The Zealots had not succeeded in imparting their enthusiasm to the inhabitants of the country towns; many of the wealthiest and shrewdest, seeing no possible advantage to themselves in the continuation of the war, were ready to capitulate. Thus only the very young and men of no worldly position devoted themselves to the cause of the revolutionists. Every community, every family, was divided against itself, some clamoring for war and others demanding peace; but as the former had no rallying point in their own towns, they all sought kindred spirits in Jerusalem, and increased the number of Zealots in that city. The fortress of Masada alone, commanded by Eleazer ben Jair, was a hotbed of insurgents; it was the Jerusalem of the Sicarii, who were strengthened by the leadership of Simon Bar-Giora. This man, who was to play a leading part in the war, was remarkable for his physical strength, and distinguished for his reckless courage, a quality which did not desert him until his last breath. At the flight of the Roman troops under Cestius he followed amongst the very first upon the heels of the fugitives. He then gathered a number of free-lances about him, and led a wild life in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, namely in Acrabattine. When the inhabitants of that district complained in Jerusalem that he imperiled their safety, the moderate party of the Zealots sent a troop against him, obliging him to take refuge in Masada. It was from this place that he and the Sicarii undertook armed expeditions into Idumæa for the purpose of cattle-lifting and forage-hunting. This roused the Idumæans to retaliate by opposing his force with a large army numbering twenty thousand men. These rival hosts outdid each other in patriotism, fierce courage, and recklessness. The stream of patriots daily pouring into Jerusalem fanned the excitement and warlike energy of the inhabitants, embittered as they were by Josephus' duplicity and defection. For, as long as the Judæans believed that he was buried under the ruins of Jotapata, his name was mentioned with reverence, but as soon as the tidings spread that he was in the Roman camp, and treated with consideration by the Roman generals, their feelings of pity were changed into violent hatred. The ultra-Zealots were filled with suspicion and distrust, and they looked upon all who were not in favor of extreme measures as traitors to the cause.