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 li 

 
 THE IITSTORY 
 
 SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 COLLECTED FROM 
 
 CTjc 22ilovfe!3 of 3iiJSfp5wJ 
 
 OTHER HISTORIANS. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 PRINTED BY BENTHAM AND HARDY, 
 
 m, Enst*«c-5t. and 4, Tcmp;«-lftne. 
 
 1825.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 X HERE is no one who Las read tbo life 
 of our blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ, as given 
 hy the four Evangelists, in the New Testa- 
 ment, who does not know that Ho foretold the 
 destruction of the city of Jerusalem, as the 
 consequence of national guilt and disobedi- 
 ence, and not only fixed the precise tijno 
 when it should be fullilloJ, but, also, the 
 signsi which should precede and indicate its 
 speedy accomplishment. 
 
 That the calamity thus predicted actually 
 took place, no Christian entertains a doubt, 
 and yet, perhaps, there are many who do not 
 know that it was one of the most remarkable 
 €vents which history ever recorded. If a city, 
 nearly as large as London or Paris, contain- 
 ing several hundred thousand inhabitant'^, 
 were besieged by a foreign army, and so com- 
 pletely destroyed, that not even a single stone 
 was left upon another, a detail of the cir- 
 cumstances could not fail to interest; but when, 
 in addition, we view it as the fulfillment of 
 
 B 
 
 2' )83397
 
 6 
 
 our Saviours Prophecy, it acquires an interest 
 far supericr to that which could be excited 
 by any other historical event, not connected 
 with ^Scripture. 
 
 Josephii?, from whose history this narrative 
 has been extracted, was a Jew, who lived in 
 Jerusalem during the greater part of the sie^e 
 by the Romans, and subsequently, after he was 
 taken prisoner, continued in the Roman camp 
 till he had witnessed the total destruction of 
 the city. He was himself descended from the 
 family who had borne the sacred office of the 
 High Priest — and. until his capture, was a dis- 
 tinguished general amongst his countrymen. — 
 He was not himself a christian, but this only 
 casts additioj'.al credit upon his narrative — for 
 whilst with singular care he shows his attach- 
 ment to the religion of his unbeliering coun- 
 trymen — he yet with singular precision illustrat- 
 ed, our blcssedSavioiir's predictions — in a way so 
 full, particular, and exact, that it would al- 
 most appear as if he wrote for the express pur- 
 pose ol throwing the light of history upon the 
 prophecies of Christ. 
 
 Before entering however upon the narration 
 of Josephus, it seems expedient to prefix a 
 brief account of Jerusalem, its extent, popu- 
 lation and strength — together v^ith the passages 
 in the Xew Testament, whidi foretel the siege 
 and destruction, leaving it to the young reader
 
 to com|wirc, with thorn, the e vents which are nar- 
 rated by the historian. 
 
 JuDKA,or Palestine, of whichJorusalcm is 
 the capital, extends along the Mediterranean 
 sea; it derives its name Judoa, from one of the 
 I most considerable of the 12 Tribes — and Pa- 
 ! Icstino, from the Palestines, or Philistines who 
 dwelt there. It was also called the land of 
 Canaan, from the son of Ham, grandson 
 of Noah, whoso descendants dwelt there till 
 they were driven out by the Israelites. 
 
 But the name by which it is pre-eminently 
 distinguished, is the Holy Land, — the appella- 
 tion givpn to it by Jews, as well as Christians; 
 !>y the former on account of God having so 
 oftnn made it the scene of his special manifes- 
 tations, whilst the latter deem itsacred not only 
 on that account, but also as the country in 
 wl'ich the Saviour of the world was born, and 
 whore he suffered and died for the sins of a pe- 
 jrij'hing world. 
 
 It is situatedbetween 31° 30' and32'' 20'NL. 
 and31» 50'to37'^ 15' East longitude, bound- 
 ed on the West by the Mediterranean sea, by 
 ^yria and Phenicia on the North; on the East 
 by Persia; and on the South by Arabia; ex- 
 tending nearly 200 miles in length, and in 
 breadth about 80. 
 
 All accounts concur in stating the astonish- 
 ing fertility of this district, as well as the im- 
 mense population which it supported. The
 
 climate was genial, the soil good, anil the iil^ 
 dustry of its inhabitants had improved ahr.ost 
 every «pot of land, making even the very rocksi 
 which now appear naked, yield eith'-^r corn,j 
 pulse, or pasture. In Scripture, it is called ' thei 
 land ilo\vii]g with milk and honey,' and evonj 
 in the present day such parts of it as are culti- 
 vated, sufficiently indicate that it deserved tiiel 
 eharauter which those words convey. *ln pass- i 
 ing through the country,' says Dr. Clarke, whosej 
 travels are the most recent, ' 1 remarked the sur-; 
 face to be in different places mountainous, > 
 rocky and full of loose stones — yet the cultiva-J 
 tion was every where marvellous, and afforded! 
 one of the most striking ])ictures of human in-; 
 dustry which it is possible to behold- Thej 
 lime-vtone rocks and valleys of Judea werei 
 entirely covered with plantations of tigs, vinos 
 and olive trees. I'he hills from their bases to 
 their summits were coverea with gardens, and' 
 in some places, even the sides of barren moun- 
 tains had been rondered fertile by being divided 
 into terraces — like steps rising one above an- 
 other.' If such is its present appearanr. under 
 the iron rule of the Turks, who not only 
 discourage industry, but extort to the utmost 
 from the husbandman, its produce under a wise 
 beneficial government must Ifave exceeded all' 
 calculation. It was indeed a field which tli« : 
 Lord had blessed :— God had 2;iven it of the
 
 *' dew of Hoavon and tlic fatness of the Earth, 
 and plenty of corn and wine*." 
 
 Within the limits wo have mentioned, there 
 livi'd, during the happiest periods of the Jewish 
 History, an immense population. In the days 
 of Moses, when the Jews were leaving Ei!;y})t, 
 the men able to boar arms, were abotit 600,000, 
 whicli would give nearly two millions and 
 a-half as the amount of the inhabitants, and 
 in the time of David they amounted to no less 
 than five millions, besides the population of the 
 neighbouring nations, who were their subjects. 
 
 Of this extent of country, Jerusalem was 
 the (ihief city, the centre of religion, and the 
 seat of the Jewish Kings. 
 
 It h frequently called in Scriptnrc, the Holy 
 cityt — because the " Lord chose it out of all 
 |he tribes of Israel to plant his name there," — 
 and to be the centre of the kingdom. Its ori- 
 ginal name was Salem, or Peace — and the 
 word Jerusalem means the inheritance of peace. 
 In the reign of David it was called the ciL5- of 
 David— because ho made it his residence, and 
 erected .1 noble palace there, together with se- 
 veral other magnificent buildings — and it was 
 not only the capital of the cou'itry, but was 
 ccnsidei'.'d the common propet/y of the chil- 
 dren of I?rael. On this account it was, that 
 the houses were not let; and all strangers of 
 
 • Gen. \-vvii, 28. f lsxlviii.2. Dar. ix. 21. Malt.iv.d.
 
 10 
 
 the Jewish nation bad the liberty of lodging 
 there gratis, by right of hospitality. The cir- 
 cumference of the city, at the period of onr 
 history, was nearly five miles. 
 
 Tn its most flouriiihing state, Jerusalem was 
 divided into four distinct cities, each enclosed 
 within walls of its own. The first v^as called 
 Jebus, it stood on Mount Sion where the pro- 
 phets dwelt, and whore David built a royal pa- 
 lace for himself and his successors, to which 
 allusion has been already made. The second 
 or lower city was called the daughter of Zion, 
 because it was built after tho other — it .con- 
 tained two magnificent palace8,built by Solomon 
 for himself, and his queen; also the fine palace 
 of the Maccabbcan princes — an amphitheatre 
 raised by Herod, calculated to hold 80,000 
 spectators, a citadel built by Antioclms, and a 
 second one called Autonia, erected by Herod 
 on a craggy point. The third or New City 
 where merchants, traders, Ac. dwelt, and the 
 fourth on T.Iount Moriah, where the ten)ple of 
 Solomon stood, are described atlargein the 7th 
 and 9th chapters of IstBook of Kings. — Though 
 each however, had its separate wall, a commoa 
 wall enclosed the whole. 
 
 The firsi; mention which is made of Jerusti- 
 1cm is in the days of Abraiiam, who was met 
 when returning from the battle of the five Kings 
 by Melchisedeck, the king of Salem. It wtis
 
 11 
 
 aftervvanls taken by tho Jsraolitos under Jo- 
 sluia, alter which it became the capital of.Ju- 
 tlea — after the death of DaviJ, hywever, 
 Avhen the kingdom was divided intollic twokini^- 
 doms of Judea and Israel — Jerusalem bocanio 
 the metropolis of the former, whilst Samaria 
 was subsequently made the capital of the latter. 
 
 Perhaps there are few cities which have so 
 often fallen into the hands of an enemy as Je- 
 rusalem : under Rehoboam the son of Solomon, 
 and shortly after the revolt of the ten tribes, 
 it was taken and pillaged by .Shishak., king of 
 Egypt.* Under Amaziah it was taken by Joash, 
 king of Israel. t Tho Assyrians are supposed 
 to have taken it in the reign of Manassah. — 
 PharoahXecho entered it,butwe do not find that 
 he plundered it when he made Jehoiakim king. 
 Finally, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Bahylon, 
 ravaged the surrounding country, and after a 
 «icge of two years, burned Jerusalem and tho 
 temple with fire, in the eleventh year of the 
 reign of king Ilezekiah. 
 
 After this, it remained one hundred and thir- 
 ty-eight years in desolation, when Nehcmiah, 
 tog«.'thcr with Eliashab tho high Priest, and a 
 great numher (;f others, being permitted by the 
 decree of Artaxerxes, repaired its walls, and it 
 became populous as in former times. Longaftcr- 
 wards, Ptolemy took it by stratagem,and carried 
 
 • 1 Kings, xiv.25, 26. f ii Kiogs.
 
 12 
 
 oiT multitudes of tha inhabitants to Egypt — 
 Atlirst, he treated them with great severity, but 
 when he found ihom faithful to their governors 
 and that they were steady obseiTers of their 
 words, ho altered his conduct towards them, 
 and chose 30,000 to guard the places of tru:^t 
 in his dominions. 
 
 It is to this king that christians are indebted 
 for the Greek Translation of the Old Testa- 
 ment, which to this day is made use of by the 
 learned. He was anxious to have the Book of 
 the Old Testament to add to the library col- 
 lected by him in Alexandria — and he Ihcrofore 
 sent to Jerusalem, requesting a translation of 
 them, from the Hebrew into the Greek lan- 
 guage. In compliance with this, seventy-two 
 of their elders were sent to him, and the trans- 
 lation accordingly executed. It has ever since 
 been known as the seventy's translation of the 
 Bible, or the Sejituagint, which moans seventy 
 — and not only deserves to be mentioned here 
 as an incident of common interest to oil chris- 
 tians — but also, for the connection it has with 
 our narration. Ptolemy having, as a grateful 
 return for this kindness, ordered that all the 
 Jews vrho had been brought captives into 
 Egypt, should be proclaimed free, and sent 
 home with many rich and valuable gifts for the 
 eervice of the temple. 
 
 Some time after this, Antioclms Epiphanes>
 
 13 
 
 ravaged Jorusfxlcni nnd murdered about 40,000 
 of the inlialiitauts — ?ellin<: as n:r.ny n:orcto bo 
 slave?. Two years afterwards Apollouius took 
 it, and put to death many of the inhabitants. 
 Judas Maccabees, however, rc-took it, and 
 built a third part of the town on tlic north 
 side, which was chiefly inhabited by artificers. 
 Falling, after thi?,into civil dissensions. Pompey 
 the Roman took it about sixty years before our 
 Saviour's birth, and being again disturbed by fac- 
 tion, aud revolting from the Romans, it was 
 finally in about twenly-four years tak«n by S<:)- 
 sius the Roman general, and llcrod ; and the 
 latter was placed on the throne. 
 
 During tbe time of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, 
 and the period of the siege which is to be des- 
 cribed, Jerusalem was adorned with numerous 
 edifices. But its chief glory was the temple, 
 which magnificentstructurc occupied the north. 
 cm and lower top of Mount Sion. It was 
 built on the very same sito a,s that which had 
 been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, a hard 
 rock encompassed by a very frighti'til precipice, 
 and the foundation was laid v ith ijK'rcdii>l(! 
 expense and labour. The building itselt was not 
 inferior to this great work— the height of tho 
 temple wall, especially oi. the south side, wai 
 stupendous. In the lowest place it was four 
 hundred and fifty feet, and some ])arts oven 
 greater — tho wholo being constructed of hard 
 white stones of prodigious magnitude — and it
 
 14 
 
 will give some idea of tlievastness oftlie edifice, 
 that altljoiigh llie Jews had been forty-six years 
 in building it, Ilcrod the great, for nine years 
 employed 18,000 workmen upon it, and spared 
 no expense to render it equal, if not superior 
 in magnitude, splendour, and beauty to any 
 other building in the. world. 
 
 The temple itself, strictly so called, which 
 Lad been re-built by Zerubabel, thu' now- 
 beautified and repaired by Herod the great, 
 formed only a small part of the sacred cdiiice 
 on Mount Moriah, being surrounded by spaci- 
 ous courts, making a square of half ,a mile in 
 circumference. It was entered through nine 
 gates, which were on every uide thickly coated 
 with gold and silver, , but there was one gate 
 "without the holy house, which was of Corin- 
 thian brass, the most precious metal in ancient 
 times : th''s far surpassed the others in beauty ; 
 for while these were of equal size — the gate 
 composed of corinthian brass was much larger, 
 its height being seventy five feet, its doors sixty 
 feet, and its ornamei;i.i both of gold and silver, 
 being far more costly and massive. This is 
 supposed to have been the gate called Beautiful, 
 where Peter and John, in the name of Christ, 
 healed a man who had been lame from his 
 birth. 
 
 The first or outer covrt, which encompassed 
 tlie holy house and the other courts, was named 
 the court of the Gentiles ; because the latter
 
 15 
 
 wcro allowed to cntor into it, but were proiii- 
 1/itoil from advancint; i'lirthor. It was sur- 
 rounded by a range of porticos, or cloisters, 
 above whicii were gallerioy, or apartments, sup- 
 ported bj pillars of white marble, each con- 
 sisting of a single piece, five and twenty 
 cubits in height. One uf these was called So- 
 lomon's Porch, or Piazza, because it stood on 
 a vast terrace, which he had originally raised, 
 from a valley beneath, four hundred cubits 
 high, in order to enlarge the area on the top of 
 the mountain, and make it equal to the plan of 
 his intended building ; and as this terrace was 
 the only work of Solomon's that remained in 
 the second temple, the piazza w^hicli stood upon 
 it retained the name of that prince. Here it 
 was that our Lord was walking at the feast of 
 dedication, (John x. 2»3. ) and that the lame 
 man. when healed by IVter and John, glorilied 
 CVod before all the people. (^Acts iii. Jl.) — 
 This sup<'rh portico is termed tire Koyal Portico 
 by Josephus, who represents it as the noblest 
 work beneath the sun, being elevated to sucli 
 a prodigious height, that no one could look down 
 i'rvm its flat rOof to the valley below, without 
 being sci;cpd with dizzines:^; the sight not reach- 
 ing to such an immense d^'pth. 
 
 Within the court of the Gentiles stood the 
 court of the Israelites, divided into two parts, 
 or courts, the outer one being appropriat'"d to 
 the women, and the inner one to the mtu. —
 
 16 
 
 The court of tbo. women was separated (rovu 
 that of the Gentiles, bj a low stone wall, or 
 partition of elegant construction, on which stood 
 pillars at equal distances, with inscriptions in 
 Greek and Latin, importing that no alien should 
 eater into the holy place. 
 
 Within the Courts of the Israelites was that 
 of the priests, which was separated from it by 
 a low wall, one cubit in height. This inclo- 
 i^ure surrounded the altar of burnt olTerings, 
 and to it the people brought their oblations and 
 sacrifices, but the priests alone were permitted 
 to enter it. From this court twelve steps as- 
 cended to the teniplesiricllj so called, which 
 \Nas divided into three parts, the portico, the 
 outer sancuiary, and the holy place. In tbo 
 portico were suspended the sploiM'id votive of- 
 ferings, made by the piety of various individu- 
 als. Among its other treasures, there was a 
 golden table given byPompey.and several golden 
 vines of exquisite workmanship, as well as of 
 immense size, for Josephus relates iliai there 
 were clusters as tall as a man. And he add.s 
 th&t all round were fixed up and displnyed the 
 spoils and trophies taken by Herod from the 
 Barbarians and Arabians. 
 
 Magnilicent as the rest of the sacred edifice 
 was, it was intinitely surpassed in splendour by 
 the inner temple, or sanctuary. Its appear- 
 ance, according to Jo?e])hu.>, had every thing 
 that could strike the mind, or astonish the sight ;
 
 17 
 
 for it was covered on every sulc with plates of 
 gold, so that when the sun rose upon it. it re- 
 jected so strong and dazzling an eflulgence, 
 that the eye of the spectator was obliged to 
 turn away, being no more able to sustain its 
 radiance than the splendour of the sun. To 
 strangers who were approaching, it appeared 
 at a distance like a iiiountain coverrd with 
 snow; for where it was not decorated with 
 ])late8 of gold, it was extremely white and 
 glistening. On the top, it bad sharp pointed 
 spikes of gold, to prevent any bird from resting 
 upon it. Tliore were, continues the Jewish 
 historian, in that building several stones which 
 were forty-five cubits in length, iive in height, 
 and six in breadth. When all these things arc 
 considered, how natural is the exclamation of 
 the disciples, when viewing this immense build- 
 ing at a disuince: *•' Master see what mar-ncr 
 " of stones, and what buildings arc here !"— 
 (RIadv xiii. 1.) and how wonderful the decla- 
 rations of our Lord upon this, hovv unlikely 
 to be accoiMplished belorothc race of men who 
 were then living, should cease to exist. " Seest 
 " thou Ihene great buildings ? There shall not 
 " be loft one stone upon another that shall Bot 
 " be thrown down." 
 
 Such was the extent of the Holy City, and 
 such the magnificence of the temple at the pe- 
 riod when our Saviour uttered his memorable , 
 prediction concerning their dcstiuction. — The
 
 18 
 
 following arc tlic pa^sagos in which it is fore- 
 told, extracted word for word from the Gospels 
 of 8t. Matthew, St. INIark, and St. Luke ; and 
 it may not be uninteresting to reraark, that our 
 Saviour's words not only contain an exact re- 
 cital in a few words of the subsequent events, 
 but also array them nearly in the same order 
 of time in which they afterwards happened. 
 
 " And Jesus went out, and departed from the 
 " temple ; and his disciples came to him, for to 
 " show him the buildings of the temple. And 
 "Jesus said unto them. See ye not all these 
 ''things? 
 
 " Verily, I say unto you, There shall 
 **not he left here one stone upon another, that 
 " shall not be thrown down. And as he sat 
 " upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came 
 " unto him privately, saying, Tell us, 
 ''when shall these things be? and what shall 
 " be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of 
 *' the world? 
 
 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, 
 " Take heed that no man deceive you. For 
 "many shall come in my name, saving. ' 1 am 
 " Christ;' and shall deceive Tr.any. And ye 
 " shall hear of wars, and nimours of wars ; 
 "see that ye be not troubled: for all these, 
 " must come to pa-s, but the end is not yet. — 
 " For nation shall rise against nation, and king- 
 " dom against kingdom : and there shall bo 
 " famines, and pestilences, and earthquake's, in 
 *' divers places. All these are the beginning
 
 19 
 
 *' of sorrows. Then shall they deliver yon up 
 " to be aiUicted, and sljall kill you: aud yc 
 •* shall be hated of all nations for my name's 
 " sake. And then shall many be oRondeil, 
 " and shall betray one another, and shall hato 
 " one another. And many false prophets shall 
 " rise, and shall deceive many. And because 
 " iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall 
 "wax cold. But he that shall endure unto 
 "the end, the same shall ho saved. And this 
 " gospel of the kingdom shall bo preached in 
 " all the world, for a witness unto all nfJlions ; 
 " and then shall the end come. When yc 
 " therefore shall see the abomination of desola- 
 ** tion. spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand 
 " in the holy place, (whoso readfth let him 
 " understand,) Then let them which be in Jii- 
 " dea lleeinto the mountains : Lot him which 
 " is on the house-top not come down to take 
 * any thing out of his hou^e : Neither K't him 
 " which is in the field return back to take hi^ 
 "clothes. And wo unto them that are with 
 "child, and to them that give suck, in tho^e 
 " days ! But pray ye that your flight moy not 
 "he in the winter, neither on the sabbath-day : 
 " For then shall be great tribulation. such as was 
 " not since the beginning of the world to this 
 " time, no, nor ever shall be. And except, 
 " those days should bo shortened, there should 
 " no flesh be saved : but for the elect's sake, 
 " those days shall be s.'ortcued. Thou if any
 
 20 
 
 '• man sliall say unto you, Lo, hero is Christ, 
 ** or there; boliero it not. For there shall 
 "arise false Christ?, and false proj.-hets, r.nd 
 *•■ shall show great signs and wonders ; ml»;o- 
 "' much that, if it wore possible, they shall do- 
 *' ceive the very elect. Behold, 1 have told 
 *' you before. Whercf-ire if they shall say 
 '•unto you. Behold, he is in the desert: go not 
 ''forth : behold, he is in the secret chambers; 
 '-' believe it not. For as the lightning cometli 
 '•'out of the ea.st, and shincth even unto the 
 "west; so shall also the coming of the Son of 
 " man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, 
 *•■ there will the eagles be gathered together, — 
 See Mat^ chap. sxiv. verse 1 to 28. 
 
 '• And as he went out of the temple, one of 
 *•■ his disciples sailh unto him, ^Master, see 
 '•' vdiat manner of stones and what buildings 
 '•'are here I And Jesus answering, said unto 
 '•' him, Secst thou these great builditg? ? there 
 *' shall not be left one stone upon another, that 
 *• shall not be thrown down. And m }ie sat 
 •■' upon the mount of Olives, over against the 
 *' temple, Peter, and James, and John, and 
 '•'Andrew, asked him privately. Tell us, 
 •• when shall these things be ? and what shall 
 '• be the sign when ^11 these things shall be hi!- 
 •• filled? And Jesus answering them, began 
 '• to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you : 
 " For many shall come in ray name, raying, 1 
 '•am Christ; and shall deceive many. And
 
 2i 
 
 " when yo shall ijcar of war--. a:id nnnours of 
 '• vvar^, bo ye not troubled : for ?nc-h things 
 '• must needs bo; but the end shall notbeyr't. 
 '• For nation shall ri^o against nation, audkin^- 
 *' dora asjaiust kinfjdom ; and thcro shall bo 
 "earthquakes in dirers |.lacrs, and thereahali 
 " be faraines and troubles : these are the be- 
 *• ginnings of sorrows. 
 
 " But take heed to yoursolvcs : for they 
 "shall deliver you up to councils; and in the 
 ** synagogues ye shall be beaten ; and ye shall 
 " be brought before rulers; and kings for my 
 "sake, for a testimony against thorn. And the 
 *•' gospel must first be published among all na- 
 " tions. But when they shall lead you, and 
 "deliver you np, take no thought beforehand 
 " what ye shall speak, neither do ye premedi- 
 " late: but whatsoever shall be given you in 
 •' that hour, that speak ye ; for it is not ye that 
 " speak, but the Holy Gho>t. Now, the bro- 
 " ther shall betray the brother to death, and 
 " the father the son ; and childrou .-hall n>e. up 
 "' against their parents, and shall cause them to 
 •' be pu* todcath. And ye shall be hated of 
 •' all men for my name's sake; but he th;it 
 "' shall endure unto the end, the same shall 
 " be saved. H.it when ye shall see the abo- 
 " mination of dej^olation, spoken of by Daniel 
 " the prophet, 3tanding whore it ought not, (let 
 *• him that readeth understand,) let them 
 '• that be in Judea lice to the inoualains : And
 
 o*> 
 
 " let him that is on tho house-top, not go down 
 " into the house, neither enter therein, to take 
 " any thing out of his house : And let hioa 
 "that is in the field not turn back airain for to 
 **' take up his garment. But woe to them that 
 " are with child, and to them that give suck, 
 *' in those days! And pray ye that your 
 " flight be not in the winter. For in Uiose 
 *' days shall be affliction, such as was not from 
 *' the beginning of the creation, which God 
 " createdainto this time, neither shall be. And 
 *' except that the Lord had shortened those 
 *' days, no flesh should be saved : but for the 
 " elect's sake, whom he had chosen, he hath 
 *' shortened the days. And then, if any man 
 " shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, 
 "he is there; believe him not: For false 
 " Christs and false prophets shall rise, and 
 " shall shew signs and wonders, to se- 
 " duce, if it were possible, even the elect— ^ 
 " But take ye heed: behold, Ihave foretold you 
 '* all things. — M^irk, chap. xiii. verse 1 to 23. 
 " And as some spake of thetemple,how it wa^ 
 '' adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he 
 ''said, As for these things which ye Heboid, 
 " the days will come, in the which there shall 
 " not be left one stone upon another, that shall 
 "not bo thrown down. And they asked him, 
 "saying. Master, but when shall these things 
 "• bo ? and what sign will there be when ttiese 
 " things will come to pass ? And he said,
 
 23 
 
 ** Take hood that ye l)e not doc^'ivod : for 
 " many shall come in my name, sayinj^, I am 
 " Christ : and the time drawcth noar^: go'yc 
 " not therefore alter them. But when yo 
 "shall hoar of wars and commotions, be not 
 " terrified : for tliesc things mnst first come 
 " to pass ; l)ut tlic end is not by and by. — 
 *' l^hen said he unto them, nation shall rise 
 •' against nation, and kingdom against king- 
 " dom : And great earthi|uakes, shall be in 
 " divers places, and famine and pestilences ; 
 " and fearful sight?! and great signs shall there 
 " be from heaven. But before all these, they 
 " shall lay their hands on you, and persecute 
 "you, delivering you up to the synagogues, 
 "and into jjrisons, being brought before kings 
 " and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall 
 " turn to you for a testimony. Settle itthere- 
 *• fore in your hearts, not to meditate before 
 '* what ye shall answer; For I will give yoii 
 '• a month and wisdom, which all your adver- 
 " sarins s1)all not fee able to J^ainsa}" nor resist. 
 " And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, 
 " and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends ; 
 ^* and some of you shall they cause to be put to 
 •' death. And ye shall be hated of all men 
 " for my name's sake. But there shall not an 
 " hair of your head perish, fn your patience 
 " possess ye your souls. And 'vhen ye shall 
 " see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then 
 "know that the desolation is nigh. Then let
 
 '•' ihcm wliicli arc in .Jiiclea flee to the moun- 
 " tains; and let them which arc in the midst 
 " of it depart out ; and let not them thai are in 
 " the countries enter thereinto. For these bo 
 " the uay^ of vengeance, that all thing? which 
 *' are written may be fnltilled. But woe unto 
 'Ithcra that are with child, and to them that 
 *'give sucii, in those days ! for there shall be 
 *' great distress in the land, and wrath upon 
 *''this people.* And they shall fall by the 
 '•'edge of the sword, and shall be led away 
 " captive into all nations ; and Jerusalem shall be 
 *' trodden dow^n of the Gentiles, until the times 
 '' of the Gentiles be fuliilled, — Luke cha]), xxi. 
 '' verse 5 to 24, 
 
 Between the period when our Saviour spoke 
 tho^e words, so explicit and circumstantiah to its 
 i'ulHIracnt, about thirty-seven years intervened 
 — during the greater part of which time, 
 the country was torn by intestine divisions : 
 several times also it was threatened with war 
 — the Jews having endeavoured to shake olT, 
 the Roman yoke, — but always without suc- 
 cess, by reason of their want of unanimity. 
 
 It is not the design of this introdiiciion to 
 detail the particulars of the diflerent insnr-. 
 rections of the Jews. It will suince for the 
 due understanding, of the last great struggle 
 related by Joseplius, to «tate, that in one of 
 these revolts, the people having seized on the 
 lower city and the temple, and put to the
 
 su'ord tlic Roman garrison which bad occupied 
 Mount Sion, Crstius, the Roman Governor, 
 iiiLirched his army against tliem, ami having 
 ciitored the city, pitched his camj) in the Mar- 
 ket Place, and setup a Roman standard, whicli 
 Was an eagle — from thence he might have gained, 
 possession of the whole city ; hut seized with 
 an unaccountable panic, he suddenly withdrew 
 his troops; thus, not only fulfilling the predic- 
 tion of our Saviour by setting up tho Roman 
 standard in the Market Place, but by his re- 
 treat all'ording those who had faith in the pro- 
 pliery, the oj-purtunity of taking advantage of 
 the warning, and of saving themselves from im- 
 pending dc-tiuction by flight. At last, Vespa- 
 sian, the Roman General, marched against it, 
 and with his whole army cncorr])assed it on 
 every side. — He had previously fortified all 
 the places round about Jerusalem, placing gar- 
 risons in them, and was preparing to attack the 
 city with his legions, when the tidings arrived at 
 the camp of ihe death of the Roman Emperor, 
 Nero— an event which ultimately placed Ves- 
 pasian himself on the imperial tlirone and left 
 to liis fon Tilus the direction of the siege ^f 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 To give the reader, however, an idea of the 
 internal situation of the Jews at Jerusalem, it 
 may be mentioned, tliat there were three parties 
 or factions opposed to each other who divided 
 all power amongst them. At the head of the
 
 26 
 
 first was Eleazer, and his faction wore called 
 Zealots — a name which they assumed to them- 
 selves out of an hypocritical ostentation of holi- 
 ness. These took possession of the inner 
 temple, putting guards upon the various porches 
 and doors : in confidence that the provisions of 
 the place, by reason of the offerings that wore 
 daily made, would supply them with all neces- 
 saries. John, called John of Gischala, was at 
 the head of the second party, and was much 
 the stronger of the two : but what Eleazer 
 wanted in numbors was abundantly made up 
 by the advantage of the place, for he had the 
 upper ground, so that his darts and other mis- 
 sile weapons seldom failed to take effect. The 
 third party was headed by Simon, tlie son of 
 Gioras, whom the people, in their distress, had 
 invited to take the command against the other 
 two. He occupied the upper city, and the 
 greater part of the lower. 
 
 The reader will now understand the misera- 
 ble situation of affairs The Roman army un- 
 der Titus, blockaded the city without, whilst 
 those within, instead of uniting against the 
 common enemy were split into different fac- 
 tions, each of them more anxious to triumph 
 over the other than to drive the foreign army 
 from their walls. At Jerusalem, Eleazer with 
 his forces occupied the inmost court of the 
 temple and the highest ground. John had 
 possession of the remaining part of the temple.
 
 27 
 
 and the cloisters around — whilst the troops of 
 Simon lay outside. John was thus between 
 two enemies, and had to defend himself aj;ainst 
 the attacks of both. [Tc was, however, a man 
 of undaunted courage and though pressed on 
 both sides, frequently sallied forth to procure a 
 suj)ply of provision. When he was assaulted on 
 boih sides, he threw his darts upon those who 
 came up to the attack from the city, while by 
 Lis engines of war he shot darts, javelins and 
 stones against those who assailed him from the 
 temple above: and in this manner, not only de- 
 fended himself, but slew raa*:y even of the 
 piiests when engaged in the discharge of their 
 sacred duties. For strange as it may appear, 
 notwithstanding all th?ir impieties, still did 
 those wlio held the inner temple admit all who 
 wished to enter for the purpose of worship or 
 the pci-formance of religious duties ; those only 
 ttiat were Jew.% being exposed to a strict search 
 and examination. In fact, nothing more ef- 
 fectual could hafe been done, if all had been 
 in a direct con^'piracy to betray Jerusalem to the 
 Romans, by putting it out of a condition of 
 defence, and destroying all that was necessary 
 to preserve it. And to increase the calamity, 
 not only was the city round the temple a heap 
 of ruins, but the provisions which, under pro- 
 per management would have been suflicicnt fora 
 siege of several years, were almost totally des- 
 troyed ; a misfortune wiiich added the sufforhigs
 
 23 
 
 c>f faniiue to the other miseries of foreign and 
 intestine war. 
 
 Tile reader is novr prepared, it is hoped, to 
 take up the narrative of Josephus at the period 
 of time which we have now reached — namely, 
 the appointment of Titus to the command of 
 the besieging army, and the commencement of 
 the siege : what follows is but an abridgement 
 of Josephus, who, as it has been already men- 
 tioned, was an eye witness of what he relates, 
 and whoso testimony has never been impeached. 
 As the reader advances with the historian, to the 
 great catastrophe which he details, let him not 
 fail to collect from it the instructive lesson 
 which it conveys. It teaches us that the cha- 
 racter of a nation, is determined by the conduct 
 of its people, and therefore that each may, in 
 his indi\ idual capacity reflect upon his country, 
 eithercredit, or shame. \yhoover,therefore,loves 
 his country, and wishes to see it prosperous and 
 happy, should have this important truth en- 
 graven upon his heart — that righteousness ex- 
 alteth a nation, whilst sin is the reproach and 
 ruin of any people.
 
 THE 
 
 SIEGE AND DESTRUCTIOX 
 
 OF 
 
 JERUSALEM. 
 
 s, 
 
 [7CH was tbo state of alTairs ni Jerusalem 
 when the Roman army, under Titus, made its 
 appearance, marching in exact order of war, 
 and took up its station, towards evening, at a 
 place called the valley of Saul, distant about 
 three miles from the city. 
 
 At this place, Titus put himself at the hoad 
 of an hundrcti chosen horse, and led them to- 
 ward Jerusalem to take a view of the town, 
 and loarn what he could of the state and dis- 
 position of the Jews. For being well assured that 
 the people wore altogether for peace, and wan- 
 ted nothing l.ut strength and opportunity for a 
 revolt; ho thought it not improbable bnt thoy 
 c
 
 so 
 
 would prehaps propose tGrms of accomodation 
 before it came to extremity. With this idea he 
 advanced towards the city ; and so long as he 
 went forward to the walls, there was not a sol- 
 dier appeared upon the battlements. But upon 
 crossing over towards the turret called Rsephi- 
 nos, there sallied out a vast number of the Jews 
 from the gate, who forced their way quite 
 through the middle of Titus's party, cutting off 
 the communication between the two divided 
 parts. In this confusion the Jews singled out 
 Titus, with a small number of his people about 
 him ; in aplace where there vras no going forward 
 for the inclosures, gardens, and ditches between 
 him and the wall : and his retreat was inter- 
 cepted, on the other hand, by a strong body of 
 the Jews that had got between him and his own 
 people. Finding, therefore, in this citremit^*, 
 that he had nothing but his sword and his cou- 
 rage to trust to, Titus called out lo his fellow- 
 soldiers to follow him, and in the same instant 
 spurred desperately into the enemies body, to 
 force his way through to the rest of his men. 
 This fearless resoiiiiion drew the efforts of \i\e 
 whole party on him, crying out one to another 
 to fall upon him, as the only check to tlieir 
 success. IJut which way soever Titus turned, 
 the Jews fled before him ; his companions all 
 the while following close and bravely in his 
 footsteps. In this conflict one of Titus's friends 
 was killed, another orerthrown and slain, and
 
 31 
 
 Ijis liorse taken and carried ofl'; while Titus, 
 with the remainder of his people, got hack 
 a<^uin to his camp, without so much as one 
 wound. The Jews were mightily encou- 
 raged hy this advantage, and looked upon 
 it as an earnest of greater successes — tiie sequel 
 Ijowever, will shew that their hopes deceived 
 them. 
 
 The next morning the Roman General 
 having l)een joined hy a legion from Emmaus, 
 a village near Jerusalem, marched to the place 
 called the Watch Towers from which the city 
 and the temple could be plainly seen. Iferc, 
 about three-quarters of a mile from the walls, 
 he ordered a camp to be fortified for two le- 
 gions, and about three furlongs more distant 
 another camp for the fifth legion,* whilst the 
 tenth legion, which had marched from Jericho, 
 was encamped at the Mount of Olives, about 
 half a mile distant from Jerusalem, from 
 which it is separated by a deep valley called 
 Codron. 
 
 It might now bo expected that faction and 
 parly rage wouhl cease among the Jews, when 
 tiiey saw the enemy under thoir very wall:^, and 
 unite for mutual defence, by the bond of 
 a common interost; and so it was at least for a 
 time : impelled by a sense of their danger, they 
 rushed out on the tenth legion with such 
 
 • A legion eonsiiteii ol aboat four thoysand men.
 
 32 
 
 violonee andsuddonnes?;, as toputtbeni to flight, 
 and pursue tboni a considorablc way. Indeed 
 the entire lotion would have been cut olT", had 
 not Titus come up with a cliosen body of men 
 to their aid, and by reprcaclies, and his own 
 example of bravery, put a ?top to the flight. 
 The engagement continued the whole day— 
 each party gaining the advantage, as they oc- 
 cu})ied the rising ground on each side of the 
 valley of Cedron, until at last the Jews by the 
 unparalleled exertions of the Roman leader, 
 wore obliged to retreat within their city, and 
 thus left the Romans at liberty to fortiiy their 
 camp. 
 
 The Jews had no sooner retreated withhi 
 their fortincations than their seditious and fac- 
 tious spirit revived. The occasion of it w^as 
 this — on the Feast of the Passover, or of Un» 
 leavened bread, which is the day from which 
 the Jews date their deliverance out of Egypt, 
 Eleazer caused the temple gate to be sot open 
 for a free entrance to all people who came up 
 to worship. John,wi]om we have mentioned, as 
 the leaders of one of the factions in the city, made 
 use of this occasion to gain possession oUho place, 
 lie seiit a number of his men disguised; and with 
 r.rras concealed under their garments, wbo not 
 boing suspected, gained a rea;iy admission, and 
 .«eized upon the innertemple and all the warlike 
 engines that were there. Those who guarded 
 the gate, fled, and took shelter in the caverns 
 of the temple, where they were slain, or on
 
 33 
 
 their surronder wore atlruitted to quarter, ollicrs 
 loaj)t down from the towers without striking- 
 u hlow, whilst rnaijy were trampled to death 
 Jljthe tumult. The common peoj>le, however, 
 vtIjo were then in the temple, terrified at the 
 
 roar, betook themselves to the altar, and 
 
 re there misoruhly destroyed. Thus, that 
 Modition whioh had been hitlicrto divided into 
 Uireo panics, was now reduced to two. — 
 
 '•ar.or'fi power being entirely broken. 
 
 Wiiilst this was ]>'asi.smg in the city, Tli,:;- 
 had giveii ordeis to hi« legions to lavel all the 
 space between his camp and the city wall, that 
 i)is troops and eutilnes might have room to act. 
 In consequence of which, the hcdger,, walls, 
 and enclosures of eyerj kind wore all taken 
 away— thd trees every where cut down, no 
 HJuticr how closu'Tf-the hollows filled up — fiio 
 gra^s.mode even, and the Trholc tract of ground 
 ren<lered sniooth and level. 
 
 The city of Jerusalem, at tiie time Titus 
 came up against it, was surrounded with three 
 walls, saving orAj upon the quarter towards 
 the inaccessible valleys, where there was but 
 one. It was erected upon two hills ; the one 
 directly fronting the other, and a deep valley 
 iietvveon them; all covered with horses. The 
 mountain which the upper town stood upon, was 
 rnueli the higher and the steeper of the two. 
 
 Tho lower town was seated upon another 
 hill V. hrch bore the name of Acra, with a steep
 
 34 
 
 c]ccli\ity round about it, and was in the bLapo 
 of a half raoon. Tliere was formerly aiiother 
 hill also over against this, on which the temple 
 stood ; somewhat lower than the Acra, and di- 
 vided from it by a large valley : but in the time 
 of the Asmona?ans, this valley had been filled 
 v,p with earth, and the hill of Acra made lower, 
 by which tho teinple and the lower city were 
 joined together. 
 
 The hills on N\'hich the city stood, were al- 
 niost every v/hcre surrounded by steep valleys, 
 and by reason of the pi-ecipiccs on every side, 
 wero almost inaccessible. 'J 'he oldest of the 
 t]jree walls was extremely strong, from the 
 depth of the valley below% and the over- 
 3:anging of the rock, on which it was erected. 
 It wr.s commenced by Agrippa. to defend the 
 rew part of the town, but he did not finish ii, 
 irom apprehension of incurring the displeaawre 
 of the Emperor ('laudius. ^Jis intention was 
 to have erected it with stones, thirty feet iu 
 length, by fifteen in breadth ; so that no 
 iron tools or engines could make any impression 
 on them. What Agrippa could not accom- 
 plish, the Jews subsequently attempted : and 
 when Jerusalem was besiegr^d by the Romans, 
 this wall was thirty feet high, above which 
 were battlements of three feet, and turrets of 
 fop.r feet and a-half, making in all a lieigbt 
 of thirty-seven feet and a- half. Numerous 
 towers, constructed of solid masonry, wero
 
 35 
 
 rn^cted at certain Jislances : in tljo tijird waif, 
 tljore woro ninety ; in tiie middle wall, there 
 were fortv ; and in the old wall, sixty. The 
 lowers of Hij)[)iciis, Phasat'lus, and Mariaitine, 
 croctod by Ilerod tlie Great, and dedicated to 
 the memory of his friend, his brotlior. and his 
 wile, were pre-eminent for their height, their 
 ina.'sive architcclure, t'.ieir beauty, and the con- 
 venioncies with wiiicb tliey were furnished. 
 
 Of lliese three towers it has been said, that 
 Iho. h(!ight was great, and yet, the place they 
 v.ore rai-<ed upon made it seem much more 
 tiian it really was. For the old wall upon 
 which ihfy stood, was itself erected upon a 
 very high piece of ground ; and these turret^ 
 again were advanced upo:) the top of a moun- 
 tain that was yet forty-tive teet higher than the 
 ancient wall. Neitu'^r were they less admira- 
 ble for the materials they were made of, than 
 fur the structure. The stones were of white 
 Biarhic cut out into blocks thirty feet long, Hf- 
 teen in breadth, and eight Icet deep ; and so arti- 
 ficially put togothc-^r, that tiiere were no joints to 
 bo seen ; but every distinct tower looked like 
 one entire piece. 
 
 This was on the north side of the city : and 
 ju.st within it stood the royal palace of king 
 David; of great magniHcence, enclosed with a 
 wall forty-tivo feet in height, and turrets plan- 
 tod at equal distance's round about it ; with 
 iodgiogs to aficommcdate one hundred persons.
 
 3(J 
 
 There \va5 hero an Incredible eollection of ihc- 
 choicest iiiarblo«! both for variety and beauty. 
 The beams and timbers that supported the roofs 
 were remarkable for length and thickness, and 
 so werft the ornamental parts of the work. Tiie 
 chambers were magnilicently adorned with 
 gold and silver, aud precious stones. There 
 were also porches and galleries, leading in a 
 kind of circle from one to another, and in each 
 of them a row of pillars. The d istance betu'ecn 
 those pillars led to several long aud pleasant 
 walks, ornamented with cisterns, fountains, and 
 figures, and enlivened by a great many tame 
 birds, flying about in all directions. Bwi it 
 is impossible that any description could do this 
 palace justice; beside tl.iat the heart ble.-drt to 
 consider what devastation v/as afterwards mado 
 of all these rich and nobU monumenU of human 
 ingenuity and labour. 
 
 Titus having thus cleared the ground round 
 the city, for the operations of his army, and 
 posted them in what he considered the mo<t 
 favourable positions, now began to consider 
 what was next to be done. For a considerable 
 time he was in doubt where to begin an attack, 
 for he plainly saw that the place could no where 
 be readied on the side of tho valleys, and as 
 for the first wall, it appeared too strong to be 
 shaken by his battering engines. At length, 
 however, having fixed upon the points which 
 promised the most favourable success, he or- 
 dered his soldiers to make use of the rubbish
 
 and timber for his work^ and platforms, wlilcii 
 had been colloctod from tlio do?trn -tion of tho 
 suburbs: he likowis* disposed his arniy in threo 
 bodies, placini^ the archors and sliiigors upon 
 the hii^iiost grounds, witli eni^ino'? to cast stones 
 aud other missiles. Nor were the Jews in the 
 mean time idb?, but made frrquc^nt sallies on 
 the be-jiegers. galling them also from the ram- 
 parts, vrith stones and arrows. 
 
 The Roman logions had every ono of thorn 
 machines of wonderful construction : the tooth 
 especially; not only for the casting of stone?, 
 but lor throwing Ihera to a great distance. — 
 Every stone was of a talent weight ; and did 
 execution not only close at hand, but on the 
 top i.f the walls or ramparts ; though it was a 
 furlong flistanco : and where it fell, it swept a 
 whole lile before it. *Tho Jows had on the 
 other hand sought several ways of discerning 
 those stones : first, as they were white and ea- 
 sily seen in their passage : secondly, they knew 
 them approaching by the noise they made ia 
 the air; and thirdly, by the r.otice that was 
 given by those that were set to watch them : 
 tor there vv'e re people placed up and down upon 
 the towers to observe the playing of these en- 
 gines; andstill as any of them were discharge 1, 
 tlf wat "hman cried out in his native tonj^ne, 
 \the {stone c6?//?e^ ,•] which gave every man time 
 \') look to himself, and get out of the way of 
 the n.i^iftile. The IloniOiis, howuvcr, after this.
 
 38 
 
 b]-acl:ened the stones that they might not bo 
 discovered in their course; and by tlie help of 
 that invention., did much execution. But all 
 this did not damp the courage of the Jev.'s from 
 opposing the progress of the Romans in their 
 fortifications ; for they persisted night and day 
 in doing all that policy and courage could ef- 
 fect to obstruct their proceedings. 
 
 When the Romans had completed their 
 works, Titus ordered the battering engMies to 
 be brought up, and the other machines to be 
 advanced nearer the wall, that they might have 
 more liberty to play ; and straightway set three 
 batteries at work at a time upon three different 
 parts of the wall. The thundering of these 
 engines was heard all over the city, and pro- 
 duced the greatest alarm and apprehension : 
 making all to see the necessity for their com- 
 mon defence. 
 
 So soon as they had therefore taken up the 
 necessary positions for their purpose, they made 
 a fierce attack vrith their tires, and torches, 
 upon the Roman engines ; pressing furiously 
 also upon th-'se who worked them, and ply- 
 ing their darts and other weapons of offence 
 without intermission. In their ardour, the 
 Jews leaped down desperately from the walls 
 in troops upon the ver>' engines ; tore off their 
 covers, and made an assault even upon the 
 guards that were set to defend them. 
 
 The Jews having however, for a short time
 
 3i> 
 
 intoniiitt(!d their alt;u-ks, the Komans Iinairincd 
 
 it to proceed from fear or weariness ; and so ac- 
 
 c;ordin:;ly went npand down as cureless, as in a 
 
 f" of security. I'ut tbo J (vvs observing the 
 
 • lans scattered about and in disorder, made 
 
 :i lurious sortie upon them from the tower ITip- 
 
 picus ; set fire to their works, and inflamed with 
 
 •success, pushed the besiegers back to their very 
 
 .camp. The alarm spread rapidly through tho 
 
 Jwholc army, and drew the Romans from all 
 
 ■juartors to the relief of their companions; hut 
 
 iho intrepidity of the Jews, daring though it 
 
 v^is, could not support itself against the disci- 
 
 '^ of tho Romans. They swept down all 
 
 -: they met with; attacking those that they 
 
 ' uhd in a body. But the greatest conflict was 
 
 it the engines; the Jews endeavouring to 
 
 i them on the one side, and the Roman"^ to 
 
 them on the other. The Jews however, 
 
 " luuch tho^bolder and the more adventurous 
 
 i.e two. The lire had by this time caught 
 
 iiachinos; and they would certainly have 
 
 i destroyed, with ail that belonged to them, 
 
 ■ y had not be«u iupported by a choice par- 
 
 1 Aloxandrian troop«, who behaved tliem- 
 
 .. liiatday with great courage, and had a 
 
 1' ; t share in the honour of the action. 
 
 ilxso troops caused the Jews to stand ; till 
 
 >e general himself, with a brave body of horse 
 
 li M-od in upon thorn. Ffe cut down twelve 
 
 with big own hand, and drove the rjwt bo-
 
 40 
 
 fore him ioto the city. Tills expluit saved the 
 engines froin boing destroyed. 
 
 The next racasuro adopted by I'itus against 
 the besieged vvas to order, that three towers, 
 each 75 feet, in height, should be erected 
 upon the rampaits of his cannp, so as to hava 
 the command of the town wall. Tn the middle 
 of the night one of them had fallen, and with 
 so loud a noise, as to frighten and alarm the 
 x^'hole army. The Romans at first supposed 
 the Jews were at hand, and rah to their arms 
 in the greatest confusion ; and in that state of 
 consternation they remained, till Titus had made 
 cnc[uiry,and having learnt the truth of the mat- 
 ter, made itknow]i by proclamation, so that the 
 whole camp was restored to order. From the 
 remaining two, however, he assaulted them with 
 all sorts of missiles, nor was it possible for tlie' 
 townsmen to carry their platform to the height 
 of these towers ; they v/ere also too strong and 
 heavy to be overturned — neither could the)" be 
 burned ; for they were all plated over with 
 iron — they returned, therefore, beyond the reach 
 of the darts cast from them, and no longer gave 
 any interruption to the battering engine ; so, that 
 atiast,a breach was made by the battering-ram, 
 which the Romans, fromits size and power had 
 called the Conqueror. 
 
 Tills ram was a large beam, of wood like the 
 mast of a ship, or the stump of a tree, the fore 
 part of it armed, with a thick piece of iron
 
 41
 
 42 
 
 carvod to look like the head of a ram, from 
 which it took its name. Tho ran) was slung in 
 the air by ropes, ])assing over its middle; and 
 hung (like the balance of a pair of scales) from 
 another beam, braced by beams that passed on 
 both sides of it in the shape of a cross. This 
 ram was pulled backwards and forwards by a 
 great number of men ; and battered the walls 
 "^vith the iron part, making a great noise; few 
 oven of the strongest towers, or broadest walls 
 being able to resist its force. Through this 
 breach a strong body of the Romans entered, 
 and afterwards opened the gates to the whole 
 army, almost without opposition ; for the Jews, 
 worn out with watching and lighting, thought 
 it better to retire within the second wall. It 
 was on tho seventh of July, that the besiegers 
 gained this, their first advantage, and they 
 immediately destroyed the greater part of the 
 tirst wall, and likewise the north part of the 
 tower, which Cestius had ravaged before. 
 
 Titus now^ removed his position to a place 
 called the Assyrians' camp, and took possession 
 of all the ground between that and the valley 
 of Cedron, about a bowshot from the second 
 wall, resolving from thence to commence his 
 attack. As his troops advanced, however, they 
 found the Jews ready to receive them, acd a 
 gallant resistance they made : several times they 
 sallied forth upon the besiegers, and came to
 
 43 
 
 c]oso combat with thorn. Tho Romnn disci- 
 j)Hno howcvor, wtw tno ruuch lor thom — und 
 thoy woro tlicrcforc ulways heatcn hack willi 
 loss. In those contosts, noithcr side sociuikl 
 to f^row weary, for the morning always saw 
 the tiglit commenced, vvliicli the niglit had 
 interrupted. Both parties had lain at their 
 arms, and as they burned with ardour, they 
 were ready with the dawn to rent w th"? fight. 
 On the one side they were stimulated to tho 
 greatest exertions l)y the presence of Titus — 
 whilst such was the reverence and dread with 
 which the Jews regarded Simon, that at his 
 command they would at any moment have sa-^ 
 criticed their lives. 
 
 It was on one of these occasions, when tho 
 Jews had sallied out upon the Romans in 
 great numbers, and were drawn up under tho 
 walls within a short distance of tho Roman 
 line, that one of these instances of personal 
 valour occurred, which will serve as an example 
 of th<' exploits which every day witnessed. — As 
 the hostile troops stood facing each other, ready 
 to engago, one of the Roman horsemen, Longinus 
 by name, spurrtMl into the enemy's army, and 
 not only killed two of their bravest men with 
 his lance, but came olF himself without a wound 
 — one of them ho pierced through tho jaws, 
 and ran the other through tho body, singling 
 tAiem out amongst a crowd of soldiers, it is 
 prosier, however, to mention that such actions
 
 44 
 
 were not approved of by Titus, who was no less 
 anxious to save the lives of his men, than he 
 was to obtain victory over the Jews. It be- 
 ing his notion that no exploit could be deemed 
 brave, which was not directed by caution and 
 prudence. 
 
 The ram being now pointed opposite to the 
 second wall against the middle of the tower on 
 the North side of the city ; Titus poured in 
 such showers of arrows upon those who defend- 
 ed it, that they all quitted their posts ; with the 
 exception of one Jew, named Castor, who with 
 ten of his people remained close behind the bat- 
 tlements. When they had lain still awhile, 
 they felt a shock that made the tower totter, 
 upon which they shevred themselves, and Castor 
 in the language, posture, and tone of a suppli- 
 cant, addressing himself to Titus for quarter. 
 Titus u])on this, immediately gave orders to 
 put a stop both to the battery and the archers ; 
 telling Castor at the same time, that if he wished 
 to surrender, he was ready to give him quar- 
 ter. Upon this ofter, live of the ten pretended, 
 to join Castor ; the other five cried out, that so 
 long as they might die free, they w^ould never 
 live slaves. During this dispute, all hostility 
 had ceased. Castor however, had sent private- 
 ly to Simon, advising him to consider what was 
 to be done ; and leave it to him to hold the 
 Roman general engaged, under the pretext of 
 advi^jng his companior.s to a peace.
 
 45 
 
 Titus and Iho.so about liini woro amazoil 
 attho in(loxil)lc olistinacy and l)oldncss of tlio 
 Jows; but hoing upon the lower ground, tl^oy 
 could not SCO distinctly what was done above. 
 While this pas^^ed, Castor wjis wounded with an 
 arrow in his face near his nostrils ; who, pro* 
 sently drav\in<^ it out himself, lioid it up to 
 Titus, as an appeal for justice. The prince re- 
 sented the injury to such a dej^ree, that he or- 
 dered a Roman oliicer (standin<^ next him) to 
 go to Castor from him, and give him all assur- 
 ances, in his name, of amity, and fair quarter: 
 the officer however not only recpiosted to be ex- 
 cused, but dissuaded his friends also that would 
 have ^one; telling them that this protended sub- 
 mission was nothing but treachery. yEneas, 
 however (one of the deserters to the Romans), 
 could not be persuaded of this, and was near 
 suffering for his unsuspecting disposition, for 
 Castor dropped a great stone down from tho 
 wall as he approached, which he with dilTieulty 
 avoided: but it wounded tho man that stooxl 
 next him. The consequonoc of this treachery 
 was that Titus recommenced working his bat- 
 teries with greaterviolonco than before. — When 
 Castor, therefore, and his people found tho 
 tower a second time tottering, and just ready to 
 sink- under them, they set fire to it; and so mado 
 their escape into a vault through the very llames. 
 This exploit gave them a great reputation among 
 the Uoiuans, for resolution and courage.
 
 4G 
 
 ^ntus now macU? himself iiT^istef of tliis part 
 of the second wall^ within five ckiys after the 
 taking of the lirst; and findin-i; the way open 
 beibre him, he drove out the Jews; and, with 
 a thousand choice men, entered the town in 
 the quarter which is inhabited by the clothiers, 
 brasiers, salesmen, and occuj)ied all the cross 
 narrow passages up to the wall. Now if Ti- 
 tus had immediately broken down the ^eater 
 part of this wall, as by the laws of war, he 
 might have done ; the victory would have cost 
 him little or nothing; but considering the mi- 
 serable necessities of the Jews on the one hand, 
 if they should still hold out, and the security of 
 his own retreat on the other hand, if he should 
 find it necessary at any time to withdraw his 
 troops; he relented yet once again, in con- 
 fidence that they would bethink themselves of 
 their real interest: never imagining that they 
 could be so ungrateful, as to requite with ingra- 
 titude a man that had taken so much care for 
 their preservation. 
 
 Titus having now entered the town, would 
 not suffer a single prisoner to be killed, nor a 
 Ijouse to be burnt; he even promised the inha- 
 bitants to maintain them in their lawful posses- 
 sions, and to give them back again what had 
 been taken from them. These proposals were 
 generally acceptable: some desiring the city 
 njight be spared for their own sakes ; others, 
 that the temple might be spared for the city's.
 
 47 
 
 fjiit tlnHhumaiiity niul ienclfrnf'ss was impute.^ 
 \)y llie lactious part of tlie itiliulntauts, l(j want 
 ol" courr.j^o in tlio t;en"rul ; for Titus, they tix'u\, 
 liaJ only oftcreti tbese conditions, bocauso lio 
 ties pal red of siiccoss and tlioy even wont so far 
 as to threaten death to any man that should 
 j.n)})ose a peace or treaty. 
 
 The Romans had no sooner entered tho 
 town, than the J own who wore within the third 
 wall, annoyed tbcm considerably by block- 
 ing up the naxfowjtasses; galUugthom from tho 
 houses, and forcing the guards by salliea from 
 the walls, to cpiit their towers, and retire to the 
 camp. The Jews beieg more in number, and 
 better acquainted with the byways and secret 
 passages than tlie Romans, they had the advan- 
 tage; and the breaches not being wide enough 
 to march out in a body, they wer<2 so liard. 
 ])rossetl, that, if Titus himself iiad not oppor- 
 tunely arrived, scarcely a man of them would 
 h:ive escaped. <But ho k^etting a body of arcljoi-g 
 at tlio end of every street, and posting himself 
 \vlirrc\er there was most danger, wilh Do- 
 iniiius Sabinus for his second, (who did won- 
 ders In that action) they held tho Jews in play 
 with their darts and lances, till they brought 
 ort* their men under tiic cover of that diversion. 
 'J'hus were the Romans, after tlio gaining of 
 Xno second wall, beaten out again. 
 
 The Romans made another attempt to roco- 
 V(.r the wall a^i'in, which they hud gotten and
 
 48 
 
 lost ; and for three days snccpssivoly, without 
 intermission, thoy continued the assault; one 
 attack succeeding another, but they were as 
 often valiantly repulsed. On the fourth day, 
 however, Titus made so furious a charge, that 
 the Jews were not able to withstand it any 
 longer: in consequence of which, he got pos- 
 session of the wall ; demolished the Northern 
 part of it, and immediatoly placed garrisons in 
 all the towers to the Southward. 
 
 Titus was now determined upon storming 
 the third wall; but not looking upon it as a 
 work of time, or difficulty, he resolved to try 
 whether, by gentler methods than force of 
 arms, they mi-ght be prevailed upon to listen to 
 better counsels : for he knew that their proviw 
 sions were almost consumed, whilst his army 
 enjoyed both ease and plenty. Upon a day of 
 general muster, therefore, he ordered his troops 
 to be drawn up and paid in sight of the enemy; 
 the foot advancing with theirswords drawn : and 
 the led horses so gorgeously caparisoned, that 
 the whole field sparkled with gold and silver. 
 Nothing in fine, could have been a more en- 
 couraging sight to the Romans, or a more ter- 
 rible one to the Jews, who were collected in 
 crowds upon the wall to witness the sight. — • 
 Indeed in all probability, it would have brought 
 them over to the Romans, if they had not been 
 conscious of provocations and alTronts which 
 they thought could never be forgiven ; so tha^
 
 49 
 
 thoy rathor choso to die by the chance of war, 
 than to surrender to tlio Romans, from whom 
 they expected no quarter. 
 
 When Titus, attcr this, had passed four days 
 in refroshiuL; his army, without any act of hos- 
 tility, he divided it upon the fii'tli day into two 
 bodies; and finding no disposition in the Jews 
 to a peace, ho commenced casting up works 
 against the fortress Antonia, near to a place 
 called John's Monument, in hopes of gaining 
 the upper town from that quarter, and then 
 making himself master of the temple, from An- 
 tonia : for without taking the fort, the city was 
 not to be maintained. Against each of these 
 two places, he advanced two attacks, and post- 
 ed a legion at every mount to cover the work- 
 men. The working party who were posted 
 next the monument, were galled by the Jews, 
 and by JSiraon's people; and the other against 
 Antonia were yet harder pressed by John's 
 party, and his bands of Zelotes; who had 
 both the hiirher ground, and the advantage 
 of their machines which by daily use and 
 practice they now perfectly understood. They 
 had three hundred cross bows, and forty slings 
 for stones, which very much galled the Ro- 
 mans, and gave a check to the progress of their 
 design. ' 
 
 Titus, indeed, so far presumed upon his skill, 
 that he reckoned the town as good as captured ; 
 still, howTvcr, whilst he carried on the siege,
 
 50 
 
 1)0 tliJ not foriTct to make trial of pci-suasion and 
 auvice, as well as force, to bring the Jews to 
 terms. Considering, therefore, that words in 
 many cases do rcore than arms, ho made it first 
 Ijis own recjiiest to the Jews to consult their 
 own interest by puttinj; a place into his hands, 
 which he could at any time carry by force; 
 and then loft the rest to Josephus. a Jew, whom 
 he had taken prisoner, and. sr.bsequently at- 
 tached to him by kitulness, upon the supposition 
 that such an offer, from such a quarter, and in 
 their own lani;uage, migiit probably tind better 
 success. 
 
 It was in vain however that Josephus used 
 all the arguments wbich could l)e thought of to 
 induce thoin to have pity on themselves. It 
 was to no purpose that he reminded them how 
 fruitless must be all their eiibrts against an army 
 so renowned, and so numerous, and so ably 
 commanded — the common people would gladly 
 have made peace, but the two factions which 
 ruled the city, turned a deaf ear to all his re- 
 presentation, in the mean time, however it 
 induced many to view the situation of affdirs 
 in a true light, and when they saw all propo- 
 sals rejected, to endeavour lo escape by flight 
 from the calamities which impended. They 
 sold their valuables for any price they could 
 bring, an-d according as opportunity served, 
 took refuge in the I^oman camp, Titus permit 
 ting them to pass without molesluticn. As sooc.
 
 01
 
 62 
 
 however, as John and Siiuon were made ac- 
 quainted with it, they placed guards at all the 
 passes, taking as ranch care to prevent the in- 
 habitants from going out, as the Romans from 
 coming in, so tliat the least suspicion or pre- 
 tence of submission was suilicient to endanger 
 a man's life. 
 
 In the meantime, v.-hi-st plenty was found in: 
 the Roman cam]), the horrors of famine began 
 to be felt in the city, and numerous were the 
 disorders it brought along with it. The rage 
 of the factions and the i;ii?eries of scanty food 
 increased daily; and, when there was no longer 
 any corn exposed for sale in the markets, the 
 soldiers, led on by their leaders, broke open 
 private houses for it. If the tyrants, who usurp- 
 ed the power, found any ia their search, the 
 owners were severely puniohed for den.vmg it; 
 or, if they appeared to have none, they were 
 put to the torture to discover their stores; — nay, 
 they drew inferences of guilt from the very 
 bodies of the miserable victims, and to be hale 
 and sound was deemed a proof of having private 
 stores and plenty. The consumptive were dis- 
 patched at once, though one might think the 
 stroke of nature would have soon released the 
 city from the burden of supporting them, — 
 There were several of the, richer classes, who 
 sold all ihey had for a bushel of wheat, and 
 others, of the poorer, for the same proportion of 
 barley, and then shutting themselves up with
 
 53 
 
 their purcha^<c, in secret placoc, some ato tlio 
 corn without grinding, and some again stayed 
 for the baking of it, according jis they were 
 more or Itss pressed by hunger or danger. Thero 
 was no such thing as the ceremony of covering 
 a table — each being happy enough if he could, 
 snatch his scanty meal from the fire, before it 
 wa.s half dressed. Never was thero a more 
 miserable calamity, or so laraental)le and horrid 
 a spectacle. The strongest fared best, and the 
 weaker had nothing to do but to bemoan their 
 misfortunes and die: starving being, cerlainiy, 
 of all deaths the most deplorable, seeing it takes 
 away all sense of shame, tenderness, and res- 
 pect: it may seem incredible, but it is neverthe- 
 less the fact, that wives forced the meat out of 
 the very mouths of their husbands; children 
 did the same to their parents ; and, what was 
 still more bailtarous, mothers seized it from 
 their infants ; taking away from them, as they 
 lay languishing in tlieir arms, the V(;ry last sup- 
 port of life. Nor could this bo done so pri- 
 vately !)ut that others were still at hand to take 
 away that from them again, which they had 
 taken from others. The hungry had no mercy 
 either for ago or sex ; but beat the old men 
 that ortered to defend what provisions they 
 liad got, and dragged the women by the hair 
 for endeavouring either to keep or conceal any 
 thing. Neither did sucking children escape tho 
 violence of the famished, so that infancy aii«i
 
 ^4 
 
 gray hairs had tho same quartor. Those thai 
 Simon had pilhigoJ were carried to John, and 
 John's prisoners to Simon, as if they had heea 
 striving which should do most irischief. They 
 were divided, indeed, who should have the su- 
 periority, but perfectly well agreed in the me- 
 thods of their tyranny and usurpation. 
 
 It was upon the I2th of July that tho Ro- 
 mans began the platfoniis already mentioned; 
 and on the 29th they were finisljed, after se- 
 venteen days' hard labour: they were foar 
 in number, and all of them mighty works. 
 There was one toward Antonia, that was raised 
 by the fifth legion, over against the middle of 
 the Struthian j)Ool ; there was another, cast up 
 by the twelfth legion, within ten yards of the 
 former; the tenth legion (which was more con- 
 siderable than the other two) threw up another 
 work, to the north, over against the pool called 
 Amygdalon ; and, at ten yards' distance from 
 the last, a fourth mount was erected by tho 
 fiftceQlh legion, not far from the moi.ument ot 
 John the high-priest. 
 
 These vvorks were no sooner completed, but 
 John caused a mine to be wroivght under that 
 which looked toward Antonia, and several 
 wooden props to be set up all along the trench, 
 to keep the weight of the earth above from fall- 
 ing; dawbingthe wood-work with abitaminous 
 matter that would take flame immediately ; so 
 that he had now no more to do but to set firQ
 
 65 
 
 to the pillarp, wliich, wlicn tlio j)ro{)8 wrro gono, 
 brony;lit dowr) tlie wLolo buKvark with a loar- 
 ful rioiso. Thoro was no iire to bo seen at \ir>t, 
 but oi)ly a smothorinf; ch;st and sraoko ; till the 
 flaiuG at last broke throiij^h all oj)position, and 
 showed itself. This was s(j <rroat a surprise to 
 tho Romans, that it put thorn to the greatest 
 straits to recover such a chock, when they 
 tliou;j:ljt tlioniselvcs sure of thoir point. Xei- 
 iher was it to any purpose to tbink of qiiL-ncli- 
 in:; llie the when thoir ramparts wore i;"ono. 
 
 it was but two days alter this that 8i'ni(in 
 and his j)oople made an attempt upon tho other 
 mounts, v;here tiie Romans had already planted 
 thoir rams, and boj;un to batter. Tboro was 
 one Jcpbtha'us, of Garsis, a city of Galileo ; 
 I^Iof^assanis, a domestic of quo«'*n Mariamno's; 
 and one Adiabona, the son of Xabata'us, who, 
 iroiu a misfortune he had, was called Agiras, 
 which signiiies lame : tbesc throe men, with 
 tordjes in llioir hands, tlow directly to tho ma- 
 chines; and, breaking through the enemy's 
 troops, with no more a])poarancc of concern 
 than if they had been among their friends, they 
 sel lire to them, and in dosj)ite of all oj)position 
 with darts and arrows, they persevered in their 
 dvsign till the engines were all in a flame. Those 
 wore reputed three of the bravest men that ap- 
 peared in that war. 
 
 Upon the first a|)pearance of the flame, tho 
 Romans sent a dotachment from the camp to
 
 56 
 
 the relief of their companions ; but the Jews, in 
 the mean time, poured their arrows and other 
 missiles upon them from the walls ; and with- 
 out any regard to their own lives or persons, 
 fought hand to hand with those that were en- 
 deavouring to put a stop to the fire. The Ro- 
 mans, on the other hand, did all they could to 
 save their battering rams ; the covers of them 
 being consumed already : whilst the Jews ven- 
 tured into the very flames to hinder them ; and 
 would not let go their hold, though the iron 
 work of them was burning hot. The fire pass- 
 ed from thence to the ramparts ; and indeed 
 could not bo stayed. Upon this, the Romans 
 finding themselves encompassed with flames, 
 and no hope left them of saving the works, 
 withdrew towards their camp. 
 
 Titus was at this time returning from An- 
 tonia, where he had gone to find out a commo- 
 dious piece of ground for advancing his attacks, 
 he halted the troops therefore whom he met 
 retreating, and gave them a severe rebuke for 
 suflx^ring themselves, after having gained the 
 enemy's works, to be distressed in their own, 
 and in a manner besieged by those that were 
 in fact prisoners themselves. With some of his 
 choice troops, also, he took a circuit and charg- 
 ed the enemy in the flank; while they on the 
 other side, maintained their ground with won- 
 derful resolution. Upon the meeting of the two 
 bodies, such a dust and clamour was raised, that
 
 57 
 
 thoro was notliinji; distinctly to bo cithcs* scon or 
 hoard; n«d ncMtlicr tViond nor fbo could bo dis- 
 tinguished: neither were the Jews tlius obsti- 
 nate from any confidonce in their own strcnj];ti), 
 but through despnir of safety : while the Ro- 
 mans were so excited on the other side, by the 
 love of renown, and the attachment tliey had 
 for tlie person of their ])rince, which was then 
 in danger, that if the. Jews had not retired from 
 tlie contest, tlioy would undoubtedly have been 
 all cut to pieces : but still the loss of their bul- 
 warks was a o;reat mortiiication to the Romans, 
 and to find that one hour had destroyed what 
 they had been so lont; erecting. In truth, the 
 disappointment, together with the dismounting 
 of their engines, almost took away all hope of 
 ever gaining the place. 
 
 Whilst things were in this position, Titus 
 called a council of Ids ofiicors to advise him 
 what to do. Some were of opinion that a ge- 
 neral assault should be made; for as yet, no. 
 thing, they said, had been done but by skir- 
 mishes ; whereas, could they once bring on a 
 general engagement, the Jews would never bo 
 ablo to stand before him. 
 
 The more considerate were Tor renewing and 
 repairing the ramparts; others for having no 
 works at all, but only watching the foragers, 
 and keeping the city from provisions : and so 
 committing the rest to the sure elYect of famine, 
 whicli would put them in possession ofthcplaco
 
 58 
 
 without striking a Wow. The beet waj-, in the 
 end, appoarod to bo to run a wall quite round 
 tlio citj. By thij moans all excursions would 
 bo prevented; and tl)e Jews either forced to 
 surrender the place in despair, or so weakened 
 by necessity, as to be una'ole to defend them- 
 selves : whereas otherwise, the dispute would 
 be endless. 
 
 Titus accordingly gave orders to his ofUccrs 
 to set immediately about the erection of this 
 wall, and to enter upon it with a regular dis- 
 tribution of the whole army into their proper 
 stations. Tbe word was no sooner given, but 
 the soldiery were all transported by a kind of 
 generous emulation of out doing one another: 
 for after the measuring of the ground, and the 
 dividing of the legions, the same spirit of com- 
 petition ran through the whole body. The 
 common soldiers with their Serjeants; the Ser- 
 jeants, with their captains; the captains, with 
 iheir tribunes; the tribunes, with their. su})e- 
 riors ; and all in subordination to Titus; who 
 was so intent upon bis business, that he never 
 passed a day without taking a round of the 
 whole work. 
 
 The compcvs of this wall was thirty-nine 
 furlong-' ; thirteen forts being built on the out- 
 side ot it. Bui the most incredible part of tho 
 work was the building of an inclosuro in tluoo 
 days, which might well h:tvo taken as many 
 months. Upon the perfecting of this work,
 
 oy 
 
 tlioro woro guards pf^^toti in all ilio foiL», lljat 
 dill i\\i[y every night under lli(;ir aru-s. Titus 
 woril iho first round iiiinsclt"; Tiberius Alexan- 
 der, the second ; the coninuinders ot the le<:;ions, 
 llio third. Tlie soldiers on watch slejit hy 
 turns; hut some or other still remained upou 
 the piard in the castles all nij^ht. 
 
 'i'ho slmttini; up of the Jews in the town, 
 cast them into the utmost despair: lor the ia- 
 mino was now so outraj^eous that it swept away 
 whole families. The houses were strewed with 
 the bodies of women and children; and the 
 narrow lanes with those of old men that lay 
 dead there: youni^ men walked the streets liko 
 so many shadows. There was no such thing 
 as burying the dead : some wantc'd strength to 
 do the oilice ; others wanted will, being dis- 
 couraged j)art!y by the great number of them, 
 end partly because they did not know but their 
 own turn might bo next. 8ome there were 
 that expired in the very act of burying their 
 companiuns; and some again ha:>ten(.'d away 
 to their graves before their^^time, to make sure 
 of a resting ])lace while thoy were yet living. 
 And yet, in tiio depth of all this misery, there 
 was not hoard so much as one groan or outcry; 
 all other j)assions were stilled in the pain of a 
 tormenting hunger. Those that died last, stood 
 gazing with dry <ye» and ghastly looks upon 
 Ihoso that wore released from pain before 
 llieiu. Tho city was all wrapt in a profound
 
 GO 
 
 siknce, and Leaps of dead bodies were pued 
 together in the nig])t, being the time chosen for 
 collecting them into these heaps. 
 
 When they were now no longer able to en- 
 dure the putrid corruption of the dead bodies, 
 order was given to have them all interred at the 
 public charge ; but, for want of room to dispose 
 of them, these monsters cast them down head- 
 long from the walls into the valleys; which 
 was so horrid a spectacle, that Titus, taking 
 the round of the place, when he found the 
 ditches so filled with putrifying bodies and 
 pestilential vapours, stretched out his hands to 
 heaven in an appeal to Almighty God, that it 
 was against his will to have it so. This was 
 the state and disposition of the city at that time. 
 
 The reader will recollect that the factions in 
 the city had for some time supported themselves 
 only by plunder. When this source was dried 
 up, John, who held the temple, advanced from 
 pillage to sacrilege, seizing, for the use of his 
 soldiers, even the sacred vessels, which had 
 been dedicated to the service of the Most High. 
 Their sutierings were indeed great, but their 
 madness seemed to increase with every fresh 
 privation which they had to submit to. Indeed 
 it would be endless to give an account of the 
 many mercies vouchsafed to them, even when 
 their misery was at its height. Amongst many 
 proofs which might be adduced, INIanna^us, the 
 son of La^aruS; had the command of one of the
 
 61 
 
 cily gales; and, going over lo Titus, he gave 
 Liin tliis account, that, from the time of bis on- 
 camping before the tov/n (from the lOtb of the 
 juontb Xantbias to tbo Jst of Panemut), thero 
 passed tbrougb tbat gate 11.5,0SO dead bodies, 
 and ibis was no more than wbat fell to bis sbaro 
 to take notice of, by virtue of a commission to 
 tiiat purpose ; besides what were buried by their 
 relations; tbat is to say, thrown out of the city, 
 tlicy having no other way of burial. Besides 
 this, upon the computation of divers men of 
 quality that deserted, there were (iOO,000 poor 
 people carried out of the gate, besides many 
 others, who, for want of friends to inter them, 
 were piled in heaps and shut up in largo houses. 
 AVheat at this time sold for a talent a bushel : 
 for, since the walling up of the town so close, 
 they were cut olVfrom all provisions, to the value 
 of a single blade of grass. The bare story of 
 the calamity drew pity from their very enemies; 
 but the factious in the city, that both saw and 
 felt these suilerings, were not so much as sen- 
 sible that their own rebellious obstinacy had 
 been the cause of it : but they went on, blmdcd 
 to the awful reality of their situation. 
 
 END OF TAUT J.
 
 PART II. 
 
 HE state of Jemsalom ^cw every day 
 WO' so and worse, and tlio violence of faction 
 still more fierce and turbulent, as misery increas- 
 ed; for famine liad now seized upon all. ]t was 
 a sad spectacle to see the bodies of the dead ly- 
 ing in the street without interment; and tram- 
 pled under foot like the ruins o^ a field of bat- 
 tle ; and without any consideration either of ter- 
 ror or pity, or any thought how soon it might 
 come to be their own case. 
 
 For some time, however, the Romans were 
 obliged to remain idle for want of materials to 
 iinish their works ; but, by cutting down all 
 the woods within ten miles of the city, they 
 contrived, in one and twenty days, again to 
 raise their platforms. It changed the country, 
 however, from a paradise into a desert; where, 
 instead of beautiful gardens, plantations, and 
 liouses of pleasure, not so much as a tree or a 
 cottage was left standing, and the eye saw no- 
 thing but desolation and ruin : insomuch that
 
 03 
 
 ninny could not forbear wuopiiig io rco tLo 
 cl)aii«;(; wliifh war had made. 
 
 When tl)o mounds wore completed, tlic Jews 
 and the llomuns were equally solicitous for tho 
 event. The Jowa knew they must either de- 
 stroy them or lo^o the city; whilst tho Romans 
 on the other hnnd saw that they had not tho 
 means of repairing them ; for there was no 
 more wood, and tlie soldiers were fjuite worn 
 out with tho fatigue of tho service. 
 
 In the mean time, John and his people in 
 tho castle of Antonia, did all that lay in their 
 power, before tho rams were mounted, to prevent 
 the danfijer of a breach. I?ut all their eflbrts 
 were inelToctual, for their desij^n of scttinj^ liro 
 to the mount with flamini; torches failed. Tho 
 truth of it is, the assailants did not behavo 
 themselves like Jews, either in union or in 
 vigoi^r; and so were forced upon a retreat. 
 
 The Jews beinj^ now drawn oil", the Romans 
 odvanr.'d with their I'attc^rin^ rams towards An- 
 tonia, i.i deliancoof all ojiposition by tire, sword, 
 stones, and all other ways ot hostility whatsoever. 
 it is true, the Jews de])endcd much upon tho 
 strength of their walls against tho battery of tho 
 machines; thf^y did what they could, however, 
 to keep the Romans at a distance, from iixing 
 i|)em in position. It appeared, however, as if 
 the Jews were conscious that Ant(»nia was in 
 danger, and that this a))prehension incited them 
 to so much exertion. The bciieirers continued
 
 61 
 
 the battery, and iho wall stood for some time 
 firm ; but the Romans, fortifying themselves 
 under the defence of their bucklers, against the 
 shot and stones from above, bepian to dijjr and 
 undermine; and when, with indefatigable la- 
 bour, they had loosened four stones under the 
 foundation of the work, they betook themselves 
 on both sides to their rest. In the meantime, 
 a part of the wall fell down on a sudden, to the 
 great surprise of both parties. The Jews had 
 most reason to be alarmed at it; and yet they 
 were as elated as if Antonia had been their own 
 still ; and the joy of the Romans, on the other 
 hand, wa^ as quickly also depressed, upon tho 
 sight of another wall, which John had carried 
 up within the former, and which appeared as 
 strong, only that it was a less defensible place. 
 Ticus now plainly saw that the greatest ex- 
 ertions were necessary if he desired success; 
 he therefore called all his army together, and, 
 left no argument untried which he thought 
 likely to influence the minds of bravo men; 
 and yet it will giv^e the reader some idea of the 
 resolute valour with which the Jews had hither- 
 to defended themselves, and of the damp which 
 their unconquerable spirit had cast upon the 
 Romans, that but twelve men in the whole 
 army had the resolution to answer this ha« 
 rangue. The first who came forward was 
 Sabinu.s, a Syrian soldier of the guards, and a 
 man eminent bpth for courage and execution;
 
 65 
 
 nnd yd a sirfuigor wouJJ liorJly liavo i<iican 
 him tor a milit'iry inaii, citl]er 1»t his form 
 or appoarancc. TLia man luaJo his obeiiianeo 
 ttml addrosscd himself to the commander, in 
 words to this (.Ot'ct : " I do hero olTer myself 
 ** to Titus with all my heart, as the tirst man 
 ** to give tiie a-^saiilt. May the issue answer 
 *' Sahinus's good will." 
 
 'Upon these words, with liis sword drawn in 
 Lis riiiiht hand, and liis shield over his head in 
 his left, ho advanced toward the wa!l about 
 noon, with a train of eleven men, who followed 
 liim in emulation of his valour. .Sabinus, ixi 
 this action encountered all the enen)y's stone** 
 and shot, with a spirit more than human, and 
 several of lii.s followers were knocked down 
 at the first attack ; but still he pres-5f d forward 
 upon the enemy's darts and arrows till he had 
 well nigh mounted the wall, and forced the 
 Jews to abuinlon their station, for fear of an 
 enforcement of greater numbers to overpower 
 them. Ju>t as this hero, however, Wr^s upon 
 the point of succeedina;, he was most unluckily 
 struck with a stone. The Jews looking behind 
 them, upon the noise, and fin'.Hng Sabinus lying 
 alone there, and in a manner senseless, they 
 all fell upon hi:n with their darts. He defend- 
 ed himself upon his knees, with his buckler over 
 his head, as long as he could, and with hi^ 
 sword killed several of hi» enemies, till, in tha 
 E
 
 66 
 
 'end, boing able to strike no longer, he breathed 
 liis last under a shower of their darts. 
 
 This was the end of a bravo man, who ap- 
 peared to deserve a better fate. Three of his 
 coiupanions were crushed to death with stones 
 fiom the top of the wall : all the rest were 
 carried off wounded to the camp. 
 
 Two days after this, twenty of the guards of 
 the platforjns, the Resign of the fifth legion, two 
 cavaliers, and a trumpetter, got together, and, 
 making a silent march up to Aniunia, in the 
 dead of the night, without any opposition, they 
 found the advance guards fast asleep, put thera 
 to the sword, and so, tc:':i.]g possession of the 
 wall, the trumpet sounded. Upon this alarm, 
 the rest waked and tied, without waiting to see 
 what numbers had entered tbe j)lace; but lliey 
 believed them to be very strong. Titus im- 
 mediately, upon this notice, put himself at the 
 head of his choioest troo]iS, and so tos-k his v»'ay 
 up the ruins. The Jews were so startled at 
 this surprize, that some of them made for the 
 inner temple; others, toward the mine that 
 John had wroug*it to overturn tljo Iloman 
 works ; but the two factions of John and Simon, 
 giving up all for lost if the Romans should get the 
 temple, joined their forces together, and there 
 followed a iiorce and obstinate combat befor; 
 the very doors of the jdace ; the one side light- 
 !^^ for life, tiie other for victory. Laacc5 ani
 
 C>7 
 
 darts wore of little or no uso on cither Iiand, 
 for tho conflict was now docidod hy iho sword. 
 Jn this confn*<ion there was no di>»tin«^nis]iing 
 friend from fnr ; all were crowded without cither 
 order or discipline ; and such a tumult prevailed 
 that there was no understanding one another. 
 Tho slaughter w<as great on both sides, and 
 tho ground covered with arras and dead bodies. 
 Thero was no ])lace eilher to run away, or to 
 pursue ; but as victory inclined th<'y advanced 
 or retired, shouting and exulting on the ono 
 hand and lamenting on the other. The front 
 of l)oth armies fought either to kill or to bo 
 killed, for there v^^as no distance left between 
 them for a retreat. The buttle, in Hue, lasted 
 ten hours ; that is to spy, from nine o'clock 
 at nigLt to seven the following morning; but 
 the furious obstinacy of the Jews carried it from 
 the resolution and conduct of tli e Romans; and 
 well it might, for every thing with them was, 
 at stake. But the Romans, in the conclusion, 
 contented themselves for tho present that tbey 
 had gotten Antonia, with only one part of their 
 army; for the legions upon whom they chiefly 
 dopt nili.'d were not as yet come up. 
 
 There was one Julian, a native of Bithynia, 
 and a centurion; a man of good iamily, of great 
 pors'jual valour, and one of ihe most e\"pert in 
 all manner of martial exercises. This Julian, 
 as he was standing by Titus in Antonia, and 
 tiio Romans at that time giving way' to thp
 
 (is 
 
 Jews, lie took Lis opportunity, and luaJ-i ft 
 desperate leap on a sudden into tlijo tliickpst of 
 the enemy, and, sint::ly, chased them to the in- 
 nermost corner of the temple. This action 
 amazed them so much that they tlioiii^ht it 
 shewed a valour more than human. But Julian 
 pui-sued his course; some he overturned, others 
 he overtook and put to death : nothing, in short, 
 was more agreeable to Titus's friends, or a more 
 dreadful spectacle to his enemies. But there 
 was a calamilj yet that befel this man, not to 
 be foreseen or avoided ; for, having his shoes 
 studded with iron nails, after the fa5»hion of 
 other soldiers, as he was running upon the pave- 
 ment, his foot slipped and he fell ; the Jews at 
 the same time rushed upon him with swords 
 and darts, but he fenced off several blows with 
 his buckler; still, however, as he tried to get 
 Tip again, he was bofne down with multitudes; 
 yet, such was the proof of Ins arms, thai, 
 e\en at his length upon the ground, they hod 
 some ditrjculty to dispatch him. With weari- 
 ness and loss of blood, however, lie at length 
 expired. The Jews carried oifthe dead body, 
 and pursued the Roujans to the tower of An- 
 tonia, where tljoy shut them up. 
 
 Titus beint; now resolved to tear up tiie 
 foundations of An ton i a, and to level the ways - 
 for the niore commodious march of the army, 
 he called for Josepjjus, and (understanding that 
 on that day, whicn was the 17lh ui the month
 
 69
 
 70 
 
 of Pancnnis, tiie si.lemnily of their dailv ^acri- 
 lice coiiKl iM)i he obsorvoil for want of a con- 
 gregation, and ilio pooplo wore much troubled 
 at it) sent him to John a socond tin:ie to pro- 
 pose terms; that is to say, if John desired to 
 tiglit he should bri:jj;what numbers he pleased, 
 and he sbouKl have the liberty to put it to a 
 battle, provided only that the city and the tem- 
 ]>ie mii;ht not be exposed in the common ruin, 
 and that he would ^\\c over jjfofaning God'-s 
 lioly name and worship. Or, if be liad a dfr- 
 sire to revive the reli^ii'^-us services that had 
 been for some time discontinued, he riiighl ap- 
 point ^^hic•h ever of the Jews ho piet:sod to 
 oiiiciale. 
 
 Kow Josephr.s did not think it sufiicient to 
 acquit himself of this commission to John alone, 
 but, uiounling an emincni-c where Ijc migbt be 
 heard, lie communicatrd Titus's pleiu^ure to the 
 Jews, in Hebrew, as loud as he could ueliver 
 it; begging of the Jews all the while to liav« 
 compassion upon their country, and to prevent 
 the burniniC of the temple before it was too late; 
 olierinir them, at the same time, liberty to so- 
 lemnize their prayers ajid sacrilicos a«^ formerly. 
 
 The people ga\e Jo?ephus a sorrowful hear- 
 ing, without speaking so much as one word; 
 but John, after many virulent invectives against 
 JosepdiUs, concluded willi this ir.ny: "that 
 " there was no danger of Jerusalem since it 
 *^ was the city of God."
 
 71 
 
 The discourse, iiowcvrr, wroUi^ljt very olTrC- 
 tuiilly iij)on sovoral oi llio nchility arxl piiesl- 
 liodd, who to(jU this opporluiiity of niaUiuii; thfir 
 osca]»o, und who, ari<'r havin.; hren j^nnnoiisly 
 roecivod by (ho cmp-Tor, wero sent awny to 
 l.^'>|d)iio, with tho ])iomiso of largo jif>ss(^s-ioiis to 
 ho distrihiitcd anion;^ liirni atthocnd of tho wiir. 
 
 As soon as thoso rofii^cos were all withdrawn 
 to tljf'ir colony, a?id no loni^^r soon from llio 
 oily, tho faction spn-ad the g-nMiudlos.s re])ort 
 that the Romans had killed all tho deserters as 
 fii^t as they came over to theni ; and this thoy 
 (lid with the design to fri{^hton others from 
 lea\iu;; ihrir eonipanions. This succeeded for 
 a ti ne ; hut Titus, aware of the stratag'ou], call- 
 ed tluni all hack again from Gophne, and or- 
 dered them to take the tour of the walls with 
 .losophus, and shew iheiuselves to the town, 
 which hrous;ht over more proselytes t^ the lio- 
 maris than bofore. This, however, only e^* 
 oittMl the faclimi against the fugitives, whom 
 they assailed with stones and arrows from their 
 engines; which, being planted at the veiy 
 gates, made the temple more like a place of 
 arms than a house of religious worship; and 
 the dead bodies lay every where as thick about 
 it as if it wore a common burying j)Iace. They 
 broke aNo into the holy sanctuary, with their 
 arms still warm and reeking in (no blood of 
 their countrymen; and advanced to such a de- 
 gree uf extravagance, thai it might be said the
 
 Roman? paid a 2n*6ator rovcrcnoo to tho Jewiish 
 rites and ccrcmoriics thuu the Jews t!iemselvo«. 
 There was rot a man in Titus's army that had 
 not a veneration for tLe temple itself, and for 
 tho God that was worshipped there, and that 
 did not heartily wish to sec the faction repent, 
 while there was yet place left for mercy. 
 
 Titus, upon this occasion, made use of Jo- 
 sephus for his interpreter; but the faction im- 
 puted the fairness of the application rather to 
 fear than good \vill ; and grew insolent upon 
 that mi.Ntake, When Titus, therefore, found 
 that thoy had not regard either to the temple 
 or to themselves, ho resolved, though it grieved 
 liim, io carry on the war. But as there was 
 not room enough to draw^ up his whole army, 
 he detached thirty men from every company, 
 with a tribune at the head of every thou^^and, 
 and Cerealis to command them. This detach- 
 ment WcLs to fall upon the enemy's guards about 
 three o'clock in tho morning, Titus himself 
 leading the attack ; but upon a council of war, 
 the oflicers gave it as their opinion, that Titus 
 ghould rather remain at the foit Antonia, whoro 
 he might see how his men acquitted themselves, 
 without endang -ring his persun : for they rigl.'t- 
 ly judged, that it would inspire his people with 
 increased ardour, to shew their bravery in tho 
 sight of their general. 
 
 The mutter was no sooner thus settled, than 
 an hour was appointed for the attack. Thu
 
 Honiuns, liowevor, (!i«l not find tlio enemy off 
 ilif'ir L'uard, ag wiis oxpectcMi ; so that the ad- 
 vjinccd parties soon met, ain] joined battio witii 
 loud shouts, tlio .Jews awakoninj; their ft-Uovv- 
 soldiers, and bringing tiieiu on in mulLitudes 
 to socond them. At first iho con fusion wa.s 
 groat, for the Jews coming on indiscriminately, 
 attacked the first they mot, whether friend or 
 foo. Tlio Romans, on the contrary, kept 
 themselves in orderly bodies, under the cover 
 of their bucklers, and knew one another by tho 
 word or signal ; hence the Jews destroyed 
 more of their own men than tho Romans them- 
 selves did. At break of day, however, so 
 soon as tiic light shewed them their mistake, 
 they betook them-.elves to a more regular way 
 of combat, and came on with their darts and 
 arrows ; both sides being as fresh and vigorous 
 as if they had done nothing all night. 
 
 The Romans, however, had Titus for the 
 judge and witness of their behaviour; and, as 
 they looked upon the bravery of that day's 
 action as the foundation of their futuro fortuiie.-*, 
 they all fought in cumlation who should do bcirt: 
 whereas the Jevvs; having their own lives and 
 their temple at, stake, st(jod up manfully to tho 
 liicht; so that tho contest lasted from threo 
 o'clock in the morninir imtil eleven in the day, 
 both sides maintaining their ground, and co:i.- 
 ii)g in the conclusion 4o a drawtj battle. 
 
 Li the C0inpu:-!s of seven days^ the founia-
 
 74 
 
 tJons of Antonia ^^cro all turned up at the 
 bottom, and a Itrond waylovrlU-d for the legions 
 to Tuarch up to the wall, whore they immedi- 
 ately fell to work upon four mount*;. But it 
 was an infinite labour to bring the materials a 
 hundred furlonscs from the place ; besides the 
 many interruptions they met with by the way; 
 for the Romans were over confident and care- 
 less, and the Jews mad and rash enough to 
 venture upon any thing;. 
 
 When they had now raised their platforms, 
 and put themselves in condition to resume 
 their attacks against the temple, there came 
 down a crowd of men, who being ready to 
 starve in the city, about five o'clock in the 
 evening made an effort upon the Roman guards 
 toward the mount of Olivet, in hopes of either 
 taking them unawares, or finding them with- 
 drawn. The Romans saw the enemy approach, 
 and taking the alarm in time, drew out all tho 
 strength they were able to make.. n.nd put a 
 check to a most desperate attempt whicli tboy 
 had projected upon the wall. It came, in short, 
 to a hlondy dispute, and great feats were atchiev- 
 ed on both sides; the Romans valuing them- 
 selves upon the reputation of their prowess and 
 military conduct, and the Jews fiattering them- 
 .velves that the desperation with which they 
 fought, would lead to success. The one fought 
 from shame, the other from necessity; for thn 
 Romans looked upon the Jews to be nc
 
 75 
 
 ultuot conquered, and could never have wiped 
 ofFtlio disf^racc, if they had let them ^o aijaui: 
 and the Jews, on the otlier hand, had no way 
 of escape hut hy driving the Romans hack. 
 
 The principal warfare was now between the 
 soldiers upon the mounts and the Jews in the 
 city; and on the 27th of the month aforesaid, 
 the Jews had recourse to the following strata- 
 gem. They lilled the roof of the Western 
 porch, between the top of it and the timbers, 
 with a quantity of dry wood, suljihur, and hitti- 
 minous matter : and then protending to give 
 way upon an attack, they suirercd themselves 
 to* be beaten out, as if they were not able 
 to maintaiii it. A number of the Romans fol- 
 lowed close uj)0n the pursuit, and setup ladders 
 to take possession of it; but the more wary 
 looked upon the whole to be a trick, and never 
 left their position. U])on the Romans crowd- 
 ing into the porch, the Jews set lire to it, and 
 all was immediately in a blaze ; to the asto- 
 irishraent even of tliose that v/ere out of the 
 the reach of it ; but the horror and confusion 
 of the rest, cannot be described. Some leapt 
 down headlor)g from the walls; some ran one 
 way, some another; some were smothered in 
 the flames; whiUt others in despair, cast them- 
 selves upon their swords, tn prevent one death 
 by another. As for those that made a shift to 
 •%.3capc the fury of the llames, they were beset
 
 76 
 
 by the Jews, and after a stout resistance ever}' 
 man of them put to the sword. 
 
 TJiis was the state of thinj;s about the tem- 
 ple: tiie city well nigh depopulated with famine, 
 i!jo misery of which was not to be expressed. 
 It was enough to create a war in a family to 
 have any provisions which the owner was un- 
 willing to share; and in many instances it dis" 
 solved the tenderest friendships. Those that 
 were evidently starved to death could not yet 
 be believed even at the last gasp to have died in 
 want; for the living would search even the 
 very bosoms of the dead for bread. If they 
 missed what they looked for, despair hurried 
 them up and down like those that were mad, 
 ransacking the same houses at every nook and 
 coiner of them over and over again: and seiz- 
 ing with voracity upon substances which the 
 foulestof brutes themselves would reject: girdles, 
 shoe leather, beasts skins» &:c. Nay a handful 
 of old hay was sold for J'onr atlicks. 
 
 But why trouble the reader with illustra- 
 tions of this terrible judgment, having at hand 
 such an instance for matter of fact as was never 
 known, either among Greeks or Barbarians ! 
 and the story such as not to be heard 
 or reported without horror. 1 could wil- 
 lingly pass over this relation, lest posterity 
 should deem it a fabrication, but there are 
 so many witnesses to the .truth of it, that I
 
 sliuuld be wanting to iny country weri'. 1 to 
 suppress it. 
 
 There was a certain woman beyond Jordan, 
 whose name was Mary. JSho was the daughter 
 of Eleazar, of the village of Vetezubra : rich 
 and well born. She fled in company with se- 
 veral others, and took sanctuary in Jerusalem ; 
 where they had the misfortune to bo besieged. 
 The factions within the city stript this lady of 
 all she brought publicly along with her, that 
 was precious : and for any thing else that was 
 concealed, either goods or provisions, her house 
 was daily broken up and rifled by the soldiers. 
 VVlion she found herself reduced to this extre- 
 mity, that she had no means of subsistence left 
 licr, she delivered herself up to madness and 
 iioce-jsity, and pitched upon the most unnatu- 
 ral resolution that ever was heard of. 
 
 She had a child sucking at her breast, which 
 she snatched up; and looking tenderly upon it, 
 " Wiiat, says she, shall I say now to thee, thou 
 " most unfortunate infant, to bo brought into the 
 "world, under three snich dreadful jutlgmcnts, 
 " as war, famine, and rebellion ! Which of 
 "the three, shall 1 reserve thee for? TJio 
 " Romans will give thee thy life perhaps, but 
 " not thy lib».'rty. Now famine will prevent 
 "slavery; but for our present tyrants, thou 
 " wilt find ihem incomparably worse than the 
 "other two. What can!<tthou do bettcrnoW; than 
 
 F
 
 7S 
 
 "to sup])Iy the want of thy starving mother? 
 " And ihen finally crown the history of the 
 " Jews with the only execrable abomination 
 " that is yet wanting to the perfecting of their 
 " misery!'' With these words, slie killed her 
 child, boiled and dressed it; the one half of it 
 she ate herself; and the other half, she set by 
 out of the way, and kept covered.* 
 
 The soldiers soon came, allured by the smell 
 of the food, and threatened to kill her if she 
 would not produce what she had dressed. She 
 repjied that there was no occasion to use any 
 
 • This inciuent, .<^o horrible in nil its drcum=tance.s, nii:^T.t, 
 from its distressing nature be omitted, il'it were iioi tlieliil- 
 fiUnieiit of the iollowiiig renuuknble prophecy b}- Most^s. 
 .See, Dent, xxviii. 06, 57. 
 
 " The tender and delicnte woman .-imong you, whiL-b 
 ** would not jidveuture to set the sole ol' her ioot upon the 
 *' ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye .<liul[ be 
 "oil to the husband of her bosom, nud toward l:rr son, 
 *' and toward her daughter, and toward her young one that 
 ** tonieth out from betweeu her feet, and toward the chiU 
 *' dren which she shall bear : lor she shall eat them for want of 
 *' all things, secretly in (heseige and struilness, where\\ith 
 ** thine enemy shall distre.<s thee in thy gates." 
 
 Indeed to such unparallelletl cruelty our Saviour liim>:elf 
 may have alluded, in that prophetic lamentation, whieii he 
 Hvidressed to the women which l>evvaiicd him when led to 
 •xecution : "D;uighfers of Jeiusalem, weep not for me, 
 " but weep for yom-sclves and for your children : for behold 
 " the days are cuunug in th** which they shall say, Blessed 
 " are tiie barren, aiiil tlie womb; that never bare, and the 
 •' pa^js that never ^'a•.■J suck.'*
 
 70 
 
 violence, for she liad reserve*! a i^ood part for 
 tlicm, which they wore welcome to; slie then 
 uncovered the relics of her son, and in a phron- 
 zied voice invited them to the repast. Ohserv- 
 ing, however, that dread and astonishment had 
 seized them, and that lljey stood stnpihed at 
 the sight: '• But this," said she, "is my own 
 "son, and this ray work ; eat, for even J have 
 "eaten; be not you more tenderthan a woman, 
 "nor more compassionate than a mother. If, 
 " however, you have a religious abhorrence of 
 ^* my act, I truly have eaten the half and let the 
 ''rest remain for me. 
 
 The noise of this bloody execution, was pre- 
 sently spread all over the city ; and such an abhor- 
 rence felt at it, in general, as if every single man 
 had had a part in the crime. The dread of the 
 famine made men weary of their lives, and the 
 living envied the dead that were taken away, 
 before their sufTering came to its height. I'he 
 story quickly spread from the Jews to the Ro- 
 mans, where some pitied the ])eople, others 
 hated them for it; and some again gave no cre- 
 dit to it. Titus upon hearing it, solemnly 
 called all men to witness, in the presence of 
 God, that he had done all be could to make 
 the Jews ea«;y and happy in their lives, liber- 
 ties and fortunes: but that they preferred tearing 
 one another to pieces, to living in union; and 
 therefore he for one could not help it ? If they 
 f2
 
 80
 
 wl 
 
 jiad r.-'lliorlcivo war than poaco, if tli^v preferred 
 fami 110 to plenty; nny, if nothingclsowoiiKl servo 
 tljcri], but lirin'j; (hat vory temple with tlieirliands, 
 which Titus did all lie could to preserve, ho was 
 resolved to bury their ijiii^uities in theirriiin, and 
 not to leave a city standing under the sun, 
 wljere mothers devoured their own cliildren : 
 and the fathers were yet the wo^^e of the two, for 
 keepii.'f; up the war, Titus, after this, reflect- 
 ing upon the incorrigible hardness and obsti- 
 nacy of the faction, cave them all for lost ; for 
 if any thing in nature could have wrouglit 
 upon them, the calamities they had sullered 
 already, he thought might possibly have re- 
 claimed them. 
 
 When two of the legions had finished their 
 platforms. Titus on the eighth of the nionth of 
 August, ordered his battering rams to be planted 
 against the western gallery of tlie outward t?m- 
 ple : bringing forwards also the best engines for 
 casting stones, which he played off for six whole 
 days without intermission ; but to no purpose, 
 for the work was proof against the engines. 
 There were others at the same time sapping 
 the foundations on the north side; and when 
 they found that wilii incredible lahoiir, 
 they could only loosen some of the outward 
 stones, without moving any of the rest, for the 
 porch still stood firm, they at last cauie to the 
 conclusion that there was no good to l>e done
 
 83 
 
 by Jigging and mining, or by the help of levers 
 and bars : and hence the Romans betook them- 
 selves to their scaling ladders. 
 
 The Jews could not hinder them from plant- 
 ing their ladders; but they made a brave resist- 
 ance, wherever they could : encountering those 
 that got up, hand to hand, before they could 
 put themselves upon their guard ; casting others 
 down head-long, as they were mounting : cut- 
 ting off some as they were advancing with re- 
 lief; and sometimes overturning ladders and 
 men altogether. So that the loss of the Romans 
 upon this encounter was very considerable; 
 especially in the disputes they had in the defence 
 and recovery of their colours. The issue how- 
 ever was, that the Jews kept the ensigns they 
 took, and killed the ensign bearers; which terri- 
 fied the rest, and forced them to retreat. Of the 
 besiegers, there fell not a man but died like a 
 Roman. Those of the faction that had done 
 bravely in former encounters, did so still ; and 
 so did Eleazar, the nephew of the tyrant Simon: 
 but Titus, iinding by this time, that in sparing 
 a strange temple, he only sacrificed his own 
 men, gave orders to his people to set fire to 
 the gales. 
 
 The gates were accordinj:ly soon in a blaze; 
 ihe silver work over them melted, and tlie tim- 
 bers in l^ames, insomuch that the fire had 
 reached the adjoining galleries. This Vfas such a
 
 8:3 
 
 «;nrpri«»e to ibe Jew« that they stood gazing one 
 upon unotlior in astonishment, without so much 
 as atton'|jtin^ any thing tor their relief; or 
 concerninj^ themselves, cither for what was al- 
 ready consumed, or for saving the rest. Tliey 
 had, in s^hort, neither heart nor strength k-it 
 thorn, and tiie fire extended all that day, and 
 the night following, till by degress it burnt 
 down the galleries. 
 
 The next day Titus c;ovo orders forcjuonch- 
 ing the fire, and levelling the ways for tho 
 march of his array. After this ho called a 
 council of his general officers, to advise what 
 measures should be taken respecting the temple. 
 Some wore for keeping up the strictness of tho 
 law of arms ; for so long as the temple stood, 
 and the numerous meetings there continued, tho 
 Jews, (they said), would never be quiet : others 
 were for saving the temple, upon the condition 
 of tho J ows evacuating it : and that there might 
 be no further quarrel about it: but if it should 
 he gotten by tlic gword, by all means to burn 
 it; not as a temple, but as a castle: for in that 
 ca^o, the fault would be tlieirs ihat forced the 
 burning of it; not that of the Romans that did 
 it Vy necfssily. *' Hnt," says Titus, (interpos- 
 *' ing hire;, "if the Jews will be obstinate, 
 " and turn a tonipio into a citadrl, shall 1 re- 
 " Tcngc the stubbornness of a rebellioui; p«oplo, 
 "upon the inaiiiniato rvialerisls of which it i«
 
 SI 
 
 '•■ I'lilit, and lay the most glorious; fabric of llio 
 "-universe in ashes for li.ieir sakcs ? it would bo 
 '•an affivait to the divinity of Rome itself, to 
 '• think of depriving the empire of such an 
 " oniameiit/' When Titus had thus expressed 
 his opinion, the council was dismissed; with 
 orders to the army to rest and refresh them- 
 selves, to he the more prepared for action : seve- 
 ral choice battalions being ordered out in the 
 moan time to look after the lire, and to make a 
 road over the ruins. The Jews being now har- 
 rassed and fatigued, remained quiet during this 
 day: but the day following, when they had ga- 
 theredstrength.andtakenheartagain, they made 
 a desperate sally about eight o'clock in the 
 morning, through the eastern gate, upon the 
 guards of the outward temple. The Romans 
 stood the first shock like a wail against them, 
 under the cover of their bucklers, with great 
 resolution: but their tirraness would not have 
 lasted long against^uch fierceness and numbers, 
 if Titus, with a select body of horse, (who saw 
 the action from Antonia) had not come season- 
 ably up to their relief, before they gave ground. 
 The Jews shrunk, upon this charge ; and the 
 Romans breaking in upon the front, the rest 
 betook themselves to flight : and then the 
 Romans drawing oflT, the Jews rallied and 
 came on again. At this rate they took their 
 turns intorchani^cablv. one after another, victory
 
 H5 
 
 inclinini:; to i)otli sides, till about clovon o'clock, 
 when the Jews were forced into the temple, 
 and shut up there. Titus, upon this, withdrew 
 to Antonia, with a resolution to attack the tem- 
 ple with his whole army the next morning-. 
 But the fatal day was now come : the tenth of 
 the month of August, and the very same day 
 on which it was fonuerly burnt by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar the king of Babylon. This jjo.vover, 
 was aconrtagration which the Jews brought upon 
 themselves; for Titus had no sooner left them 
 in quiet, than the Jews made a sally upon the 
 Roman guards, as tbey were at v;ork, by his 
 order, to extinguish the lire : who put the Jews 
 to the rout, and pursued them to the temple. 
 
 There was at this time a certain soldier, that 
 without any pretence of authority, for so impi- 
 ous a deed, took upon him to act, as he said, 
 by the inspiration of a divine impulse. Ho 
 mounted upon the shoulders of one of his com- 
 rades; and then cast a flaming brand into the 
 golden window that looks toward the apart- 
 ments on the north side of thc» temple. The 
 place took lire immediutcdy, which raised such 
 an outcry among the Jews, that all hastened 
 to their relief; for this was not a time to bo 
 sparing of their lives or their persons, when 
 they saw the only thing that had made life 
 precious to them endangered. The news 
 of this conflagration being brought to Titus, 
 f3
 
 8{) 
 
 just.as liG was laying liimself down to rest after 
 tlio fatigue of tlie combat, he leapt up, and im- 
 iiKclijitely taking his chariot, hastened to the 
 teuipie, to try what ho could do toward extin- 
 !!!;uishing the lire. His great officers followed 
 him ; and the h^gions alter them, in such a 
 contusion, as is hut natural when a prodigious 
 inullitude acts wilhr.ut discipline. Titus did all 
 ihat could he done hy words and signs, to have 
 the Ihunes extinguished ; but it was all in vain, for 
 ihe greater noise drouued the less; and they 
 were as blind to the signs and motions of his 
 hand, as they were deaf to what he said. Neither 
 were the soldiers governed either by menaces or 
 commands; but followed the dictates of rage 
 and passion : some w ere trampled upon, and 
 squeezed to death in the crowds; others fell 
 among the burning ruins of tlie galleries over the 
 porches; and it was the sanie thing, whether they 
 overcame or were overcome. The common sol- 
 diers in the temple pretended, in excuse of their 
 disobedience, that they could not hear theircom- 
 mander's orders; and they that followed, gave 
 the word forward to throw lire. The Jews, in 
 line were unable to prevent the ])rogress of the 
 ilames; and which way soever they turned them- 
 selves, they saw nothing but blood and destruc- 
 tion. As for tlie poor j'oople, the sickly, and the 
 trnaruied, the Romans put them to the s^ord 
 wherever tJiey found them : mouiitainc; of dead
 
 87 
 
 hod if s w* re pileJ n)) about the altar, and stream.*; 
 o( l)loo',l llovvini^down the stairs; witii numbers oF 
 miserable creatures weltering in their own gor<». 
 When Titus saw there was no restraining the 
 fury of his soldiers, and that the firo gained 
 every day more and more ujtnn him, he took 
 some oi his cliief ollicers along witii him into 
 the inner temple; where, upon a strict exami- 
 nation of matters, he found the glory ond 
 magnificoncc of the ])lace, even to exceed the 
 fame of it. But Titus obseivinir. that the fire hail 
 not as yet takon the sanctuary ; and hoping 
 that it might not 1)0 yet too late to save tin- 
 lioly j)laco ; ho started up, and in his own 
 ]»orson earnestly hoscucHit his soldiers to do 
 their utmost U) put a stop to the lire; givin:;- 
 it in charge also to Liberalis, a centurion of his 
 guard'^, to restrain them. But with an ungo- 
 vernahlo rage, ond fondness for war. neither 
 fear nor respect was able to keep them within 
 the c<jmj)a>is of their duty. Thorc were others 
 again, tliat had their desires set upon the bo-^tv ; 
 not doubting, when they saw the doors pbited 
 with gold, but they should Hnd the in^^ide filled 
 with hidden treisure. While Titus was «?o 
 very intmt upon saving the t<'inplo, one of IIjp 
 sf»ldiers at the sam^ tune >pt fire to some of 
 the door-posts: whereupon Titu«^ and Jjis 
 cR|)lains wore forced to withdraw out f>f di«>- 
 tancG of preventing the mi'^'-hit'f • <€> that fli»
 
 8B 
 
 \ mplo \va> destroyed in de^pilo of overy effort 
 ho fculd make to binder it. > 
 
 The desolation that ensued makes the 
 heart hlecd : it was the ruin of the most 
 wonderful fabric that was ever seen or beard 
 or, both for structure, size, state, magniticence, 
 the honour of religion and of holy things. It is 
 most reluarkable ako, that this second confla- 
 gration shoiud so exactly answer the very day 
 and month of the former under Xebuchadnczzar 
 as is said already. We reckon from the 
 beginning of ihe lirst temple by Solomon, to 
 the dt'Stnictioij of this in the second year of 
 Vespasian, eleven hundred and thirty years, 
 seven months and fifteen days : and from the 
 building of the second temple by Haggai. in the 
 second of Cyrus, we account six hundred thirty 
 nine years, and forty-tive days. 
 
 When the temple was now in flames, the sol- 
 diers began to plunder, and slew every one they 
 met. without any respect either to age or sex ; 
 both young and old, sacred and profane, priests 
 and laity ; in short men of all conditions were 
 equally involved in the common calamities of 
 the war : and whether they resisted or submit- 
 tad; whether they continued their opposition 
 or begged for quarter, all fared alike. As the 
 fire advanced, the crackling of the flames was 
 mingled with the groans of the dying and the 
 shouts of the combatants, and between the
 
 89 
 
 •Icplli of lliG hill, and the oxlont of tho codHji- 
 t^ration, the whole city seoracd to ho hut one 
 continued hlazo. Tlie flames were so impetuous 
 and violent, that the very mountain which the 
 temple stood upon, looked as if it had heen one 
 hody of/ fire from the hottora ; and the blood 
 ran on all sides; for tho number of the slain 
 greatly exceeded that of those that did tho ex- 
 ecution. Indeed the ground was covered with 
 carcases, and tho soldiers pursued the living 
 over the bodies of the dead: but in the end a 
 band of the Jews beat back the Romans; and 
 having forced their way into the outward tem- 
 ple, made their escape into the city, and the 
 rest of tho multitude got into the outward 
 porch. 
 
 Tn this combat a great many priests wore 
 engaged, who made use of their knives and other 
 instruments of sacritice as weapons; but when 
 they saw that all was ineffectual, and that the 
 fire still advanced upon them, they sheltered 
 themselves for a while under a thick wall. 
 Some of them, indeed, might have saved them- 
 selves by going over to the Romans, but they 
 chose rather to stand or fall with their com- 
 panions, and so perished in the flames. 
 
 When the Romans found that the temple it- 
 self was laid in ashes, they made no ofTort to save 
 the adjoining buildings, but set Are to all at 
 once, as the gates and the galleries, (fee, save
 
 \)k) 
 
 only one on the cast n'tdc and anotljcr on the 
 j«oi]th, llio»jgl) these likovvise, not long after, 
 followod the fortune of tlic rest. 'Jliey hurned 
 also the treasury and the wardrobe, with jewels, 
 iijonoy, and rich habits to an incredible value; 
 lor this j)lace had been the depository of a great 
 many precious articles. 
 
 There was now gotten together into one gal- 
 lery without the tomplf^ that was yot stand ijig, 
 a mixed multitude of wonien, children, &c. to 
 the number oi near six thousand persons ; but, 
 before Titus could give any orders, the 
 soldiers had set the place on fire, and blocked 
 it up so closely that many were burned to 
 death, whilst others cast themselvrn headlonsr 
 down tlie ruins, so that not one of thorn 
 came olf alive. 
 
 The occasion of this mischief was a certain 
 impostor, who pretended to deliver a message 
 irum Almighty God, that day, to the peo])le 
 and, to this efl'ect, he commanded tliem, in 
 the name of God, to go immediately up to the 
 temple, with an assurance that they should 
 there receive an infallible proof of his divine 
 I'avour and protection. This was a common 
 })racticc ol" the faction-^, to pretend revelaiiotis 
 to keep the credulous multitude firm against all 
 dangers, and to secure them from deserting, 
 liesides men in adversity are apt to hf>pe the 
 best; especially wheie they are j)romised reHef,
 
 91 
 
 llioni^ii it b« but upon tlio ciodil of a lalso 
 jiroplict. 
 
 Tlie Jewish troops liavini;, as wo have said, 
 fled into tlio city, and tho tcniplo aud every tliin;^ 
 about it hrlw^ still in a blaze, the Humans lodged 
 their ensigns against tlic^ eju^tcrn gate, where 
 they ollered saeriiice, and, with great shouts and 
 acelaniations. ]»rocliiinied Titus emperor. They 
 got so prodigious a booty that gold in Syria was 
 thereupon reduced to half priee. 
 
 There was a child, belonging to one of the 
 priests, upon the wall, who begged of the Ro- 
 man guards lo give him a sup of drink to (piench 
 his thirst; which they freely ga\ehim, out of 
 tenderness both to his Hge and to his necessity, 
 upon promises of good faith on both sides. The 
 cliild accordingly went down and drank, and 
 then filled a flagon that he carried along w^ith 
 Jiim, and made such haste back with it to his 
 friends that the guards could not overtake Jiim. 
 The Romans charged the boy with breach of 
 the agreement; but he })leaded for himself that 
 he had asked only for liberty to fetch thf water, 
 ami had not promised to cojjtinue with tliem 
 when be had it. and consequently had broken 
 iio condition. Thi'y found Uie defence so just 
 that they were very well satisfied to pass it 
 o\er. 
 
 When the priests had stayed live days longer 
 uj)on the \\A\, they were forced to come down
 
 02 
 
 and surrender themselves, being no longer able 
 to bear the tortures of hunger. The guards took 
 them to Titus, where they cast themselves at 
 his feet for mercy ; but his answer was, they 
 should have thought of that sooner ; for now 
 that the temple was gone, they and their temple 
 should be inseparable. Upon this, he ordered 
 them to be put to death. 
 
 The heads of the faction finding themselves 
 pressed at all hands, and so surrounded that it 
 was impossible to escape, proposed a conference 
 with 'J'itus, who generously assented to it, part- 
 ly at the instance of his friends, in hope that 
 the Jews might be brought to better terms for 
 the future. He accordingly took his stand at the 
 west side of the inner temple, near the gates that 
 lead into the gallery: and there was a bridge of 
 communication between the temple and the 
 upper town, which at this time parted the Ro- 
 mans and the .lews- The soldiers gathered to- 
 gether on both sides about their generals ; the 
 Jews, on the one hand, to learn what hopes they 
 had of p;lrdon ; and the Romans, on the other, out 
 of curiosity to see how Titus would receive them: 
 who in the first place commanded peace and 
 silence, and that his men should forbear shout- 
 ing; after which he delivered his mind to them 
 by an interpreter, giving them to understand 
 that if they laid down their arms and surren- 
 dered themselves prisoners, he would spare
 
 d;^ 
 
 thoir liws. Tlio taction, lio\vo\or, roturnoil 
 liim this answer : *' That Ihoy could not dc- 
 " livor tlioiusehT's up upon any promise or as- 
 " suranco he could give theiu, because they 
 " were under an oath to the contrary ; but thoy 
 " were ready to depart, if he pleased, with their 
 " wives and children, into the desert, and to 
 ** leave the town to the Romans." Titus, how- 
 ever, was so much displeased to see prisoners giv- 
 ing law, and imposing conditions upon the con- 
 querors, that he presently caused proclamation 
 to be made, ** That no Jews should presume, 
 " for the future, to make any further applica- 
 ** tion for either protection or quarter; but that 
 " they might now defend themselves by arras 
 " as well as they could, for ho was resolved to 
 *• govern himself by the rules of war." So the 
 soldiers had leave given them to fall on with 
 fire and sword, and make their best of the spoil 
 of the city- There was nothing done that day ; 
 but the next morning they set lire to the regis- 
 ter-ofilce, the castle, the council-chamber, and 
 a place called Ophlas ; and so the fire went on 
 to queen Helen's palace, in the middle of the 
 mount, carrying all before it, together with the 
 dead bodies with which the houses and streets 
 were crowded. 
 
 The Jews, however, were not a people to 
 repent of the mischief which thoir desperate 
 obstinacy was producing. The burning of the
 
 94 
 
 city vva« to Ibem, thoy said, a spoctaclo of joy; 
 for, as matters stood thoy were ready to wel- 
 come death itself with comfort: for now that the 
 people were wasted, and almost totally cut otF; 
 the temple burnt to ashes, and the town in a 
 flame, there was nothing left for the Romans 
 who were to come after them, to rejoice for. 
 
 But while affairs were in this situation Joso- 
 phus did all that was in his power to save the 
 miserable remains of a ruined and desolated 
 city ; dividing; bimsclf in his applica'Jons, be- 
 tween invectives against the infamous inhuma- 
 nity of the one side, and seasonable encourage- 
 ments and good counsels to the other : but 
 it produced no ciYoct; for the Jews were both 
 bound by their oath, and as good as besieged 
 by the overpowering number of the Romans ; 
 beside, that their swords were novv used to 
 blood and slaughter. 
 
 In this distraction the Jews scattered them- 
 selves all over the city; hunting, and watching 
 up and down in the ruins, vaults, and elsewhere, 
 for dcsertvrs, who had concealed themselves 
 for the pur[)osc of going over. to the Romans. 
 They took a great many of them, and killed all 
 they took; for tiiey were too weak to try to 
 escape; and of all deatiis, frimine was the most 
 frightful and ghastly. There were several 
 that went over to the Romans, witlioiit either 
 the hope, or the desiru of any other mercy from
 
 96 
 
 lliem, tlian what they promised thenisrlvc- in 
 tho exclian;;c of one dcatli for another: in lact 
 tiio streets IVoin one end of tljo city to the otiier, 
 were covered with the dead hixJiosot those who 
 had died hy the sword or by famine. 
 
 The last hope of the tyrannical faction, was 
 in tlie recesses of sinks and privies, vainly ex- 
 pecting that they might lie concealed there till 
 all should he over, and the Romans gone; and 
 that then they might make their escape; not 
 considering that there is no hiding ])lace from 
 the all-seeing eye of Justice. The Jews that 
 were possessed of these subterranean retreats, 
 did more mischief than the Romans by the 
 lire; killing and robbing all they could meet 
 who came for sanctuary to those caverns; in- 
 deed such was their necessity, tiiat I verily 
 believe, if the siege had continued, the living 
 would have been inhuiuan enough to eat the 
 tlesh of tlie dead. 
 
 Tlie upper town was built upon sucli craggs 
 and precipices, that Titus found it utteily im- 
 possible to gain it without new mounts: so that 
 upon the twentieth of the month of August, he 
 began to erect them. Carriage was extremely 
 dear and troublesome, (as has l)i'cn already 
 mentioned); (or the materials were all cut 
 down for the former works, within a hundred 
 furlongs of the town. 'J' he four legions threw 
 up a mount on the west side of the town over
 
 ^6 
 
 ni^ainst ilie palace-royal : the auxiliaric-? ca-t 
 u\) another towaril the t^allory and hridge, and 
 a fort which Simon had huilt in his war with 
 John, known by the name of Simon's Tower. 
 At this time the Idumaean officers, command- 
 ing a body of auxiliaries who had hitherto 
 continued faithful to the Jews, began to con- 
 sult how they might get over to the Romans, 
 and sent five deputies with a tender of their 
 service to Titus, and a petition for mercy in 
 the name of the rest. This was, indeed, a 
 late submission ; but Titus, upon an opinion 
 that Simon and John would never hold out 
 after such a defection, sent the deputies back 
 with a promise of their lives, for he looked 
 upon the Idumaeans as the most considerable 
 part of their army. This plot had in the mean 
 time been discovered, and Simon caused the 
 five deputies immediately to be put to death, 
 and their leaders imprisoned ; reckoning James 
 the son of Sosas for the chief. And though 
 much could not be expected from the common 
 soldiers, now the officers were gone ; the rest 
 of the Iduma^ans were kept under a stricter 
 guard : though it did not prevent numbers from 
 deserting. There were many cut off. it is true; 
 but more escaped : and they were all received, 
 for Titus had too much generosity and good 
 nature to press hi> former prohibition to the 
 utmost rigour; and even the very soldiers
 
 m 
 
 tlicmsolvcs, wore sated witli blood. As ior tljo 
 common people (which wore all that wore now 
 leftj they were sold with their wives and chil- 
 dren, like boasts in a market; and at very 
 easy rates too, and but few purchasers- Titus 
 reflecting upon this, and upon his own procla- 
 mation, forbid any more Jews to come over 
 to him singly ; out of a desire to save as many 
 of them as he could : he was now pleased 
 to dispense with his own order, and to receive 
 as many of them, one by one, as presented 
 themselves : but with supervisors over them, to 
 distinguish the good from the bad, and to deal 
 with them according to their merits. Vast 
 numbers of them were sold, nevertheless 
 aliove forty thousand were set at liberty by 
 Titus, to go whither they would. 
 
 The works being now linished, on tiie sevcntii 
 of September, (having boon eightoon days erect- 
 ing) the Romans advanced their machines; upon 
 whicii that part of the I'action which despaired 
 of holding out, quitted the walls, and with- 
 drew to the castle; others took refuge in 
 sow«>rs and vaults: but the more resolute stood 
 liieir ground, and made head against those 
 that wore to manage the battery : the Rouians 
 all this while being superior to them, both in 
 strength and number; besides the advantage of 
 boing elated with success against a doj)airing, 
 and an unfortunate people. Wht never they
 
 98 
 
 took notice of any flaw in the wall or that 
 any of the turrets gave way to the engines, 
 tlie defendants imniediatcly moved away 
 as fa.>^t a<« they could : insomuch that Simon 
 and -John themselves were seized with terror; 
 and fled, even before the Romans were come 
 within reach of doing them any hurt. 
 'J'hey made an attempt, indeed, upon the wall 
 of circumvallation which the Romans bad raised 
 about the town, and effected a breach in it; with 
 a resolutian to fall upon the guards, and make 
 their escape ; but perceiving, when they ex- 
 pected to bo seconded, that their friends had 
 all forsaken thera, they retired in confusion. 
 Various al^o were the rumours to which their 
 fears gave rise. One brings news that the 
 whole wall to the westward was overthrown; 
 otiiers, that the Romans were just at the foot 
 of it : some, that they were entered, and were 
 actually in possession of the towers. Whatever 
 they feared, they saw; falling prostrate on 
 their faces, and bemoaning their follies, as if 
 they knew not which way to turn themselves. 
 
 'rhc power of God on the one hand, and 
 his goodness on the other, was very remarkable 
 on this occasion ; for the faction ruined them- 
 selves, by quitting those holds, of their own 
 accord, which could never have been taken but 
 by famine : and this after tl)G Jews had spent 
 so much time to no purpose in defending other
 
 99 
 
 placr^ of lew strength. By this mean.-?, tlic 
 llomans became masters of tliree impregnablo 
 torts, wliicli could hare resisted any assault: 
 for they were proof aj^aitist all battery. 
 
 Upon JSitnon and John's quitting; those tow- 
 ers ; under the intiuence of a mistaken judg- 
 ment, they hastened away to the vale of Niloa, 
 where they took breath awhile : and after 
 some refrohmcnt, made an assault upon the 
 new wall there : but so faint and weak were 
 they, that the guards easily beat them off; for 
 between fatigue, des])ondcncy, dread, and 
 misery, their strength failed them. 
 
 The Romans bring now possessed of tlio 
 walU, planted their colours upon the towers 
 with outcries and shouts of joy, to iind the end 
 of the war so much easier than the beginning: 
 if indeed tiio war was at an end, as they had 
 every reason for supposing. 
 
 The soldiers now broke loose all over the 
 town up and down, in tiie streets, with their 
 swords drawn; killing all that fell in their way 
 without disti.nction ; and burning entire houses, 
 and what<?vcr wa-s in tliem, in one common 
 flame. In several places, where they entered 
 to search for pillage, they found whole families 
 dead, so that horrified by a spectacle so dis- 
 tressing, they came out again empty handed ; 
 but the compassion they had for the dead, gave 
 tlioin no tenderness for the living; for thoy
 
 100 
 
 stabbed every man they met, till the narrow 
 passages and alleys were choaked up with car- 
 cases : so that the channels of the city ran 
 blood, as if it had been to quench the fire. In 
 the evening, they gave over the slaughter, but 
 it was only to resume the burning of the city. 
 
 The eighth of September put an end to the 
 conriagraiion of Jerusalem, of which city it 
 may be said, that, if all the blessings it had 
 ever enjoyed from its foundation, had but been 
 proportionate to the calamities it suffered in 
 this seige, it would have been undoubtedly the 
 envy of the world. 
 
 While Titns was engaged taking a view of the 
 ruins of this glorious city ; the works, the for- 
 tifications, and especially the turrets, which the 
 Jews had so rashly abandoned : and contemplat- 
 iuiX the height, diniensions, and situation of 
 these towers; the design, workmanship, and 
 curiosity of the fabric ; with the wonderful 
 contrivance of the whole : he lot fall this ex- 
 pression *• If God had not fought for us, and 
 ** with us, we could never have been masters 
 '• of these forts. It was God that assisted us, 
 '• and God that fought against the Jews; for 
 " this was not an undertaking to be compassed 
 " with human hands or machines." When 
 he had said this, and a great deal more 
 upon the same subject, it was his next care to 
 6et all the prisoners at liberty whom the factioTj
 
 toi 
 
 ^ad loft ill tli»^ tower-^ ; ami afterwards, nj)on 
 the rnzinp; and dcinolishiiii; of the city, to |»re- 
 sorvo those turrets as a inoniiinout of divine 
 lavor; without whoso assistance lie could never 
 have accomplished what he did. 
 
 The soldiers being now quite exhausted with 
 slaughter, and having a great deal more of the 
 work yet to do, Titus ordered his men to give 
 quarter to all e:!vce|)t those that they found 
 armed, or in a posture of resistance. But the 
 soldiers went beyond their commission, and 
 put the aged and sickly to the sword promiscu- 
 ously, with their companions; and for those 
 that were strong and serviceable, they shut 
 them up in the temple, in the women's quarter; 
 Titus appointing Fronto one of his friends and 
 freemen, to inform himself of the people, and 
 to treat them as they deserved. As for the 
 faction, he had them all put to death : but the 
 men of comely and graceful person*, and in tho 
 prime of their youth, he reserved for his triumph; 
 sending atvay all others above seventeen years 
 of age, in chains into Egypt, to be employed 
 in servile offices and drudgery : besides a number 
 of others who were distributed up and down the 
 provinces for the use of the theairesas prize fight- 
 ers or gladiators; in additon to which he ordered 
 all under seventeen to be sold as slaves. 
 
 In tho mean time, while tho pri^^oners were 
 under V'ronto's charge, there were eleven thou* 
 G
 
 102 
 
 sand of thera starved to death, owing partly to 
 the inhumanity of their guards, who would 
 give them no food; though in truth, the mouths 
 were too many for the provision. 
 
 The number of prisoners in this war was 
 ninety seven thousand ; and the number of the 
 dead eleven hundred thousand ; the greater 
 part of them Jews by nation, though not natives 
 of Judea. In order, however, that the reader 
 may give credit to this statement, it should 
 be mentioned, that the ordinary population of 
 the city would not have allowed of such great 
 numbers ; but at the time of the siege it was 
 unusually crowded : for there yras then a gene- 
 ral meeting at Jerusalem, gathered together 
 from all quarters to celebrate the feast of the 
 passover; who were there surprised into a war. 
 There was so prodigious a multitude, and they 
 so straitened for lodgings, that the crowd first 
 brought the plague into the town, and this 
 quickly made way for a famine. Not but that 
 the city was abundantly capable of entertain- 
 ing so vast a body of people, if the calculation 
 of Cestius.be admitted: it was as follows. 
 
 Nero had so great a contempt for the Jews, 
 that Cestius made it his suit to the high priest, 
 to devise some way of rumbc-ring the people : 
 and this he did from a desire to persuade Nero 
 that the Jewish nation was not so despicable as 
 he imagined ; so that the time chosen by the
 
 103 
 
 Jews to enter upon the computation, was at 
 the celebration of tlicir Paschal Feast: when 
 offering up sacrifices according to custom from 
 the ninth hour of the day to the eleventh, which 
 sacrilices as wo learn from Scripture wore eaten 
 afterwards in their families, by ten at least, 
 and sometimes twenty to a lamb: they then reck- 
 oned two hundred and fifty-six thousand and 
 five hundred oblations; which, at the rate of 
 ten to a lamb, amounted to two millions and 
 five hundred and fifty-six thousand persons; 
 all healthy and sound : for neither lepers, nor 
 people labouring under any malignant distem- 
 pers, were admitted to any partin this solemnity : 
 no more were any strangers, but what camo 
 thither fo'r religion. So that, this mighty con- 
 course of people from abroad before the seige, 
 was afterwards, by the righteous providence of 
 God, cooped up in the city as in a prison : and 
 the number of the slain in that siege was the 
 heaviest judgment of the kind that ever was 
 heard of. Some as already mentioned were killed 
 openly ; others kept in'custody by the Romans, 
 who searched the very sepulclires and vaults for 
 them, and put all they found alive to the sword. 
 Thf^re were up\var4s of two thousand, that had 
 either laid violent iiands on themselves, or killed 
 one another by consent; beside thosethat perish- 
 ed by the famine. Indeod the putrid co; luption, 
 of tho d(\i(l bodies sont forth a vapour siitlieiont
 
 lui 
 
 lo infect a> iwaiiy a.> eame wiiLiu tlie reach uf it. 
 J^ome wcr« not able to endure it, and went out 
 of the way ; othei-s had iht-ir hearts so set upon 
 booty, that thoy rilled the very carcases, and 
 tiraiupied upon tlie dead bodies as they lay. But 
 avarice hesitates at nothing. They brought forth 
 also several prisoners also whom the two tyrants 
 had left in chains there ; for they kept up their 
 cruelty to the last: hutjustico overtooktheiii|both 
 in the end ; for John, and his brethren in ihe 
 vaults, wore now driven by the distress of hunger, 
 to beg that mercy of the Romans, which they 
 had so often despised: and JSimon, after a long 
 struggle with an insuperable necessity, deliver- 
 ed himself up : the latter being reserved for the 
 triumph, and John made a prisoucr-for life. 
 The Romaiis, after this, burnt the remainder 
 i/f the city, and threw down the walls. 
 
 Thus Jerusalem was taken, and utterly 
 destroyed, in the second year of Vespasian, 
 and on the eighth day of the month of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 Titus now ordered his soldiers to lay the tem- 
 ple level with the ground; not leaving one stone 
 upon another, and of the city to leave nothing 
 standing, but th<^ three famous turrets, Phasael, 
 Hippicos, and Mariamne, that over-topped all 
 the rest ; and a piece of a wall to the westward 
 of the town, whore ho designed to place a garri- 
 ^sn : the lowers to remain as so many monnments
 
 105 
 
 V) posterity, of the power and conduct of the 
 Romans in the conquest of so strong a city. 
 This order was punctually executed ; and all 
 the rest laid so flat, that the place looked as if it 
 had never been inhabited. This was the end 
 of a mad and a seditious people : and this was 
 also the end of the most glorious city of the 
 universe. 
 
 When Titus had thns completed the con- 
 quest and destruction of Jerusalem, he left 
 the tenth legion, with some troops of horse, 
 and companies of foot encamped upon the ruins 
 as a garrison, to keep the surrounding country 
 in subjection. The twelfth legion he sent 
 away to the river Euphrates, which borders 
 the couatrii's of Cappadocia and Armenia; and 
 reserving the fifth and tifteenth legions to at- 
 tend upon himself, set out to make a tour 
 through Syria; intending to entertain each of 
 the towns through which he should^ pass, with 
 raagnilicent shews; and to exhibit his captives, 
 and the treasure he had taken; in order that 
 ho might thor< by exalt the Roman character, 
 and spread abroad the terror of their name. 
 
 We should not think it neces-ary to follow 
 him in his progress through this region, if it 
 were not coimected with the sufferings of the 
 Jewish people. At Cesaria, some of his cap- 
 tives were exposed to wild beasts, and others 
 compelled to fight one against the other, iu
 
 U!(| 
 
 troo|)5, to alToni a barliaivu'^ tiMmsf'm''ji( to IJif* 
 l&(n)j>!r^ ; the number who were thus sluin in 
 honour of his brother Doiiiitians birth day, br- 
 ins^ no less than two thousand five hiuidrrd. 
 At Berytu^ also, another city which he visited, 
 he kept his father's birth day with still greater 
 splendor and magnificence, and a. more profuse 
 and cruel sacrifice of hi> wretched prisoners. 
 
 The next place which he approached in Iur 
 triumphant progress, was Antioch : the people 
 being transported with joy at his coming, and 
 pouring out of the town in multitude-^ to meet 
 and welcome him. Here, however, an oppor- 
 tunity was offered him, for shewing that, ho^v- 
 ever cheap he estimated the liloodof his prison- 
 ers, whom he had taken in arms against him, 
 he felt no hostiliy against those Jews v. ho had 
 taken no part in tlje late war; for the inhabitants 
 of this place entreating him to publish an edict, 
 banishing all Jews out of their city; which it 
 was falsely said they had made an attempt to 
 burn; he prudently answered, that their coun- 
 try to which they could return, boing now laid 
 waste, there was no place that could receive 
 them; and therefore iiumanity reijuired that 
 thc}^ should bo protected. Thoy then retpicsted 
 him to deprive the Jews of their former privi- 
 leges ; but neither would he consent to this, 
 unless their conduct deserved such a punishment,
 
 lo7 
 
 li<j Uhti'^to Ijl'Il tlu-'in iu the ?ainc slate ho \idA 
 toiifid tlirn). 
 
 On his rolurii to J('rn«al(>m, lio found that 
 Ti^rciilius Knncs his coniiiiandnr, had actimlly 
 torn u|) with a |)h)n«rhsharo, the funndatious of 
 the tpin])h», remarkahl y I'lillillinii; the prophecy 
 v.'hi«'h foretold it : '* Thorefore shall Zion for 
 vonrsake ho ploui^hcd as a lleM ; and Jorn.sa- 
 leiu shall hcconio h« aps ; and tho mountain of 
 iho hon^e m the hii^h place of tho forest " 
 (Mh^ah ii. J2.) Inderd, so complete was the 
 desolation, that KIcazer, a .lew of note, who 
 survived tho calamities of the seii^e, said to hii 
 <'ountryn)en. " Wliat is hecome of our city, 
 '* wliicli vv;is ht'lic'ved to he inhahited by tho 
 " Most High ? It is rooted from the very 
 " foundation ; and the only monument that ig 
 " !e!t, is the can)p of those who destroyed it, 
 ** still pitched upon its remains. Some unhap- 
 •* py old men sit over tho ashes of the temj)lo; 
 " and a few wom.'n survive tho dcstmction of 
 '• all they held dear, only to experience greater 
 '* ealamilii's." LOven Titus himself, when hft 
 s.ivv the ruin, could not hut compare in his own 
 mind, its former with its present condition ; 
 that a short time l)eforo it contained the most 
 glorious pile of buildini^s in the world ; and 
 n-^w was a iieap of ruhhish ; and so far from 
 seckiin; to raise hi^i reputation upt;n such a
 
 lU:'^ 
 
 culaiiiiiy, hu could not but lament the circuai- 
 staaco.s which forced hiin to such an extreiuity. 
 
 His passage to Rome, was as fair and pros- 
 perous, and his recej)tion as honourable as he 
 could wish : Vespasian with a multitude of the 
 citizens, coming cut to meet him, and ofier 
 their congratulations for his safe return. Soni':' 
 days after, the Senate decreed, that the Em- 
 peror and his son, should have a triumphant 
 entry; which was an houour conferred by the 
 Romans upon their generals, after the successful 
 termination of a war; and deserves mention in 
 this place, from the circumstance, that the cap- 
 tives and the spoil wire led in procession, for 
 the gratilication of the people. 
 
 Upon the movinaj of the triumph at break of 
 day, the troops with their officers having takf^i 
 a position outside the tov.n at one of the gates ; 
 Vespasian and Titus stood forth with laurel 
 crowns upon their heads, and purple robes, after 
 the manner of their country; and advanced to 
 the place vrhere the senate, the nobility, and 
 knights, were wailing to receive them. A 
 throne had been erected before the gate, seated 
 on which, they received the acclamations of 
 the people. Vespasian then rose, and silence 
 being procured, he brieliy recounted the events 
 of the war, and dwelt upon the importance of 
 the victory. They then proceeded to the tri- 
 umphal gate, where they put on their robes of
 
 lou 
 
 triini)|il!, and advaucoJ tliroiii;li tlic strctti of 
 tlio city, followed Ity Ihi-ir train of attcnduuU, 
 and I>y tljo army. 
 
 It would 1)0 ditiicuU to doscril)C the nia'^ni- 
 licenco of tliis |);ii;oant, or the various ohjocls 
 which were exhihitcd to the gaze of the people. 
 IMien were exhihited the choicest works in ij;old, 
 silver, & ivory ; Babylonish omhroiderios, jewels, 
 and preciou-; stones: some sot in i^olden crowns, 
 and others displayed in different ways. Tiiose 
 who carried these Ihiugs, were all dressed in 
 cloth of gold and purple; nay, even the prison- 
 ers thoniselvcs who were led along, were deck- 
 ed out in sumptuous clothing, to disguise tho 
 misery of thoir condition, and tho marks of 
 dejection which they had in their countenances. 
 No part of the spectacle however, v^'as more 
 admirable than the various machines, which 
 represented the difuMont actions of the war: 
 one exhibited the appearance of a fruitful coun- 
 try laid waste; another, that of an army in 
 lliglit, the enemy jiursiiing and cutting down 
 tb«» hindniost; another the walls of a city batter- 
 ed to tho grounil; another, a city taken by 
 assault, the cor.ipiered hogging fur ipiarter — 
 h )uscs burning and tenij>les in ruiu'^; tho whole 
 a lively imago of the sulTorings of tho Jews; 
 and of the war, which Titus had led to a suc- 
 cessful issue. 
 
 The represfntation of tho Iloman {lc:l camo
 
 110 
 
 next; and then the spoils that were taken from 
 the conquered, the most remarkable of which, 
 were the ii;oUion table, and the golden candle- 
 stick, from the temple. This laiter was a kind 
 of pillar, from which, as from a stem, proceeded 
 branches, and at the extremity of each, a 
 lamp ; the number seven, intimating the vene- 
 ration of the Jews ibr their sabbath or seventh 
 day. After this came the copy of the Jewish 
 law, followed by certain images of victory, 
 wrought in ivory and gold ; and last of all, 
 Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian 
 — the two former in a chariot, drawn by white 
 horses; and Domitian on horseback by their side. 
 In this order they proceeded to the temple, 
 where they waited until news should be brought 
 that the enemy's general was put to de;ith — 
 This w^as Simon Gioras, w^ho was led through 
 the forum or market-place, with a rope about 
 his neck, and put to death, according to the 
 practice amongst the Romans. NT hen this 
 was over, the whole place resounded with 
 shouts and acclammations ; and the assembly 
 being dismissed, the day was passed in feasting 
 and rejoicing for the victory which they had 
 obtained over their enemies; and for the assur- 
 ance which it gave them, of peace and tran- 
 quility. 
 
 The triumph thus cnd^d ; Vespasian erected 
 a temple to commemorote the peace which
 
 ill 
 
 j)rovailod owr the world. It was as costly and 
 magnificent as monoy could make it but the most 
 remarkable circumstance connected with it, 
 was the short time in whieh it was built. In 
 the temple ho deposited the golden table and 
 the candlestick, as the trophies of the war, 
 which he valued most. The book of the law, 
 and the purple robes belonging to the sanctu- 
 ary, were lodged with great care and reverence 
 in the Palace. 
 
 END OF THE HISTORY. 
 
 We have thus seen the fulfilment of that 
 prophecy, which announced that the Jews 
 were to be led away captive of the Gentiles; 
 and to this day, they are dispersed over the 
 face of the liabitable earth. Another predic- 
 tion had declared, that Jerusalem was to bo 
 trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times 
 of the Gentiles should be fuliillecj; and a brief 
 account of its subsequent history and present 
 >tate, will shew us, that ever since, it has been 
 in subjection to some Gentile nation. 
 
 Tile first v^lio rebuilt Jerusalem, though nut 
 [^xtlacv on the same ?itc as before, was Elius
 
 112 
 
 Adrian, tlio Roman Knipoioi-. v. lio called it 
 after his own nanio, IClian, and ])lacod in it a 
 Roman colony ; find dedicalod a temple to his 
 heathen dtity, in the room of the temple of the 
 true God. While lie was visiting the eastern 
 parts of the empire, ho cajiic to Jerusalem, for- 
 ty seven years after its destruction hy Titus, and 
 found the city all levelled with the ground, and 
 the temj)le trodden under foot, except a few 
 houses; and he then formed the resolution of 
 rebuilding it; but his design was not put into 
 execution, till towards the latter end of his 
 reign. The Jews, naturally of a seditious spi- 
 rit, were inilamcd, on this occasion, into open 
 rebellion, to recover their native city and coun- 
 try out of the hands of the h^xithen; and they 
 were headed hy a man called Baichohab, a 
 robber and a murderer. They were successful 
 in their first enterprises through the neglect of 
 the Romans, and made themselves masters of 
 iElian or the New Jerusalem, and massacred 
 or chafed from thence the heathen inhabitants. 
 Their triumph however was of short duration, 
 for the Romans returning in force, laid siege to 
 ^Ti^lian and took it by storm ; it was entirely 
 consumed: the Jev.s throughcut the whole 
 retnon, being every where subdued with great 
 slaughter : hfty of their strongest castles, and 
 nine hundred and eighty-five ol their best towns 
 beir.ii sacked and demolished: five hundred
 
 li: 
 
 aijtl r>ij;,lity thoii-:uiJ hkmi t'Lilliir^ by tlit* swor.l 
 ill liattlj?; bosidt'b an iiiciudiljl.? niultitiul<^ who 
 perishj'cl by famliu.' and sickiiorss aiul lire, s.> 
 lliat now tho wholo vi' Jiidoa was dosulalcd ; 
 whoreas the calamities inllicted by Tiliis had 
 beeu chiefly coufliiod to Jeru.-alom and the 
 district adjoiiiini!;. Tiio Jewish writers them- 
 selves, reckon that double the number ot" Jews 
 were slain in that war than came out of Egypt, 
 ( 600,000 men ). and, that their sufferings 
 under Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, were not so 
 great as what they endureJ under the Emperor 
 Adrian. This sovereign no.v conipleted his 
 desigti ; rebuilt the city; reestablished th(; 
 colony ; ordered the statue of a hog in marble, 
 to bo set upon tbe gate that opened towards 
 liethlehem, in derision of their religious scru- 
 ples, and ])ublished an edict strictly forbidding 
 any Jew under puin of death, to enter the city 
 or so much as look upon it at a distance. 
 
 In this state Jerusalem continued, being bet- 
 tor known by the name of .Elia, till the reign 
 of the rlrst Emperor, Constantino tbe Great. 
 The name of Jerusalem had iu the mean time, 
 grown into such disuse, and was so little remem- 
 bered or known, especially among the heathen, 
 that when one of the martyrs of Palestine 
 who sullerod in the persecution under Maxi- 
 min, was examined of what country he was, and 
 answered of Jcru^:aleni, ncitbcrtbi^ governor of 
 II
 
 J14 
 
 the province nor any of his assistants, could 
 comprohond what city it was or where situated. 
 But in Constan tine's time it began to resume 
 its ancient name, and this emperor enlarged 
 and beautiiied it with many stately edifices and 
 churches. 
 
 Upon this the Jews, who hated and abhorred 
 the Christian religion as much or more than 
 that of heathenism, assembled again to recover 
 their city and rebuild their temple; but the 
 emperor with his troops repressed their vain 
 attempt; and having with great severity, ordered 
 their ears to be cut off, and their bodies to be 
 branded as rebels, he dispersed them over all 
 the provinces of the empire, as so many fugi- 
 tives and slaves. 
 
 The laws of Constantino and of his son and 
 successor Constantius, were likewise in other 
 respects very severe against the Jews ; but the 
 Emperor Julian, called the Apostate, the ne-,| 
 phew of Coustantine and successor of Con- 1 
 stantius, was more favourabl}^ inclined towards ; 
 them: not that he really liked the Jews, but 
 he disliked the Christians, and out of hatred to 
 the Christian religion resolved to re-establish 
 the Jewish worship and ceremonies. Our 
 Saviour had said, that Jerusalem should be 
 in the possession of the Gentiles, and Julian 
 determined to defeat the prophecy and re- 
 store the Jews. For this purpose, he wrote
 
 115 
 
 kindly to tl)e whole body or community ol 
 the Jews, expressing his concern for their 
 former ill-treatment, and assuring them of his 
 protection from future oppression ; and con- 
 cluded with a promise, that when he should 
 have finished the Persian war, wiiich he wus 
 then about to enter upon, he would rebuild 
 the holy city, Jenisalem, restore them to their 
 hahitations, live with them there, and join 
 with them in worshipping the great God of 
 the universe. His zeal even exceeded his 
 promise, for before he set out from Antioch, 
 on his Persian expedition, he proposed to 
 begin with rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem 
 with the greatest magnificence. He assigned 
 immense sums for the building. He gave it 
 in charge also to Alypius of Antioch, who had 
 formerly been his Lieutenant in Britain, to 
 superintend and hasten the work. Alypius, 
 accordingly, set about it vigorously, and the 
 governor of the province assisted him in it. — 
 Workmen were collected from all quarters, 
 and short-sighted man might have supposed 
 that our Saviour's prediction was about to be 
 falsified : but vain as well as impious, the at- 
 tempt to contend with the Most High ! Julian 
 himself never returned from that war, in which 
 he spoke of his success as certain ; and before 
 his death he had been informed of the extra- 
 ordinary manner in which his design had been 
 h2
 
 116 
 
 frustrated at Jerusalem. No fact is more 
 unquestionably authenticated than that the 
 work was miraculously interrupted. Horrible 
 balls of fire burst forth from the very place 
 where they were laying the foundations, ren- 
 dering it impossible for the workmen to ap- 
 proach the place. Nay, many of them were 
 severely burnt, as they fruitlessly endeavoured 
 to resume the work ; and these, and other pro- 
 digies, continued to terrify the spectators, till 
 the enterprise was finally laid aside. What a 
 signal providence it was, that this should pros- 
 per no more than other attempts ; and that 
 rather than prophecies should be defeated, a 
 miracle was wrought which affrighted both 
 Romans and Jews, and forced them to desist. 
 The interposition certainly was as providential 
 as the attempt was wicked ; and the account 
 here given is nothing more than what Julian 
 himself and his own historian have testified. — 
 "He thought," says Ammianus Marcellinus, "of 
 building, at a vast expense, the formerly mag- 
 nificent temple of Jerusalem, which with dif- 
 ficulty was destroyed, after many ruinous 
 battles, in a siege under Vespasian, and after- 
 M'ards under Titus. He gave the charge of 
 preparing for and hastening on the work to 
 one Alypius of Antioch, who formerly had 
 been his Lieutenant in Britain. When Aly- 
 pius, assisted by the governor of the province,
 
 was vigorously ongagod in lliis liusincss, fre- 
 quent balls of lire, bursting; out from tho 
 ground, and burnin"^ sometimes tbe workmen, 
 rendered them unable to approach the place. 
 In this manner the element of fire constantly 
 opposing them, the undertaking was laid 
 aside." 
 
 Julian was the last of tho heathen emper- 
 ors. His successor, Jovian, made it the bu- 
 siness of his short reign to undo, as much as 
 possible, all that Julian had done ; and the 
 succeeding emperors wore for repressing Juda- 
 ism in proportion as they were zealous for 
 promoting Christianity. Adrian's edict was 
 revived, which prohibited all Jews from en- 
 tering into Jerusalem, or coming near the 
 city, and guards were posted all round to en- 
 force the observance of it. I'his was a very 
 lucrative station to the soldiers, for the .Jews 
 used to give money to come and see the ruins 
 of their city and tem[)le, and to weep over 
 them, especially on the day whereon Jerusa- 
 lem had been taken and destroyed by Titus 
 and tbe Roman army. It does not appear 
 that the Jews iiad ever the liberty of approach- 
 ing the city except l)y stealth, or bribery, as 
 long as it continued in subjection to the Greek 
 Kmjx'roTS. In the early part of the seventh 
 century, and in the beginning of the reign of 
 the Kmperor Heraclius, it was taken and plun-
 
 118 
 
 dered by Chosroes, King of Persia, and the 
 greatest cruelties exercised upon the inhabit- 
 ants. Ninety thousand Christians are said to 
 have been sold and sacriiiced to the malice and 
 revenge of the Jews. But Heraclius soon re- 
 pelled and routed the Persians, rescued Jeru- 
 salem out of their hands, and banished all 
 Jews, forbidding them, under the severest pe- 
 nalties, to come within three miles of the 
 city. 
 
 Jerusalem was hardly recovered from the 
 depredations of the Persians, before it was ex- 
 posed to a worse evil by the conquering arms 
 of the Saracens. It was in the beginning of 
 the seventh century that Mahomet pretended 
 that he was a prophet, and had authority to 
 propagate a new religion ; and as his followers 
 gradually increased in number, enticed, pro- 
 bably, by the encouragement he gave to the 
 indulgence of the passions, by the extermi- 
 nating war he made on all who would not join 
 his standard, and by the assurance he gave to 
 his deluded soldiers, that those who fell in 
 battle on his side would thereby obtain an ul- 
 failing passport into heaven, this false religion 
 spread itself through the continent of Asia. — 
 Mahomet himself conquered some parts of 
 Arabia. His successor, Abubeker, broke into 
 Palestine and Syria. Omar, the next Caliph, 
 was one of the most rapid conquerors who ever
 
 110 
 
 spread desolation over the face of the oartli. His 
 reign was of no Ion|^c ■ duration tlian ton years 
 and a half, and in that time ho subdued all 
 Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Eiz;ypt. — 
 His army invested Jerusalem. Ho came 
 thither in person ; and the Christians after a 
 long siege, being reduced to the greatest ex- 
 tremities, in the year of our Lord ()37, sur- 
 rendered the city upon capitulation. He 
 granted them very favorable conditions ; ho 
 would not allow any of their churches to be 
 taken from them, hut only demanded of the 
 Patriarch a place where he might build a 
 mosque. Ti. Patriarch slicwed him Jacob's 
 stone, and the place whei.; Solomon's temple 
 had been built. This t lace Omar himself 
 began to prepare, and his clTorts were seconded 
 by the principal ollicers of his army, so that it 
 was in this place the first mosque was erected 
 in Jerusalem. 
 
 Omar, the conqueror of Jerusalem, is by 
 some authors said to have died there, being 
 stabbed by one of his slaves at morning pray- 
 ers, in the mosque which he had erected. — 
 Abdolmelik, the twelfth Caliph, enlarged the 
 mosque at Jerusalem, and ordered the people 
 to go thither, instead of going, as before, to 
 the tomb of iMahomot at Meccn, in Arabia; 
 90 that in a short time the Musselmen, or fol- 
 lowers of Mahomet, were seen repairing to 
 Jerusalem for the purposes of d«vo'.ion.
 
 120 
 
 In tliis r.junnt r " i\\c Holy City " was tran«i- 
 j'orrod from tbo possesj^ion of Iho Greek Chris- 
 tians into the hands of the Arabian JMussel- 
 '^eii, and continued in suljoction to the Ca- 
 liphs till the latter part of the eleventh century, 
 that is. above four centuric?. At that time a 
 new race from the interior of Asia, called the 
 Turks, had made themselves masters of Persia, 
 had usurped the government, but at the same 
 time adopted the religion of the country, which 
 was the Mahometan ; and being lirmly seated 
 there, they extended their conquests as far 
 as Jemsalem and beyond it. They drove out 
 the Arabians, and despoiled the Caliphs of 
 their power, keeping possession of it, till, be- 
 ing weakened by divisions amongst themselves, 
 tliey were expelled in their turn by the Caliph 
 of Egypt. This latter sovereign, perceiving 
 the divisions and weakness of the Turks, ad- 
 \anced to Jerusalem with a great army, and 
 the Turks expecting no succour, presently sur- 
 rendered it to him. But though it thus changed 
 masters, and passed from the Arabians to the 
 Turks, and from the Turks to the Egyptians, 
 yet the religion professed there was still the 
 same, the Mahometan being authorized and 
 established, and the (yhristians obliged to pay 
 ;i sum of money annually for permission to ex- 
 orcise theirs. 
 
 The Egyptian* enjoyed the conqycst but n
 
 121 
 
 ibort time, for in the same ycin' LliaL thoy took 
 possession of it, they were dispossessed again 
 by the Franks, as they arc generally called, 
 or the Latin Christians, who, luider the nanK- 
 of Crusaders, or Champions of the Cross, as- 
 somhled from ditferont |)arts ol" Kurope, and 
 marched into Asia, for tlio purpose; of wresting- 
 '' THE Holy City" from the hands of the in- 
 fidels. Peter the Hermit, of Amiens, in 
 France, liad gone on a pilgrimage to Pales- 
 tine, and having there witnessed and shared 
 in the distresses and persecutions which the 
 Christians suffered from the Mahometans ; ho 
 represented them on his return in such pathe- 
 tic terras, that, by liis instigation, the West 
 was stirred up against the East, Europe 
 against x\sia, for the retaking of Jerusalem, 
 and for the recovery of the Holy Land. It 
 was the mistaken opinion prevalent at that 
 day, that what they considered a meritorious 
 object, jjistilied the means by which that object 
 was pur.-;ued, and that, could the}' but })]ant the 
 standard of the cross where our blessed Re- 
 deemer had suffered for the sins of the world, 
 they might violate the last commandn)ont 
 which he had lett with mankind, that they 
 should love one another. Young and old, 
 men and women, kings, nobles, peasants, and 
 mechanics, all were eager to engage in what 
 ihev called a hnlv .var ; f'^rirettini: that the
 
 122 
 
 Christion religion inculcated peace and good 
 iirotherliood instead of enmity and slaughter. 
 Some assert that the number of those who 
 went upon this expedition amounted to above 
 a million, whilst they who make the lowest 
 computation affirm, that there w^ere at least 
 three hundred thousand lighting men. 
 
 After some losses and some victories, this 
 immense army sat down before Jerusalem, and 
 after a siege of five weeks took it by storm, 
 on the fifteenth of July, in the year of our 
 Lord 101)9, and all who were not Christians 
 they put to the sword. They massacred above 
 seventy thousand Musselmen, and all the 
 Jews that were in the place they gathered to- 
 gether and slew; burning, and otherwise de- 
 stroying, all the spoil that was found in the 
 mosques, which was of inestimable value. — 
 Godfrey of Boulogne was chosen king, and 
 there reigned nine kings in succession, and the 
 kingdom subsisted eighty years, till the year 
 of our Lord 1187. when the Mahometans re- 
 gairied their former dominion. 
 
 At that time Saladin, a native of the coun- 
 try which lies beyond the river Tigris, having 
 acquired great renown as a general, subverted 
 the government of the Caliphs in Egypt, and 
 caused himself to be proclaimed SuUan. Hav- 
 ing also subdued Syria and Arabia, he formed 
 the design of besieging Jerusalem, and of put-
 
 123 
 
 ting an end to that kingdom. He niaroheil 
 against it at tlie head of a victorious army, 
 and tinding the place ill prepared for defence, 
 he was able in fourteen days to make a breach 
 in the walls, and to plant upon them liis vic- 
 torious banners. What might have been the 
 result of this assault to the besieged it is difii- 
 cuit to say. x\n indiscriminate slaughter would 
 have doubtless followed, if a desperate and 
 successful struggle of the Christians had not 
 reminded him that his victory was not yet 
 secure, and that despair might make it more 
 difficult than he at first expected. He con- 
 sented therefore to accept the surrender of the 
 city and to spare the lives of the inhabitants. 
 The Greek or (Oriental Christians he permitted 
 to live under his dominion, but the Franks, or 
 Western Christians, were compelled to depart 
 to Tyre, or other places on the sea coast which 
 were in possession of their countrymen; and it was 
 required that both those who were to depart, as 
 well as those who remained, should ranson: their 
 lives at the price of ten pieces of gold for each m an, 
 live for each woman, and one for each child. 
 Those who should be unable to purchase their 
 freedom at this rate being condemned to per- 
 petual slavery. The rigour of these conditions 
 were afterwards, however, relaxed ; he ac- 
 cepted thirty thousand pieces of gold for the 
 ransom of seven thousand poor— throe thousand
 
 121 
 
 more were dfsiuissed without ransom, and the 
 jiumber of slaves was reduced to fourteen 
 thousand persons. 
 
 Thougli the city was in the hands of the 
 Mahometans, the Christians had still their no- 
 minal King: Richard the First of England, 
 who had been distinguished for his courage 
 in the holy wars, for some time enjoying 'the 
 empty title. Under him, and Philip King of 
 France, Acre w^as taken, after a siege which 
 cost the Christians above one hundred thousand 
 juen. From thence he marched to Ascalon, 
 on the coast, and at the commencement of the 
 following spring to Jerusalem. Tlie war, 
 however, was carried on languidly after this ; 
 declining liealth admonished these rival so- 
 vereigns that they were subject to the same v\'eak- 
 uosses as the lowest of their subjects, and after 
 a length of time spent in negociation, it was 
 at last agreed on, that Jerusalem should be 
 open without tribute or vexation to the pil- 
 grims from Europe, but that the possession of 
 it should remain with the Mahometans. 
 
 It would be wrong to pass over such events 
 as these, events which conviilsed Europe and 
 Asia for nearly two hundred years, without 
 offering to the young reader the moral which 
 may be drawn from them. A few months 
 after this treaty, concluded the life nrA the 
 {ilorics of the misht-/ I5aladin ; Richaid him-
 
 12o 
 
 self also, ill a short time, foil whilst Jjcsieirinj;' 
 a castlo ; and in little more than a century, 
 the Crusaders were totally expelled from the 
 Holy Land, after having lost in their Eastern 
 expeditions, not less than two millions of per- 
 sons, in pursuit of an object, which however 
 desirable in itself, and however it might have 
 originated in reverence for religion, should 
 never have been sought by means which reli- 
 gion so explicitly condemns. 
 
 By thus tracing the history of Jerusalem 
 from the destruction by Titus to the present, it 
 appears evidently that the Holy City **has 
 been trodden down of the Gentiles :" for nearly 
 eighteen hundred years, the Jews have been 
 dispersed into all nations, and their land 
 groaning under the yoke of foreign lords and 
 conquerors. Our .Saviour's words arc very me- 
 morable : — Jerusalem should be trodden down 
 of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles 
 should be fulfilled. Whrn the times of the Gen- 
 tiles shall be fuUilled, therefore, then the Jews 
 will be restored. The prophecies have been 
 accomplished to the greatest exactness in the 
 destniction of their city, and its continuing 
 >.till subject to strangers; in the dispersion of 
 their people, and their living still separate from 
 all others ; and wc may be sure that the re- 
 maining pn.rt of tlie prophecy will al?n, in the 
 appointed lirae, receive its fultilmenl, when the
 
 126 
 
 captive daughter shall loose herself from the 
 bands upon her neck, and recognize in the 
 Saviour whom she before rejected, the long- 
 expected Messiah, who suffered the just for 
 the unjust, that he might lead both them and 
 the rest of mankind unto God.
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 JERUSALEM, 
 
 TH THB FINAL DESTRUCTION THEREOF 
 
 The justice, mercy, and the might I sing, 
 Of heav'n's just, merciful, almighty Kicg : 
 Who in the prime, when all things first began. 
 For man made all, and for himself made man. 
 Who, heaven inspired, gave names to every 
 
 creature, 
 Marking thereby their qualities and nature. 
 All people then one language spake alone. 
 Interpreters the world then needed none ; 
 Then if a traveller had gone as far 
 As from the Arctic to the Antarctic star. 
 Whatever way he turned his wandering [eet, 
 In every clime a countryman he'd meet. 
 One hundred thirty winters since the flood, 
 The earth one language only understood, 
 Until the son of Cush, the son of Cham, 
 A proud cloud-scaling tower began to frame,
 
 128 
 
 Trusting that if the world again were drown'd, 
 Mo and his lofty building might rest sound. 
 All future floods lie purpos'd to prevent, 
 Aspiring to heav'ns glorious battlement. 
 But vain th' attempt to fight against the Lord; 
 Weak is thestrength that would oppose his word: 
 To dwell secure from future floods they thought. 
 But swift confusion in their speech is wrought. 
 
 Thus by the justice of the Lord of hosts, 
 Each sev'ral tongue was driv'n to sev'ral coasts; 
 And God peculiar to himself did choose 
 His most beloved, yet hard-hearted Jews. 
 Jehovah's honour with them then did dwell. 
 His name was oi>ly known in Israel. 
 Salem his habitation was of yore, 
 In Sion, men his glory did adore. 
 The sons of Heber were th' adopted stock, 
 God's only chosen, holy, sacred ilock : 
 To them he gave his word, his covenant band, 
 His patriarchs,' his prophets, and his baud, 
 Did bless, defend, correct, instruct and gniido 
 The Jews, more than all nations else beside. 
 For them a world of wonders hath he done. 
 To them he sent hh blest begotten Son ; 
 On them a land he froelv did be-^tow,
 
 129 
 
 Wljorc milk aiul honoy jilentoously did flow. 
 With them ho was till thoyhis goodness spurned, 
 And his rich blessings into evil turned : 
 Whilst to the Lord their homage tlioy addressed, 
 Abroad they triumphed and at homo had rest. 
 And wliilst they in his love and fear abode, 
 They were his people, he their gracious God. 
 13ut when impieties began to breed, 
 Aud overthrow old Jacob's sacred !?ced, 
 When sin, all shameless, the whole land o'er- 
 
 sprcads, 
 Then God sent dreadful vengeance on theirheads; 
 And for their heinous heaping sin on sin, 
 Jerusalem hath oft assaulted been. 
 First Shisbak, Egypt's king, with might and 
 
 main. 
 Made bavock there in Ilehoboam's reign: 
 The city, tem))le, golden vessels, shields, 
 All as a prey to the Egyptian yields. 
 Next .Toas came, the king of Israel, 
 In Amaziah's days, with fury fell; 
 lie brought Judca to Samaria's thrall, 
 King, kingdom, ])rinccs, peers and j)ooj)leall. 
 Then, thirdly, Kezin, king of Aram came, 
 In Ahaz' time, with sword and furious flame.
 
 130 
 
 Til' Assyrian, great Sennacli'rib, was the next, 
 By whom good liezekiah was perplext ; 
 But when these haughty pagans, full of pride, 
 Contemptuously the God of gods defied. 
 The Lord of hosts, whom nothing can withstand. 
 Took his own gracious, glorious cause in hand; 
 He us'd no human arm, nor spear, nor sword. 
 But with his all-commanding mighty word. 
 Smote in one fatal night, unheard, unseen. 
 One hundred four score and five thousand men. 
 Then, fifthly, was Jerusalem subdued, 
 In Judah's blood th' Assyrians hands imbrued, 
 Manasscs' godless glory did expire, 
 All yield unto the insulting foes* desire, 
 Usurping conquests all did seize upon, 
 The king in chains is sent to Babylon, 
 Till he, repenting, to his God did call. 
 Who heard his cry, and freed him out of thrall. 
 Then, sixthly, Pharaoh- Necho, Egypt's king, 
 To great distress J udea's land did bring; 
 With sorrow and dismay the kingdom fill'd, 
 And with a dart good king Josias kill'd. 
 Nebuchadnezzar next made them obey, 
 When Zedekiah did the sceptre sway ; 
 The fierce Chaldaeans did the king surprise,
 
 Tli<-'yMl(;vvlii-^ sons, and next pluck'd out bis eyes. 
 Tl)<.'n luito Bul>ylon be was convey'd, 
 In cbains, in prison and in darkness laid, 
 Till death Uu body from his soul divides, 
 IJo hv'd a wretched slave, and gladly dies. 
 For seventy years, in slavery and wo, 
 They kept the Jews, and would not let them go. 
 Till Persian Cyrus did the kingdom gain. 
 And blest with freedom sent them home again. 
 He ronder'd back their vessels and their store, 
 And bade them build their Temple up once more. 
 Which many years in glorious state did stand, 
 'Till Ptolemy, and his Egyptian band, 
 Surpriz'd the Jews, and made them all obey. 
 Assaulting them upon the Sabbath day. 
 Next after that, from Rome great Pompey came. 
 And J udah's force, by force perforce, did tame. 
 Then did the Caesars bear the imperial rod, 
 Tho universal World obey'd their nod. 
 But why detail tho several feuds which rent, 
 The Jewish nation, or their discontent? 
 War with the Roman power they vainly wage. 
 Intestine discord tills their minds with rage. 
 At length Judea's land is overrun. 
 By valiant Titus, old Vespasian's son,
 
 ];32 
 
 Then {"ell tboy (o an unrecovcr'd wane, 
 Were all made captives, or in fury slain. 
 Then was the extirpation of them all. 
 Their just their last most fatal iinal fall, 
 Thus mercy (being mcck'cl) called judgment 
 
 down, 
 God's favour being scorn'd provokes his frown. 
 Most unto them his favour was bestow'd, 
 Most upon them the stream of anger flow'd, 
 He blest, he punished, gave, and then he took, 
 As they his word obey'd, or else forsook. 
 How oft Jehovah seem'd his sword to draw. 
 To make them fear his precepts and his law. 
 By signs, by wonders, and by miracles, 
 By preaching, parables, and oracles, 
 He wrought and sought their faithless faith to 
 
 cure, 
 But ever they obdurate did endure. 
 Our blest Redeemer came unto his own 
 And 'mong.-t them neither was recoiv'd or 
 
 known. 
 Their murd'rous-minded malice never left, 
 Till thoy the Lord of life, of life bereft. 
 No tongue or pen, can speak or write the story, 
 Of the surpassing high immortal glory,
 
 Which he in pity and in love forsook. 
 And on himself tho liuuian frailty took. 
 To save man's soul his most esteemed irem, 
 And bring it to the new Jerusalem. 
 But they impelled by Satan in behaviour. 
 Laid cursed hands upon our blessed Saviour. 
 For which the great Almighty did refuse, 
 Disperse, and quite forsake the faithless Jews. 
 Thus sundry times this people fell and rose. 
 From weal to want, from height of joys to woes. 
 As they their gracious God forsook, or not, 
 His mercy still was with them, or forgot. 
 And still the Jews in scatter'd multitudes, 
 Deliver'd were to sundry servitudes, 
 Chang'd, given, bought, and sold, from land to 
 
 land, 
 Where they not understood nor understand. 
 To every Monarchy they were made slaves, 
 Egypt and Aram, Chaldea them out-braves. 
 Assyria, Persia, Grecia, lastly Rome, 
 Invaded them by Heaven's just angry doom. 
 Four ages did the sons of Heber pass., 
 Before their llnal desolation was. 
 Their first age, aged Patriarchs did guide. 
 The second, reverend Judsicsi did decide,
 
 134 
 
 The third by Kings, naught, good, bad, worse 
 
 and worst, 
 The fourth, by prophets, who them blest or curst, 
 As their dread God commanded or forbid 
 To bless or curse, ev'n so the prophets did. 
 Our Saviour weeping on the Mount did view 
 The City, and foretold what would ensue : 
 And in his tender pity unto them 
 Said, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 Hadst thou but known thy peace in this thy day, 
 But thou didst kill the Prophets and didst slay 
 Those that wore sent thee grace and peace to 
 
 bring, 
 And preach the coming of thy Heavenly King. 
 How oft and oft would I (for your own good) 
 Have gathcr'd you, as doth a hen her brood ; 
 But you would not, and therefore to you all, 
 V^our houses shall to desolation fall. 
 Which came to pass according as he said. 
 As in the second part shall be displayed.
 
 PART II. 
 
 Confusion, horror, terror, dreadful wars, 
 Domestic, foreign, inward, outward jars, 
 Shafts shot at Judah in Jehovah's ire. 
 Infectious plague, war, famine, sword and fire. 
 Depopulation at the liord's command 
 The final conquest of old Jacob's land : 
 These are the themes my mournful muse re 
 
 hearses, 
 These are the grounds of my lamenting verses, 
 
 Since Heber's sons the country first cnjoy'd, 
 Six limes it hath been wasted and destroy'd ; 
 Twice three times spoil'd, and thirteen limes 
 
 in all. 
 War's force or composition caus'd its thrall ; 
 Whilst the besieged that within did dwell, 
 Amongst themselves to blind sedition fell. 
 John, Eleazar, Simon, disagree, 
 And rend Jerusalem between them three. 
 These, each contending who should bo the chief, 
 More than the Romans caus'd their country 'i 
 
 grief ;
 
 13(i 
 
 Tlioy strove eccli other to surpass in evil, 
 And labour' il most, most how to serve the tUvil. 
 They hurly-burly all things overturn'd, 
 The houses stor'd with victuals down they 
 
 burn'd : 
 With hearts more hard than adamantine rocks, 
 They trailed Virgins by the amber locks ; 
 The reverend aged they did rend and tear. 
 About the streets by snowy antient hair. 
 Some dasht the brains of harmless infants out, 
 And some on lances points were borne about, 
 Whilst they relentless villains void of pity. 
 Consume and ruinate their mother-city. 
 The temple with unhallow'd hands defil'd ; 
 Respect was none, to age, sex, man, or child. 
 Whilst thus within they made their strength 
 
 more weak, 
 The Roman ram, th' opposing walls did break, 
 Whose dreadful batt'ry made the city tremble. 
 At which the factious all their powers assemble. 
 And all together (like good friends) unite, 
 And 'gainst their foes they sally forth and fight. 
 Like a swoln river bounded in with banks, 
 Opposed long, with pike-like reedy ranks, 
 At last th' ambitious torrent breaks its bounds
 
 And over-runs whole lordsLips and confounds 
 The Jiving, and the lifeless that dare bide 
 The fury of his high insulting pride. 
 Ev'n so the Jews forth from the city ventur'd, 
 And like a Hood the Koman army enter' d, 
 O'erwhelming in their desp'rate madness all 
 That durst withstand theiu, or assault the wall. 
 They set the fearful engines all on fire. 
 And bravely fighting made their foes retire; 
 The battle done, back came these desperate men, 
 And into factions each divide again. 
 Pell-mell confusion then again began. 
 All Older straight into disorder ran. 
 Their corn and victuals all consum'd with fire, 
 Their hunger-starved bodies 'gin to tire. 
 Provisions in a moment spoil'd and wasted. 
 Which kept, might well for many years have 
 la:ited. 
 
 Then famine like a tyrant, roams and rages, 
 Makes faint (yet furious) havock of all ages. 
 This was a plague of plagues, a woe of woes, 
 Oij ev'ry side grim death did them inclose. 
 
 To sally forth, the Romans shed tBeir blood, 
 To stay within, they starve for want of food. 
 And if thoy would go forth the gat^s were shut.
 
 13S 
 
 And if they stay'd within, their throat* were cut, 
 
 But of all torments, hunger is the worst, 
 
 For through the stony walls, (they say) Hwill 
 
 burst. 
 The people thus with woe and want beset, 
 Did strive how they might to the Romans get, 
 They knew that Titus was a noble foe. 
 And one that did not glory in their woe ; 
 They thought it best his clemency to try. 
 And not immur'd in hungry famine die. 
 Resolved thus (despairing in their hopes) 
 A number sliding down the walls with ropes, 
 Fled unto Titus, who bemoan'd their case, 
 Relieved and then receiv'd them to his grace. 
 Thus forty- thousand men with famine starv'd, 
 Were all unhop'd for, by their foes preserv'd. 
 The city soldiers searcb'd each house to see, 
 AVhere any victuals might conveyed be. 
 And if they any found, they thought it fit, 
 Vo kill the owners for concealing it. 
 Some men and women rich and nobly born. 
 Gave all they had for one poor strike of corn. 
 Then in some vault, not easy to be found. 
 They hid the grain, and ate it up unground. 
 If any could get fish thoy ate it raw.
 
 The strongest still the weakest over-awe : 
 For hunger banish'd natural respect, 
 It naatle the husband his own wife reject, 
 The wif>) doth snatch the meat out of his hand, 
 Which would and should her love and life 
 
 command. 
 All pity from the mother was cxil'd, 
 She tears and takes the victuals from her child ; 
 The child doth with her parents play the thief, 
 Steals all thoy have and lets them pine in grief, 
 Nor free, nor bondmen, fathers, nor yet mothers. 
 Wives, husbands, servants, masters, sisters, 
 
 brothers, 
 The pining servant will no master know, 
 The son his father will no duty show; 
 The commons did no magistrates regard, 
 Each boinj^ for self, for self alone they car'd. 
 Things loathsome to be iiam'd in time of plenty 
 Amongst the starv'd distressed Jews were dainty. 
 This famine ran beyond all nature's bound, 
 All motherly aiiection did coni 
 And thro' the city made its daily 
 No blood or birth, with it compassion won ; 
 A certain woman kill'd her only son ; 
 .She ate him, she ioterr'd him in her womb, 
 
 ituro's bound, 'j 
 ifound; >- 
 
 lily round. 3
 
 140 
 
 She made his birth-place, his untimely tomb. 
 He was her flesh, her sinews, bones and blood, 
 She (eating him) herself, of self made food. 
 Thesoldierssmeltthe meat and straightassemblc, 
 Which when they saw. dread horror made 
 
 them tremble, 
 Each one with staring hair, and ghastly look, 
 Affrighted and amaz'd, the house forsook. 
 This horrid action quickly overcame 
 These men, whom force of man could nevertnme. 
 Ye rich and happy, ye who know no care. 
 Think upon those who had such wretched fare : 
 Think of Jerusalem amidst your glory, 
 And then you'll he less dainty and more sorry. 
 Their greatest, chiefest, only, earthly good, 
 Was ('twas no matter how they got it) food. 
 One little piece of bread they reckon'd more. 
 Than e'er they valued bags of gold before. 
 One scrap which full-fed men away would fling. 
 With them had been a ransom for a king. 
 Whilst famine play'd the tyrant thus, within, 
 The Roman army strive the walls to win. 
 Jerusalem had three strong walls of stone, 
 And long the Rou-ians strove to enter one. 
 The dearth, and death by sword and famine 
 
 spread
 
 Ill 
 
 Tlie streets, the living trod apon the dead. 
 And many great men's houses full were lill'd 
 With carcases, which the seditious killd ; 
 Insensible of one another's vvoei<, 
 Tl)e soldier then the lifeless bodies throws 
 By hundreds and by thousands o'er the wall. 
 Rut w hen the Romans saw their dismal fall, 
 They told to Titus ; which when he percciv'd, 
 lie wept, and up toward heaven his hands he 
 
 heav'd. 
 And call'd on God to witness with him this. 
 These slaughters were no thought or faultof his. 
 These wretches that coiild 'scape from out the 
 
 city, 
 Amongst their foes found both relief and pity. 
 If the seditious any caught that lied, 
 Without remorse they quickly strike him dead 
 Hut now my story briefly to conclude, 
 V^cspasian's force at length the walls subdu'd, 
 And his triumphant banner was display'd 
 Amidst the street-;, which made the Jews dis- 
 may 'd ; 
 Who desp'rate to the temple did retire. 
 Which an ungodly hand soon set on fire : 
 \Vhilst noble Titus with exceedmg care,
 
 H2 
 
 Entreated iiiat they would the temple fipare. 
 
 Oh ! let not after-times report a story, 
 
 That you have burnt th« world's fine matchless 
 
 glory. 
 If ye expect grace from Ve<5j)asian's hand, 
 Then spare the temple, Titus doth command. 
 The stubborn Romans his entreaties heard, 
 But urged by fury pay him no regard. 
 They burn'd, and in their madness did con- 
 found 
 King Solomon's great temple to the ground. 
 That temple which did thirty millions cost; 
 Was in a moment all consum'd and lost; 
 Where at one offering, as the text says plain, 
 Were two and twenty thousand oxen slain. 
 One hundred twenty thousand sheep beside, 
 At the same time for an oblation died. 
 That house of God (who reigns above the 
 
 thunder) 
 Whose glorious fame made all the people wonder, 
 Was burnt and ransank'd, spite of human aid, 
 And level with the humble ground was laid ; 
 The Roman soldiers (then inspir'd with rage) 
 Spared none, slew all, respect no sex or age. 
 John Eloazar, Simon, wicked fiends.
 
 143 
 
 As tlioy dcRervM, were brought to violent cndo, 
 And from tho timo tho Romans did begin 
 The siege, untjl they did tho city win, 
 By famine, sword and fire, the war deprives 
 Eleven hiindrod thousand of their lives; 
 Besides one hundred thousand at the least, 
 Were ta'cn and sold as each had been a beast. 
 And from the time it was at first erected, 
 Till by tho Romans it was last dejected. 
 It stood (as it in history appears) 
 Twenty-one liundred seventy and nine years. 
 But yet e'er God his vengoanoe down did throw, 
 What strange prodigious wonders did he show ? 
 First in the firmament th' offended Lord, 
 Shew'd them a comet like a fiery sword. 
 The temple and the altar, divers nights, 
 Were all environ'd with bright burninji; lights. 
 The temple's brazen gate, no bolts restrain, 
 But (of itself) it open flew amain. 
 Anij'd men an3 chariots in the air a-jscmbled, 
 The pond'rous earth aff'rightod, quak'd and 
 
 trembled. 
 A voice cry'd in the temple to thi^ sense. 
 Let u«: depart, let us depart from hence. 
 These supernatural accidents in sum,
 
 144 
 
 T^oretold some fearful jiulgnient was to come. 
 But yet the Jews accounted tbem as toys, 
 (^r scarecrow bugbears to fright wanton boys. 
 JSecure they revel I'd in Jerusalem, 
 They thought these signs against their foes, 
 
 not them ; 
 But yet when war and death had all perform'd, 
 When ruin, spoil, and furious flames hadstorm'd, 
 Those who the desolated place had seen. 
 Would not have known there had a city been. 
 Thus Judah and Jeri:salera all fell, 
 Thus was fultill'd what Christ did once forctel. 
 .Sad desolation ail their joys bereft. 
 And one stone on anotljer was tiot left.
 
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