THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book II: Chapter 19
WHAT CESTIUS DID AGAINST THE JEWS; AND HOW, UPON
HIS BESIEGING JERUSALEM, HE RETREATED FROM THE CITY
WITHOUT ANY JUST OCCASION IN THE WORLD. AS ALSO WHAT
SEVERE CALAMITIES HE UNDER WENT FROM THE JEWS IN HIS
RETREAT.
1. AND now Gallus, seeing nothing more that
looked towards an innovation in Galilee, returned with
his army to Cesarea: but Cestius removed with his
whole army, and marched to Antipatris; and when he was
informed that there was a great body of Jewish forces
gotten together in a certain tower called Aphek, he
sent a party before to fight them; but this party
dispersed the Jews by affrighting them before it came
to a battle: so they came, and finding their camp
deserted, they burnt it, as well as the villages that
lay about it. But when Cestius had marched from
Antipatris to Lydda, he found the city empty of its
men, for the whole multitude 28 were gone up to
Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles; yet did he
destroy fifty of those that showed themselves, and
burnt the city, andso marched forwards; and ascending
by Betboron, he pitched his camp at a certain place
called Gabao, fifty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.
2. But as for the Jews, when they saw the war
approaching to their metropolis, they left the feast,
and betook themselves to their arms; and taking
courage greatly from their multitude, went in a sudden
and disorderly manner to the fight, with a great
noise, and without any consideration had of the rest
of the seventh day, although the Sabbath 29 was the
day to which they had the greatest regard; but that
rage whichmade them forget the religious observation
[of the sabbath] made them too hard for their enemies
in the fight: with such violence therefore did they
fall upon the Romans, as to break into their ranks,
and to march through the midst of them, making a great
slaughter as they went, insomuch that unless the
horsemen, and such part of the footmen as were not yet
tired in the action, had wheeled round, and succored
that part of the army which was not yet broken,
Cestius, with his whole army, had been in danger:
however, five hundred and fifteen of the Romans were
slain, of which
number four hundred were footmen, and the rest
horsemen, while the Jews lost only twenty-two, of whom
the most valiant were the kinsmen of Monobazus, king
of Adiabene, and their names were Monobazus and
Kenedeus; and next to them were Niger of Perea, and
Silas of Babylon, who had deserted from king Agrippa
to the Jews; for he had formerly served in his army.
When the front of the Jewish army had been cut off,
the Jews retired into the city; but still Simon, the
son of Giora, fell upon the backs of the Romans, as
they were ascending up Bethoron, and put the hindmost
of the army into disorder, and carried off many of the
beasts that carded the weapons of war, and led Shem
into the city. But as Cestius tarried there three
days, the Jews seized upon the elevated parts of the
city, and set watches at the entrances into the city,
and appeared openly resolved not to rest when once the
Romans should begin to march.
3. And now when Agrippa observed that even the
affairs of the Romanswere likely to be in danger,
while such an immense multitude of their enemies had
seized upon the mountains round about, he determined
to try what the Jews would agree to by words, as
thinking that he should either persuade them all to
desist from fighting, or, however, that he should
cause the sober part of them to separate themselves
from the opposite party. So he sent Borceus and
Phebus, the persons of his party that were the best
known to them, and promised them that Cestius should
give them his right hand, to secure them of the
Romans’ entire forgiveness of what they had done
amiss, if they would throw away their arms, and come
over to them; but the seditious, fearing lest the
whole multitude, in hopes of security to themselves,
should go over to Agrippa, resolved immediately to
fall upon and kill the ambassadors; accordingly they
slew Phebus before he said a word, but Borceus was
only wounded, and so prevented his fate by flying
away. And when the people were very angry at this,
they had the seditious beaten with stones and clubs,
and drove them before them into the city.
4. But now Cestius, observing that the disturbances
that were begun among the Jews afforded him a proper
opportunity to attack them, took his whole army along
with him, and put the Jews to flight, and pursued them
to Jerusalem. He then pitched his camp upon the
elevation called Scopus, [or watch-tower,] which was
distant seven furlongs from the city; yet did not he
assault them in three days’ time, out of expectation
that
those within might perhaps yield a little; and in
the mean time he sent out a great many of his soldiers
into neighboring villages, to seize upon their corn.
And on the fourth day, which was the thirtieth of the
month Hyperbereteus, [Tisri,] when he had put his army
in array, he brought it into the city. Now for the
people, they were kept under by the seditious; but the
seditious themselves were greatly affrighted at the
good order of the Romans, and retired from the
suburbs, and retreated into the inner part of the
city, and into the temple. But when Cestius was come
into the city, he set the part called Bezetha, which
is called Cenopolis, [or the new city,] on fire; as he
did also to the timber market; after which he came
into the upper city, and pitched his camp over against
the royal palace; and had he but at this very time
attempted to get within the walls by force, he had won
the city presently, and the war had been put an end to
at once; but Tyrannius Priseus, the muster-master of
the army, and a great number of the officers of the
horse, had been corrupted by Florus, and diverted him
from that his attempt; and that was the occasion that
this war lasted so very long, and thereby the Jews
were involved in such incurable calamities.
5. In the mean time, many of the principal men of
the city were persuaded by Ananus, the son of Jonathan,
and invited Cestius into the city, and were about to
open the gates for him; but he overlooked this offer,
partly out of his anger at the Jews, and partly
because he did not thoroughly believe they were in
earnest; whence it was that he delayed the matter so
long, that the seditious perceived the treachery, and
threw Ananus and those of his party down from the
wall, and, pelting them with stones, drove them into
their houses; but they stood themselves at proper
distances in the towers, and threw their darts at
those that were getting over the wall. Thus did the
Romans make their attack against the wall for five
days, but to no purpose. But on the next day Cestius
took a great many of his choicest men, and with them
the archers, and attempted to break into the temple at
the northern quarter of it; but the Jews beat them off
from the cloisters, and repulsed them several times
when they were gotten near to the wall, till at length
the multitude of the darts cut them off, and made them
retire; but the first rank of the Romans rested their
shields upon the wall, and so did those that were
behind them, and the like did those that were still
more backward, and guarded themselves with what they
call Testudo, [the back of] a tortoise, upon which the
darts that
were thrown fell, and slided off without doing them
any harm; so the soldiers undermined the wall, without
being themselves hurt, and got all things ready for
setting fire to the gate of the temple.
6. And now it was that a horrible fear seized upon
the seditious, insomuch that many of them ran out of
the city, as though it were to be taken immediately;
but the people upon this took courage, and where the
wicked part of the city gave ground, thither did they
come, in order to set openthe gates, and to admit
Cestius 30 as their benefactor, who, had he but
continued the siege a little longer, had certainly
taken the city; but it was, Isuppose, owing to the
aversion God had already at the city and the
sanctuary, that he was hindered from putting an end to
the war that very day.
7. It then happened that Cestius was not conscious
either how the besieged despaired of success, nor how
courageous the people were for him; and so he recalled
his soldiers from the place, and by despairing of any
expectation of taking it, without having received any
disgrace, he retired from the city, without any reason
in the world. But when the robbers perceived this
unexpected retreat of his, they resumed their courage,
and ran after the hinder parts of his army, and
destroyed a considerable number of both their horsemen
and footmen; and now Cestius lay all night at the camp
which was at Scopus; and as he went off farther next
day, he thereby invited the enemy to follow him, who
still fell upon the hindmost, and destroyed them; they
also fell upon the flank on each side of the army, and
threw darts upon them obliquely, nor durst those that
were hindmost turn back upon those who wounded them
behind, as imagining that the multitude of those that
pursued them was immense; nor did they venture to
drive away those that pressed upon them on each side,
because they were heavy with their arms, and were
afraid of breaking their ranks to
pieces, and because
they saw the Jews were light, and ready for making
incursions upon them. And this was the reason why the
Romans suffered greatly, without being able to revenge
themselves upon their enemies; so they were galled all
the way, and their ranks were put into disorder, and
those that were thus put out of their ranks were
slain; among whom were Priscus, the commander of the
sixth legion, and Longinus, the tribune, and Emilius
Secundus, the commander of a troop of horsemen. So it
was not without difficulty that they got to Gabao,
their former camp,
and that not without the loss of a great part of
their baggage. There it was that Cestius staid two
days, and was in great distress to know what he should
do in these circumstances; but when on the third day
he saw a still much greater number of enemies, and all
the parts round about him full of Jews, he understood
that his delay was to his own detriment, and that if
he staid any longer there, he should have still more
enemies upon him.
8. That therefore he might fly the faster, he gave
orders to cast away whatmight hinder his army’s march;
so they killed the mules and other creatures,
excepting those that carried their darts and machines,
which they retained for their own use, and this
principally because they were afraid lest the Jews
should seize upon them. He then made his army march on
as far as Bethoron. Now the Jews did not so much press
upon them when they were in large open places; but
when they were penned up in their descent through
narrow passages, then did some of them get before, and
hindered them from getting out of them; and others of
them thrust the hinder-most down into the lower
places; and the whole multitude extended themselves
over against the neck of the passage, and covered the
Roman army with their darts. In which circumstances,
as the footmen knew not how to defend themselves, so
the danger pressed the horsemen still more, for they
were so pelted, that they could not march along the
road in their ranks, and the ascents were so high,
that the cavalry were not able to march against the
enemy; the precipices also and valleys into which they
frequently fell, and tumbled down, were such on each
side of them, that there was neither place for their
flight, nor any contrivance could be thought of for
their defense; till the distress they were at last in
was so great, that they betook themselves to
lamentations, and to such mournful cries as men use in
the utmost despair: the joyful acclamations of the
Jews also, as they encouraged one another, echoed the
sounds back again, these last composing a noise of
those that at once rejoiced and were in a rage.
Indeed, things were come to such a pass, that the Jews
had almost taken Cestius’s entire army prisoners, had
not the night come on, when the Romans fled to
Bethoron, and the Jews seized upon all the places
round about them, and watched for their coming out [in
the morning].
9. And then it was that Cestius, despairing of
obtaining room for a public march, contrived how he
might best run away; and when he had selected four
hundred of the most courageous of his soldiers, he
placed them at the
strongest of their fortifications, and gave order,
that when they went up to the morning guard, they
should erect their ensigns, that the Jews might be
made to believe that the entire army was there still,
while he himself took the rest of his forces with him,
and marched, without any noise, thirty furlongs. But
when the Jews perceived, in the morning, that the camp
was empty, they ran upon those four hundred who had
deluded them, and immediately threw their darts at
them, and slew them; and then pursued after Cestius.
But he had already made use of a great part of the
night in his flight, and still marched quicker when it
was day; insomuch that the soldiers, through the
astonishment and fear they were in, left behind them
their engines for sieges, and for throwing of stones,
and a great part of the instruments of war. So the
Jews went on pursuing the Romans as far as Antipatris;
after which, seeing they could not overtake them, they
came back, and took the engines, and spoiled the dead
bodies, and gathered the prey together which the
Romans had left behind them, and came back running and
singing to their metropolis; while they had themselves
lost a few only, but had slain of the Romans five
thousand and three hundred footmen, and three hundred
and eighty horsemen. This defeat happened on the
eighth day of the month Dius, [Marchesvan,] in the
twelfth year of the reign of Nero.
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