signifies the hill of Saul : being distant
rrom Jerusalem about thirty furlongs. There
it was that he chose out six hundred select
horsemen, and went to take a view of the city,
to observe what strengtli it was of, arid how
courageous the Jews were. Whether, when
they saw him, and before they came to a
direct battle, they would be affrighted, and
submit. For he had been informed, what was
really true, that the people who were fallen
under the power of the seditious and the
robbers were greatly desirous of peace : but,
being too weak to rise up agaijist the rest,
they lay still.
Now so long as he rode along the straight
road which led to the wall of the city, nobody
appeared out of the gates. But when he
went out of that road, and declined towards
the tower Psephinos, and led the band of
horsemen obliquely, an immense number of
Jews leaped out suddenly at the towers called
the Women's towers, through that gate which
was over against the monuments of queen
Helena, and intercepted his horse : and stand-
ing directly opposite to those thait still ran
along the road, hindered them from joining
those who had declined out of it. They in-
tercepted Titus also, with a few others. Now it
was here impossible for him to go forward, be-
cause all the places had trenches dug in them
from the wall, to preserve the gardens round
about; and were ful] of gardens obliquely
situate, and of many hedges. And to return
back to his own men he saw was also impos-
sible ; by reason of the multitude of the ene-
mies that lay between them. Many of whom
did not so much as know that the *king was
in any danger; but supposed him still among
them. So he perceived that his preservation
must be wholly owing to his own courage, and
turned his horse about, and cried out aloud
to those that were about him to follow him ;
and ran with violence into the midst of his
enemies : in order to force his way through
them to his own men. And hence we may
* We may here note, that Titus is here called a king,
and Caesar by Josephus, even while he was no more than
the emperor's son, and general of the Roman army ; and
his father Vespasian was still alive. Just as the New Tes-
tament says Archelaus reigned, or was king. Matt. ii. 22,
though he were properly no more than ethnarch, as Jose-
phus assures us, Antiq. XVII. 1 1. OftheWar, II. Thus
also the Jews called the Roman emperors kings ; though
they never took that title to themselves. " We have no
principally learn that both the success of
wars, and the dangers that kings are in, are
under the providence of God. For while
such a number of darts were thrown at Titus,
when he had neither his head-piece on, nor
his breast-plate : (for he went out not to fight,
but to view the city :) none of them touched
his body, hut went aside, without hurting him.
As if all of them missed him on purpose; and
only made a noise as they passed by him. So
he diverted those perpetually with his sword
that came on his side, and overturned many
of those that directly met him ; and made his
horse ride over those that were overthrown.
The enemy, indeed, made a shout at the bold-
ness of Caesar, and exhorted one another to
rush upon him. Yet did those against whom
he marched flee away, and go off from him
in great numbers. While those that were in
the same danger kept up close to him, though
they were wounded botli on their backs, and
on their sides. For they had each of them
but this one hope of escaping, if they could
assist Titus in opening himself a way, that he
might not be encompassed round by his ene-
mies, before he got away from them. Now
there were two of those that were with him,
but at some distance : the one of which the
enemy compassed round, and slew him with
their darts, and his horse also. But the other
they slew, as he leaped down from his horse,
and carried off his horse with them. But
Titus escaped with the rest, and came safe to
the camp. So this success of the Jews' first
attack raised their minds, and gave them an
ill-grounded hope : and this short inclination
of fortune on their side made them very cou-
rageous for the future.
But now, as soon as that legion that had
been at Emmaus was joined to Caesar at
night, he removed thence, when it was day,
and came to a place called Scopus : from
whence the city began already to be seen,
and a plain view might be taken of the great
temple. Accordingly this place, on the north
king but Caesar," John xix. 15. " Submit to the king as
supreme," 1 Pet. ii. 13, 17. Which is also the language
of the Apostolical Constitutions, II. 11,34; IV. 13; V.
19; VI. 2, 25; VII. 16; VIII. 2, 13. And elsewhere
in the New Testament, John xix. 15 ; Matt. x. 18. — xvii.
25 ; 1 Tim. ii. 2, and in Josephus also. Though I sus-
pect Josephus particularly esteemed Titus as joint king
with his father, ever since his divine dreams that declared
them both such, III. 8.
BOOK V.J
WARS OF THE JEWS.
36J
quarter of the city, and joining thereto, was
a plain, and very properly named Scopus, or
the prospect : and was no more than seven
furlongs distant from it. And here it was that
Titus ordered a camp to be fortified for two
legions, that were to be together : but ordered
another camp to be fortified at three furlongs
farther distance behind tiicm, for the fifth
legion. For he thought that by marching in
the night they might be tired, and might de-
serve to be covered from the enemy, and with
less fear might fortify themselves. And as
these were now beginning to build, the tenth
legion, which came through Jericho, was al-
ready come to the place, where a certain
party of armed men had formerly lain, to guard
that pass into the city, and had been *taken
before by Vespasian. These legions had
orders to encamp at the mount called the
fmount of Olives; which Hes over against the
city, on the east side, and is parted from it
by a deep valley, interposed between them,
which is named Cedron.
Now when hitherto the several parties in
the city had been dashing one against another
perpetually, this foreign war, now suddenly
come upon them after a violent manner, put
the first stop to their contentions one against
another. And as the seditious now saw, with
astonishment, the Romans pitching three
several camps, they began to think of an
awkward sort of concord : and said one to
another, " What do we do here ? and what do
we mean, when we suffer three fortified walls
to be built, to coop us in, that we shall not be
able to breathe freely; while the enemy is
securely building a kind of city in opposition
to us: and while we sit still, within our own
walls, and become spectators only of what
they are doing, with our hands idle, and our
armour laid by; as if they were about some-
what that was for our good and advantage.
We are, it seems, only courageous against
ourselves; while the Romans are likely to
gain the city without bloodshed, by our
sedition." Thus did they encourage one
another, when they were gotten together;
and took their armour immediately, and ran
out upon the tenth legion, and fell upon the
* See Book IV. chitp. 9.
t This situation of the mount of Olives, on the east of
Jerusalem, at about the .listance of five or six furlongs,
with the vallev of Cedron interposed between the moon-
Romans with great eagerness, and with a
prodigious shout, as they were fortifying their
camp. These Romans were caught in differ-
ent parties, and this in order to perform their
several works ; and on that account had, in
great measure, laid aside their arms. For
they thought the Jews would not have ven-
tured to make a sally upon them : and had
they been disposed so to do, they supposed
their sedition would have distracted them.
So they were put into disorder unexpectedly:
when some of them left the works they were
about, and immediately marched off"; while
many ran to their arms, but were smitten
and slain before they could turn back upon
the enemy. The Jews became still more and
more in number, as encouraged by the good
success of those that first made the attack
And while they had such good fortune, they
seemed both to themselves, and to the enemy,
to be many more than they really were. The
disorderly way of their fighting at first put
the Romans also to a stand : who had been
constantly used to fight skilfully, in good
order, and with keeping their ranks, and
obeying the orders that were given them.
For which reason the Romans were caught
unexpectedly, and were obliged to give way
to the assaults that were made upon them
Now when these Romans were overtaken, and
turned back upon the Jews, they put a stop
to their career; yet when they did not take
care enough of themselves, through the vehe-
mency of their pursuit, they were wounded
by them. But as still more Jews and more
sallied out of the city, the Romans were at
length brought into confusion, and put to
flight, and ran away from their camp. Nay,
things looked as though the entire legion
would have been in danger, unless Titus had
been informed of the case they were in, and
had sent them succours immediately. So he
reproached them for their cowardice ; and
brought those back that were running away ;
and fell himself upon the Jews on their flank,
with those select troops that were with him ;
and slew a considerable number, and wound-
ed more of them : and put them all to flight,
and made them run away hastily down the
tain and the city, are things well known both in the Old
and New Testament, in Josephus elsewhere, and in all
the descriptions of Palestine,
3 A2
362
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book v.
valley. Now as these Jews suffered greatly
in the declivity of the valley, so when they
were gotten over it, they turned about, and
stood over against the Romans, having the
valley between them, and there fought with
them. Thus did they continue the fight till
noon; but when it was already a little after
noon, Titus set those that came to the assist-
ance of the Romans with him, and those that
belonged to the cohorts, to prevent the Jews
from making any more sallies : and then sent
the rest of the legion to the upper part of the
mountain, to fortify their camp.
This march of the Romans seemed to the
Jews to be a flight. And as the watchman,
who was placed upon the wall, gave a signal,
by shaking his garment, there came out a
fresh multitude of Jews, and that with such
mighty violence, that one might compare it
to the running of the most terrible wild
beasts. To say the truth, none of those that
opposed them could sustain the fury with
which they made their attacks: but, as if
they had been cast out of an engine, they
brake the enemies' ranks to pieces, who
were put to flight, and ran away to the moun-
tain : none but Titus himself, and a kw others
with him, being left in the midst of the ac-
clivity. Now these others, who were his
fi'iends, despised the danger they were in,
and were ashamed to leave their general,
earnestly exhorting him, " To give way to
these Jews, that are fond of dying ; and not
to run into such dangers before those that
ought to stay before him, to consider what
his fortune was: and not, by supplying the
place of a common soldier, to venture to turn
back upon the enemy so suddenly. And this
because he was a general in the war, and lord
of the habitable earth, on whose preservation
the public aflfairs do all depend." These
persuasions Titus seemed not so much as to
hear : but opposed those that ran upon him,
and smote them on the face; and when he
had forced them to go back, he slew them.
He also fell upon great numbers as they
marched down the hill, and thrust them for-
ward. While those men were so amazed at
his coui'age, and his strength, that they could
not flee directly to the city, but declined from
him on both sides: and pressed after those
that fled up the hill. Yet did he still fall
upon their flank, and put a stop to their fury.
In the mean time a disorder and a terror fell
again upon those that were fortifying their
camp, at the top of the hill : upon their seeing
those beneath them running away. Insomuch
that the whole legion was dispersed : while
they thought that the sallies of the Jews upon
them were plainly insupportable, and that
Titus was himself put to flight. Because they
took it for granted, that if he had staid, the
rest would never have fled for it. Thus were
they encompassed on every side, by a kind of
panic fear: and some dispersed themselves
one way, and some another: till certain of
them saw their general in the very midst of
an action: and being under great concern for
him, they loudly proclaimed the danger he
was in to the entire legion. And now shame
made them turn back : and they reproached
one another, that they did worse than run
away, by deserting Caesar. So they used
their utmost force against the Jews ; and de-
clining from the straight declivity, they drove
them on heaps into the bottom of the valley.
Then did the Jews turn about, and fight
them : but as they were themselves retiring.
And now because the Romans had the ad-
vantage of the ground, and were above the
Jews, they drove them all into the valley.
Titus also pressed upon those that were
near; and sent the legion again to fortify their
camp. While he, and those that were with
him before, opposed the enemy; and kept
them from doing farther mischief. Insomuch,
that if I may be allowed neither to add any
thing out of flattery, nor to diminish any thing
out of envy, but to speak the plain truth,
Cajsar did twice deliver that entire legion,
when it was in jeopardy; and gave them a
quiet opportunity of fortifying their camp.
. CHAP. III.
OF THE REVIVAL OF THE SEDITIOUS IN JERUSALEM ; THE
SNARES CONTRIVED FOR THE ROMANS ; AND THE MEANS
USED BY TITUS TO RESTRAIN THE UNGOVERNABLE RASH-
NESS OF HIS TROOrS.
AS now the war abroad ceased for a while,
the sedition within was revived. And
on the feast of unleavened bread, which was
now come; it being the fourteenth day ot
the month Xanthicus, or Nisan,* when it is
* A. D. 70.
BOOK v.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
363
I
believed the Jews were first freed from the
Egyptians ; Eleazar and his party opened the
gates of the inmost court of the temple, and
admitted *such of the people as were desirous
to worship God into it. But John made use
of this festival as a cloak for his treacherous
designs, and armed the most inconsiderable
of his own party, the greater part of which
were not purified, with weapons concealed
under their garments, and sent them with
great zeal into the temple, in order to seize
upon it. Accordingly these men, when they
were gotten in, threw their garments away,
and presently appeared in their armour. Upon
which there was a very great disorder and
disturbance about the holy house : while the
people, who had no concern in the sedition,
supposed that this assault was made against
all, without distinction: as the zealots thought
it was made against themselves only. So these
left off guarding the gates any longer, and
leaped down from their battlements, before
they came to an engagement, and fled away
into the subterranean caverns of the temple :
while the people that stood trembling at the
. altar, and about the holy house, were rolled
on heaps together, and trampled upon ; and
were beaten both with wooden and with iron
weapons, without mercy. Such also as had
differences with others slew many persons
that were quiet, out of their own private
enmity and hatred ; as if they were opposite
to the tseditious. And all those that had
formerly offended any of these plotters were
now ktiown, and led away to the slaughter.
And when they had done abundance of horrid
mischief to the guiltless, they granted a truce
to the guilty ; and let those go off that came
out of the caverns. These followers of John
■* Here we see the true occasion of these vast numbers
of Jews that were in Jerusalem, during this siege by
Titus, and perished therein ; that the siege began at the
I'lMst of the passover : when such prodigious multitudes of
lews, and proselytes of the gates, were come from all
parts of Judea, and from other countries, in order to cele-
brate that great festival. See the note on VI. 9. Tacitus
liimself informs us, that the number of men, women, and
children, in Jerusalem, when it was besieged by the Ro-
mans, ;is he had been informed, was 000,000. This in-
formation must have been taken from the Romans : for
Josephus never mentions the numbers of those that were
fiesieged. Only he lets us know that of the vulgar, car-
ried dead out of the gates, and buried at the public charges,
was the like number of 000,000. Chap. 13. However,
when Cestius Gallus came first to the siege, that sum in
Tacitus is no way disagreeable to Josephus's history :
also did now seize upon this inner temple,
and upon all the warlike engines therein;
and then ventured to oppose Simon. And
thus that sedition, which had been divided
into three factions, was now reduced to two.
But Titus, intending to pitch his camp
nearer to the city than Scopus, placed as
many of his. choice horsemen and footmen as
he thought sufficient opposite to the Jews, to
prevent their sallying out upon them; while
he gave orders for the whole army to level
the distance, as far as the wall of the city.J
So they threw down all the hedges and walls,
which the inhabitants had made about their
gardens and groves of trees; and cut down
all the fruit-trees, that lay between them and
the Mall of the city; and filled up all the hol-
low places, and the chasms ; and demolished
the rocky precipices with iron instruments:
and thereby made all the place level from
Scopus to l^Ierod's monuments, which adjoin-
ed to the pool, called the Serpent's Pool.
Now at this very time, the Jews contrived
the following stratagem against the Romans.
The bolder sort of the seditious went out at
the towers, called the Women's towers, as if
they had been ejected out of the city by those
who were for peace : and rambled about as
if they were afraid of being assaulted by the
Romans, and were in fear of one another:
while those that stood upon the wall, and
seemed to be of the people's side, cried out
aloud for peace; and entreated they might
have security for their liveg given them ; and
called for the Romans : promising to open the
gates to them. And as they cried out after
tliat manner, they threw stones at their own
people, as though they Avould drive them
away from the gates. These also pretended
though they were become much more numerous, when
Titus encompassed the city at the Passover. As to the
number that perished, during this siege, Josephus assures
us, as we shall see hereafter, they were 1,100,000; be-
sides 97,000 captives. But Tacitus's History of the last
part of this siege is not now extant. So we cannot com-
pare his parallel numbers with those in Josephus.
t John's party was now so culled, as distinct from the
zealots under Eleazar.
I Devastation is the usual companion of war. Such
destruction of private property is, in such cases, thought
justifiable from necessity ; and hiis accordingly ever been
practised. The progress of an army over uneven ground
being impossible, it has been usual to level the ground,
so as to allow an uninterrupted and easy passage. Vid.
Oriental Customs, Vol. 2. No. 1078. B
364
WARS OF THE JEWS.
fsoOK V.
that they were excluded by force ; and that
they petitioned those that were within to let
them in : and rushing upon the Romans
perpetually, with violence, they then came
back, and seemed to be in great disorder.
Now the Roman soldiers thought this cunning
stratagem of theirs was to be believed real :
and thinking they had the one party under
their power, and could punish them as they
pleased : and hoping that the other party
would open their gates to them, set to the
execution of their designs accordingly. But
for Titus himself, he had this surprising con-
duct of the Jews in suspicion. For whereas
he had invited them to come to terms of
accommodation by Josephus, but one day
before, he could then receive no civil an-
swer from them. So he ordered the soldiers
to stay where they were. However some of
them that were set in front of the works
prevented him : and catching up their arms,
ran to the gates. Whereupon those that
seemed to have been ejected at the first
retired : but as soon as the soldiers were
gotten between the towers on each side of the
gate, the Jews ran out, and encompassed
round, and fell upon them behind : while that
multitude, which stood upon the wall,
threw a heap of stones and darts of all kinds
at them. Insomuch that they slew a con-
siderable number, and wounded many more.
For it was not easy for the Romans to escape;
by reason those behind them pressed them
forward. Besides which, the shame they
were under for being mistaken, and the
fear they were in of their commanders en-
gaged them to persevere in their mistake,
whereupon they fought with their spears
a great while, and received many blows
from the Jews: though indeed they gave
them as many blows again ; and at last
repelled those that had encompassed them
about. While the Jews pursued them, as
they retired; and followed them, and threw
darts at them as far as the monument of
queen Helena.
After this these Jews, without keeping any
decorum, grew insolent upon their good for-
tune, and jested upon the Romans for being
deluded by the trick they had put upon them :
and making a noise with beating their shields,
leaped forgladness, and made joyful exclama-
tions. In the mean time these soldiers were
received with threatenings by their officers ;
and with indignation by Caesar himself, who
spake to them thus : " These Jews, who are
only conducted by their madness, do every
thing with care and circumspection : they
contrive stratagems, and lay ambushes ; and
fortune gives success to their stratagems, be-
cause they are obedient, and preserve their
good will and fidelity to one another. While
the Romans, to whom fortune uses to be ever
subservient, by reason of their good order,
and ready submission to their commanders,
have now had ill success, by their contrary
behaviour : and by not being able to restrain
their hands from action, they had been caught:
and that which is the most to their reproach,
they have gone on without their commanders
in the very presence of Cajsar. Truly, the
laws of war cannot but groan heavily; as
will my father also himself, when he shall be
informed of this wound that hath been given
us : since he, who is grown old in wars, did
never make so great a mistake. Our laws of
war do also ever inflict capital punishment on
those that in the least break into good order :
while at this time they liave seen an entire
army run into disorder. However, those that
have been so insolent shall be made immedi-
ately sensible, that even they who conquer
among the Romans, without orders for fighting,
are to be under disgrace." When Titus had
enlarged upon this matter before the com-
manders, it appeared evident that he would
execute the law against all those that were
concerned. So these soldiers were in despair ;
as expecting to be put to death, and that
justly, and quickly. However, the other
legions came round about Titus, and intreated
his favour to these their fellow soldiers ;
and made supplication to him, that he would
pardon the rashness of a few, on account of
the better obedience of all the rest: and
promised for them that they should make
amends for their present fault, by their
more virtuous behaviour for the time to
come.
So Cajsar complied with their desires, and
with what prudence dictated to him also. For
he esteemed it fit to punish single persons by
real executions ; but that the punishment of
great multitudes should proceed no farther
than reproofs. So he was reconciled to the
soldiers, but gave them a special charge to
BOOK v.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
36d
I
act more wisely for the future. And he con-
sidered with himself, how he might be even
with the Jews for their stratagem. And now,
wfien the space between the Romans and the
wall had been levelled, which was done in
four days; and as he was desirous to bring
the baggage of the army, with the rest of the
multitude that followed him, safely to the
camp ; he set the strongest part of his army
over against that wall which lay on the north
quarter of the city, and over against tlie
western part of it ; and made his army seven
deep, with the footmen placed before them,
and the horsemen behind them, each of the
last in three ranks : while the archers stood
in the midst in seven ranks. And now as the
Jews were prohibited by so great a body of
men from making sallies upon the Romans,
both the beasts that carried the burthens, and
belonged to the three legions, and the rest of
the multitude, marched on without any fear.
But as for Titus himself, he was but about two
furlongs distant from the wall ; at that part of
it where was the *corner, and over against
that tower which was called Psephinus: at
which tower the compass of the wall be-
longing to the north bended and extended
itself over against the west. But the other
part of the army fortified itself at the tower
called Hippicus ; and was distant, in like
manner, but two furlongs from the city. How-
ever the tenth legion continued in its own
place, upon the mount of Olives.
CHAP. IV.
A DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM.
THE city of Jerusalem was fortified with
three walls, on such parts as were not
encompassed with unpassable valleys. For
in such places it had but one wall. The city
was built upon two hills, which are opposite
to one another, and have a valley to divide
them asunder. At which valley the corres-
ponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of
these hills, that which contains the upper city
is much higher, and in length more direct.
Accordingly it was called the citadel, by king
David. He was the father of that Solomon
who built this temple at the first. But it is
* Perhaj«, says Dr. Hudson, here was that gate, called
by us called the Upper Market-place. But
the other hill, which was called Acra, and
sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a
moon, when she is horned. Over against this
there was a third hill, but naturally lower
than Acra; and parted formerly from the
other by a broad valley. However, in those
limes, when the Asmoneans reigned, they
filled up that valley with earth ; and had a
mind to join the city to the temple. They
then took off part of the height of Acra, and
reduced it to be of less elevation than it was
before, that the temple might be superior to
it. Now the valley of the cheesemongers, as
it was called, and was that which we told you
before distinguished the hill of the upper city
from that of the lower, extended as far as
Siloam. For that is the name of a fountain
which hath sweet water in it, and this in great
plenty also. But on the outsides these hills
are surrounded by deep valleys; and, by
reason of the precipices to them belonging on
both sides, they are every where unpassable.
Now of these three walls, the old one was
hard to be taken, both by reason of the val-
leys, and of that hill on which it was built,
and which was above them. But besides
that great advantage, as to the place where
they were situate, it was also built verystrong:
because David and Solomon, and the follow-
ing kings, were very zealous about this work.
Now that wall began on the north, at the
tower called Hippicus, and extended as far
as the Xistus, a place so called; and then
joining to the council-house, ended at the
west cloister of the temple. But if we go the
other way westward, it began at the same
place; and extended through a place called
Bethso, to the gate of the Essenes ; and after
that it went southward, having its bending
above the fountain Siloam: where it also
bends again towards the east at Solomon's
pool; and reaches as far as a certain place
which they called Ophlas, where it was joined
to the eastern cloister of the temple. The
second wall took its begiiming from that gate
which they called Gennath, which belonged
to the first wall. It only encompassed the
northern quarter of the city, and reached as
far as the tower Antonia. The beginning of
the third wall was at the tower Hippicus :
the gate of the comer, in 2 Chron. xxvi. 9. See Chap. 4.
366
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book v.
whence it reached as far as the north quarter
of the city, and the tower Psephinus; and
then was so far extended till it came over
against the monument of Helena, queen of
Adiabene, the *mother of Izates. It then
extended farther to a great length ; and
passed by the sepulchral caverns of the
kings, and bent again at the tower of the
corner, at the monument of the ffuHer : and
joined to the old wall at the valley called the
Valley of Cedron. It was Agrippa who en-
compassed the parts added to the old city
with this wall: which had been all naked be-
fore. For as the city grew more populous, it
gradually crept beyond its old limits 4 and
those parts of it that stood northward of the
temple, and joined that hill to the city, made
it considerably larger, and occasioned that
hill, which is in number the fourth, and is
called IjBezetha, to be inhabited also. It lies
over against the tower Antonia: but is divided
from it by a deep valley, which was dug on
purpose : and that in order to hinder the
foundations of the tower of Antonia from
joining to this hill, and thereby affording an
opportunity for getting to it with ease, and
hindering the security that arose from its su-
perior elevation. For which reason also that
depth of the ditch made the elevation of the
towers more remarkable. This new built
part of the city was called Bezetha, in our
own language: which, if interpreted in the
Grecian language, may be called the New
City. Since, therefore, its inhabitants stood
in need of a covering, the father of the pre-
sent king, and of the same name with him,
Agrippa, began that wall we spoke of But
§he left ofT building it when he had only laid
the foundations; out of the fear he was in of
Claudius Caesar ; lest he should suspect that
so strong a wall was built in order to make
some innovation in pubhc affairs. For the
city could no way have been taken, if that
wall had been finished in the manner it was
begun. As its parts were connected together
by stones twenty cubits long, and ten cubits
broad : which could never have been either
easily undermined by any iron tools, or sha-
ken by any engines. The wall was, how-
* See Antiquities, XX. 2.
t See 2 Kings xviii. 17. Isaiah vii. 3.
J Cities were usually bounded by walls ; but the in-
crease of their population rendering it impossible for the
ever, ten cubits wide ; and it would probably
have had a height greater than that, had not
his zeal who began it been hindered from ex-
erting itself After this, it was erected with
great diligence by the Jews, as high as
twenty cubits; above which it had battle-
ments of two cubits ; and turrets of three
cubits' altitude. Insomuch that the entire
altitude extended as far as twenty-five cu-
bits.
Now the towers that were upon it were
twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits
in height. They were square, and solid, as
was the wall itself Wherein the niceness of
the joints, and the beauty of the stones, were
no way inferior to those of the holy house it-
self Above this solid altitude of the towers,
which was twenty cubits, there were rooms of
great magnificence; and over them upper
rooms, and cisterns to receive rain-water.
They were many in number : and the steps
by which you ascended up to them were
every one broad. Of these towers then the
third wall had ninety ; and the spaces be-
tween them were each two hundred cubits.
But in the middle wall were forty towers;
and the old wall was parted into sixty ; while
the compass of the city was thirty-three fur-
longs. Now the third wall was all of it won-
derful. Yet was the tower Psephinus elevated
above it at the north-west corner : and there
Titus pitched his own tent. For being seventy
cubits high, it both afforded a prospect of
Arabia, at sun-rising, as well as of the utmost
limits of the Hebrew possessions at the sea
westward. Moreover it was an octagon, and
over against it was the tower Hippicus ; and
hard by it two others were erected by king
Herod, in the old wall. These were for large-
ness, beauty, and strength, beyond all that
were in the habitable earth. For besides the
magnanimity of his nature, and his magnifi-
cence towards the city on other occasions, he
built these after an extraordinary manner, to
gratify his own private affections : and dedi-
cated these towers to the memory of those
three persons who had been the dearest to
him, viz. his brother, his friend, and his wife.
This wife he had slain, out of his love and
inhabitants to be accommodated within them, gave rise to
suburbs and liberties. B.
II Bethesda. See John v. 2.
§ See Antiquities, XIX. 7.
BOOK v.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
367
jealousy, as we have already *relate(]. The
other two he lost in war, as tliey were coura-
geously fighting. Hippicus, so named from
his friend, was square ; its length and breadth
were each twenty-five cubits, and its height
thirty ; and it had no vacuity in it. Over this
solid building, which was composed of great
stones united together, there was a reservoir
twenty cubits deep. Over which there was
a house of two stories, whose height was
twenty-five cubits, and divided into several
parts : and over this were battlements, of two
cubits; and turrets all round of three cubits
high. Insomuch that the entire height added
together amounted to eighty cubits. The
second tower, which he named from his bro-
ther Phasaelus, had its breadth and its height
equal; each of forty cubits. Over which was
its solid height of forty cubits : and above this
a cloister went round about, whose height
was ten cubits : and it was covered from ene-
mies by breastworks and bulwarks. There
was also buiU over that cloister another tower,
parted into magnificent rooms, and a place
for bathing. So that this tower wanted no-
thing that might make it appear to be a royal
palace. It was also adorned with battlements
and turrets, more than was the foregoing.
And the entire altitude was about ninety
cubits. The appearance of it resembled the
lower of Pharos, which exhibited a fire to
such as sailed to Alexandria; but was much
larger than it in compass. This was now
converted to a house, wherein Simon exer-
cised his tyrannical authority. The third
tower was \iariamne; for that was his queen's
name. It was solid as high as twenty cubits.
Its breadth and its length were twenty cubits;
and were equal to each other. Its upper
buildings were more magnificent, and had
greater variety, than the other towers had.
For the king thought it most proper for him
to adorn that which was denominated from
his wife, better than those denominated from
men: as those were built stronger than this
that bore his wife's name. The entire height
of this tower was fifty-five cubits.
Now as these towers were so very high,
they appeared much taller by the place on
* Sec Book I. chap. 22.
t These dove-coiirls in Josephns, bnilt by Herod the
Great, are, in the opinion of Rehmd, the very same that
are mentioned by the Talraudists, and named by them
VOL. n. — NOS. 79 & 80.
which they stood. For that very old wall
wherein they were was bnilt on a high hill ;
and was itself a kind of elevation that was
still thirty cubits taller. Over whicii were
the towers situate, and thereby were made
much higher to appearance. The largeness
also of the stones was wonderful. For they
were not made of common small stones, nor
of such larger ones only as men could carry;
but they were made of white marble, cut out
of the rock. Each stone was twenty cubits
in length, ten in breadth, and five in depth.
They were so exactly united to one another,
that each tower looked like one entire rock
of stone, so growing naturally; and afterward
cut by the hands of the artificers into their
present shape : so little did their joints and
connection appear. Now as these towers
were themselves on the north side of the wall,
the king had a palace inwardly thereto ad-
joined, which exceeds all my ability to de-
scribe it. For it was so very curious as to
want no cost nor skill in its construction ; but
was entirely walled about to the height of
thirty cubits; and was adorned with towers
at equal distances, and with large bed-cham-
bers, each of which would contain beds for a
hundred guests. The variety of the stones
used in these is not to be expressed : for a
large quantity of those that were rare of that
kind was collected together. Their roofs
were also wonderAd; both for the length of
the beams, and the splendour of their orna-
ments. The number of the rooms was also
very great, and the variety of the figures that
were about them was prodigious. Their fur-
niture was complete; and the greatest part
of the vessels that were in them was of silver
and gold. There were besides many porti-
coes one beyond another, round about ; and
in each of those porticoes curious pillars.
Yet were all the courts that were exposed to
the air every where green. There were also
several groves of trees, and long walks
through them, with deep canals and cisterns,
that in several parts were filled with brazen
statues, through which the water ran out.
There were likewise many fdove-courts of
tame pigeons about the canals. But indeed
Herod's dove-courts. Nor is there any reason to suppose
otherwise : since in both accounts they were expressly
tame pigeons which were kept in them.
3B
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book v.
it is not possible to give a complete descrip-
tion of these palaces ; and the very remem-
brance of them is a torment to one, as putting
one in mind what vastly rich buildings that
tire which was kindled by the robbers hath
consumed. For these were not burnt by the
Romans, but by these internal plotters, as we
have *already related, in the beginning of
their rebellion. That fire began at the tower
of Antonia, and went on to the palaces, and
consumed the upper parts of the three towers
themselves.
CHAP. V.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE.
NOW the temple, as 1 have talready said,
was built upon a strong hill. At first
the plain at the top was hardly sufficient for
tiie holy house, and the altar : for the ground
about it was very uneven, and like a preci-
pice. But when king Solomon, who was the
person that erected the temple, built a wall
to it, on its east side, there was then added
one cloister, founded on a bank cast up for
it, and on the other parts the holy house stood
naked. But in future ages the people Jadded
new banks; and the hill became a larger
plain. They then brake down the wall on
the north side, and took in as much as sufficed
afterward for the compass of the entire tem-
ple. And when they had built walls on three
sides of the temple round about, from the
bottom of the hill ; and had performed a work
that was greater than could be hoped for;
(in which work long ages were spent by them;
as well as all their sacred treasures were ex-
hausted ; which were still replenished by
those tributes that were sent to God from the
whole habitable earth ;) they then encom-
passed their upper courts with cloisters, as
well as they afterward did the lowest court of
the temple. Tlie lowest part of this was
* See Book II. chap. 17.
t See Book IV. chap. 5.
I See the description of the temples hereto belonging,
Chap. XV. But note, that what Josephus here says of the
original scantiness of this mount Moriah ; that it was quite
too little for the temple ; and that, at first, it held only
one cloister, or court of Solomon's buihling; and that the
foundations were forced to be added long afterwards by
degrees, to render it capable of the cloisters for the other
courts, &c. is without all foundation in the scriptures :
erected to the height of three hundred cubits,
and in some places more. Yet did not the
entire depth of the foundations appear : for
they brought earth, and filled up the valleys;
as being desirous to make them on a level
with the narrow streets of the city. Wherein
they made use of stones of forty cubits in mag-
nitude. For the groat plenty of money they
then had, and the liberality of the people,
made this attempt of theirs to succeed to "an
incredible degree. And what could not be
so much as hoped for, as ever to be accom-
plished, was by perseverance, and length of
time, brought to perfection.
Now the works that Avere above these
foundations were not unworthy of such foun-
dations. For all the cloisters were Rouble :
and the pillars to them belonging were twenty-
five cubits in height, and supported the
cloisters. These pillars were each of one
entire block of white marble. And the roofs
were adorned with cedar, curiously graven.
The natural magnificence, and excellent po-
lish, and the harmony of the joints in these
cloisters, aflforded a prospect that was very
remarkable. Nor was it on the outside
adorned w ith any work of the painter or en-
graver. The cloisters of the exterior court
were in breadth thirty cubits ; while the en-
tire compass of it was by measure six fur-
longs; including the tower of Antonia. Those
entire courts that were exposed to the air
were laid with stones of all sorts. When you go
through these first cloisters, unto the second
court of the temple, there was a partition
made of stone, all round ; whose height was
three cubits, and its construction was very
elegant. Upon it stood pillars, at equal dis-
tances from one another, declaring the law of
purity, some in Greek and some in Roman
letters ; that no foreigner should go within
that sanctuary. For that second court of the
temple was called the sanctuary: and was
ascended to by fourteen steps from the first
and not at all confirmed by his exacter account in the
Antiquities. All that is or can be true here is, that when
the court of the Gentiles was long afterward to be en-
compassed with cloisters, the southern foundation for
those cloisters was found not to be large or firm enough,
and was raised ; and that additional foundation supported
by great pillars, and arches under ground : which Jose-
phus speaks of elsewhere, Anti(|. XV. 11. and which Mr
Maundrel saw, and describes, page 100, as extant under
ground at this day.
BOOK V.J
WARS OF THE JEWS.
369
court. This court was four square ; and had
a wall about it peculiar to itself. The height
of its buildings, although it were *on the
outside forty cubits, was hidden by the steps ;
and on the inside that height was but twenty-
five cubits. For it being built over against a
higher part of the hill with steps, it was no
farther to be entirely discerned within ; being
covered by the hill itself. Beyond those
fourteen steps there was the distance of ten
cubits ; this was all plain. Whence there
were other steps, each of five cubits, that led
to the gates : w hich gates on the north and
south sides were eight; on each of those sides
four; and of necessity two on the east. For
since there was a partition built for the wo-
men on that side, as the proper place wherein
they were to worship, there was a necessity
of a second gate for them. This gate was
cut out of its wall over against the first gate.
There was also on the other side one southern,
and one northern gate ; through which was a
passage into the court of the women. For as
to the other gates the women were not allowed
to pass through them. Nor when they went
through their own gate could they go beyond
their own wall. This place was allotted to
the women of our own country, and of other
countries, provided they were of the same
nation, and that equally. The western part
of this court had no gate at all; but the wall
was built entire on that side. But then the
cloisters which were betwixt the gates ex-
tended from the wall inward, before the
chambers. For they were supported by very
fine and large pillars. These cloisters were
single ; and, excepting their magnitude,
were no way inferior to those of the lower
court.
Now nine of these gates were on every side
covered over with gold and silver: as were the
jambs of their doors, and their lintels. But
there was one gale that was without the
* What Josephus seems here to mean is this, that these
pillars, supporting the cloisters in the second court, had
their foundations or lowest parts as deep as the floor of
the first or lowest court ; but that so far of those lowest
parts as were equal to the elevation of the upper floor
above the lowe-^t were, and must be hidden, on the inside
by the ground or rock itsolf, on which that upper court
was built. So that 40 cubits visible below, were reduced
to 25 visible above : and implies the difference of their
heights to be 15 cubits. The main difficulty lies here,
how 14 or 15 steps should give an ascent of 15 cubits :
inward court of the holy house, which was of
Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those
that were only covered over with silver and
gold. Each gate had two doors ; whose height
was severally thirty cubits, and their breadth
fifteen. However they had large spaces
within of thirty cubits, and had on each side
rooms, and those both in breadth and in length
built like towers; and their height wai about
forty cubits. Two pillars did also support
those rooms : and were in circumference
twelve cubits. Now the magnitudes of the
other gates were equal one to another ; but
that over the Corinthian gate, which opened
on the east, over against the gate of the holy
house itself, was much larger. For its height
was fifty cubits, and its doors were forty
cubits ; and it was adorned after a most costly
maimer, as having much richer and thicker
plates of silver and gold upon them than the
other. These nine gates had that silver and
gold poured upon them by fAlexander, the
father of Tiberius. Now there were fifteen
steps, which led from the wall of the court of
the women to this greater gate : whereas those
that led thither from the other gates were five
steps shorter.
As to the holy house itself, which was placed
in the midst of the inmost court, that most
sacred part of the temple, it was ascended to
by twelve steps : and in front its height
and its breadth were equal, each being a
Jhundred cubits : though it was behind forty
cubits narrower. For on its front it had what
may be styled shoulders on each side, that
extended twenty cubits farther. Its first gate
was seventy cubits high, and twenty-five
cubits broad, but this gate had no doors :
for it represented the universal visibility of
heaven, and that it catuiot be excluded from
any place. Its front was covered with gold
all over ; and through it the first part of the
house that was more inward, did all of it
half a cubit seeming sufficient for a single step. Possibly
there were 14 or 13 steps at the partition wall, and 14 or
15 more thence into the court itself : which would bring
the whole near to the just proportion. But I determine
nothing.
t Governor of Egypt, before his son Tiberius Alexander.
See Book II. chap. 15.
l The additional twenty cubits of its original height
being now fallen down, and not rebuilt. See Book V
chap. 1. and XV. 1.
3B2
370
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book v.
appear. Which, as it was very large, so did
all the parts about the more inward gate
appear to shine to tliose that saw them. But
then as tlie entire house was divided into two
parts within, it was only the first part of it
that was open to our view. Its height extended
all along to ninety cubits in height; and its
length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty.
But that gate which was at this end of the
first part of the house, was, as we have already
observed, entirely covered with gold : as was
its whole wall about it. It had also golden
vines above it : from which clusters of grapes
hung as tall as a man's height. But then this
house, as it was divided into two parts, the
inner part was lower than the appearance of
the outer: and had golden doors of fifty-five
cubits altitude and sixteen in breadth ; but
before these doors there was a veil of equal
largeness with the doors. It was a Babylonian
curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen,
and scarlet, and purple : and of a contexture
that was truly wonderful. Nor was this
mixture of colours without its mystical inter-
pretation : but was a kind of image of the
universe. For by the scarlet there seemed to
be enigmatically signified fire ; by the fine
flax, the earth ; by the blue, the air ; and by
the purple, the sea. Two of them having their
colours the foundations of this resemblance :
but the fine flax, and the purple have their
own origin for that foundation, the earth
producing the one, and the sea the other.
This curtain had also embroidered upon it all
that was mystical in the heavens, excepting
that of the twelve signs, representing living
creatures.
When any person entered into this temple,
its *floor received them. This part of the
temple, therefore, was in height sixty cubits,
and its length the same. Whereas its breadth
was but twenty cubits. But still that sixty
cubits in length was divided again ; and the
first part of it was cut off at forty cubits, and
had in it three things that w^ere very famous
among all mankind; the candlestick, the
table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense.
Now the seven lamps signified the seven
planets. For so many there were springing
* The lower part of the holy house.
t See Hebrews ix. 3
1 The appearance of the temple was very majestic ;
out of the candlestick. The twelve loaves
that were upon the table signified the circle
of the zodiac, and the year. But the altar of
incense, by its thirteen kinds of sweet smelling
spices, with which the sea replenished it,
signified that God is the possessor of all things
that are both in the unhabitable and habitable
parts of the earth ; and that they are all to
be dedicated to his use. But the inmost part
of the temple of all was of twenty cubits. This
also separated from the outer part by a veil.
In this there was nothing at all. It was
inaccessible, inviolable, and not to be seen by
any: and was called the fHoly of Holies.
Now about the sides of the lower part of the
temple there were little houses, with passages
out of one into another. There were also
entrances on each side into them, from the
gate of the temple. But the superior part of
the temple had no such little houses any
farther: because the temple was there
narrower, and forty cubits higher, and of a
smaller body than the lower parts of it. Thus
we collect that the whole height, including
the sixty cubits from the floor, amounted to
a hundred cubits.
Now the outward face of the temple in its
front wanted nothing that was likely to excite
either admiration or astonishment. For it
was covered all over with plates of gold, of
great weight : and at the first rising of the sun
reflected back a very fiery splendour, and
made those who forced themselves to look
upon it, to turn their eyes away; just as they
would have done at the sun's rays. But this
temple appeared to strangers, when they were
coming to it at a distance, like a mountain
covered with snow.J For as to those parts
of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding
white. On its top it had spikes, with sharp
points, to prevent any pollution of it by birds
sitting upon it. Of its stones some of them
were forty-five cubits in length, five in height,
and six in breadth. Before this temple
stood the altar, fifteen cubits high, and equal
both in length and breadth : each of which
dimensions was fifty cubits. The figure it was
built in was a square ; and it had corners
like horns : and the passage up to it was by
and calculated to impress strangers with reverence and
awe. An ample description of it may be found in the
ivorks of the learned Dr. Lightfoot. B.
BOOK v.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
371
an insensible acclivity. It was formed without
any iron tool, nor did any such iron tool so
much as touch it at any time. There was
also a wall of partition, about a cubit in height,
made of tine stones, and so as to be graletul
to the sight. This encompassed the holy
house, and the altar; and kept the people
that were on the outside otf from the priests.
Moreover those that had the gonorrhea, and
the leprosy, were excluded out of the city
entirely. Women also, when deemed impure
by the law, were shut out of the temple : nor
Mere they at any time allowed to go beyond
the limit before mentioned. Men also that
were not thoroughly pure were prohibited
to come into the inner court of the tem-
ple. Nay the priests themselves, that were
not pure, were prohibited to come into it
also.
Now all those of the stock of the priests
that could not minister by reason oi some
defect in their bodies came within the
partition, together with those that had no
such imperfection ; and had their share with
them, by reason of their stock: but still made
use ofnone,except their own private garments.
For nobody but he that officiated had on his
sacred garments. But then those priests that
were unblemished, went up to the altar,
clothed in fine linen. They abstained chiefly
from wine; out of this fear, lest otherwise
they should transgress some rules of their
ministration. The high-priest did also go up
with them : not always, indeed, but on the
seventh days, and new moons ; and upon the
alteration of any particular festival. When
he officiated he had on a pair of breeches,
and an inner garment of linen; together with
a blue garment round without seam, with
fringe work; and reaching to the feet. There
were also golden bells, that hung upon the
fringes; and pomegranates intermixed among
tiiem. The bells signified thunder, and the
pomegranates lightning. But that girdle that
tied the garment to the breast was embroi-
dered with five rows of various colours : of
gold, and purple, and scarlet: as also of fine
linen, and blue. With which colours, we
have already said, the veils of the temple
were embroidered. The like embroidery
• See Antiquities, I. 6.
t The court »f the Gentiles.
was upon the ephod; but the quantity of
gold therein was greater. Its figure was that
of a stomacher for the breast. There were
upon it two golden buttons, like small
shields, which buttoned the ephod to the gar-
ments. In these buttons were inclosed two very
large and very excellent sardonyxes ; having
the names of the tribes of that nation engraved
upon them. On the other part there hung
twelve stones ; three in a row one way, and
four in the other. A sardius, a topaz, and
an emerald ; a carbuncle, a jasper, and a
sapphire; an agate, an amethist, and a ligure;
an onyx, a beryl, and a chrysolite. Upon
every one of which was again engraved one
of the forementioned names of the tribes. A
mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head,
and was tied by a blue riband, about which
there was another golden crown, engraven
with the sacred name of God, consisting of
four vowels. However, the high-priest did not
wear these garments, but when he went into
the most sacred part of the temple, which he
did but once in a year: on that day when our
custom is for all of us to keep a fast-day to
God. And thus much concerning the city
and the temple. But for the custom and laws
hereto relating, we shall speak more accurate-
ly *another time. For there remain a great
many things thereto relating, which have not
been here touched upon.
Now as to the tower of Antonia, it was
situate at the corner of two cloisters of the
tcourt of the temple: of that on the west, and
that on the north. It was erected upon a rock
of fifty cubits in height, and was on a great
precipice. It was the work of king f Herod:
wherein he demonstrated his natural magna-
nimity. In the first place the rock itself was
covered over with smooth pieces of stone from
its foundation; both for ornament, and that
any one who would either try to get up, or to
go down it, might not be able to hold his feet
upon it. Next to this, and before you come
to the edifice itself, there was a wall, three
cubits high: but within that wall all the
space of the tower of Antonia was built upon,
to the height of forty cubits. The inward
parts had the largeness and form of a palace:
being parted into all kinds of rooms, and other
I See Book L cbap. 21.
372
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book
conveniences; such as courts, baths, and broad
spaces for camps : insomuch that by having
all conveniences that cities wanted, it might
seem to be composed of several cities ; but
by magnificence it seemed a palace. And as
the entire structure resembled that of a tower,
it contained also four other distinct towers,
at its four corners. Whereof the others were
but fifty cubits high : whereas that which lay
upon the south-east corner was seventy cubits:
that from whence the whole temple might be
viewed. But on the corner, where it joined
to the two cloisters of the temple, it had
passages down to them both : through which
the guards, (for there always lay in this tower
a Roman legion,) went several ways among
the cloisters, with their arms, on the Jewish
festivals, in order to watch the people, that
they might not there attempt to make any
innovations. For the temple was a fortress,
that guarded the city ; as was the tower of
Antonia a guard to the temple. And in that
tower were *the guards of those three. There
was also a peculiar fortress belonging to the
upper city, which was Herod's palace. But
for the hill Bezetha, it was divided from the
tower of Antonia, as we have already observed.
And as that hill on which the tower of Anto-
nia stood was the highest of these three, so did
it adjoin to the fnew city : and was the only
place that hindered the sight of the temple
on the north. And this shall suffice at present
to have spoken respecting the city, and the
walls about it.
CHAP. VI.
OF THE TYRANTS SIMON AND JOHN : ALSO CONCERNING
AN ACCIDENT WHICH PROVOKED TITUS TO PRESS ON THE
SIEGE.
NOW the warlike men that were in the
city, and the multitude of the seditious
that were with Simon, were ten thousand,
besides the Idumeans. Those ten thousand
had fifty commanders ; over whom this Simon
was supreme. The Idumeans that paid him
homage were five thousand, and had eight
commanders. Among those of the greatest
fame were Jacob the son of Sosas, and Simon
the son of Cathlas. John, who had seized
* These three guards that lay in the tower of Antonia
must be those that guarded the city, the temple, and the
tower of Antonia.
upon the temple, had six thousand armed
men, under twenty commanders. The zealots
also that had come over to him, and left off
their opposition, were two thousand four hun-
dred: and had the same commander that they
had formerly, Eleazar ; together with Simon
the son of Arius. Now while these factions
fought one against another, the people were
their prey on both sides. And that part of
the people which would not join with them
in their wicked practices were plundered
by both factions. Simon held the upper
city, and the great wall as far as Cedron ;
and as much of the old wall as bent from
Siloam to the east ; and which went down to
the palace of Monobazus, who was king of
the Adiabeni, beyond Euphrates. He also
held that fountain : and the area, which was
no other than the lower city. He also held
all that reached to the palace of queen Hele-
na, the mother of Monabazus. But John held
the temple, and the parts thereto adjoining,
for a great way; as also Ophla, and the valley
of Cedron. And when the parts that were
interposed between their possessions were
Jburnt by them, they left a space wherein
they might fight with each other. For this
internal sedition did not cease, even when
the Romans were encamped near their very
walls. But although they had grown wiser at
the first on set the Romans made upon them, this
lasted but a while : for they returned to their
former madness, and separated one from
another, and fought it out; and did every
thingthatthebesiegers could desire them todo.
For they never suffered any thing worse from
the Romans, than they made each other suffer.
Nor was there any misery endured by the
city, after these men's actions, that could be
esteemed new. But it was most of all unhappy
before it was overthrown. While those that
took it did it a greE.ter kindness. Fori venture
to affirm, that the sedition destroyed the city,
and the Romans destroyed the sedition :
which it was a much harder thing to do than
to destroy the walls. So that we may justly
ascribe our misfortunes to our own people,
and the just vengeance taken on them to the
Romans. As to which matter let every one
determine by the actions on both sides.
Bezetha.
See Book V,
chap. 4.
BOOK v.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
373
Now when affairs within the city were in
this posture, Titus went round the city, on
the outside, with some chosen horsemen; and
looked about for a proper place, where he
might make an impression upon tlie walls.
But he was in doubt where he could possibly
make an attack, on any side : for the place
was no way accessible where the valleys
were; and on the other side, the first wall
appeared too strong to be shaken by the en-
gines. He, therefore, thought it best to make
an assault about the monument of John, the
high-priest. For there it was that the first
fortification was lower, and the second was
not joined to it. The builders neglecting to
build the wall strong, where the new city was
not much inhabited. Here also was an easy
passage to the third wall, through which he
thought to take the upper city : and through
the tower of Antonia the temple itself. But
at this time, as he was going round about the
city, one of his friends, whose name was Ni-
canor, was wounded with a dart on his left
shoulder, as he approached, together with
Josephus, too near to the wall; and attempted
to discourse to those that were upon the wall
about terms of peace. For he was a person
known by them. On this account it was that
Caesar, as soon as he knew their vehemence,
that they would not bear even such as ap-
proached them, to persuade them to what
tended to their own preservation, was pro-
voked to press on the siege. He also, at the
same time, gave his soldiers permission to set
the suburbs on fire : and ordered that they
should bring timber together, and raise banks
against the city. And when he had divided
his army into three parts, in order to set about
those works, he placed those that shot dnrts,
and the archers, in the midst of the banks I hat
Mere then raising. Before whom he placed
those engines that threw javelins, and darls,
and stones ; that he might prevent the enemy
from sallying out upon their yorks : and
might hinder those that were upon the wall
from being able to obstruct them. So the
trees were cut down immediately, and the
suburbs left naked. But while the timber
was carrying to raise the banks, and the whole
army was earnestly engaged in ti.eir works,
* Book II. ch:i]i. 19.
t JlST^^, in the miisculine, is hetfi a rock, or large
the Jews were not quiet. And it happened
that the people of Jerusalem, who had been
hitherto plundered and murdered, were now
of good courage; and supposed they should
have a breathing time : while the others were
very busy in opposing their enemies without
the city: and that they should now be avenged
on those that had been the authors of their
miseries, in case the Romans did but get the
victory.
However, John staid behind, out of his fear
of Simon; even while his own men were
earnest in making a sally upon their enemies
without. Yet did not Simon remain inactive:
but, continuing near the place of siege, he
brought his engines of war, and disposed ot
them at due distances upon the wall; both
those which they took from *Cestius for-
merly ; and those which they got when they
seized the garrison that lay in the tower An-
tonia. But though they had these engines in
their possession, they had so little skill in
using them, that they were in a great measure
useless to them. But a few there were who
had been taught by deserters how to ust
them: which they did, though after an awk-
ward manner. So they cast stones and ar-
rows at those that were making the banks
They also ran upon them by companies, and
foueht with them. Now those that were at
work covered themselves with hurdles, spread
over their banks; and their engines were op-
posed to them when they made their excur-
sions. These engines, that all the legions had
ready prepared for them, were admirably
contrived: but still more extraordinary ones
belonged to the tenth legion. Those that
threw darts, and those that threw stones,
were more forcible, and larger than the rest ;
by which they not only repelled the excursions
of the Jews, but drove those away that Mere
upon the walls also. Now the fstones that
were cast were of the weight of a talent; and
were carried upwards of two furlongs. The
blow they gave was no way to be sustained ;
not only by those that stood fii'st in the way,
but by those that were beyond them, for a
great space. As for the Jews, they at first
watched, the coming of the stone: for it was
of a white colour; and could, therefore, not
stone, as in the name of St. Peter, and not Tlerga only ,
as Mntt. xvi. 18. John i. 42.
374
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book t.
onl^ be perceived by the great noise it made,
but could be seen also before it came, by its
brightness. Accordingly the watchmen that
sat upon the towers gave them notice when
the engine was let go, and the stone came
from it; and cried out aloud, in their own
country language, *TnE son cometh. So those
that were in its way stood ofTJ and threw them-
selves down upon the groufid. By which
means, and by their thus guarding themselves,
the stone fell down, and did them no harm.
But the Romans contrived how to prevent
that, by blacking the stone : who then could
aim at them with success, when the stone was
not discerned beforehand, as it had been till
then : and so they destroyed many of them at
one blow. Yet did not the Jews, under all
this distress, permit the Romans to raise their
banks in quiet. But they shrewdly and boldly
exerted themselves, and repelled them, both
by night and by day.
And now, upon finishing the Roman works,
the workmen measured the distance there
was from the wall, and this by lead and a line,
which they threw to it from their banks. For
they could not measure it any otherwise ; be-
cause the Jews would shoot at them, if they
came to measure it themselves. And when
they found that the engines could reach the
wall, they brought them thither. Then did
Titus set his engines at proper distances, so
much nearer to the wall, that the Jews might
not be able to repel them : and gave orders
that they should go to work. And when
* What should be the meaning of this signal, or watch-
word, when the watchmen saw a stone coming from the
engine, the son cometh ; or what mistake there is in
the reading I cannot tell. The MSS. both Greek and
Latin, all cigree in this reading. And I cannot approve
of any groundless conjectural alteration of the text from
VI02 to lOS : that not the son, or a stone, but that the ar-
row or dart cometh : as hath been made by Dr. Hudson,
and not corrected by Havercamp. Had Joaephus written
even his first edition of these books of the war in pure
Hebrew, or had the Jews then used the pure Hebrew,
at Jerusalem, the Hebrew word for a son, is so like that
for a stone, Ben and Eben, that such a correction might
have been more easily admitted. But Josephus wrote his
former edition for the use of the Jews beyond Euphrates,
and so in the Chaldee language : as he did this second
edition in the Greek language : and Bar was the Chaldee
word for son, instead of the Hebrew Ben ; and was used
not only in Chaldea, &c. but in Judea also, as the New
Testament informs us. Dio also lets us know, that the
very Romans at Rome pronounced the name of Simon, the
son of Gioras, bar Poras, for bar Gioras, as we learn from
Xiphiline, page 217. Reland takes notice, that " Many
thereupon a prodigious noise echoed round
about from three places, and that on the sud-
den; there was a great noise made by the
citizens that were within the city ; and no
less a terror fell upon the seditious them-
selves. Whereupon both sorts, seeing the
common danger they were in, contrived to
make a like defence. So those of different
factions cried out one to another, that they
acted entirely as in concert with their ene-
mies: whereas they ought, notwithstanding
God did not grant them a lasting concord, in
their present circumstances, to lay aside their
enmities one against another, and to unite
together against the Romans.f Accordingly
Simon gave those that came from the temple
leave, by proclamation, to go upon the wall.
John also himself, though he could not be-
lieve that Simon was in earnest, gave them
the same leave. So on both sides, they laid
aside their hatred, and their peculiar quar-
rels, and formed themselves into one body.
They then ran round the walls : and having a
vast number of torches with them, they threw
them at the machines, and shot darts perpe-
tually upon those that impelled those engines
which battered the wall. Nay, the bolder
sort leaped out by troops upon the hurdles
that covered the machines, and pulled them
to pieces, and fell upon those that belonged
to them, and beat them : not so much by any
skill they had, as, principally by the boldness
of their attacks. However, Titus himself still
sent assistance to those that were the hardest
will here look for a mystery ; as though the meaning
were, that the Son ofGod came now to take vengeance on
the sins of the Jewish nation." Which is, indeed, th«
truth of the fact ; but hardly what the Jews could now
mean. Unless, possibly, by way of derision of Christ's
threatenings so often made, that he would come at the
head of the Roman army for their destruction. But even
this interpretation has but a very small degree of probabi-
lity. If 1 were to make an emendation, by mere conjec-
ture, I would read nETPOS instead of Yios: though the like-
ness be not so great as in CIS. Because that is the word
used by Josephus just before, as I have already noted, on
this very occasion. While 102, an arrow, or dart, is only
a poetical word, and never used by Josephus elsewhere ;
and is, indeed, no way suitable to the occasion. This en-
gine not throwing arrows or darts, but great stones, at this
lime.
t Their internal dissensions were as ruinous to them, or
even more so, than the assaults of their foes from without.
As neither pohcy nor interest could induce them to pre-
serve or restrain harmony, this discordant spirit was evi-
dently permitted to reign among them for their destruc- ,
tion. B.
BOOK T.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
375
set; and placed both horsemen and archers
on the several sides of the engines, and
thereby beat off those tliat brought the fire to
ihern. He also thereby repelled those tliat
shot stones or darts from the towers, and then
set the engines to work in good earnest. Yet
did not the wall yield to these blows; ex-
cepting where the battering ram of the fif-
teenth legion moved the corner of a tower;
while the wall itself continued unhurt. For
the wall was not presently in the same dan-
ger with the tower; which was extant far
above it. Nor could the fall of that part of
the tower easily break down any part of the
wall itself together with it.
And now the Jews intermitted their sallies
for a while. But when they observed the
Romans dispersed all abroad at their works,
and in their several camps ; (for they thought
the Jews had retired out ot" weariness and
fear;) these all at once made a sally, at the
tower Hippicus, through ar) obscure gate;
and at the same time brought fire to burn the
works; and went boldly up to the Romans,
and to their very fortifications themselves:
where, at the cry they made, those that were
near came presently to their assistance ; and
those farther off came running after them:
and here the boldness of the Jews was too
hard for the good order of the Romans. And
as they beat those whom they first met with,
so they pressed upon those that were now
gotten together. So this fight about the ma-
chines was very hot ; while the one side tried
hard to set them on fire, and the other side to
prevent it; on both sides there was a con-
fused cry made, and many of those in the
forefront of the battle were slain. However,
the Jews were now too hard for the Romans,
by the furious assaults they made, like mad-
men ; and the fire caught hold of the works :
and both all those works, and the engines
themselves, had been in danger of being
burnt, had not many of those select soldiers
that came from Alexandria opposed them-
selves to prevent it : and had they not be-
haved with greater courage than they them-
selves supposed they could have done. For
they outj>olo:
Let US, therefore, make haste ; and instead of
affording them so much pleasure, as they ex-
pect, in getting us under their power; let us
leave them an example which shall at once
cause their astonishment at our death, and
their admiration of our fortitude."
CHAP. IX.
THE PEOPLE OF MASADA ARE PREVAILED UPON BV THE
ORATIONS OF ELEAZAR TO DE8TR0V EACH OTHER, TWO
WOMEN AND FIVE CHILDREN ONLY EXCEPTED.
NOW as Eleazar was proceeding in his
exhortation, his auditors cut him off"
short, and hastened to do the work ; as full of
an unconquerable ardour of mind, and moved
with a demoniacal fury. So they went their
ways, as one still endeavouring to be before
another ; and as thinking that this eagerness
would be a demonstration of their courage
and good conduct; if they could avoid appear-
ing in the last class. So great was the zeal
they were in to slay their wives, and children,
and themselves also. Nor, indeed, when they
came to the work itself, did their courage fail
them, as one might imagine it would have done:
but they persisted in the same resolution,
without wavering, which they had upon the
hearing of Eleazar's speech, while yet every
one of them retained the natural passion of
love to themselves, and their families: be-
cause the reasoning they went upon appeared
to them to be very just, even with regard to
those that were dearest to them. For the
husbands tenderly embraced their wives, and
took their children into their arms, and gave
the longest parting kisses to them, with tears
in their eyes. Yet at the same time did they
complete what they had resolved on ; as if
they had been executed by the hands of
strangers. And they had nothing else for
their comfort, but the necessity they were in
of doing this execution, to avoid that prospect
they had of the miseries they were to suffer
from their enemies. Nor was there at length
any one of these men found that scrupled to
act their part in this terrible execution: but
every one of them dispatched his dearest re-
lations.f Miserable men, indeed, were they !
die that we may live."'
t Dreadful, indeed, must their situation have been to
3M
448
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book VII.
whose distress forced them to slay their own
wives and children with their own hands, as
the lightest of those evils that were before
them. So they being not able to bear the
grief they were under for what they had done
any longer; and esteeming it an injury to
those they had slain, to live even the shortest
space of time after them, presently laid all
they had upon a heap, and set fire to it. They
then chose ten men by lot, out of them, to
slay all the rest. Every one of which laid
himself down by his wife and children on the
ground, and threw his arms about them, and
they offered their necks to the stroke of those
who by lot executed that melancholy office.
And when these ten had, without fear, slain
them all, they made the same rule for casting
lots for themselves ; that he whose lot it was
should first kill the other nine : and after all
should kill himself Accordingly, all these
had courage sufficient to be no way behind
one another in doing or suffering. So, for a
conclusion, the nine offered their necks to the
executioner ; and he who was the last of all
took a view of all the other dead bodies ; lest
perchance some or other among so many that
were slain should want his assistance to be
quite dispatched: and when he perceived
that they were all slain, he set fire to the palace,
and with the great force of his hand ran his
sword entirely through himself, and fell down
dead near his own relations. So these people
died with this intention, that they would leave
not so much as one soul among them to be
subject to the Romans. Yet was there an
ancient woman, and another who was of kin
to Eleazar, and superior to most women in
prudence and learning, with five children,
who had concealed themselvas in caverns
under ground ; and had carried water thither
for their drink ; and were hidden there when
the rest were intent upon the slaughter of
one another. Those others were nine hun-
dred and sixty in number ; the women and
children being included in that computation.
This calamitous slaughter was made on the
fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus, or Ni-
san.*
Now the Romans expected that they should
be fought in the morning. Accordingly they
have reconciled them to such an action. But desperation
produces the most unexpected catastrophes. Their de-
struction was completed by their own as well as by the
put on their armour, and laid bridges of planks
upon their ladders from their banks, to make
an assault on the fortress. But they saw
nobody as an enemy, but a terrible solitude
on every side, with a fire within the palace,
as well as a perfect silence. So they were at
a loss to guess at what had happened. At
length they made a shout, as if it had been at
a blow given by the battering ram, to try
whether they could bring any one out that
was within. The women heard this noise,
and came out of their subterraneous cavern :
and informed the Romans of what had been
done: and the second of them clearly de-
scribed all both what was said, and what was
done; and the manner of it. Yet did they
not easily give attention to such a desperate
undertaking, and did not believe it could be
as they said. They also attempted to put the
fire out, and quickly cutting themselves a way
through it, they came within the palace, and
so met with the multitude of the slain : but
could take no pleasure in the fact, though it
were done to their enemies. Nor could they
do other than wonder at the courage of their
resolution, and the immoveable contempt
of death which so great a number of them
had shewn when they perpetrated such an
action.
CHAP. X.
OF THE FLIGHT OF THE SICARII TO ALEXANDRIA ; ANB
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE WHICH HAD FORMERLY
BEEN BUILT BV ONIAS THE HIGH-PRIEST.
WHEN Masada was thus taken, the
general left the garrison in the fortress
to keep it: and he himself went away to
Caesarea. For there were now no enemies
left in the country : but it was all overthrown
by so long a war. Yet did this war afford
disturbances and dangerous disorders even in
places very remote from Judea. For still it
happened that many Jews were slain at Alex-
andria, in Egypt. For as many of the Sicarii
as were able to flee thither, out of the seditious
wars in Judea, were not content to have saved
themselves, but must needs undertake to mak6
new disturbances; and persuaded many of
those that entertained them to assert their
sword of the enemy. B.
* A. D. 73.
BOOK VII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS-
449
liberty ; to esteem the Romans to be no better
than themselves; and to look upon God as
their only Lord and Master. But when part
of the Jews of reputation opposed them, they
slew some of them ; and with the others they
were very pressing in their exhortations, to
revolt from the Romans. But when the prin-
cipal men of the senate saw what madness
they were come to, they thought it no longer
safe for themselves to overlook them. So they
got all the Jews together to an assembly, and
accused the madness of the Sicarii ; and de-
monstrated that they had been the authors of
all the evils that had come upon them. They
said also that " These men now they have
run away from Judea, having no sure hope of
escaping, because as soon as ever they shall
be known, they will be soon destroyed by the
Romans ; they come hither, and fill us lull of
those calamities which belong to them, while
we have not been partakers with them in any
of their sins." Accordingly, they exhorted the
multitude to beware lest they should be
brought to destruction by their means; and to
make an apology to the Romans for what had
been done, by delivering these men up to
them. Accordingly, on being thus apprised
of the greatness of the danger they were in,
they complied with what was proposed ; and
ran with great violence upon the Sicarii, and
seized upon six hundred of them immediately:
but as for all those that fled into *Egypt, and
to the Egyptian Thebes, it was not long ere
they were caught also, and brought back.
Now the courage of these men, or whether we
'ought to call it madness, or hardiness in their
opinions, excited universal amazement. For
wnen all sorts of torments and vexations of
their bodies that could be devised were made
use of to them, they could not get any one of
them to comply so far as to confess, or seem
to confess, that Caesar was their lord : but
they preserved their own opinion, in spite of
* Since Josephus here infonng us, that some of these
Sicarii, or ruffians, went from Alexandria, (which was
I itself in Egypt, in a large sense,) into Egypt, and Thebes,
' there situate ; Reland well observes, from Vossius, that
Egypt sometimes denotes proper or upper Egypt, as dis-
tinct from Delta, and the lower parts near Palestine. Ac-
cordingly, as he adds, those that say it never rains in
Egypt must mean the proper or upper Egypt ; because it
does sometimes reign in the other parts. See the notes
on Antiq. II. 7, and III. 1.
t Of this temple of Onias's building in Egypt, see the
all the distress they were brought to: as if
they received those torments, and the fire
itself, with bodies insensible of pain, and with
a soul that in a manner rejoiced under them.
But what was most of all astonishing to the
beholders, was the obstinacy of the children.
For not one of these was so far overcome by
these torments, as to name Caesar for their
lord. So far does the strength of the courage
of the soul prevail over the weakness of the
body.
Now Lupus, the governor of Alexandria,
sent an account of this commotion to Caesar ;
who having in suspicion the restless temper of
the Jews for iimovation, and being afraid lest
they should get together again, and persuade
some others to join with them, gave orders to
Lupus to demolish tthat Jewish temple which
was in the region called Onion, and was in
Egypt, which was built, and had its denomi-
nation from the following occasion. Onias,
the son of Simon, one of the Jewish high-
priests, fled from Antiochus, king of Syria,
when he made war with the Jews, and came
to Alexandria. And as Ptolemy received him
very kindly, on account of his hatred to An-
tiochus, he assured him, that if he would com-
ply with his proposal, he would bring all the
Jews to his assistance. And when the king
agreed to do it, so far as he was able ; he de-
sired permission to build a temple somewhere
in Egypt, and to worship God according to the
customs of his own country. For that the
Jews would then be so much readier to fight
against Antiochus, who had laid waste the
temple at Jerusalem ; and that they would
then come to him with greater good will:
and that by granting them liberty of con-
science, very many of them would come over
to him.
So Ptolemy complied with his proposals ;
and gave him a Jplace one hundred and
eighty furlongs distant from Memphis. That
notes on Antiq. XIII. 3. But whereas it is elsewhere,
both of the War, I. 1, and in the Antiquities as now quoted,
said, that this temple was like to that at Jerusalem ; and
here that it was not like it, but like a tower ; there is some
reason to suspect the reading here ; and that either the
negative particle is here to be blotted out, or the word
entirely added.
I We must observe, that Joeephus here speaks of
Antiochus, who profaned the temple, as now alive, when
Onias had leave given him by Philometor to build his
temple. Whereas it seems not to have been actually
450
WARS OF THE JEWS.
[book VII.
nemos was called the nemos of Heliepolis :
where Onias built a fortress, and a temple,
not like to that at Jerusalem, but such as re-
sembled a tower. He built it of large stones
to the height of *sixty cubits. He made the
structure of the altar in imitation of that in
our own country ; and in like manner adorned
with gifts: excepting the candlestick. For
he did not make a candlestick : but had a
single lamp hammered out of a piece of gold :
which illuminated the place with its rays, and
which he hung by a chain of gold. But the
entire temple was encompassed with a wall of
burnt brick, though it had gates of stone. The
king also gave him a large country for a re-
venue in money ; that both the priests might
have a plentiful provision made for them, and
that God might have great abundance of
what things were necessary for his worship.
Yet did not Onias do this out of a sober dis-
position. But he had a mind to contend with
the Jews at Jerusalem ; and could not forget
the indignation he had for being banished
thence. Accordingly he thought, that by
building this temple he should draw away a
great number from them to himself. There
had been also a certain ancient prediction
made by a prophet, whose name was Isaiah,
about six hundred years before, that this
temple should be built by a man that was a
Jew in Egypt. And this is the history of the
building of that temple.
New Lupus, the governor of Alexandria,
upon the receipt of Caesar's tletter, came to
the temple, and carried out of it some of the
donations dedicated thereto, and shut up the
temple itself And as Lupus died a little af-
terward, Paulinus succeeded him. This man
left none of these donations there: and threat-
ened the priests severely, if they did not bring
them all out. Nor did he permit any who
were desirous of worshipping God there, so
much as to come near the place. But when
he had shut up the gates, he made it entirely
inaccessible : insomuch that there remained
no longer the least vestiges of any divine wor-
ship that had been in that place. New the
duration of the time from the building of this
built till about fifteen years afterwards. Yet because it is
said in tbe Antiquities, that Onias went to Philometer,
XII. 9. during the life-time of that Antiochus, it is pro-
bable he petitioned, and perhaps obtained his leave then :
though it were not actually built or finished till fifteen
temple, till it was shut up again, was Jthree
hundred and forty-three years.
CHAP. XI.
CONCERNING JONATHAN, ONE OF THE SICARII, WHO STIRRED
UP A SEDITION IN CYRENE ; AND WAS A FALSE ACCUSER
OF THE INNOCENT.
NOW did the madness of the Sicarii, like
a disease, reach as far as the cities of
Cyrene. For one Jonathan, a vile person,
and by trade a weaver, came thither; and
prevailed with no small number of the poorer
sort to hearken to him. He also led them
into the desert ; upon promising them, that he
would shew them signs, and apparitions. And
as for the other Jews of Cyrene, he concealed
his knavery from them, and put tricks upon
them. But those of the greatest dignity
among them informed Catullus, the governor
of the Libyan Pentapolis, of his march into
the desert, and of the preparations he had
made for it. So he sent out after him both
horsemen and footmen, and easily overcame
them : because they were unarmed men. Of
these many were slain in the fight ; but some
were taken alive, and brought to Catullus.
As for Jonathan, the head of this plot, he fled
away at that time : but upon a diligent search
which was made all ever the country for him,
he was at last taken. And when he was
brought to Catullus, he devised a way where-
by he both escaped punishment himself, and
afforded an occasion to Catullus of doing
much mischief For he falsely accused the
richest men among the Jews ; and said, that
they had excited him to what he did.
Now Catullus easily admitted of these ca-
lumnies, and aggravated matters greatly, and
made tragical exclamations ; that he might
also be supposed to have had a hand in the
finishing of the Jewish war. But what was
still harder, he did not only give a too easy
belief to his stories ; but he taught the Sicani
to accuse men falsely. He told this Jona-
than, therefore, to name one Alexander, a
Jew, with whom he had formerly had a quar-
rel, and openly professed that he hated him.
years afterward.
* This was the height of Zorobabel's temple.
t About A. D. 75.
j Rather 223.
BOOK VII.]
WARS OF THE JEWS.
401
He also got him to name his wife Bernice, as
concerned with him. These two Catullus
ordered to be slain in the first place. Nay,
after them he caused all the rich and wealthy
Jews to be slain : being no fewer in all than
three thousand. This he thought he might
do safely; because he confiscated their effects,
and added them to Ciesar's revenues.
Nay, indeed, lest any Jews that lived else-
where should convict him of this villany, he
extended his false accusations farther; and
persuaded Jonathan, and certain others that
were caught witli him, to bring an accusation
of attempts for innovation against the Jews
that were of the best character, both at Al-
exandria, and at Rome. One of these, against
whom this treacherous accusation was laid,
was Josephus, the writer of these books.
However, this plot, thus contrived by Catul-
lus, did not succeed according to his hopes.
For though he came himself to Rome, and
brought Jonathan and his companions along
with him in bonds; and thought he should
have had no farther inquisition made as to
those lies that were forged under his govern-
ment, or by his means; yet did Vespasian
suspect the matter, and make an enquiry how
far it was true. And when he understood
that the accusation laid against the Jews was
an unjust one, he cleared them of the crimes
charged upon them ; and this on account of
Titus's concern about the matter: and brought
a deserved punishment upon Jonathan. For
he was first tormented, and then burnt alive.
But as to Catullus, the emperors were so
gentle to him, that he underwent no severer
condemnation at this time. Yet was it not
long before he fell into a complicated and
almost incurable distemper, and died mise-
rably. He was not only afflicted in body;
but the distemper in his mind was more heavy
upon him than the other. For he was terri-
bly disturbed; and continually cried out, that
he saw the ghosts of those whom he had slain
standing before him. Whereupon he was not
able to contain himself; but leaped out of his
bed, as if both torments and fire were brought
to him. This distemper grew worse and
worse continually ; and his very entrails were
so corroded, that they fell out of his body :
and in that condition he died. Thus he be-
came an awful instance of divine providence ;
and demonstrated that God severely punishes
wicked men.
Here I shall put an end to this history :
which I formerly promised to deliver with all
accuracy, to such as should be desirous of
understanding after what manner this war of
the Romans with the Jews was managed.
The merits of the work must be left to the
determination of the reader. But as for its
agreement with the facts, I shall not scruple
to say, and that boldly, that I have alone
aimed at truth through its entire composition.
END OF THE JEWISH WAR.
It^
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
TO
EPAPHRODITUS
ON THE
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS,
IN ANSWER TO
A P I O N.
BOOK I.
IT is presumed, most excellent Epaphro-
ditus, that I have already incontroverta-
hly proved the antiquity of the Jewish nation,
which originated with themselves, and main-
tains a claim of priority to this very day. The
Antiquities contain the history of five thou-
sand years, are founded on the sacred wri-
tings, but translated by me into the Greek
tongue. Since, however, this arduous, and I
may add, unprejudiced, undertaking, has not
been sufficient to exempt the author from il-
liberal censure, or his productions from fabu-
lous imputation, (and that upon the mere pre-
sumption of the Greek historians having neg-
lected to record the antiquity of the Jewish
nation,) I am bound, in duty to myself, and
my country, first, to refute the invidious as-
sertions of opponents ; secondly, to inform
the ignorant; and, thirdly, to state plain facts,
in terms obvious to the understanding of those
who desire to investigate truth.
The authorities I shall cite will be derived
from men of undeniable reputation among the
Greeks ; and I shall set aside the assevera-
tions of those who have malevolently or igno-
rantly traduced me or my nation, by recur-
ring to their own writings. I shall also assign
the causes for which many of the Greek his-
torians have passed over our nation without
mention in their records, and then endeavour
to obviate vulgar prejudices in general.
There are many people so superstitiously
attached to the Greeks, that they consider
them, abstractedly from all others, as the very
oracles of history, to the contempt and dis-
paragement of the rest of the rational crea-
tion. In point of antiquity, 1 am convinced
the reverse will appear, if mankind will not
be led by vain opinions, but search for facts
upon the basis of substantial evidence. They
will then find little or nothing amongst them
that is not novel ; I mean with respect to the
building of their cities, the invention of their
arts, and the description of their laws. The
writing of history is of very late date among
them ; whereas, by their own confession, the
Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Phoenicians, (tosay
nothing of ourselves,) have, from time to time,
recorded and transmitted to posterity, memo-
rials of past ages in monumental pillars and
inscriptions, with the advice and directions
of the wisest men, to perpetuate transactions
454
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book I.
of moment. Besides, these people living in a
clear air, the very climate contributed to the
preservation of these antiquities from cor-
ruption and decay ; which was quite other-
wise with the Greeks, respecting duration,
order, and appointment.
Their bare pretence to the knowledge of
letters is of late date, and their skill in that
particular is at this very hour defective. The
antiquity of which they boast goes no farther
back than to the Phoenicians, and they value
themselves upon the reputation of having had
Cadmus for their first master. But so far are
they from being able to produce, either in
their temples or public registries, any one
authentic memorial of these times, that, when
it came to be propounded as a question,
whether the use of letters was so much as
known at the time of the Trojan war, it was
carried in the negative. It is universally ac-
knowledged that there is no Greek manu-
script in date antecedent to the poems of
Homer; and it is certain that the Trojan war
■was over before that poem (the Iliad) was
written. Nor has it been admitted that Ho-
mer ever committed this production to wri-
ting. The prevailing opinion runs, that it
passed like a kind of ballad, which the peo-
ple committed to memory, till, in the end,
copies were taken from oral dictation, which
is assigned as the cause of the many contra-
dictions and mistakes found in the transcripts.
With respect to Cadmus, the Milesian,
Acurilaus, and other Greek historians, they
lived but a short time before the inroad of
the Persians into Greece. Pherecydes, Py-
thagoras, and Thales, who first introduced
philosophy, and the investigation of subjects
divine and celestial, unanimously acknow-
ledge that they derived their information
from the Egyptians and Chaldeans. Nay, it
remains a doubt to this day, whether these
men were the authors of the works attributed
to them. From these premises it appears ex-
tremely absurd for the Greeks to claim to
themselves not only the sole knowledge of
antiquity, but a preference in point of histo-
rical accuracy, candour, and credit. Nay, is
it not evident, from their own writings, that
their histories are the result of fancy and con-
jecture, rather than records of substantial
facts .'' as their authors clash one with ano-
ther, and report one and the same thing in a
manner totally different. It would be tedious
to point out the disagreement between Hel-
lanicus and Acusilaus respecting their gene-
alogies; the difference between Hesiod and
Acusilaus; the proofs repeatedly brought by
Ephorus to demonstrate the representations
of Hellanicus; thereof Timeus to the same
purport against Ephorus; those of succeed-
ing writers against Timeus; and, in fine, those
of all the latter authors against Herodotus.
Nor could Timeus agree with Philistrus or
CaUias, about the Sicilian history. The his-
torians of Athens and Argos differ as essen-
tially. So that doubts must arise in the minds
of the readers, when they discover such pal-
pable contradictions amongst writers. Nay,
Thucydides himself is called in question upon
several occasions, though the most cautious,
candid, and impartial historian of his age.
Upon due consideration, many reasons
might be assigned for the great differences
which prevail amongst Greek authors ; but I
apprehend the principal parts are these.
First, the neglect of the Greeks in not laying
a timely foundation for history, in records and
memorials, to preserve the remembrance of
great achievements ; for, without these monu-
mental traditions, posterity are apt to err,
having no clue to guide them into the path
of truth. This mode of recording ancient
traditions was not only neglected in other
parts of Greece, but even in Athens itself,
which has been deemed the very seat of the
polite arts. Draco's penal laws, now extant
in manuscript, are the most ancient of their
public records, though bearing date but a
short space before the tyrant Pisistratus. As
to the Arcadians, who make such pretensions
to antiquity, they came later to the use of
letters than any of the rest.
Now there being no authorities extant, there
must naturally arise great difference amongst
the writers; because such vouchers might be
introduced to confirm truth, and refute error,
and thereby distinguish between the authentic
and groundless historian. Another cause of
contradictions is the motives which indue*
writers to take up the pen : too many will
for the applause of their cotemporaries ; and
prefer the reputation of being esteemed
florid in style, rather than candid in narra-
tive. Some write to gratify fancy or humour,
without any regard to truth and justice; others
BOOK I.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
455
deal in panegyric, to court the patronage of
the great ; and there are some that lavisli
their time and talents in calumniating the
writuigs and characters of their, predecessors,
which are all contrary to the duty and office
of a genuine historian.
The characteristic of true history is the
concordance of several writers, as to subject,
time, and place : but the Greeks seem to ad-
duce their diversity as an argument of authen-
ticity. If the matter in dispute betwixt them
and us, were nice arrangements of words,
and precision of periods, we would yield them
the palm ; but we cannot but contend for
superiority in point of fact and antiquity.
That the Egyptians and Babylonians ot
old were precise in the date of their annals,
which was committed to the care of their
priests, who were punctual in the discharge
of that office; that the Chaldeans followed
the example of the Babylonians, and that the
Phoenicians, who were intermixed with the
Greeks, instructed them in the use of letters,
is universally acknowledged. It therefore
only remains for me to shew, that our fore-
fathers provided, at least, as well for the se-
curity of this order and regulation, if not
better, than any that went before them, in
charging the high-priest and prophets with
this commission; and these records have been
handed down to our times with the utmost
accuracy ; and I dare pronounce that our
future annals will bear the same stamp of
authority. Care was taken, from the begin-
ning, to make choice of men of exemplary
piety and virtue for this function ; and fur-
ther provision was made for preserving the
sacerdotal race pure and untainted, as no
man is qualified for the office of a priest,
whose mother was not of priestly extraction ;
and therefore, without any regard to wealth
and honour, whoever pretends to the priest-
hood, must prove his descent in a right line
by a multitude of witnesses. This is the
practice not only in Judea, but wherever our
people are dispersed over the face of the
whole earth; for our priests make it a kind
of conscience only to intermarry with their
own tribes. In this case, they send from the
father to Jerusalem the name of the woman
they ititend to marry, with her pedigree well
and duly attested.
But in time of war, as for instance, in the
VOL. II. — NOS. 85 & 86.
days of Antiochus Epiphanes, Pompey the
Great, and Quintilius Varus, and principally
within our own memory, the surviving priests
compose new tables of genealogy out of all
records, and examine the circumstance of the
women that remain. The priests marry no
captives, through a suspicion they might have
had intercourse >vith foreigners; and, as an
incontrovertible proof of their purity, the
names of all our priests, in an uninterrupted
succession, from father to son, have stood
upon record throughout a space of two thou-
sand years. If any of them prevaricate, they
are forbidden the altar, and deposed from the
exercise of the sacred function. And this is
justly, or rather necessarily, done; because
every one is not permitted to write, nor is
there any disagreement in what is written.
The writings of the prophets we hold of Di-
vine original; and as to those who have
written the history of their own times, their
number is not great, nor are they very re-
pugnant one to another.
We have not a multitude of books among
us, disagreeing and contradicting one ano-
ther, as the Greeks have, but are confined to
twenty-two, that we are bound to believe,
and those twenty-two books comprise the
history of the world from the beginning to this
day. Five of them treat of the creation of
the world, and the generation of mankind,
and so to the death of Moses, in a series of
little less than three thousand years.
From the death of Moses to the reign of
Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, and king of
Persia, every one of our prophets wrote the
history of the times in which he lived, com-
prehending the whole in thirteen books; the
other four books containing Divine poems and
moral precepts. There has, indeed, been a
continuation of our history from Artaxerxes
to this instant; but it is not esteemed, in
point of authenticity, comparable to that of
our forefathers, as there has not been an ex-
act succession of prophets since that time.
The former writings are the objects of our
implicit belief; for, during many ages of the
world, no attempt has been made, either to
add to, or diminish from them, or even so
much as to transform or disguise them. As
we hold these writings Divine, we call them
so; and are trained, from earliest infancy, to
meditate upon, observe, and maintain them
.3N
456
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book I.
as such ; nay, we are enjoined rather to suf-
fer death than give them up.
How many are there of our captive coun-
trymen at this day, struggling under exquisite
torments, because they will not renounce the
laws of their country, nor blaspheme the God
of their forefathers ? When did any of the
Greeks undergo such trials? They would
not venture such shocks to preserve all they
hold most dear. They hold their writings in
no other esteem than as words, and have the
same opinion of ancient as of modern pro-
ductions. Many have taken upon them to
write our subjects, of which they were wholly
ignorant, and that without applying for infor-
mation to those who were acquainted with
them. We have an example of this in the
histories of our late wars, published by per-
sons who were never on the spot of action,
but who, nevertheless, have the confidence to
usher into the world a jargon of inconsisten-
cies as genuine histories.
But this I can aver, with respect to my
history of our wars, that it is genuine and
authentic ; as I had ocular testimony, certain
knowledge, and the means of informing myself
particularly of every occurrence. I have
been as faithful in my report, as I was minute
in my investigation. I had a command in
Galilee as long as our nation was able to op-
pose the Romans ; and it was my fortune, in
the end, to be made prisoner, and carried to
Vespasian and Titus, who, at first, ordered
me to be kept bound ; but I was afterwards
generously released, and sent to accompany
Titus, when he came from Alexandria to the
siege of Jerusalem. During the whole time
there was nothing done that escaped my
knowledge. Whatever passed in the Roman
camp was open to me ; nor was any care
wanting, on my part, most faithfully to repre-
sent every circumstance. With respect to
the state of the city, I had accounts of it from
deserters, with an express from the emperor
to take minutes of each occurrence.
Being furnished with these materials, and
finding leisure at Rome, I applied to some
friends to assist me in acquiring a competent
knowledge of the Greek tongue, and then
proceeded to the compilation of my history,
in which I am so conscious of having observed
th'" utmost candour and justice, that I dare
appeal to the generals Vespasian and Titus
as my vouchers. To these illustrious per-
sonages I first presented my work, and next
to them to certain noble Romans, who com-
manded in the same war. Others I disposed
of to several of our own nation, who were
skilled in the Greek tongue, as Julius, Arche-
laus, Herod, and the most excellent Jting
Agrippa. These bear honourable testimony,
that I acquitted myself as a faithful historian;
and surely I could never have obtained such
sanction and patronage, if, through ignorance
or favour, I had in any instance deviated from
facts. I have been exposed to the calumnies
of the illiberal, who have censured my pro-
ductions in a vein of irony and sarcasm: but
they would do well to consider, that whoever
pretends to authenticity in the relation of
transactions, should first render himself mi-
nutely acquainted with them, either from his
own personal observations, or the informa-
tion of others: of both these advantages I
have fully availed myself
With respect to my Antiquities, I have, in
character of a priest, translated them from
our sacred writings, and digested them m
methodical order. But in the history of the
war, I was an actor in some cases, a specta-
tor in others, and, upon the whole, a stranger
to nothing that was either done or said. What
insolence, therefore, it is in those, who would
endeavour to deprive me of my title to authen-
ticity ! They pretended to have inspected
the journals of the commanders ; but can
that invalidate my history, in points abso-
lutely unknown to those commanders .'*
I have been under the necessity of making
this digression, in order to expose the vanity
of many who pretend to write histories ; and,
I apprehend, that what I have observed, is
sufficient to satisfy any man, that the very
Barbarians have better preserved this custom
of transmitting down the histories of ancient
times than the Greeks themselves. I would
now offer some matters for the consideration
of those who endeavourto prove, that our con-
stitution is but of modern date, because the
Greek writers have made no mention of us:
I shall then produce testimonies of our an-
tiquity from the writings of foreigners, and
demonstrate the injustice of those who cast
reproaches on our nation.
We neither inhabit a maritime country, nor
do we delight in merchandise ; nor in that
BOOK I.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
457
intercourse with other nations which naturally
arises from it. Our cities lie remote from the
sea ; our soil is fruitful, and cultivated with
care. Our grand concern is the education of
our children, to train them in pious exercise,
and strict obedience to the laws of our coun-
try : this, indeed, we esteem the main busi-
ness of our lives. Besides, we have a pe-
culiar way of living to ourselves, which gives
us to understand, that, in times past, we had
no communication with the Greeks, as the
Egyptians and Phoenicians had, as also other
nations, by a common tie of navigation, trade,
and commerce, for the advancement of their
fortunes. Nor did our predecessors make
inroads upon their neighbours, as others have
done, for the enlarging their estates ; though
they wanted neither numbers or courage, to
be dangerous and troublesome, had they
been so disposed.
Thus it was that the Phcenicians became
known to the Greeks, and through them the
Egyptians, and other traders into Greece.
After these the Medes and Persians, having
become lords of Asia, carried the war into
Europe. The Thracians were also known
by being contiguous ; the Scythians by hold-
ing a correspondence with those that sailed
to Pontus ; and so all along the eastern and
western sea, there was a sufficiency of subject
matter for history.
But those whose habitations were remote
from the sea, were for the most part un-
known; as was the case in Europe also,
where the Roman empire, that long had pos-
sessed such mighty power and greatness,
performed such gallant exploits in war, are
never mentioned by Herodotus, Thucydides,
nor any of their cotemporaries: and it was
very late, and with great difficulty, that the
Romans became known to the Greeks. What
shall we say of writers in ordinary, when
Ephorus himself, the most celebrated of their
historians, was so ignorant of the Gauls and
Iberians, that he supposes the kingdom of
Spain, with the vast continent it stands upon,
to be no more than one city, and so ascribes
to them things that were never done, said,
nor heard there ? Whence comes this igno-
rance of the truth, but from the writer's having
no knowledge of the parts alluded to ? Nor
can it be any wonder that our nation was no
more known to many of the Greeks, nor had
given them occasion to mention them in their
writings, while they were so remote from the
sea, and had a conduct of life so peculiar to
themselves.
But if I should turn the Greeks' mode of
reasoning upon themselves, and allege, by
way of disproving their antiquity, that no
mention is made of it in our records, would
not such an inference be exploded as ridicu-
lous ? Would they not appeal to neighbour-
ing nations to confirm their claim? If this
manner of proceeding may be admitted on
the one side, why not on the other.'' The
Egyptians and Phoenicians are the chief wit-
nesses that I shall adduce in this case; nor
can there be any ground of exception to the
evidence, as the former are known to be our
professed enemies, and the latter no belter
disposed towards us, particularly the people
of Tyre. But the Chaldeans have a better
opinion of us, as having been formerly under
their command ; likewise on account of con-
sanguinity and country, as appears from the
honourable mention they make of us in their
chronicles. When I have cleared our na-
tion from the aspersions of the Greeks, and
wiped away the slanders they have cast upon
us, I will then advert to their own historians,
and so obviate all farther cavil. I shall begin
with the writings of the Egyptians, and cite
an extract from the works of Manethon, an
Egyptian by birth, but well skilled in the
Greek language, as appears from a history he
took from holy writ about the Jewish religion.
He finds much fault with Herodotus, for his
ignorance and misrepresentation of the Egyp-
tian manners and customs ; and, in the second
book of his history, delivers himself in these
very words, which I quote without the least
deviation, that they may suffice to confirm his
testimony.
" We had a king whose name was Timaeus;
and in his reign we fell, beyond all imagina-
tion, under God's heavy displeasure. There
came flowing in upon us, a rugged, robust
people out of the east, that made an inroad
into the provice; and there encamping, took
it by force, and carried all before them with-
out so much as a stroke, putting our princes
in chains, cruelly laying our city in ashes,
demolishing our temples, and miserably op-
pressing our inhabitants; some being cut to
pieces, and others, with their wives and chil-
3N2
458
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book 1.
dren, sent away in bondage. After this, they
set up a king from among themselves, whose
name was Salatis.
" The new king advanced to Memphis, and
having subjected both the upper and lower
provinces, and put garrisons into all tenable
places, he fortified to the eastward in a more
especial manner, for fear of an invasion from
the Assyrians, whom he looked upon as the
stronger of the two. He found in the coun-
try of Saites, a city, formerly called Avaris,
which was situated very conveniently for his
purpose, to the east of the river Bubastis.
This city he improved and repaired, and for-
tified it with strong works and walls, and a
body of two hundred and forty thousand men
to cover it. He made choice of harvest time
for the execution of his design, with a regard
both to the plenty of the season for provisions,
to the means of paying his soldiers, and to the
securing himself likewise against all assaults,
or invasions, by his excellent discipline and
conduct.
" Salatis died in the nineteenth year of his
reign, and one Boeon succeeded him, who
governed forty-four years. After him came
Apachnas, and reigned six and thirty years
and seven months. Apochis came next, and
ruled sixty years and one month: Janias,
fifty years and one month: and last of all
came Assis, who ruled forty-nine years and
two months. These six were the first kings,
and perpetually in war, to exterminate the
Egyptians. The people we called hycsos ;
that is to say, king shepherds : for hyc, in the
holy tongue, is as much as king ; and sos, ac-
cording to the vulgar, is a shepherd: so that
hycsos is taken as a compound. Some will
have it that these people were Arabians.
According to some other copies, hyc does not
signify king-shepherd, but shepherd-captive ; for
hyc and hoc, with an aspiration sound, in
Egyptian, is as much as captive ; and it seems
to me the more reasonable interpretation of
the two, as it suits better with the ancient
history."
We have it upon credit of the same author,
" that when those (by whatever name they
may be called) kings, or shepherds, and their
train, had kept the government of Egypt in
their own hands for the space of five hundred
and eleven years, the king of Thebes, and
the remainder of Egypt, that was not as yet
subjected, made a violent and obstinate war
upon the shepherds, and routed them, under
the command of king Alisfiagmuthosis : and
when the greatest part of them were driven
out of Egypt, the rest withdrew into a place
called Avaris, of ten thousand acres in ex-
tent; and this the shepherds (according to
Manethon) enclosed with a strong substantial
wall, that secured to them all necessaries
within themselves." He says farther, " that
Themosis, the son of Alisfragmuthosis, laid
siege to it with four hundred and eighty
thousand men : but when he found the place
was not to be carried by assault, they came
to conditions, upon articles to depart Egypt,
and a safe convoy to go whither they would.
Upon these terms they marched out with their
goods and families, to the number of two
hundred and forty thousand souls, by the
way of the wilderness, into Syria ; and, for
fear of the Assyrians, who were then masters
of Asia, retired into a courjtry that is now
known by the name of Judea, where they
erected a city large enough to receive this
vast multitude, and called it Jerusalem."
The same Manethon tells us, in another
book of his Egyptian History, " that he finds
these people in books of great authority, dis-
tinguished by the name of Captive Shep-
herds;" our ancestors having been brought
up to grazing, and from that pastoral employ-
ment taking the name of shepherds. They
imagined that they had some ground for
calling them captives : it was by that name
that our father Joseph made himself known
to the king of Egypt, when he obtained per-
mission to send for his brethren. But of this
more particularly elsewhere. So that it will
be sufficient, at present, to consult the testi-
monies of the Egyptians upon this subject,
and to hear Manethon, in his own words,
about the time when this happened.
" King Themosis reigned five and twenty
years and four months, from the departure of
the shepherds out of Egypt, to the building of
Jerusalem. His son Chebron took the king-
dom after him, and governed thirteen years :
and after him Amenophis, twenty years and
seven months: his sister Amesses, one and
twenty years and nine months : her son Mem-
phres twelve years and nine months : his son
Mephramuthosis, five and twenty years and
ten months : his son Themosis, nine years and
BOOK I.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
4A9
eight months: his son Amenophis, thirty years
and ten months : his son Orus, thirty-six years
and five months : his daughter Acencheres,
twelve years and one month : Rathotis, her
brother, nine years : his son Acencheres,
twelve years and five months: another Acen-
cheres, his son, twelve years and three
months : his son Armais, four years and one
month : his son Armesis, one year and jour
months : his son Armesses Miamun, sixty-six
years and two months : Amenophis, nineteen
years and six months : Sethosis, having raised
a great force, both at sea and land, consti-
tuted his brother Armais lieutenant-general
of Egypt, and vested him with all sovereign
powers and privileges, the wearing of the
crown excepted ; and, with a caution not to
oppress the queen or her family, nor to inter-
meddle with the king's concubines.
" Sethosis, upon this, marched up to Cy-
prus and Phcenicia, and so forward to the
Medes and Assyrians, conquering still as he
went ; some by the sword, others by the very
terror and reputation of his arms. He was
so elevated by his successes, that he stopped
at nothing, but laying all waste to the east-
ward, carried the whole country before him.
While this was doing, his brother Armais,
without any difficulty or scruple, broke faith
with his brother in Egypt, and did just the
contrary to what he should have done. He
expelled the queen, abused the king's con-
cubines, and, at the instance and advice of
his false friends, assumed the crown, and took
up arms against his brother. The Egyptian
high-priest gave Sethosis notice of all these
indignities from time to time ; upon which
advice the king came immediately back again
by the way of Pelusium, and made good his
government. From this prince the country
took the name of Egypt; for Sethosis was
called Egyptus, and his brother Armais
named likewise Danaus."
This is the account of Manethon; from
which it is evident, upon a clear computa-
tion, that our predecessors, otherwise known
by the name of shepherds, left Egypt three
hundred and ninety-three years before Da-
naus went to Argos; though the Greeks
pique themselves mightily upon the antiquity
of that prince. Manethon therefore advances
two great points for us out of the Egyptian
records ; the first, that our forefathers came
out of another country into Egypt; the second,
that their deliverance out of it was ol so an-
cient a dale, as to precede the siege of Troy
almost a thousand years. With respect to
some other particulars wtiich Manethon adds,
not out of the Egyptian records, but, as he
himself confesses, from stories of an uncertain
original, 1 shall demonstrate hereafter, that
they are no better than groundless fictions.
1 shall now pass from these records to
those of tlie Phoenicians, concerning our na-
tion, and from them produce attestations of
what I have advanced. There are among
the Tyrians public records of great antiquity,
and they are so carefully preserved, as to
contain all transactions that are worthy of
memorial. Amongst other passages concern-
ing our nation, they make mention of king
Solomon's erecting a temple at Jerusalem, a
hundred and forty-three years and eight
months before their predecessors built Car-
thage; describing also, in their annals, (he
very model of the temple. Hiram, king of
Tyre, had so great a friendship for David,
and his son Solomon for his sake, that he
presented him with a hundred and twenty
talents of gold, towards the ornaments of the
fabric, and furnished him with the most ex-
cellent timber from mount Libanus for the
roof and wainscot. Nor was Solomon want-
ing, on the other hand, in a magnificent re-
turn, as, among other acknowledgments, he
made him a present of Zebulon, in Naphtali.
But the love of wisdom, or a kind of philo-
sophic passion, cemented the friendship be-
twixt them. They sent problems and intricate
cases to be solved by each other ; and Solo-
mon evinced a superiority to Hiram. There
are extant among the Tyrians, to this day,
divers copies of the letters that passed be-
twixt them ; and for confirmation of the same
I shall refer to Dius, a historian among the
Phoenicians, of unquestionable credit. These
are his words.
" Hiram, the son of Abibal, succeeded hie
father in the government. He repaired and
improved divers cities in the eastern parts of
his dominion, enlarged Tyre, and, by raising
a causeway between them, joined it to the
temple of Jupiter Olympus, standing in an
island, and beautified it with many rich dona-
tions. After this he went up to mount Liba-
nus to cut down wood for temples. They
460
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book 1,
say farther, that Solomon, king of Jerusalem,
and Hiram, interchanged certain problems to
be solved, upon condition that he who failed
in the solution, should incur a forfeiture ; and
that Hiram, finding the question too difficult
for him, paid the penalty ; and proposed ncAv
ones for Solomon to interpret, upon the pe-
nalty of paying forfeit to Hiram." This is
what Dius records upon this subject.
I now proceed to Menander, the Ephesian,
an author who made a historical collection
of the transactions of the Greeks and Barba-
rians under every one of the Tyrian kings,
which, for the better authority of the work,
he has extracted from their own records.
Having passed through the succession of the
Tyrian kings as far as Hiram, he thus writes :
" Upon the death of Abibal, his son Hiram
came to the crown, and lived to enjoy it
thirty-four years. This prince threw up a
large bank, that joined Eurychorus to the city
of Tyre; and dedicated a golden pillar to
Jupiter, which was there deposited in his
temple. He went after this ihto a forest, to a
mountain called Libanus, where he cut down
all the cedar for roofs for temples ; raising the
old buildings, and advancing others. One he
dedicated to Hercules, another to Astarte :
the former in the month Peritius, and the
other when he marched against the Tyrians,
for not paying their taxes : but, upon their
reduction, he presently returned.
" Hiram had, at this time, a young man, a
servant in his house, whose office it was to
expound Solomon's riddles; his name was
Abdemonus. From this king's time to the
building of Carthage, the computation runs
thus: —
" Baleazar, the son of Hiram, succeeded
his father, and died in the forty-third year of
his age, and the seventh of his reign. The
next was Abdastartus, the son of Beleazar,
who died in the twentieth year of his life,
and the ninth of his reign. This prince was
murdered by .his nurse's four sons, and the
eldest of them governed twelve years in his
place : and after him came Astartus, the son
of Delseastartus, who lived sixty years, and
reigned twelve. After him came his brother
Aserymus, who lived fifty-four years, and
reigned nine, and was murdered by his bro-
ther Phelles, who took the government upon
him in the fiftieth year of his age ; and, after a
reign of eight months, was slain by one Itho-
balus, a priest of the goddess Astarte, who
lived to the age of sixty-eight years, and
ruled thirty-two. His son Badezor succeeded
him, who lived forty-five years, and reigned
six : and then his son Matgenus lived two
and thirty years, and reigned nine. The
next was Pygmalion, who lived fifty-six
yeq^s, and governed forty. It was in the
seventh year of his reign, that his sister Dido
built Carthage, in Africa. So that from the
time of Hiram to the erecting of Carthage,
we account a hundred and fifty-five years and
eight months. Taking for granted that the
temple of Jerusalem was built in the twelfth
year of king Hiram, it makes a hundred and
fc-i-ty-three years and eight months, from the
raising of the temple to the building of Car-
thage."
Nothing can tend more to confirmation than
this testimony of the Phoenicians : for our an-
cestors certainly came into J udea long before
the building of the temple ; nor did they build
that temple till they had obtained possession
of the country by dint of arms, as I have
clearly proved from the sacred writings in
my Antiquities.
We will now proceed to shew how far the
Chaldean records agree with others concern-
ing our history, and begin with Berosus, by
birth a Chaldean, well known by the learned
from his publication of the Chaldean treatises
on astronomy and philosophy among the
Greeks. Berosus following the most ancient
records, gives us a history of the deluge, and
the destruction of mankind thereby, exactly
consonant with the description of Moses; as
also of the ark, and the preservation of Noah
in it, when it was brought to the highest part
of the Armenian mountains. He gives us a
catalogue of the posterity of Noah, and adds
the years of their chronology, from Noah him-
self to Nabulassar, king of the Babylonians
and Chaldeans, with an account of this king's
exploits. He tells us that he sent his son
Nabuchodonosor with a mighty army into
Egypt and Judea, where, upon his being in-
formed of a revolt, he reduced the people to
subjection, set fire to our temple at Jerusa-
lem, and carried off our whole nation in cap-
tivity to Babylon. After this our city lay
desolate during an interval of seventy years,
till the days of Cyrus, king of Persia. He
BOOK I.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
461
then says that this Babylonian king conquered
Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia, and ex-
ceeded in his exploits all his predecessors.
But to quote his own words.
" Nabulassar, the father, understanding
that his deputy in Egypt, Coelesyria, and
Phoenicia, was up in arms, being old iiimself,
and past the fatigues of war, he sent his son
Nabuchodonosor (in the vigour of his youth,)
at the head a strong army, to bring him to
reason. This prince encountered the rebel,
defeated him, and recovered all the provinces
that were engaged in the revolt.
" It happened, at the same time, that Na-
bulassar fell sick at Babylon, and died, after
a reign of nine and twenty years. It was not
long before the son had notice of his fathers
death ; whereupon he immediately settled his
affairs in Egypt, and the rest of the provinces;
and committing the captive Jews, Phoeniciai>s,
and Syrians, that had been in Egypt, to the
care of some particular con6dents, to see
them brought up to Babylon, together with
the army and the baggage, he himself, \yith a
small retinue, took his journey for Babylon
by the way of the desert. Upon his arrival,
he found all things disposed to his wish ; the
Chaldeans, and all the great men, declaring
themselves in his interest, and for his esta-
blishment upon the throne of his father.
" In this interim, while the prisoners were
upon the- way, he ordered them the most com-
modious lodgings of the city for their quarters,
and all accommodations to be provided for
them. The spoils of the war were applied
with wonderful munificence, to the enriching
and adorning of the temples; as that of Bell,
and others. He caused to be erected a new
town, as an addition to the old one: and to
prevent the turning of the river the city stood
upon, from the place, in case of a siege, they
ran up a triple wall, part of it brick, and the
rest of brick and bitumen, about the whole.
After all these fortifications, he made such
gates as might have become the dignity of a
temple. He built likewise a glorious palace,
near that of his father, but incomparably be-
yond it, both for extent and expense. The
description of it would be too tedious; but it
must be observed, that this admirable piece
was the work of only fifteen days.
" There were in it also several artificial
rocks, that had the resemblance of mountains;
with nurseries of all sorts of plants, and a
kind of hanging garden, suspended in the air
by a most admirable contrivance. This was
to gratify his wife, who, being brought up in
Media, among the hills, and in the fresh air,
found relief from such a prospect."'
Thus writes Berosus respecting the king:
and there are other circumstances worthy ol
remark in his Chaldean antiquities, and more
particularly where he censures the Greeks
for affirming that Babylon was founded by
Semiramis, queen of Assyria. Moreover, we
meet with a confirmation of what Berosus re-
lates, in the records of the Phoenicians, con-
cerning the king of Babylon, and his con-
quering all Syria and Phoenicia. Philostratus
agrees with him in his history of the siege of
Tyre; as does Megasthenes, in the fourth
book of his Indian History, wherein he pre-
tends to prove that this king of Babylon was
superior to Hercules in strength and prowess,
adding, that he had the greatest part of Ly bia
and Iberia at his devotion. With respect to
the temple of Jerusalem, we have the autho-
rity of Berosus, that it was laid in ashes by
the Babylonians; and that Cyrus, when he
had reduced Asia, began to rebuild it. That
historian thus writes in his third book.
" When Nabuchodonosor was just entered
upon the third wall, in the forty-third year of
his reign, he fell sick and died. Evil-Mero-
dach, his son, succeeded him ; but having
rendered himself odious to the highest de-
gree, by his exorbitant oppressions, he was
cut ofT by the treacherous practice of Niri-
glissoror, his sister's husband, in the second
year of his reign. After his death, the traitor
advanced himself to the crown, and kept it
four years. His son Laborosardochus came
very young to the government, and continued
in it only nine months, being destroyed by
the treachery even of his very friends, who
looked upon him as a youth of vicious and
dangerous inclinations, and therefore re-
moved him. He was no sooner despatched
than the conspirators met, and consulting
together, chose one Nabonidus for their king,
being both a Babylonian, and of the same
family. The walls about the river of Baby-
lon were finished by this prince.
" In the seventeenth year of this king's
reign Cyrus, with a mighty army out of Per-
sia, overran all Asia, and marched directly
462
FLAVIUS JOSKPttUS
[book I.
for Babylon. Nabonidus fairly met him in
the field, fought him, and lost the battle : only
himself, and some (ew of his people, got into
the town of Borsippe. Cyrus was now before
Babylon, making no doubt, but, upon forcing
the first wall, he might carry the place. But,
upon second thoughts, he quitted the siege,
and went back to Borsippe, with a design to
attack the place. Nabonidus chose rather to
cast himself upon Cyrus's mercy, than to stand
the shock ; so that, upon his humiliation, Cy-
rus banished him out of Babylon, and gave
him quiet possession of Caramania, where he
ended his life in a private station."
These accounts of Berosus exactly cor-
respond with our sacred books, in which it is
related that Nabuchodonosor, in the eigh-
teenth year of his reign, destroyed our temple,
and that it lay desolate for fifty years. But
that, in the second year of the reign of Cyrus,
its foundation was laid ; and it was finished
again in the second year of Darius. I shall
now add the records of the Phoenicians, as
too many proofs cannot be adduced, provided
they agree in point of chronology. The com-
putation stands thus : —
Nabuchodonosor besieged Tyre for thir-
teen years, in the reign of king Ithobal. After
him reigned Baal ten years. After him judges
were appointed, of whom Ecnibalus, the son
of Baslec, judged the people two months.
Chelbis, the son of Abdaeus, ten months. Ab-
bar, the high-priest, three months. Mytgonus
and Gerassus Betus, the sons of Abdelimus,
six years. After them Balatorus, one year.
Upon his death they sent for Merbalus from
Babylon, who governed four years, and was
succeeded by his brother Hiram, who ruled
twenty years, during which Cyrus obtained
the empire of Persia. The whole interval
amounts to fifty-four years and three months ;
for, in the seventh year of the reign of Nabu-
chodonosor, he began to besiege Tyre ; and
Cyrus, entered upon his reign over the king-
dom of Persia in the fourteenth year of Hi-
ram. So that the records of the Chaldeans
and Tyrians agree with our writings con-
cerning this temple; and the testimonies here
produced are an indisputable attestation to
the antiquity of our qation.
But it is now expedient to satisfy those
who disbelieve the records of Barbarians,
and think those of the Greeks only worthy of
credit, by producing many of those very
Greeks who were acquainted with our na-
tion, and setting before them such as, upon
occasion, have made mention of us in their
own writings.
Pythagoras, of Samoa, lived in very ancient
times, and was esteemed superior to all phi-
losophers in piety and wisdom. It is evident
that this great man was not only versed in
our laws, but, in many instances, an admirer
and observer of them. This is not inferred
from any thing that he ever wrote, but from
what others knew^ and reported concerning
him. Hermippus, a historian of credit, in
his first book concerning Pythagoras, informs
us, " that, upon the death of Calliphon, of
Croton, one of his associates, the philosopher
aflfirmed, that the soul of this man conversed
with him night and day, and enjoined him not
to pass over a place where his ass had stum-
bled, to drink only of clear fountain water,
and to speak ill of no man. This he did in
imitation of the Jews and Thracians, with an
application to himself." And it was truly said;
for Pythagoras incorporated divers customs
of the Jews into his own philosophy.
Nor. was our nation unknown of old to
several of the Grecian cities, or, indeed,
thought unworthy of imitation by some of
them, as appears from Theophrastus, in his
book of laws, where he speaks of the Tyrian
law against swearing by any strange god, na-
ming the Corban, amongst other oaths pro-
hibited, that is to say, in Hebrew, the gift of
God; and this oath was only to be found
amongst the Jews.
Herodotus, of Halicarnassus, was no stran-
ger to our nation ; for he makes some men-
tion of us in his second book, where, speak-
ing of the people of Colchos, he has these
words : " With respect to circumcision, I find
only the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the
Ethiopians, to have used it of old. But the
Phoenicians and the Syrians in Palestine,
confess that they derived it from the Egyptians.
The Syrians that border upon the rivers
Thermodon and Parthcnius, and their neigh-
bours the Macronians, are reputed to have
taken it up of late from the Colchians. There
are no others that are circumcised, and they
proceed after the manner of the Egyptians.
As for the Egyptians and Ethiopians. 1 cannot
determine which of them received it from the
BOOK I.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
463
other." This author is positive that the Sy-
rians o( Palestine are circumcised, whereas
there are no people circumcised in Palestuie
but the Jews; it must therefore be his know-
ledge of them that induced him to speak con-
cerning them.
Chaerilus also, a more ancient writer and
poet, makes mention of our nation, and in-
forms us, that il came to the assistance of king
Xerxes, in his expedition against the Greeks;
for, in his enumeration of other nations, he
last of all inserts ours, when he says,
" These people, with an admirable grace,
Brouglit up the rear : their language Tyrian was ;
Themselves unknown ; the mountains their abode
By Solymus, that near a vast lake stood.
Their hair cut round ; and their heads cover'd o'er
With head pieces of tann'd horse-hides they wore."
From hence, I think, it is evident, that, speak-
ing of the mountains of Solyma, or Jerusa-
lem, and of a large lake at hand there, it
can be understood of no other llian of the
Jews that dwell amongst those mountains ;
and of the lake Asphaltites, which is by much
the largest in all Syria.
Nor were the Jews barely known to the
common sort of the Greeks, but likewise to
their philosophers of the first rank, by whom
they were honoured with singular marks of
friendsiiip and esteem. Clearchus, who was
the disciple of Aristotle, and inferior to none
of the Peripatetics, in his first book on the
subject of sleep, says, from Aristotle, his
master, "It would be tedious to run through
the whole history of the people of the Jews,
and therefore 1 shall only give you a speci-
men of a particular person's admirable wis-
dom." Hyperochides made answer, that it
would be (he greatest favour he could do
them. Aristotle then proceeded thus: " This
was a Jew of the Lower Syria, of the race of
a sort of philosophers whom the Indians call
Calani, and the Syrians Jews, from (he coun-
try of Judea, which they inhabit. Theircapi-
tal city has a hard tiame, and they call it
Jerusalem. He was a person of great hospi-
tality to strangers, and no less considerable
for his learning and morals. It was my for-
tune to be in Asia with some disciples, and
this man paid us several visits there, (o the
great satisfaction and improvement of those
who admired his conversa(ion."
This is the character, according to Clear-
rOL. II. NOS. 87 & 88.
chus, that Aristotle gave the Jews, to which
he added his extraordinary temperance and
moderation in the government of his passions.
Hecataeus, the Abderite, a man learned and
active, who was trained up with Alexander
the Great, and lived afterwards wi(h P(olemy,
the son of Lagus, and king of Egypt, wrote
an entire tract upon the subject ot the Jews,
from which 1 shall extract some passages that
tend to elucidate the matterunder presentcon-
sideration. He relates an account of a battle
fought betwixt Ptolemy and Demetrius, near
Gaza, eleven years after the death of Alex-
ander, and in the hundred and seventeenth
Olympiad, according to Castor in his history.
" It was in this Olympiad (he writes) that
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, defeated Deme-
trius, the son of Antigonus, otherwise called
Poliorcetes, in a battle, not far from Gaza."
Now it is agreed, on all hands, that Alexan-
der died in (he hundred and fourteenth Olym-
piad ; and it is therefore evident that the
Jews were a flourishing people in the days
of that great prince. Hecataeus says further,
that after the battle of Gaza, Ptolemy made
himself master of Syria, and the country
round, and that the people were so charmed
with his humanity and moderation, that many
followed him into Egypt, and were willing to
assist him in his concerns. Among the rest,
was one Hezekiah, an high-priest of the Jews,
and a person of the first rank. He was a
man sixty years of age, possessed of the
powers of eloquence, and great knowledge of
the world. The same author says likewise,
that the number of priests who received
tenths lived in common, and amounted to
about fifteen hundred. Speaking afterwards
of Hezekiah, he thus proceeds : —
" We have had several conferences with
this great man, and others about him, con-
cerning our different customs, practices, and
opinions, insomuch that he carried us to his
habitation, and instructed us in (he polity of
his country, which he had down in writing."
Hecataeus proceeds to shew the zeal and
veneration we have for our laws, and that
we are ready to submit to the most excruci-
a(ing torment, rather than be guilty of the
least violation of them. He then expatiates
on the subject of our patience under calumny
and reproach in the following manner: —
" What indignities have these people e»
30
464
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book I.
dured from their neighbours? How have
thej been persecuted by the Persian kings
and their officers, and yet stood firm to the
last extremity against all trials ? For in-
stance; the temple of Belus was fallen down
at Babylon, and Alexander, being at that time
in the place, had an intention to repair it, and
accordingly ordered all the soldiers to assist
in carrying timber and materials towards the
advancing of the work. The Jews were the
only people that refused, and were severely
punished for their disobedience: but when
the king saw nothing would work upon them,
out of generous tenderness for such con-
stancy, he ordered them to be discharged.
Upon their return into their own country,
they demolished all the temples and altars
that they found erected to strange gods; for
which some of them were fined and punished,
and others pardoned."
The historian enlarges then upon our won-
derful steadiness and resolutions, the vast
multitudes of our people, the prodigious num-
bers that were carried away captive, by the
Persians, into Babylon, and others again,
after the death of Alexander, transported into
Egypt and Phoenicia, upon occasion of a se-
dition in Syria. He speaks likewise of the
extent, the beauty, and the fruitfulness of our
country, (that is to say, of Judea) which he
computes at near three millions of acres, and
affirms it to be a most excellent soil. Of the
city of Jerusalem, its spaciousness, the peo-
ple, and the temple, he speaks to this effect :
" The Jews have in their possession a great
many towns, villages, and strong holds ; but
one city eminent above all the rest for large-
ness and strength. It is accounted fifty fur-
longs in compass, to contain a hundred and
fifty thousand inhabitants ; and the name of
it is Jerusalem. In the middle of this city
stands an enclosure of stone, a hundred cubits
about, and two mighty gates to it. Within
this enclosure is a quadrangular altar, made
of unwrought stones, that never tool touched;
the superficies of it twenty cubits over, and
the depth ten. Near about it there stands a
spacious building, with a golden altar, and
candlestick in it, of two talents weight, and
lamps burning continually night and day.
But for images, plants, groves, &c. as in other
temples, here they were wholly wanting. But
there are priests that pass their time there
day and night in great purity ; and they drink
no wine." The same author again thus re-
lates a story of a Jew, upon an expedition,
that served under one of Alexander's suc-
cessors.
" As I was travelling towards the Red Sea,
there was one Mosollam in the company, a
Jew, and one of our horse-guards, that was
looked upon to be very brave, and a famous
marksman with bow and arrow. As they were
advancing on their way, a soothsayer, that
took upon him to foretell the fortune of their
voyage, bade them all stand, and they did so.
This Jew asked them what they stood for.-*
The cunning man, shewing them a bird, re-
plied, If that bird stands, you are to stand;
if it rises, and flies on, you are to go forward
too ; but if the bird takes its flight the con-
trary way, you must all go back again. The
Jew, without any more words, let fly an ar-
row, and killed the bird. The diviner, and
his companions, fell presently upon the Jew,
in most outrageous terms. Why certainly
(says Mosollam,) you are all mad, to be thus
concerned about a foolish bird. How shall
that poor wretch pretend to tell us our for-
tune, that knew nothing of its own .'' If this
bird could have foreseen good or evil to come,
it would have kept itself out of the way of
this arrow." Thus much of Hecatseus.
1 shall add one Mord out of Agatharchides;
not as any friend of ours ; though I take him,
in charity, to be no enemy. He relates a
story, how " Stratonice cast off' her husband
Demetrius, and passed out of Macedonia into
Syria, with a design to marry the king Se-
leucus. But Seleucus not answering her ex-
pectation, she stirred up a commotion in An-
tioch, while he was with his army in Babylon.
At his return he took Antioch ; and Stratonice
making for Seleucia, she was taken, and it
cost her her life." Her only course had been
to have taken her passage by sea; but she
was diverted from it by a dream. Agathar-
chides, reflecting upon Stratonice's supersti-
tion, takes occasion to treat more at large
upon the topics, and so enters upon an invec-
tive against the Jews.
" The people (says he) they call Jews, are
possessed of a city by the name of Jerusalem,
a place of impregnable strength. They have
a custom there of resting the seventh day,
without either bearing of arms, tilling the
BOOK I.]
IN ANSWER TO APION
46S
ground, or attending any common business
whatsoever; but they employ it wholly in their
temples, and upon their devotions, from the
morning to the evening.
" Ptolemaeus, the son of Lagus, took advan-
tage of this custom, and entered the city with
an army upon that day. What was the con-
sequence .'' When the Jews should have
been defending their lives and liberties, their
attention was altogether taken up with the
superstitious foolery of not violating their
sabbath; and so they delivered themselves
up to an insupportable tyranny; which taught
them, by experience, the unwarrantable foun-
dation of so pernicious a law. From hence
it is, that men fly to dreams and opinions,
never considering that things necessary are
not to be controuled by human reason." Thus
Agatharchides retlects upon our conduct : but
whosoever passes a sober judgment upon the
whole matter, willfindtheproceedingsground-
ed upon the most glorious foundation of honour
and virtue : for what can be more heroical
than to give up life and country to the duty we
owe to God's holy laws and religion }
That some writers have omitted to men-
tion our nation, not because they knew no-
thing of us, but because they envied us, or
from some other unjustifiable cause, 1 think
I can demonstrate from particular instances.
Jerome, who wrote the history of Alexander's
successors, lived at the same time with Heca-
taeus, who was a friend of kitig Antigonus,
and had the government of Syria. Now He-
catifius wrote a complete volume of our afTairs,
while Jerome never mentions us in his his-
tory; though, from the vicinity of the place
of his nativity, he might be said to have been
bred up amongst us. But men act accord-
ing to their difTerent inclinations. The one
thought our actions worthy of being trans-
mitted to posterity, while the other was blind-
ly disposed to suppress the truth.
But surely we have sufficient evidence to
demonstrate our claim to antiquity, as the
Egyptians, Chaldeatis, Phcenicians, together
with many of the Greek writers; for, besides
those already mentioned, there are Theophi-
lus, Theodotus, Mnaseas, Aristophanes, Her-
mogenes. Euemerus, Conon, Zopirion, and
many others, who have made particular men-
tion of us. The greater part of these writers
must undoubtedly be in the dark, for want
of the holy scriptures for their guide; yet
they all afford their testimony to our antiquity,
which is sufficient for my present purpose.
The errors of Demetrius Phalerus, the elder
Philon, and Eupolemus, may be passed over
with candour, as they had not the means of
better information.
There remains behind one material cir-
cumstance, to which I hold myself bound in
duty to attend. This is to demonstrate the
calumnies and reproaches laid upon our na-
tion, and turn the asseverations of the authors
against themselves. To all men, who are
conversant in history, the prejudice and par-
tiality of writers must have been obvious.
Some exercise their malignity and prejudice
upon whole nations; some cast the shaft of
detraction at one object, some at another.
Thus Theopompus inveighed against the
Athenians, Polycrates against the Lacedaemo-
nians, and Tripoliticus (not Theopompus, as
some imagine) against the Thebans. Some
of the writers are actuated by malevolence
and envy, some from the hope of acquiring
fame, and others by representing things ex-
travagant and extraordinary. But whatever
eflfect such illiberal efTorts may have with the
weak and superficial, men of sober judgment
will treat them with the contempt they de-
serve.
The Egyptians being our professed ene-
mies, the most eflTectual means of gratifying
them was to pervert truth, and misrepresent
the story of our forefathers coming into Egypt,
and their departure thence. Indeed, they en-
vied and hated us for many causes. First, for
becoming powerful and considerable while
we were amongst them, and afterwards pros-
perous when we returned to our country.
The difTerence of our religion from theirs was
another cause of enmity ; a difference w ide
beyond conception; for they paid adoration
to brute animals. This practice they im-
bibed from earliest infancy ; and that pre-
possession that blinded their minds, and ren-
dered them incapable of sublimer ideas,
excited their aversion to those proselytes
who came over to us ; and some of them have
proceeded to that degree of folly and mean-
ness in their conduct, as not to scruple to
contradict their own ancient records. This
assertion I shall prove by quoting the words
of one of their principal writers, whom I have
3 02
466
PLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book r.
already cited in confirmation of our anti-
quity.
Manethon having undertaken his Egyptian
History, solemnly promised to found it upon
some sacred writings, and premises, " That
our ancestors carried an army into Egypt,
and subdued the country, but that, being ex-
pelled soon after, they settled themselves in
a province that is now called Judea, built a
city by the name of Jerusalem, and erected a
temple." Thus far he followed the ancient
records. But he afterwards becomes excen-
tric, admits vulgar rumours and traditions,
and introduces incredible stories, represent-
ing us as intermixed with a rabble of Egyptian
lepers, and thus driven out of the country.
He brings upon the tapis an ideal king, under
the fictitious name of Amenophis ; but, con-
scious of the imposture, does not calculate
the years of his reign, which he has accu-
rately done in other cases. He then ascribes
even fabulous stories to this king, as having,
in a manner, forgotten what he had already
related, that is, that it was now five hundred
and eighteen years since the shepherds went
out of Egypt towards Jerusalem ; for it was
in the reign of Themosis that they departed.
Now, from his days, the reign of the interme-
diate kings, according to Manethon, amounted
to three hundred and ninety-three years, till
the time the two brothers, Sethon and Her-
mus, of whom Sethon was otherwise called
Egyptus, and Hermus Danaus. He also says,
that Sethon cast the other out of Egypt, and
reigned fifty-nine years ; as did his eldest son
Rhampses, sixty-six years.
Having acknowledged that our forefathers
were gone out of Egypt so many years ago,
he introduces his fictitious king Amenophis,
as a prince of divine speculations, like Orus,
and says, that he was desirous to become a
spectator of the gods. He also communicated
his desire to one of the same name with his
own, who was the son of Papius, and a kind of
priest. Manethon adds, that this said priest,
Amenophis, told him, that his desire of see-
ing the gods should be granted, upon condi-
tion of his clearing the kingdom of all lepers,
and other unclean persons; and that the
king, pleased with this injunction, gathered
together, out of Egypt, all that had any bodily
defects, to the number of fourscore thousand,
whom he sent to work in the quarries to the
eastward of the Nile, with a mixture of other
Egyptians, to w hom that service was allotted.
He says further, that there were some of the
learned priests polluted with the leprosy.
In prosecution of his purpose, he goes on
to observe, that the wise and heavenly priest
Amenophis, in a horror of conscience for
what he had done, and in dread of a judi-
cial vengeance from heaven upon himself for
giving that counsel, and upon the king for
taking it, durst not mention it to him, but left
a writing behind him, and then put an end to
his own existence. The author then goes on
in these very words : —
" The king, being plied with petitions on
the behalf of these miserable people, and par-
ticularly for some place of retreat, where
they might live safe and easy, they pitched
upon Avaris, formerly known by the name of
Typhon, and the seat of the shepherds. The
prince granted them this boon; and they
were no sooner settled in it, than, finding it a
commodious post for a rebellion, they listed
themselves under Osarsiph, a priest of He-
lioplis, and took an oath of fidelity to him,
to obey whatever he should command them,
upon these preliminaries, that they should
neither worship any of the Egyptian gods,
nor abstain from any of the meats that they
account holy, nor intermarry but with people
of their own opinion. When they had gone
thus far, in opposition to the Egyptian interest
and customs, the commander presently or-
dered the fortifying and walling in of the city,
and the levying war against Amenophis, who
taking other priests along with him, sent an
embassy to the shepherds at Jerusalem, whom
king Themosis had forced away out of Eg^pt,
with instructions to the deputies to consult
upon the common cause, and invite them
into a league against Egypt, with a promise
to join in the confederacy, and receive them
into Avaris, the seat of their ai^cestors, where
they were sure they could want nothing;
but they might fight when they found it con-
venient, and with the utmost ease make
themselves masters of the province. They
were transported with joy at this proposal,
and immediately drew out to the number of
two hundred thousand men, and so marched
away to Avaris.
" Amenophis, upon the news of this inva-
sion, was in great confusion of mind, as to the
BOOK I.]
IN ANSWER TO APiON.
•167
prophetical paper the priest left behind him;
immediately' called a great council of his
princes and people together, and sent away
all the beasts that passed for sacred among
the Egyptians, with a strict order to thepriests
to keep all their idols as close as possible.
He committed his son Scthon, otherwise
called Romasses, after his father's name,
Rhampses, a child of five years of age, to the
care of a particular friend ; and so marched
away himself, at the head of three hundred
thousand fighting men, to encounter the ene-
my. But, upon second thought, and a check
of conscience, he turned short without fight-
ing, and went his way to Memphis, where he
and his people took shipping, and, with Apis,
and the rest of their gods, lied into Ethiopia.
The king of the country gave him and his
people so generous a reception, that they
wanted for nothing the place afforded ; nei-
ther provisions or habitations, for their enter-
tainment and convenience, to serve them the
whole course of that fatal thirteen years
banishment. Thus it fared with the Egyptians
in Ethiopia; besides that they had a guard
allowed them upon the frontier, for the safety
of their king's person.
" But in the mean time, the Jerusalem aux-
iliaries made infinitely more ravage in Egypt,
than they that called them in : for there was
nothing they stuck at that was either inhuman
or wicked ; and the very spectacle of their
impiety was a calamity not to be expressed.
The razing, burning, and rifling of towns and
villages, was nothing to them without sacri-
, lege, and breaking the images of their gods
to pieces ; most barbarously tearing the con-
secrated creatures, that the Egyptians adored,
limb from limb; forcing the priests and pro-
phets to be the executioners of them them-
selves, and then turning them off naked."
The author says yet further, " That the
founder of that polity was one Osarsiph, a
priest of Heliopolis, so called from Osiris, a
god that was worshipped there:" and he says
that this priest, changing his religion, changed
his name too, and called himself Moses. This
is an Egyptian story of the Jews, but con-
tracted for brevity-sake.
Manethon says yet again, that ** Amenophis
and his son Rhampses marched afterwards
out of Ethiopia with two great armies, en-
countered the shepherds and the lepers,
routed and chased tliem with great slaughter
to the borders of Syria." This is the account
we have from Manethon, w hich is most ridicu-
lously trivial, as will evidently appear.
Now this fabulist takes it for granted, in
the first place, that our Ibrefathers were not
originally of Egypt, but came thither from
another country, and having subdued it, went
again out of it. But that these Egyptians,
who were thus diseased, did not afterwards
intermix with us, and that Moses, who brought
us out of the land of Egypt, was not one of
that number, I shall endeavour to demon-
strate from Manethon's own account, and
prove that it is not only a fiction, but that the
foundation of it is as ridiculous as false.
Manethon supposes that " King Amenophis
desired to see the gods." I ask w hat gods .•*
If he meant the gods their laws ordained to
be worshipped, as the ox, the goat, the croco
dile, and the baboon, he had already seen
them. But if he meant celestial gods, they
are altogether invisible. What could excite
this desire .'' Another king, it seems, had
seen them before. He might have been in-
formed what they were, and after what man-
ner they had been seen, w ithout any new ar-
tifice for obtaining his desire. However, the
prophet, it is said, by whose means the king
thought to compass his design, was a good
and wise man. If so, he must have known
that the king's desire was unattainable. But
he failed of his end. To come more closely
to the point, what pretence could there be to
suppose that the gods would not be seen by
reason of any defect in the human body .''
The gods are not offended at the defects of
the body, but at those of the mind. How
can it be conceived that so many thousand
diseased persons should be gathered toge-
ther in one day.-* Why did not the king fol-
low the direction of the prophet, and rather
expel them out of Egypt, than cojidemn them
to the quarries, as if he rather wanted labour-
ers than to purge his country .'' He says fur-
ther, that the prophet slew himself ifi dread
of a Divine vengeance, and left this prediction
for the king in writing. How came the pro-
phet not to foresee his own destruction as
well as that of the rest ? Why did he not
dissuade the king from the indulgence of so
fantastical a desire .i* Why that dread upon
him of judgments that were not to happen
468
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book
during his life ? Or was the misery he ap-
prehended worse than death itself? But the
most ridiculous part of the story remains for
comment.
The king, altliough he had been informed
of these things, and was terrified at tlie ap-
prehension of them, did not eject these diseased
people out of his country, but, as Manethon
relates, gave them that city to inhabit, which
had belonged to their forefathers, and was
called Avaris, where they made choice of the
high-priest of Heliopolis for their governor.
This priest first ordained that they should
neither worship the gods, nor abstain from
those animals that were adored by the Egyp-
tians, but kill and eat them ; that they should
associate with none but their confederates;
and he bound the multitude by oath to the
observance of these laws. In fine, they for-
tified Avaris, and took up arms against the
king, sending to Jerusalem for assistance, with
a promise of putting Avaris into their hands;
not doubting but from thence, upon a conjunc-
tion, they might easily obtain possession of
all Egypt.
He further says, that they advanced with
two hundred thousand men; but that Ame-
nophis, king of Egypt, because he would not
fight against the gods, took his flight into
Ethiopia, and took Apis, and other sacred
animals, along with him. That the Jews, af-
terwards breaking into Egypt, laid their towns
waste, fired the temples, put their nobihty (o
the sword, and committed outrages without
mercy or distinction. That the priest who
settled their polity was a native of Heliopo-
lis, by name Osarsiph, so called from their
god Osiris; but that he afterwards assumed
the name of Moses. That Amenophis fell
into Egypt, out of Ethiopia, with a mighty
armament, in the thirteenth year after his ex-
pulsion, and joining battle with the shep-
herds, and the polluted people, overcame
them, slew many of them, and pursued the
rest as far as the bounds of Syria.
Manethon did not here reflect that his sto-
ries are totally unconnected and improbable ;
for though the diseased people, and the mul-
titude that were with them, might deem it, at
first, a hard measure, to be treated with sucli
rigour by the king at the instance of the pro-
phet, yet, when they were freed from the
slavery of the mines, and allowed a commo-
dious habitation, they must certainly have
entertained a more candid opinion of him. Or
admitting their aversion to have been impla-
cable, they would rather have contrived some
secret practice upon his person, than involve
not only their countrymen, but nearest rela-
tions, in the calamities of a war. Their con-
test was with men, not with the gods ; neither
would they act contrary to the laws in which
they had been trained up. We owe our ac-
knowledgments to Manethon, for declaring
that the ringleaders of this outrage were none
of those that came out of Jerusalem, but the
very Egyptians themselves, and especially
their priest, who had bound them by oath to
those practices. How absurd it is to sup-
pose, that, when they found none of the re-
lations or friends of the diseased could be pre-
vailed upon to revolt, nor bear any part in a
war, they should send to Jerusalem for suc-
cour ! Could it be on the score of friendship
or interest betwixt them.'* Certainly not; for on
the contrary, they were professed enemies, from
a total repugnance in manners and customs. :
Manethon affirms, that they immediately
complied, upon the promise of being put in
possession of Egypt : as if they could be igno-
rant of the condition of that country out of
which they had been driven by force. Had
they been in a necessitous state, they might
have undertaken so hazardous anenterprize;
but to suppose that people, living at ease, and
in a much more fruitful and agreeable coun-
try than Egypt, should incur such danger for
the sake of enemies, and those so nauseously
distempered, argues a degree of folly border-
ing on phrensy. They could not foresee the
flight of the king at the head of three hun-
dred thousand men; for that was the number,
according to the fabulist, he brought to Pe-
lusium to encounter the revolters.
He charges also upon the army from Jeru-
salem, the seizure of the Egyptians' corn and
provisions, the embezzlement of their stores,
and the commission of the most horrid acts.
What less could be expected from an open
and declared enemy, especially when the
Egyptians had done the same things before,
and bound themselves by oath to continue
the same practices .''
In what light shall we view the story of the
rout A menophis gave his enemies, together with
the slaughter and pursuit of them to the bor-
BOOK U]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
469
ders of Syria ? Does Egypt lie so open on all
hands ? and would not those who had the
conduct of tlie war, when they were informed
he was upon the raarch, have secured the
avenues out of Ethiopia, and drawn an army
together to oppose him ? But, says the fabu-
list, he followed them over the sandy desert,
and pursued the slaughter as far as Syria.
A very probable supposition ! to pursue an
enemy over a desert hardly passable, and
that without any interruption. It is evident,
even from Manethon's own account, that we
neither derived our origin from the Egyptians,
or ever intermixed with them. As to the dis-
eased part of them, it is not doubted but that
many died in the quarries, more in the war,
and great numbers in this last action and
flight. But we now proceed to examine into
the validity of what Manethon advances con-
cerning Moses.
The Egyptians universally acknowledged
Moses to have been a man of singular wisdom
and integrity; and for that reason, it seeps,
they were desirous of having it thought that
he was of their country, and therefore repre-
sented him as one of the priests of Heliopolis,
who was ejected, amongst the rest, as an in-
fected person. It has been demonstrated,
from their chronological records, that Moses
lived five hundred and eighteen years earlier,
and conducted our forefathers out of Egypt
into the country which we now inhabit. That
he was subject to no bodily distemper, is evi-
dent from his own words; for he positively
prohibited any lepers from being admitted
into any towns or villages; enjoined them to
live apart, and declared, that whosoever
touched them, or lived under the same roof
with them, should be reputed unclean. He
farther ordained, that whosoever should be
cured of that disease, and restored to a for-
mer state, should pass certain purifications,
wash with fountain water, shave ofT the hair,
and offer particular sacrifices, previous to
their reception into the holy city. If Moses
had been affected with this distemper him-
self, he would never have been so rigidly se-
vere upon others.
Nor were these laws ordained for persons
afflicted with the leprosy only, but they di
qualified any man for the sacerdotal offic^
who had maim or corporeal defect. Nay, if
any priest, already initiated, should have
-^bc
such a calamity in future, he was deprived of
his function. Can it then be supposed, that
if Moses had been a leper, he would have or-
dained laws to his own reproach ?
Nor is there any probability of his changing
his name from Osarsiph to that of Moses, as
there appears not the least aflinity between
the one and the other. Moy, in the Egyptian
language, is water; and Moyses signifies a
person who is preserved out of the water.
Upon the whole, it is presumed, I have ren-
dered it evident, that, while Manethon fol-
lowed the ancient records, he was not far
wide of the truth ; but where he is guided by
fiction and fable, there is no longer any con-
nection or truth in his history.
I shall now enquire into the merits of
Cheremon, another Egyptian historian, who
supposes the same names and persons of Ame-
nophis, and his son Ramessis, with Manethon.
He relates that the goddess Isis appeared to
Amenophis in his sleep, and reprehended
him severely for suffering her temple to be
demolished in the war. But that Phritiphan-
tes, a sacred scribe, suggested to the king,
that if he would clear Egypt of all persons
labouring under foul and malignant distem-
pers, he should never more be troubled with
those frightful apparitions. That Ameno-
phis accordingly chose out two hundred and
fifty thousand of those that were thus dis-
eased, and cast them out of the country, un-
der the command of Moses and Joseph, two
of the number, and holy men. That their
names were originally Egyptian ; Moses be-
ing called Tisitles, and Joseph, Peteseph.
That they found at Pelusium three hundred
and eighty thousand, that Amenophis had left
there, refusir)g them a passage into Egypt.
That they struck a league, and joined in an
expedition against the Egyptians ; but that
Amenophis, not being able to sustain their
attacks, fled into Ethiopia, leaving his wife
pregnant behind him. That she lay con-
cealed in a cavern, and there brought forth a
male child, whom she called Messenes, who,
when he was grown to man's estate, drove
about two hundred thousand of the Jews into
Syria, and brought back his father Ameno-
phis out of Ethiopia. Thus much for the ac-
ount of Cheremon.
-^-^To invalidate the credit of these writers,
it will be oidy necessary to confront them.
470
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book
Truth and error can never be reconciled, nor
can truth be divided against itself. When
men have recourse to fable and fiction, what
they write may be deemed fancy rather than
history. Manethon imputes the expulsion of
the lepers to the desire of Amenophis to see
the gods ; Cheremon to the vision of Isis. The
former makes the priest Amenophis the ad-
viser of the expulsion of the distempered
people out of the king's dominions ; the lat-
ter affirms, that it was Phritiphantes. They
agree equally exact with respect to their
numbers as their stories ; the former compu-
ting them at eighty thousand men, the latter
at two hundred and fifty thousand. Mane-
thon again sends the lepers first to the quar-
ries, and after that transports them to Avaris,
whence they apply to the Jews for assistance,
and make that the rise of the war. Chere-
mon, on the contrary, affirms, that, being
driven out of Egypt, they availed themselves
of the three hundred and eighty thousand
men that Amenophis had left at Pelusium, in-
vaded Egypt, and caused Amenophis to fly
into Ethiopia. But, strange to observe ! he
gives us no information who these men were,
nor whence they came; whether they were
Egyptians or foreigners, or why Amenophis
would not receive them. After forging the
dream as the supposed cause of the expulsion
of the lepers, he writes that Moses and Jo-
seph were expelled together; whereas the
latter was dead four generations before the
time of Moses, which space makes almost one
hundred and seventy years. According to
Manethon, Ramesses, the son of Amenophis,
was a young man, assisted his father in the
war, left the country with him, and fled into
Ethiopia. By Cheremon's account, he was
born in a cave after the death of his father,
in process of time overcame the Jews in bat-
tle, and drove about two hundred thousand
of them into Syria. What incoherence ! what
inconsistency ! What the three hundred and
eighty thousand were, we are as yet to learn;
as we are the manner in which the other
eighty thousand perished, whether they fell
in battle, or went over to Ramessps. But
■what is yet more extraordinary, we cannot
gather from Cheremon who they were that
he calls Jews, or to which of the two parties
he applies that denomination, whether to the
two hundred and fifty thousand lepers, or to
the three hundred and eighty thousand that
were about Pelusium. It would, however, be
loss of time to dwell upon the confutation of
those writers, who evidently confute them-
selves.
To former fables, I shall add those of Lysi-
machus, whose forgeries and inventive facul-
ties far exceed those beforementioned, and
demonstrate his rancorous hatred of our na-
tion. His words are these : —
" In the reign of Bocchoris, king of Egypt,
the Jews were so leprous, purulent, and over-
run with foul distempers, that they pressed
into the temples to beg for charities. There
died great numbers of them of contagious dis-
eases ; upon which there followed a famine
in Egypt. Bocchoris, in this distress, sent to
consult the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, about
the dearth. The answer was, that he should
purify the temples, by sending away all un-
clean and impious persons out of them into
the desert, and drowning those that were ul-
cerated and leprous; for the sun itself had a
horror for so abominable a sight; which be-
ing done, the earth should bring forth fruit
again, and nature return to her course. Boc-
choris, upon this, calls his priests and divi-
ners about him; and with their advice, orders
the sick people to be gathered together, and
delivered up to the soldiers : the lepers to be
wrapped up in lead, and cast into the sea ;
and the others to be carried into the wilder-
ness, and there exposed to destruction. The
night coming on, these poor people began to
think what to do with themselves : they made
fires, set watches and guards, and the next
night kept a fast, to reconcile themselves to
the gods whom they had offended. The day
following there was one Moses that advised
them to decamp, and march on together till
they met with better accommodation; with a
charge to do no good offices upon the way,
nor so much as to give any man good counsel
that should desire it; and likewise to break
down all the temples and altars they found in
their march. These proposals were no sooner
approved, and the resolution taken, than the
multitude presently put themselves upon the
march over the wilderness; and, after many
hardships, came at last Jnto a country that
was both cultivated and peopled. They
treated the inhabitants cruelly in the highest
degree, burnt and pillaged their temples,
BOOR I.J
IN ANSWER TO APION.
471
came in the end to a place that they now call
Judea, and built a city there by the name of
Hierosyla, (according to the occasion,) being
as much as to say, The spoil of holy things: but
coming afterwards into power and reputation,
they were ashamed of theirown name, changed
Hierosyla into Hierosolyma, and called them-
selves after their city."
It is here observable, that this last fabulist
does not discover or mention the same king
with the others, but feigns a more modern
name, and passing over the dream and the
Egyptian prophet, brings him to Jupiter Am-
mon, to ask counsel concerning the lepers,
and other unclean persons. He says, that
the Jews gathered together in multitudes
about the temples. Now it is uncertain whe-
ther he ascribes this appellation to the le-
pers, or to those that were subject to such
diseases among the Jews only ; for he seems
so to restrict it in calling them the people of
the Jews. But why not be explicit, and point
out whether he means natives or strangers .''
If Egyptians, wherefore call them Jews? If
strangers, why not inform us whence they
came ? If, by command of the king, so many
were drowned, and the rest cast out to de-
serts, it is extraordit»ary that there should be
60 great a multitude remaining, which should
pass the wilderness, possess the country,
build a city, and erect a temple celebrated
throughout the world.
Again, how comes it to pass that he men-
tions barely the name of our legislator, with-
out a word concerning his country, his per-
son, or his descent .'* or without assigning the
reasons for his making such extravagant laws
in his passage, to the dishonour both of gods
and men? Either these exiles were Egyp-
tians or not : if they were, they would not so
suddenly have changed the customs of their
country. If they were not, they had certainly
manners of their own, which they attained
from long habit. It is likewise to be con-
sidered, that, if they had bound themselves
by oath never to bear good will towards those
who ejected them, they had a plausible rea-
son for so doing : but for men, in their wretch- '
ed plight, to wage an implacable war against
all mankind, nothing could argue greater
folly, or even phrensy, but the attempt to
impose so monstrous a fiction upon rational
and intelligent beings. He has the eflrontery
to affirm, that a name implying " robbers of
the temple" was given to the city, and that
this name was afterwards changed. But how
was it that the very name, which at that time,
according to his report, was so great a scan-
dal to the city, should afterwards be ac-
counted the highest honour to its inhabitants ?
It seems that this malevolent dealer in fiction
imagined, ignorantly imagined, that the word
Hierosolyma implied the same thing in He-
brew as it did in Greek. But wherefore
multiply words to detect an imposture so gla-
ringly manifest, especially since it is pre-
sumed, that the very face of the narrative
bears a stamp of the fallacy of its author ? I
shall proceed therefore, in the following book,
to accomplish my design.
VOL. II. N09. 87 & 88.
3P
JOSEPHUS IN ANSWER TO APION.
BOOK II.
HAVING, in the former book, most ex-
cellent Epaphroditus, demonstrated the
antiquity of our nation, and confirmed the
truth of what I advanced, from the writings of
the Phcenicians, Chaldeans and Egyptians,
together with those of several Greek authors,
in my remarks upon Manethon, Cheremon,
and others of our enemies, I shall now direct
my attention to personal opponents, and, in
the first place, to Apion, the grammarian, if
he may be deemed worthy of notice.
His writings contain much the same accu-
sations as those with which we have been
charged by others. They are contemptible
dull and scurrilous. Palpable ignorance, and
malevolent calumny, pervade the whole; in-
somuch that they bespeak, at once, the au-
thor's want of judgment, of learning and of
candour.
But as the frivolous part of mankind far
exceed the considerate and discerning, and the
illiberal delight rather in detraction than
encomium of character, I find myself under
some kind of necessity to detect and expose
the errors of this man, who has the arrogance
to make himself judge in the cause ; and I am
particularly induced to the undertaking, from
considering that persons, in general, are
gratified in finding reproach and scandal reta-
liated upon their authors.
His manner of writing is so dark and intri-
cate, that his meaning frequently cannot be
easily conceived; and his stories abound with
"contradictions and inconsistencies. At one
time he misrepresents the circumstance of the
departure of our forefathers out of Egypt,in the
same manner with those which I have already
confuted. At another he inveighs against
the Jews of Alexandria; and then breaks
forth into most outrageous clamours against
the rites and ceremonies of our temple and
worship.
Now, although I cannot but think I have
already abundantly demonstrated, that our
forefathers were not originally from Egypt, nor
thence expelled on account of bodily diseases,
or any similar calamities, yet 1 hold it expedi-
ent to animadvert particularly to what Apion
advances in the third book of his Egyptian
History, where he thus writes : " I have heard,
from some ancient men of Egypt, that Moses
was a native of Heliopolis ; that the people for-
merly had their religious meetings in the open
air, till Moses, who was well skilled in the
worship of his country, brought their congre-
gation out of the fields, into private houses in
the city, enjoining the people to address their
prayers still towards the sun." He adds,
" That with respect to the situation of the
place, there were, instead of obelisks, certain
pillars, advanced upon the figures of ba-
sons, with engravings upon them ; and the
shadow falling upon the basons, (for all was
open above) still as the sun moved, the shadow
moved along with it."
This was the professed opinion of our gram-
marian ; to confute which I shall not cite any
authority from myself, but only advert to the
writings of Moses. It is manifest from his
works, that, when he first erected a taberna-
cle, for the purpose of divine worship, he
neither gave orders himself for any such
representation to be made nor ordained that
those who came after him, should make such
a one. When, in a future age, Solomon built
his temple in Jerusalem, he avoided all such
fantastical decorations as Apion hath here
devised.
BOOK I I.J
IN ANSWER TO APION.
473
With respect to the authority he cites, of the
old men who informed him that Moses was a na-
tive of Heliopolis, it seems he was too young to
know it himself, and therefore consulted some of
his cotemporaries, who, he says, were well ac-
quainted with him, a suggestion pregnant with
absurdity. This grammarian could not find out
the country either of Homer or Pythagoras,
though the latter was in comparison butofyes-
erday. Why then so positive in the case of Mo-
ses, who lived so many ages before them, and
all this upon the credit of his ancient men.''
Nor are these historians less divided as to
chronological determination of the time when
Closes led the lepers, the lame, and the blind,
out of Egypt. According to Manethon, it was
in the reign of Tethmosis, three hundred and
ninety three years before Danus tied into
Argos. According to Lysimachus, it was in
the reign of king Bocchoris, that is, one thou-
sand seven hundred years ago. Molon, and
some others, determined it as they pleased.
But Apion, who claims more authenticity than
all the rest, determines it to have been pre-
cisely upon the first year of the seventh Olym-
piad ; tlie very year, he says, of the building
of Carthage. He makes mention of Carthage
as a token that would infallibly confirm the
truth of his computation. But he was not
aware that, by this means, he furnished argu-
ments and evidence against himself, at least
if any credit may be given, in this case, to the
Phcenician records. For we find in them, that
Hiram lived at least a hundred and fitly years
before the building of Carthage, and that he
had a particular friendship, and indeed vene-
ration for .'^olomon, the founder of the temple
at Jeru'salem, and contributed materials in
abundance towards the perfecting of that
work. But Solomosi, in fine, laid tlio founda-
tioiKs of the temple six hundred and twelve
years after the Jews came out of Egypt.
As to the number of Jews that were ex-
pelled out of Egypt, Apion agrees with Lysi-
machus, that they were a hundred and ten
thousand. But the origin he gives of the word
Sabbath is frivolous and nugatory beyond ex-
pression. He says, that, •' when the Jews had
travelled a six days' journey, they had intlam-
mations about the groin, and tliat, for this
cause, they rested the seventh day. Being
safely arrived in the country now called J udea,
they gave that day the name of the Sabbath,
from the Egyptian word Sabbarosis, which
signifies the disease of the groins Could any
thmg more absurd or ridiculous be imposed
on the credulity of mankind under the sanc-
tion of history ? A hundred and ten thousand
men all labouring under the same disease ! If
they were blind likewise, lame and languish-
ing, as Apion elsewhere reports them, how
could such an infirm multitude hold out so
much as one day's journey in the desert .''
Besides, they were to cut their way through all
opposition. The improbability of a hundred
and ten thousand men falling into the same
disease, at the same time, must be universally
admitted; and as such an incident could never
be according to the ordinary course of nature,
it would be the height of folly to impute it to
chance. Our author had before told us, that
" they came to J udea in six days ;" and again,
that " Moses ascended a mountain, betwixt
Arabia and Egypt, called Sinai; was concealed
there forty days; and tl)at,when he came down,
he delivered the law to the Jews." I would
ask him if it is possible for such a body of men
to march over so vast a desert in six days, and
to subsist forty days in a place that alTorded
neither bread or water.
His explanation of the origin of the word Sab-
bath is frivolous to the last degree of ignorance
and insolence ; for the word Sabbo and Sab-
bath, are widely diflfe rent from each other. The
word Sabbath, in the Hebrew language, de-
notes, rest from all sorts of work : but the word
Sabbo. as he afl^rms, denotes the name of the
Fgtjptian disease. This is the novel account
which the Egyptian Apion, has given us con-
cerning the Jews' departure out of Egypt, and
is nothing more than a contrivance of his own.
But why should we wonder at his misrepre-
senting the origin of our fathers, when he
alfirms them to have been Egyptians, when he
errs intentionally concerning his own .'' He
was born at Oasis, in Egypt, but renounces the
place of his nativity to be thought an Alexan-
drian, which shews what an opinion he had of
the Egyptians ; for that name he gives to all
whom he would represent in an odious light ;
and this is the cause for which he takes such
pains to disguise his extraction.
Those that glory in the dignity of their
country, deem it a point of honour to make
good their title, and maintain the rights and
privileges belopging to it. This is the case
3P2
474
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book II,
of tlie Egyptians witli respect to us. Either
they claim country and kindred with us to
aggrandize themselves, or to involve us in
their own infamy. But Apion seems to vent
his splenetic passion against us merely to
gratify the Alexandrians for the privilege they
allowed him of being a fellow citizen with
them, apprised of the ill will the Alexandrians
bear those that are in reality their fellow citi-
zens ; and yet, though he pretended to expose
only one sort of Jews, the poison of his detrac-
tion extended to the whole race.
Let us now attend to the abominable crimes
which Apion charges with so much rancour
upon the Alexandrian Jews. "They came
(he says) out of Syria, and inhabited the spot
along the sea coast at a place within the
wash of the tide; but there is no port at hand
for a vessel to ride in." Was not Apion
highly censurable for reproaching a country
he so much gloried in (how vainly and falsely,
however,) as the place of his nativity ? For
that quarter is a dependency upon Alexan-
dria, and universally reputed a most commo-
dious habitation, if the Jews took it by force,
and so maintained it against all opposition,
the more it redounds to their honour.
But, to be candid and ingenuous. It was
Alexander the Great that put the Jews in
possession of that place, and granted them
the same freedoms and immunities with the
Macedonians themselves. Nor can I devise
what Apion would have said, had their resi-
dence been allotted them at Necropolis, in-
stead of that royal city, and their tribes been
called Macedonians to this day. If Apion
had read the epistles of king Alexander, of
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, and the succeed-
ing kings of Egypt, the inscriptions which the
mighty Csesar caused to be engraven upon
the pillar at Alexandria, in memory of the
privileges by him granted to the Jews; had
he, I say, known these records, he must have
been lost to all sense of shame, thus to have
perverted truth, and opposed the conviction
of his own mind.
When he affects surprise at the Jews being
called Alexandrians, it is a proof of the great-
est ignorance or prejudice. Is it not notori-
ous that all colonies take their names from
the first founders .'' Need we seek for foreign
instances, when we have so many near home ?
The Jews of Antioch we call Antiochians,
because Seleucus, the founder of the city,
vested them with the privileges belongin"-
thereunto. In like manner the Jews of Ephe-
sus are called Ephesians; and those of Ionia,
lonians; to which right they stand entitled
by the successive privileges of former grants.
This is a favour which the Roman state hath
vouchsafed not only to particular persons,
but to w hole provinces and nations ; for the
ancient Iberians, Tuscans, and Sabines, are
now called Romans. If Apion rejects this
way of obtaining the privilege of a citizen of
Alexandria, let him renounce the title of an
Alexandrian. For what pretence hath any
man, according to his maxim, who was born
in the inland part of Egypt, to call himself an
Alexandrian, and especially an Egyptian,
those being the people of the whole world to
whom the masters of it, the Romans, refuse
this privilege ? But an envious historian, be-
ing deprived of title to this advantage, vents
his spleen at those who are in rightful pos-
session of it.
In the erecting of this city, Alexander made
use of the assistance and service of the Jews;
not for want of men, but in testimony and ap-
probation of their fidelity, and with a design
to shew them honour and respect. For, as
Hecataeus says, "Alexander honoured the
Jews to such a degree, that, for the equity
and fidelity, which they gave proof of, he per-
mitted them to hold the country of Samaria
free from tribute."" Ptolemy, the son of La-
gus, acted in the same manner, with respect
to those Jews who dwelt at Alexandria; for
he entrusted the fortresses of Egypt in their
hands, in confidence of their valour and alle-
giance; and for his better security, he planted
Cyrene, and other cities of Libya, with these
people.
Ptolemy Philadelphus succeeded Ptolemy,
the son of Lagus, who not only set those of
our nation free, but remitted them several
duties; and, what is more extraordinary, had
so great a desire of being instructed in our
laws and customs, and in the sacred scrip-
tures, that he requested interpreters might
be sent him for his better information. For
the more speedy advancement of the work,
the care of it was committed to Demetrius
Phalorus, Andreas, and Aristeus. Demetrius
was one of the most learned men of the age;
the other two were officers of rank, and be-
BOOK II.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
475
I
longed to Lis body guards. Can it now be
reasonably supposed, that this prince could
have had such a veneration tor the Jewish
laws and customs, and for the piety and wis-
dom of our forefathers, without a degree of
aflection and regard for the professors of*
those laws and customs ? Apion must be
little versed in that history, if he did not
know tliat most of the kings of these Mace-
donians, whom he pretends to have been his
progenitors, were well affected towards the
Jewish nation.
The third Ptolemy, called Energetes, when
he got possession of all Syria by force, did
not oflfer thanksgiving for his victory to the
gods of the Egyptians, but sacrificed, and re-
turned thanks, to the Almighty God of the
universe, in the temple of Jerusalem, after
the manner of the Jews.
Ptolemy Philometer, and his queen Cleo-
patra, committed the charge of the whole go-
vernment to Onias and Doritheus, who were
both Jews. Apion treats them with ridicule ;
but he ought rather to admire their actions,
and own his acknowledgment for the preser-
ving that Alexandria of which he pretended
to be a citizen : for when Egypt was up in
rebellion, and upon the brink of being irre-
coverably lost, these two Jews interposed,
and reduced the revolters to former obedi-
ence. Apion says, that Onias, soon after this,
entered the place with a small army, in tiie
f»resence of Thermus, the Roman ambassador,
n this trite manner he recounts an exploit
worthy of being celebrated by a much more
candid atid able historian.
Upon the death of Ptolemy Philometer,
Ptolemy Physcon, his brother, marched out
of Cyrene, and would have ejected Cleopa-
tra, and her sons, out of the kingdom, that he
might obtain it unjustly for himself. For this
cause Onias undertook the defence of Cleo-
patra ; nor would he desert the trust the royal
family had reposed in him now they were in
distress. Never was there a more remarka-
ble demonstration of the Divine power and
justice than upon this occasion. When
Ptolemy Physcon had prepared for action
with Onias, he caused all the Jews in Alex-
andria, men, women, and children, to be ex-
posed naked, and in bonds, to the elephants,
to be trampled to death; nay, the beasts
were made drunk to inflame their fury. But
the event proved contrary to his expectation ;
for the elephants left the Jews, Avho were ex-
posed to them, turned their rage another way,
fell violently on the friends ot Physcon, and
destroyed a great number of them. At the
same time a horrid spectre appeared to
Ptolemy, with a menacing precaution to leave
off" persecuting the Jews. His favourite con-
cubine (by name called Ithaca, by others Hi-
rene) joining her office of mediation, he not
only complied with her request, but repented
of what he had already done or intended to
do. This is a circumstance so notorious,
that the Jews of Alexandria keep, to this
day, an anniversary festival, in commemora-
tion of their deliverance. Yet such is the in-
veteracy of Apion, that common detractor,
that he reproaches the Jews for joining in
this war against Physcon, whereas he should
have extolled it as a most laudable action.
But the partial and perverse principles of
Apion most flagrantly appear in the instance
of Cleopatra, the last queen of Alexandria;
for he applauds that most infamous woman
for her ingratitude towards the Jews; whereas
he ought to have reprobated her for every
species of injustice and wickedness, with re-
spect to her nearest relations, the tenderest
of husbands, the Romans in general, and her
imperial benefactors in particular. Did she
not cause her sister Arsinoe to be put to death
in the temple without a crime .'' Her brother
to be taken off" by treachery ? Did she not
rifle the temples of the gods of her country,
and the sepulchres of her progenitors ? Did
she not receive her kingdom as a bounty
from the hand of the first Caesar, and after-
wards rebel against his adopted son and suc-
cessor .'' Did not her seducing wiles render
Antony a traitor to his country and his friends."*
Besides these instances of her ingratitude,
inhumanity, and avarice, I might enlarge on
the infamous disposition she evinced at the
naval battle of Actium, where she abandoned
even her beloved Antony himself, who had
been father of many children by her, and
compelled him to resign his army and his
honour to follow her into Egypt. In fine, I
might add to all this, that upon Caesar's ta-
king Alexandria, she was fired to such a de-
gree of rage, that she valued herself upon the
score of merciless barbarity, and declared
she would have esteemed it some compensa-
476
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book II.
lion for the loss of the town, if she could have
put all the Jews that were in it to death with
her own hand. If Cleopatra, according to
Apion's reproof, refused corn to the Jews in
a time of famine, why does he charge that
upon us as a disgrace, which in effect re-
dounds to our honour.'* However, she at
length met with the punishment she deserved.
But we can appeal for our own justifica-
tion to Caesar himself, to the public decrees
of the Roman senate, and to the testimonials
of Augustus Caesar in his epistles. These, in
general, bear witness of the true allegiance
we have ever paid the empire, and particu-
larly in the war against the Egyptians.
Apion, if he would have done us right,
should have examined these authorities, and
particularly the opinion that Alexander, all
the Ptolemies, and the most illustrious of the
Roman emperors, entertained of the Jewish
nation. If Germanicus could not supply all
the inhabitants of Alexandria with corn, this
can only prove that there was a dearth, and
by no means tends to the accusation of the
Jews. The good affection of the emperor
towards the Alexandrian Jews was never
called in question, nor were they denied wheat
any more than their neighbours; but, on the
contrary, found credit upon all occasions, as
in the command of the river, and other con-
siderable passes : and they were trusted, in
fine, in all places and matters of moment, be-
yond all others.
Apion brings another objection, and de-
mands, if the Jews be citizens of Alexandria,
why do they not worship the same gods with
the rest of their fellow citizens.-' I reply by
putting another query. Why do the Egyp-
tians wrangle and maintain an implacable
enmity to each other concerning diversity of
opinion, on matters of religion } Shall we on
that account, pronounce that you are not
Egyptians ? Or shall we doubt, on the other
hand, whether you are, in truth, men or not .''
For you take pains to nurture animals, and
then render them the objects of your worship.
Now, if you are thus divided amongst your-
selves, why should you wonder that the Jews
of Alexandria, who came from another coun-
try, and had original laws of their own, should
persevere in the observance of them ."*
Moreover, Apion charges us with being the
authors of sedition. If the imputation holds
good against the Alexandrian Jews, why not
against the Jews in general.'' for wherever
dispersed, we are known to be of one mind.
Whoever looks minutely into the causes of
these turbulent revolutions, will find that they
were occasioned by men of similar principles
with Apion himself; for, as long as the Greeks
and Macedonians were in possession of this
city, the Jews had the free exercise of their
religion, and the people lived in peace and
happiness ; but as the number of the Egyp-
tians increased, the times in proportion grew
more and more troublesome. The Jews,
however, continued the same throughout all
changes ; while the others, having neither the
constancy of the Macedonians, nor the pru-
dence of the Greeks, stirred up these commo-
tions, persisted in their evil practices, and
retained their former aversions to our people.
The Egyptians, therefore, gave rise to all the
differences that prevailed; though we are
charged with those very errors and misde-
meanors of which our accusers appear to
have been so palpably guilty.
Apion is likewise disposed to vilify us as
strangers, though possessed to all purposes of
the rights of citizens ; yet our adversaries
claim that privilege without the least colour
or pretence. We do not read, in ancient
history, any more than in modern, that any
prince, or any emperor, ever granted such
privileges to the Egyptians. The first that
introduced us to a right to that claim was
Alexander the Great, and the grant has been
enlarged by other kings ; and since that, all
the privileges have been continued, and con-
firmed, to us by the Romans.
Apion further takes occasion to pass a
heavy censure upon us for not setting up ima-
ges and statues in honour of the emperors,
as if they could not have judged of this mat-
ter, or stood in need of his defence. Instead
of arraigning our conduct, he should have
celebrated the magnanimity and candour of
the Romans, in allowing their subjects the
freedom of our religion, without extorting
from them such honours as they could not
conscientiously pay them, and accepting such
tokens of respect as they could with propri-
ety render. It is the good will that stamps
the obligation, and sets a value upon the
benefit, without the intervention either of ne-
cessity or violence. It may be urged, per-
i
BOOK II.J
IN ANSWER TO APION.
477
haps, that as it is a common practice both
with the Greeks, and other nations, to hold
the images of their relatives, friends, and
sometimes tlieir very servants, in high es-
teem, it argues consummate pride in tliose
who withhold that deference from their lords
and masters. To this 1 reply, with respect
to ourselves, that we pay implicit deference
to our venerable legislator, who has positively
forbidden us the use of all images, and of any
creature whatever, whether animate or in-
animate. He did not lay this injunction with
any view of derogating from the dignity of
the Roman empire, but he would by no means
suffer any corporeal image, or representation,
to be made of an invisible and incomprehen-
sible Deity. We are not, however, forbid-
den from paying reverence to great and good
men in due subordination to the one Supreme
Being, as in the case of the emperor and
people of Rome, for whose welfare and pros-
perity we offer daily sacrifices at the public
charge, and this we do for no other person
whatever. Let this suffice for answer in ge-
neral to Apion as to what he urges with rela-
tion to the Jews of Alexandria.
I cannot but admire the confidence of Pon-
dorius and Apollonius Molon, who furnished
Apion with his materials, and charges us with
not worshipping the same gods as others
worship, nor think themselves guilty of im-
piety, in spreading scurrilous reports, even to
the ridiculing and prophaning our very tem-
ple. Falsity is of all vices one of the most
unmanly, but more especially so where the
scandal falls upon a temple, celebrated
throughout the world for the exemplary so-
lemnity of its devotion.
Apion affirms that, in this holy place, the
.Tews had thegolden head of an ass, of immense
value, and that they worshipped this head as
a deity ; that the image was deposited in the
treasury, there found, and carried away, by
Antiochus Epiphanes. upon the rifling of that
sacred place. To this 1 reply, that, suppo-
sing the story to have been true, it became
not an Egyptian to reproach us with it; for
an ass is not a more contemptible animal
than a goat, or other beasts which they adore.
It is strange that Apion could not perceive
this to be a palpable lie, and the very ex-
treme of contradiction and absurdity. Have
we not, from time to time, retained the same
laws and customs, w ithoul variation .'' Though
Jerusalem has shared the fate of other cities,
and repeatedly fallen into the hands of ene-
mies, as Theos, Pompey the Great, Licinius
Crassus, and at last Titus Caesar, and our
temple has been thus taken, yet nothing
bearing such resemblance was ever found,
nor any thing contrary to rules of the strictest
piety.
Antiochus Epiphanes is chargeable with
the highest degree of perfidy and sacrilege
in pillaging the temple. He did not obtain
possession of it as an avowed enemy, but as
a pretended friend, and a traitor to his allies.
His principle was avarice, which he gratified
as a common plunderer. We have, however,
the testimonials of many respectable writers,
that there was nothing found, upon the rifling,
to render the party, or the cause, ludicrous,
as was fallaciously represented. Amongst
others i may enumerate Polybius, of Magalo-
polis ; Strabo, of Cappadocia ; Nicolaus, of
Damascus; Timagenes; Castor, the chro-
nologer; and Apollodorus; who all agree
that Antiochus, through necessity, violated
his league with the Jews, and spoiled their
temple of a vast mass of gold and silver. If
Apion was not as obdurate and senseless as
the animals which the Egyptians worship, he
would have taken those circumstances into
consideration, and not contended for such
palpable fictions. We have not that venera-
tion for our asses which the Egyptians have
for their asps and crocodiles, when they es-
teem such as are stung by the former, or bitten
by the latter, happy persons in being trans-
lated to the gods. Asses arc to us the same
as they are to other considerate men, crea-
tures to bear our burdens; but if they spoil
our corn, or become refractory, we chastise
them with stripes. But this Apion was so
frivolous in his inventions, and so defective
in his descriptions, that he could never ob-
tain suflficient credit with the world to do us
essential injury.
There is another malicious tale which he
borrows from the Greeks in order to reproach
us. Of this we need only observe, that they
are little acquainted with divine subjects,
who are not sensible that it is less impious to
pass through temples, than to cast aspersion
upon those that minister in sacred things.
But it was evidently their design to palliate
478
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book U.
the sacrilege and perfidy of a prince, by im-
puting his actions to necessity, rather than do
justice to truth, to our nation, and our temple.
Apion writes that " Antiochus found, upon
entering the temple, a man lying upon a bed,
with a table before him, set out with all the
delicacies'that either sea or land could afford.
This man was so surprised at the encounter,
that looking upon Antiochus as his good an-
gel, and one that came to rescue him, he
threw himself at his feet, and, in a posture of
adoration, implored his assistance. The king
bade him speak freely, tell him who he was,
what he did there, and finally what was the
meaning of the table's being thus set out. The
man, upon this, burst into tears, and pro-
ceeded to answer: I am a Greek, and, wan-
dering up and down in quest of the means of
subsistence, was taken up by some foreigners,
brought to this place, and shut up, with posi-
tive orders not to suffer mortal to approach
me. I was pleased, at first, with entertain-
ment so unexpected ; but suspicion arising in
process of time, I enquired of my keepers into
the cause of this extraordinary treatment.
They gave me to understand, that the .Tews
had a custom among them, once a year, upon
a certain day prefixed, to seize upon a Gre-
cian stranger, and when they had kept him
fattening one whole year, to take him into a
wood, and offer him up for a sacrifice accord-
ing to their own form, taking a taste of his
blood, with a horrid oath to live and die sworn
enemies to the Greeks, after which they cast
the remainder of the miserable carcase into
a ditch. The man added, that his time was
nearly expired, and adjured him, by the vene-
ration he had for the Grecian gods, to deliver
him from the fate he apprehended at the
hands of the Jews."
This tragical invention was carried to the
highest pitch of extravagance, but not so far
as to exempt Antiochus from the imputation
of perfidy and sacrilege, as those who endea-
vour to vindicate him would insinuate. For
it was not on account of the Greek that he
entered the temple, but he found him there
without any foreknowledge of the matter, so
that the iniquity of his design is manifest, nor
can it be justified upon any principle of equity
or reason. Now the difference is mucli
greater betwixt our laws and those of the
Egyptians, and several other nations, than be-
twixt us and the Greeks. Where is the coun-
try through which, in the course of time,
people of all religions do not pass } And how
comes it to pass that this fantastical barbarity
should be exercised only upon the Greeks.''
How is it possible that all the Jews should
join in these sacrifices, and that the entrails
of one man should suffice for so many thou-
sands to taste } How comes it that we have
not the name of this persecuted Greek, and
that Antiochus did not send him back in state
to his own country, which would have given
him the reputation of a patriotic prince, and
formed a powerful party against the Jews ?
But as the vulgar and superficial part of
mankind are not to be wrought upon by ar-
gument, I shall have recourse to the demon-
strative evidence of fact. No man ever saw
our temple, but can witness that it was so con-
structed as to preserve every thing in purity
and perfection. It had four partitions, en-
compassed with cloisters. The first division
was open to all, even foreigners, without re-
serve ; Jews and their wives (if clean and
purified) were admitted into the second ; and
male Jews, purified in like manner, into the
third. The fourth was only for the priests in
their sacerdotal habits ; and none but the
high-priest, in the robes peculiar to his dig-
nity, was to enter the holy sanctuary. Nay,
so strict and punctual are they in their adhe-
rence to form and decorum, that the very
priests themselves could not have admittance
but at certain hours.
Upon opening the temple in the morning,
the priests, who were to officiate, attended,
and so at noon, upon shutting it up. There
were in the temple an altar, a table, a censer,
and a candlestick, according to the direction
of the law ; nor was it legal to carry any other
vessel into it. There was no fasting, nor any
mysteries carried on, but in the face of the
whole congregation; and such method was
observed, that, though there were four tribes
of priests, and in every tribe upwards of five
thousand persons, they took their turns of at-
tendance upon certain set days,' and that in
due regular succession. Meeting about noon
all together in the temple, they delivered up
their respective trusts one to another; some
discharging themselves of the keys, others of
the vessels; without any thing relating to
food or drink being carried into that sacred
BOOK II.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
479
place: for it is not lawful to oflTer any thing
upon our altars, but what is provided for sa-
crifice. But wliat avails bare dogmatical as-
sertions, without considering whether it be
founded on truths or not.'' What can reflect
grfater disgrace upon any man that sets up
for a historian or a lover of letters ? Besides,
it is farther observable, that, while Apion
puts forth his invectives against us without
any foundation, on the one hand, he sup-
presses known facts on the other. The fancy
of his Greek prisoner, his luxurious entertain-
ment, and the people passing through the
temple as a thoroughfare, are evidently the
contrivance of malice propense, to seduce
those who will not be at the pains of investi-
gating truth.
Apion, led by a vein of fiction, enumerates
fable upon fable, to render us, if possible,
more and more odious; and his inventive
faculty suggested the following story: " While
the Jews and Idumeans were engaged in a
long and obstinate war, there came a man
over to the Jews, out of some city of Idumea,
•where they worshipped Apollo. This man,
Avhose name was Zabidus, promised to put
Apollo, the god of Dora, into their hands, if
they could but get the Jews to gather all to-
gether into the temple in a body. Zabidus.
upon this, contrived a certain machine of
boards, and conveying himself into it, set
three rows of lights upon it, which appeared,
at a distance, like a comet on the ground.
This appearance so surprised the Jews, that
they gazed at it afar off, without speaking a
word. Zabidus, in the mean time, slipped
into the temple, and, without any difllculty,
seized the ass's golden head, and carried it
away to Dora." This ridiculous fiction proves
the author more stupid than the animal ; for
he writes of places that exist only in his ima-
gination ; nor does he know where Idumea
lies, or that there is any such city in it as
Dora. There is, indeed, a place of that name
in Phoenicia, not far from mount Carrael, but
this is four days' journey from Judea.
He is to be justified in condemning us for
not worshipping the gods of other nations, if,
as he says, our forefathers were so credulous
as to believe that Apollo would come to them
in the form of a comet. It was rather extra-
ordinary that the Jews should not know a
lamp, or a torch, Avhen they saw it, from a
VOL. n. NOS. 87 & 88.
star, when they had so many at their festivals.
And it was little less miraculous that Zabidus
should get clear off, with the ass's head,
through so many thousands of people, and
that there should be no guards to stop his
progress, even in a time of war.
The very circumstances of the tale prove
its fallacy. How the temple gates, sixty cu-
bits in height, and twenty in breadth, plated
over, and no fewer than two hundred men re-
quired to shut them every day, could be ma-
naged by one single man, is submitted to the
determination of common sense. It remains,
upon the whole, a question whether Zabidus
brought the head back again, or gave it to
Apion to be laid in the temple, that Antio-
chus, finding it, might give rise to another
story.
Apion is equally false respecting the oath,
when he declares that the Jews do solemnly
swear by the maker of heaven, earth, and the
seas, to bear no good will to any foreigners,
and more especially to the Greeks. If this
falsifier had said to none of the Egyptians, he
would have been more consistent with him-
self; at least if our predecessors were driven
out of Egypt not for their ill conduct, but the
calamities under which they laboured. The
Greeks and Jews were so remote in point of
situation, that there was not the least colour
for envy or jealousy betwixt them. On tiie
contrary, many of them came over to our re-
ligion : some persisted in it, others receded
from it ; but, for this pretended oath, no man
ever heard it; nor was it any thing more or
less than a project of Apion.
This fabulist adduces, as an argument
against the justice of our laws, our manner of
worship, and the truth of our holy religion,
that we are under the burden of servitude
and oppression ; and that our city, free and
powerful as it might have been, is no better
than tributary to the Romans. But where
are the p< ople now that are able to contend
with tliem ? Who but Apion would reason in
this absurd manner.'* Government and sub-
jection succeed by turns. The Egyptians
are the only nation that pretend to an immu-
nity from all services to any of the raonarchs
of Asia and Europe, which they ground on
the strange gods having fled into their coun-
try, and secured themselves by being charged
into the shapes of wild beasts. Whereas
3Q
480
FLA VI US JOSEPHUS
[book II.
these Egyptians are the very people that ap-
pear to have never, in all past ages, enjoyed
one day oi' freedom, either at home or abroad.
But I will not reproach them, hy relating the
manner in which the Persians used them, not
once, but many times, when they laid their
cities waste, demolished their temples, de-
stroyed their idol deities, and vilified their
Avorship: for it is not seemly to imitate the
example of Apion, who turned into censure
the misfortunes of the Athenians and the La-
cedicrnoiiians ; though there never was a bra-
ver people than the latter, or a people of more
exemplary piety than the former. Yet neither
(he piety of the one, or the courage of the
other, was sufficient to secure them against
the chances of war, and the common fate of
states and kingdoms.
When we reflect on the miserable disasters
that have attended the best of kings, and par-
ticularly Croesus, the laying of the tower of
Athens, the temples at Ephesus and Delphi,
and several other magnificent buildings in
ashes, tlie disgrace in such instances rests
not in the sufferers, but the actors of these
tragical devastations. But our accuser Apion
lias discovered a new mode of crimination,
forgetful of the miseries of his own people
the Egyptians. He seems to have been
blinded by Sesostris, once a celebrated king
of Egypt.
We will not boast of our kings, David and
Solomon, though many nations were con-
quered by their victorious arms, but rather
confine ourselves to the case in point. Were
not the Egyptians at first slaves to the Per-
sians, with other princes of Asia, and so to
the Macedonians, when they were lords of
Asia, while we lived in a state of freedom,
with the command of all the neighbouring
cities, for the space of a hundred and twenty
years, that is to say, to the time of Pompey tlie
Great.'* At length, when the Romans had
conquered all the other kings with wliom
they had to do, our ancestors were the only
people they treated as friends and allies, on
account of their fidelity and valour. Apion,
however, affects ignorance of these facts,
though they are obvious to all the world be-
sides.
W^e are further traduced, by this malevo-
lent writer, for an obscure, ignorant people.
The Jews, he affirms, have amongst them no
eminent men for their knowledge of the arts
and sciences, or of politics, or tlie govern-
ment of stales, such as Socrates, Zeno, Cle-
anthes, and the like. He does not forget to
insert liimself in the list of celebrated per-
sons, but pronounces Alexandria happy in
the honour of ha\ing Apion for a citizen. He
w as (he properest man to be his ow n eulogist,
as other people maintained a despicable
opinion of him, from the general depravity of
his manners; so that Alexandria is rather to
be pitied than envied, for valuing itself upon
such a supporter. As to the point in compe-
tition between the two nations, which should
have the preference for men of learning and
abilities, the reader is referred to our anti-
quities for his satisfaction. As to the other
part of the scandal that remains unanswered,
we cannot do better than refer him to his own
contradictions, wlieiein he accuses himself
and other Egyptians.
He seems to take great offence at our sa-
crificing ordinary beasts, the scruple we make
of eating swine's flesh, and turns the ceremony
of circumcision into absolute mockery. As
for the slaughter of tame animals for sacrifice,
we do it in common with all other men; and
as to our sacrifices, he discovers himself, be-
fore he is aware, to be an Egyptian in speak-
ing against (liem; for a Greek, or a Macedo-
nian, that makes profession of offering w hole
hecatombs to their gods without any difficulty,
would never have discovered aversion to this
practice. They also make use of these sa-
crifices for feasting, without any danger of
destroying the species of those animals, as
Apion seems to apprehend. But if mankind
in general followed the Egyptians, the world
would want men, and swarm with the wild-
est of the brute creation, which are the ob-
jects of their adoration.
If the question was put to Apion, what class
of the Egyptians he esteems as the most wise
and pious men, his answer would undoubtedly
be the priests ; for they have these two pre-
cepts transmitted down to them from their
first kings, to worship the gods, and to apply
themselves to the study of wisdom. This
they profess to do; they are all circumcised,
abstain from swine's flesh, and join with no
other class of Egyptians in (heir sacrifices.
Apion therefore deviates from his purpose,
when, instead of gratifying the Egyptians with
BOOK n.J
IN ANSWER TO APION.
481
invectives against us, he advances a direct
accusation against those he pretended to fa-
vour, in charj>;ing them with the same cere-
monies for wliich he blames others; and
likenise advising and encouraging circum-
cision in others, as we have it upon the cre-
dit of Herodotus. It seems that Apion nas
justly punished for casting such reproaches
on the laws of his country; for it so fell out,
that, through the prevalence of a disease, he
Avas under a necessity of being circumcised.
The wound pulrilying, a cancerensued, which
carried him off in great tormetit. Tiiis should
serve as a warning to those, who, regardless
of the duties both of religious and social life,
prostitute their time and talents, to the base
purposes of envy and detraction. This was
the case of Apion ; he apostatized from the
laws of his own countr}', and misrepresented
those of ours; and thus concludes our dis-
course concerning him.
But since Apollonius Molon, Lysimachus,
and several otliers, have cast dishonourable
reflections on Moses, our excellent legislator,
aspersing and vilifying his character as an
impostor and magician, and representing his
laws as injurious to society, partly through
ignorance, but chielly through enmity to our
nation, I shall endeavour, with all possible
brevity and precision, to treat on the consti-
tution of our government, and its several par-
ticular branches. I apprehend it will thence
be rendered evident, that there never was
6uch a code of laws framed, for the common
good of mankind, as those of Moses ; for the
advancement of piety, justice, charity, indus-
try, the regulation of society, patience, and
perseverance in well doing to the very con-
tempt of death itself I have therefore only
to recpiest the candour and impartiality of
the reader, as I solemnly declare ray design
is not to write an encomium upon our nation,
but to assort the cause of truth and justice,
against the efforts of calumny and detraction.
Apollonius does not vent his spleen like
Apion, in a continued succession of accusa-
tions, but varies as to time and mode of as-
persing us. At one time he reproaches us as
atheists and misanthropes, at another he up-
braids us as cowards, at another he charges
us with temerity and fool-hardiness, and re-
presents us as ignorant and savage as the
wildest barbarians, declaring that the Jews
never invented any thing for the benefit or
improvement of mankind. To confute these
malevolent suggestions, it will be necessary
to examine the constitution of our laws, and
the conformity of our lives to those precepts.
If, in the course of this undertaking, I t^hould
be compelled to make mention of the laws
and policy of other nations, it is to be imputed
to (hose who have provoked us to an oppro-
brious comparison, and rendered tlleroprop.ch
we cast upon them necessary to our own de-
fence.
Tliere are in the case under present con-
sideration two essential points : First, the
tendency of our laws; and secondly, the de-
gree in which we observe them. To such as
deny the former, we are ready to produce an
abstract of those laws; those who call in
question the latter, will be referred to de-
monstrative evidence.
It is an incontrovertible maxim, that the
first founders of laws for the establishment of
discipline and good order in society, are to
be preferred to those who live without any
form or method at all; for they appeal to an-
tiquity, and deem it a greater honour to teach
others what they ought to do, than barely to
imitate what they see done before them. This
position being admitted, the excellency of a
legislator is apparent from his providing such
laws as may tend to promote the interest of
the community, from a conviction that they
are as reasonable as beneficial, so that the
people firmly adhere to the observance of
them, both in a prosperous and adverse state.
The antiquity of our legislator gives him
an undoubted right to precedence ; for Ly-
curgus, Solon, and Faleucus, of Locris, with
the rest of the lawgivers held in such esteem
amongst the Greeks, seem but of yesterday,
when compared with Moses. The very name
of law was not yet so much as heard of; and
Homer is witness to the truth of this obser-
vation, for that term cannot be found through-
out his poems. The people in those days
were not governed by written precepts, but
by the absolute will and pleasure of kings ;
and so it continued for a long time by autho-
ritative orders and provisions, occasionally
made and issued. Our legislator, having this
claim of priority admitted by his very ene-
mies, acquitted himself to general admiration,
in all the offices of administration and council
3Q2
482
FLA V] US JOSEPHUS
[book II,
first, in composing such a body of laws as
might affect all the contingencies of human
life, and afterwards in obtaining a most cor-
dial reception of them by the people, and
their solemn declaration of obeying and main-
taining them. But let his works speak for
him.
When our forefathers, to the number of
many thousands, marcfied out of the land of
Egypt, into the country appointed for them
by divine providence, through a barren sandy
desert, without water, and had several en-
counters with the enemy by the way, in de-
fence of themselves, their wives, and chil-
dren, they were guided through these almost
insuperable difficulties by our vigilant legisla-
tor, who maintained the character of a valiant
general, a prudent counsellor, and a common
protector. He was a man of such exemplary
moderation, that, though he held the people
in implicit obedience to his injunctions, he
never availed himself of his authority to pro-
mote his private advantage ; but, on the con-
trary, where other men tyrannized, and in-
dulged a general licentiousness, he observed
tlie rules of piety and virtue, and, by his ex-
ample, encouraged the multitude to such a
conduct as proved their best security against
all accidents.
Moses looked up to the only All-wise Be-
ing as oracle and guide ; and being persua-
ded that he could not err, so long as he com-
mitted himself to the care of divine provi-
dence, thought it his duty to imprint that
belief on the minds of the multitude; for no-
thing so eflTectually checks us in the progress
of vice as a due consciousness of the Divine
omnipotence. From this character of our
legislator, it is evident that he was not a se-
ducer or a magician, as he is falsely repre-
sented ; but such a one as Minos, and others
after him, were reputed among the Greeks ;
some ascribing the origin of their laws to Ju-
piter, others to Apollo, or the oracle at Del-
phi. But whether these men thought they
were thus derived, or were desirous of impo-
sing such a belief in the people, I pretend not
to determine. But the origin and excellency
of these laws will best appear by placing
them in a comparative point of view, which
is the next thing to which we shall attend.
Several nations have their several forms of
government, and their diversities of laws.
Some governments are committed to a single
person, others to the people. Our legislator
had no regard to any of these forms, but or-
dained a government, that, by a strained ex-
pression, may be termed a Theocracy, or
Holy Commonwealth, in ascribing all autho-
rity and power to God, and persuading the
people to regard him as the author of all the
good things that were enjoyed either in com-
mon by all mankind, or by each individual in
particular. To him he directs us to ily for
succour in our distresses, as he hears pur
prayers, and searches into the very secrets
of our hearts. He inculcates the doctrines
of one God, the uncreated, immutable, and
eternal Being, intinitely glorious, and incom-
prehensible one, further than what we know
of him by his works.
This is what may be derived, in some mea-
sure, from the wisest of the Greek philoso-
phers, who, from the light of nature, unani-
mously agree on the coiigruity of these prin-
ciples to the majesty and excellence of God;
as for instance, Pythagoras, Anaxagorus, and
Plato ; and the stoics, that succeeded them,
were of the same sentiments, and had the
same notions of the nature of the Divine Be-
ing. But the multitude being actuated by a
violent and superstitious prejudice against
these opinions, the philosopher durst not ven-
ture too far in promoting them.
But our legislator was the only man that
lived as he taught, both to the satisfaction of
the present age, and to the establishing and
confirming posterity in the truths which he
delivered, governing himself by this constant
rule, to make the public good the grand end
of all his laws. He pointed out, that the wor-
ship of the Divine Being was but the one
part of a good man's duty ; annexing to it the
other parts, such as resignation, temperance,
justice, and a constant interchange of good
offices towards mankind; insomuch that all
his precepts and ordinances tended to the
advancement of piety, and of course, to the
honour and glory of God ; this being the main
object he had in view.
There are two ways of attaining to a de-
gree of excellence in religion and morality ;
the one is by instruction in words, the other
by practical exercises. Now lawgivers, in
general, commonly attended to one part, and
neglected the other. As for example, the peo-
BOOK II.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
•183
pie of Lacedaemon and Crete taught by prac-
tical exercises, without rule and precept;
while the Athenians, and most of the Greeks,
had prescribed laws for every thing, though
they fell short in the practice.
But our legislator wisely connected these
two methods of instruction; for he neitlier left
these practical exercises to go on without ver-
bal instruction, nor did he permit the hearing
of the law to proceed without the exercises
for practice. He begins with the subject of
meats and diet, what we may be allowed to
eat, and what not, and with whom, and enjoins
all people in general to the observance of
that method and order. He takes the same
care with respect to a regulation in matters
of labour and rest, to the end that no man
may be ignorant of his duty; for what the
law enjoins us is the dictate and command of
our master, and it punishes only wilful offend-
ers. To leave us wholly without excuse, in
case of transgressing any of these sacred laws,
we hear them read over, (once, twice, or
oftener, perhaps;) but are positively com-
manded (all other work or business apart) to
meet constantly once a week in full congre-
gation, expressly to attend the reading of the
law, and learning it exactly, which was never
practised by any other lawgiver. Indeed,
the greatest part of mankind are so far from
living in conformity to their own laws, that
they do not so much as understand what they
are, but, in committing a fault, they enquire
of others what law they have violated. This
is the case even amongst men of the first rank,
«ho are not ashamed tacitly to confess their
ignorance in taking men learned in the law to
their counsel and assistance : but our people
are as well acquainted with their laws as their
own names, having been trained up in them
from earliest infancy, till they are imprinted
in their minds : our transgressions therefore
are but few, and those who do offend cannot
possibly escape punishment.
This is the foundation of that admirable
agreement of mind which prevails amongst
us. We have all of us the same notions con-
cerning the Divine Being, the same forms of
discipline and worship, the same way of life,
and the same rule of manners. It is not with
us as with others, who entertain various
opinions concerning one and the same God ;
and this is the case not only with the common
people, but the very philosophers themselves.
Some of them have denied many of his attri-
butes, others his superintending providence,
upon an impious suggestion tbat all men are
equal, and that all things are in common. We
atlirm, on the contrary, that God sees and
disposes all things. Nny, our wives, children,
and servants, are all instructed, that our ac-
tions, in general, should be directed to the
honour and service of God.
This has given rise to a reflection upon our
nation, as having produced no men eminent
for polite literature, as we contiimally pursue
the same dull, plodding path; whereas men
of genius and speculation value themselves
upon improvement and innovation. While
others think it meritorious to deviate from
every thing delivered down by their forefa-
thers, we, on the contrary, deem it the great-
est instance of wisdom and virtue, to admit of
no actions or principles that are repugnant to
our original laws: antiquity, with us, is the
infallible mark of a good and well founded
statute, which neither time or argument will
ever be able to destroy. Besides, as we
firmly believe those laws to be of Divine in-
stitution, we have only to preserve them sa-
cred and inviolate. Who shall dare to offer
at the removal of those foundations which
have been laid by the hand of the Almighty .''
Who can amend so divine a system, by trans-
ferring the most beneficial provisions, from
the best of other governments, to the code of
his commonwealth.'' Can any constitution
be more firm or just than that of which the
King of kings is king?
As for the priests, they are qualified, in
common, for several special services; and
the high-priest is vested with power and su
periority above all the rest. They are not
promoted, by the legislator, to that dignity
for ambition, wealth, or any corrupt inlluence,
but for the signal testimony they have given
of their piety, temperance, and wisdom; and
to them is committed the care of religion, and
the peculiar functions of divine worship.
They serve also as judges in controversies be-
twixt man and man, and haveapowertopunish
those who are guilty of misdemeanours.
What form of government can be more sa-
cred and venerable than this."* Or what
greater honour can we do the Almighty, than
to spend our lives in a daily attendance upon
484
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book ii.
his service, and under the inspection of
priests who see that all things are performed
Avith due order and reverence? We seem to
celebrate a perpetual festival; and whereas
foreigners discover a lassitude, in a few da)'s'
attendance on their masteries, we are as firm,
cheerful, and vigorous, in the discharge of
our religious duties at this time, as we
were many ages since, upon their first insti-
tution.
Among other known precepts of our reli-
gion we are taught, in the first place, tiiat God
is all in all, perfect, self-sufficient, and sup-
plying all other beings; the beginning, mid-
dle, and end of all things. He is glorious in
all his works, and tremendous in his power
and greatness ; but, at the same time, so in-
comprehensible, that it is not for the tongue
of man to express, nor the heart to conceive,
any resemblance of the Divine Majesty. He
is, in fine, incomparable in all his excellencies
and attributes, infinitely beyond art and imi-
tation; so that it is impossible to see or ima-
gine any thing like him; for, being a Spirit,
he is invisible.
But we are allowed to read the great Invi-
sible Being in his works; as in the light, the
heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon, t!)e
stars, the rivers, the sea, several sorts of ani-
mals, and various kinds of plants. These
things hath the Creator formed, not with
hands, not by labour, nor as wanting the as-
sistance of any to co-operate with him. But
as it was his Divine will they should be made,
and be made good also, they were made, and
became good immediately. This is the Al-
mighty Sovereign whom we are all bound to
love and adore in the study and exercise of
virtue, which is the only way to please him.
As there is but one God, and one world in
common to all mankind, it holds the analogy,
that there should be but one temple ; for like-
ness is the constant foundation of agreement.
This temple ought to be common to all men,
because he is the common God of all men.
His priests are to be continually about his
worship, over whom the senior is to be per-
petual ruler. His business is to offer sacri-
fices to God, assisted by those who are joined
with him; to see that the laws are observed;
to determine controversies; and to punish
those who are convicted of injustice. Such
as do not submit to him, shall be subject to
the same punishment as if he had been guilty
of the greatest impiety.
hi eating what has been offered in sacrifice,
we must avoid extending the liberty to a de-
gree of gUil tony and excess; for that Being,
who delights in sobriety and temperance, can
never be pleased with luxury and profusion.
The })riest begins his office with prayers
for the genera! good of mankind, and after that
to every man for himself, as a part of the
whole ; being well assured, that nothing is
more acceptable in the sight of God, than
mutual charity, tenderness, and ibrbearance
among mankind.
When we off<:r up our prayers to Almighty
God, we are not to petition for. wealth, ho-
nour, and the good things of this world, for
these are blessings which he is pleased to
bestow in common upon mankind; but our
prayers must be for grace to make a right
use of what we have.
The law hath prescribed us certain formal
purifications, under kinds of limitations and
restrictions, too many and too tedious to be
enumerated and specified. This is the doc-
trine concerning God and his worship, and
what the law enjoins for our attention and
practice.
In point of marriage, the law approves no
other junction of the sexes than that upon
such principles which nature hath appointed;
not from regard to interest, or the gratifica-
tion of inordinate passions, but for the pro-
creation of children, and that with the con-
sent of parents. The very attempt of an un-
natural crime is punished with death.
The law further ordains, that the woman
shall be subject, in all things, to her husband,
which must not be taken for a dispensation
to abuse her, but a provision for the mainte-
nance of decency and good order; for God
hath given the authority to the husband. The
woman is to have no carnal knowledge of any
other man, upon pain of death without mercy;
and he that abuses a betrothed virgin incurs
the same penalty. It is the same also in case
of corrupting a married woman, or a mother
of children. Our law is no less severe upon
those women who either conceal their chil-
dren when they are brought into the world,
or otherwise destroy them. Purification is to
be used after intercourse of the sexes; for
which purpose water is to be provided for the
BOOK II.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
48.5
preservation of a becoming decency and
cleanliiicbs.
The law does not permit us to make sump-
tuous festivals at the births of our rhililrcn,
and thereby afford opportunity of drinking to
excess, but ordains that the earliest period of
our education should be directed to the pur-
poses of sobriety. We are also enjoined to
bring up our children to a general knowledge
of things, but more especially of law and his-
tory ; tlie one to furnish them w ith a perfect
acquaintance with their duty to God and
man, and the other with great examples, to
incite them to the imitation of noble actions.
Care has also been taken of the decent
burial of the dead, but without extravagant
pomp in funeral solemnities, or sumptuous
monuments. The law ordains that the near-
est relatives should perform the obsequies;
and that those who pass by when any one
is conveying to the place of interment, should
atteiid tiie funeral, and join the lamentation,
it also ordains that the house, and its inha-
bitants, should be purified after the funeral is
over. Every one is directed not to deceive
themselves with the imagination of being ex-
cused by purification, if he hath been once
guilty of murder.
We are enjoined reverence to parents next
to God himself; and the law appoints un-
grateful and disobedient children to be stoned
to death. The younger are commanded to
pay respect to their elders, as God was before
all things. Secrecy among friends is prohi-
bited, as friendship implies an entire confi-
dence without any reserve. Nay, where
friendship is dissolved, we must not be false
to a former trust.
The judge who takes a bribe is to be pu-
nished with death, for countenancing the
guilty, and oppressing the innocent. He that
disregards the petition of an indigent person,
w hen he is able to relieve him, is held guilty.
No one is to touch the property of another.
He that lends money must not'demand usury.
These, and many others of the like kind, are
the rules by which we are united in the bonds
of society one wi(h another.
It may be worthy of our pains to enquire
info the equity our legislator would have us
exercise in our intercourse with strangers;
whence if will appear, that he hath not been
wanting in any thing that can tend to the pub-
lic good, either by keeping us firm to our laws,
or communicating the benefit of them to
others, who may be disposed to cultivate a
knowledge of them. He receives, with open
arms, all who come over to us, of every nation
indifrcrently, provided they agree in the same
common principles of lite and manners.
Those who come by accident, and without
intent to join us, are not suffered to intermix
with us in our solemnities. But we are obliged
to render them our best offices iti many in-
stances: as for example, if they should want
water, fire, wood, or the like, we are com-
manded to supply them; to set any of them
right who are out of their way; and to give
the dead a decent burial. These are duties
of humanity, and abstracted from the peculiar
laws of our religion.
He prescribes rules of moderation to be
observed towards enemies, to prevent the
dreadful extremities of fire and sword. His
charity extends to the easing of prisoners,
and especially women; nor would he sufTer
dead bodies, that fell in baffle, to be stripped.
Such was his regard for the cultivation of
tender principles among men, that he recom-
mended them even to beasts, in allowing us
no other power over them than for law fid and
necessary uses. Domestic creatures, brought
up tame in our houses, are to be spared ; nor,
in other cases, are the dams and the young
to be destroyed together. Beasts of labour
and common use, are likewise to be forborne,
though in some respects mischievous.
Thus hath our admirable lawgiver con-
trived, by every means, to teach us an equita-
ble conduct, by such statutes as forcibly tend
to that excellent purpose; while, at the same
time, he hath ordained that transgressors
shall be punished with the utmost rigour. In
capital ofTences the punishment is no less
than deaf h : for instance, in murder, adultery,
rapes, and unnatural practices: nor are any
conditions, bond or free, exempt from the
penalty.
We have onr laws concerning weights and
measures, and all sorts of frauds in buying
and selling, taking away another man's goods,
or appropriating to ourselves what is not our
own. OfTenders of this kind are punished
w ith much more severity under our laws than
those of other nations.
Blasphemy, or any act of indignity towards
486
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book ii.
the Majesty of heaven, together with contu-
macious behaviour towards parents, incur the
penalty of immediate death upon the very
spot where committed. But the reward of
conforming to tliese laws is not gold, silver,
imperial crowns, or precious stones, but the
testimony of a good conscience, with the as-
surance of future bliss, founded not only on
the prediction of the legislator, but the pro-
mise of infallible truth. In this confidence,
therefore, they look upon death only as the
blessed means of transporting them from this
life to a better. This is evident from many
occurrences in the history of our ancestors,
particularly the resolution with which they
have undergone the most excruciating tor-
tures, rather than let fall one word to the dis-
honour of their profession. Supposing now
the Jews were a people never heard of upon
the face of the earth, and there were no wit-
nesses to the veneration we have constantly
paid to our laws, what opinion would the
Jews form, if an account was related to them
of a people, in some imaginary unknown land,
who had stood firm so many ages to the re-
ligion, laws, and customs of their predeces-
sors ? Would they not deem it matter of ad-
miration, especially those that are so fickle
and changeable themselves?
Modern writers, on the subject of political
government, arc much censured for having
advanced many absurd and improbable sto-
ries. Plato himself, the very oracle of the
Greeks, and a man in singular esteem for his
piety, wisdom, and virtue, as well as the ex-
cellency of his philosophy, is exposed to con-
tempt and ridicule by arrogant pretenders,
for his wild notions of government, as they
term them; while those who peruse his wri-
tings with attention and candour will find
them consonant both with reason and nature.
Plato himself ingenuously confesses, that " it
is not safe for a wise man to publish his no-
tions concerning the Deity amongst the igno-
rant multitude." Yet some affirm that Plato
writes like a man of vanity and license.
Lycurgus was a man eminent as a finished
legislator; and the Spartans were commended
for having continued in the firm observance
of his laws for a long space of time. From
thence it is inferred, that it is confessedly a
mark of virtue to submit to laws. But ^hen
let those who admire and applaud this con-
stancy in the Spartans remember, that their
continuance in point of duration bears no
comparison to that of ours. Let them also
remember, that, though the Spartans main-
tained exact obedience to their lav\s while
they enjoyed (heir liberty, yet, when fortune
abandoiicd them, they fiell off, and abandoned
their laws.
But it cannot be said of us, that, under all
the vicissitudes of fortune which happened to
us in Asia, where we were driven to the last
extremity, we ever departed from the laws
and customs of our forefathers. Nor can it
be objected to us, that we ever consulted
either our ease or our pleasure when called
upon to maintain them. Whoever compares
the conditions of both parties, will find llie
labour and difficulties of the Jews far exceed
those of the Spartans ; for they were exposed
to no servile offices, but lived in their city at
ease, in the enjoyment of repose and plenty.
Notw ithstanding these advantages, they went
over to their enemies in frequent desertions,
and, contrary to law, duty, and the common
obligations of citizens and soldiers, tamely de-
livered themselves up with their arms. I
cannot recollect more than one or two of our
people that ever betrayed their cause tlirough
fear of death. I mean not the death of a sol-
dier sword in hand, and in the field of battle,
but a death of exquisite cruelty and torment,
a calamity to which many of our nation have
been exposed ; not, 1 apprehend, through
hatred, but to try the experiment of so heroic
a constancy ; and to try if there were such
men in the world, as would endure the acu-
test pains, rather than be guilty of any one
word or action derogatory to the dignity of
their laws.
Nor is this resolution in the Jews above all
other nations matter of surprise; for our or-
dinary mode of living would be a kind of se-
verity to any other sort of people ; I mean
with respect to the fatigue of labour, hard
fare, days of abstinence, coarse clothing, hard
lodging, and tlie like. These people, in the
successes of a military life, would not brook
the forbearance of meats prohibited, and
many others of the severest restrictions.
Whereas it is our glory to resign ourselves,
with unchangeable constancy, to the obedi-
ence of the laws of our country. Let the
partizans of Lysimachus and Molon, and
«00K II.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
4im
other frivolous censors and perverters of
youthful minds, persist in their reproach and
detraction, while we are conscious of dis-
charging our duty to God, our country, and
ourselves.
It is our custom to keep firm in the obser-
vance of our own laws, but not to traduce
those of others. Nay, our legislator hath ex-
pressly forbidden us to offer the least indig-
nity or contempt to the reputed gods of other
nations, and this he did from a reverence to
the very name of a Deity. But we cannot
remain altogether silent, where it is both so
easy and necessary to confute the assertions
of our opponents, and where, in truth, the
work is done by other authorities ready to
Dur hands. The most admired among the
Greeks for wisdom have heartily exclaimed
against the most celebrated of their poets,
and especially their lawgivers, for poisoning
the minds of the common people with the im-
pious doctrine of a plurality of gods, advan-
cing the account to what number they thought
fit, and deriving their origin from what age
and country they please. Nay, they allot
them their proper stations and places like
other creatures; for they have their subter-
raneous gods, and their maritime gods ; and
the eldest of the race, or family, they keep
up in chains in the infernal regions. With
respect to their celestial gods, they give Ju-
piter the name of Father, but represent him,
in action, as a tyrant; insomuch that his wife,
his brother, and the daughter of his own
brain, entered into a conspiracy, according
to the fiction, to destroy him, as he himself
had served his father.
This was the light in which all wise men
held those fabulous deities; the idea being
so ludicrous, that they could not entertain it
without scorn and derision. Some of their
gods they represented as striplings, others in
the prime of their youth and strength, and
others as seniors, with long beards. They
have their gods, or patrons, of mechanical
arts or trades, as smiths, weavers, harpers,
archers, and so on. They have their feuds
and factions among themselves, and take part
with mortals against one another. They re-
ceive wounds in the contest, grieve and pine
away under the anguish of them. Nay, these
pretended gods and goddesses go farther still,
©Ten to the horrid license of amours and em-
VOL. II. — NOS. 89 ii. 90.
braces, indifferently with men and women.
What was the case of their Jupiter himself,
the father and prince of the whole train of
gods? After seducing many goddesses, he
suffers them to be kept in prison, or drowned
in the sea. He is himself so bound by fate,
that he cannot save his own offspring, nor
can he bear their deaths without shedding
tears.
What a train of lewd practices, and worse
consequences, in all probability yet remained!
Open violatioti of the laws of decency not
only committed but applauded by the gods !
If their sovereign, Jupiter himself, could not
resist the wiles of a harlot, what are we to
expect from the passions and weaknesses of
inferior deities ? What shall we say, again,
of gods assuming the forms of shepherds and
masons, and being made close prisoners in
the infernal regions ? Can any man, endowed
with common reason, but reprobate the in*
ventors, the encouragers, and believers of
these blasphemous stories? In some cases
they make gods of their passions, as fear,
madness, and the like, and then worship them
in the worst of forms ; so that there can be
nothing so scandalous amongst men, but it
may be introduced in the character of one of
their gods; nor is it suflicient to deter the
people from sacrificing to the better sort of
these monsters. They look upon their gods
as the authors of good and evil, and conse-
quently as their friends or their enemies, in
proportion to the one or the other. Upon
this consideration they deal with their deities
as with the vilest of men, they worship and
make them presents, for fear they should do
them injury.
But it deserves our enquiry how mankind
came to lay under so many desperate and
dangerous mistakes concerning the Deity. I
suppose it to have been derived from the im-
perfect knowledge the heathen legislators
had, from the beginning, of the Divine nature;
or else from the want of communicating to
the world the notions they had of things, as
matters of little moment, perhaps, in their
opinion, and so suffered the poets and ora-
tors to introduce their own gods, and by this
means confounded their system of politics
with idle tales of uncouth deities, and strange
worship.
The statuaries and painters of Greece con-
3R
498
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
[book II.
tributed in a great measure to this abuse, by
the liberty they took of representing their
gods in what shape and figure the artist thought
meet. They had their variety in point of
matter as well as form; some working in
plaister, others in gold and ivory ; some in
sculpture, and others in colours ; and the last
piece, for the sake of novelty, was reputed
the best. As the old gods fell off, and went
out of fashion, they were insensibly succeeded
by new; and, upon the failure of one reli-
gion, another started up. It was so with tem-
ples, as one was laid in rubbish, another was
raised out of the ruins of it, according to the
fancy of the age; whereas the true worship
of the Almighty ought to be as unchangeable
as his own nature.
Apollonius Molon was puerile, weak, and
superficial in his understanding; but those
among the Greeks, who deserve the name of
philosophers, are no strangers to the truth of
what I have delivered, and entertain the same
exalted ideas of the Deity that we do, and
with as hearty a contempt of the absurd fa-
bles of their countrymen. Whence it was
that Plato would suffer no poets in his com-
monwealth ; nay, he dismissed even Homer
himself, though with all the honours of a poet
laureat, lest fables should destroy right no-
tions of the Deity.
This great man of all others comes nearest
to the example of Moses, in the model of his
commonwealth, where he charged all his sub-
jects to study their laws, get them by heart,
and not intermix with strangers; but pre-
serve their government in its original purity,
and pay strict obedience to their ordinances
and decrees. Apollonius Molon did not con-
sider this, when he preferred his accusation
against the Jews, for not joining and commu-
nicating with men of different persuasions ; as
if, in that instance, we were singular; where-
as all people (generally speaking,) do the
same thing; the Greeks themselves, and the
most discreet men amongst them too.
The Lacedaemonians would admit no
strangers among them ; nor so much as suffer
their citizens to travel abroad, lest they
should contract such habits as might tend to
a dissolution of their laws. Perhaps there
may be cause to censure this rigid severity,
in debarring strangers the common privileges
of society and commerce. But so far are we
from this uncharitable restriction, that, though
we do not interfere with the concerns of
others, we are ready to entertain proselytes,
and receive those who are disposed to join
with us, which must be acknowledged a cer-
tain indication of humanity.
The Athenians, on the other hand, con-
trary to the custom of the Lacedaemonians,
make it their glory to give admittance to all
strangers; but of this 1 suppose Apollonius
was ignorant. They are so zealous for the
honour of their gods, that it was made capi-
tal to let fall so much as one irreverent word
upon the subject. On what account was So-
crates put to death .-* Not for betraying the
commonwealth, or burning their temples;
not for treason or sacrilege ; but for framing
new oaths, by the direction, as he suggested,
of a certain demon. Whether he was in jest
or earnest is not known to this day; but for
this he was tried, condemned, and put to death
by poison. He was also charged with pro-
pagating false doctrines, and endeavouring
to supplant the religion and laws of his coun-
try. This was the case of Socrates, a citizen
of Athens.
As another instance of their rigour, Anaxa-
goras, the Clazomenian, was put to death, for
affirming that the sun, which the Athenians
thought to be a god, was a ball of tire. A
talent reward was offered by proclamation to
any man that would bring in the head of Di-
agoras, of Melos, for ridiculing the mysteries
of their religion. They would have pro-
ceeded in like manner with Protagoras, if he
had not made his escape in due time. His
pretended crime was the writing of a tract,
wherein he delivered himself ambiguously of
the gods of the Athenians. But why should
we wonder at their treating men with this se-
verity, when the women themselves were not
spared .'' For instance, they put a priestess
to death, upon an accusation of worshipping
strange gods. It was made death also for
any man to introduce a foreign religion. What
therefore can be more evident, than that, so
far as these laws were in force, the people
could have no faith in other gods. Besides,
if they had, they would never have deprived
themselves of the comfort and benefit of their
favour.
The Scythians themselves, though the most
barbarous and brutal people upon the face of
•OOK II.]
IN ANSWER TO APION.
489
the earth, were so scrupulous of preserving
the mysteries of their profession, that they
slew Anacharsis, a man of eminent parts, only
for speaking too reverently of the gods of the
Greeks. We read likewise, that many amongst
the Persians suffered death upon the same ac-
count. ApoUonius Molon was attached to
the laws and customs of the Persians, and
one that held them in admiration, as well as
the Greeks, for their firmness and agreement
in the matter of worship, as exemplified in
the burning of their temples. Molon had
not only a good opinion of their customs, but,
in some degree, imitated them in the extrava-
gant liberties he took with other men's wives,
and the cruelties he exercised towards their
children; barbarities that are declared death
by our laws, though committed upon any of
the brute creation.
Such is the veneration we have for the ob-
servance of these laws, that neither power,
Srofit, fear, or any other consideration, can
ivert, or deter us from the conscientious dis-
charge of our duty. Nor have we exerted
ourselves in military exploits from motives of
ambition or avarice, but for the support and
maintenance of our lawful rights. We have
submitted to every kind of outrage with pa-
tience and resignation ; but we feel most sen-
sibly for every violation of our laws, and are
thereby rendered daring and obstinate to the
last degree. What reason can we have for
desiring to imitate the customs of other na-
tions, which we see abandoned by their very
founders .'' Why do not the Spartans aban-
don their inhospitality, as well as their con-
tempt of matrimony.'* And the people of
Elis and Thebes their abominable propensi-
ties .-* The most shameful practices generally
prevailed among the Greeks through conni-
vance; and they ascribed to their very gods
the gratification of the most criminal passions.
What shall be said of those legislators who
have been more assiduous in devising means
for the escape of malefactors, than for bring-
ing them to condign punishment, compound-
ing for a fine in cases of adultery, and atoning
for debauchery by marriage .-* It would be
endless to recount the temptations to swerve
from the rules of piety and virtue, that are
thrown out to the unwary by these compo-
sitions, even to the total subversion of their
laws.
But nothingof this kind is permitted amongst
us; for, though we be deprived of our wealth,
our cities, and every thing we hold most dear,
our laws continue inviolate, and immutably
the same. Now if this be our disposition to-
wards our laws, and that from their intrinsic
value, let our enemies make this confession,
that they are most excellent. If they deny
us this requisition, we demand of them where-
fore they neglect the observance ot their own
laws, which they esteem so far superior to
ours .''
Time is the surest touchstone in all human
cases; nor is there a more convincing proof
of the goodness of a law than the antiquity of
it. We therefore cast our cause upon that
issue for the honour of our legislator, and of
the laws themselves with regard to God's holy
worship. It will be granted us that Moses
was the first legislator for many ages, and
that as our laws had their origin thence, so
they were followed and imitated, more or
less, by all other nations. That the gene-
rality of the ancient Greeks had, in appear-
ance, their own peculiar laws, I admit ; but
their philosophers held the same notions of
the Deity with us, and inculcated the same
doctrines of life and manners.
Such is the reputation we have held in the
world for our religion and politics, that there
is hardly any nation, either Greek or Barba-
rian, that does not act in some conformity to
our example, either in the observance of our
seventh day's sabbath, the use of lamps, the
celebration of fasts, or abstinence from cer-
tain meats ; as also in matters of humanity,
charitable agreement in society, indefatiga-
ble labour and industry, and an invincible
constancy in suffering for the truth. In some
of these particular instances they severally
imitate us.
But the matter of greatest admiration is,
that our laws have no baits of pleasure to
allure men, but prevail through their own
force, and seem to pervade the human mind
as the Almighty pervades the universe. Those
who look into their own country, or their own
families, will bear testimony to my assertion.
Can there be any propriety then in the idea
of changing our old laws for new ones.-* If
not, let the reproach cease. We are not ac-
tuated by a malevolent and envious princi-
ple, but a veneration we have for the memory
3R2
490
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, &c.
[book II.
of our prophet, and in full persuasion of his
divine authority. If we were not fully con-
vinced of the intrinsic excellence of our laws,
the great number of their admirers and pro-
fessors would be sufficient to give us a high
esteem for them. I have treated on this sub-
ject more copiously in my Antiquities, and
therefore only hint now what is necessary for
my present purpose, without any design of
depreciating the laws of other nations, or
making a panegyric upon those of our own,
but solely for the vindication of truth against
calumny and injustice.
To draw towards a conclusion: I presume
I have sufficiently completed what I proposed
in writing these books ; for whereas our ac-
cusers have pretended that our nation is of
late date, I have demonstrated the antiquity
of their origin. I have likewise produced
several eminent authorities, that make ho-
nourable mention of us in their annals. I
have incontestibly refuted the assertion, that
our ancestors came originally out of Egypt ;
and, with respect to the fable of our being
expelled for epidemic maladies, 1 have ren-
dered it evident, on the contrary, that they
cut their way through troops of their enemies
into their own country. There are those
who asperse the character of Moses, in op-
position to the concurrent testimony of several
ages to his immortal honour.
In vindication of our laws, more words are
superfluous. Those who read and under-
stand them, must be convinced of the piety
and wisdom of their institution. They are
declared enemies to iniquity, luxury, and
faction; promoters of peace, charity, industry,
and justice. They allow of no war founded
on ambition or avarice; nor do they approve
of returning evil for evil. They inspire valour
and resolution in the defence of the dearest
rights of mankind. They are vigorous in the
punishment of malefactors; and point out that
actions, not words, are the standard of merit.
From these premises I may justly conclude,
that we have the most perfect laws extant.
For what can be more excellent than un-
feigned piety towards God .'' What more
reasonable than submission to laws.-* What
more beneficial than union in prosperity, and
a well cemented friendship in adversity .'* a
dauntless resolution in arduous exploits ? a
sedulous application to arts and husbandry
in times of peace .'' and finally, a perpetual
consciousness of an omnipresent, omniscient,
and superintending Providence?
If these precepts had been written at first,
or more exactly retained by any others be-
fore us, we should owe them thanks, as dis-
ciples owe their tutors. But if it is evident
that we derived them from no foreign origin,
and that the institution of them is our own,
that, from time to time, we have handed them
down, as the precise and invariable rules
of our profession and practice, let Apion,
Molon, and the whole tribe of calumniators
and detractors, stand confuted. I have com-
pleted my design, in dedicating to thee, and
others, most excellent Epaphroditus, an au-
thentic history of our nation.
END OF JOSEPHCS IN ANSWER TO APION.
FLAYIUS JOSEPHUS
ON THE
MARTYRDOM
OF THE
MACCABEES.
I
I MACCABEES.
CHAP. I.
AS my design, in this discourse, is to shew
that reason is the perfection of wisdom,
and ruler of the passions, when duly improved
by study and religion, I cannot but exhort my
readers to apply themselves, with the utmost
assiduity, to the attainment of knowledge, the
most important of all acquisitions. Reason
is a necessary preliminary to knowledge, in
which, if we excel, we may be said to excel
in the noblest and most comprehensive of all
virtues, which is prudence. It is reason alone
that can effectually restrain the inordinate
affections of the mind, correct the depravity
of nature, and those corrupt inclinations
which are opposed to the love and practice
of virtue. That branch or degree of it which
subdues the passions of anger, fear, and grief,
and whatever else enervates the mind, may
properly be denominated fortitude.
To this it may perhaps be objected, if rea-
son has this dominion over the passions, or
perturbations of the mind, why has it not the
same controlling power over ignorance and
forgetfulness .'* This is a frivolous objection,
and foreign to the case in point ; for when we
affirm that reason has a controlling power
over the passions, we mean those defects of
nature only as are opposite to justice, tem-
perance, and fortitude, all which are of a dis-
tinct kind, and belong to the sensitive soul ;
but not such as are defects peculiar to itself,
and appertain to the rational system. Again,
in this objection the nature of this sovereignty
is misrepresented ; for we do not mean that
reason entirely removes those affections, but
does not so far submit as to suffer itself to be
vanquished by them.
That it is in the power of reason to com-
mand and subdue the passions, I could de-
monstrate by a variety of arguments, but shall,
at present, confine myself to the most approved
and undeniable one, matter of fact. I mean
the example of persons who have signalized
themselves in resolutely asserting and dying
in defence of truth and virtue, among whom!
apprehend none are more conspicuous, or
more deservedly admired, than those of our
country, Eleazar, and the seven brethren
martyred with their mother. These, despi-
sing the most exquisite tortures, and perse-
veruig even unto death, have incontestibly
proved the command of reason over the pas-
sions : I mean those of the sensitive kind, as
before alluded to. I shall endeavour to give
just commendations to these brave men, and
their incomparable mother, for their immove-
able constancy ; and to transmit their names
with honour to posterity, for their steadfast
adherence to virtue and their duty. These
men excited the admiration not only of those
who were indifferent spectators, or readers,
of their sufferings, but even of their very ene-
mies, and most prejudiced tormentors, who
stood amazed at the courage and patience
which their own implacable malice exercised
after so inhuman and barbarous a manner.
Thus they became the means of releasing
their nation from oppression, conquering the
rage of a tyrant by their sufferings, and be-
492
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
coming a sacrifice of expiation for their
country.
The method in which I propose to proceed,
will be, first, to make some general remarks
on the point in debate, and then attend to
this particular instance, giving glory to God,
the fountain of wisdom, who hath been pleased
to leave such undeniable evidence of this
truth in the persons whose virtues I am now
about to celebrate.
The question to be resolved is plainly this.
Whether reason can control and govern the
passions.'' In order thereto it will be neces-
sary to explain what is to be understood by
reason, what by passion, how many species
there are of passions, and whether reason
bears sway over them all.
By reason then 1 understand the intellec-
tual faculty improved and rightly guided by
reflection, preferring a life conducted by wis-
dom and truth. By wisdom I understand the
knowledge of divine and human affairs, and
the true causes and grounds of each, such as
we attain by the discipline and instruction of
the laws, which teaches us to embrace those
truths which relate to God with reverence,
and those respecting men as things directed
to, and designed for, the benefit of mankind.
Wisdom may be divided into four particular
branches; Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and
Temperance. The noblest and most com-
prehensive of these is prudence, because rea-
son, through its assistance and influence, at-
tains dominion over the passions.
The passions that are most general are
two, pleasure and pain, each of which acts
upon the body and soul. In these two pas-
sions of pleasure and pain are comprehended
many others. Thus, in the instance of plea-
sure, it is preceded by desire, and followed
by joy. In that of pain, it is preceded by
fear, and followed by sorrow.
Anger is a mixed passion, between plea-
sure and pain, of which those must be sensi-
ble who minutely observe how they are af-
fected by it. In pleasure is comprehended a
base and wicked affection, which of all the
passions is the most diffusive. In the mind
are avarice, envy, and contention ; in the
body greediness and sordidness. Pleasure
and pain, like certain branches growing out
of the body, have several scions, which rea-
son, like the common husbandman, by lop-
ping, tying up, watering, transposing, and
ordering, corrects in their nature, and tames
their wildness. Reason is the guide of the
virtues, and governess of the passions. That
this is not afliirmed without ground, is evident
from the mighty effect it has in matters where
the virtue of temperance is obstructed. Tem-
perance restrains the desires; some of which
belong to the soul, others to the body ; both
of which are under the government of reason.
When our appetites incline to such fish, fowl,
or other delicious foods as are forbidden by
our laws, and we abstain from them upon that
very account, this is a demonstrative proof of
the dominion of reason over the passions.
For the impulse of the appetite, by the assist-
ance of reason, is restrained, and all the mo-
tions of the body are bridled by its coercive
power.
CHAP. II.
BUT this is a matter of small weight when
compared with the more stimulating
desires of the mind, especially those that are
excited by beauty. Joseph acquired immor-
tal renown for conquering his passion by the
standard of reason and sound reflection,
though in the bloom of years, and urged by
the united impulse of beauty and importunity.
It is not the mere allaying the fury of vehe-
ment pursuits after pleasure, and abstaining
from the impure act, that reason can or ought
to do, since it is plain our very inclinations
are under its jurisdiction ; otherwise the law
would have been most absurd in laying upon
us a command so impracticable as that,
" Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,
nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." Now
it is evident that when the law forbids us to
covet at all, it more strongly implies that rea-
son is able to curb and conquer our desires.
And thus it is not only in those things which
are opposite to the virtues of temperance, but
justice also. Otherwise what remedy could
there be for reforming the luxurious, avari-
cious, or sordid man } When a man, of a co-
vetous disposition, is prevailed upon to con-
form to the precepts of our law. he restrains
his desires, lends to the poor without taking
usury, and remits the debt at the year of ju-
bilee; and though he be ever so frugal, yet
he is obliged by this law, neither to gather in
ON THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
493
the fruits of his field or his vineyard in the
sabbatic year.
Many other instances might be produced
to shew that reason governs our passions:
for the law, in some cases, exercises dominion
over natural affection to parents; forbidding
us, for their sakes, to betray the cause of
truth and virtue: so it does over tenderness
to our wives, commanding us to punish them
for the transgressions of their duty : so again
over love to our children, enjoining us to make
them examples when they do amiss: and
I lastly, over-kindness to our friends, in dircct-
r ing us to reprove their vices, hi confirma-
tion of this truth, it is further to be observed,
that reason, when influenced by the law,
overcomes hatred to enemies; for it prohi-
bits the cutting down their fruit-trees: it
orders us to restore to our enemies things
•which they have lost, and to help their cattle
when fallen and in distress.
Further, it is evident that reason bears
sway over the more violent passions, such as
ambition, vain-glory, and envy ; for all these
unseemly dispositions are removed and sub-
dued by a mind instructed by sound reason ;
as is anger also, though the most ungoverna-
ble of all passions. If this were not the case,
how could our wise ancestor Jacob so severely
condemn that act of his sons, Simeon and
Levi, when they, contrary to reason, utterly
destroyed the whole race of the Sheche-
mites .'' saying, in abhorrence of their intem-
perate rage, " Cursed be their anger, for it
was fierce ; and their wrath, for it was cruel."
He had certainly no view in speaking thus,
unless persuaded that reason was able to con-
quer wrath.
CHAP. III.
WHEN God created man, and endued
him with reason and a freedom of
; will, he, at the same time, implanted in his
nature a variety of passions and dispositions,
and set his intellectual mind upon the throne,
to exercise government over all the sensual
appetites within. He then imposed a law as
a rule, whereby he might direct himself, and
lead a life of temperance, justice, and good-
ness. What ground can there be then for
that objection, which makes a doubt whether
reason can master the passions, because it
does not appear that it attains to absolute
dominion over fbrgetfulness and ignorance ?
We are not to expect that reason should to-
tally exempt us from all evil dispositions ; but
it will aid us in our conflicts with such dispo-
sitions ; it being the proper office of reason
not to change, but assist nature; not to be a
destroyer, but an auxiliary.
This matter may receive some illustration
from the example of David. We read that,
after having engaged a whole day with an
army of Philistines, and made great slaughter
among them, the king retired in the evening
into the royal tent, fatigued and spent, where
all the forces of our forefathers were en-
camped around him. The rest of the com-
pany refreshed themselves contentedly ; but
the king being exceeding thirsty, could not
satisfy his appetite with any water drawn out
of those springs of which they had plenty.
An inconsiderate desire seized him to drink
of the w ater fetched from the enemies' garri-
son. Hereupon some of his officers, desirous
of satisfying him, armed themselves, took a
vessel, broke through the enemies' trenches,
passed their guards, sought out the well of
Bethlehem, and thence brought to the king
the water he so ardently desired. But Da-
vid, though parched with thirst, recollecting
how inhuman and dangerous a thing it would
be to gratify his appetite at the hazard of
men's lives, and that drinking the water
would be in efTect to drink blood, opposed
reason to inclination, and made a libation of
it to the Deity.
Thus a mind, strictly temperate and wise,
can overcome the impulse of the passions, ex-
tinguish the flames of the most furious desires,
contend with the most exquisite bodily pains,
and, in fine, quell all the perturbations that
discompose the human frame, by a steadj
principle of virtue. But it now becomes ne-
cessary to confirm this argument, by demon-
strative proofs of this power of reason exem-
plified by practice, of which our forefathers
have given undeniable instances. When,
through strict observance of their laws, they
had ingratiated themselves with foreign
princes, and prevailed upon Seleucus Nica*
nor, king of Asia, so far, that he set apart a
portion of his public revenues to defray the
expense of the sacrifices, as highly approving
their institutions, it happened, after this pro-
494
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
found tranquillity, some of them were brought
under various and severe trials, by the ill
offices of wicked men, who disturbed the
public peace in the manner hereafter related.
CHAP. IV.
A CERTAIN man, named Simon, creating
a quarrel with Onias, who was high-
priest for life, and a man of the greatest in-
tegrity, after having endeavoured to vilify his
character by the foulest aspersions, and find-
ing his attempts vain to lessen him in the es-
teem of the people, fled to a foreign court,
with wicked intent to betray his country.
He accordingly applied to Apollonius, who
was then governor of Syria and Phcenicia,
and told him, that, from his great zeal for the
king his master, he was come to make a dis-
covery of a vast sum of money deposited in
the treasury at Jerusalem, i.o! appropriated
to the temple, or employed to any public use,
but wealth hoarded up by private men, and
therefore of course the right of Seleucus.
Apollonius havnig received this account,
commended Simon's zeal for the king's ser-
vice, waited upon Seleucus, and imparted to
him the secret. Upon this information he
soon obtained a commission from the king,
and marched into our country, bringing with
him the traitor Simon, and a very powerful
army.
Upon his arrival, he gave out, that he came,
by order of the king, to remove the private
money that was in the sacred treasury. The
nation taking alarm, and complaining of it as
a horrible injustice to deprive those of their
money who had deposited it in the sacred
treasury, resisted the officer as much as they
were able. But Apollonius, with menaces of
force, made up to the temple. The priests,
upon this, with their wives and children,
prostrating themselves before the sacred
place, implored the Almighty to defend his
own temple from profanation and contempt.
Apollonius still persisting, and entering the
place with a body of armed men, as be was
about to seize upon the treasury, behold an-
gels from heaven suddenly appeared, mounted
on horses, clad in shining armour, and struck
Apollonius and his soldiers with fear and trem-
bling. The governor fell to the ground in the
court of the Gentiles, stretching out his hands
to heaven, and supplicating the Hebrews,
with many tears, to offer their prayers for
him, that he might not be destroyed by that
tremendous host. The high-priest Onias,
moved with compassion, and fearing lest Se-
leucus should impute the death of Apollonius
to human treachery, granted his request; so
that being miraculously saved, he returned
back to the king, and related to him the par-
ticulars that had befallen him.
But king Seleucus dying soon after, he was
succeeded on the throne by his son Antiochus,
a man of an imperious and savage disposition,
who deprived Onias of the priesthood, and
put into that office his brother Jason, upon a
compact of an annual tribute of three thou-
sand six hundred and sixty talents, which he
had covenanted to pay him. The king having
constituted this Jason superintendant, not
only over ecclesiastical matters, as high-
priest, but also over civil affairs, he put our
nation under severe trials, and, by introdu-
cing new customs, contrary to the law, hur-
ried them into all manner of impurity. He
not only instituted Grecian games in our me-
tropolis, but abolished the use of the temple,
insomuch that the Divine vengeance being
provoked, Antiochus was stirred up to make
war against the Jews. Being engaged in an
expedition against Ptolemy, king of Egypt,
and informed, at the same time, that some of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem had expressed
joy at the report of his being dead, he turned
his forces that way, and made great havoc
among them, publishing withal an edict, for-
bidding any of them to observe the customs
of their country, upon pain of death. Find-
ing this edict had not its intended effect, but
that all his severest threatenings and punish-
ments were so far despised, that even the
women (who continued the practice of cir-
cumcising their children) were cast down
headlong from the walls of the city, (though
they knew what they were to suffer,) he was
so amazed at the little regard shewn to his
authority, that he came in person, and by
torments compelled those that were brought
before him, to eat of meats unclean and for-
bidden by the law, and thus abjure the reli-
gion of their country.
i
ON THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
m
CHAP. V.
WHEN Antiochus, that cursed tyrant,
had seated himself upon a tribunal,
surrounded by his counsellors, and a strong
body ol" armed men, he commanded many of
the Hebrews to be brouglit by force before
him, and compelled them to eat of swine's
flesh, and meats offered to idols, upon pain
of the torture in case of refusal. After many
had been thus barbarously treated, a certain
man, named Eleazar, of the family of the
priests, by profession a lawyer, far advanced
in years, and known to several who stood
round the tyrant, was brought before him.
Antiochus observing the venerable sage, thus
addressed him : —
** Before I proceed to use any severity, let
me advise thee, reverend old man, to save
thy own life, by submitting to eat of swine's
flesh ; for I pay great respect to thy age and
grey hairs; and am surprised that the expe-
rience of so many years should not have made
thee wiser than still to persevere in the Jew-
ish superstition. It seems to me a most un-
reasonable thing for men to abridge them-
selves of any innocent pleasures, and great
injustice to themselves, and ingratitude to
nature, to refuse any of those enjoyments
which her bounty hath provided for us. Why
shouldest thou then express such abhorrence
of that most delicious of all meats, which
seems, in the flesh of swine, to have been de-
signed as our best entertainment, and a singu-
lar favour ? This may in others seem some-
what more excusable; but in you, who are a
person of better judgment, it would be a most
unaccountable folly, to be prejudiced by a
false and empty notion of religion ; and for an
idle fancy to contemn my authority, and draw
a needless punishment upon your own head :
wilt not thou then suffer thine eyes to be
opened, and be awakened out of this dream
of thy peculiar persuasion, and set thyself
free from the bondage of so morose and sin-
gular a notion .i* Will this friendly expostu-
lation prevail for no deference to be paid my
kindness ? and the compassion I have for thy
age. move thee to no compassion upon thy-
self.? Methinks it should ; for though what
I have said does not convince thee of the
vanity of thy opinion in this point, yet you
must needs allow, that if there be a power
VOL. II. N08. 89 & 90.
above, which does, as you suppose, require
the observance of this religion, that power
hath so much goodness as to pardon the trans-
gression of his laws, when it is not the offend-
er's own act and choice, but the effect of
force and pure constraint."
Eleazar, having duly attended to these
words, entreated of the king permission to
speak for himself, which being granted, he
stood forth, and, in the presence of the whole
assembly, spoke to the following effect : —
" Know, Sire, that we, who are fully con-
vinced that it is our duty, in all things, to be-
have ourselves according to the law given ub
by God, are perfectly persuaded, that no ne-
cessity can more oblige us, no force be strong-
er upon us, than that by which we stand
bound to obey his law ; and for this reason
we think our acting contrary to it, cannot be
dispensed with on any terms whatsoever.
Nay, though our law were not, as you are
pleased to suggest, really divine, yet. Sire, I
must crave leave to say, that, so long as we
continue to believe it divine, that very pep-
suasion ought to be an effectual restraint upon
us from violating, or thinking meanly of, any
religious ordinances established by it. Do
not therefore imagine, if we should submit to
defile ourselves by unclean meats, that this
would be deemed a small and pardonable
fault. For the presumption of the ofTender
is the same, and the authority of the law
equally itisulted, be the instance in which a
man transgresses greater or less. The fact
itself makes no ditTerence in point of guilt.
You were pleased. Sire, to speak contemptu-
ously of our religion, as an institution unbe-
coming men of reason and philosophy. But 1
must be bold to say, it is the best and most
consummate philosophy; for it teaches us
temperance, the conquest of our passions and
desires, and sets us above all our pleasures.
It trains us up in the exercise of fortitude,
and commands us to undergo all manner of
pain willingly and cheerfully. It teaches us
the most exact justice; and orders us to con-
fine our worship and absolute reverence to
the one true God, where alone they are of
right due. Upon this account we dare not
eat things prohibited and unclean; for we
are fully persuaded that God. who created
our nature, had due regard to it; that the
very institution of this law was so far from a
:3 S
496
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
hardship, as in itself to be an act of goodness
and mercy, and that the things forbidden are
hurtful to our souls ; whereas those allowed
for food are useful and convenient. It is there-
fore the very extremity of tyranny to force us
not only to sin against our law, but to eat that
which is therefore not allowed us because of
a quality not fit to be eaten. But this is a sort
of triumph which I shall never give you over
me. Nor must I falsify the solemn oaths, and
only engagements, whereby our ancestors
have bound themselves, and their posterity,
to the faithful observance of this law; not
though you should command my eyes to be
put out, and my bowels to be burnt. Old age
hath not so impaired my mind, or enfeebled
my body, but that, when religion and duty
call me to it, my reason can yet prove itself
youthful and vigorous. If this reply provoke
you, prepare your instruments of torture, and
heat your furnace hotter still : all that shall
not move me to spare my old age, so as, for
the saving my person, to violate the law of my
country and my God. That holy law, to which
I owe my instruction, I will never desert.
Thou dearest of all virtues, temperance, by
which we preserve our native sovereignty
over our appetites, I will never abjure thee ;
thou best of all philosophy, 1 will never dis-
grace thee. Thou holy order of priesthood,
and study of the law, I will neither forego, or
be a blemish to you. My ancestors shall find
me come to you pure and constant; a soul as
free from such a stain as undaunted under all
manner of torments, even unto death."
CHAP. VI.
ELEAZAR, having made this noble and
spirited reply to the tyrant's exhorta-
tion, was dragged by the guards that stood
round to the cruellest torments. They pulled
off the old man's garment, the venerable habit
of his religion, and having bound both his
hands behind him, unmercifully scourged him ;
an officer calling out at every stroke, " Obey
the king's commands." The brave Eleazar
sustained his torment as if he had been in a
dream, without deviating a tittle from his pro-
fession. The good old man stood with his
eyes upHfted to heaven, while the blood
streamed down from^^his body to the ground,
till, no longer able to sustain the torments,
he fell upon the pavement : but this was ow-
ing to bodily infirmity ; for his mind was as
constant and resolute as ever. Upon this one
of the guards stamped upon him in order to
raise him. Still he bore their barbarous in-
solence, and, with surprising constancy, suf-
fered their stripes, till his very tormentors
stood in admiration of his extraordinary mag-
nanimity, and wondered to find so noble a
soul in a body so aged and infirm. At length
some of them, touched with con:passion at his
decrepid age, and moved by remembrance of
ancient friendship, thus addressed him: —
" Why dost thou thus, for no manner of rea-
son, expose thyself to all these sufferings.?
Permit us, Eleazar, to set before thee some
lawful and clean meats; and do ihou make as
though thou didst eat swine's flesh, accord-
ing to the king's command ; so shalt thou save
thy life, and yet commit no wickedness." But
Eleazar resolutely answered, " Far be it from
us, who are children of Abraham, to be guilty
of such cowardice and wicked subtility, by so
much as seeming to do an act that does not
become us. How absurd would it be for me,
who have led a life of sincerity and truth
hitherto, and preserved my reputation free
from blemish, by a strict observation of the
law, to change my course now in extreme
old age, and set an ill example to others ! to
purchase a little remainder of life at the ex-
pense of foul dissimulation, and live that little
with the scorn and derision of all the world,
for my fear and base compliance.'"' When
they perceived him thus resolute and inflexi-
ble, and that their pity could have no influ-
ence upon him, they changed their disposi-
tion, and brought him to the fire. There they
applied new instruments of torture, threw him
upon the fuel, and, as he burnt, poured scald-
ing and nauseous liquors up his nostrils.
Burnt to the very bone, and ready to expire,
he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
" Thou seest, my God, the miseries I endure;
and that I choose to die by fire and torment,
for the sake of thy law, when it was in my
power to preserve my life for transgressing it.
Be thou, therefore, gracious, O Lord, to thy
own people, and let the vengeance executed
on me suffice for what they have deserved.
Make thou my blood a purification for them,
and accept my life instead of their lives."
3 .(jOSl — .JJ .dov
ON THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
419
With these words this pious man gave up the
ghost.
Hence it is evident that reason, improved
by reUgion, has command over the passions;
if it were otherwise, it is to them that tlie
praise of this noble testimony to truth and
constant virtue ought to be ascribed. But
since, from this instance, it appears plain that
the former was victorious, we cannot, with
truth, deny that reason is the governing prin-
ciple : and, indeed, it is most equitable to
confess the same, after so full a demonstra-
tion not only of bodily pains, but likewise of
pleasure too, resisted and vanquished : for
the undeviating tendency of our passions is to
indulge pleasure and decUne pain.
CHAP. VII.
OUR reverend father Eleazar may be
deemed a skilful pilot, holding the rud-
der of the ship of piety in the sea of the pas-
sions, tossed to and fro with the threatenings
of the tyrant, and overwhelmed with the waves
of torment. Nevertheless, he changes not
the rudder till he reaches the haven of victory
by a direct and prosperous course. A city
besieged with various engines, never made
such resistance against the furious assaults
of an enemy, as the divine mind of this pious
sage against the attacks of stripes, tortures,
and death, till, at length, he vanquished
through tJie aid of reason engaged in the
cause of religion.
" O priest, most worthy of the sacerdotal
dignity, who didst not pollute thy sacred body
with impure viands ! O guardian of the law,
S ftnd professor of a philosophy all divine ! O
noblest assertor of the religion of thy country,
in spite of passion, of torture, and of death !
Thou hast gloriously confirmed the equity of
our law by thy sutTerings and perseverance;
rendered our rites more conspicuous, but not
abrogated them; and, by realities and deeds,
established the precepts and doctrines of our
holy profession. O venerable sage, superior
to torments, above the force of raging flames,
most glorious of conquerors, who hast led thy
passions in triumph ! As heretofore our fa-
ther Aaron, armed with a censer, ran into the
midst of the temple, and vanquished the de-
stroying angel, in Hke manner did Eleazar,
descended from the same Aaron, steadily ad-
here to his profession, and conquer in the
midst of devouring flames. And, what is most
astonishing, when age and infirmities had
enervated his body, he exerted an invincible
resolution of mind. O happy age ! integritjf
and sanctity unquestionable, that gave testi-
mony of so illustrious a death!"
VV hat more satisfactory evidence can be re-
quired of the power of reason over the pas-
sions, than that of an aged man enduring so
much for the cause of piety and virtue, with
such undaunted intrepidity .'' But as it may
be alleged, by way of objection, that this in
age is less to be wondered at, because, as
strength and courage decrease, so the passions
and love of life may then be supposed to be
considerably abated, I shall proceed to shew,
that even young men, whose reason has been
fixed upon true principles, have undergone,
and overcome, torments heavier than the
former.
When the tyrant found himself foiled in this
first attempt, and that he could not compel
the venerable Eleazar to violate the laws of
his country, he became so incensed, that he
commanded others of the Hebrew captives to
be brought before him, promising them imme-
diate liberty, upon condition of their eating
forbidden meats, and threatening them with
greater torture than had been inflicted in case
of refusal.
CHAP. vin.
PURSUANT to the order aforesaid, there
Mere brought before the tyrant seven
sons, with their ancient mother. The men,
from the symmetry of their form, and elegance
of their deportment, attracted his notice;
and therefore, after beholding them with a
kind of approbation, he commanded them to
approach, and thus accosted them :—
" Young men, from an approbation of your
personal appearance, I have kind intentions
towards you : nor can I but pay a more than
ordinary respect to your family, which hath
the unusual blessing of so many such brethren.
To advise, therefore, that you would not be
guilty of the same mad and most absurd zeal,
with that poor old bigot, whom you saw perish
in the midst of agonies and tortures, is a kind-
ness far below what I design for you. I invite
you to comply with me, with an assurance oi
3S2
498
t^LAVIUS JOSEPHUS
my particular friendship : lor I have it in my
power to obhge and advance them that obey
me, in as emuient a manner as I have to punish
those that stand out against my commands.
Be assured then, you shall not fail of prefer-
ments, but have places of honour and profit,
and great trust under me, provided you will
renounce your country's customs, and be con-
tent to live after the Greek manner; laying
aside the foolish distinction of meats, and in-
dulging those appetites and pleasures freely,
in which youth, never fond of restraint, must
find a dehght now denied you by the tyrant
of your own superstition. Consider too, that
if such advantageous offers be rejected, you
must expect that your obstinacy will be the
more provoking; and I shall be obliged to
make every one of you examples, by a death
as full of pain and horror as the anger of an
incensed king can inflict. Be persuaded to
pity yourselves, when a stranger and an enemy
has set you an example of pity. Throw not
lavishly away so much youth and beauty,
which I am very loth should perish: but perish
it must, unless you will save it by that one
way. Therefore consider well. Methinks
you should consider, and not resolve too
rashly, when I assure you, that, in case of dis-
obedience, you have nothing to expect but
racks, fire, and death."
The tyrant had no sooner thus spoken, than
he commanded the instruments of torture to
be produced, in order to work more strongly
upon their fears, than words and menaces
he imagined could do. When the guards had
set before them the wheels, racks, manacles,
combustible matter, and other implements of
horror and execution, Antiochus, taking the
advantage of the impression he supposed this
spectacle would make, once more applied to
them in terms to this effect : " Young men,
consider the consequences ; your compliance
is no longer a wilful offence : you may rest
assured that the Deity you worship will con-
sider your case, in being compelled to violate
your law." But they were so far from being
terrified at the consequence of a denial, that
their resolutions became stronger, and through
the power of reason, aided by religion, they
triumphed over his barbarity. What is it
reasonable to suppose would have been the
measures pursued, had there been but an in-
dividual among them timorous, or inordi-
nately fond of life ? Would not such a one
have addressed himself to the rest, in terms
similar to the following .''
" What stupid and Ibol-hardy wretches are
we thus to continue deaf to the invitations and
kind advice of a king, who calls us to gain
and promotion, upon our obedience ! Why
should we amuse ourselves with vain ima-
ginations, and persist in a fatal obstinacy,
which can end in nothing but death.'* Shall
we be so insensible as to have no regard to
these dreadful engines of cruelty .'' None to
the menaces of an unrelenting tyrant, inex-
orable enough to put in execution all that he
hath threatened .'' Shall we not rather aban-
don this empty point of honour, and that false
pride of constancy, that is certain to prove
our destruction ? It can be no crime to have
some respect to our youth, which promises
many happy years ; some pity to our poor
aged mother, whose grey hairs must be brought
down with unspeakable sorrow to the grave,
to see so many sons cut off at once, and her-
self made childless in an instant by our diso-
bedience. What the king says is very ra-
tional, that God is too just and good not to
make allowance for the hard circumstances
we lie under. Why should we then throw
ourselves out of life, at a time when we are
best fitted to taste the sweets of living ? Why
hurry ourselves headlong out of a world where
every thing conspires to delight and entertain
us most agreeably.'* Let us not strive any
longer with our fate; nor buy applause so
dear as at the expense of racks and death.
The law itself is not so severe as to condemn
for involuntary offences; and the more just
our fears are, the less there is of will in the
compliance. What pretence can we have
then for this obduracy ? Or why should we
be so fond of a mistaken courage, which is
indeed no better than despair and obstinacy,
when nothing but death is before us if we
stand out; and life and security, plenty and
pleasure, are surely ours, if we do butsubmit.''"
CHAP. IX.
BUT no language similar to this was ut-
tered from the mouth of one of these
brave youths; for the apprehension of the
racking pains they were about to endure
little affected their minds. They triumphed
ON THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
over their impending misfortunes; and when
the tyrant commanded them to eat of the for-
bidden viands, they, with one voice, and, as
it were, with one spirit, made him this reply:
" To what purpose, O king, is the delay ?
If with design to know our final resolution, be
assured we are ready to encounter death in
its most frightful forms, rather than transgress
the laws of our fathers. For, besides the
reverence due to the example of our ances-
tors upon other accounts, this is what our
obedience to the law, and the precepts of
Moses, requires from us. Do not then at-
tempt any more to persuade us to apostasy ;
do not put on a counterfeit pity for those who
know you hate them; even death itself is
more supportable than such an insulting, dis-
sembling compassion, as would save our lives
with the loss of our innocence. Thou think-
est to terrify us by threatenings of death and
torture, notwithstanding the same experiment
made upon the old man hath so lately taught
thee how ineffectual all such methods are
upon the servants of the true God ; and if the
old men of our nation endure so courageously
such exquisite pains for their religion, is it
reasonable to suppose that the young ones
will suffer the reproach of being behind them
in constancy and patience? As we have
been educated under his particular care and
instructions, so we shall conquer after this
example. Try us, therefore, and see if it be
in thy power to destroy our souls, when we
suffer in the cause of God and religion ? This
is impossible : your cruelty cannot hurt us ;
for all the effect our pains can have, will be
to secure us the glorious rewards due to un-
shaken patience and injured virtue. Upon
you the consequence will be very different
and dreadful ; for by the murders of so many
innocent men, you arm the Divine vengeance
against yourself; and, for the temporal punish-
ments which you inflict, will become so ob-
noxious, as to suffer the punishment of ever-
lasting torments."
The tyrant, enraged at their contumacy,
gave the word of command ; and the guards
immediately brought forth the eldest of the
seven brethren, and having torn off" his gar-
ment, and tied his hands behind him, cruelly
scourged him ; and continued their lashes till
they were tired, but could avail nothing.
They then put him on the wheel, where his
body being extended, he underwent the se-
verest tortures of the rack ; thus reproaching
his tormentor : " Monster of cruelty ! enemy
to the Divine Justice ! you torment me in this
manner not for homicide or impiety, but as
an assertor and defender of the sacred law."
The guards then exhorted him to comply, eat
of the king's meat, and thereby obtain a
respite. But he answered, " Think not, base
men, that your wheel can destroy my reason.
Break my limbs in pieces, burn my flesh, dis-
tort my arteries ; yet all (he torments you can
inflict on me shall serve but to convince you,
that it is the peculiar glory of an Hebrew to
be invariably firm in suffering for the cause
of virtue." They then put fire under him,
and exposed his body, as much extended as
possible, to the devouring flames, insomuch
that he exhibited a spectacle liorrible beyond
description, and thus continued till nothing
was left of human form, but a skeleton of
broken bones.
During the shocking scene, this brave youth,
and worthy descendant of faithful Abraham,
was not heard to utter a groan, but bore his
torments with such invincible fortitude, as if
he had been translated to immutability in the
midst of the flames, exclaiming, "My brethren,
follow my example : desert me not in this no-
ble conflict, nor disclaim the relation of gene-
rous constancy, by which we are allied in
soul more nearly than in blood. Engage,
resolutely engage, in the sacred warfare;
nor doubt but that the Almighty Creator of
the universe will be propitious to our nation,
and avenge himself on the cruel tyrant."
With these words the brave youth expired.
While the spectators stood fixed in asto-
nishment and admiration, theguardsadvanced
with the second brother, and fixed his hands
in manacles of iron : but, before they put him
to the rack, they demanded if he would ac-
cept the conditions. Finding, by his reply,
he had adopted the same noble resolution
with his brother, they tore off" his flesh with
pincers, and flayed off'the skin of his beard,
face, and head. He bore this torture with
singular magnanimity, saying, "How welcome
is death in any form, when we suffer for our
religion and laws! Art thou insensible, in-
human tyrant, that thou art rather thine own
tormentor than mine, in finding thy tyrannic
aims defeated by our constancy ? The com-
500
PLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
forts of conscious virtue alleviate my pains,
while the dreadful load of your impiety shall
fall on your own head, and the Divine ven-
geance make an example of such a monster
to the whole world."
CHAP. X.
THE second brother having made this
glorious exit, the third was produced,
and pressed with arguments and entreaties
to taste and preserve his life. But he replied,
with vehemence, " Are you ignorant that I am
the son of the same father and the same
mother with those that went before me ? Shall
I then, in this last scene of life, renounce the
honour of that alliance ? The same institu-
tions were taught us all, and I will abide by
them until death." The freedom of this
speech enraged the executioners, who, to
express their malice and resentment, stretch-
ed his hands and feet on the engine, and
broke them to pieces : but when they found
this method did not deprive him of life, they
drew off his skin at the ends of his fingers,
and flayed him from the very crown of his
head. Not content with mangling his body
in this merciless manner, they dragged him
to the wheel, where, being yet more distended,
he saw his own flesh torn from him, and
streams of blood gushing from his body.
When at the point of death, he exclaimed,
" Merciless tyrant ! we suffer thus for the re-
ligion and law of that God who is able to re-
ward us : but remember, thou shalt suflfer
pains much more insupportable for thy im-
piety and cruelty."
Having died thus equally glorious with his
preceding brothers, the fourth was produced
by the guards, and persuaded to bethink him-
self, and be wiser than those who had gone
before him. His answer was, " Your fire has
not heat enough in it to make me despond or
renounce my opinion. I solemnly swear by
the happy exit of my brothers, by the eternal
destruction of the tyrant, and the glorious life
of the pious, I will not renounce their magna-
nimity. Invent and bring thy torments, tyrant,
and make the experiment whether I am not a
branch of the same stock, and animated with
the same soul, as those whose blood thy im-
pious hands have spilt." Antiochus, on hear-
ing these words, was so excessively enraged,
that all the force of passion was visible in his
countenance. He gave immediate orders to
cut out his tongue ; whereupon he thus pro-
ceeded : " You may deprive me of the instru-
ment of utterance ; but that God who seeth
the heart, knows the inward sensations of the
silent. Here is the member; you cannot by
this act, deprive me of reason. O that I
could lose my life by inches, to support the
cause of religion. Though you take away
the tongue, which chaunts the praises of God,
remember that his high hand will very soon
let its vengeance fall down upon your head."
CHAP. XI.
I^TO sooner had this brother, exhausted
J_^ with pain, and miserably mangled,
finished his course, than the fifth sprang for-
ward of his own accord, exclaiming, " Pre-
pare your torments : I am here ready to suffer
the worst you can inflict. I come voluntarily
to die in the cause of virtue; and, by a cruel
catastrophe, to procure an endless punish-
ment on you for the barbarities you have com-
mitted on the bodies of my brothers. Mortal
enemy to virtue, religion, and mankind, what
have I done, wherein have I transgressed, to
deserve this merciless treatment ? Do we
not worship the universal parent of nature
according to his own decrees ? Do we not
act in conformity to the institution of his most
holy laws } These are things that ought to
meet with reward instead of punishment."
While these words were in his mouth, the
tormentors bound and dragged him to the
wheel, to which fastening his knees with iron
rings, they stretched him round the engine,
and then broke his joints. Being miserably
tortured in this manner, he thus spoke in un-
speakable anguish : " Tyrant, thou doest us
the greatest honour against thy inclination;
for the glorious torments you inflict upon us,
only serve to testify an extraordinary zeal for
our laws and religion."
When he had borne testimony to the truth
of his religion, after the example of his heroic
brothers, the sixth youth was brought before
Antiochus, and being demanded, by the ty-
rant, whether he would accept deliverance
in the terms aforementioned, resolutely an-
swered, " It is true, indeed, I am younger than
my brothers, but my mind is the same with
ON THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
501
theirs. We had all of us the same parents,
and the same instructions, and it is but neces-
sary that we should all die alike for them;
therefore if you are determined to put me to
the torment on my refusal to eat, torment me."
Hereupon they fastened him to the wheel,
and having broken his bones, put fire under
him. Then the guards heated their spears,
and thrust them into his back and sides, till
his very entrails were burnt up. In the midst
of these torments he exclaimed, " O glorious
conflict, in which so many brethren have en-
gaged for the sake of their religion, and all
came off victorious; for a mind rightly in-
formed of the truth, and armed with steady
principles of virtue, must forever be impreg-
nable. I will accompany my brothers, and
relying on my own probity as my defence,
now submit to death. But thou, tyrant, must
not think to avoid a punishment which your
cruelties deserve ; for a death, attended with
the most dreadful of torments, hangs over
your head. Six of us have baffled thy rage
and malice. As for your fire, it feels cold to
us ; your tormenting engines are far from
giving us pain ; and all the violence you can
use is fruitless, and of no consequence. For
so long as our law is so nobly asserted, we
retain a reason that all the world and its
punishments cannot subdue."
CHAP. XH.
THE sixth brother being dispatched at
last, by being thrown into a boiling
cauldron, the seventh, and youngest, ap-
peared, whom, when the tyrant saw fettered
and pinioned, and though so implacably out-
rageous against the rest of his brethren, his
heart begarj to relent. Calling upon him,
therefore, to approach the tribunal, he en-
deavoured to sooth him with these words : —
" You see what kind of deaths your brothers
have undergone; but their disobedierice and
contumacy have been the sole means of all
their torments, and the cruelties they have
sustained. Yet you, if you obey not my com-
mands, shall be exposed to the same, nay,
worse torments, and so suffer an immature
death : but if you comply with my desires, I
will take you into the number of my friends,
you shall have a considerable post in my
kingdom, and be a governor in the state."
Not content with these persuasions to the
son, he addressed himself to the mother, with
seeming compassion for her loss, entreating
her to prevail upon her child, in pity to her
at least, to save this small remnant of the
family, and not to bring on her the affliction
of having all her ollspring so sadly torn away
at once. But his mother, addressing him in
the Hebrew tongue, exhorted him to suffer,
as we shall shew in the sequel. Upon this
he suddenly exclaimed, "• Take off my fetters,
for i have something to communicate to the
king, and all his friends." The king and his
nobles hearing the promise the young man
made, seemed greatly rejoiced ; and his
chains were immediately knocked off Ta-
king the advantage of this circumstance, he
thus exclaimed : —
" Impious and cursed tyrant, have you no
fears nor apprehensions in your mind, after
having received at the hands of the Almighty
the kingdom and riches you enjoy, than to
put to death his servants, and torment his
worshippers .■* These cruelties shall be re-
turned with an eternal punishment from the
hands of the Divine vengeance. Is your con-
science touched with no scruples, inhuman
monster, thus to deprive of their tongues
those who share alike the same nature and
passions with you, and who are born of the
same elements, and thus put innocent per-
sons to cruel torments, and take away their
lives in the most unmerciful and barbarous
manner.'* They have undergone a glorious
death, and shewn how much their piety and
observance was for the maintenance of the
true religion ; whereas thou, impious man,
shall be exposed to ills you little dream of,
for taking away unjustly the lives of those
who were worshippers of the Supreme Be-
ing. For this reason I will suffer death, and,
in my last pangs, discover how much my de-
sire was to follow the brave example of my
brothers. I beg and entreat the God of my
fathers that he would be propitious and mer-
ciful to our nation; but that he may chastise
you while you live ; and after death, that
your punishment may be augmented." Ha-
ving finished this address, he threw himself
into the boiling cauldron, and so gave up the
ghost.
502
PLAVItlS JOSEPHUS
O
CHAP. xm.
FROM these particulars we have enume-
rated, it must be confessed that reason,
guided and supported by religion, has power
over the passions, when we see seven brothers
in perfect agreement, and upon the same
principle, despising and vanquishing the
most exquisite pains, and even death itself.
Is it not manifest, that had these men been
governed by their passions, they had submit-
ted to pollute themselves with unlawful meats,
refused no condition to procure ease and
safety, and been totally subdued ? But since
they combated these passions by a judicious
use of reason, we are bound to acknowledge,
with abundant praise to the holy martyrs who
suffered, that, as they despised the most
dreadful torments, so reason never more dis-
covered its dominion over the subject pas-
sions than in those instances. For as the
moles and forts upon the shore break all the
force of the waves and weather, and render
the harbour commodious and safe to ride in,
so did this seven-fold fortification of reason
protect the harbour of piety from all the
storms and boisterous inundations of passion.
How moving, how affecting a sight was
such a company, encouraging and assisting
each other in the exercise of their piety, like
the voices which contribute, every one by his
distinct part, to make up a perfect melody !
With such a harmony of hearts did they ex-
claim t " Let us die like brethren in the de-
fence of our laws ; let us imitate the brave
example of the three Assyrian youths, who
defied the furnace of the king of Babylon, in
fighting for the cause of virtue ; let us never
despair, nor once be cast down. When re-
ligion and a good conscience are at stake,
let us abandon all ignoble fears, and act with
becoming resolution." Another said, " As-
sume courage, my brother, and suffer all with
an insurmountable bravery of mind." Others
of them recognised ancient facts. " Remem-
ber whence you derive your origin, and what
father Isaac could suffer in the cause of
piety." Then in general looking on each
other with countenances serene, and highly
pleased, they exclaimed, " Let us cheerfully
consecrate our bodies to God, Let us pay
him back the lives he lent us for his service,
and devote these bodies to the defence of his
most holy law. Why should we stand in fear
of one who only seems to kill the body .'' The
only danger worthy of our dread is that of
souls abandoned to torments everlasting,
which can never be the fate of such as keep
and honour the truth. Let us then arm our-
selves with a holy fortitude, so shall Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, receive us when we
die, and all our pious ancestors congratulate
and applaud our constancy."
As they were dragged one by one to the
place of execution, those whose turn Mas not
yet come, encouraged those that went before
them, with words to this purport : " Brethren,
do not dishonour us, nor elude the expecta-
tion of your brethren who have already suf-
fered death."
These must have been very engaging ex-
hortations ; for none can be insensible what
charms, what powerful influence so near a
relation carries w ith it; what tender affections
the All-wise Providence hath infused into
their hearts, who have derived their being
from the same father and mother, been main-
tained at one common table, conversed per-
petually together under the same roof, in-
structed by the same teachers, and initiated
in the same religion. Such was the affection,
such the endearments, and, of course, such
were the weight and efficacy of the admonitions
and mutual encouragements of these seven
brothers to one another; for they were brought
up in the same faith, trained up in the exer-
cise of the same virtues, and the better meii
they were, the better they must love each
other. Natural affections are never so happily
improved as by perfect agreement in good-
ness, and united zeal in the love and service
of God. And as each of these would love the
rest more tenderly in proportion as he him-
self was more religious, so would he neces-
sarily, in the same proportion, and upon the
same account, become more worthy to be
beloved by all the rest. And yet we may
observe in this very case, a mighty conquest
of reason over passion ; for though the bre-
thren had all the tender concern that nature
and blood, birth and education, acquaintance
and personal worth, could inspire them with,
yet these manifold endearments were so van-
quished and borne down when religion lay
at stake, that, in a cause so noble, the very
tortures and deaths of their dearest relatione
ON THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
MS
gare a sensible satisfaction to tliose of the
number who yet survived, and were tlie un-
daunted, uay, even pleased, spectators of
them.
CHAP. XIV.
THE pious and virtuous youths not only
excited one another to suffer these ter-
rible conflicts so as to make them surmount
all the pains they might be put to, but also
were the cause that their brothers, during
their torments, bore every thing with asto-
nishing resignation. Oh ! minds more abso-
lute than the most sovereign princes, and
more free than liberty itself! Not one of
them was observed to betray any fears, nor
have any scruples on the approach of death;
but all, as with one accord, running the race
of immortality, embraced death amidst their
torments. As the hands and feet obey the
motions of the mind, and so direct themselves,
even so did these youths, from a motive of
piety, consent to die in its cause. As the
number of days in which the world was cre-
ated give us the idea of God, and shew the
perfection of his majesty and goodness, so do
these most renowned martyrs, by running the
whole circle of pains and tortures, compose
cue finished piece of constancy and courage,
and teach us that perfection of fortitude which
banishes the slavish fear of death. But alas !
how far short of this pattern do we stop ! we,
who cannot so much as hear or read without
trembling and amazement, what they not only
heard, not only saw, but felt and bore without
the least disorder of mind.
Nor ought we to wonder that reason in
man should have this dominion over his pas-
sions, when the mind of a woman contemned
more cruelties than these, and of a different
nature. For the mother of these seven
youths had such presence of mind as to be a
spectator of the tortures her children en-
dured. Reflect on the force of natural affec-
tion, how diffusive to one's offspring: nay,
this we observe in the brute creation, who
have a tincture of the same kind of affection
and love for their young as mankind. But
there is no necessity for producitig examples
of brute animals to confirm this love for their
young, when the very bees, at the time they
are employed about making their honey, re-
VOL. II. — ■NOS. 89 & 90.
venge themselves on those that approach
them, and cause their stings to do the otiice of
swords, and other military weapons, upon
those that would attack their little ones.
CHAP. XV.
BUT so true a daughter of Abraham was
the mother of these gallant youths, that
even compassion for her own children could
not break in upon her duty. Such was her
noble zeal, that, when two things were offered
to her choice, religion and the present safety,
and great preferment of seven sons, she wisely
gave the preference to the former, which
leads to eternal life and happiness. By what
language shall 1 describe those tender pas-
sions of parents, that union of nature between
them and their children, which, in a wonder-
ful manner, draws upon their offspring the
same lines and features of body, and impresses
the same dispositions of soul .'' How can I
represent the concern they feel for these ima-
ges and parts of tliemselves, when in any
manner of distress ? How especially that of
mothers, whose weaker minds, and natural
excess of fondness, render them still more
sensibly touched by whatever effects their
children, than fathers are wont or expected
to be ? This mother was more under the
influence of such affection than mothers in
common. Seven painful births had made as
many additions to this love ; and every time
her travail was repeated it was a fresh exer-
cise of it, a fresh and strong endearment to-
wards all for whom she had endured the same
pangs.
But, notwithstanding all this, the fear and
love of God overcame her concern for the
present safety and advantage of her children.
Never did she love them so tenderly as when
their steady virtue, and constancy in the
truth, charmed her affections, and endeared
them to her; for they were just and wise,
temperate and magnanimous, affectionate to
each other, and dutiful to their mother to
that degree, that they even died in the cause
of their law in obedience to her. Though
she had such extraordinary reasons to love
her sons, yet not all the exquisite pains and
cruelties they were exposed to could once
divert the opinion and resolution she had
formed within her breast, for she exhorted
3T
504
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
each of them singly, and all of them together,
not to decline any sufferings, or death, for
the sake of religion. Though she was an
eye-witness to the torments inflicted on each
of her sons, yet the cause of piety engrossed
her soul, and she still maintained the sincerity
of her intentions. Her piety was so firm,
that it remained unchangeable by the horrid,
the thrilling spectacle of her children being
exposed to inconceivable tortures. Extraor-
dinary mother ! that felt greater pangs of sor-
row now than she ever experienced at bring-
ing them into the world. Perfect pattern of
piety ! thou didst not utter a sigh at seeing
thine eldest expire. The second giving up
the ghost amidst his torments could not draw
a tear from those eyes; nor could the third
in his last terrible moments, or any one of
them in the midst of their torments.
The songs of Syrens, and the dying notes
of swans, with all their bewitching and en-
chanting melody, were not so persuasive to
your ears as the last accents of your sons in
their expiring moments. When nature and
affection pleaded strongly with thee, and the
pains and unparalleled sufferings of thy chil-
dren added weight to their arguments, thou
wouldst not accept a short deliverance with
guilt, but gavest them up to death in prospect
of a more lasting bliss. Thou didst thus ap-
prove thyself a truedaughter of Abraham, an
heiress of all his faith and fortitude.
Mother of our nation ! protectress of our
laws ! bulwark of piety ! more patient than
man, and armed with more fortitude to un-
dergo difliculties ! the glory of thine own sex,
and superior to ours ! For as the ark of
Noah, which then contained all the surviving
world, rode triumphant upon the waters of
the general flood, so thou, protectress of the
law, tossed on every side with the deluge of
the passions, and the torments of thy sons, as
with the most violent storm, didst bravely
bear up against the fierceness of a dreadful
tempest.
CHAP. XVI.
TO return to the point at which I have
been aiming; if a woman, aged, and
the mother of seven sons, could not only sus-
tain the sight of those children expiring in
tortures, in consideration of the cause for
which they suffered and died, it is evident,
beyond dispute, that reason, supported by
religion, hath a power superior to our pas-
sions. It has been abundantly proved, that
not only men have overcome vast difficulties,
but that a woman despised the most exquisite
pains. The lions among whom Daniel was
thrown were not so fierce, nor was the fur-
nace of Mishael, though heated with the most
raging fires, so hot as those violent passions
which natural affection and piety had kindled
in her breast, when she saw seven sons suc-
cessively expire in agonies inexpressible.
Yet reason and religion quenched these so
furious and manifold affections.
It is reasonable to suppose, that had this
woman the least degree of pusillanimity in
her composition, she would have burst out
into lamentations similar to the following.
" Miserable woman that I am, who having
brought seven sons into the world, am now
parent of none ! To what purpose, my sons,
have I borne the many sorrows I have suffered
for you, and the many solicitudes in bringing
you up .'' Beloved children, whose faces 1
shall no more behold, nor rejoice in their
marriage and posterity, nor have the much
desired blessing in being esteemed happy in
any descendants of the second and third gene-
ration. I once was happy, happy above my
neighbours, when surrounded with seven
comely children ; but now I am deprived of
them, and left desolate ; nor have I a son to
pay me the last duty of interment."
The piety of this eminent woman disdained
such complaints. She was so far from de-
siring any of her children to live, that it would
have been matter of grief to her had they not
died as they did. She therefore besought
them to fulfil her joy, and encouraged them
in dying for the cause of religion. Noble
matron! the tyrant was subdued by thy per-
severance ; and, both in thy words and ac-
tions, thou hast proved thyself mighty; for
when thou wert apprehended with thy sons,
and saw Eleazar put to the torture, thou
stoodst immoveable, and thus addressed them
in the Hebrew language : —
" My sons, you have a glorious conflict be-
fore you, to which being called, that you may
leave your nation a testimony of your faith
and religion, contend cheerfully in defence of
the laws of your country. It would derogate
ON THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
505
jfrom your characters, to suffer an aged man
to be exposed to the pains of the rack, while
jou shrink, in the prime and vigour of youth,
under the same trials. Remember what life
is, from whom you derived it, to whom you
owe it, and that it is your indispensable duty
to undergo every difficulty and danger in the
cause of the religion of its grand author. For
him did our father Abraham hasten to sacri-
fice his son, the future parent of our nation.
Nor did that son tremble, or once recede,
when he saw a father's hand, armed with a
weapon of death, uplifled to give the fatal
stroke. For how was pious Daniel cast a
prey to hungry lions, and the three children
into the fiery furnace ? You, who are parta-
kers of the same faith, should not be disheart-
ened, if you are made partakers of the same
BufTerings ; for it is most dastardly, in those
■who have a true sense of religion, to betray a
pusillanimity, when called upon to sustain
difficulties."
Thus did this matron exhort her seven
sons, whom she enjoined rather to sufTer death
than violate the divine law, especially when
assuredly persuaded that those who die in
the cause of God, shall live with God, with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the suc-
ceeding patriarchs, in mansions of immortal
bliss.
CHAP. XVII.
IT is said of this dauntless woman, that,
after being scourged, and otherwise se-
verely tortured, by order of Antiochus, she
finished her punishment by voluntarily throw-
ing herself into the flames.
Courageous matron ! thus defeating the
tyrant's rage, disappointing his infernal
schemes, and exerting a most noble faith,
proof against all shocks that laboured to
overturn it! Take comfort, therefore; thy
patience is supported by a firm reliance on
the divine goodness, anid a well grounded
hope of future reward. The moon, encircled
with her attendant stars, shines not so bright
in the firmament of heaven, as dost thou, re-
flecting light upon, and receiving it back
again, from thy seven illustrious sons, fixed
in the celestial mansions, and honourable in
the Divine presence. Thy race descended
from the stock of Abraham. Were we able
to depict this act of piety in true and lively
colours, our passion scarcely could sustain
the mere representation. Were a monument
to be erected as a memorial by the nation to
which they are so great an honour, an in-
scription to the import of the following might
become it.
" Here lies a venerable priest, an ancient
mother, and seven gallant sons, cut off* by the
rage of a tyrant, attempting, but in vain, to
overthrow the Jewish constitution. These
brave champions stood in the gap, asserted
the religion and rites of their country, com-
mitted themselves and their cause to God,
and persevered in despite of torments and
death."
The encounter Avas truly divine : virtue
was the judge of the combat, and disposer of
the prize ; and patience was the proof and
exercise of it. To this the victory was to be
adjudged, and immortal bliss was to be the
reward of the conquerors.
Eleazar was the first champion; the mother
of the seven sons made a glorious defence j
the brothers stoutly fought; the tyrant was
their adversary, and the world were the wit-
nesses. Religion obtained the victory, and
yielded the crown to her champions. Who
but must admire these noble assertors of the
divine law ? Who but, on gazing on them,
must stand in amaze? The tyrant himself,
and the whole court, were struck with admi-
ration at their fortitude : but now they stand
at the throne of heaven, and enjoy a life of
immortality. Moses writes, "All his saints
are in thy hand :" for these men, being de-
voted to God, are celebrated with immortal
renown. Nor was the benefit of their trials
confined to their own persons, but the blood
shed upon this occasion was accepted by
divine justice as a propitiatory sacrifice, and
delivered Israel from the oppression under
which they groaned.
Antiochus, considering the extraordinary
virtue and resolution of these men, gave tes-
timony to their magnanimity, and, by a pub-
lic officer, propounded it as a pattern worthy
the imitation of his own soldiers. He enlisted
many of the Hebrews into his service, and,
by their valour, having subdued his enemies,
became an absolute conqueror; learning, by
experience, that religion inspires men with
the truest courage ; and that none are capa-
3T2
506
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, &c.
ble of serving their prince m wars, compara-
bly to those undaunted contemners of life,
who dare to encounter tortures and death for
the sake of God, and a good conscience.
O sons of Israel ! race of faithful Abraham !
pay obedience to this law : that reason, as-
sisted by religion, has dominion over the
passions, not only of those which are called
internal, but also external pains and troubles.
CHAP. XVIII.
THUS did these heroes nobly fight and
conquer : nor did they overcome death
and torments only, but the enemies also that
inflicted both, restoring peace to their nation,
and the observance of that long neglected
law, the contempt whereof provoked the Al-
mighty to scourge the people with that worst
of calamities, the tyrant Antiochus. But
while he became an instrument of vengeance
to others, he treasured more against himself;
for, when he found he could by no means
force the Jews to embrace foreign customs
and rites, and abdicate their own, he depa rted
from Jerusalem, and undertook an expedition
against the Persians; nor was it long before
the divine justice overtook him, and cut him
off the face of the earth by a most miserable
death.
For duty to the memory of the pious mother,
I add another exhortation she gave to her
seven brave and virtuous sons.
" I was long a chaste virgin, nor did I wan-
der from my father's house. No seducer of
youth corrupted me in the fields; nor did I
fall a prey to the subtle craftiness of a be-
trayer. The prime of my life I past in the
strictest conjugal fidelity to my husband.
When you, my children, were grown up, your
father died, happy in the esteem of all that
knew him. He had the satisfaction of being
the parent of dutiful sons ; nor did he sur-
vive the loss of one of them. While he con-
tinued with you, he usually instructed you in
the knowledge of the law and the prophets.
and set before you the renowned examples
of patience and suffering virtue : Abel mur-
dered by his own brother Cain, Isaac designed
for a burnt-offering, Joseph imprisoned for
his chastity, and Phineas zealous for the di-
vine law. He displayed the virtues of Ana-
nias, Azarias, and Mishael, and of Daniel
cast into the den of lions. He would fre-
quently remind you of God's preserving pro-
vidence by repeating from Isaiah, 'When
thou passest through the waters I will be with
thee, and when through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkestthrough
the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee.' He taught
your infant tongues that song of David, ' Many
are the afflictions of the righteous, but the
Lord delivereth him out of them all;' and
called upon you to observe that maxim of
Solomon in his Proverbs, ' That wisdom is a
tree of life to all that lay hold upon her.'
Nor did he forget to teach that divine hymn
of Moses, ' I kill and I make alive :' and again,
what he pronounces of the law, and the dili-
gent observers of it, ' It is your life, and
through this thing ye shall prolongyour days.' "
O melancholy, or rather glorious day!
when the merciless Grecian tyrant kindled
his impious fires, prepared his cauldrons,
and, with infernal fury, dragged and bound
to the engines of torture, and exercised, with
the most excruciating pains, the seven-fold
offspring of this daughter of Abraham ! when
he deprived them of their eyes, of their
tongues, and put them to death with all the
cruelties that malice could invent! These
horrid barbarities were retaliated on their
perpetrators ; while those sons of Abraham,
with their victorious mother, are translated
to bliss unspeakable, admitted to the tri-
umphant society of their pious ancestors, and
enjoy with them a glorious immortality in the
vision of that beatific Being whom they had
so faithfully served, and to whom be ascribed
all glory and praise, both now and for ever-
more. Amen.
END OF THE MARTYRDOM OF THE MACCABEES.
'i\* »*.*
'V r.
LIFE
OF
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS,
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
i 1 kl.
T^r^-Ot 8TJTT/
THE
LIFE
OF
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.
THE family from which I am derived is
not an ignoble one ; but hath descended
all along from the priests. And as nobility
among several people is of a different origin,
so with us to be of the sacerdotal dignit5' is an
indication of the splendour of a family. Now
I am not only sprung from a sacerdotal family
in general, but from the first of the ftwenty-
four courses. And as among us there is not
only a considerable difference between one
family of each course and another, I am of the
chief family of that first course. Nay, by my
mother, I am of the royal blood. For the
children of Asmoneus, from whom that family
was derived, had both the offices of the high-
* N. B. Josephus wrote, or at least finished, this ac-
count of his own life, as an appendix to his Antiquitieo,
after the third year of Trajan, A. D. 100, and at least
aeven years after he finished fliose Antiquities.
t We may hence correct the error of the Latin copy of
the lid. Book against .\pion (for the Greek is there lost ;)
which says, there were then only four tribes or courses of
the priesits, instead of twenty-four. Nor is this testimony
to be disrea^arded, as if Josephus there contradicted what
he had ntfirmed here : because even the account there
given better agrees to twenty-four than four courses :
while he Sciys that each of those courses contained above
f)rie8thood, and the dignity of a king, for a
ong time together. 1 will accordingly set
down my progenitors in order. My grandfa-
ther's father was named Simon, with the addi-
tion of Psellus. He lived at the same time
with that son of Simon the high-priest, who
first of all the high-priests was named JHyr-
canus. This Simon Psellus had nine sons.
One of which was Matthias, called Ephlias.
He married the daughter of Jonathan, the
high-priest. Which Jonathan was the first
of the sons of Asmoneus, who was high-priest,
and was the brother of Simon the high-priest
also. This Matthias had a son called Mat-
thias Curtus ; and that in the || first year of
5000 men ; which multiplied by only four will not make
many more than 20,000 priests : whereas the number
120,000, as multiplied by twenty-four, seems much the
most probable, they being about one-tenth of the whole peo-
ple, even after the captivity. See Ezra ii. 36 — 39, Nehem.
vii. 39—42, 1 Esd. v. 24, 25, with Ezra ii. 64, Nehem.
vii. 66, 1 Esd. V. 41. Nor will this common reading or
notion of but four courses of priests agree with Josephus's
own farther assertion elsewhere. Antiq. VII. 14, that
David's partition of the priests into twenty-four courses
had continued to that day.
J See Antiq. XVIII. 4. R B. C. 134,
mo
LIFE OF FLAVms JOSEPHUS.
the government of Hyrcanus. His son's
name was Joseph; born in the *ninth year of
the reign of Alexandra. His son Matthias
was born in the ftenth year of the reign of
Archelaus : as 1 was born to Matthias on the
first year of the reign of Caius Csesar.J I
have three sons : Hyrcanus, the eldest, was
born on the ||fourth year of the reign of Ves-
pasian ; as was Justus born on the §se-
venth and Agrippa on the **ninth. Thus
have I set down the genealogy of my
family, as I have found it described ttin
the public records; and so bid adieu to
those who calumniate me, as of a lower
origin.
Now my father Matthias was not only
eminent on account of his nobility, but had a
higher commendation on account of his righ-
teousness; and was in great reputation in
Jerusalem, the greatest city we have. I was
myself brought up with my brother, whose
name was Matthias : for he was my own
brother, by both father and mother; and I
made great proficiency in the improvements
of my learning; and appeared to have'both a
great memory, and understanding. Moreover,
when I was a child, and about fourteen years
of age, I was commended by all for the love I
had to learning. On which account the high-
priests and principal men of the city came
frequently to me, in order to know my opinion
about the accurate understanding of points
of the law. And when I was about sixteen
years old, I had a mind to make trial of the
several sects that were among us. These
sects are three : the first is that of the Phari-
sees ; the second that of the Sadducees ; and
the third that of the Essenes ; as we have
* Ad. 70.
t A. D. 7.
i A. D. 37.
II A. D. 72.
§ A. D. 75.
** A. D. 77.
tt An eminent example of the care of the Jews about
their genealogies, especially as to the priests.
II When Josephus here says, that from sixteen to nine-
teen, or for three years, he made trial of the three Jewish
sects, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes ; and
yet says presently, in all our copies, that he staid besides
with one particular ascetic called Banus, «a.f m/lu, with
him ; and this still before he was nineteen ; there is
little room left for his trial of the three other sects.
I suppose, therefore, that for ■aa.g' av7u, with him,
frequently told you. For I thought that by
this means I might choose the best, if I were
once acquainted with them all. So I contented
myself with hard fare, and underwent great
difficulties and J|went through them all. Nor
did I content myself with these trials only:
but when I was informed that one whose name
was Banus lived in the desert, and used no
other clothing than grew upon trees; and
had no other food than what grew of its own
accord ; and bathed himself in cold water
frequently, both by night and by day, in order
to preserve his chastity, I imitated him in
those things ; and continued with him three
years. So when I had accomplished my
desires, I returned back to the city, be-
ing now nineteen years old : and began
to conduct myself according to the rules
of the sect of the Pharisees : which is of kin
to the sect of the Stoics, as the Greeks call
them.
But when I was in the ||||twenty-sixth year
of my age, it happened that I took a voyage
to Rome ; and this on the occasion which I
shall now describe. At the time when Felix
was procurator of Judea, there were certain
priests of my acquaintance, and very excellent
persons they were ; whom on a trifling occa-
sion he had put into bonds, and sent to Rome,
to plead their cause before Csesar. These I
was desirous to procure deliverance for : and
that especially because I was informed that
they were not unmindful of piety towards God,
even under their afflictions; but supported
themselves with §§figs and nuts. According-
ly I came to Rome ; though it were through a
great number of hazards by sea. For as our
ship was lost in the Adriatic sea, we that were
the old reading might be Haj' auloig, with them : which is
a very small emendation, and takes away the difficulty
before us. Nor is Dr. Hudson's conjecture, hinted at by
Mr. Hall in his preface to the Doctor's edition of Josephus,
at all improbable ; that this Banus might be a follower of
John the Baptist : and that from him Josephus might
easily imbibe such notions as afterward prepared him to
have a favourable opinion of Jesus Christ himself, who
was attested to by John the Baptist.
III! A. D. 63.
§§ We may note here, that religious men among the
Jews, or at least those that were priests, were sometimes
ascetics also, and like Daniel and his companions in Baby-
lon, Dan. i. 8— 16, ate no flesh, but figs, nuts, &c. This
was like the austere diet of the Christian ascetics in Pm-
sion Week. Constitut. V. 18.
LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.
«Vi
in it being about *8ix hundred in number,
swam for our lives all the night. When upon
the first appearance of the day, and upon our
sight of a ship of Cyrene, I and some others,
eighty in all, by God's providence survived
the rest, and were taken up into the other ship.
And when I had thus escaped and was come
to Dicearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli,
I became acquainted with Aliturius, an actor
of plays, and much beloved by Nero, but a
Jew by birth: and through his interest became
known to Poppea, Cajsar's wife, and took care,
as soon as possible, to intreat her to procure
that the priests might be set at liberty. And
when, besides this favour, I had obtained many
presents from Poppea, I returned home again.
And now I perceived innovations were .il-
ready begun ; and that many were very much
elevated in hopes of a revolt from the Romans.
I, therefore, endeavoured to restrain these
tumultuous persons, and persuaded them to
change their minds; and laid before their
eyes against whom it was that they were going
to fight, and told them that they were inferior
to the Romans not only in martial skill, but
also in good fortune : and desired them not
rashly, and after the most foolish manner, to
bring the most terrible mischiefs upon their
country, upon their families, and upon them-
selves. And this I said with vehement exhor-
tation: because I foresaw that the end of such
a war would be most unfortunate to us. But I
could not persuade them: for the madness of
desperate men was too hard for me.
I was then afraid lest, by inculcating these
things so often, I should incur their hatred,
i and their suspicions; as if I were of our
enemies' party; and should run into the danger
of being seized by them, and slain; since they
were already possessed of Antonia, which was
the citadel. So I retired into the inner court
of the temple. Yet did 1 go out of the temple
again, after tManahem and the principal of
the band of robbers were put to death; when
* It ha^ been thought the number of Paul and hiss
eompanions on shipboard, Acts xxvii. 38, which are 376,
in our copies, are too many. Whereas we find here, that
Joitephuj and his companions, a very few years alter the
other, were about 600.
f Of (he War, II. 17.
j or the War, II. 18.
II Of the War, II. 18.
§ The Jews might collect this unlawfulness of fighting
VOL. n. — -NOS. 91 & 92.
I abode among the high-priests, and the chief
of the Pharisees. But no small fear seized
upon us when we saw the people in arms;
while we ourselves know not what we should
do; and were not able to restrain the sedi-
tious. However, as the danger was directly
upon us, we pretended that we were of the
same opinion with them: but only advised
them to be quiet for the present : and to let
the enemy go away : still hoping that Gessius
Florus would not be long ere ne came with
great forces : and so put an end to these sedi-
tious proceedings.
But upon his coming and fighting, |he was
beaten : and a great many of those that were
with him fell. And this disgrace which Ges-
sius with Cestius received became the calam-
ity of our whole nation. For those that were
fond of the war were so far elevated with this
success, that they had hopes of finally con-
quering the Romans. The following circum-
stance also aflTorded another cause for car-
rying on the sedition: those that dwelt in
the neighbouring cities of Syria seized upon
such Jews as dwelt among them, with their
wives, and children, and slew them; when
they had not the least occasion of complaint
against them. For they did neither attempt
any innovation, or revolt from the Romans;
nor had they shewn any marks of hatred or
treacherous designs towards the Syrians. But
w hat was done by the inhabitants ||of Scythopo-
lis was the most impious and the most criminal
of all. For when the Jews their enemies came
upon them from without, they forced the Jews
that were among them to bear arms against
their own countrymen: which it is§unlawfulfot
us to do. And when, by their assistance they
had joined battle with those who attacked
them, and had beaten them; after that victory,
they forgot the assurances they had given these
their fellow citizens, and confederates, and
slew them all, being in number many thou-
sands.** The like miseries were undergone
agiiinst their brethren, from that law of Moses, Levit. xix.
16. "Thou shall not stand a^inst the blood of thy
neighbour ;" and that verse 1 7, "Thou shall not avenge nor
bear any grudge, against the children of thy people : but
thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself:" as well as
from many other places in the Pentateuch and Prophets.
Antiq. Vlll. 8.
** Thirteen thousand.
3U
512
LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.
by those Jews tliat were the inhabitants of
Damascus, But a more accurate account of
these things has been given in the books of
the Jewish War. I only mention them now,
because I would demonstrate to my readers,
that the Jews' war with the Romans was not
voluntary ; but that, for the main, they were
forced by necessity to enter into it.
So when Gessius had been beaten, as we
have said already; the principal men of Jeru-
salem, seeing that the robbers and innovators
had arms in great plenty, and fearing lest
they, while they were unprovided of arms,
should be in subjection to their enemies ;
which also came to be the case afterward ;
and being informed that all Galilee had not
yet revolted from the Romans, but that some
part of it was still quiet; and sent me, and
two other priests, who were men of excellent
characters, Jorzar, and Judas, in order to per-
suade the ill men there to lay down their arms :
and to teach them this lesson, that it were
better to have those arms reserved for the most
courageous men that the nation had, than to
be kept there. For that it had been resolved
that ourbest men should alwayshave their arms
ready against futurity : but still so, that they
should wait to see what the Romans would do.
When I had received these instructions, I
came into Galilee ; and found the people of
Sepphoris in no small agony about their coun-
try: by reason that the Galileans had resolved
to plunder it on account of the friendship
they had with the Romans : and because they
had given their right hand, and made a league
with Cestius Gallus, the president of Syria.
But I delivered them all out of the fear they
were in: and persuaded the multitude to deal
kindly with them: and permitted them to send
to those that were their own hostages with
Gessius to Dora, which is a city of Phoenicia,
as often as they pleased. Though I still found
the inhabitants of Tiberias ready to take arms,
and that on the following occasion:
There were three factions in the city. The
first was composed of men of worth and gra-
vity. Of these Julias Capellus was the head.
Now he, as well as all his companions, Herod
the son of Miarus, Herod, the son of Gamalus,
* This Herod Agrippa, the father, was of old called a
great king, as here appear;, by his coins still remaining : to
and Compsus, the son of Compsus, (for as to
Compsus's brother Crispus, who had once
been governor of the city under the *great
king Agrippa, he was beyond Jordan, in his
own possessions,) gave their advice that the
city should then continue in their allegiance
to the Romans, and to the king. But Pistus,
who was guided by his son Justus, did not
acquiesce in that resolution. Otherwise he
was himself naturally of a good and virtuous
character. But the second faction was com-
posed of the most ignoble persons, and was
determined ibr war. But as for Justus, the
son of Pistus, who was the head of the third
faction, although he pretended to be doubtful
about going to war, yet was he really desirous
of innovation : as supposing that he should
gain power to himself by the change of affairs.
He therefore came into the midst of them,
and endeavoured to inform the multitude, that
the city Tiberias had ever been a city of Gali-
lee, and that in the days of Herod the tetrarch
who had tbuilt it, it had obtained the princi-
pal place : and that he had ordered that the
city Sepphoris should be subordinate to Ti-
berias : that they had not lost this pre-emi-
nence even under Agrippa, the father: but
had retained it until Felix was procurator of
Judea. But he told them that now they had
been so unfortunate, as to be made a present
by Nero to Agrippa junior. And that upon
Sepphoris's submission to the Romans, that
was become the capital city of Galilee : and
that the royal treasury and the archives were
now removed from them. When he had
spoken these things and a great many more,
against king Agrippa, in order to provoke the
people to revolt, he added, that this was the
time for them to take arms and join with the
Galileans as their confederates : (whom they
might command, and who would now willirsgly
assist them, out of the hatred they bare to the
people of Sepphoris, because they preserved
their fidelity to the Romans :) and to gather a
great number of forces, in order to punish
them. And as he said this, he exhorted the
multitude to go to war. For his abilities con-
sisted in making harangues to the people, and
in being too hard in his speeches for such as
which Havercamp refers us.
t See Antiquities, XVIII. 2.
LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.
513
opposed him, though ihey advised what was
more to their advantage : and this by his
craftiness, and his fallacies. For he was not
unskilful in the learning of the Greeks, And
in dependence on that skill it was that he un-
dertook to write a history of the affairs : as
aiming by this way of haranguing to disguise
the truth. But as to this man, and how ill
were his character and conduct of life, and
how he and his brother were, in great mea-
sure, the authors of our destruction, I shall
give the reader an account in the progress of
my narration. So when Justus had, by his
persuasions, prevailed with the citizens of Ti-
berias to take arms ; nay, and had forced a
great many so to do against their wills ; he
went out and set the villages that belonged to
Gadara and Hippos on fire: which villages
were situate on the borders of Tiberias, and
of the region Scythopolis.
This was the state Tiberias was now in.
But as for Gischala, its affairs were thus.
When John, the son of Levi, saw some of the
citizens much elevated upon their revolt from
the Romans, he laboured to restrain them; and
intreated them that they would keep their
allegiance to them. But he could not gain
his purpose ; although he did his endeavours
to the utmost. For the neighbouring people
of Gadara, Gabara, and Sogana, with the
Tyrians, assembled a great army, and took
Gischala by force, and set it on fire: and when
they had entirely demolished it, they returned
home. Upon which John was so enraged,
that he armed all his men and joined battle
with the aforementioned people, and rebuilt
Gischala, after a manner better than before ;
and fortified it with walls, for its future
security.
But Gamala persevered in its allegiance to
the Romans, for the following reason: Philip
the son of Jacimus, who was their governor
under king Agrippa, had been unexpectedly
f)reserved when the *royal palace at Jerusa-
em had been besieged : but as he fled away
had fallen into danger of being killed by Ma-
nahem, and the robbers that were with him.
But certain Babylonians, who were of his
kindred, and were then in Jerusalem, pre-
vented the robbers from executing their de-
* See Antiquities, XVII. 10.
sign. So Philip staid there four days, and fled
away on the fifth: having disguised himself
with false hair that he might not be discovered.
And when he was come to one of his villages,
that was situate at the borders of the citadel
of Gamala, he sent to some of those that were
under him, and commanded them to come to
him. But God himself frustrated his intention;
and this for his own advantage. For had it
not so happened, he had certainly perished.
For a fever having seized upon him immedi-
ately, he wrote letters to Agrippa and Bernice;
and gave them to one of his freedmen to carry
them to Varus ; who at this time was procu-
rator of the kingdom: which the king and his
sister had intrusted him with; while they were
gone to Berytus, with an intention of meeting
Gessius. When Varus had received these
letters of Philip's, and had learned that he
was preserved, he was very uneasy at it : as
supposing that he should appear useless to the
king and his sister, now Philip was come.
He therefore produced the carrier of the let-
ters before the multitude ; and accused him
of forging the same : and said that he spake
falsely when he related that Philip was at
Jerusalem, fighting among the Jews against
the Romans. So he slew him. And when
this Ireedman of Philip's did not return, Philip
was doubtful what should be the occasion of
his stay : and sent a second messenger, with
letters, that he might, upon his return, inform
him what had befallen the other that had been
sent before ; and why he tarried so long.
Varus accused this messenger also, when he
came, of telling a falsehood, and slew him.
For he was puffed up by the Syrians that were
atCeesarea; and had great expectations. For
they said, that Agrippa would be slain by the
Romans, for the crimes which the Jews had
committed; and that he should himself take
the government, as derived from their kings.
For Varus w as, by the confession of all, of the
royal family : as being a descendant of Sohe-
mns, who had enjoyed a tetrarchy about
Libanus. For which reason it was that he
was puffed up, and kept the letters to himself.
He contrived also that the king should not
meet with those writings, by guarding all the
passes, lest any one should escape, and carry
intelligence of what had been done. He,
moreover, slew many of the Jews, in order
3U2
3U
LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.
to gratify the Syrians of Caesarea. He had a
mind also to join with the Trachonites in Ba-
tanea, and to take arms and make an assault
upon the Babylonian Jews that were at Ecba-
tana: for that was the name they went by.
He therefore called to him twelve of the Jews
of Ceesarea, of the best character, and ordered
them to go to their countrymen at Ecbatana,
with this message : " Varus hath heard that
you intend to march against the king: but
not believing that report, he hath sent us to
persuade you to lay down your arms : and
this compliance will be a sign that he did well
not to give credit to those that raised the
report concerning you." He also enjoined
them to send seventy of their principal men,
to make a defence as to the accusation laid
against them. So when the twelve messen-
gers came to their countrymen at Ecba-
tana, and found that they had no designs of
innovation, they persuaded them to send the
seventy men. Who, not at all suspecting what
would come, sent them accordingly. So these
*seventy and the twelve ambassadors went
down to Caesarea: where Varus met them
with the king's forces, and slew them all ; and
made an expedition against the Jews of Ecba-
tana. But one there was of the seventy who
escaped, and made haste to inform the Jews
of their coming. Upon which they took their
arms, with their wives and children, and
retired to the citadel at Gamala: leaving their
own villages full of all sorts of good things :
and having many thousands of cattle therein.
When Philip was informed of these things, he
also came to the citadel of Gamala. And
when he was come the multitude cried aloud,
and desired him to resume the government,
and make an expedition against Varus, and
the Syrians of Caesarea. For it was reported
that they had slain the king. But Philip
restrained their zeal, and put them in mind of
the benefits the king had bestowed upon
them : and told them how powerful the Ro-
mans were: and said it was not for their
advantage to make war with them. And at
length he prevailed with them. But when
the king was acquainted with Varus's design,
which was to cut off the Jews of Csesarea,
* The famous Jewish numbers of 12 and 70 are here
remarkable.
being many thousands, with their wives and
children, and all in one day, he called to him
EquiculusModius, and sent him to be Varus's
successor. But still Philip kept possession of
the citadel of Gamala, and of the country ad-
joining to it: whicli thereby continued in their
allegiance to the Romans.
Now as soon as I was come into Galilee,
and had learned this state of things, by the
information of such as told me of them, I wrote
to the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, and required
their direction what I should do. Their
direction was, that I should continue there :
and that, if my fellow legates were willing, I
should join with them in the care of Galilee.
But those having gotten great riches, from the
tithes which, as priests, were their dues, and
were given to them ; determined to return to
their own country. Yet when I desired them
to stay so long that we might first settle the
public affairs, they complied with my request.
So I removed, together with them, from the
city Sepphoris; and came to a certain village
called Bcthmaus, four furlongs distant from
Tiberias: and thence I sent messengers to the
senate of Tiberias; and desired that the prin-
cipal men of the city would come to me. And
when they were come, Justus himself being
also with them, I told them, that I was sent by
the people of Jerusalem, as a legate, together
with these other priests, in order to persuade
them to demolish that house which Herod
the tetrarch had built there : and which had
the figures of living creatures in it : although
our laws have forbidden us to make any such
figures. And I desired that they would give
us leave so to do immediately. But for a good
while Capellus, and the principal men belong-
ing to the city, would not give us leave ; but
were at length entirely overcome by us, and
were induced to be of our opinion. So Jesus,
the son of Sapphias, one of those whom we
have already tmentioned, as the leader of a
seditious tumult of mariners and poor people,
prevented us, and took with him certain
Galileans, and set the entire palace on fire, and
thought he should get a great deal of money
thereby, because he saw some of the roofs
gilt with gold. They also plundered a great
1 SeeOfthe War, II. 20.
:-i'
LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS.
515
deal of the furniture: which was done without
our approbation. For after we had discoursed
with Capeilus, and the principal men of the
city, we departed from Bethrnaus, and went
into the upper Galilee. But Jesus and his
party slew all the Greeks that were inhabi-
tants of Tiberias ; and as many others as were
their enemies before the war began.
When I understood this state of things, I
was greatly provoked; and went down to
Tiberias, and took all the care I could of the
royal furniture, to recover all that could be
recovered from such as had plundered it.
They consisted of candlesticks, made of
Corinthian brass ; and of royal tables ; and of
a great .
,59
= X 34,5 = 1,18
N. B. Josephus, from his own knowledge, and the Old
Testament, assures us, in all his copies, both Greek and
Latin, seen by Dr. Hudson, that the brazen sea in the
temple was an hemisphere : and contained 3000 Baths :
that it was ten cubits in diameter ; and consequently about
30 cubits, by a gross estimation, in circumference. Our
Hebrew and Greek copies, I Kings vii. 23 — 26, also agree
to the same diameter, circumference, and depth ; and that
it was round all about, or a real hemisphere. Only they
say that it contained but 2000 Baths. While the same
Hebrew and Greek copies in 2 Chron. iv. 2—5, agree in
all things with the Book of Kings ; excepting the number
of Baths this sea contained : which is there constantly
3000, as in Josephus's copies. It is true, the Geneva
edition of Josephus has but 2000. But then Dr. Hudson
thinks the editors took that number not from any MS. but
from the Bible, in the place already mentioned of the
Kings. However, because Josephus himself gives us the
contents of Assaron or Omer, the known j\ of Bath or
Epha, Exod. xvi. 36, to be seven Attic Cotylae, or 1207,5
cubical inches, this only agrees to the number 2000 as in
the book of Kings. Now I confess I see no other foundation
for doubt in this matter, but only about the number of the
Baths contained in this sea ; whether they were 2000 or
3000. In which the direct evidences appear to me so
equally balanced, that I am not able to determine between
them. I shall therefore wave the more uncertain autho-
rity of the modern Rabbins, and modern writers depending
on them ; and state the Jewish Bath, or Epha, by geome-
trical calculation from these surer premises : and thence
deduce the rest of the Jewish measures of capacity, which
bear a known proportion to it : and this upon both the
hypotheses, that the brazen sea held only 2000, or that it
held 3000 Baths. The cube of 10 cubits, or of 210
inches =9261,000 solid or cubical inches. Now Geome-
tricians know, that as 1 to ,552 decimals : or as 1000 to
532 integers ; so is that Cube, to a sphere of the same
diameter : =4843503 solid or cubical inches. Its half,
or the hemisphere, is therefore 2421751 such inches.
Divide that sum by 2000, and by 3000 : the numbers of
the Baths contained in that hemisphere, upon the two
hypotheses beforementioned, the quotients will be equal
to one Bath or Epha: i.e. either to 1210,911 or to
807,274, i. e. such inches: they will, in the former case, be
equal to -f^, or above |, and in the second case to ^^, or
exactly to the mean, between the Jy and Jj of the cube of
the cubit ; i.e. in English measure, either 41, 74, or
27,83 English pints or pounds. Accordingly my Table is
double ; and contains the Jewish measures of capacity,
according to both those estimations : and that as well in
cubical inches, as in pints, or pounds.
N. B. Josephus's present copies, Antiq. VII 1. 2. affirm,
that the Badus, or Bath, the tenth part of Corus or Cho-
mer, was equal to 72 Xestae, or Sextaries : i. e. to about
2484,72 cubical inches : which is the content of the
Medimnus Atticus. As also XV. 9, they affirm, that the
Corus or Chomer, which is 10 Baths, contained 10 Me-
dimni : both which estimations agree ; although they be
wide from all our computations in excess. Yet do the
same copies say elsewhere. III. 16, that 70 Cori, or Cho-
mers, are equal to no more than 31 Sicilian, and to 41
Attic Medimni ; which is but 1454 solid or cubical inches,
for a single Corus or Chomer. As if the same measure
were equal to 24847,2 and to no more than 1454 cubical
inches ; or were above 17 times as large as itself This
number is very wide from all our computations in defect.
These quantities are therefore so entirely contradictory to
one another, that I must be forced to drop them on both
sides in my present determinations : and to proceed upon
the foregoing principles only.
Bath, or Epha, = ...
Corus, or Chomer, = 10 Baths or Ephas, =
Seah, or Saton, ^ of Epha, =
Seah, or Saton, according to Josephus, 1^ Modius
Italicus, = .....
Ilin, according to the Rabbins, | of Epha, =
Hin, according to Josephus, = to 2 Attic Chouses,
Omer, or Assaron, ^^ of Epha, =
Cab, y'y of Epha, = - - -
Log) Vt of Epha,
Metretes, or Syrian Firkin, Joh ii. 6, =
At 3000 Baths.
At 2000 Baths.
cub. inches.
pints, or pounds.
cub. inches.
pints
, or pounds
807,274
27,83
1210,911
41,74
8072,74
278,3
12109,11
417,4
269,091
9,266
403,64
13,994
j 828,
134,54
28,3
828,
28,3
4,4633
201,81
6,694
= 414.12
14,3
414,12
14,3
80,727
2,78
121,09
4,17
44,869
1,544
67,288
2,316
11,21
,39
16,81
,585
207,
7,125
207,
7,125
JEWISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
N.B.Josephus'g S«ah, or Saton, is so far from being on\y
A of the Bath or Epha, as the Rabbins esteem it ; that it
is hii^er than the Bath or Epha itself, upon the hypothe-
sis of the brazen sea's containing 3000 Baths or Ephas.
And even upon the hypothesis of its containing but 2000,
it contiiins above f of it. So we are still greatly at a loss
in this matter.
N. B. Since Josephus's larger quantity of the Hin best
agree with the 1500 shekels, or 750 ounces, or 47 pounds
weight of dry 8i)ices, to be moistened for a holy oil or
ointment, by a Hin of oil olive : Exod. xxx. 22, 23. And
since the Rabbins' smaller quantity best agrees with the
I of a Hin of beaten oil, commanded to be mingled with a
tenth deal, or Omer of flour, for a cake at the daily meat
offering, Exod. xxix. 40. 1 cannot by those calculations
determine between these different measures, either of the
Hin, or of the 3000 and 2000 Baths in the brazen sea. So
I suffer those computations to balance one another, without
preponderating one above another. Yet shall I venture to
propose another argument, which has nothing, that I know
of, to counterbalance it ; and which is directly on the side
ofthe 3000 Baths, and its first series of measures : which
argument I have elsewhere insisted on for the same pur-
pose. This is taken from the quantity of the miuina
which was alloted by God himself to be every mim's daily
portion in the wilderness ; an Omer apiece : this is full
as large, on that hypothesis, as every man required : and
much too large on the other hypothesis. Of which see
Authent. Records, Part II. p. 880, 881, and Cumberland, p.
87, 88. And thus upon the whole, I am still obliged to
prefer the number 3000, and its first series of measures ;
before the number 2000, and its second series : aa 1 did
formerly also.
OF THE JEWISH WEIGHTS AKD COIK8.
Now before I can authentically determine the weight
and value of the Jewish shekel, and other weights and
coins derived therefrom, I must set down such other
weights and coins as the shekel hath been esteemed very
nearly equal to : which are as follow : —
». d.
Four Attic Drachmae, according to Breerwood, 2 6
, according to Bernard, 2 8^
Four Attic Drachmae, according to Greaves, 67
grains, 2 9^
The mean quantity is := 2 8
Two Alexandrian Drachmae equal to four Attic
Drachmae = 2 8
A Tyrian coin = - - - 2 8
Four Drachmae, Troy weight, equal 240 grains 2 7
Four Drachmae Avoirdupois, equal 219 grains,
or half an ounce = - - ^ 4J
Fonr Roman Denarii, or pence = - - 2 7
Shekel itself, as weighed by Bernard, about 3
by Cumberland - ^ ^i
by Villalpandus - 2 9^
by Abp. Usher - 2 5
Duke of Devonshire's Shekel, weighed by Mr.
Barker, 2 4|
The mean weight ofthe Shekel, excepting that of
Dr. Bernard's, - - - 2 5^
Mean quantity of 4 Attic and 2 Alexandrian Drach-
mae ; of 4 Drachmae Troy, and an many Avoir-
dupois ; of a Tyrian coin ; of 4 Denarii ; and of
the several shekels themselves, very nearly 2 6
Hence I state the Jewish Coins and Weight* as fol
low : —
«. d.
Stater, Siclus, or Shekel of the Sanctuary, the
Standard, 2 6
Tyrian coin, equal to the Shekel, - - 2 6
Bekah, one half of the Shekel, - - - 13
Drachma Attica, one fourth - - 7^
Drachma Alexandrina, or Drachmon, or Adarch-
mon, one hidf, - - - - ■ 13
Gerah, or Obolus, Vi " " • " ^ H
Maneh or Mna, equal 100 Shekels in weight,
21900 grains Troy,
L. *. d.
Maneh, or Mna, Mina, as a coin, equal 60 She-
kels, - - - - 7 10
Talent of silver, equal 3000 Shekels 375
Drachma of gold, not more than - Oil
Shekel of gold, not more than - - 4 4
Daricofeold, - - - - 1 4 -
Talent of gold, not more than - 648
N. B. The Roman coins mentioned in the New Testa-
ment, are to be thus valued. See Cumberland, pages 1 17,
118,139.
The Denarius
Ass, or Assis,
Assarium
Quadrans
Mite
7*
3i^ farthmgs
l\ farthing
J of a farthing.
-1^ of a farthing.
N. B. Since our ancient testimonies, and the weights of
our present Shekels conspire to assure us, that a Hebrew
Shekel was nearly equal to 4 Attic and 2 Alexandrian
Drachmae ; to 4 Drachmae Troy, and to as many Avoirdu-
pois ; to a Tyrian coin ; and to 4 Denarii ; I thence
deduce its mean quantity to have been 25. 6d. Allowing
somewhat for the wearing of such shekels as are now
extant, while they passed as coins ; and laying aside that
unexampled quantity in Dr. Bernard, as some way mis-
taken : on which single example yet, so far as appears to
me, the Shekel is supposed, both by himself and by Dean
Prideaux, to have been no less than 3«. in value. See
Prid. Connection, Pref pages 20, 21.
Some ofthe learned Jews pretend, that their later She-
kels were | Krger than their ancient ones : which later
Shekels might be then at least Ss. \0d. But since
no such larger shekels have been yet seen, (unless that
weighed by Dr. Bernard were of that sort,) I cannot depend
upon such a Rabbinical assertion, without farther evidence.
And though there should have been any such coined in
later times, the estimate of the Shekel under the Old and
New Testament, in the days of Josephus, will hardly be af-
fected by it. See the note on Joseph. Antiq. 111. 8.
As for the Drachma, Shekel, and Talent of Gold among
the Jews, 1 state them no higher than as 1 9 to 11, (the spe-
cific gravity of Gold, to that of Silver) larger than those of
silver. Which yet have been hitherto most unhappily and
extravagantly esteeme.. 9dlln'«.l.-
f ..;-,/
itUiiiet) 'ii»ili lit ijKfaiJvliii
SV.N. t
/loioi-.dJ kfs^Jjjdg i.
AN
ACCOUNT
OF THE
JUDGES, KINGS, GOVERNORS, &c.
OF THE
JEWISH NATION.
JTUs nation in their beginning was governed by
the folunvtng Judges.
Moses
Jair,
Joshua
Jephtha
Othniel
Absan
Adol
Abdon
Banich and Debora Elon
Gideon
Samson
Ahimelech
Eli
Thola
Samuel
Ji/ler
them they had these Kings.
S&xA
Amasai
David
Ozias
Solomon
Jonathan
Rehoboam
Ahaz
Abijam
Hezekiah
Asa
Eliaikim
Jehoshaphat
Amon
Jehoram
Josias
Manasses
Joahaz
Ochozias
Joachim
Athalia
Zedechias
Joas
The Captivity of Babylon continued Seventy
Years. The Governors after the Captivity were
Zorobabel Nagge ^ -....:._-
Rhesa
Hagaieli
Nahum
John Ben Rhesa
Judas Hircanus
Amos
Joseph
Mattathias
Abner
Joseph Arses
Heli
Jannes Hircanus
Mahath
Mattathias
The Maccabees,who Were both Princes and Priestt,
Judas Simon
Jonathan John Hyrcanus
The following were both Kings and Prineet.
Aristobulus 1. Hyrcanus
John Alexander Aristob. son of Aiistob.
Alexander Aristobulus 3. '
Aristobulus 2. Hircanus. v
The Race of Herod.
Antipater Archelaus the Cfreat
Herod the Great Agrippa, son of Agri{^a.
7%c names of the High-priests, from the departure
out of Egypt till the building of the
Temple of Solomon. ,i.
Aaron Achftoii ^'^'['^
Eleazar Achimelech OJ«i<>' '
rMMi.
Phineas
Abiathar
AN ACCOUNT OF THE JEWISH KINGS, GOVERNORS, &c.
Abishua
Busqui
Oses
Heli
Sadoc
Achimaas
Azarias
From the building of the Temple till the Captivity
of Babylon.
Joram Urijah
J oses Neraiah
Axioram Odeas
Sudeas Sellum
Jonathan Helcias
From the return out of Babylon till the Maccabees''
time.
Saraiah
Josedech
Joshua
Joachim
Eliasib
Eleazar
Manasses
Onias
Simon
Onias
Joiada
Jonathan
Jadus _^ -m- »tn A
Onias O r T k
Simon
Jason
Onias
Lysimachus
Alcimus
Kings of .Assyria and Babylon.
High-priests from the JMaccabees time till the final
destruction of Jerusalem.
Simon Boethus Joseph 3.
Joseph 1. Ananias
Joseph 2. Ismael
Joazar Joseph
Eleazar Annas
Joshua «ono/*Sias Eleazar / ,'r,T,r)\f. •'
Joazar Simon
Ananus ^ _ Joseph Caiaphas .,_„
Ismael /*""«="' Jonathan ^ "^"'«^'
TheophiluS Joshua son of Danneus
Simon Joshua son o/'Gamaliel
Mattathias Mattathias
Elion Phineas or PanaaSjbj-iejro!
Kings of Israel, otherwise called Kings of the ten
TribeSy or of Samaria.
Jeroboam 1. . Jehoabaz
Nadab
BaksM'
Elab V ' ^^^ "^'^ Zachariah M^j) twwns -
Zimri aM^) ■^m\' Menahem i '\o Uso
Omri .m>( Pekahiah 5o» o/" Menahem
Ahab JPek^lj^i^on of Kameliah .
Jehoram d^hmidol ibsb-);
Jehu tediaidA %o9nhH
Phulbeloeus
Phulasser
Salmanaser
Sennacherib
Eserhaddan
Berodach Ben-
merodach
Nabuchodonozor 1.
Nebuchodonosor /Ac Great.
Evil-Merodach
Neriglossorar
Labosardach
Baltassar
Cyrus
Cambyses
Smerdus Magus
Darius son of )
Histaspis ^
Xerxes son of (^
Darius. ^
Artabanus the )
, Tyrant }
Artaxerxes with )
a long hand ^
Kings of Persia
Xerxes
Sogdianus
Darius the Bastard
Artaxerxes Mnemon
Artaxerxes Ochus
Arsames
Darius son o/" Arsames.
■ V
Kings of Syria, after the death of .Alexander the
Great.
Seleucus Nicanor Alexander Epiphanes
Antiochus Soter Demetrius Nicanor
Antiochus Antiochus Sedetes
Seleucus Callinicus Demetrius Nicanor
Seleucus Ceraunus Alexander Zebina
Antiochus the Great Antiochus Gryphus
Seleucus Philo- ) Antiochus Cyzicenus
pater \ ■'
Antiochus Epi-
phanes
Antiochus Eupator Antiochus Pius
Demetrius Soter
Sovereigns of Egypt after the death of ./Alexander
the Great.
Seleucus Gryphus
Ptolemy Soter
Philadelphus
Euergetes
Philopater
Epiphanes
Philometor
Euergetes Phiscon
Lathyrus
Alexander iai.\
Auletes
Cleopatra iudq^ris-
Kings of the Tyrians.
Abibalus / Phelletes
Hiram ^"'''ithoballus
Bellastartus Badezor
Abdastartutrw^wo-) Merimus ■' ^ia'i^
A startHS^ ^^^lo^ »A"s Pigmalion '^ a/TC .i-M»l
Astarimus r, MArfoioS
INDEX.
.t»-ARON meets bis brother Moses by the Divine appoint-
ment, i. 71, obtains the hi^h-priesthood, 97. a calamity
befalls him in his children, 98, his priesthood publicly
approved by God, 115, his death, 117.
Abdon, judge of Israel, after Eton, i. 172.
Abednego, i. .376.
Abel, his sacrifice and death, 14.
Abiathar, the son of Ahiinelcch, i. 212, saves his life, and
flies to David, 212, 222, 236, is high-priest, 248, 258,
265, is deprived of the high- priesthood, 272.
Abigail, i. 216, married to David, 217.
, Amasa's mother, i. 261.
Abihu, son of Aaron, destroyed by fire, i. 98.
Abijah, son of Rehoboam, i. 253, 301, succeeds his father,
ib. conquers the ten tribes, 305, his posterity, 306.
Ahimelech, king of Gerar, Iklls in love with Sarah, but
returns her to Abraham at the command of God, i. 28,
makes a covenant with Abraham at Beersheba, 29,
receives Isaac kindly, but afterward becomes envious
of his posterity, 35, makes a new covenant with Isaac, ib.
, tyrannizes over the Sechemites, i. 167, is
expelled, 168, destroys them all, ib. is killed by a
woman, 170.
Abinadab, i. 184, 275.
Abiram, i. 113.
Abishag, a virgin, David's nurse, i. 264, Adonijah desires
her in marriage, 271.
Abishai, i. 217.
Abner, son of Ner, esposes the cause of Ishbosheth against
David, i. 225, kills Asahel, ib. reconciles the Israelites
to David, 227, assassinated by Joab, ib.
Abram, or Abraham, son of Terah, i. 22, marries Sarah, 23,
leaves Chaldea and goes to Canaan, ib. lives at Damascus,
ib. removes into Egypt in consequence of a famine, 24,
instructs the Egyptians in arithmetic and astronomy, ib.
returns into Canaan, and divides the country between
himself and Lot, ib. rescues Lot and his friends from the
Assyrians, ib. is honourably treated by Melchisedeck,
king of Salem, 25, God pi^omises him a sod, and ordains
{he rite of ciroimcision, 27, entertains three aogels in
Mambre, and intercedes for the preservation of Sodom,
ib. removes to Gerar, and dissembles respecting his wife,
28, sends away Hagar and Ishmael, 29, prepares to
sacrifice l!*aac at the command of God, 30, buries
Sarah in Hebron, 31, his posterity by Keturah, ib.
sends his servant to betroth Rebeka to his son
Isaac, 32, his death and burial. 34, testimonies of Be-
rosus, Hecateus, and Nicolaus of Damascus, concerning
him, 23
Absalom revenges the violation of his sister Tamar, i. 246,
flies to Geshur, ib. is recalled by a stratagem of Joab's
246, rebels against David, 247 — 261, his army is put to
flight, 252, hangs on a tree by his hair, ib. is stabbed by
Joab, and dies, ib.
Achar, guilty of theft, 146, remarks on his name, ib. note
(§), his punishment, 147.
Achish, kingofGath, i. 221.
Achmon, son of Araph, of the race of the giants, attacks
David, i. 259, is killed by Abishai, ib.
Actium, battle of, i. 546, in the seventh year of Herod'a
reign, ib.
Ada, wife of Lamech. i. 15.
Adam, creation of, i. 11, his fall, 13, his expulsion from
Paradise, 14, his posterity, ib. his death, i. 15.
Adonibezek, king, taken prisoner, and punished with the
amputation of his fingers and toes, i. 155.
Adonijah pretends to the crown, i. 264, takes sanctuary at
the altar, 26G, demands Abishag in marriage, 271, ii
refused and put to death, 272.
Adoram, i. 278.
Adultress, how detected by the Jewish law, i. 106.
Adultery, law of, i. 115.
.\giig, king of the Amalekites, i. 198, put to death, 200.
Agones, or games every fifth year, in honour of Caesar,
instituted by Herod, i. 558.
Agrippa's, Marcus, bounty towards the Jews, i. 429, is
splendidly entertained by Herod, ii. 4, makes equal
returns to him at Sinhope, 5, his expedition to the
Bosphorus, ib. he confirms their privileges 666, his let-
ters in favour of the Jews, ii. 17.
Agrippa the Great, Herod's grandson, ii. 38, his various
adventures, 80, is manacled and imprisoned, 85, his
future liberty and happiness foretold, ib. is released
and made lord of two tetrarchies, with the title of king,
88, gives Caius a sumptuous entertainment at Rome, 93,
is sent by the senate to Claudius, 121, is sent back to
his kingdom, 125, Claudius bestows on him almost all
the dominions of bis grandfather, 124, his bounty to-
wards those of Berytus, 128, he treats several kings
splendidly, 129, enters Caesarea with shows, appears
himself upon the stage in a magnificent dress, and is ap-
plauded as a god, ib. dies soon after an unnatural death,
130, hi? posterity, 247.
Agrippa, son of the former, by Cypros, ii. 247, did not im
mediately succeed in his father's kingdom, 131, Claudius
gave him that of Chalcis, 247, to which he added the
tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias, 142, he i« hurt by a
sling stone at the singe of Gamala, 316, his letters to
Josephus, 487, his famous speech to the Jews, to dissuade
them from a war with the Romans, 258 — 263.
INDEX.
Ahab, king of Israel, i. 309, is reproved by Elijah, ib.
fights with Benhadad, and beats him, 317, pardons him,
ib. is afterwards killed himself by the Syrians, 320, his
sons destroyed by order of Jehu, 337.
Ahaz, king of Judah, i. 349.
Ahaziah, son of Ahab, king of Judah, i. 322.
Ahijah the prophet, i. 304, his prophecy, ib.
Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, i. 248.
Ahimelech, the high priest, slain by the order of Saul, i. 211 .
Abitub, i. 272.
Ahitophel, or Achitophel, i. 247 ; gives evil counsel, 249 ;
hangs himself, 251.
Ai besieged and taken, i. 147.
Alcimus, or Jacimus, i. 450, a wicked high-priest, calumni-
ates Judas before Demetrius, 451 ; dies, 453.
.Alexander, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, i. 462, surnamed
Balas,465, king of Syria, 462, his letters to Jonathan, ib.
engages in a battle with Demetrius, ib. demands Ptolemy
Philometor's daughter in marriage, ib. is killed in Ara-
bia, and his head sent to Ptolemy, 465.
. 1 ' , and Aristobulus, Herod's sons, ii. 27, put in prison,
32, 33 ; strangled by their father's order, ib.
, son of Aristobulus, 502. troubles Syria, 504.
makes war upon the Romans, and is conquered by Ga-
binius, ib. killed by Pompey's order, 506.
• Janneus succeeds his brother Aristobulus, i. 485;
a sedition raised against him, 488, his expedition against
Ptolemais, 485, he is called a Thracian, for his barba-
rous cruelty, 490. dies of a quartan ague, after three
years' sickness, 491.
the Great succeeds his father Philip, i. 41 6 ; con-
quers Darius, ib ; pursues his victories through Asia, ib ;
sends a letter to the high-priest at Jerusalem, 416. goes
himself to Jerusalem, 417. his dream; ib. ; adores the
name of God on the high-priest's forehead, ib. ; enters
the temple, 418. grants privileges to the Jews, ib. ; the
Pamphylian sea gives way to his army, 79. note ; his
arms and armour kept in the temple of Diana at Elymais,
448, his empire divided after his death, 419.
~ . Tiberius succeeds Cuspius Fadus, as procurator
of Judea, ii. 140, procurator of Egypt, 255, is made
chief commander of the Roman army under Vespasian,
352.
Alexandra, Alexander Janneus's widow, holds the adminis-
tration after his death, i. 492, falls sick and dies 493,
494, her character, ib.
, daughter of Hyrcanus, wife of Alexander, the
son of Aristobulus, Hyrcanus's brother, and mother of
another Aristobulus, and Mariamne, i. 538, writes a letter
to Cleopatra, ib. sends the picture of her son and
daughter to Anton)', by the advice of Dellius, ib. is
feignedly reconciled to Herod, 539, is suspected by He-
rod, 540, prepares to flee into Egypt, ib. bemoans the
death of Aristobulus, 541, acquaints Cleopatra with the
snares of Herod, and the death of her son, ib. is put
into prison, 543, her indecent behaviour towards her
daughter Mariamne, 5.55, is killed by Herod's order, 556.
Alexandria, great part of assigned to the Jews, i. 505, the
Jews declared its citizens, on a brazen pillar, by Julius
Caesar, 511.
Alliance between Ptolemy and Antiochus, i. 431.
Altar of incense, i. 92, the brazen altar, ib. to be built of
unhewn stone, 128, built by the two tribes and a half on
the banks of Jordan, 153.
Amalekites, their hostilities against the Hebrews, and
their complete defeat, i. 84.
Amasa, general of the army, i. 251, killed by Joab, 267.
Amathus, i. 22.
Amaziah, king of Judah, i. 342, 343, makes war on Joash,
king of Israel, 343, is beaten and murdered in a conspi-
racy, ib.
Ambassadors sent with presents to Hezekiah, i. 359, am-
bassadors of the Jews slain by the Arabs, 547, this a
violation of the law of nations, ib. ambassadors had a
right to sit among the Roman senators in the theatre, 613.
Ambassage sent by Jonathan to the Lacedaemonians, i. 468,
sent by the Jews to Rome, 453.
Ambition and Avarice, causes of many mischiefs, i. 228.
Aminadab, or Abinadab, i. 184.
Ammon, progenitor of the Ammonites, i. 28.
Amon, king of Judah, i. 361, slain, ib.
Ammon, David's son, i. 231, falls in love with his sister
Tamar, 243, slain by Absalom's order, 245.
Amoritis given to the tribes of Reuben, and Gad, and the
half-tribe of Manasseb, i. 125.
Amphitheatre built at Jerusalem, and another in the adjoin-
ing plain, by Herod the Great, i. 558, another at Jericho,
ii. 53.
Amram, father of Moses, i. 64.
Annanias, son of Nebedeus, made high-priest, ii. 140, his
son Ananus, 249, both sent in fetters to Rome, ib. slain
together with his brother Hezekiah, 265.
(different from the former,) i. 397.
Ananus, senior, a high-priest, ii. 148.
, junior, the son of Ananus, made high-priest, iL
148, accused of the murder of James the bishop, 148,
deprived of the high-priesthood, ib. his death, ib.
-, son of Bamadus, one of Simon's life-guard, ii. 391,
flies to Titus, 409.
Andreas, captain of Philadelphus's life-guard, i. 421.
Andronicus, son of Messalamus, i. 461.
Angels, fallen, supposed to have been the fathers of the
antediluvian giants, i. 16.
Antigonus governs Asia, after Alexander's death, i. 419.
, sonof Aristobulus, i. 504, impeaches Hyrcanus and
Antipater, 507, is conquered by Herod, 520, invades Ju-
dea by the help the of Parthians, 523, cuts off Hyrcanus's
ears, and causes the death of Phasaelus, 525, surrenders
himself to Sosius, 534, is sent in fetters to Marcus Antp-
nius, 535, was the first king whose head was cut off by
the Romans, 536, reigned before Herod, ib.
Antioch, the chief city of Syria, and the third in the Roman
empire, ii. 285, the Jews made citizens thereof by Sele-
ucus Nicator, i. 428. burned down, ii. 428, 429.
Ammonius, rebels against Demetrius i. 464.
Antiochus, king of Commagena, ii. 72. part of Cihcia, toge-
ther with Commagena, granted him by Claudius,
124.
Cyzicenus, i. 479, assists the Samaritans, but is
put to flight, ib. is taken prisoner and put to death by
Seleucus, 488.
Dionysius, fourth son of Antiochus Grypus, king
of Syria, makes an expedition against the Jews, i. 490.
the Great, i. 429, his letters in favour of
the Jews, 431, his wars with Ptolemy Philopator, and
physcon, 429, marries his daughter Cleopatra to Ptole-
my, 431.
Epiphanes makes an expedition into Egypt, i.
438, takes Jerusalem, and plunders the temple 442. goes
into Persia. 443, designs to destroy the Jews upon his
return, 446, his answer to the Samaritans, 438, he dies
and leaves the administration to Philip, 448.
INDEX.
AntiochQg Eupator invades Jadea, i. 449, fights with Judas,
ib. malces peace with the Jews, 450, breaks it, ib.
Pius, makes war with Seleucus, i. 488, is slain
in battle, ib.
• Eusebes, the brother of Demetrius, besieges
Jenis;ilem, i. 476, raises the siege, 477, makes an expe-
dition against the Parthians, is defeated and killed, 478.
, grandson of Seleocus, and son of Alexander,
commonly called the god, i. 429.
Antip.ts, Herod's son by Malthace, a Samaritan, ii. 36, is
tetrarch of Galilee, 228, goes to Rome to get to be a
king, 231, what was left him by Herod, 52, what was
given him by Caesar, 63, once declared king by Herotl,
225.
Antipater, Herod's father, called Antipas, excites troubles,
i. 496, 497, is sent ambassador to Aretas, by Scaurus,
502, his wife Cjrpros, an Arabian, and his children, 505,
506, his valour, 507, he advises Hyrcanus to put himself
under the protection of Aretas, li. 171, makes his son
Phasaelus governor of Jerusalem, and Herod of Galilee,
i. 509, is honoured by Caesar, and made citizen of Rome,
507, his defence against Antigonus, 507, is made gover-
nor of Judea, ib. is greatly esteemed iunong the Jews,
609, is poisoned, 519.
, son of Herod, ii. 9, is sent to Rome to Caesar,
, 10 while he is there, he, by letters, sets his father
against his brethren, ii. 205, is recalled by Herod, 43,
is hated by every body, after the slaughter of his
brethren, 43, 222, attempts his father's life, 46, is con-
cerned for himself, 225, appears before Varus's tribunal,
43, is bound 225, is put to death, 52.
Antipatris taken by Vespasian, ii. 321.
Antonia, the tower, called Baris before, ii. 167,18 taken by
Titus, 381.
Antony, Mark, his valour, i. 503, his and Dolabella's
decree in favour of the Jews, 614, he marches
into Asia, after Cassius's defeat, 520, his letter to Hyr-
canus, ib. to the Tyrians, 521, he falls in love with
Cleopatra, 522, miikes Phasaelus and Herod tetrarchs,
ib. orders their accusers to be put to death, 523, sojourns
at Athens, 630.
Antonius, Lucius, Mark Antony's son, sends a letter to the
Sardians, in favour of the Jews, i. 615.
Anubis, a god, ii. 74.
Apame, Darius's concubine, i. 392.
Apion, ambassador for the Alexandrians to Caliu, ii. 90.
Apollo's temple at Gaza, i. 488.
Apollonius Daus, governor of Ccelesyria, i. 462, challenges
Jonathan to an engagement, and is defeated, 462, 463.
, governor of Samaria, i. 442.
Arabians circumcise their children when thirteen years
old, i. 29, twelve towns taken from them by Alexander,
king of the Jews, 496, Arabia borders on Judea, ib.
Petra the king's residence, ib. Zabdiel their lord, 465,
are defeated, 549.
Aram, ancestor of the Syrians, i. 22.
Ara-ike, a temple, i. 368.
Arauna, the Jebusite, i. 262, his threshing-floor, ib. the
place where Isaac was to have been sacrificed, and
where the temple was afterwards built, 263.
Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, comes to Herod, ii. 23,
goes with him to Antioch, 212, reconciles Herod to his
son Alexander, and to his brother Pheroras, 211.
— , son of Herod the Great, ii. 37, is made eth-
narch, 63, marries Glaphyra, 66, is proclaimed king,
after Herod's death, 52, his speech to the people, 53,
he endeavours to appease the people, ib. goes to Rome,
54, is accused there by the deputies of the people, 62,
63, is banished to Vienna in Gaul, 66, his dreams and
Glaphyra's, ib.
Aretas, king of the Arabiiuis, i. 488, makes an expedition
against Aristobulus, 496, succeeds Obodas, ii. 26, affords
succours to Hyrcanus, 171, impeaches Sylleus, jointly
with Antipater, before Caesar, 40.
, king of Coelesyria, mokes an expedition into Judea,
i. 490.
Areus, king of the Lacedaemonians, i. 436.
Arioch, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's life-guard, i. 376.
Aristeas, or Aristaeus, one of Ptolemy Philadelphus's life-
guard, i. 120.
Aristobulus, !>(in of Hyrcanus L i. 483, the first high-priest
who assumed the title of king of the Jews, ib, called a
lover of the Greeks, 484.
, son of Alexander Janneus, an enterprising and
bold man, i. 492, complains of the Pharisees, ib. re-
proaches his mother Alexandra, 493, endeavours to take
possession of the kingdom during his mother's life, 493,
494, fights with his elder brother Hyrcanus, for the
crown, 495, brings him to osition of the, i. 11.
Eli, the high-priest, i. 177, is judge in Israel after Samson,
ib. his profligate sons, 179.
Eliakim, i. 355.
Elia.shib, the high-priest, i. 400, dies, 414.
Elicias, the high-priest, i. 372.
Elien, David's son, i. 231.
Elijah the prophet, i. 309, his miracles wrought for the
widow of Sarepta, ib. he presents himself to Ahab, 310,
foretels rain, ib. the false prophets are killed by his
order, 312, calls for fire from heaven, 326, is taken up,
326, his letter to king Jehoram, 333.
Elim, encampment of the Israelites at, i. 81.
Elimeleck, i. 177.
Eliphale, or Eliphelet, David's sod, i. 231.
Elisa, founder of the Eliseans or Eolians, i. 21.
Elisha, the prophet, the son of Shaphat, 314, his miracles,
329, &c. ; his death and eulogium, 34 1, 342, his cure of
the barren fountain, ii. 343.
Elkanah, i. 319, Samuel's father, 179.
Elon, judge of Israel after Ibzun, i. 172.
Emnos, David's son, i. 231.
Eunaphen, David's son, i 231.
Enemies, when conquered, may be lawfully killed, i. 329.
Enoch, eldest son of Cain, i. 15, a city so called from his
name, ib.
Enoch and Elijah translated, i. 326.
Ensigns of the Romans, with Ctesar's image, ii. 73, sacri-
fices oftered to them, 415.
Ephesians, their decrees in favour of the Jews, i. 617.
Ephod of the high-priest, i. 96.
Epicureans, their error concerning Providence confuted,
i. 386.
Epistle of Jonathan the high-priest to the Lacedaemonians,
i. 469, of Philadelphus for freeing the captive Jews,
42!:;, of Eleazar the high-priest, 423, of Solomon and
Hiram, king of the Tyrians, 277, of Xerxes, to Esdras,
389, of Artaxerxes, to the governors near Judea, 411,
of Antiochus the Great, to Ptolemy Epiphanes, 430, of
the Samaritims, to Antiochus Theos, 439, of Alexander
Balas, to Jonathan, 458, of Onias to Ptolemy and Cleo-
patra, 460, of Demetrius, to Jonathan, and the Jews, 466,
of Julius Caesar, to the Romanmagistratcs, 511, of Mark
Antony, to Hyrcanus, 621, to the Tyrians, ii. 122.
Esau, birth of, i. 34, his marriage, ib. disappointed of his
father's blessing, .36, divides his inheritance with Jacob,
44, his posterity, ib.
Esdras, i. 397, his grief for the foreign marriages, 399, he
reads the law of Moses to the people, 400, dies, ib.
Essenes honoured by Herod, i. 568, enemies to swearing,
ii. 239, their manners, rites, and doctrines, described, i.
469, they have all things common, ii. 239, 240, their
diligence in reading their sacred books, 241.
Esther, i. 404, marrieti to the king, 405, is concerned for
the Jews, 407, 408, invites the king and Haman to an
entertainment, 411.
Ethan, i. 276.
Ethbaal, or Ithobalus, king of Tyre, i. 310.
Ethiopians defeated by Moses, i. 67, 68.
Eve, creation of, i. 12, her fall, 13, her expulsion from
Paradise, 14.
Evi, king of the Midianites, i. 125.
Evil-merodach, i. 381.
Evilas, ancestor ofthe EviUans or Oetuli, i. 21.
Euphrates, or Phrath, a river so called, i. 12.
Eopolemus, i. 453.
Exorcisms, or forms for casting out demons, composed by
Solomon, i. 276.
Expiation, Jewish feast of, i. 102.
Ezechias. See Hezekias.
Ezekiel the prophet, i. 366, his prophecy concerning the
destruction ofthe Jews, 371, his prophecy reconciled to
that of Jeremiah, ib.
Factions, three, in Jerusalem, ii. 366.
Famine, in Egypt, i. 52, in Judea in the thirteenth year of
Herod's reign, 561, a dismal one in Jerusalem, li. 399,
for Saul's cruelty to the Gibeonites, i. 268, at Samaria,
INDEX.
330,331, famine and pestilence, dreadful, among the
Jews, 360.
Fast observed at Jerusalem on the day on which Pompey
took Jerusalem, i. 500, 501.
Fate unavoidable, i. 321.
Feast of unleavened bread. See Passover ; guests placed
at feasts according to their condition, i. 435, funeral
feasts among the Jews, ii. 229.
Felicity, too great, the cause of many evils, i. 302.
Felix, i. 620, brother of Pallaus, the procurator of Judea,
ii. 142, he punishes the mutineers, 145, is accused at
Rome, 147.
Festivals, Jewish, and how observed, i. 102, 103, three
great ones, ib. ii. 76, 77, at those festivals Roman guards
were posted at the temple, 177, immunity granted them
at those festivals by Demetrius Soter, i. 459, and on
them did no manner of work, 103, celebrated by the
Gentiles in idleness and pleasure, 42, no mourn-
ing among the Jews, at such times, 481, they nor did
then travel far, 478, Egyptian women appeared, at
such times, in public, 48, wood carried on a festival-day
for the altar, ii. 264, festival of dedication of the temple
by Judas Maccabeus, i. 445.
Finding of articles, laws respecting, i. 1 35.
First-fruits offered to God, i. 131.
Flesh of horses, mules, &c. forbidden to be brought within
the walls of Jerusalem, i. 430.
Flies, the god of, i. e. Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, i.
324, 325.
Florus, Gessius, procurator of Judea, ii. 70, is the cause
of the Jewish war, 149, he is derided by the people,
254, plunders the city, 264, 265, calumniates the Jews
before Cestius, 257.
Flour, the finest, required in the Jewish sacrifices, i. 102.
Fountain near Jericho, ii. 343, made wholesome by Eli-
sha, ib. its wonderful virtue, ib.
Friends, never free from envy, i. 190.
Frogs, a plague of, in Egypt, i. 72.
Fruit-trees, laws respecting, i. 131, not to be cut down in
a siege, 138.
Gaal assists the Shechemites against Abimelech, i. 169.
Gabaris, or Gabares, i. 275.
Gad, son of Jacob and Zilpah, i. 39.
— , the prophet, i. 262.
Gadara taken by Vespasian, ii. 341, the Gadarens made
prisoners and killed, 291.
Gaddis, John, i. 440.
Galba succeeds Nero, ii. 345, is murdered in a conspira-
cy, ib.
Galilee comes under the Roman dominion, ii. 315.
Gamala besieged, ii. 316.
Games of the circus, ii. 104, Olympic, restored by Herod,
14, Cesarean, instituted by Herod, ii. 202, ordained by
Titus on the birth-days of his father and brother, 427.
Garizzim, the temple of, deserted, i. 478.
Garraus, grievously punished by Alexander, i. 488.
Garments, sacerdotal, i. 93, their signification, 96, 96.
, linsey-woolsey, prohibited, i. 129.
Gauls, ii. 260, possess at home the sources of happiness,
ib.
Gaza, taken and demolished, i. 488.
Gentile gods, not to be derided, i. 129.
Geometry, invented by the long-lived patriarchs, i. 19.
Geon, or the Nile, i. 12.
Germaniciis, his house, ii. Ill, the father of Caius, 86, ii
sent into the east, 70, is poisoned by Piso, ib.
Germans described, ii. 111, enslaved by the Romans, 416,
the mutiny, 261, a German's predictions concerning
Agrippa, 430, German guards, 111.
Gather, i. 22.
Giants, remains of, in Hebron, i. 166.
Oibeonites obtain a league, by stratagem, with Joshua, i.
147, 148, delivered from the kings of the Canaanites,
148, they are satisfied for the attempt of Saul to slay
them, 258, 259.
Gideon exhorted to attempt the emancipation of Israel, i.
165, encouraged by the dream of a Midianitish soldier,
166, defeats the enemy, 167, confirmed in the govern-
ment of Israel, ib.
Girdle of the high-priest, i. 93, its signification, 95, 96.
Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia,
married to Alexander, the son of Herod, i. 574, her
enmity with Salome, ii. 208, her pride, ib. her lamenta-
tion, when her husband was put in chains, ii. 29, she is
married to Juba, king of Libya, and afterwards to Ar-
chelaus, ethnarch of Judea, ii. 66, her dream, and death,
66, 67.
God, his presence in the tabernacle, i. 99, 100, his mercy
only obtained by religion, 155, his foreknowledge, and
that his decrees cannot be avoided, 113, his will is
irresistible, 64, without his will nothing can happen, 56,
his providence asserted against the Epicureans, 386,
that nothing is concealed from him, 46, it is dangerous
to disobey him, 199, whether it is easier to serve God
or man ? 302, he uses beasts to punish the wicked, 384,
385, judged to be only the God of the hills by the
Syrians, 316, is not to be imposed upon by the wicked,
137, delights not in sacrifices, but in good men, 199, is
called on in time of danger by even bad men, ii. 46,
foretells futurities, that men may provide against them,
i. 51, affords assistance only when the case is desperate,
77, delights in those that promote his worship, ii. 6,
discovers his ineffable name to Moses, 71, is by nature
merciful to the poor, 136, is omnipresent, 208, his boun-
ty the cause of all men's happiness, 127.
Gods of Laban stolen, i. 40, 41, of Cutha, in Persia,
brought to Samaria, 354, of the conquered Amalekites,
worshipped by Amaziah, 343, of the heathen, not to be
cursed or blasphemed, 129, Beelzebub, the god of flies,
at Ekron, 324.
Gods, foreign, not to be bhisphemed by the Hebrews, i. 129.
Goliath of Gath, a giant, i. 201, challenges the Jewstoasin-
gle combat, 202, is slain by David, 203, 204.
Gomer, founder of the Gomerites or Galatians, i. 20.
Gorgias, governor of Jamnia, is put to flight, i. 444, has
better success afterwards, 447.
Gorion, son of Josephus, and Simeon, the son of Gamaliel,
exhort the people to attack the mutineers, ii. 325.
Government, form of, settled by Moses previous to his de-
cease, i. 128.
Gratus, procurator of Judea, ii. 83, puts Simon, Herod's
old slave, to death, 60, meets Varus coming to Jerusalem,
235, one Gratus discovers Claudius, and brings him out
to be emperor, 119.
Greeks called old nations by names of their own, i. 20, mi
put the Hebrew names into their own form, ib.
Guards placed about the temple by the Romans, li. 140
INDEX.
H.
Habits of the sexes not to be worn by each other, i. 138.
Hadad, king of Syria and Damascus, i. 235.
, or Hadar, LJomite, becomes Solomon's enemy,
i. 295.
Hadadezer, kingof Sophene, or Zobalo, i. 235, 296.
Hagar and her son sent away by Abraham, i. 29, an angel
appears to her, ib.
Haggai, a prophet, after the captivity, i. 395, he and
Zechuriah encourage the Jews to rebuild their temple,
ib.
Haggith, David's wife, i. 264.
Hail, plague of, in Egypt, i. 73.
Halicarnassians' decree in favour of the Jews, i. 517.
Haman, an enemy of the Jews, i. 405, his edict against the
Jews, in the name of Artaxerxes, 406, he orders a gib-
bet to be erected for Mordecai, 409, is obliged to honour
Mordecai, 410, the edict is contradicted, 411, be is
hanged on his own gibbet, ib.
Hannah, the wife of Elcanah, i. 179.
Haran, the father of Lot, i. 23.
Haran, or Charran, a city in Mesopotamia, i. 23.
Harlot, sacrifices not to be offered out of the hire of a, i.
129.
Harlots, common, excluded from marriage, i. 133.
Hazael, king of Syria, i. 314, he plunders Judea, 340, he
dies, 342.
Heber, the son of Sala, gives name to the Hebrews, i.
22.
Hebrews, removal of, into Egypt, i. 60, twice carried
- captive beyond Eiiphrate.s, 375, thought by some to have
come originally from Egypt, and not from Chaldea, 69,
not put to servile labour in the days of Solomon, 290,
of those Hebrews that came to offer their sacrifices from
beyond Euphrates, 109, they have peculiar rules about
meats and drinks, 1 23, they fight the Canaanites against
Moses' order, 110, ten tribes lived beyond Euphrates,
and out of the bounds of the Roman empire, 498, their
language and character come nei»r to the Syriac, 420,
their nouns have all the same formation and termination,
21, they have but one temple and altar, 129, met at
Shiloh thrice in a year, 160, only the two tribes under
dominion of the Romans, 398, an unexampled sedition
among them, 111, their wise men in the days of Solo-
mon, 276.
Hedron, the city of, given to the Levites, i. 162.
Hecatontomachi, soldiers so called, i. 488.
Heliopolis, a city, i. 52.
Helon, son of Zebulon, i. 60.
Heman, a wise man, i. 276.
Hercules, temple of, i. 289.
Herod, son of Antipater, i. 506, began to rule in Galilee
in the fifteenth, (twenty-fifth) year of his age, 509, puts
Hezekias and other robbers to death, ib. being accused
of it, he takes his trial, 510, makei< his escape, 511, goes
to Sextus CsBsar, and is by him made governor of Coele-
syria, ib. is in favour with Cassius and the Romans,
519, is made a governor of Syria by him, ib. puts
Malichusto death, 520, beats Antigonus out of Judea. ib.
bribes Mark Antony, 521 , is impeached by the Jews, but
is notwithstanding made a tetrarch by.Xntony, 522,gets the
better of the Jews that oppose him, ib. escapes the snares
of the Parthians, 526, the accidenU of his flight, 525, 526,
goes to Egypt, thence to Rhodes, and thence to Rome,
526, made king by the Roman senate, at the desire of
Antony, 527, sails back to Judea, and fights against
Antigonus, 528, orders Fheroras to repair Alexandrium,
630, takes Sepphoris, ib. conquers his enemies, and the
robbers in Judea, ib. joins his troops with .Antony's at
the siege of Samosata, and is received there with great
honour, 531, 532, is providentially dehvered from great
dangers, 632, defeats Pappus, .533, besieges Jerusalem,
tstkes it, makes Antigonus prisoner, and sends him in
chains to Antony, 533, 534, promotes his friends, and
destroys those of .Antigonus, 536, marries the famous
Mariumne, the daughter of Alexandra, 538, complains
of Alexandra, his molher-in-la»v, 539, causes his wife's
brother Aristobulus to be drowned at Jericho, 541, is
summoned by Antony to take his trial for it, ib. brings
Antony over to his interest by bribes, 542, puts Joseph
to death, 543, is solicited to adultery by Cleopatra,
544, makes war against the Arabians, by Antony's order,
f)4o, his army in distress, after he had been beaten, 546,
he beats the Arabians in battle, 549, puts Hyrcanus to
death, 550, orders Mariamne to be put to death, if he
himself comes to an ill end, 551, his presence of mind
before Augustus Caesar, 552, he is confirmed in his
kingdom by Caesar, ib. receives more favours from
Caesar, and has his dominions enlarged, 554, he puts
Mariamne his wife to death, 555, he is very uneasy at
her death, 556, he was afflicted wilh a kind of madness,
by Divine vengeance, ib. departs from the manners and
customs of the Jews, 568, builds theatres and exhibits
shows to the people, ib. a conspiracy against him, 560,
builds a temple at Samaria, ib. a palace at Jerusalem,
563, and a citadel sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, ib.
relieves the people in a great famine, 562, marries
Simon's daughter, 563, his policy, ib. he builds Caesarea,
565, sends his sons to Rome, 565, builds- a temple to
Caesar, 567, eases the people of a third part of their
taxes, ib. forbids the people to meet together privately,
ib. keeps his spies, and be<;omes one himself, ib. honours
the Essenes, ib. rebuilds the temple at Jerusalem, 568,
569, makes a new law concerning thieves, ii. 3, goes to
Caesar, brings home his sons, and marries them, ib.
entei-tains Marcus Agrippa, 4, is in great favour with
Agrippa, ib. eases his subjects of a fourth part of their
taxes, 8, the quarrels in his family, ib. he favours Anti-
pater, in opposition to the sons of Mariamne, 9, goes to
Aquileia, and impeaches his son at Rome before Caesar,
10, is reconciled to them, 13, celebrates games in honour
of Caesar, 14, builds towns and castles, 14, 16, builds
Apollo's temple, and renews the Olympic games, 15,
his temper described, ib. he opens David's sepulchre,
18, suspects all his kindred, 21 — 23, is accused by
Sylleus before Caesar, 26, his cruelty to his sons,
27 — 31, he accuses them in a council at Berytus, 30,
inquires of Nicolaus of Damascus, what they think of
him and his sons at Rome, 32, orders them both to be
strangled, 33, provides for their children, 35, 36, his
wives and children, 37, he contracts marriage for Ma-
riamne's children, ib. alters those contracts, 217, sends
Antipater to Caesar, 40, is made to believe that his
brother Fheroras was poisoned, 41, finds the poison was
for himself, 42, tries Antipater, and puts him in chains,
43 — 48, his bitterness in his old age, 48, lie makes his
will, ib. his terrible sickness, 50, 51 , his barbarous order
for murdering the principal of the Jews, 51, he attempts
to murder himself, 62, alters his will, ih. his character,
ib. his death and burial, 53, his will not to take placet
till confirmed by Caesar, ib.
INDEX.
Herod, son ofHerod, made tetrarch, ii. 71, 244, he builds
towns in honour of Caesar, 71, sends, a letter to Caesar,
77, makes war upon Aretas, king of Arabia, 78, is banish-
ed, 244.
, Arippa senior's brother, king of Chalcis, ii. 125,
he marries Mariamne, daughter of Josephus, by Olym-
pias, king Herod's daughter, 80, he has the power over
the temple given him by Claudius, 133, his death, and
children, 139.
rierodias, daughter of Aristobulus, by Bernice, Salome's
daughter, ii. 80, 216, Agrippa senior's sister, and wife
of Herod the tetrarch, envies Agrippa his royal dignity,
89, follows her husband in his banishment, 90, married
to Herod, son of Herod the Great by Mariamne, Simon's
daughter, 8 1 , afterward married to Herod the former hus-
band's brother, while her former husband was alive, 80.
Hezekiah, king of Judah, i. 351, his religious speech to
the people, ib. his lustration of the temple, and solemn
celebration of the Passover, 352, 353, defends himself
from Sennacherib, 355, 356, recovers from sickness,
358, dies, 360.
Hezekias, a ringleader of the robbers, i. 509.
Hieronymus jEgyptius, his testimony concerningthe deluge,
i. 19.
Hin, a Hebrew measure, i. 97.
Hippos wasted by the Jews, ii. 267.
Hiram, king of Tyre, David's friend, i. 176, sends ambas-
sadors to Solomon, 277.
Historians, their duty, i. 49.5.
Hophni, son of Eli, i. 179, is slain in battle, 180.
House of the forest of Lebanon, i. 293.
Hoshea, king of Israel,!. 350, he is made a prisoner, 361.
Huldah, the prophetess, i. 362.
Human sacrifice, i. 327.
Hur, a prince of the Midianites, i. 125.
Hushai, i. 249.
Hymns, composed by David in various sorts of metre, i. 259.
Hyoscyamus. See Saccharus.
Hyperberetaeus of the Macedonians, the same with the
Jewish month Tisri, i. 283.
Hyrcanus, son of Joseph Tobias, i. 433, his artful inven-
tion, 433, 434, he is sent to Ptolemy, and kindly receiv-
ed by him, 435, his actions and death, 437.
, John, son of Simon the Maccabee, escapes
being slain, i. 475, attacks Ptolemy, ib. is made high-
priest, ib. is besieged by Antiochus, ib. buys a peace
with five hundred talents, taken out of David's sepul-
chre, 477, marches into Syria, and recovers the towns
that had been taken away, and renews the alliance
with the Romans, 478, besieges Samaria, takes it, and
demolishes it, 480, his intercourse with God, ib. his
dream concerning his sons, ib. he was ethnarch, high-
priest, and prophet, ii. 165, his death and character, i.
483.
-, n. son of Alexander Janneus, made high-priest,
i. 492, agrees to leave the civil government to his bro-
ther, 495, his inactive genius, and why he fled to Aretas,
496, he in vain tries to bribe Scaurus to be for him,
497, 498, pleads against his brother before Pompey,
498, recovers the high-priesthood, 501, is confirmed
therein by Caesar, 507, is honoured by the Romans and
Athenians, 508, and by Julius Caesar, 51 1, is taken pri-
soner, and has his ears cut off by Antigonus, 625, is
released by the Parthians, and returns to Herod, 527,
is perfidiously treated, 538.
I & J
Jabesh-Gilead demolished, i. 160.
Jabin, king of Canaan, enslaves the Israelites, i. 163, slain
by Barak, 164.
Jachin, son of Simeon, i. 60.
Jacob, birth of, i. 34, his flight into Mesopotamia, 36, his
singular dream, 37, he is hospitably received by Laban,
38, contracts with him for Rachel, ib. marries Leah by
the artifice of her father, and serves seven years more
for Rachel, 39, quits the service of Laban, and is pursued
by him, 40, wrestles with an angel, 42, his name changed
to Israel, ib. interview with Esau, ib. removes to She-
chem, ib. divides his inheritance with Esau, 44, laments
the supposed death of Joseph, 47, weeps at parting
from Benjamin, 55, removes into Egypt, 59, 60, his
death, 61.
, son of Sosas, ii. .329.
, an Idumean, betrays his country, ii. 348.
Jaddus, or Jaddua, son of John, high-priest, i. 416,
meets Alexander in his pontifical garments, 417, dies,
418.
Jadon, the prophet, i. 299, killed by a hon, 300.
Jael, wife of Heber, kills Sisera, i. 164.
Jahaziel the prophet, i. 323.
Jair succeeds Abimelech in the government of the Israel-
ites, i. 170.
Jalel, son of Zabulon, i. 60.
James, the brother of Jesus Christ, stoned, ii. 140.
Jamon, son of Simeon, i. 60.
Jamuel, son of Simeon, i. 60.
Japhet, i. 19, his posterity, and the countries they pos-
sessed, 21.
Jared, son of Enoch, i. 15.
, the son of Maleleel, i. 16.
Jacob, son of Issachar, i. 60.
Jason, son of Eleazer, i. 453.
Iberes, whence descended, i. 21.
Ibis, an animal in Egypt that destroys serpents, i. 67.
Ibzan, judge of Israel after Jephthah, i. 172.
Idumeans, i. 444, turn Jews, 478, 479, are but half Jews,
629, Koze, their former idol, 558, receive the Jewish
customs, ib.
Jeban, or Ibhar, David's son, i. 231.
Jedidah, king Josias's mother, i. 361.
Jehoahaz, king of Judah, i. 365, he dies in Egypt, ib.
, son of Jehu, king of Israel, i. 341.
Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, saved from Athahah, i. 338, is
made king, 340, murdered, 341.
Jehoiachin, or Jechoniah, king of Judah, i. 366.
Jehoiada, the high-priest, i. 338.
Jehoiakim, king of Judah, i. 366, he rebels against the
Babylonians, 366, he is slain by Nebuchadnezzar, and
cast out of the gate of Jerusalem, ib.
Jehonadab.an old friend of Jehu's, i. 337.
Jehoram, king of Judah, i. 327.
, king of Israel, i. 326, his expedition against the
Moabites, 326, 327, his distemper and death, 333.
Jehoshaphat, a pious king of Judah, i. 309, 318, pardoned
for making an alUance with Ahab, 321, his fleet broken
to pieces, 324, his death, 327.
Jehosheba, sister of Ahaziah, king of Judah, i. 338.
Jehu, son of Nimshi, i. 314, is made king of Israel, 335, his
actions, 335, 336, he puts Baal's priests to death, 337.
, the prophet, the son of Hanani, i. 322.
INDEX.
Jenae, David't< son, i. 231.
Jephthii delivers Israel from the Ammonites, i. 171, sacri-
fices his daughter, ib. makes a great slaughter imiongthe
Ephraimites, ib. dies, ib.
Jericho, walls of, fall down at the blowing of the priests'
trumpets, 145, curse pronounced upon him who should
attempt to rebuild it, ib.
Jeremiah the prophet, i. 365, his lamentations upon the
death of Josiah, ib. his prophecy ag;tin!>t Jerusalem, 36G,
his scribe Baruch, ib. he is accused, and discharged, ib.
his prophecy read in the temple, and his roll burnt, ib.
his prophecy of the Jews' release from captivity, 308,
he is put in prison, and thrown into the dungeon, ib.
ui lefl with Baruch in Judeu, niler Zedekiah's captivity,
372.
Jeroboam, son of Nebat, conspires against Solomon, i.
296, is made king of the ten tribes, 298, erects golden
calves, ib. his hand withers, 299, his expedition against
Abijah, 304, his death, 306.
■ II. son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, i. 344, makes
war against the Syrians, ib. dies, 346.
Jerusalem, taken by David, i. 230, whence that name was
derived, 231, besieged and taken by the Babylonians,
370, visited by Alexander the Great, 417, besieged and
taken by Pompey, 501, by Herod and Sosias, 535, by
Ptolemy, the son ofLagus, 419, how mimy times taken,
ii. 423, made tributary to the Romans, i. 502, levelled
with the ground, ii. 459, declared holy, inviolable, and
free, by Demetrius, king ofSyria, ii. 59, who tirst builtit,
ii. 423, set on fire by the Romans, ib. a fist kept there
yearly, i. 535, as als<) when it was taken by Pompey,
and by Hero
i. 14.
Miracles, a foundation of credibility, i. 359.
Miriam, sister of Moses, i. 65, dies, 117.
Misnel, one of the three holy children, i. 376.
Mithridates, i. 388.
, king of Pergamus, i. 506, brings succours to
Caesar in Egypt, 607.
, king of Pontus, dies, i. 499.
-, a Parthian, marries king Artabanus's daugh-
ter, ii. 99, is taken prisoner by Anileus and set at liberty,
100, his expedition against the Jews, ib. he routs Ani-
leus, 101.
Mitre of the high-priest, i. 94, its signification, 96.
Moab, father of the Moabites, i. 28.
Memphis, son of Benjamin, i. 60.
Monobazus, brother of Izates, is king after his brother's
death, ii. 139.
Moon eclipsed, ii. 50.
Mordecai, i. 397, honoured by Artaxerxes, 410.
Moses, his birth predicted by an Egyptian scribe, i. 63,
God's declarations concerning him, 64, is exposed in an
ark of bulrushes, 65, adopted by Pharaoh's daughter,
66, tramples the crown under his feet, ib. his war with
the Ethiopians, 67, marries the kingof Ethiopia's daugh-
ter, 68, flies into Midian, ib. marries one of Raguel's
daughters, 69, sees the burning bush at Sinai, and is
appointed to be the deliverer of the Israelites, ib.
returns with Aaron to Egypt, 70, works miracles before
Pharaoh, 71, et seq. leads the Israelites out of Egypt,
75, conducts them through the Red Sea, 77, makes the
bitter water sweet, 80, procures the people quails and
manna, 82, brings water out of the rock, 83, defeats the
Amalekites, 85, receives a visit from Raguel, and adopts
his suggestions relative to the government of the Israel-
ites, 86, ascends Mount Sinai, and receives the Divine
laws, 87, stays forty days upon the mountain, and shews
the people the tables of the covenant, 89, builds a
tabernacle in the wilderness, 90, sets apart the tribe of
Levi, 103, 104, numbers the people, 106, sends spies
into the land of Canaan, 107, celebrates the Passover,
and removes towards the borders of the Canaanites, ib
quells the sedition of Corah, 113, appoints a successor
takes the land of the Amorites, and builds certain cities
118, 119, reads to the Hebrews a poetic song composed
in hexameter verse, 139, blesses Joshua, and exhorts
him to lead the Israelites courageously into the land of
Canaan, 139, 140, is surrounded with a cloud, and
INDEX.
disappears, 141, his death greatly lamented by the peo-
ple, ib. he is scandalized, its iifBicted with the leiirosy.
104, his great authority, 108, 109, his books laid up in the
temple, 362, his posterity honoured by David, 266.
Mosoph, founder of the Mosopheris, or Cappadocians, i.
21.
Mucianus, president of Syria, i. 428.
Mule, the king's, i. 265.
Murder, laws respecting, i. 130.
Musical instruments of the Jews described, i. 260.
Mysian war, ii. 448.
N.
Naamah, an Ammonitess, the mother of Rehoboam, i.
297.
, daughter of Lamech, i. 15.
Naaman, son of Benjamin, i. 60.
Naash, or Naliash, king of the Ammonites, i. 237, his war
against the Israelites, 190.
Nabal, a foolish man, i. 216.
Nabioth, one of the sons of Esau, i. 30.
Nablae, a kind of musical instruments, i. 282.
Naboandelus, or Nabonadius, king of Babylon, i. 381.
Naboth, i. 314.
Nabuchodonosor, or Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
conquers a great part of Syria, i. 365, lays a tax upon
the Jews, 366, takes and sacks Jerusalem, 370, ;371,
his famous dream or vision, 378, 379, his golden image,
ib. he Uves among the beasts of the field, 380, dies, ib.
Nabuzaradan, or Nebuzaradan, plunders and burns the
temple, i. 371, his other memorable actions, 373.
Nadab, son of Aaron, destroyed by fire, i. 98.
, king of Israel after Jeroboam, i. 306.
Nahor, sou of Serug, 22, his posterity, ib.
Nahum the prophet, i. 348, his prophecy concerning Nine-
veh, ib.
Naomi, Elimelech's wife, i. 177.
Naphesis, one of the sons of Esau, i. 30.
Nathan, David's son, i. 231.
, the prophet, i. 234, 242.
Nations dispersed, i. 20, called by new names among the
Greeks, ib.
Nazarites, i. 116.
Nechao, or Necho, king of Egypt, i. 364, is conqaered by
Nebuchadnezzar, ib.
Nehemiah, i. 400, his love to his country, ib. he exhorts
the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 401, his
death and character, 402.
Nehushta, mother of Jehoiachin, i. 367.
Nedim, an ancient people of Libya, 21. '
Ncphthalim, son of Jacob and Bilha, i. 39.
Nerias, high-priest, i. 372.
Nero, made emperor, ii. 144, a most cruel tyrant, ib. his
violent death, 345.
Nicanor, i. 439, sent by Demetrius against Judas, 443, de-
feated and killed, 443, 444.
, a friend of Titus's, wounded with an arrow, ii. 373.
Nicaso, married to Manasseh, i. 415.
Nicaule, or Nitocris, queen of Egypt, i. 290.
Niceteria, or festival of the victory over Nicanor, i. 452.
Nico, the name of the principal Roman battering ram, ii.
376.
Nicolaus of Damascus, his testimony concerning the deluge,
i. 18.
Nicolaus of Damascus, the Jews' advocate, i. 429, is sent by
Herod to Augustus, ii. 27, his speech before Augustus,
in favour of Archelaus, 57, he exaggerates Antipater's
crimes, 46.
Niger, of Perea, ii. 275, his wonderful escape, 284.
Niglissar, i. 381.
Nile, river, abundant in frogs, i. 72, note (J.)
Ximrod, gnindson of Ham, i. 19, excites the multitude to
build the town of Babel, ib.
Nineveh, destruction of, i. 348.
Nisroch, or Araske, a temple built nt Nineveh, i. 357.
Noah, beloved of God for his piety, i. 16, preserved with
his family in the ark, ib. invocates God after the deluge,
18, God answers his prayer, and gives him certain laws,
ib. is overtaken with inebriation, 22, his genealogy, 16,
his death, 19.
Nomus of Heliopolis, a hundred and eighty furlongs from
Memphis, ii. 450.
Nod, land of, i. 14.
Norbanus Flaccus's letter to the Sardians, in behalf of the
Jews, ii. 16.
Oath, prevails with Saul above natural affection, i. 197.
Obadiah, a protector of the true prophets, i. 311.
Obed, the grandfiither of David, i. 179, the prophet, 349.
Obedience to be learned, before men undertake govern
ment, i. 127.
Octavia, daughter of Claudius, ii. 250.
Odd numbers, supposed to be the delight of the gods, L
121, note (J.)
Odeas, high-priest, i. 372.
Og, king of Gilead and Gaulanitis, slain by the Hebrews,
i. 119, his iron bed, ib.
Ogyges, an oak so called, i. 26.
Oil, used in the Jewish oblations, i. 102, consumed by the
seditious, ii. 394, prepared by foreigners, not used by
the Jews, i. 428.
Olympius, Jupiter, his image, ii. 103.
Omri, king of Israel, i. 308.
On, son ofPcleth, i. 112.
One, the number, put for the first, i. 1 1.
Onias, son of Jaddua, succeeds in the high-priesthood, i. 4 1 8.
, son of Simon, made high-priest, i. 431, causes great
troubles, 437.
, brother of Jesus, or Jason, made high-priest, i. 539.
, son of Onias, flies into Egypt, and there desires to
build a Jewish temple, i. 460, his letter to Ptolemy and
Cleopatra, 460, 461, their answer, 461, he builds the
temple Onion, ib. that temple is shut up, ii. 450.
, a just man, procures rain in a famine by his prayers,
i. 497, is stoned to death, ib.
Opphis, son of Benjamin, i. 60.
Opobalsamum, i. 322.
Oracles of the prophets, concerning the destruction of Jeru-
salem, ii. 334, 352, 402, concerning a great prince to
arise in Judea, 416.
Orp.ih, i. 177.
Othniel, delivers the Israelites from the tyranny of the
Assyrians, i. 161, appointed judge over the people, 162.
Otho, made emperor, ii. 345, kills himself, 348.
Ox, mischievous, laws respecting a, 136.
Oxen, brazen, the Jews forbidden to make them, i. 295.
INDEX.
Pacorus, king of Media, ii. 137, redeems his wife and
concubines from the Alans, 439.
, the king of Parthia's son, gets possession of Syria,
ii. 23, lays a plot to catch Hyrcanus and Phasaelus, ib.
marches against the Jews, ii. 184, is admitted into Jeru-
salem, 184, is slain in battle, i. 631.
Pageants, at Titus's triumph, ii. 433.
Palace at Rome, ii. 119.
Palestine, a part of the dominions of the ancient Philis-
tines, i. 21.
Palm-trees at Jericho, very famous, i. 322, 499.
Paphlagonians, whence descended, i. 21.
Parable of Jotham, i. 1 68, of king Joash, 343.
Parable, described, i. 12.
Parents' bad deeds are disadvantageous to their children,
i. 306.
Parthians possess themselves of Syria, and endeavour to
settle Antigonus in Judea, ii. 184, their expedition into
Judea, ib. they besiege Jerusalem, ib. they take the
city, 183, their perfidiousness, ib.
Passover, a Jewish festival, i. 75, the manner of its cele-
bration, ii. 422, called the feast of unleavened bread, on
the fourteenth day of Nisan, 75, very numerous sacrilices
then offered, and vast numbers come up to it, ii. 54, from
the ninth hour to the eleventh, and not less than ten to
one paschal lamb, 422, number of paschal lambs in the
days of Cestius, ib.
Paulinus, succeeds Lupus, as governor of Alexandria, ii.
450, plunders and shuts up tbe temple Onion, ib.
Pausanias, son of Cerastes, murders Philip, the king of
Macedon, i. 415.
Peace and good laws, the greatest blessings, i. 263.
, as a goddess, has a temple at Rome, ii. 434.
Pedanius, ii. 214, 405.
Pekah, slays Pekaihah, and succeeds him, i. 348, defeats
the king of Judah, 349, is slain by Hoshea, 350.
Pekahiah, king of Israel, i. 348.
Peleg, i. 22.
Pella, laid waste by the Jews, i. 235.
Peninnah, i. 179.
Pentecost, a Jewish festival, i. 103, whence it had that
name, ii. 232, 233, vast numbers come to it, 232, the
Jews did not then take journeys, i. 478.
Perea, entirely subdued by the Romans, ii. 255.
Pergamus's decree, in favour of the Jews, i. 515.
Perjury, supposed by some not dangerous, if done by
necessity, i. 160, dreaded by Joshua and the elders, 148,
dreaded by the people, ICO.
Persians, their seven principal families, i. 390, their king
is watched during his sleep, ib. their law forbade
strangers to see their king's wives, 404, seven men were
the interpreters of their laws, ib.
Pestilence. See Plague.
Petephres, a priest of Heliopolis, i. 52.
Pelina, wife of Claudius, ii. 144.
Petronius, governor of Egypt, i. 662, supplies Herod with
corn in time of famine, ib.
, Publius, made president of Syria, ii. 91, sent
with an army to Jerusalem by Caius, to set up his statue
in the temple, 245, endeavours to prevent it, and to
save the Jews, ib. his and their wonderful deliverance,
246, his edict against the Dorites, 1 26.
Phaedra, Herod's wife, ii. 37.
Phaleg, son of Heber, i. 22.
Phahon, Antipater's brother, ii. 172.
Phallu, son of Reubel, i. 60.
Phalna, David's son, i. 231.
Pharez, son of Judas, i. 60.
Phares, the meaning of, ascertained in the Greek and
English languages, i. 373.
Pharaoh, denoted king, in the Egyptian tongue, i. 290.
Pharisees, a sect among the Jews, i. 481, they envy Hyr-
canus, ib. opposite to the Sadducees in their principles,
482, their great authority, ii. 39, especially in the reign
of queen Alexandra, i. 550, which lasted nine years, ii.
170, they refuse the oaths of allegiance to Caesar and
Herod, 39, they are fined for it, ib. their unwritten tra-
ditions, i. 482, their moderation in inflicting punish-
ments, ib. the common people side with them, ib.
Phasaelus, son of Antipater, i. 506, his death, 626.
, son of Herod, ii. 37.
Pheroras, Antipater's son, by Cypros, i. 506, hates Sa-
lome's children, ii. 19, makes Alexander jealous of hii
wife Glaphyra, with Herod his father, ib. provokes
Herod to anger, 20, lays the blame upon Salome, 21,
enters into friendship with Antipater, 38, 39, is hated
by Herod, 40, is ordered to retire to his tetrarchy, ib.
Pheroras's wife pays the tine laid upon the Pharisees, ii.
39, associates with the other court ladies, ib. Pheroras'&
freedmen charge her with getting poison, 41, she throws
herself down stairs, 42, her confession, ib.
Phethrosim, an ancient people of Libya, i. 21.
Phideas, the high-priest, i. 372.
Philadelphia wasted by the Jews, ii. 267.
Philadelphus, Ptolemy, his skill and industry about mecha-
nic arts, i. 424, he proposes questions to the seventy-
two interpreters, 427, he procures the seventy-two
interpreters to translate the law, ib.
Philip, Herod's son by Cleopatra, ii. 37, brother of .\rche-
laus, 217, what Herod left him by his will, 52, what
Caesar gave him, 63, tetrarch of Gaulanitis, Trachonitis,
and Paneas, 52, he dies, 78, his character, ib.
, king of Macedon, is slain, i. 415.
Philippion, son of Ptolemy, marries Alexandra, the daugh-
ter of Aristobulus, i. 506, is killed by his father, ib.
Philistines, theirchief towns Gaza, Ekron, Askelon, Gath,
and Ashdod,i. 182.
Phineas, son of Eleazar, slays Zimri and Cosbi, i. 124,
leads the Israelites against the Midianites, ib. his speech
to the Jews beyond Jordan, 154, he is made high-priest,
155, the high-priesthood returns to the family, 272.
, son of Eli, i. 179, officiates as high-priest, 180, he
is slain, 181.
Phison, or Ganges, the river, i. 12.
Phrath, the same with the Euphrates, i. 12.
Phraates, king of the Parthians, i. 537, his death, ii. 71.
Phrygians, whence descended, i. 21.
Phua, son of Issachar, i. 60.
Phraataces, son of Phraates, ii. 71.
Phul, or Pul, king of Assyria, i. 347.
Phurim, or Purim, a Jewish festival, i. 414.
Phut, the planter of Libya, i. 21.
Pilate, Pontius, procurator of Judea, occasions tumults
among the Jews, ii. 7.3, causes a great slaughter of them,
ib. and of the Samaritans, 75, 76, he is accused for it,
and sent to Rome, 76.
Pillars erected by the children of Seth, in the land of Siri-
ad, i. 1 5, pillars of the Corinthian order in Solomon's
palace, 277, in Herod's temple, ii. 369.
Pits, or wells, to be covered, i. 136.
INDEX.
Plagiie, Inflicted upon the Hebrews for their transgression
with the Miiliiinitish women, i. 124, occctsioned hy Da-
vid's numbering the people, 201, it ceases upon Da-
vid's repentance, 262, another pestilence in Judea, 556.
Phigues, the ten, which came upon the Egyptians, i. 72.
Pledge of the poor not to be retained after sun-set, i. 135.
Poison not to be kept by a Hebrew, i. 136.
Polemo, king of Cilicia, ii. 143.
, king of Pontus, ii. 129.
Polity of the Jews after the captivity, i. 397.
Pollio, a Pharisee, i. 667.
Pomjjedius, ii. 105.
Pompcy the Great, goes through Syria to Damascus, i. 498,
and to Jerusalem, ii. 173, the city delivered up to him,
i. 500, he takes the temple by force, and kills abund-
ance of the Jews, 501, the Jews send him a golden vine,
498, he goes into the holy of holies, 501, meddles with
nothing in the temple, ib. hears the causes between
Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, ib. determines it in favour of
Hyrcanus, and makes war upon Aristobulus, 502, flies
into Kpirus, ii. 177.
Pontius Pilate. See Pilate.
Posture, ancient, in solemn prayer, i. 86, note.
Potiphar, chief cook to the king of Egypt, i. 47, is de-
ceived by his wife, and throws Joseph into prison, 49.
Prediction, Adam's, of the destruction of the world, i. 15.
Present things queen Alexandra's care, more than future,
i. 494.
Presents sent to Joseph in Egypt, i. 55.
, made to the Israelites on their leaving Egypt, i. 75.
Priests, if miume. 461, he makes an expedi-
tion into Syria, 464, x
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