The Upper City Taken

Caesar saw that the upper city, with steep cliffs all around it, could not be taken without earthworks, and on the twentieth of the month Lous he divided the work among his army. Bringing in timber was hard, for, as I have said, everything around the city for about twelve miles had already been stripped bare for the earlier earthworks. The four legions raised their works on the western side of the city, facing the royal palace. The allied troops and the rest of the crowd built at the Xystus, reaching to the bridge and to the tower of Simon, which he had built as a stronghold for himself in his war with John. [a]

During these days the commanders of the Idumeans met secretly and discussed surrendering themselves. They sent five men to Titus and begged him to give them his right hand. Titus hoped that the tyrants too would give in if the Idumeans, who were a large part of the war, were pulled away from them. So, though slowly, he granted them their lives and sent the men back. But as the Idumeans were getting ready to leave, Simon found out. He at once killed the five who had gone to Titus, and arrested their commanders, the most notable of whom was Jacob son of Sosas, and imprisoned them. As for the mass of the Idumeans, helpless now that their leaders were taken from them, he kept them under watch, and he set more careful guards along the wall. [c]

Yet the guards could not hold out against the desertions. Though a great many were killed, far more got away. The Romans received them all. Titus, in his gentleness, disregarded his earlier orders, and the soldiers themselves held back from killing, being sated with it and hoping for profit. They set aside only the common people, and sold the rest of the crowd with their wives and children, each at a very low price, because those for sale were many and the buyers few. Though Titus had proclaimed beforehand that no one was to desert alone, so that they would bring out their families too, he received these as well. But he appointed men to sort them out, in case anyone deserved punishment. The number of those sold was past counting. Of the common people more than 40,000 were saved, and Caesar let them go wherever each one wished.

In these same days one of the priests, Jesus son of Thebuthus, received sworn pledges of safety from Caesar on condition that he would hand over some of the sacred treasures. He came out and handed over from the wall of the sanctuary two lampstands like those that stood in the sanctuary, together with tables, mixing bowls and libation bowls, all of solid gold and very heavy. He also handed over the curtains, and the vestments of the high priests with their precious stones, and many other vessels used in the sacred service. The treasurer of the temple, a man named Phineas, was captured too. He disclosed the tunics and belts of the priests, a great quantity of purple and scarlet stored for use on the curtain, and with them much cinnamon and cassia and a mass of other spices, which they mixed and burned as incense to God every day. He handed over many other treasures as well, and no small amount of sacred ornaments; and these won him, though he had been taken by force, the pardon given to deserters. [f]

The earthworks were finished in eighteen days, on the seventh of the month Gorpiaeus, and the Romans brought up their engines. Of the rebels, some had already given up the city for lost and withdrew from the wall to the citadel; others crept down into the tunnels. But many took up positions and fought off those bringing up the siege engines. The Romans overcame these too, by their numbers and their strength, and above all because they were in high spirits while the Jews were already dispirited and slack. When a part of the wall broke away and some of the towers gave way under the blows of the rams, the defenders fled at once, and a terror fell on the tyrants more violent than the danger called for. Before the enemy had even crossed the breach, they were numb and ready to flee. One could see men who had once been so arrogant and so boastful of their impieties now humbled and trembling, so that the change was pitiable, even in men so wicked. [j]

They ran at the Roman encircling wall, meaning to push back the guards, break through and get out. But they could see nowhere those who had once been loyal to them, for these had fled wherever necessity led them. Men came running up with reports: some said the whole western wall had been overthrown; others that the Romans had broken in and were already close by, looking for them; still others said they could see the enemy from the towers, for fear confused their sight. Then they fell on their faces, bewailing their own madness, and as if their sinews had been cut, they could not flee.

Here above all one may see both the power of God over the unholy and the fortune of the Romans. The tyrants stripped themselves of their own security and came down of their own accord from towers where they could never have been taken by force, but only by famine. And the Romans, who had labored so hard over weaker walls, won by fortune what their engines could not win. For the three towers were stronger than any machine; I have described them above.

So they left the towers, or rather were cast down from them by God, and at once fled to the ravine below Siloam. Then, recovering a little from their fear, they rushed against the encircling wall at that point. But their daring was too feeble for their need, for their strength was now broken by fear and disaster. The guards drove them back, and scattering every which way, they slipped down into the tunnels.

The Romans, masters of the walls, set up their standards on the towers and, with clapping and rejoicing, sang the paean for their victory, having found the end of the war much lighter than its beginning. They had mounted the last wall without bloodshed and could hardly believe it; seeing no one to oppose them, they were truly at a loss. They poured into the alleys sword in hand, slaughtered without restraint everyone they caught, and set fire to the houses with the people who had fled into them still inside. Many houses they ravaged, and whenever they went in to plunder, they found whole families dead and the rooms full of those who had died of famine. Shuddering at the sight, they came out empty-handed. But though they pitied those who had died that way, they did not feel the same for the living. They ran through everyone they met, choked the alleys with corpses, and flooded the whole city with blood, so that many of the fires were put out by the slaughter.

Toward evening the killers stopped, but in the night the fire gained the upper hand, and the eighth day of the month Gorpiaeus dawned on Jerusalem in flames. The city had suffered so many disasters during the siege that, had it enjoyed as many blessings from its founding, it would surely have been the envy of the world. Yet it deserved such great misfortunes for no other reason than this: that it produced the generation that overthrew it.