THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book V: Chapter 12
TITUS THOUGHT FIT TO ENCOMPASS THE
CITY ROUND WITH A WALL; AFTER WHICH THE FAMINE
CONSUMED THE PEOPLE BY WHOLE HOUSES AND FAMILIES
TOGETHER.
1. AND now did Titus consult with his commanders
what was to be done. Those that were of the warmest
tempers thought he should bring the whole army against
the city and storm the wall; for that hitherto no more
than a part of their army had fought with the Jews;
but that in case the entire army was to come at once,
they would not be able to sustain their attacks, but
would be overwhelmed by their darts. But of those that
were for a more cautious management, some were for
raising their banks again; and others advised to let
the banks alone, but to lie still before the city, to
guard against the coming out of the Jews, and against
their carrying provisions into the city, and so to
leave the enemy to the famine, and this without direct
fighting with them; for that despair was not to be
conquered, especially as to those who are desirous to
die by the sword, while a more terrible misery than
that is reserved for them. However, Titus did not
think it fit for so great an army to lie entirely
idle, and that yet it was in vain to fight with those
that would be destroyed one by another; he also showed
them how impracticable it was to cast up any more
banks, for want of materials, and to guard against the
Jews coming out still more impracticable; as also,
that to encompass the whole city round with his army
was not very easy, by reason of its magnitude, and the
difficulty of the situation, and on other accounts
dangerous, upon the sallies the Jews might make out of
the city. For although they might guard the known
passages out of the place, yet would they, when they
found themselves under the greatest distress, contrive
secret passages out, as being well acquainted with all
such places; and if any provisions were carried in by
stealth, the siege would thereby be longer delayed. He
also owned that he was afraid that the length of time
thus to be spent would diminish the glory of his
success; for though it be true that length of time
will perfect every thing, yet that to do what we do in
a little time is still necessary to the gaining
reputation. That therefore his opinion was, that if
they aimed at quickness joined with security, they
must build a wall round about the whole city; which
was, he thought, the only way to prevent the Jews from
coming out any way, and that then they would either
entirely despair of saving the city, and so would
surrender it up to him, or be still the more easily
conquered when the famine had further weakened them;
for that besides this wall, he would not lie entirely
at rest afterward, but would take care then to have
banks raised again, when those that would oppose them
were become weaker. But that if any one should think
such a work to be too great, and not to be finished
without much difficulty, he ought to consider that it
is not fit for Romans to undertake any small work, and
that none but God himself could with ease accomplish
any great thing whatsoever.
2. These arguments prevailed with the commanders.
So Titus gave orders that the army should be
distributed to their several shares of this work; and
indeed there now came upon the soldiers a certain
divine fury, so that they did not only part the whole
wall that was to be built among them, nor did only one
legion strive with another, but the lesser divisions
of the army did the same; insomuch that each soldier
was ambitious to please his decurion, each decurion
his centurion, each centurion his tribune, and the
ambition of the tribunes was to please their superior
commanders, while Caesar himself took notice of and
rewarded the like contention in those commanders; for
he went round about the works many times every day,
and took a view of what was done. Titus began the wall
from the camp of the Assyrians, where his own camp was
pitched, and drew it down to the lower parts of
Cenopolis; thence it went along the valley of Cedron,
to the Mount of Olives; it then bent towards the
south, and encompassed the mountain as far as the rock
called Peristereon, and that other hill which lies
next it, and is over the valley which reaches to
Siloam; whence it bended again to the west, and went
down to the valley of the Fountain, beyond which it
went up again at the monument of Ananus the high
priest, and encompassing that mountain where Pompey
had formerly pitched his camp, it returned back to the
north side of the city, and was carried on as far as a
certain village called "The House of the Erebinthi;"
after which it encompassed Herod's monument, and
there, on the east, was joined to Titus's own camp,
where it began. Now the length of this wall was forty
furlongs, one only abated. Now at this wall without
were erected thirteen places to keep garrison in,
whose circumferences, put together, amounted to ten
furlongs; the whole was completed in three days; so
that what would naturally have required some months
was done in so short an interval as is incredible.
When Titus had therefore encompassed the city with
this wall, and put garrisons into proper places, be
went round the wall, at the first watch of the night,
and observed how the guard was kept; the second watch
he allotted to Alexander; the commanders of legions
took the third watch. They also cast lots among
themselves who should be upon the watch in the night
time, and who should go all night long round the
spaces that were interposed between the garrisons.
3. So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the
Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the
city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and
devoured the people by whole houses and families; the
upper rooms were full of women and children that were
dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full
of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and
the young men wandered about the market-places like
shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down
dead, wheresoever their misery seized them. As for
burying them, those that were sick themselves were not
able to do it; and those that were hearty and well
were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of
those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was
how soon they should die themselves; for many died as
they were burying others, and many went to their
coffins before that fatal hour was come. Nor was there
any lamentations made under these calamities, nor were
heard any mournful complaints; but the famine
confounded all natural passions; for those who were
just going to die looked upon those that were gone to
rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep
silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized
upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more
terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they
brake open those houses which were no other than
graves of dead bodies, and plundered them of what they
had; and carrying off the coverings of their bodies,
went out laughing, and tried the points of their
swords in their dead bodies; and, in order to prove
what metal they were made of they thrust some of those
through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for
those that entreated them to lend them their right
hand and their sword to despatch them, they were too
proud to grant their requests, and left them to be
consumed by the famine. Now every one of these died
with their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the
seditious alive behind them. Now the seditious at
first gave orders that the dead should be buried out
of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of
their dead bodies. But afterwards, when they could not
do that, they had them cast down from the walls into
the valleys beneath.
4. However, when Titus, in going his rounds along
those valleys, saw them full of dead bodies, and the
thick putrefaction running about them, he gave a
groan; and, spreading out his hands to heaven, called
God to witness that this was not his doing; and such
was the sad case of the city itself. But the Romans
were very joyful, since none of the seditious could
now make sallies out of the city, because they were
themselves disconsolate, and the famine already
touched them also. These Romans besides had great
plenty of corn and other necessaries out of Syria, and
out of the neighboring provinces; many of whom would
stand near to the wall of the city, and show the
people what great quantities of provisions they had,
and so make the enemy more sensible of their famine,
by the great plenty, even to satiety, which they had
themselves. However, when the seditious still showed
no inclinations of yielding, Titus, out of his
commiseration of the people that remained, and out of
his earnest desire of rescuing what was still left out
of these miseries, began to raise his banks again,
although materials for them were hard to he come at;
for all the trees that were about the city had been
already cut down for the making of the former banks.
Yet did the soldiers bring with them other materials
from the distance of ninety furlongs, and thereby
raised banks in four parts, much greater than the
former, though this was done only at the tower of
Antonia. So Caesar went his rounds through the
legions, and hastened on the works, a
nd showed the
robbers that they were now in his hands. But these
men, and these only, were incapable of repenting of
the wickednesses they had been guilty of; and
separating their souls from their bodies, they used
them both as if they belonged to other folks, and not
to themselves. For no gentle affection could touch
their souls, nor could any pain affect their bodies,
since they could still tear the dead bodies of the
people as dogs do, and fill the prisons with those
that were sick.
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