On the Destruction of Jerusalem 4.15–4.25

Placidus sent five hundred horsemen ahead and, pursuing the fugitives, forced them to withdraw into the nearest village; there they found a body of chosen young men and took courage to rise against the Romans. This proved their ruin. For with the horsemen surrounding them they were shut out of the village and cut down without any hindrance. And while others crowded together tried to get back in, they were slaughtered before the thresholds of the gates. The heap of corpses of the slain rose to the height of the walls. The Romans pierced some with arrows and wounded others with various missiles; at last they stormed the stronghold, and there all were killed, except those who had the chance to slip away. Others in their flight magnified with their talk the great fame of Roman valor: the bodies they had seen were greater than men's, no one could have any confidence of resisting the invincible. Hence everyone was terrified and fled at once; and not only the neighboring and bordering places, but even the city of Jericho, which nourished the hope of the rest because of the throngs of its numerous inhabitants, was abandoned. Placidus, with matters flowing as he wished, pursued them too with his horsemen and laid them low, some crowded together, others scattered, all the way to the river Jordan. He also found a very great number at the river's bank, hindered from crossing, because the river, as it happened, was then swollen with heavy rains or with melted snow. When they saw the Romans at hand, they made ready and crowded together at the river's edge. Necessity, now that the help of flight was cut off, put the remedy into their hands; they charged, many against fewer horsemen. But the horsemen, with their known skill and in the old manner of warfare, riding among them, began to cut through the enemy's wedge, break up their clusters, press the weary, and follow those who gave way. So some were killed by the enemy's sword, others by their own, because, crowded into one mass, they had dashed against one another. Others rushed into the river, and by their very fall, entangled one with another, were drowned. Many too, thinking they could get across, gave themselves to the river; when they had gone a little way the force of the whirlpools swallowed them or the stream's blow swept them away. And if any, by skill in swimming, had got out over the water, they either hung on the current that drew them under, or were caught in the branches of trees carried down by the river, or crushed by the very trunks, and gave up their lives in the river. Often too one who did not know how to swim, when he had seized a swimmer, held on so that he might escape with him, and wore him out, clasped in his arms, until both went under and each was the other's ruin. And if anyone running down with the current seemed about to escape, he was set upon with arrows and, suddenly falling on his back as his rowing arms ceased, he perished. There were also some who could not swim and, seeking a death without pain, threw themselves of their own will into the river from the high place of the banks. Others, going in by the sandy shore, were sucked down as their footing sank; many too, striking against round stones or shallows, staggering with unsteady step, were overwhelmed by the following current. Thirteen thousand were slain by the sword; an innumerable multitude was consumed by the river; great booty was taken from flocks of sheep and from camels, asses and oxen. Great as the slaughter of men was, it was thought even greater, because not only was the whole region full of human corpses (since those who had been caught scattered and straggling anywhere were killed), but even the Jordan itself was so choked with the bodies of the dead that it could not keep its own course. The lake Asphaltites too changed the appearance of its nature with the blood and entrails of the dead, since everything the Jordan had swept along was carried into it. In all, ninety-two thousand two hundred Jews were reckoned to have perished that day, at the hands of only five hundred horsemen and three thousand foot soldiers. Placidus, advancing further, restored Abila, Julias, Besimoth and all the villages of that district as far as the lake Asphaltites to Roman rule. He also put soldiers in boats, by whom all who had fled onto that lake were wiped out.

So all this as far as Machaerus was recovered. Vespasian, however, was waiting for the time for battle, when he might attack the mother city of Judea with the Roman army more safely. Meanwhile, while he was occupied with the affairs entrusted to him, news came of new disturbances in the regions of Gaul, because certain powerful men of the Roman army had revolted from Nero. On learning this, wishing to relieve the civil wars and the danger to the whole state and the entire Roman empire by finishing the turmoil of the wars in the East, so that by the news of success he might either suppress or forestall all the disturbances of Italy, as soon as the harsh winter was softened by the beginning of spring he set out from Caesarea with the greater part of his army. He was received by a city called Antipatris. Advancing from there, he burned villages and killed those he found to be hostile; and above all he laid waste everything near the Idumaeans, whatever he found even quiet, because that restless race of men was friendlier to wars than to leisure and quiet. Two villages of Idumaea too, Betaris and Caphartoba, and their inhabitants, he seized and broke with very great slaughter. For he killed over ten thousand men, led away a thousand captives, and drove out the rest of the common people, so as to station a body of his own men there, because the mountain parts of that region were infested with robbery. He himself with the army went back to Emmaus, which took its name from its hot waters, because the steam of waters is said to be called Amathus in the Syrian language; hence in Greek it is called Thermae, because it has a hot spring within its walls. Then he hastened through Samaria, past Neapolis, to Jericho, where Trajan met him, bringing a large force from those peoples of the region of Peraea, beyond the Jordan, who had been conquered and returned under Roman rule. At the news of the Roman army's approach, many from the city of Jericho, seeing that it was unsafe, had betaken themselves to the mountain country of the region of Jerusalem. The whole crowd of those who stayed was destroyed. For it was not difficult for the city to be taken quickly, since it was neither strengthened by natural fortification and had been deserted and abandoned by its own people slipping away. The city was founded on a plain, over which rises a widespread mountain, bare of growth. For on the northern side it extends to the land of the city of Scythopolis, and on the southern side it stretches to the region of Sodom and the borders of Asphaltites. Its soil is sickly and barren, and therefore abandoned by inhabitants, because by its natural sterility it is of no use to farmers. Opposite it is a mountain beyond the Jordan, which rises from Julias and the northern quarter, and stretches southward as far as Somora, bordering Arabia Petraea, where there is also a mountain called by the ancients the Iron Mountain. Between these two mountains lies a plain which, because of its size, since it stretches over great distances, the inhabitants by ancient usage have called the Great Plain; its length is two hundred thirty stadia, its breadth one hundred twenty. It begins at the village of Ginnabris and ends at the lake Asphaltites. The Jordan cuts through the middle of the plain, not only harmlessly but with added charm, as the river's flood makes its banks green; and Asphaltites and Tiberias follow, fed by one source and each of a different quality in its place. For the water of the one is salty in taste and barren in use, while that of Tiberias is sweet and fruitful. In the days of summer an excessive heat boils across the plain, and from the growing harm of the extreme dryness, the air, made more corrupt by the dry mud, produces pitiable diseases in the inhabitants. For everything is dry except the banks of the river. Indeed, in the more remote parts even the fruit of the trees grows sickly; the abundance is richer and the fruit of the palms fatter that grows on the banks of the river Jordan; elsewhere it is far thinner.

There is also near the city of Jericho an abundant spring, very rich for drinking and very fertile for watering, which Joshua son of Nun, a Hebrew, a man strong in hand, first took from the race of the Canaanites. At the beginning it was regarded as rather foul and barren for bringing forth, and not very wholesome for those who drank it or used it. Hence the prophet Elisha, the disciple of Elijah and a successor by no means unworthy of so great a master, was asked by the inhabitants, so that he might leave to the places he had visited a reward for their hospitality and relieve the foulness of the waters; and he gave a remedy, as the ancient Scripture of the Kingdoms teaches, ordering a clay vessel with salt to be brought to him. Receiving it, he threw the salt into the spring and said: “I have healed these waters, and there shall not be in them one who dies, nor one who is barren from them”; and the waters were healed, it says, according to the word of Elisha the prophet. So from that pouring of blessed salt the waters were tempered, the mouth of the source was opened, and the channels of the waters were sanctified, so that the gushing of the springs poured out sweeter drink, all that bitterness of the waters turned sweet, and the earth gave richer fruit. In the bringing forth of offspring, too, the best succession supplied an abundant number of descendants, and the life-giving water did not fail, since divine grace, in answer to the faithful zeal of the righteous, had breathed upon it through the blessings of so great a prophet. So the echo of the heavenly oracle changed the nature of the waters at the prophet's prayers, and at once drove away barrenness and poured in fruitfulness. There the generations of men began to multiply, and the fruits of the earth; and the juice of the waters, which before was hungry and bitter, wont to kill what was sown and to twist the sad mouths of those who drank, began to pour fertility into the soil and sweetness into those who drank, so that where it touches briefly it does more good than where it has watered longer. For there is this novel grace, that the yield is more abundant where the use is less, and where anyone has used it more, there the fruit is less; and so it waters more than other springs, because even a little of it abounds to fruitfulness. Indeed a plain spreads around it, seventy stadia in length and twenty in breadth. In it you may see a wonderful charm of gardens, various kinds of palms, and such sweetness of dates that you would think honey was flowing, in no way inferior to others. There are also there the finest swarms of bees; no wonder, where, breathing on such diverse flowers, they give out the sweet scents of paradise. There opobalsam is produced. We mention it with this addition because the farmers cut the twigs on which the balsam grows down to the bark, so that the sap, dripping little by little, may collect through those openings. An opening is called opē by a Greek name. There, they say, cypress and myrobalan grow, and other such things that are not found at all in other places. The water, like everything else, is better there: cold in summer, warm in winter. The air is milder, so that in the depth of winter the inhabitants wear linen garments.

Now let us consider the nature of the lake Asphaltites. For it is better to occupy the pen with descriptions of ancient places, or with the wonder of the other elements, than with the seditions of the Jews. For those crimes exasperate the mind, while these things soothe the spirit as they are recounted, and call it back to the knowledge of ancient history. And to us, whose talent is rather unpolished, it is dear to retrace the footsteps of the fathers returning from Egypt into the land of promise, so that if our work should perhaps come into anyone's hands, he may read not our words but read again those of the fathers. For it is sweet to linger among the dwellings of our forefathers, to recount in memory the sayings and deeds of the ancients, and to cling to their grace. But now let us describe the nature or the quality of its waters, lest our pen too be cast into that place, from which, it is believed, whatever you think should be sunk, if it is living, nevertheless springs back, and however violently it is thrown in, is at once cast out. The water itself is bitter and barren, receiving no kind of living thing. Indeed it endures neither fish nor the birds that are used to water and delight in diving. They say that a lighted lamp floats on the waters, and only when the light is put out does it sink without any turning over; and that what lives, even if sunk by art, can hardly stay in the depth. Indeed they say that Vespasian ordered men who could not swim to be thrown into the depth with their hands bound, and that all of them at once floated up, as though lifted by some breath of wind, and sprang back, driven up with great force. Many have held many fabulous things about this lake, which, not having tested the truth of the matter, it has never been our purpose to put forward. That the water also changes color three times a day and gleams variously in the rays of the sun we did not see fit to set down as true, since the water of the lake is darker than other waters and looks as if scorched. Certainly if it too shines in the sun's rays, that is nothing new and nothing to be put forward as a wonder, since this is common to all waters. It is certain that lumps of bitumen float on the waters in a black liquid; those whose task this is approach in boats and collect them. The bitumen is said to cling so to itself that it can in no way be cut with iron or any other sharp kind of metal. It does yield, however, to the blood of women, by which those in their monthly courses are said to loosen it; and by its touch, or by urine, as those who have had experience of it allege, it is reported to be broken apart. It is said to be useful for joining ships, and healthful to men's bodies when mixed in medicines. The length of that lake extends as far as Zoara of Arabia, five hundred eighty stadia; its breadth is one hundred fifty stadia, as far as the neighborhood of the Sodomites, who once inhabited a most fertile region, abounding in fruits and marked out with most splendid cities. But now those places are deserted and burned up with fire. For although God had bestowed all things on them by his gift, fields fruitful in grain and countryside planted with vines and other fruitful trees, they were ungrateful, and did not keep before their eyes the power of the most high God, as though he did not see everything and observe every crime, and there were nothing that could escape or pass him by. So they began to confound and pollute everything with the shameful deeds of their intemperance, by which they drew on themselves the divine displeasure; and as the price of their crimes fire came down from heaven to burn up that region. So five cities were burned, of which a kind of shadow and appearance is seen in the ashes. The lands burned, the waters burn, in which the remains of the heavenly fire are recognized and still remain. You may see there fruits green to the eye and clusters of grapes well formed, so that they arouse in the onlookers a desire to eat; if you pick them, they crumble and dissolve into ash and give off smoke, as though they were still burning. These things, found in the territory of Sodom on account of the punishment of the wicked, ought not to be covered in silence. For when these are considered, there can be no doubt that there will be a reward for the godly.

So Vespasian, distributing the forces of the Roman army or of the allies, took back all the strongholds and fortified towns nearest to the city of Jerusalem, so that the Jews would find hostile to them everything they had earlier thought would conspire with them in waging war against the Romans. Likewise, Lucius Annius having been sent to Gerasa, he took the city by stratagem; he also killed a thousand young men, who, having been forestalled, were cut off from flight. Very many captives were led away, and all their property was seized by the soldiers. By the general's order the dwellings that were found were burned, and plunder was carried on without restraint. The Romans laid waste the hills and the plains by which the city of Jerusalem was surrounded, so that everywhere it was burning with war. Nor were the people of Jerusalem free from the sense of their own dangers, since every way out was shut to them, so that no one could escape danger by flight. Within was civil evil, outside everything was closed; there was neither the will to stay nor the chance to flee. And if any had hoped for pardon from the Romans by deserting, they were prevented by their own people from going out.

Vespasian had returned to the city of Caesarea, so as to gather all his forces from there and undertake the siege of the city of Jerusalem. And news came that Nero had been slain when the thirteenth year of his reign was complete and he was passing the eighth day of the following year: a man worthy of that punishment, who had violated not only faith by sacrilege, piety by parricide, chastity by incest, but also the very power of the Roman empire, whose offices and business he had entrusted to the most wicked of his freedmen. For since he himself kept faith with no one, he held everyone suspect; and therefore he thought the most worthless men, Nymphidius and Tigellinus above all, were to be trusted, whom their base condition had made dependent on him. But even they at length shuddered at the example of his cruelty. And because he had killed all those dearest to him, thinking they must look out for themselves, they wished to forestall what they feared. So, having made a conspiracy with the others, they deserted the parricide. For whom would he be thought likely to spare, who had not spared his mother? Deserted, then, by all his own, he fled from the city with four of his freedmen. And when he saw himself pressed by the conspirators close upon him and a hostile troop, he slipped secretly into a country estate near the city, torn and lacerated by thorns while he feared to be seen by anyone, lest he be betrayed. Then, when he realized that he was surrounded, so that heavy punishments would not be exacted from him, he prepared for himself a kind of handle of wood and fitted with his own hands the means by which to kill himself. And turning to his freedmen he said: “What an artist dies!” So the most bitter parricide met an end of life worthy of his deserts, so that he who had killed his mother and his own did not spare himself either. Truly a good artist of his own death, who contrived to perish in such a way that even his death should not be free of his own crime.

The report of Nero's killing had run ahead, as is the way of human nature: once it has received what it desired, it is content not to inquire about the rest but at once to spread abroad, and send out to the crowd unexamined, whatever has pleased it. Not long afterward, however, it became known that Galba was at the head of the Roman empire. Hence it was Vespasian's plan to inquire the new emperor's view on the war of the Jews, and he sent his son Titus and King Agrippa. Titus turned back from Achaia on learning that Galba too, in the seventh month and day after taking power, had been stripped of his insignia and had paid the penalty in the very heart of the city, that is, the Roman forum, and that Otho was in possession of fortune and imperial succession. Agrippa hastened to Rome to establish himself in the favor of the new emperor. To Titus reverence for his father's affection seemed of more account than for the emperor's power, because if he put himself forward without consulting his father, he thought it would not please even the emperor. Certainly the outcome showed that he did well to return to his father, since affairs were new and it was uncertain which way they would turn. In the end Vespasian too, anxious about the state of the whole Roman empire and of his homeland, suspended the war and held his command, setting aside what was being done in Judea, out of concern for the whole state and devoted care for his homeland.

But Judea had no rest, for it was waging a heavier war among its own people than against outsiders. For when John's faction was already unbearable, Simon rose up besides, inferior indeed in wickedness of character, but relying more on his bodily strength to dare every crime, and through robbery accustomed to the practice and attempt of outrages. He was a citizen of Gerasa, a strong young man, whom the chief priest Ananus had struck down because of his wicked schemes and, driving him from the place where he lived, had forced to withdraw into other regions. But he, for whom there was no place among the quiet and modest, betook himself to the company of robbers, at first suspected even by them, lest he entrap them by faction; afterward he easily poured himself into the fellowship of their ways. With them he laid waste the places bordering on their stronghold, because they did not dare to go farther; but lurking as it were in pits, they lay in wait for those who passed by, without any sally, content as it were with robbery at home. Simon, immoderate in spirit, could not long endure this, and in a short time he gathered a band of many, promising freedom to slaves, rewards to free men, recompense to the desperate. So, with very many flocking to the license of plunder, he dared to storm strongholds and seize the peoples of towns, and he was terrible to all; he prepared a refuge for himself in a village whose name is the Wall of Ajax. And already he was going about guarded by twenty thousand armed men, when suddenly the people of Jerusalem, fearing his daily advances and thinking that his men would be turned against them if they grew any longer, judged that they must be cut down, and in a sudden sally they attacked Simon in arms. But he was not caught off guard and unprepared for the ambush; he received them as they came, routed many, and forced the others, put to flight, to retreat into the city.

He also engaged the Idumaeans on equal terms and withdrew, and he was tormented as if conquered, because he had not conquered. When he had to engage again, he judged it more advantageous to try guile, and found a willing agent of fraud. For when it was understood what he was aiming at, James, one of the leaders of the Idumaeans, crafty and clever at such business, came secretly to Simon and offered to betray his homeland. To give assurance that he would deceive all the Idumaeans, and having asked as his reward in the future alliance that he should be the most powerful and the most trusted with Simon, he promised the betrayal of them all. Their friendship was sealed with a banquet, and the pact between the two was confirmed by Simon's great promises. When James returned to his own people, he began first to boast to a few that he had gone out to reconnoitre the forces of the enemy, had seen a strong band, men experienced in war, a very great multitude, and invincible in battle; little by little he brought such talk to the leaders; finally he instilled the idea that Simon himself was very vigorous, had organized his army in royal fashion, kept ranks, had his units distributed and had set capable commanders over them; the Idumaeans ought to look to their own interest, so as to find such a man a friend rather than an enemy. Certainly, if they saw him superior in an engagement, they should yield without danger and avoid battle. When he saw that the inclinations of very many had been bent to his view, he informed Simon that he should advance into battle, assured of the Idumaeans' coming dispersal. Simon did not delay. James, as if a standard-bearer with his men and readier for battle, when he saw the fight begun by the skirmishers, before they came to blows turned his horse and took to flight; his men did the same. So he turned and scattered all the battle lines and handed Simon victory without a contest of war. Simon, having gained a triumph over so great a nation, became more insolent toward the rest. He took Hebron, an ancient city, famous for its people and rich in wealth, sooner than expected, found much plunder in it, and seized very rich crops. For it is said to be the most ancient not only of the cities of Palestine but also of all those founded long ago in Egypt, so that many judge even Memphis, which is held to be very ancient, to be later. There have also been those who said that father Abraham lived in it after he set out from Mesopotamia of Syria and went to Egypt, and that his sons have their tomb there, built of very beautiful marble and of most elegant workmanship, at the seventh stadium from the city. A great terebinth tree there is asserted to have stood from the founding of the world. Whether it still remains, however, is uncertain to us. Advancing from there, he laid waste territories, stormed towns, gathered peoples; guarded by forty thousand armed men, he emptied everything wherever he came, even as a friend and ally. For what place could supply food for so many? By the mere tread of their feet everything was trampled flat like a pavement where so great a number of fighters had halted. Not only was whatever crop there was carried off, as if eaten up by locusts, but the trampled ground also refused crops for the future. It terrified John that Simon's power was growing, and the partners of his faction were shaken. They wanted him destroyed but did not dare to provoke him to war. Again they prepared an ambush and, beset the roads, seized his wife with all her retinue of women and a few men escorting them. They boasted as though they had won complete victory, and as if they held Simon himself captive they thought he would come begging to them. But he, hard and harsh, moved by no affection, holding nothing sacred or dear, was inflamed as if by an injury received rather than a favor taken away; and much more savage and severe, he tortured with severe torments those he found. He cut off the hands of many and sent them back to the enemy with mutilated bodies, to report his cruelty and to make known his threat that he would overthrow the walls and destroy the city unless his own wife was quickly restored to him; likewise that he would cut off the hands and entrails of all who lived within the city unless they took counsel quickly. So, thoroughly terrified, they sent his wife to him; by this his fury was softened, and he gave those shut in some opportunity of rest, so that he did not press the civil siege.

Not only had Galba been killed, but Otho too was destroyed, when the generals of Vitellius, whom the army in Gaul had made emperor, engaged him. In the first contest, indeed, Otho seemed superior; but when the battle was renewed the next day and Otho learned that victory had gone to Valens and Caecina, Vitellius's commanders, and that very many of his own men had been killed, he, stationed at Brixellum, saved himself from mockery by a voluntary death, having held power only three months and two days. So Vitellius, the victor, hastened to Rome with the army that remained on both sides.

At that time Vespasian set out from the city of Caesarea and laid waste Judea, all the bordering hill country, and subdued the strongholds. He killed those who resisted, granted the pardon of safety to those who begged it, put his adversaries to flight, and set up his own men. Cerealis too, a commander of the Roman army, overran everything with the cavalry, destroying some, subjugating others, and driving together columns of captives; everything around Jerusalem was burned, so that the Jews might have no refuge. Thus every way out was shut to the Jews before the siege. But they not only took no thought for themselves but even fought it out among themselves in civil strife. John was the tyrant within; Simon the enemy outside the walls, who, having recovered his wife and made a short raid, laid waste Idumaea and returned stronger, and made the walls of the city of Jerusalem ring all around with arms. John, placed within, trained his men for war by vices, granting them license for crimes. Zeal for plunder raged, desire for shameful deeds, outpourings of luxury, scents of perfumes; they curled their hair with curling irons, painted their eyes with antimony, and put on women's dress. They affected not only the adornment of women but also womanly softness and the passions of unlawful lusts: men practicing the ways of women, making their voices effeminate and dissolving their sex by the looseness of their bodies, growing their hair long, whitening their faces, smoothing their cheeks with pumice, plucking their little beards; and in this dissoluteness they practiced unbearable savagery and cruelty. Indeed they walked with mincing gait, and suddenly becoming warriors of the moment, hiding swords under purple cloaks, when they suddenly bared them, they stripped of their armor whomever they found. Whoever had escaped Simon was killed by John if he took refuge within the city; whoever had fled John was caught by Simon and slaughtered before the walls. The dissension was grievous. The Idumaeans sought to destroy John's tyranny: they envied his power and hated his cruelty. They engaged the henchmen of the tyranny, turned them back, and pursued them as far as the royal palace that a near kinswoman of the king of Adiabene had built; they burst in, the defenders having been shut out, and seized the temple, plundering the spoils of the tyranny, because John had established there the storehouse of his wealth. A grave fear had come on the people that the Idumaeans might enter the city from the temple by night and kill the people with the sword and destroy the city with fire. Terrified by this fear, by decision of the council, being unable to bear one tyrant, they brought in another. John had crept into tyranny by fraud; Simon, invited here as though he would bring a remedy of safety, brought domination upon the citizens and a tyrant upon the city. Matthias the chief priest was sent to beg him to enter. Haughtily enough, as one intent on ruling, he refused, and as though reluctantly, he granted their solicitation, so that he might pour himself into the city with all his strength. With their own hands they opened the gates, to bring in the more destructive man while they cursed the weaker. So Simon, entering as he wished, showed himself equally an enemy to all, so that he pursued with a common hatred both those who had called him and those against whom his help had been sought. John pressed on with his frauds; the city tossed to and fro. The contest between John and Simon was which of them could do more harm to his own people.