THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book IV: Chapter 1
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE YEAR.
FROM THE SIEGE OF GAMALA TO THE COMING OF TITUS TO
BESIEGE JERUSALEM.
THE SIEGE AND TAKING OF GAMALA.
1. NOW all those Galileans who, after the taking of
Jotapata, had revolted from the Romans, did, upon the
conquest of Taricheae, deliver themselves up to them
again. And the Romans received all the fortresses and
the cities, excepting Gischala and those that had
seized upon Mount Tabor; Gamala also, which is a city
ever against Tarichem, but on the other side of the
lake, conspired with them. This city lay Upon the
borders of Agrippa's kingdom, as also did Sogana and
Scleucia. And these were both parts of Gaulanitis; for
Sogana was a part of that called the Upper Gaulanitis,
as was Gamala of the Lower; while Selcucia was
situated at the lake Semechouitis, which lake is
thirty furlongs in breadth, and sixty in length; its
marshes reach as far as the place Daphne, which in
other respects is a delicious place, and hath such
fountains as supply water to what is called Little
Jordan, under the temple of the golden calf, (1) where
it is sent into Great Jordan. Now Agrippa had united
Sogana and Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the very
beginning of the revolt from the Romans; yet did not
Gamala accede to them, but relied upon the difficulty
of the place, which was greater than that of Jotapata,
for it was situated upon a rough ridge of a high
mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle: where it
begins to ascend, it lengthens itself, and declines as
much downward before as behind, insomuch that it is
like a camel in figure, from whence it is so named,
although the people of the country do not pronounce it
accurately. Both on the side and the face there are
abrupt parts divided from the rest, and ending in vast
deep valleys; yet are the parts behind, where they are
joined to the mountain, somewhat easier of ascent than
the other; but then the people belonging to the place
have cut an oblique ditch there, and made that hard to
be ascended also. On its acclivity, which is straight,
houses are built, and those very thick and close to
one another. The city also hangs so strangely, that it
looks as if it would fall down upon itself, so sharp
is it at the top. It is exposed to the south, and its
southern mount, which reaches to an immense height,
was in the nature of a citadel to the city; and above
that was a precipice, not walled about, but extending
itself to an immense depth. There was also a spring of
water within the wall, at the utmost limits of the
city.
2. As this city was naturally hard to be taken, so
had Josephus, by building a wall about it, made it
still stronger, as also by ditches and mines under
ground. The people that were in it were made more bold
by the nature of the place than the people of Jotapata
had been, but it had much fewer fighting men in it;
and they had such a confidence in the situation of the
place, that they thought the enemy could not be too
many for them; for the city had been filled with those
that had fled to it for safety, on account of its
strength; on which account they had been able to
resist those whom Agrippa sent to besiege it for seven
months together.
3. But Vespasian removed from Emmaus, where he had
last pitched his camp before the city Tiberias, (now
Emmaus, if it be interpreted, may be rendered "a warm
bath," for therein is a spring of warm water, useful
for healing,) and came to Gamala; yet was its
situation such that he was not able to encompass it
all round with soldiers to watch it; but where the
places were practicable, he set men to watch it, and
seized upon the mountain which was over it. And as the
legions, according to their usual custom, were
fortifying their camp upon that mountain, he began to
cast up banks at the bottom, at the part towards the
east, where the highest tower of the whole city was,
and where the fifteenth legion pitched their camp;
while the fifth legion did duty over against the midst
of the city, and whilst the tenth legion filled up the
ditches and the valleys. Now at this time it was that
as king Agrippa was come nigh the walls, and was
endeavoring to speak to those that were on the walls
about a surrender, he was hit with a stone on his
right elbow by one of the slingers; he was then
immediately surrounded with his own men. But the
Romans were excited to set about the siege, by their
indignation on the king's account, and by their fear
on their own account, as concluding that those men
would omit no kinds of barbarity against foreigners
and enemies, who where so enraged against one of their
own nation, and one that advised them to nothing but
what was for their own advantage.
4. Now when the banks were finished, which was done
on the sudden, both by the multitude of hands, and by
their being accustomed to such work, they brought the
machines; but Chares and Joseph, who were the most
potent men in the city, set their armed men in order,
though already in a fright, because they did not
suppose that the city could hold out long, since they
had not a sufficient quantity either of water, or of
other necessaries. However, these their leaders
encouraged them, and brought them out upon the wall,
and for a while indeed they drove away those that were
bringing the machines; but when those machines threw
darts and stones at them, they retired into the city;
then did the Romans bring battering rams to three
several places, and made the wall shake [and fall].
They then poured in over the parts of the wall that
were thrown down, with a mighty sound of trumpets and
noise of armor, and with a shout of the soldiers, and
brake in by force upon those that were in the city;
but these men fell upon the Romans for some time, at
their first entrance, and prevented their going any
further, and with great courage beat them back; and
the Romans were so overpowered by the greater
multitude of the people, who beat them on every side,
that they were obliged to run into the upper parts of
the city. Whereupon the people turned about, and fell
upon their enemies, who had attacked them, and thrust
them down to the lower parts, and as they were
distressed by the narrowness and difficulty of the
place, slew them; and as these Romans could neither
beat those back that were above them, nor escape the
force of their own men that were forcing their way
forward, they were compelled to fly into their
enemies' houses, which were low; but these houses
being thus full, of soldiers, whose weight they could
not bear, fell down suddenly; and when one house fell,
it shook down a great many of those that were under
it, as did those do to such as were under them. By
this means a vast number of the Romans perished; for
they were so terribly distressed, that although they
saw the houses subsiding, they were compelled to leap
upon the tops of them; so that a great many were
ground to powder by these ruins, and a great many of
those that got from under them lost some of their
limbs, but still a greater number were suffocated by
the dust that arose from those ruins. The people of
Gamala supposed this to be an assistance afforded them
by God, and without regarding what damage they
suffered themselves, they pressed forward, and thrust
the enemy upon the tops of their houses; and when they
stumbled in the sharp and narrow streets, and were
perpetually falling down, they threw their stones or
darts at them, and slew them. Now the very ruins
afforded them stones enow; and for iron weapons, the
dead men of the enemies' side afforded them what they
wanted; for drawing the swords of those that were
dead, they made use of them to despatch such as were
only half dead; nay, there were a great number who,
upon their falling down from the tops of the houses,
stabbed themselves, and died after that manner; nor
indeed was it easy for those that were beaten back to
fly away; for they were so unacquainted with the ways,
and the dust was so thick, that they wandered about
without knowing one another, and fell down dead among
the crowd.
5. Those therefore that were able to find the ways
out of the city retired. But now Vespasian always
staid among those that were hard set; for he was
deeply affected with seeing the ruins of the city
falling upon his army, and forgot to take care of his
own preservation. He went up gradually towards the
highest parts of the city before he was aware, and was
left in the midst of dangers, having only a very few
with him; for even his son Titus was not with him at
that time, having been then sent into Syria to
Mucianus. However, he thought it not safe to fly, nor
did he esteem it a fit thing for him to do; but
calling to mind the actions he had done from his
youth, and recollecting his courage, as if he had been
excited by a divine fury, he covered himself and those
that were with him with their shields, and formed a
testudo over both their bodies and their armor, and
bore up against the enemy's attacks, who came running
down from the top of the city; and without showing any
dread at the multitude of the men or of their darts,
he endured all, until the enemy took notice of that
divine courage that was within him, and remitted of
their attacks; and when they pressed less zealously
upon him, he retired, though without showing his back
to them till he was gotten out of the walls of the
city. Now a great number of the Romans fell in this
battle, among whom was Ebutius, the decurion, a man
who appeared not only in this engagement, wherein he
fell, but every where, and in former engagements, to
be of the truest courage, and one that had done very
great mischief to the Jews. But there was a centurion
whose name was Gallus, who, during this disorder,
being encompassed about, he and ten other soldiers
privately crept into the house of a certain person,
where he heard them talking at supper, what the people
intended to do against the Romans, or about themselves
(for both the man himself and those with him were
Syrians). So he got up in the night time, and cut all
their throats, and escaped, together with his
soldiers, to the Romans.
6. And now Vespasian comforted his army, which was
much dejected by reflecting on their ill success, and
because they had never before fallen into such a
calamity, and besides this, because they were greatly
ashamed that they had left their general alone in
great dangers. As to what concerned himself, he
avoided to say any thing, that he might by no means
seem to complain of it; but he said that "we ought to
bear manfully what usually falls out in war, and this,
by considering what the nature of war is, and how it
can never be that we must conquer without bloodshed on
our own side; for there stands about us that fortune
which is of its own nature mutable; that while they
had killed so many ten thousands of the Jews, they had
now paid their small share of the reckoning to fate;
and as it is the part of weak people to be too much
puffed up with good success, so is it the part of
cowards to be too much aftrighted at that which is
ill; for the change from the one to the other is
sudden on both sides; and he is the best warrior who
is of a sober mind under misfortunes, that he may
continue in that temper, and cheerfully recover what
had been lost formerly; and as for what had now
happened, it was neither owing to their own
effeminacy, nor to the valor of the Jews, but the
difficulty of the place was the occasion of their
advantage, and of our disappointment. Upon reflecting
on which matter one might blame your zeal as perfectly
ungovernable; for when the enemy had retired to their
highest fastnesses, you ought to have restrained
yourselves, and not, by presenting yourselves at the
top of the city, to be exposed to dangers; but upon
your having obtained the lower parts of the city, you
ought to have provoked those that had retired thither
to a safe and settled battle; whereas, in rushing so
hastily upon victory, you took no care of your safety.
But this incautiousness in war, and this madness of
zeal, is not a Roman maxim. While we perform all that
we attempt by skill and good order, that procedure is
the part of barbarians, and is what the Jews chiefly
support themselves by. We ought therefore to return to
our own virtue, and to be rather angry than any longer
dejected at this unlucky misfortune, and let every one
seek for his own consolation from his own hand; for by
this means he will avenge those that have been
destroyed, and punish those that have killed them. For
myself, I will endeavor, as I have now done, to go
first before you against your enemies in every
engagement, and to be the last that retires from it."
7. So Vespasian encouraged his army by this speech;
but for the people of Gamala, it happened that they
took courage for a little while, upon such great and
unaccountable success as they had had. But when they
considered with themselves that they had now no hopes
of any terms of accommodation, and reflecting upon it
that they could not get away, and that their
provisions began already to be short, they were
exceedingly cast down, and their courage failed them;
yet did they not neglect what might be for their
preservation, so far as they were able, but the most
courageous among them guarded those parts of the wall
that were beaten down, while the more infirm did the
same to the rest of the wall that still remained round
the city. And as the Romans raised their banks, and
attempted to get into the city a second time, a great
many of them fled out of the city through
impracticable valleys, where no guards were placed, as
also through subterraneous caverns; while those that
were afraid of being caught, and for that reason staid
in the city, perished for want of food; for what food
they had was brought together from all quarters, and
reserved for the fighting men.
8. And these were the hard circumstances that the
people of Gamala were in. But now Vespasian went about
other work by the by, during this siege, and that was
to subdue those that had seized upon Mount Tabor, a
place that lies in the middle between the great plain
and Scythopolis, whose top is elevated as high as
thirty furlongs (2) and is hardly to be ascended on
its north side; its top is a plain of twenty-six
furlongs, and all encompassed with a wall. Now
Josephus erected this so long a wall in forty days'
time, and furnished it with other materials, and with
water from below, for the inhabitants only made use of
rain water. As therefore there was a great multitude
of people gotten together upon this mountain,
Vespasian sent Placidus with six hundred horsemen
thither. Now, as it was impossible for him to ascend
the mountain, he invited many of them to peace, by the
offer of his right hand for their security, and of his
intercession for them. Accordingly they came down, but
with a treacherous design, as well as he had the like
treacherous design upon them on the other side; for
Placidus spoke mildly to them, as aiming to take them,
when he got them into the plain; they also came down,
as complying with his proposals, but it was in order
to fall upon him when he was not aware of it: however,
Placidus's stratagem was too hard for theirs; for when
the Jews began to fight, he pretended to run away, and
when they were in pursuit of the Romans, he enticed
them a great way along the plain, and then made his
horsemen turn back; whereupon he beat them, and slew a
great number of them, and cut off the retreat of the
rest of the multitude, and hindered their return. So
they left Tabor, and fled to Jerusalem, while the
people of the country came to terms with him, for
their water failed them, and so they delivered up the
mountain and themselves to Placidus.
9. But of the people of Gamala, those that were of
the bolder sort fled away and hid themselves, while
the more infirm perished by famine; but the men of war
sustained the siege till the two and twentieth day of
the month Hyperberetmus, [Tisri,] when three soldiers
of the fifteenth legion, about the morning watch, got
under a high tower that was near them, and undermined
it, without making any noise; nor when they either
came to it, which was in the night time, nor when they
were under it, did those that guarded it perceive
them. These soldiers then upon their coming avoided
making a noise, and when they had rolled away five of
its strongest stones, they went away hastily;
whereupon the tower fell down on a sudden, with a very
great noise, and its guard fell headlong with it; so
that those that kept guard at other places were under
such disturbance, that they ran away; the Romans also
slew many of those that ventured to oppose them, among
whom was Joseph, who was slain by a dart, as he was
running away over that part of the wall that was
broken down: but as those that were in the city were
greatly aftrighted at the noise, they ran hither and
thither, and a great consternation fell upon them, as
though all the enemy had fallen in at once upon them.
Then it was that Chares, who was ill, and under the
physician's hands, gave up the ghost, the fear he was
in greatly contributing to make his distemper fatal to
him. But the Romans so well remembered their former
ill success, that they did not enter the city till the
three and twentieth day of the forementioned month.
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; for otherwise they spared not
so much as the infants, of which many were flung down
by them from the citadel. And thus was Gamala taken on
the three and twentieth day of the month Hyperberetens,
[Tisri,] whereas the city had first revolted on the
four and twentieth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul].
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