The king’s alleged “culture” here fails him; the Greek is vulgar and
obscure. For ἡμᾶς ὅλους, “us all,” perhaps we should read ἡμᾶς ὅλως,
“us completely.”
Footnote 72:
Or “not generally known.”
(4) After the War. Josephus as Roman Citizen
[Sidenote: A.D. 67]
After the siege of Jotapata I was in the hands of the Romans and was
kept under guard, while receiving every attention. Vespasian showed in
many ways the honour in which he held me, and it was by his command that
I married one of the women taken captive at Cæsarea, a virgin and a
native of that place. She did not, however, remain long with me, for she
left me on my obtaining my release and accompanying Vespasian to
Alexandria. There I married again. From Alexandria I was sent [Sidenote:
A.D. 70] with Titus to the siege of Jerusalem, where my life was
frequently in danger, both from the Jews, who were eager to get me into
their hands, to gratify their revenge, and from the Romans, who
attributed every reverse to some treachery on my part, and were
constantly and clamorously demanding of the Emperor that he should
punish me as their betrayer. Titus Cæsar, however, knowing well the
varying fortunes of war, repressed by his silence the soldiers’
outbursts against me.
Again, when at last Jerusalem was on the point of being carried by
assault, Titus Cæsar repeatedly urged me to take whatever I would from
the wreck of my country, stating that I had his permission. And I, now
that my native place had fallen, having nothing more precious to take
and preserve as a solace for my personal misfortunes, made request to
Titus for the freedom of some of my countrymen; I also received by his
gracious favour a gift of sacred books.[73] Not long after I made
petition for my brother and fifty friends, and my request was granted.
Again, by permission of Titus, I entered the Temple, where a great
multitude of captive women and children had been imprisoned, and
liberated all the friends and acquaintances whom I recognized, in number
about a hundred and ninety; I took no ransom for their release and
restored them to[74] their former fortune. Once more, when I was sent by
Titus Cæsar with Cerealius and a thousand horse to a village called
Tekoa, to prospect whether it was a suitable place for an entrenched
camp, and on my return saw many prisoners who had been crucified and
recognized three of my acquaintances among them, I was cut to the heart
and came and told Titus with tears what I had seen. He gave orders
immediately that they should be taken down and receive the most careful
treatment. Two of them died in the physicians’ hands; the third
survived.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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