7. Persons of priestly descent who, owing to some bodily defect, were unable to perform the sacred service, were kept inside the lattice near the physically irreproachable and also received parts of the sacrifices that belonged to them on account of their ancestral origin, but wore simple clothing, for only those who participated in the service were required to wear sacred vestments. At the altar and in the temple, only clean and blameless priests, dressed in fine linen, served; Out of reverence for their sacred duties, they especially abstained from the use of wine, so as not to violate any rite. The high priest ascended with them, but not every time, but only on Saturdays, new moons, annual feasts, and if any public festival was celebrated. He performed the sacred service in a belt that covered the body from the loins to the shins, in linen undergarments and hyacinth-blue, reaching to the feet, embracing the entire body, outer garments trimmed with tassels. Golden bells with granite apples were hung to the tassels alternately: the first as an emblem of thunder, the second as lightning. The bandage attaching the outer garment to the chest was a variegated fabric of five strips: gold, purple, charlach, fine linen, and hyacinth, the same fabrics of which, as mentioned above, the curtains of the temple were woven. On top of this, he also wore a robe over the shoulders, embroidered from the same colored fabrics with a predominance of gold. The cut of this vestment resembled a shell, two golden clasps fastened it, and in these golden clasps were set the most beautiful and greatest sardonyx, on which were carved the names of the tribes of the people. On the other side hung twelve other stones in four rows, three in each: carnelian, topaz, and smaragdus; carbuncle, jasper and sapphire; agate, amethyst and amber, onyx, beryl and chrysolite. [35] On each of these stones was one of the names of the tribes. His head was covered with a tiara woven of fine linen and hyacinth-blue fabric; it was wrapped around a golden diadem with inscribed sacred letters. These were four vowels. [36] He did not wear this vestment at all times, since a lighter garment was used for the usual wear, but only when he entered the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year, when all the Jews fasted in honor of God. [37] Of the city, the temple, and the customs and laws which concerned them, I shall speak still more at length, for much remains to be said about them.

8. The Castle of Antonia with two galleries and on the outer temple square, western and northern, formed a corner. It was built on a steep cliff on all sides, fifty cubits high. It was the work of King Herod, by which he proved his love of splendour. First of all, the rock was covered with smooth stone slabs from its very foot, partly for decoration, and partly so that those who tried to climb up or down would slide down from it. Then, in front of the castle building, a wall rose three cubits, within which the castle itself rose forty cubits. The interior was distinguished by the spaciousness and arrangement of the palace; It was divided into chambers of various types and purposes, into galleries, baths and spacious royal tents, so that the furnishings with all the amenities gave the castle the appearance of a city, and the splendor of the arrangement gave the appearance of a royal palace. On the whole it was in the form of a tower, but at its four corners it was again furnished with four towers, two of which were fifty cubits high, and the other two, namely, the lower and eastern ones, were seventy, so that from them it was possible to view the whole temple square. Where the castle came into contact with the temple galleries, stairs led from it to the latter, by which the soldiers of the Roman legion, which was always quartered in the castle, went down armed to place themselves in the galleries to watch over the people on holidays in order to prevent riots. Just as the temple served as a citadel for the city, so Antonia served as a citadel for the temple. It also housed a garrison for all three. [38] In addition, the Upper City had its own citadel, Herod's palace. The hill of Beceta, as stated above, was separated from Antonia; it was the highest of all the hills, and one part of it was connected with the Upper City. He alone also obscured the view of the temple from the north side. As I have in mind to speak of the city and the walls of each separately below, we may for the time being confine myself to what has been said.

Chapter Six

About the tyrants Simon and John. — How Nicanor was wounded during Titus' circumambulation of the wall, as a result of which the siege was intensified.

1. From the armed rebels of the city, ten thousand men, not counting the Edomites, formed the party of Simon; they were under the command of fifty captains, over whom Simon commanded as commander-in-chief. The Edomites who were on his side in the number of five thousand soldiers were governed by ten leaders. The first of these were recognized to a certain extent: James, the son of Sosa, and Simon, the son of Kaphla, John, who occupied the temple, had six thousand heavily armed soldiers under the command of twenty leaders; moreover, he was joined by the Zealots, who had forgotten their former enmity, to the number of two thousand four hundred, led by their former leaders, Eleazar and Simon the son of Yamr. Both these parties, as has been remarked above, were at enmity with each other, and the people were the victims of their dissensions, because that part of the population which excluded itself from their wickedness was plundered by both parties. Simon possessed the Upper City and the great wall as far as Kidron; moreover, that part of the ancient wall which stretched from the spring of Siloam to the east to the palace of Monobazus (king of the Adiabines on the other side of the Euphrates), as well as the said spring, together with the Acra (Lower City), and the whole country to the palace of Helen, the mother of Monobazus. John, on the other hand, ruled over the temple and most of its environs, and then over Ophla and the Kidron Valley. Having destroyed part of the city with fire; lying between their dominions, they created an open place for their mutual struggle. For even when the Romans were already encamped under the walls of Jerusalem, the internecine war did not subside. Coming to their senses for a moment after the first sortie against the Romans, they soon fell back into their former illness, again divided into two with each other, fought with each other, and did everything only to the advantage of the besiegers. They treated each other in such a way that they could not expect more cruel treatment from the enemy, and after their actions in the city, no calamity could seem new; even before the fall of the city, its misfortune was so great that the Romans could only improve its position. I think this: the civil war destroyed the city, and the Romans destroyed the civil strife, which was much stronger than the walls; all fault can truly be attributed to the natives, and all justice can be done to the Romans. But let everyone judge by what events teach.

2. While the city was in this position, Titus, accompanied by a picked band of horsemen, rode around it in order to look for a convenient point of attack on the wall. At all points he found difficulties; from the deep valleys the wall was already inaccessible; But at other points, too, the outer wall seemed too massive for machines. Finally, he decided to undertake an assault at the tomb of the high priest John. At this point, the outer fortification was lower, and the second was not adjacent to it, since in the less populated part of the New Town the fortifications were neglected. From here, therefore, it was easy to pass to the third wall, through which Titus intended to take possession of the Upper City, as through Antonia the temple. From the fact that they did not spare the man who approached them for their own good, Titus understood how great their obstinacy was. He therefore set about the siege with even greater zeal, allowed the legions to ravage the environs of the city, and gave orders to collect materials for the construction of the ramparts.

Following this, he divided the army into three parts for work. In the intervals between the ramparts he drew up slingers and archers, and in front of the front of the latter he placed scorpions, catapults and ballistae in order to repel the enemy's sorties against the workers and attempts to prevent work from the wall. The trees were all cut down, as a result of which the space in front of the city was soon exposed. At that time, however, when trees were brought from everywhere for the ramparts and the whole army was diligently engaged in work, the Jews also did not remain idle. The people, whose lives had been spent in murder and robbery, were now revived: they hoped to breathe freely when their oppressors were distracted by the struggle against an external enemy, and to take revenge on the guilty if the Romans gained the upper hand.

3. John, out of fear of Simon, remained at his post, despite the fact that his army was eager to go to meet the external enemy. Simon, on the other hand, for the very reason that he was nearer to the siege works, did not stand idly by, but placed in various places on the wall the throwing machines which had been taken from Cestius (11, 18, 9) and from the garrison at Antony (11, 17, 7). These machines, however, were of little use to the Jews, since they did not know how to use them; Only a few, who learned how to handle cars from defectors, fired from them, and even then badly. But they threw stones and arrows at the workers, made proper sorties and engaged in small battles with the Romans. But the Romans were protected from arrows by wicker roofs built on embankments, and they were protected from sorties by throwing machines. For all the legions were furnished with excellent machines, especially the tenth legion had extraordinarily strong scorpions and huge ballistae, by means of which he overthrew those who stood even on the wall, to say nothing of those who made sorties: these machines spewed stones weighing talents to a distance of two stades or more; and not only the foremost soldiers, who were immediately caught by them, but also those who stood far behind them, could not resist their blows. At first the Jews escaped from the flying stones, because the latter warned of themselves by their whistles and were even visible to the eye on account of their whiteness; besides, the guards from the towers let them know every time the machine was loaded and the stone flew out, shouting in their native language: "The arrow is flying!", then those at whom the machine was aiming parted and threw themselves on the ground. When this precaution was taken, the stones often fell without any effect. But the Romans, for their part, decided to paint the stones dark: in this way they ceased to be visible in advance and hit the target; One shot destroyed many at once. But in spite of all the harm that the Jews suffered, they still did not give the Romans a single quiet moment for the construction of the siege ramparts, but day and night they tried to prevent them from doing so by every kind of cunning and boldness.

4. When the structures were finished, the craftsmen measured the distance to the wall by throwing a piece of lead attached to a ball from the rampart; they had to resort to this means, as otherwise they would have been fired upon from above. Finding that the battering rams could reach the wall, they brought them here. Titus then ordered the throwing machines to be placed at a closer distance so that the Jews could not keep the battering rams from the wall, and then gave the order to use the battering rams themselves. And when a terrible crack was heard from three places in the city at once, its inhabitants raised a cry, and the rebels themselves were not a little horrified. In view of the common danger, the two parties finally thought of a common defense, and said to each other: "We are only playing into the hands of the enemy! If God has refused us permanent consent, at least for the present moment we must forget mutual strife and unite as one against the Romans!" In fact, Simon promised the safety of those in the temple if they would only come out to the wall, and John, though with disbelief, accepted the offer. Forgetting all enmity and mutual strife, they now stood together as one man, occupied the wall, threw from it masses of flaming firebrands on the buildings, and maintained a continuous firing against those who were loading the battering guns. The bolder men rushed forward in crowds, tore off the protective roofs of the vehicles, and attacked the warriors hiding beneath them, for the most part victoriously, more likely from their frenzied courage than from experience. But Titus did not leave the workmen on both sides of the machines for a moment, he placed the horsemen and archers, and with their help repelled the arsonists, drove the shooters from the wall, and enabled the battering rams to act unhindered. The wall, however, did not yield to blows: only the battering ram of the fifteenth legion recaptured the corner of the tower; but the wall remained intact and was not even in danger, for the tower jutted out far ahead, and therefore the wall could not be so easily damaged by its damage.

5. As the Jews had ceased their sorties for a time, the Romans thought that they had turned to inactivity out of fear and fatigue, and had scattered themselves among their installations and legions. But the Jews, as soon as they noticed this, made a sortie at the Hippicus Tower through the secret gates in their entirety, set fire to the buildings, and were ready to invade the camp. Although the Romans, who were nearer, as well as those who were more distant, managed to gather at their noise, the furious courage of the Jews was faster than the Roman tactics: they put to flight the first people they met on the way and rushed at those who were gathering. A terrible battle ensued around the machines: the Jews did everything to set them on fire, the Romans, on their part, to prevent this; an indistinct rumble was heard on both sides; many of the front ranks fell dead. But the Jews were victorious by their furious courage: the fire engulfed the works, and the soldiers themselves would have perished in the flames along with the machines, had not some of the choicest Alexandrian troops, with unexpected courage, with which they had celebrated themselves in this battle more than others, defended the field of battle until Caesar fell upon the enemy at the head of the choicest cavalry. Twelve of the foremost he laid down with his own hands on the spot; their fate led the rest of the mass to retreat; He pursued her, drove everyone into the city and thus saved the structures from fire. In this battle, one Jew was captured alive. Titus ordered him to be crucified in full view of the wall, in order to make others more pliable by this terrible sight. Already after the retreat, John, the leader of the Edomites, was killed, while he, standing in front of the wall, was talking with a soldier who was loyal to him. An Arab archer shot him in the chest, and he died instantly, to the great sorrow of the Jews and to the regret of the rebels, for he stood out for his courage and wisdom. [346]