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
10. At which time Titus, who was now returned, out of the indignation
he had at the destruction the Romans had undergone while he was absent,
took two hundred chosen horsemen and some footmen with him, and entered
without noise into the city. Now as the watch perceived that he was
coming, they made a noise, and betook themselves to their arms; and as
that his entrance was presently known to those that were in the city,
some of them caught hold of their children and their wives, and drew
them after them, and fled away to the citadel, with lamentations
and cries, while others of them went to meet Titus, and were killed
perpetually; but so many of them as were hindered from running up to
the citadel, not knowing what in the world to do, fell among the Roman
guards, while the groans of those that were killed were prodigiously
great every where, and blood ran down over all the lower parts of the
city, from the upper. But then Vespasian himself came to his assistance
against those that had fled to the citadel, and brought his whole army
with him; now this upper part of the city was every way rocky, and
difficult of ascent, and elevated to a vast altitude, and very full of
people on all sides, and encompassed with precipices, whereby the Jews
cut off those that came up to them, and did much mischief to others
by their darts, and the large stones which they rolled down upon them,
while they were themselves so high that the enemy's darts could hardly
reach them. However, there arose such a Divine storm against them as
was instrumental to their destruction; this carried the Roman darts
upon them, and made those which they threw return back, and drove them
obliquely away from them; nor could the Jews indeed stand upon their
precipices, by reason of the violence of the wind, having nothing that
was stable to stand upon, nor could they see those that were ascending
up to them; so the Romans got up and surrounded them, and some they slew
before they could defend themselves, and others as they were delivering
up themselves; and the remembrance of those that were slain at their
former entrance into the city increased their rage against them now;
a great number also of those that were surrounded on every side,
and despaired of escaping, threw their children and their wives, and
themselves also, down the precipices, into the valley beneath, which,
near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a vast depth; but so it
happened, that the anger of the Romans appeared not to be so extravagant
as was the madness of those that were now taken, while the Romans
slew but four thousand, whereas the number of those that had thrown
themselves down was found to be five thousand: nor did any one escape
except two women, who were the daughters of Philip, and Philip himself
was the son of a certain eminent man called Jacimus, who had been
general of king Agrippa's army; and these did therefore escape, because
they lay concealed from the rage of the Romans when the city was taken;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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