Why was this world-famous sanctuary--then standing in all its marvellous beauty, with its matchless treasures, some of them environed with an aureole of sanctity simply unequalled in the story of the nations in the sphere of Roman influence--ruthlessly destroyed, and its wondrous treasures swept out? This was not the usual policy of far-seeing Rome. According to Josephus, the burning of the Temple was the result of accident, and was not owing to any premeditated plan or order issuing from the Roman commander-in-chief. Modern scholars,[145] however, believe that a passage from the lost _Histories of Tacitus_ has been discovered which describes how a council of war was held by Titus after the capture of Jerusalem in which it was decided that the Temple ought to be destroyed, in order that the religion of the Jews and of the Christians might be more completely stamped out. In the Talmud[146] the burning of the Temple is ascribed to the “impious Titus.” The cruelties which are associated with the storming of Jerusalem--the loss of life and the subsequent fate of the prisoners captured by the victorious army of Titus--make up a tale of horror which perhaps is unequalled in the world’s history; there is, however, no doubt that the awful scenes of carnage and the fate of the defenders who survived the fall of the city were in large measure owing to the obstinate defence and irreconcilable hatred of the party of Jewish Zealots who provoked the war and for so long a time had been masters in the hapless city. The result of the siege by Titus may be briefly summed up as follows. The Temple and the City of Jerusalem were absolutely razed to the ground, and may be said to have completely disappeared; only the mighty foundations of the magnificent Temple remained. These still are with us, and after nearly two thousand years bear their silent witness to the vastness and extent of the third Temple. It is no exaggeration which describes it as one of the most magnificent buildings of the Old World. For some fifty-two years--that is, from A.D. 70 to A.D. 122--a vast heap of shapeless ruins was all that remained of the historic City of the Jews and its splendid Temple. In one corner of the ruins during this period of utter desolation the Tenth Legion (Fretensis) kept watch and ward over the pathetic scene of ruin. In the year of grace 122, under the orders of the Emperor Hadrian, a new pagan city, known as Ælia Capitolina, slowly began to arise on the ancient site. This new city will be briefly described in due course. The year following the awful catastrophe which befel the Jewish nation witnessed one of the most remarkable of the long series of “triumphs” which usually marked the close of the successful Roman wars. [Illustration: THE “WAILING-PLACE” OF THE JEWS BEFORE THE RUINED WALLS OF THE TEMPLE]