THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book II: Chapter 10
CAIUS COMMANDS THAT HIS S TATUE S HOULD BE S ET UP
IN THE TEMPLE ITSELF; AND WHAT PETRONIUS DID
THEREUPON. 1. NOW Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse
the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to
be a God, and to desire to be so called also, and to
cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his
country. He also extended his impiety as far as the
Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius with an army
toJerusalem, to place his statues in the temple, 11
and commanded him that, in case the Jews would not
admit of them, he should slay those that opposed it,
and carry all the rest of the nation into captivity:
but God concerned himself with these his commands.
However, Petronius marched out of Antioch into Judea,
with three legions, and many Syrian auxiliaries. Now
as to the Jews, some of them could not believe the
stories that spake of a war; but those that did
believe them were in the utmost distress how to defend
themselves, and the terror diffused itself presently
through them all; for the army was already come to
Ptolemais.
2. This Ptolemais is a maritime city of Galilee,
built in the great plain. It isencompassed with
mountains: that on the east side, sixty furlongs off,
belongs to Galilee; but that on the south belongs to
Carmel, which is distant from it a hundred and twenty
furlongs; and that on the north is the highest of them
all, and is called by the people of the country, The
Ladder of the Tyrians, which is at the distance of a
hundred furlongs. The verysmall river Belus 12 runs by
it, at the distance of two furlongs; near which there
is Menmon’s monument, 13 and hath near it a place no
larger than a hundred cubits, which deserves
admiration; for the place is round andhollow, and
affords such sand as glass is made of; which place,
when it hath been emptied by the many ships there
loaded, it is filled again by the winds, which bring
into it, as it were on purpose, that sand which lay
remote, and was no more than bare common sand, while
this mine presently turns it into glassy sand. And
what is to me still more wonderful, that glassy sand
which is superfluous, and is once removed out
of the place, becomes bare common sand again. And
this is the nature of the place we are speaking of.
3. But now the Jews got together in great numbers
with their wives andchildren into that plain that was
by Ptolemais, and made supplication to Petronius,
first for their laws, and, in the next place, for
themselves. So he was prevailed upon by the multitude
of the supplicants, and by their supplications, and
left his army and the statues at Ptolemais, and then
went forward into Galilee, and called together the
multitude and all the men of note to Tiberias, and
showed them the power of the Romans, and the
threatenings of Caesar; and, besides this, proved that
their petition was unreasonable, because while all the
nations in subjection to them had placed the images of
Caesar in their several cities, among the rest of
their gods, for them alone to oppose it, was almost
like the behavior of revolters, and was injurious to
Caesar.
4. And when they insisted on their law, and the
custom of their country,and how it was not only not
permitted them to make either an image of God, or
indeed of a man, and to put it in any despicable part
of their country, much less in the temple itself,
Petronius replied, “And am not I also,” said he,
“bound to keep the law of my own Lord? For if I
transgress it, and spare you, it is but just that I
perish; while he that sent me, and not I, will
commence a war against you; for I am under command as
well as you.” Hereupon the whole multitude cried out
that they were ready to suffer for their law.
Petronius then quieted them, and said to them, “Will
you then make war against Caesar?” The Jews said, “We
offer sacrifices twice every day for Caesar, and for
the Roman people;” but that if he would place the
images among them, he must first sacrifice the whole
Jewish nation; and that they were ready to expose
themselves, together with their children and wives, to
be slain. At this Petronius was astonished, and pitied
them, on account of the inexpressible sense of
religion the men were under, and that courage of
theirs which made them ready to die for it; so they
were dismissed without success.
5. But on the following days he got together the
men of power privately,and the multitude publicly, and
sometimes he used persuasions to them, and sometimes
he gave them his advice; but he chiefly made use of
threatenings to them, and insisted upon the power of
the Romans, and the
anger of Caius; and besides, upon the necessity he
was himself under [to do as he was enjoined]. But as
they could be no way prevailed upon, and he saw that
the country was in danger of lying without tillage;
(for it was about seed time that the multitude
continued for fifty days together idle;) so he at last
got them together, and told them that it was best for
him to run some hazard himself; “for either, by the
Divine assistance, I shall prevail with Caesar, and
shall myself escape the danger as well as you, which
will he matter of joy to us both; or, in case Caesar
continue in his rage, I will be ready to expose my own
life for such a great number as you are.” Whereupon he
dismissed the multitude, who prayed greatly for his
prosperity; and he took the army out of Ptolemais, and
returned to Antioch; from whence he presently sent an
epistle to Caesar, and informed him of the irruption
he had made into Judea, and of the supplications of
the nation; and that unless he had a mind to lose both
the country and the men in it, he must permit them to
keep their law, and must countermand his former
injunction. Caius answered that epistle in a
violent-way, and threatened to have Petronius put to
death for his being so tardy in the execution of what
he had commanded. But it happened that those who
brought Caius’s epistle were tossed by a storm, and
were detained on the sea for three months, while
others that brought the news of Caius’s death had a
good voyage. Accordingly, Petronins received the
epistle concerning Caius seven and twenty days before
he received that which was against himself.
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