They were received by Eleazar and Simon, who pointed the way the soldiers should march. Metilius, on looking, saw that his band would have to pass beneath two spears set obliquely in the ground so as to form a kind of yoke; the Jews were adopting a Roman ceremony applied both to slaves and to captives taken in war. At this sight the blood even of Metilius rebelled. “This was not included in the compact,” said he. “Nor excluded,” replied Eleazar with an insulting smile. “March!” Opposition being, in the circumstances, futile, the Romans were compelled to submit to the humiliating ceremony. As each passed beneath the yoke he delivered his sword and buckler to certain of the Zealots stationed there to receive them. But when the last Roman had been deprived of his arms, the Levitical guards of Eleazar, sword in hand, came crowding round the little band. Their significant looks sent a sudden suspicion to the hearts of the Romans. “The end has come, Metilius,” said Crispus. “’Twere better to have gone on fighting.” “Prepare for death, ye uncircumcized fools,” cried Eleazar with a savage laugh. “Death?” faltered Metilius. “Death, when ye have vowed by a solemn oath to respect our lives!” “We swore by the altar of God, and such oath is not binding upon the conscience of a Jew. Here standeth Gamaliel’s son, Simeon, master of all the learning of the scribes. Let him say whether I speak falsely.” And that rabbi, who chanced to be present, stepped forward to justify Eleazar’s assertion. “The elders have delivered it,” said he, “that if a man swear by the gold of the altar he must keep his oath, or dread condemnation; but if he swear by the altar only, he is not guilty if he break his word.” But Johanan ben Zacchai, who happened likewise to be present, opposed this casuistry. “Simeon,” said he, “which is the greater, the gold, or the altar that sanctifieth the gold?” And, turning to Eleazar, he said: “Will ye indeed slay these men?” “Aye! Did they show us mercy in the day of Florus?” “You will never get another Roman garrison to submit.” “Be it so.” “Defer the deed, for to-day is the Sabbath.” “A holy day and a holy deed--to exterminate idolaters.” Simon, although a party to Eleazar’s guilty trick, was nevertheless willing to make an exception in favor of one of the captives. “Give me the life of this man,” said he, pointing to Crispus. “That fellow?” said Eleazar, with a wrathful glance at Crispus. “He is the one who has done us the most hurt. Why do you seek to spare him?” “Because at my trial he was the first to rise and rebuke the wicked Florus.” “He is the man,” said Simeon ben Gamaliel, “who defied and insulted us in our own synagogue by snatching a Christian damsel from the punishment justly due to her.” “These heathen,” said Eleazar, “when they get the opportunity, try to make us forswear our faith. Verily, we will do the like by them.”