Chapter Seven

How one of the towers built by the Romans collapsed by itself. — How, after much bloodshed, the Romans took possession of the first wall, and how Titus made an attack on the second. — Of the Roman Longinus and the Jew Castor.

1. The next night there was an unexpected panic in the Roman camp. One of the fifty-kiloct towers, erected by Titus in front of each rampart in order to protect the latter from the Jews standing on the wall, collapsed of itself in the middle of the night. The terrible roar that occurred at its fall terrified the army; all rushed to arms in the supposition that the enemy was making an attack; Terror and confusion reigned in the legions, and as no one could explain what was the matter, they in their despair assumed one thing or another. When the enemies were nowhere to be seen, they began to be frightened of themselves: each in fear asked the other for the password, fearing that the Jews had not crept into the camp itself. They remained in this panic until Titus learned of what had happened and ordered the cause of the crash to be made public. With difficulty, they allowed themselves to be calmed down by this.

2. The Jews bravely resisted all kinds of attacks; but the towers did them a lot of harm: from there they were simultaneously fired upon by lighter machines, javelin-throwers, archers, and slingers; At the same time, these towers were inaccessible to the Jews because of their height; nor could they be overturned and taken because of their weight; and the iron armor protected them from fire. If the Jews withdrew beyond the range of the shots, they could no longer stop the advance of the battering rams, which, by their incessant blows, though slowly, nevertheless achieved some results. And already the wall yielded to Nikon[39] (as the Jews themselves called the largest battering ram, because he conquered everything); and the Jews had long since been exhausted from fighting and waking at night far from the city. Moreover, they thought it superfluous to guard this wall, because there were two others behind it, and for the most part they faint-heartedly retreated from it. In this way the Romans invaded the wall openings made by Nikon, after which all the guards fled behind the second wall. Those who crossed the wall opened the gates and let the whole army in. On the fifteenth day of the siege, on the seventh day of the month of Artemisia, the Romans took possession of the first wall. They destroyed the greater part of it, as well as the northern part of the city, as Cestius had done before (II, 19, 4).

3. Then Titus, having occupied all the space up to Kidron, built his camp within the walls in what is called the Assyrian camp. [40] Since he was still within firing distance of the second wall, he immediately began an offensive. The Jews were divided into positions and defended the wall stubbornly, John's men fought from the castle of Antonia, the northern temple gallery, and the tomb of King Alexander,41 and Simon's troops occupied the entrance to the city at the tomb of John,42 and defended the line to the gate, at which the aqueduct bends to the Hippicus Tower. Often they rushed out of the gates and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, but each time they were beaten off the walls; for in skirmishes at close range they, who were not initiated in the Roman art of war, were defeated, while fighting from the wall they gained the upper hand. The Romans possessed strength along with experience; On the side of the Jews was courage, strengthened by despair, and their inherent endurance in adversity. At the same time, the latter were still supported by the hope of salvation, and the former were equally hopeful of a quick victory. Neither one nor the other knew fatigue; Attacks, skirmishes near the walls, sorties in small parties took place continuously throughout the day, and not a single form of struggle remained untried. Early in the morning they began, and the night hardly brought rest, for it was sleepless for both camps, and even more terrible than the day: for the Jews, because they expected every minute to attack the wall, for the Romans, because they were always afraid of attacking their camp. Both sides spent the nights under arms, and with a glimpse of the first morning ray, they stood facing each other, ready for battle. The Jews have always contested with each other the right to be the first to rush into danger in order to distinguish themselves before their generals. More than any other, they feared and respected Simon. His subordinates were so devoted to him that at his order each would have laid hands on himself with the greatest readiness. In the Romans, courage was maintained by the habit of constantly conquering and not being defeated, by constant campaigns, by incessant military exercises, and by the power of the prince, but above all by the person of Titus himself, who always came to the aid of all. To weaken before the eyes of Caesar, who himself fought everywhere side by side with everyone, was considered a disgrace; those who fought bravely found in him both a witness to their exploits and a rewarder, and to be famous in front of Caesar as a brave fighter was already considered a gain. Many therefore showed military courage that often exceeded their own strength. When, for example, in those days a strong detachment of Jews stood before the walls in order of battle, and both armies were still being fired upon from a distance, one horseman, Longinus, broke out of the ranks of the Romans, cut into the very ranks of the Jews, tore it apart with his raid, and slew two of the bravest of them, one who stood against him at point-blank range, and the other, who had taken to flight, stabbed from the side with a spear stretched out from the first, and then galloped out of the hands of the enemy back to his own. This, of course, was a very exceptional feat, but many tried to imitate him in heroism. The Jews were not in the least saddened by the losses inflicted on them. All their thoughts and efforts were directed to inflict damage on their part. Death seemed a trifle to them, if only they managed to kill the enemy when dying. For Titus, on the contrary, the safety of the soldiers was as important as victory; he called the rush forward without looking back madness and recognized courage only where they went into action deliberately and without damage. Therefore, he taught his army to be brave, but not to expose themselves to danger.

4. Finally, under the personal direction of Titus, a battering ram was set up against the middle tower of the north wall, where a cunning Jew, named Castor, stood guard with ten like him, after others had fled before the archers. For some time they lay quietly, hiding behind the parapets; but when the tower began to waver, they sprang out from different places; Castor at this stretched out his hands, like a man begging for mercy, appealing to Caesar, and in a pitiful voice begged for pity on him. Titus frankly believed him, hoping that the Jews were now about to change their way of thinking; he therefore ordered the ramming to be stopped, forbade the shooting of those who asked, and invited Castor to speak. When he declared that he wished to go down and surrender, Titus replied that he welcomed his sensible decision, and would be very glad if all followed his example, as he, for his part, would gladly extend a hand of reconciliation to the city. Five out of ten joined in the hypocritical entreaties of Castor, while others cried out that they would never become slaves of the Romans so long as they had the opportunity of dying as free men. A long time elapsed in this dispute, during which the offensive was suspended. Castor, meanwhile, sent word to Simon that he could safely consult with his men about matters that could not be delayed, for he would delay the Roman army for a long time. At the same time he pretended to try to induce those who resisted him to surrender as well, and they, as if in indignation, raised their drawn swords over the parapets, pierced their shields, and fell to the ground as if stabbed. Titus and those around him were amazed at the determination of these men, and being unable to see everything exactly from below, they marveled only at their courage and at the same time regretted their fate. Then one of the Romans wounded Castor in the face near the nose; Castor pulled out an arrow, showed it to Titus, and complained about the unfair treatment. Caesar reprimanded the shooter, and instructed Josephus, who was standing near him, to go to the wall and stretch out his hand to Castor, but Josephus refused, for he suspected that the petitioners were plotting evil, and he also restrained his friends who wished to hasten thither. A deserter named Aeneas volunteered for this task, and as Castor was still shouting for someone to come to get the money that was in his possession, this Aeneas ran even more quickly and put up his cloak; but Castor picked up the stone and threw it down; He did not hit him, as he was on his guard, but wounded the soldier accompanying him. This deception led Titus to the conviction that leniency in war is only harmful, while severity is more protective against cunning. Enraged by this mockery, he ordered the battering ram to act with greater indomitableness. When the tower was already shaking under his blows, Castor and his men set it on fire and jumped through the flames into the secret passage beneath it, which once more surprised the Romans with their courage, who believed that they had thrown themselves into the fire. [350]

Chapter Eight

How the Romans took the second wall twice and prepared to take the third.

1. At this place Titus took possession of the second wall five days after the capture of the first. After the Jews had departed from it, he entered with a thousand armed soldiers, and with a select detachment to form his retinue, and occupied in the New City the woollen market, the blacksmiths' shops, and the square where the dress trade took place, as well as the streets which sloped towards the wall. If he had at once either broken down a greater part of the wall, or, as is the custom of war, destroyed the part of the city which had been taken, his victory, in my opinion, would not have been marred by any loss. But Titus hoped that, by avoiding the drastic measures which he could take at will, he would soften the obstinacy of the Jews, and therefore he ordered that the entrance should not be widened so as to make it convenient for retreat; he thought that those to whom he wished to show leniency would not ambush him. Still more, at his accession, he forbade the killing of any of the captured Jews or the burning of houses; at the same time he gave the rebels freedom to continue the struggle, if only they could do so without harm to the people, and promised to restore the latter's property. For it was extremely important for him to preserve the city for himself, and the temple for the city. The people had been inclined to yield and yield before,43 but the soldiers of the Jews had taken their philanthropy for impotence: Titus, they thought, had so decreed because he felt himself unable to take possession of the whole city. They threatened death to anyone who thought of surrendering; and whoever uttered a word of peace was killed. At the same time they attacked the Romans who had entered, partly rushing to meet them in the streets, partly firing at them from their houses; at the same time, other detachments made sorties from the Upper Gate against the Romans who were outside the wall. These sorties so terrified the guards stationed at the wall that they hurriedly jumped down from the towers and fled to their camp. A loud cry arose among the Romans: those who were inside the city were surrounded by the enemy, and those standing outside were seized with terror at the sight of the danger of their comrades who had been abandoned. Meanwhile, the number of Jews increased more and more; An accurate acquaintance with the streets gave them a considerable advantage: they wounded a mass of Romans and pushed them back with irresistible force. The latter were forced to offer prolonged resistance, since they could not escape in large masses through a narrow passage made in the wall. All those who entered the city would undoubtedly have been slain if Titus had not come to their aid. Having placed the archers at the ends of the streets, he himself stood in the most terrible stampede and repulsed the enemy with arrows. Domitius Sabinus fought side by his side, and in this battle he showed himself to be exceedingly brave. Continuing the firing without interruption, Caesar thereby repulsed the attack of the Jews until his soldiers had made their retreat.