THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book V: Chapter 2
HOW TITUS MARCHED TO JERUSALEM, AND HOW HE WAS IN
DANGER AS HE WAS TAKING A VIEW O THE CITY OF THE PLACE
ALSO WHERE HE PITCHED HIS CAMP
1. NOW, as Titus was upon his march into the
enemy's country, the auxiliaries that were sent by the
kings marched first, having all the other auxiliaries
with them; after whom followed those that were to
prepare the roads and measure out the camp; then came
the commander's baggage, and after that the other
soldiers, who were completely armed to support them;
then came Titus himself, having with him another
select body; and then came the pikemen; after whom
came the horse belonging to that legion. All these
came before the engines; and after these engines came
the tribunes and the leaders of the cohorts, with
their select bodies; after these came the ensigns,
with the eagle; and before those ensigns came the
trumpeters belonging to them; next these came the main
body of the army in their ranks, every rank being six
deep; the servants belonging to every legion came
after these; and before these last their baggage; the
mercenaries came last, and those that guarded them
brought up the rear. Now Titus, according to the Roman
usage, went in the front of the army after a decent
manner, and marched through Samaria to Gophna, a city
that had been formerly taken by his father, and was
then garrisoned by Roman soldiers; and when he had
lodged there one night, he marched on in the morning;
and when he had gone as far as a day's march, he
pitched his camp at that valley which the Jews, in
their own tongue, call "the Valley of Thorns," near a
certain village called Gabaothsath, which signifies
"the Hill of Saul," being distant from Jerusalem about
thirty furlongs. (6) There it was that he chose out
six hundred select horsemen, and went to take a view
of the city, to observe what strength it was of, and
how courageous the Jews were; whether, when they saw
him, and before they came to a direct battle, they
would be affrighted and submit; for he had been
informed what was really true, that the people who
were fallen under the power of the seditious and the
robbers were greatly desirous of peace; but being too
weak to rise up against the rest, they lay still.
2. Now, so long as he rode along the straight road
which led to the wall of the city, nobody appeared out
of the gates; but when he went out of that road, and
declined towards the tower Psephinus, and led the band
of horsemen obliquely, an immense number of the Jews
leaped out suddenly at the towers called the "Women's
Towers," through that gate which was over against the
monuments of queen Helena, and intercepted his horse;
and standing directly opposite to those that still ran
along the road, hindered them from joining those that
had declined out of it. They intercepted Titus also,
with a few other. Now it was here impossible for him
to go forward, because all the places had trenches dug
in them from the wall, to preserve the gardens round
about, and were full of gardens obliquely situated,
and of many hedges; and to return back to his own men,
he saw it was also impossible, by reason of the
multitude of the enemies that lay between them; many
of whom did not so much as know that the king was in
any danger, but supposed him still among them. So he
perceived that his preservation must be wholly owing
to his own courage, and turned his horse about, and
cried out aloud to those that were about him to follow
him, and ran with violence into the midst of his
enemies, in order to force his way through them to his
own men. And hence we may principally learn, that both
the success of wars, and the dangers that kings (7)
are in, are under the providence of God; for while
such a number of darts were thrown at Titus, when he
had neither his head-piece on, nor his breastplate,
(for, as I told you, he went out not to fight, but to
view the city,) none of them touched his body, but
went aside without hurting him; as if all of them
missed him on purpose, and only made a noise as they
passed by him. So he diverted those perpetually with
his sword that came on his side, and overturned many
of those that directly met him, and made his horse
ride over those that were overthrown. The enemy indeed
made a shout at the boldness of Caesar, and exhorted
one another to rush upon him. Yet did these against
whom he marched fly away, and go off from him in great
numbers; while those that were in the same danger with
him kept up close to him, though they were wounded
both on their backs and on their sides; for they had
each of them but this one hope of escaping, if they
could assist Titus in opening himself a way, that he
might not be encompassed round by his enemies before
he got away from them. Now there were two of those
that were with him, but at some distance; the one of
which the enemy compassed round, and slew him with
their darts, and his horse also; but the other they
slew as he leaped down from his horse, and carried off
his horse with them. But Titus escaped with the rest,
and came safe to the camp. So this success of the
Jews' first attack raised their minds, and gave them
an ill-grounded hope; and this short inclination of
fortune, on their side, made them very courageous for
the future.
3. But now, as soon as that legion that had been at
Emmaus was joined to Caesar at night, he removed
thence, when it was day, and came to a place called
Seopus; from whence the city began already to be seen,
and a plain view might be taken of the great temple.
Accordingly, this place, on the north quarter of the
city, and joining thereto, was a plain, and very
properly named Scopus, [the prospect,] and was no more
than seven furlongs distant from it. And here it was
that Titus ordered a camp to be fortified for two
legions that were to be together; but ordered another
camp to be fortified, at three furlongs farther
distance behind them, for the fifth legion; for he
thought that, by marching in the night, they might be
tired, and might deserve to be covered from the enemy,
and with less fear might fortify themselves; and as
these were now beginning to build, the tenth legion,
who came through Jericho, was already come to the
place, where a certain party of armed men had formerly
lain, to guard that pass into the city, and had been
taken before by Vespasian. These legions had orders to
encamp at the distance of six furlongs from Jerusalem,
at the mount called the Mount of Olives (8) which lies
over against the city on the east side, and is parted
from it by a deep valley, interposed between them,
which is named Cedron.
4. Now when hitherto the several parties in the
city had been dashing one against another perpetually,
this foreign war, now suddenly come upon them after a
violent manner, put the first stop to their
contentions one against another; and as the seditious
now saw with astonishment the Romans pitching three
several camps, they began to think of an awkward sort
of concord, and said one to another, "What do we here,
and what do we mean, when we suffer three fortified
walls to be built to coop us in, that we shall not be
able to breathe freely? while the enemy is securely
building a kind of city in opposition to us, and while
we sit still within our own walls, and become
spectators only of what they are doing, with our hands
idle, and our armor laid by, as if they were about
somewhat that was for our good and advantage. We are,
it seems, (so did they cry out,) only courageous
against ourselves, while the Romans are likely to gain
the city without bloodshed by our sedition." Thus did
they encourage one another when they were gotten
together, and took their armor immediately, and ran
out upon the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans
with great eagerness, and with a prodigious shout, as
they were fortifying their camp. These Romans were
caught in different parties, and this in order to
perform their several works, and on that account had
in great measure laid aside their arms; for they
thought the Jews would not have ventured to make a
sally upon them; and had they been disposed so to do,
they supposed their sedition would have distracted
them. So they were put into disorder unexpectedly;
when some of hem left their works they were about, and
immediately marched off, while many ran to their arms,
but were smitten and slain before they could turn back
upon the enemy. The Jews became still more and more in
number, as encouraged by the good success of those
that first made the attack; and while they had such
good fortune, they seemed both to themselves and to
the enemy to be many more than they really were. The
disorderly way of their fighting at first put the
Romans also to a stand, who had been constantly used
to fight skillfully in good order, and with keeping
their ranks, and obeying the orders that were given
them; for which reason the Romans were caught
unexpectedly, and were obliged to give way to the
assaults that were made upon them. Now when these
Romans were overtaken, and turned back upon the Jews,
they put a stop to their career; yet when they did not
take care enough of themselves through the vehemency
of their pursuit, they were wounded by them; but as
still more and more Jews sallied out of the city, the
Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put
to fight, and ran away from their camp. Nay, things
looked as though the entire legion would have been in
danger, unless Titus had been informed of the case
they were in, and had sent them succors immediately.
So he reproached them for their cowardice, and brought
those back that were running away, and fell himself
upon the Jews on their flank, with those select troops
that were with him, and slew a considerable number,
and wounded more of them, and put them all to flight,
and made them run away hastily down the valley. Now as
these Jews suffered greatly in the declivity of the
valley, so when they were gotten over it, they turned
about, and stood over against the Romans, having the
valley between them, and there fought with them. Thus
did they continue the fight till noon; but when it was
already a little after noon, Titus set those that came
to the assistance of the Romans with him, and those
that belonged to the cohorts, to prevent the Jews from
making any more sallies, and then sent the rest of the
legion to the upper part of the mountain, to fortify
their camp.
5. This march of the Romans seemed to the Jews to
be a flight; and as the watchman who was placed upon
the wall gave a signal by shaking his garment, there
came out a fresh multitude of Jews, and that with such
mighty violence, that one might compare it to the
running of the most terrible wild beasts. To say the
truth, none of those that opposed them could sustain
the fury with which they made their attacks; but, as
if they had been cast out of an engine, they brake the
enemies' ranks to pieces, who were put to flight, and
ran away to the mountain; none but Titus himself, and
a few others with him, being left in the midst of the
acclivity. Now these others, who were his friends,
despised the danger they were in, and were ashamed to
leave their general, earnestly exhorting him to give
way to these Jews that are fond of dying, and not to
run into such dangers before those that ought to stay
before him; to consider what his fortune was, and not,
by supplying the place of a common soldier, to venture
to turn back upon the enemy so suddenly; and this
because he was general in the war, and lord of the
habitable earth, on whose preservation the public
affairs do all depend. These persuasions Titus seemed
not so much as to hear, but opposed those that ran
upon him, and smote them on the face; and when he had
forced them to go back, he slew them: he also fell
upon great numbers as they marched down the hill, and
thrust them forward; while those men were so amazed at
his courage and his strength, that they could not fly
directly to the city, but declined from him on both
sides, and pressed after those that fled up the hill;
yet did he still fall upon their flank, and put a stop
to their fury. In the mean time, a disorder and a
terror fell again upon those that were fortifying
their camp at the top of the hill, upon their seeing
those beneath them running away; insomuch that the
whole legion was dispersed, while they thought that
the sallies of the Jews upon them were plainly
insupportable, and that Titus was himself put to
flight; because they took it for granted, that, if he
had staid, the rest would never have fled for it. Thus
were they encompassed on every side by a kind of panic
fear, and some dispersed themselves one way, and some
another, till certain of them saw their general in the
very midst of an action, and being under great concern
for him, they loudly proclaimed the danger he was in
to the entire legion; and now shame made them turn
back, and they reproached one another that they did
worse than run away, by deserting Caesar. So they used
their utmost force against the Jews, and declining
from the straight declivity, they drove them on heaps
into the bottom of the valley. Then did the Jews turn
about and fight them; but as they were themselves
retiring, and now, because the Romans had the
advantage of the ground, and were above the Jews, they
drove them all into the valley. Titus also pressed
upon those that were near him, and sent the legion
again to fortify their camp; while he, and those that
were with him before, opposed the enemy, and kept them
from doing further mischief; insomuch that, if I may
be allowed neither to add any thing out of flattery,
nor to diminish any thing out of envy, but to speak
the plain truth, Caesar did twice deliver that entire
legion when it was in jeopardy, and gave them a quiet
opportunity of fortifying their camp.
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