The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of JerusalemJosephus, Flavius
Religion
The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem
Josephus, Flavius
Jews -- History
9. But on the next day the high priest was caught where he had concealed
himself in an aqueduct; he was slain, together with Hezekiah his
brother, by the robbers: hereupon the seditious besieged the towers, and
kept them guarded, lest any one of the soldiers should escape. Now the
overthrow of the places of strength, and the death of the high priest
Ananias, so puffed up Manahem, that he became barbarously cruel; and
as he thought he had no antagonist to dispute the management of affairs
with him, he was no better than an insupportable tyrant; but Eleazar
and his party, when words had passed between them, how it was not proper
when they revolted from the Romans, out of the desire of liberty, to
betray that liberty to any of their own people, and to bear a lord,
who, though he should be guilty of no violence, was yet meaner than
themselves; as also, that in case they were obliged to set some one over
their public affairs, it was fitter they should give that privilege to
any one rather than to him; they made an assault upon him in the temple;
for he went up thither to worship in a pompous manner, and adorned
with royal garments, and had his followers with him in their armor. But
Eleazar and his party fell violently upon him, as did also the rest of
the people; and taking up stones to attack him withal, they threw them
at the sophister, and thought, that if he were once ruined, the entire
sedition would fall to the ground. Now Manahem and his party made
resistance for a while; but when they perceived that the whole multitude
were falling upon them, they fled which way every one was able; those
that were caught were slain, and those that hid themselves were searched
for. A few there were of them who privately escaped to Masada, among
whom was Eleazar, the son of Jairus, who was of kin to Manahem, and
acted the part of a tyrant at Masada afterward. As for Manahem himself,
he ran away to the place called Ophla, and there lay skulking in
private; but they took him alive, and drew him out before them all; they
then tortured him with many sorts of torments, and after all slew him,
as they did by those that were captains under him also, and particularly
by the principal instrument of his tyranny, whose name was Apsalom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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