Charlotte M. Yonge - "Scenes and Characters"

L. Frank Baum - "The Tin Woodman of Oz"

E.C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley - "The Woman in Black"

John H. Bechtel - "Slips of Speech"

Card Cafe Promotes Kira Case to Vice President and General Manager
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Upgrade for Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Vista and XP Released by Extensoft
OREM, Utah -- Card Cafe, a global technology provider, today announced the promotion of Kira Case to Vice President and General Manager. She will oversee and manage all operating aspects of the company. Card Cafe was founded in 2005 as an easy way to keep in touch with people through online ordering of printed greeting cards.

Libera Acquires Pintexx Software
SEATTLE, Wash. -- In an answer to the market's demand for a better, more user-friendly Microsoft(R) Windows(R), Extensoft announced today the release of its Extensions for Windows - a product that significantly broadens the functionality of both Windows XP and Vista. Extensions for Windows is the first community driven, modular upgrade for Windows and contains a number of new features Windows users have desired as part of the operating system.

The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

F >> Flavius Josephus >> The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem



*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*





Prepared by David Reed haradda@aol.com or davidr@inconnect.com





The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

By Flavius Josephus




Translated by William Whiston




PREFACE

1. (1) Whereas the war which the Jews made with the Romans hath
been the greatest of all those, not only that have been in our
times, but, in a manner, of those that ever were heard of; both
of those wherein cities have fought against cities, or nations
against nations; while some men who were not concerned in the
affairs themselves have gotten together vain and contradictory
stories by hearsay, and have written them down after a
sophistical manner; and while those that were there present have
given false accounts of things, and this either out of a humor of
flattery to the Romans, or of hatred towards the Jews; and while
their writings contain sometimes accusations, and sometimes
encomiums, but no where the accurate truth of the facts; I have
proposed to myself, for the sake of such as live under the
government of the Romans, to translate those books into the Greek
tongue, which I formerly composed in the language of our country,
and sent to the Upper Barbarians; (2) Joseph, the son of
Matthias, by birth a Hebrew, a priest also, and one who at first
fought against the Romans myself, and was forced to be present at
what was done afterwards, [am the author of this work].

2. Now at the time when this great concussion of affairs
happened, the affairs of the Romans were themselves in great
disorder. Those Jews also who were for innovations, then arose
when the times were disturbed; they were also in a flourishing
condition for strength and riches, insomuch that the affairs of
the East were then exceeding tumultuous, while some hoped for
gain, and others were afraid of loss in such troubles; for the
Jews hoped that all of their nation which were beyond Euphrates
would have raised an insurrection together with them. The Gauls
also, in the neighborhood of the Romans, were in motion, and the
Geltin were not quiet; but all was in disorder after the death of
Nero. And the opportunity now offered induced many to aim at the
royal power; and the soldiery affected change, out of the hopes
of getting money. I thought it therefore an absurd thing to see
the truth falsified in affairs of such great consequence, and to
take no notice of it; but to suffer those Greeks and Romans that
were not in the wars to be ignorant of these things, and to read
either flatteries or fictions, while the Parthians, and the
Babylonians, and the remotest Arabians, and those of our nation
beyond Euphrates, with the Adiabeni, by my means, knew accurately
both whence the war begun, what miseries it brought upon us, and
after what manner it ended.

3. It is true, these writers have the confidence to call their
accounts histories; wherein yet they seem to me to fail of their
own purpose, as well as to relate nothing that is sound. For they
have a mind to demonstrate the greatness of the Romans, while
they still diminish and lessen the actions of the Jews, as not
discerning how it cannot be that those must appear to be great
who have only conquered those that were little. Nor are they
ashamed to overlook the length of the war, the multitude of the
Roman forces who so greatly suffered in it, or the might of the
commanders, whose great labors about Jerusalem will be deemed
inglorious, if what they achieved be reckoned but a small matter.
4. However, I will not go to the other extreme, out of opposition
to those men who extol the Romans nor will I determine to raise
the actions of my countrymen too high; but I will prosecute the
actions of both parties with accuracy. Yet shall I suit my
language to the passions I am under, as to the affairs I
describe, and must be allowed to indulge some lamentations upon
the miseries undergone by my own country. For that it was a
seditious temper of our own that destroyed it, and that they were
the tyrants among the Jews who brought the Roman power upon us,
who unwillingly attacked us, and occasioned the burning of our
holy temple, Titus Caesar, who destroyed it, is himself a
witness, who, daring the entire war, pitied the people who were
kept under by the seditious, and did often voluntarily delay the
taking of the city, and allowed time to the siege, in order to
let the authors have opportunity for repentance. But if any one
makes an unjust accusation against us, when we speak so
passionately about the tyrants, or the robbers, or sorely bewail
the misfortunes of our country, let him indulge my affections
herein, though it be contrary to the rules for writing history;
because it had so come to pass, that our city Jerusalem had
arrived at a higher degree of felicity than any other city under
the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the sorest of
calamities again. Accordingly, it appears to me that the
misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, if they
be compared to these of the Jews (3) are not so considerable as
they were; while the authors of them were not foreigners neither.
This makes it impossible for me to contain my lamentations. But
if any one be inflexible in his censures of me, let him attribute
the facts themselves to the historical part, and the lamentations
to the writer himself only.

5. However, I may justly blame the learned men among the Greeks,
who, when such great actions have been done in their own times,
which, upon the comparison, quite eclipse the old wars, do yet
sit as judges of those affairs, and pass bitter censures upon the
labors of the best writers of antiquity; which moderns, although
they may be superior to the old writers in eloquence, yet are
they inferior to them in the execution of what they intended to
do. While these also write new histories about the Assyrians and
Medes, as if the ancient writers had not described their affairs
as they ought to have done; although these be as far inferior to
them in abilities as they are different in their notions from
them. For of old every one took upon them to write what happened
in his own time; where their immediate concern in the actions
made their promises of value; and where it must be reproachful to
write lies, when they must be known by the readers to be such.
But then, an undertaking to preserve the memory Of what hath not
been before recorded, and to represent the affairs of one's own
time to those that come afterwards, is really worthy of praise
and commendation. Now he is to be esteemed to have taken good
pains in earnest, not who does no more than change the
disposition and order of other men's works, but he who not only
relates what had not been related before, but composes an entire
body of history of his own: accordingly, I have been at great
charges, and have taken very great pains [about this history],
though I be a foreigner; and do dedicate this work, as a memorial
of great actions, both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians. But
for some of our own principal men, their mouths are wide open,
and their tongues loosed presently, for gain and law-suits, but
quite muzzled up when they are to write history, where they must
speak truth and gather facts together with a great deal of pains;
and so they leave the writing such histories to weaker people,
and to such as are not acquainted with the actions of princes.
Yet shall the real truth of historical facts be preferred by us,
how much soever it be neglected among the Greek historians.
6. To write concerning the Antiquities of the Jews, who they were
[originally], and how they revolted from the Egyptians, and what
country they traveled over, and what countries they seized upon
afterward, and how they were removed out of them, I think this
not to be a fit opportunity, and, on other accounts, also
superfluous; and this because many Jews before me have composed
the histories of our ancestors very exactly; as have some of the
Greeks done it also, and have translated our histories into their
own tongue, and have not much mistaken the truth in their
histories. But then, where the writers of these affairs and our
prophets leave off, thence shall I take my rise, and begin my
history. Now as to what concerns that war which happened in my
own time, I will go over it very largely, and with all the
diligence I am able; but for what preceded mine own age, that I
shall run over briefly.

7. [For example, I shall relate] how Antiochus, who was named
Epiphanes, took Jerusalem by force, and held it three years and
three months, and was then ejected out of the country by the sons
of Asamoneus: after that, how their posterity quarreled about the
government, and brought upon their settlement the Romans and
Pompey; how Herod also, the son of Antipater, dissolved their
government, and brought Sosins upon them; as also how our people
made a sedition upon Herod's death, while Augustus was the Roman
emperor, and Quintilius Varus was in that country; and how the
war broke out in the twelfth year of Nero, with what happened to
Cestius; and what places the Jews assaulted in a hostile manner
in the first sallies of the war.

8. As also [I shall relate] how they built walls about the
neighboring cities; and how Nero, upon Cestius's defeat, was in
fear of the entire event of the war, and thereupon made Vespasian
general in this war; and how this Vespasian, with the elder of
his sons (4) made an expedition into the country of Judea; what
was the number of the Roman army that he made use of; and how
many of his auxiliaries were cut off in all Galilee; and how he
took some of its cities entirely, and by force, and others of
them by treaty, and on terms. Now, when I am come so far, I shall
describe the good order of the Romans in war, and the discipline
of their legions; the amplitude of both the Galilees, with its
nature, and the limits of Judea. And, besides this, I shall
particularly go over what is peculiar to the country, the lakes
and fountains that are in them, and what miseries happened to
every city as they were taken; and all this with accuracy, as I
saw the things done, or suffered in them. For I shall not conceal
any of the calamities I myself endured, since I shall relate them
to such as know the truth of them.

9. After this, [I shall relate] how, When the Jews' affairs were
become very bad, Nero died, and Vespasian, when he was going to
attack Jerusalem, was called back to take the government upon
him; what signs happened to him relating to his gaining that
government, and what mutations of government then happened at
Rome, and how he was unwillingly made emperor by his soldiers;
and how, upon his departure to Egypt, to take upon him the
government of the empire, the affairs of the Jews became very
tumultuous; as also how the tyrants rose up against them, and
fell into dissensions among themselves.

10. Moreover, [I shall relate] how Titus marched out of Egypt
into Judea the second time; as also how, and where, and how many
forces he got together; and in what state the city was, by the
means of the seditious, at his coming; what attacks he made, and
how many ramparts he cast up; of the three walls that encompassed
the city, and of their measures; of the strength of the city, and
the structure of the temple and holy house; and besides, the
measures of those edifices, and of the altar, and all accurately
determined. A description also of certain of their festivals, and
seven purifications of purity, (5) and the sacred ministrations
of the priests, with the garments of the priests, and of the high
priests; and of the nature of the most holy place of the temple;
without concealing any thing, or adding any thing to the known
truth of things.

11. After this, I shall relate the barbarity of the tyrants
towards the people of their own nation, as well as the indulgence
of the Romans in sparing foreigners; and how often Titus, out of
his desire to preserve the city and the temple, invited the
seditious to come to terms of accommodation. I shall also
distinguish the sufferings of the people, and their calamities;
how far they were afflicted by the sedition, and how far by the
famine, and at length were taken. Nor shall I omit to mention the
misfortunes of the deserters, nor the punishments inflicted on
the captives; as also how the temple was burnt, against the
consent of Caesar; and how many sacred things that had been laid
up in the temple were snatched out of the fire; the destruction
also of the entire city, with the signs and wonders that went
before it; and the taking the tyrants captives, and the multitude
of those that were made slaves, and into what different
misfortunes they were every one distributed. Moreover, what the
Romans did to the remains of the wall; and how they demolished
the strong holds that were in the country; and how Titus went
over the whole country, and settled its affairs; together with
his return into Italy, and his triumph.]

12. I have comprehended all these things in seven books, and have
left no occasion for complaint or accusation to such as have been
acquainted with this war; and I have written it down for the sake
of those that love truth, but not for those that please
themselves [with fictitious relations]. And I will begin my
account of these things with what I call my First Chapter.

WAR PREFACE FOOTNOTES

(1) I have already observed more than once, that this History of
the Jewish War was Josephus's first work, and published about
A.D. 75, when he was but thirty-eight years of age; and that when
he wrote it, he was not thoroughly acquainted with several
circumstances of history from the days of Antiochus Epiphanes,
with which it begins, till near his own times, contained in the
first and former part of the second book, and so committed many
involuntary errors therein. That he published his Antiquities
eighteen years afterward, in the thirteenth year of Domitian,
A.D. 93, when he was much more completely acquainted with those
ancient times, and after he had perused those most authentic
histories, the First Book of Maccabees, and the Chronicles of the
Priesthood of John Hyrcanus, etc. That accordingly he then
reviewed those parts of this work, and gave the public a more
faithful, complete, and accurate account of the facts therein
related; and honestly corrected the errors he bad before run
into.

(2) Who these Upper Barbarians, remote from the sea, were,
Josephus himself will inform us, sect. 2, viz. the Parthians and
Babylonians, and remotest Arabians [of the Jews among them];
besides the Jews beyond Euphrates, and the Adiabeni, or
Assyrians. Whence we also learn that these Parthians,
Babylonians, the remotest Arabians, [or at least the Jews among
them,] as also the Jews beyond Euphrates, and the Adiabeni, or
Assyrians, understood Josephus's Hebrew, or rather Chaldaic,
books of The Jewish War, before they were put into the Greek
language.

(3) That these calamities of the Jews, who were our Savior's
murderers, were to be the greatest that had ever been s nee the
beginning of the world, our Savior had directly foretold, Matthew
24:21; Mark 13:19; Luke 21:23, 24; and that they proved to be
such accordingly, Josephus is here a most authentic witness.

(4) Titus.

(5) These seven, or rather five, degrees of purity, or
purification, are enumerated hereafter, B. V. ch. 5. sect. 6. The
Rabbins make ten degrees of them, as Reland there informs us.

BOOK I.

Containing The Interval Of One Hundred And Sixty-Seven Years.
From The Taking Of Jerusalem By Antiochus Epiphanes, To The Death
Of Herod The Great.

CHAPTER 1.

How The City Jerusalem Was Taken, And The Temple Pillaged [By
Antiochus Epiphanes]. As Also Concerning The Actions Of The
Maccabees, Matthias And Judas; And Concerning The Death Of Judas.
1. At the same time that Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, had
a quarrel with the sixth Ptolemy about his right to the whole
country of Syria, a great sedition fell among the men of power in
Judea, and they had a contention about obtaining the government;
while each of those that were of dignity could not endure to be
subject to their equals. However, Onias, one of the high priests,
got the better, and cast the sons of Tobias out of the city; who
fled to Antiochus, and besought him to make use of them for his
leaders, and to make an expedition into Judea. The king being
thereto disposed beforehand, complied with them, and came upon
the Jews with a great army, and took their city by force, and
slew a great multitude of those that favored Ptolemy, and sent
out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled
the temple, and put a stop to the constant practice of offering a
daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and six months. But
Onias, the high priest, fled to Ptolemy, and received a place
from him in the Nomus of Heliopolis, where he built a city
resembling Jerusalem, and a temple that was like its temple (1)
concerning which we shall speak more in its proper place
hereafter.

2. Now Antiochus was not satisfied either with his unexpected
taking the city, or with its pillage, or with the great slaughter
he had made there; but being overcome with his violent passions,
and remembering what he had suffered during the siege, he
compelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their country, and to
keep their infants uncircumcised, and to sacrifice swine's flesh
upon the altar; against which they all opposed themselves, and
the most approved among them were put to death. Bacchides also,
who was sent to keep the fortresses, having these wicked
commands, joined to his own natural barbarity, indulged all sorts
of the extremest wickedness, and tormented the worthiest of the
inhabitants, man by man, and threatened their city every day with
open destruction, till at length he provoked the poor sufferers
by the extremity of his wicked doings to avenge themselves.
3. Accordingly Matthias, the son of Asamoneus, one of the priests
who lived in a village called Modin, armed himself, together with
his own family, which had five sons of his in it, and slew
Bacchides with daggers; and thereupon, out of the fear of the
many garrisons [of the enemy], he fled to the mountains; and so
many of the people followed him, that he was encouraged to come
down from the mountains, and to give battle to Antiochus's
generals, when he beat them, and drove them out of Judea. So he
came to the government by this his success, and became the prince
of his own people by their own free consent, and then died,
leaving the government to Judas, his eldest son.

4. Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus would not lie still,
gathered an army out of his own countrymen, and was the first
that made a league of friendship with the Romans, and drove
Epiphanes out of the country when he had made a second expedition
into it, and this by giving him a great defeat there; and when he
was warmed by this great success, he made an assault upon the
garrison that was in the city, for it had not been cut off
hitherto; so he ejected them out of the upper city, and drove the
soldiers into the lower, which part of the city was called the
Citadel. He then got the temple under his power, and cleansed the
whole place, and walled it round about, and made new vessels for
sacred ministrations, and brought them into the temple, because
the former vessels had been profaned. He also built another
altar, and began to offer the sacrifices; and when the city had
already received its sacred constitution again, Antiochus died;
whose son Antiochus succeeded him in the kingdom, and in his
hatred to the Jews also.

5. So this Antiochus got together fifty thousand footmen, and
five thousand horsemen, and fourscore elephants, and marched
through Judea into the mountainous parts. He then took Bethsura,
which was a small city; but at a place called Bethzacharis, where
the passage was narrow, Judas met him with his army. However,
before the forces joined battle, Judas's brother Eleazar, seeing
the very highest of the elephants adorned with a large tower, and
with military trappings of gold to guard him, and supposing that
Antiochus himself was upon him, he ran a great way before his own
army, and cutting his way through the enemy's troops, he got up
to the elephant; yet could he not reach him who seemed to be the
king, by reason of his being so high; but still he ran his weapon
into the belly of the beast, and brought him down upon himself,
and was crushed to death, having done no more than attempted
great things, and showed that he preferred glory before life. Now
he that governed the elephant was but a private man; and had he
proved to be Antiochus, Eleazar had performed nothing more by
this bold stroke than that it might appear he chose to die, when
he had the bare hope of thereby doing a glorious action; nay,
this disappointment proved an omen to his brother [Judas] how the
entire battle would end. It is true that the Jews fought it out
bravely for a long time, but the king's forces, being superior in
number, and having fortune on their side, obtained the victory.
And when a great many of his men were slain, Judas took the rest
with him, and fled to the toparchy of Gophna. So Antiochus went
to Jerusalem, and staid there but a few days, for he wanted
provisions, and so he went his way. He left indeed a garrison
behind him, such as he thought sufficient to keep the place, but
drew the rest of his army off, to take their winter-quarters in
Syria.

6. Now, after the king was departed, Judas was not idle; for as
many of his own nation came to him, so did he gather those that
had escaped out of the battle together, and gave battle again to
Antiochus's generals at a village called Adasa; and being too
hard for his enemies in the battle, and killing a great number of
them, he was at last himself slain also. Nor was it many days
afterward that his brother John had a plot laid against him by
Antiochus's party, and was slain by them.

CHAPTER 2.

Concerning The Successors Of Judas, Who Were Jonathan And Simon,
And John Hyrcanus.

1. When Jonathan, who was Judas's brother, succeeded him, he
behaved himself with great circumspection in other respects, with
relation to his own people; and he corroborated his authority by
preserving his friendship with the Romans. He also made a league
with Antiochus the son. Yet was not all this sufficient for his
security; for the tyrant Trypho, who was guardian to Antiochus's
son, laid a plot against him; and besides that, endeavored to
take off his friends, and caught Jonathan by a wile, as he was
going to Ptolemais to Antiochus, with a few persons in his
company, and put him in bonds, and then made an expedition
against the Jews; but when he was afterward driven away by Simon,
who was Jonathan's brother, and was enraged at his defeat, he put
Jonathan to death.

2. However, Simon managed the public affairs after a courageous
manner, and took Gazara, and Joppa, and Jamnia, which were cities
in his neighborhood. He also got the garrison under, and
demolished the citadel. He was afterward an auxiliary to
Antiochus, against Trypho, whom he besieged in Dora, before he
went on his expedition against the Medes; yet could not he make
the king ashamed of his ambition, though he had assisted him in
killing Trypho; for it was not long ere Antiochus sent Cendebeus
his general with an army to lay waste Judea, and to subdue Simon;
yet he, though he was now in years, conducted the war as if he
were a much younger man. He also sent his sons with a band of
strong men against Antiochus, while he took part of the army
himself with him, and fell upon him from another quarter. He also
laid a great many men in ambush in many places of the mountains,
and was superior in all his attacks upon them; and when he had
been conqueror after so glorious a manner, he was made high
priest, and also freed the Jews from the dominion of the
Macedonians, after one hundred and seventy years of the empire
[of Seleucus].

3. This Simon also had a plot laid against him, and was slain at
a feast by his son-in-law Ptolemy, who put his wife and two sons
into prison, and sent some persons to kill John, who was also
called Hyrcanus. (2) But when the young man was informed of their
coming beforehand, he made haste to get to the city, as having a
very great confidence in the people there, both on account of the
memory of the glorious actions of his father, and of the hatred
they could not but bear to the injustice of Ptolemy. Ptolemy also
made an attempt to get into the city by another gate; but was
repelled by the people, who had just then admitted of Hyrcanus;
so he retired presently to one of the fortresses that were about
Jericho, which was called Dagon. Now when Hyrcanus had received
the high priesthood, which his father had held before, and had
offered sacrifice to God, he made great haste to attack Ptolemy,
that he might afford relief to his mother and brethren.

4. So he laid siege to the fortress, and was superior to Ptolemy
in other respects, but was overcome by him as to the just
affection [he had for his relations]; for when Ptolemy was
distressed, he brought forth his mother, and his brethren, and
set them upon the wall, and beat them with rods in every body's
sight, and threatened, that unless he would go away immediately,
he would throw them down headlong; at which sight Hyrcanus's
commiseration and concern were too hard for his anger. But his
mother was not dismayed, neither at the stripes she received, nor
at the death with which she was threatened; but stretched out her
hands, and prayed her son not to be moved with the injuries that
she suffered to spare the wretch; since it was to her better to
die by the means of Ptolemy, than to live ever so long, provided
he might be punished for the injuries he done to their family.
Now John's case was this: When he considered the courage of his
mother, and heard her entreaty, he set about his attacks; but
when he saw her beaten, and torn to pieces with the stripes, he
grew feeble, and was entirely overcome by his affections. And as
the siege was delayed by this means, the year of rest came on,
upon which the Jews rest every seventh year as they do on every
seventh day. On this year, therefore, Ptolemy was freed from
being besieged, and slew the brethren of John, with their mother,
and fled to Zeno, who was also called Cotylas, who was tyrant of
Philadelphia.

Copyright (c) 2007. topbookz.net. All rights reserved.