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66 - Wars of the Jews by Flavius Josephus · Wars of the Jews

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  Speaker 1: Book seven, chapters one two of The Wars of the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. The Wars of the Jews by Josephus,
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  Speaker 1: translated by William Wiston, Book seven, containing the interval of
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  Speaker 1: about three years from the taking of Jerusalem by Titus
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  Speaker 1: to this edition at Serene to this edition at Sirene.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, how the entire city of Jerusalem was demolished,
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  Speaker 1: excepting three towers, and how Titus commanded his soldiers in
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  Speaker 1: his speech made to them, and distributed rewards to them,
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  Speaker 1: and then dismissed many of them. Now, as soon as
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  Speaker 1: the army had no more people to slay or to plunder,
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  Speaker 1: because there remains none to the objects of their fury,
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  Speaker 1: for they would not have spared any had there remains
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  Speaker 1: any other work to be done done, Caesar gave orders
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  Speaker 1: that they should now demolish the entire city and temple,
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  Speaker 1: but should leave as many of the towers standing as
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  Speaker 1: were of the greatest eminency, that is Phasalus and Hippicus
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  Speaker 1: and Mariamne, and so much of the wall as enclosed
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  Speaker 1: the city. On the west side. This wall was spared
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  Speaker 1: in order to afford a camp for such as were
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  Speaker 1: to lie in garrison, as were the towers also spared,
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  Speaker 1: in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city
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  Speaker 1: it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor
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  Speaker 1: had subdued. But for all the rest of the wall,
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  Speaker 1: it was thoroughly laid, even with the grounds, by those
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  Speaker 1: that dug it up to the foundation, that there was
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  Speaker 1: left nothing to make those that came thither believe it
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  Speaker 1: had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: came to, by the madness of those that were for innovations,
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  Speaker 1: a city otherwise of great magnificence and of mighty fame
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  Speaker 1: among all mankinds. Footnote why the great Bauchart should say
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  Speaker 1: that there are in this clause of Josephus as many
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  Speaker 1: mistakes as words I do by no means understand. Josephus
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  Speaker 1: thought Melchzedic first built, or rather rebuilt and adorned this city,
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  Speaker 1: and that it was called Salem as Psalms seventy six two,
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  Speaker 1: afterwards came to be called Jerusalem, and that Melchzedic, being
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  Speaker 1: a priest as well as a king built to the
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  Speaker 1: True God therein a temple or place for public divine
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  Speaker 1: worship and sacrifice, all which things may be very true
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  Speaker 1: for all we know, to the contrary, and for the
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  Speaker 1: word or temple, as it must needs, belong to the
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  Speaker 1: great temple built by Solomon. Long afterwards, Josephus himself uses
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  Speaker 1: for the small tabernacle of Moses, as he here presently
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  Speaker 1: uses for a large and splendid synagogue of the Jews
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  Speaker 1: at Antioch and footnote two. But Caesar resolved to leave
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  Speaker 1: there as a guard the tenth Legion with certain troops
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  Speaker 1: of horsemen and companies of footmen. So having entirely completed
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  Speaker 1: this war, he was iris to commend his whole army
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  Speaker 1: on account of the great exploits they had performed, and
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  Speaker 1: to bestow proper rewards on such as had signalized themselves Therein.
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  Speaker 1: He had therefore a great tribunal made for him in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of the place where he had formerly encamped,
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  Speaker 1: and stood upon it with his principal commanders about him,
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  Speaker 1: and spake so as to be heard by the whole army.
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  Speaker 1: In the manner following that he returned them abundance of
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  Speaker 1: thanks for their good will which they had showed to him.
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  Speaker 1: He commended them for that ready obedience they had exhibited
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  Speaker 1: in this whole war, which obedience had appeared in the
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  Speaker 1: many and great dangers which they had courageously undergone, as
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  Speaker 1: also for that courage they had shown, and had thereby
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  Speaker 1: augumented of themselves their country's power, and had made it
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  Speaker 1: evident to all men that neither the multitude of their enemies,
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  Speaker 1: nor the strength of their places, nor the largeness of
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  Speaker 1: their cities, nor the rash boldness and brutish rage of
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  Speaker 1: their antagonists, were sufficient at any time to get clear
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  Speaker 1: of the Roman valor, although some of them may have
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  Speaker 1: fortune in many respects on their side. He said further
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  Speaker 1: that it was but reasonable for them to put an
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  Speaker 1: end to this war, now it had lasted so long,
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  Speaker 1: for that they had nothing better to wish for when
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  Speaker 1: they entered into it, and that this happened more favorably
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  Speaker 1: for them, and more for their glory, that all the
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  Speaker 1: Romans had willingly accepted of those for their governors and
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  Speaker 1: the curators of their dominions whom they had chosen for them,
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  Speaker 1: and had sent them into their own country for that purpose,
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  Speaker 1: which still continued under the management of those whom they
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  Speaker 1: had pitched on, and were thankful to them for pitching
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  Speaker 1: upon them. That accordingly, although he did both admire and
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  Speaker 1: tenderly regard them all, because he knew that every one
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  Speaker 1: of them had undergone as cheerfully about their work as
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  Speaker 1: their abilities and opportunities would give them leave, Yet he
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  Speaker 1: said he would immediately be stow rewards and dignities on
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  Speaker 1: those that had fought the most bravely and with greater force,
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  Speaker 1: and had signalized their conduct in the most glorious manner,
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  Speaker 1: and had made his army more famous by their noble exploits,
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  Speaker 1: And that no one who had been willing to take
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  Speaker 1: more pains than another should miss of a just retribution
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  Speaker 1: of the same, for that he had been exceeding careful
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  Speaker 1: about this matter, and that the more because he had
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  Speaker 1: much rather reward the virtues of his fellow soldiers than
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  Speaker 1: punished such as had offended. Three. Hereupon, Titus ordered those
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  Speaker 1: whose business it was to read the list of all
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  Speaker 1: that had performed great exploits in this war, whom he
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  Speaker 1: called to him by their names, and commanded them before
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  Speaker 1: the company, and rejoiced in them in the same manner
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  Speaker 1: as a man would have rejoiced in his own exploits.
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  Speaker 1: He also put on their heads crowns of gold, and
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  Speaker 1: golden ornaments about their necks, and gave them long spears
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  Speaker 1: of golds and ensigns that were made of silver, and
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  Speaker 1: removed every one of them to a higher rank. And
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  Speaker 1: besides this he plentifully distributed among them out of the
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  Speaker 1: spoils and the other prey they had taken, silver, gold,
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  Speaker 1: and garments. So when they had all these honors bestowed
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  Speaker 1: upon them according to his own appointment made to every one,
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  Speaker 1: and he had wished all sorts of happiness to the
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  Speaker 1: whole army, he came down among the great acclamations which
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  Speaker 1: were made to him, and then betook himself to offer
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  Speaker 1: thank offerings to the gods, and at once sacrificed a
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  Speaker 1: vast number of oxen that stood ready on the altars,
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  Speaker 1: and distributed them among the army to feast on. And
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  Speaker 1: when he had stayed three days among the principal commanders,
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  Speaker 1: and so feasted with them, he sent away the rests
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  Speaker 1: of his army to the several places where they would
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  Speaker 1: be every one best situated, But permitted the tenth legion
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  Speaker 1: to stay as a guard at Jerusalem, and did not
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  Speaker 1: send them away beyond the Euphrates, where they had been before.
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  Speaker 1: And as he remembered that the twelfth Legion had given
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  Speaker 1: way to the Jews under Cestius, their general, he expelled
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  Speaker 1: them out of all Syria, for they had lain formerly
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  Speaker 1: at Raphanea, and sent them away to a place called Melatine,
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  Speaker 1: near Euphrates, which is in the limits of Armenia and Cappadocia.
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  Speaker 1: He also thought fit that two of the legions should
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  Speaker 1: stay with him till he should go to Egypt. He
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  Speaker 1: then went down with his army to that Cesarea, which
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  Speaker 1: lay by the seaside, and there laid up the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the spoils in great quantities, and gave order that
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  Speaker 1: the captives should be kept there for the winter season.
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  Speaker 1: Hindered him then from sailing into Italy. Chapter two, how
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  Speaker 1: Titus exhibited all sorts of shows at Caesarea Philippi concerning
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  Speaker 1: Simon the Tyrant, how he was taken and reserved for
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  Speaker 1: the triumph. Now, at the same time that Titus Caesar
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  Speaker 1: lay at the siege of Jerusalem, did Vespasian go on
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  Speaker 1: board a merchant ship and sail from Alexandria to Rhodes.
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  Speaker 1: Whence he sailed away in ships with three rows of oars.
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  Speaker 1: As he touched at several cities that lay in his road,
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  Speaker 1: he was joyfully received by them all, and so passed
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  Speaker 1: over from Myonia to Greece. Whence he set sail from
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  Speaker 1: Corsayra to the promontory of Iopics. Whence he took his
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  Speaker 1: journey by land. But as for Titus, he marched from
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  Speaker 1: that Cesarea which lay by the sea side, and came
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  Speaker 1: to that which is named Cesarea Philippi, and stayed there
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  Speaker 1: a considerable time, and exhibited all sorts of shows there.
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  Speaker 1: And here a great number of the captives were destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: some being thrown to wild beasts, and others in multitudes
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  Speaker 1: forced to kill one another as if they were their enemies.
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  Speaker 1: And here it was that Titus was informed of the
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  Speaker 1: seizure of Simon, the son of Gioras, which was made
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  Speaker 1: after the manner following this. Simon, during the siege of Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: was in the upper city, But when the Roman army
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  Speaker 1: was gotten within the walls and were laying the city waste,
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  Speaker 1: he then took the most faithful of his friends with him,
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  Speaker 1: and among them some that were stone cutters, with those
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  Speaker 1: iron tools which belonged to their occupation, and as great
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  Speaker 1: a quantity of provisions as would suffice them for a
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  Speaker 1: long time, and let himself and all them down into
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  Speaker 1: a certain subterraneous cavern that was not visible above ground.
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  Speaker 1: Now so far as had been digged of old, they
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  Speaker 1: went onward along it without disturbance. But where they met
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  Speaker 1: with solid earth they dug a mine under ground, and
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  Speaker 1: this in hopes that they should be able to proceed
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  Speaker 1: so far as to rise from underground in a safe place,
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  Speaker 1: and by that means escape. But when they came to
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  Speaker 1: make the experiments, they were disappointed of their hope, for
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  Speaker 1: the miners could make but small progress, and that with difficulty,
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  Speaker 1: also insomuch that their provisions, though they distributed them by measure,
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  Speaker 1: began to fail them. And now Simon, thinking he might
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  Speaker 1: be able to astonish and elude the Romans, put on
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  Speaker 1: a white frock and buttoned upon him a purple cloak,
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  Speaker 1: and appeared out of the grounds in the place where
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  Speaker 1: the temple had formerly been. At the first indeed, those
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  Speaker 1: that saw him were greatly astonished and stood still where
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  Speaker 1: they were. But afterwards they came nearer to him and
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  Speaker 1: asked who he was. Simon would not tell them, but
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  Speaker 1: bid them call for their captain. And when they ran
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  Speaker 1: to call him, Terentius Rufus, who was left to command
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  Speaker 1: the army there, came to Simon and learned of him
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  Speaker 1: the whole truth, and kept him in bonds, and let
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  Speaker 1: Caesar know that he was taken. Footnote This Terretrius Rufus
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  Speaker 1: as Rayland in part observes here is the same person
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  Speaker 1: whom Metaumudus call Turnus Rufus, of whom they relate that
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  Speaker 1: he plowed up Zion as a field, and mad Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: become as heaps, and the mountain of the house as
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  Speaker 1: the high iddises of a forest, which was long before
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  Speaker 1: foretold by the prophet Micah chapter three twelve, and quoted
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  Speaker 1: from him in the Prophecies of Jeremiah chapter twenty six
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  Speaker 1: eighteen end. Footnote, Thus did God bring this man to
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  Speaker 1: be punished for what bitter and savage tyranny he had
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  Speaker 1: exercised against his countrymen by those who were his worst enemies.
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  Speaker 1: And this while he was not subdued by violence, but
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  Speaker 1: voluntarily delivered himself up to them to be punished. And
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  Speaker 1: that on the very same account that he had laid
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  Speaker 1: false accusations against many Jews, as if they were falling
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  Speaker 1: away to the Romans, and had barbarously slain them. For
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  Speaker 1: wicked actions do not escape the divine anger. Nor is
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  Speaker 1: justice too weak to punish offenders. But in time overtakes
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  Speaker 1: those that transgress its laws and inflicts its punishments upon
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  Speaker 1: the wicked in a manner so much more severe as
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  Speaker 1: they expected to escape it on account of their not
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  Speaker 1: being punished immediately footnote see Ecclesiastes eight eleven end's footnote.
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  Speaker 1: Simon was made sensible of this by falling under the
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  Speaker 1: indignation of the Romans. The rise of his out of
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  Speaker 1: the ground did also occasion the discovery of a great
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  Speaker 1: number of others of the seditious at that time, who
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  Speaker 1: had hidden themselves under ground. But for Simon he was
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  Speaker 1: brought to Caesar in bonds when he was come back
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  Speaker 1: to that cesarea, which was on the sea side, who
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  Speaker 1: gave orders that he should be kept against that triumph
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  Speaker 1: which he was to celebrate at Rome upon this occasion.
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  Speaker 1: End of Book seven, chapters one and two. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Katie Riley, February two thousand nine,