(i) The _Jewish War_. This, the earliest of the works, was, in its present Greek form, finished in the latter half of Vespasian’s reign, between A.D. 75 and 79. It cannot be earlier than A.D. 75, because it mentions the completion of the temple of Pax (_B. J._ VII. 158), which was dedicated in that year; it had, moreover, been preceded by other histories of the war. The Greek, as the author tells us,[16] is a translation, made for the use of the learned Roman world at large, of a first draft, written in his native Aramaic for the benefit of a smaller circle of readers in upper (or inland) Syria. The Aramaic has not survived. The Greek—for which assistance was obtained, “employing certain _collaborateurs_ with a view to the Greek style” are his words, _c. Ap._ I. 50—shows no sign of its Semitic parentage and probably amounted to practically a new work. It is unlikely, _e. g._, that the first draft contained the summary sketch of Jewish history from the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, which occupies Books I and II of the Greek. The work seems to have been issued in parts.[17] Copies were presented to Vespasian and Titus and other Romans who had taken part in the war, and _sold_ to Herod Agrippa II and other learned Jews (_c. Ap._ I. 51). Titus himself affixed his _imprimatur_. A long correspondence on the work passed between the author and his friend, Agrippa; two specimens of the king’s letters, in rather slipshod Greek, are quoted.[18] Books I and II give a rapid sketch (expanded in the _Ant._) of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes (168 B.C.) down to the defeat of Cestius Gallus in A.D. 66 and the preparations for the war. Book III narrates the coming of Vespasian and Titus, the siege of Jotapata and the fighting in Galilee; Book IV the close of the Galilæan campaign, the factions in Jerusalem, the advance of Vespasian upon the city and his return to Rome on being elected emperor by his army; Book V describes the city and Temple, the investment by Titus and the capture of the first and second walls; Book VI the horrors of the famine, the taking of the fortress of Antonia, followed by the burning of the Temple and the capture and destruction of the city; Book VII the return of Titus to Rome, the triumphal procession and the capture of the last strongholds of the Jewish fanatics.