gave them an interval, and then fell upon them when they were weakened by famine; but still he gave orders that they should guard against their coming out of the city. 12 Now the besieged had plenty of corn within the city, and indeed of all other necessaries; but they wanted water, because there was no fountain in the city, the people being there usually satisfied with rain-water; yet is it a rare thing in that country to have rain in summer; and at this season, during the siege, they were in great distress for some contrivance to satisfy their thirst; and they were very sad at this time particularly, as if they were already in want of water entirely; for Josephus seeing that the city abounded with other necessaries, and that the men were of good courage, and being desirous to protract the siege to the Romans longer than they expected, ordered their drink to be given them by measure; but this scanty distribution of water by measure was deemed by them as a thing more hard upon them than the want of it; and their not being able to drink as much as they would, made them more desirous of drinking than they had otherwise been; nay, they were as much disheartened thereby, as if they were come to the last degree of thirst. Nor were the Romans unacquainted with the state they were in; for when they stood over against them, beyond the wail, they could see them running together, and taking their water by measure, which made them throw their javelins thither, the place being within their reach, and kill a great many of them. 13. Hereupon Vespasian hoped that their receptacles of water would in no long time be emptied, and that they would be forced then to deliver up the city to him; but Josephus being minded to break such his hope, gave command that they should wet a great many of their cloths, and hang them about the battlements, till the entire wall was of a sudden all wet with the running down of the water. At this sight the. Romans were discouraged, and under consternation, when they saw them able to throw away in sport so much water, when they supposed them not to have enough to drink themselves. This made the Roman general despair of taking the city by their want of necessaries, and to betake himself again to arms, and to try to force them to surrender, which was what the Jews greatly desired; for as they despaired of either themselves or their city's being able to escape, they preferred a death in battle before one by hunger and thirst. 14. However, Josephus contrived another stratagem besides the foregoing to get plenty of what they wanted. There was a certain rough and uneven place that could hardly be ascended, and, on that account, was not guarded by the soldiers; so Josephus sent out certain persons along the western parts of the valley, and by them sent letters to whom he pleased of the Jews that were out of the city, and procured from them what necessaries soever they wanted in the city in abundance: he enjoined them also to creep generally along by the watch, as they came into the city, and to cover their backs with such sheep skins as had their wool upon them, that if any one should spy them out in the night-time, they might be believed to be dogs. This was done till the watch perceived the contrivance, and encompassed that rough place about themselves. 15. And now it was that Josephus perceived that the city could not hold out long, and that his own life would be in doubt if he continued in it; so he consulted how he and the most potent men of the city might fly out of it. When the multitude understood this, they came all round about him, and begged of him, "Not to overlook them while they en"tirely depended on him, and him alone; for that there was "still hope of the city's deliverance, if he would stay with "them, because every body would undertake any pains with 66 great cheerfulness on his account, and in that case there "would be some comfort for them also, though they should "be taken. That it became him neither to fly from his enemies, nor to desert his friends, nor to leap out of that city, as out of a ship that was sinking in a storm, into which " he came when it was quiet and in a calm; for that by going away he would be the cause of drowning the city, because nobody would then venture to oppose the enemy "when he was once gone upon whom they wholly confided." 66 66 66 16. Hereupon Josephus avoided letting them know that he was to go away to provide for his own safety, but told them, That he would go out of the city for their sakes; for that "if he stayed with them he should be able to do them little good, while they were in a safe condition, and that, if they were once taken, he should only perish with them to no purpose; but that if he were once gotten free from this "siege, he should be able to bring them very great re"lief; for that he would then immediately get the Galileans "together, out of the country, in great multitudes, and draw "the Romans off their city by another war. That he did "not see what advantage he could bring to them now, by "staying among them, but only provoke the Romans to be siege them more closely, as esteeming it a most valuable "thing to take him; but that if they were once informed "that he was fled out of the city, they would greatly remit "of their eagerness against it." Yet did not this plea move the people, but inflamed them the more to hang about him. Accordingly, both the children, and the old men, and the women, with their infants, came mourning to him, and fell down before him, and all of them caught hold of his feet, and held him fast, and besought him with great lamentations, that he would take his share with them in their fortune: and I think they did this, not that they envied his deliverance, but that they hoped for their own; for they could not think they should suffer any great misfortune provided Josephus would but stay with them. 17. Now Josephus thought, that if he resolved to stay it would be ascribed to their entreaties, and if he resolved to go away by force he should be put into custody. His commiseration also of the people under their lamentations had much broken that his eagerness to leave them; so he resolved to stay, and arming himself with the common despair of the citizens, he said to them, "Now is the time to begin to fight "in earnest, when there is no hope of deliverance left. It " is a brave thing to prefer glory before life, and to set about "some such noble undertaking as may be remembered by "late posterity," Having said this, he fell to work immediately, and made a sally and dispersed the enemies' outguards, and ran us far as the Roman camp itself, and pulled the coverings of their tents to pieces, that were upon their banks, and set fire to their works. And this was the manner in which he never left off fighting, neither the next day, nor that after it, but went on with it for a considerable number both of days and nights. 18. Upon this Vespasian, when he saw the Romans distressed by these sallies (though they were ashamed to be made to run away by the Jews, and when at any time they made the Jews run away, their heavy armour would not let them pursue them far, while the Jews when they had performed any action, and before they could be hurt themselves, still retired into the city) ordered his armed men to avoid their onsets and not fight it out with men under desperation, while nothing is more courageous than despair: but that their violence would be quenched when they saw they failed of their purposes, as fire is quenched when it wants fuel; and that it was proper for the Romans to gain their victories as cheap as they could, since they are not forced to fight, but only to enlarge their own dominions. So he repelled the Jews in great measure by the Arabian archers, and the Syrian slingers, and by those that threw stones at them; nor was there any intermission of the great number of their offensive engines. Now the Jews suffered greatly by these engines, without being able to escape from them; and when these engines threw their stones or javelins a great way, and the Jews were within their reach, they pressed hard upon the Romans, and fought des perately, without sparing either soul or body, one part succouring another by turns, when it was tired down. 19. When, therefore, Vespasian looked upon himself as in a manner besieged by these sallies of the Jews, and when his banks were now not far from the wails, he determined to make use of his battering-ram. This ram is a vast beam of wood, like the mast of a ship, its fore-part is armed with a thick piece of iron at the head of it, which is so carved as to be like the head of a ram, whence its name is taken. This ram is slung in the air by ropes passing over its middle, and is hung like the balance in a pair of scales from another beam, and braced by strong beams that pass on both sides of it in the nature of a cross. When this ram is pulled backward by a great number of men, with united force, and then thrust forward by the same men, with a mighty noise it batters the walls with that iron part which is prominent. Nor is there any tower so strong, or walls so broad, that can resist any more than its first batteries, but all are forced to yield to it at last. This was the experiment which the Roman general betook himself to, when he was eagerly bent upon taking the city; but found lying in the field so long to be to his disadvantage, because the Jews would never let him be quiet. So these Romans brought the several engines for galling an enemy nearer to the walls, that they might reach such as were upon the wall, and endeavoured to frustrate their attempts; these threw stones and javelins at them; in the like manner did the archers and slingers come both together closer to the wall. This brought matters to such a pass, that none of the Jews durst mount the walls; and then it was that the other Romans brought the battering ram, which was cased with hurdles all over, and in the upper part was secured by skins that covered it, and this both for the security of themselves, and of the engine. Now at the very first stroke of this engine the wall was shaken, and a terrible clamour was raised by the people within the city, as if they were already taken. 20. And now when Josephus saw this ram still battering the same place, and that the wall would quickly be thrown down by it, he resolved to elude for a while the force of the engine with this design he gave orders to fill sacks with chaff, and to hang them down before that place where they saw the ram always battering, that the stroke might be turned aside, or that the place might feel less of the strokes by the yielding nature of the chaff. This contrivance very much delayed the attempts of the Romans, because, let them remove their engine to what part they pleased, those that were above it removed their sacks, and placed them over against the strokes it made, insomuch that the wall was no way hurt, and this by diversion of the strokes, till the Romans made an opposite contrivance of long poles, and, by tying hooks at their ends, cut off the sacks. Now when the battering ram thus recovered its force, and the wall, having been but newly built, was giving way, Josephus and those about him had afterward immediate recourse to fire to defend themselves withal; whereupon they took what materials soever they had that were but dry, and made a sally three ways, and set fire to the machines, and the hurdles, and the banks of the Romans themselves; nor did the Romans well know how to come to their assistance, being at once under a consternation at the Jews' boldness, and being prevented by the flames from coming to their assistance; for the materials being dry, with the bitumen and pitch that were among them, as was brimstone also, the fire caught hold of every thing immediately, and what cost the Romans a great deal of pains was in one hour consumed. 21. And here a certain Jew appeared worthy of our relation and commendation; he was the son of Sameas, and was called Eleazar, and was born at Saab in Galilee. This man took up a stone of a vast bigness, and threw it down from the wall upon the ram, and this with so great a force, that it brake off the head of the engine. He also leaped down, and took up the head of the ram, from the midst of them, and, without any concern, carried it to the top of the wall, and this while he stood as a fit mark to be pelted by all his enemies. Ac. cordingly he received the strokes upon his naked body, and was wounded with five darts; nor did he mind any of them, while he went up to the top of the wall, where he stood in the sight of them all, as an instance of the greatest boldness: after which he threw himself on a heap, with his wounds upon him, and fell down together with the head of the ram. Next to him two brothers shewed their courage; their names were Netir and Philip, both of them of the village Ruma, and both of them Galileans also: these men leaped upon the soldiers of the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with such a noise and force, as to disorder their ranks, and to put to flight all upon whomsoever they made their assaults. 22. After these men's performances, Josephus, and the rest of the multitude with him, took a great deal of fire, and burnt both the machines and their coverings, with the works belonging to the fifth and to the tenth legion, which they put to flight; when others followed them immediately, and buried those instruments and all their materials underground. However, about the evening the Romans erected the battering-ram again, against that part of the wall which had suffered before; where a certain Jew that defended the city from |