And thus were the Romans driven out, after they had possessed themselves
of the second wall. Whereupon the fighting men that were in the city
were lifted up in their minds and were elevated upon this their good
success, and began to think that the Romans would never venture to come
into the city any more; and that if they kept within it themselves they
should not be any more conquered, for God had blinded their minds for
the transgressions they had been guilty of, nor could they see how much
greater forces the Romans had than those that were now expelled, no more
than they could discern how a famine was creeping upon them, for
hitherto they had fed themselves out of the public miseries and drank
the blood of the city. But now poverty had for a long time seized upon
the better part, and a great many had died already for want of
necessaries, although the seditious indeed supposed the destruction of
the people to be an easement to themselves, for they desired that none
others might be preserved but such as were against a peace with the
Romans, and were resolved to live in opposition to them, and they were
pleased when the multitude of those of a contrary opinion were consumed,
as being then freed from a heavy burden. And this was their disposition
of mind with regard to those that were within the city, while they
covered themselves with their armor, and prevented the Romans, when they
were trying to get into the city again, and made a wall of their own
bodies over against that part of the wall that was cast down.
Thus did they valiantly defend themselves for three days; but on the
fourth day they could not support themselves against the vehement
assaults of Titus, but were compelled by force to fly whither they had
fled before; so he quietly possessed himself again of that wall and
demolished it entirely. And when he had put a garrison into the towers
that were on the south parts of the city, he contrived how he might
assault the third wall.
A resolution was now taken by Titus to relax the siege for a little
while, and to afford the seditious an interval for consideration, and to
see whether the demolishing of their second wall would not make them a
little more compliant, or whether they were not somewhat afraid of a
famine, because the spoils they had gotten by rapine would not be
sufficient for them long; so he made use of this relaxation in order to
compass his own designs. Accordingly, as the usual appointed time when
he must distribute subsistence money to the soldiers was now come, he
gave orders that the commanders should put the army into battle array,
in the face of the enemy, and then give every one of the soldiers his
pay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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