Varus Crushes the Revolt

When Varus received the letters from Sabinus and the officers, he was alarmed for the whole legion and hurried to its relief. He took the other two legions and the four squadrons of cavalry attached to them and marched to Ptolemais, ordering the auxiliaries sent by the kings and local princes to meet him there. As he passed through Berytus he also took on fifteen hundred armed men from its people. At Ptolemais the rest of the allied forces joined him, and so did Aretas the Arab, who out of his hatred for Herod brought a large force of cavalry and infantry. Varus at once sent part of his army into Galilee, which borders on Ptolemais, under Gaius, one of his friends. Gaius routed those who came out to meet him, took the city of Sepphoris, burned it, and enslaved its inhabitants. [a]

Varus himself marched into Samaria with his whole army. He left the city alone, since he found it had stirred up nothing during the general unrest, and camped near a village called Arus. It belonged to Ptolemy, and for that reason the Arabs plundered it, for they were furious even with Herod’s friends. From there he moved on to Sappho, another fortified village, which they plundered in the same way, along with all the neighboring villages they came upon. Everything was filled with fire and slaughter, and nothing could stand against the plundering of the Arabs. Emmaus too was burned after its inhabitants fled, on the orders of Varus, in his anger over the slaughter of Arius and his men.

From there he advanced to Jerusalem. He had only to come into sight with his force, and the camps of the Jews broke up; the men fled and scattered across the countryside. The people of the city received him and cleared themselves of any part in the revolt. They said they themselves had stirred up nothing. Because of the festival they had been forced to take the crowd in, and they had been besieged along with the Romans rather than fighting alongside the rebels. Before this, Joseph, Archelaus’s cousin, had come out to meet him, together with Rufus and Gratus, who brought the king’s army and the men of Sebaste with them; so had the men of the Roman legion, equipped in their usual manner. Sabinus, for his part, did not dare even to come into Varus’s sight, and had already left the city for the coast.

Varus sent detachments of his army through the country against those responsible for the uprising. Many were brought in. Those who appeared less turbulent he kept under guard; the most guilty, about two thousand of them, he crucified.

He received word that ten thousand armed men were still holding together in Idumea. He had found that the Arabs were not behaving like allies but were making war to satisfy their own passions, ravaging the country beyond anything he intended out of their hatred for Herod. So he sent them away and pressed on with his own legions against the rebels. On the advice of Achiabus they surrendered before it came to a fight. Varus pardoned the rank and file but sent their leaders to Caesar to be examined. Caesar pardoned the rest, but ordered certain of the king’s relatives among them (for some were Herod’s kin by blood) to be punished, because they had made war on a king of their own family. Having settled affairs at Jerusalem in this way, and leaving the legion that had been there before as a garrison, Varus returned to Antioch. [e]