Antiquities of the Jews — Book 14, Chapter 4

1. Now when Pompey had pitched his camp at Jericho, [where the palm tree
grows, and that balsam which is an ointment of all the most precious,
which upon any incision made in the wood with a sharp stone, distills
out thence like a juice,] 4 he marched in the morning to Jerusalem.
Hereupon Aristobulus repented of what he was doing, and came to Pompey,
had [promised to] give him money, and received him into Jerusalem, and
desired that he would leave off the war, and do what he pleased
peaceably. So Pompey, upon his entreaty, forgave him, and sent Gabinius,
and soldiers with him, to receive the money and the city: yet was no
part of this performed; but Gabinius came back, being both excluded out
of the city, and receiving none of the money promised, because
Aristobulus's soldiers would not permit the agreements to be executed.
At this Pompey was very angry, and put Aristobulus into prison, and came
himself to the city, which was strong on every side, excepting the
north, which was not so well fortified, for there was a broad and deep
ditch that encompassed the city 5 and included within it the temple,
which was itself encompassed about with a very strong stone wall.

2. Now there was a sedition of the men that were within the city, who
did not agree what was to be done in their present circumstances, while
some thought it best to deliver up the city to Pompey; but Aristobulus's
party exhorted them to shut the gates, because he was kept in prison.
Now these prevented the others, and seized upon the temple, and cut off
the bridge which reached from it to the city, and prepared themselves to
abide a siege; but the others admitted Pompey's army in, and delivered
up both the city and the king's palace to him. So Pompey sent his
lieutenant Piso with an army, and placed garrisons both in the city and
in the palace, to secure them, and fortified the houses that joined to
the temple, and all those which were more distant and without it. And in
the first place, he offered terms of accommodation to those within; but
when they would not comply with what was desired, he encompassed all the
places thereabout with a wall, wherein Hyrcanus did gladly assist him on
all occasions; but Pompey pitched his camp within [the wall], on the
north part of the temple, where it was most practicable; but even on
that side there were great towers, and a ditch had been dug, and a deep
valley begirt it round about, for on the parts towards the city were
precipices, and the bridge on which Pompey had gotten in was broken
down. However, a bank was raised, day by day, with a great deal of
labor, while the Romans cut down materials for it from the places round
about. And when this bank was sufficiently raised, and the ditch filled
up, though but poorly, by reason of its immense depth, he brought his
mechanical engines and battering-rams from Tyre, and placing them on the
bank, he battered the temple with the stones that were thrown against
it. And had it not been our practice, from the days of our forefathers,
to rest on the seventh day, this bank could never have been perfected,
by reason of the opposition the Jews would have made; for though our law
gives us leave then to defend ourselves against those that begin to
fight with us and assault us, yet does it not permit us to meddle with
our enemies while they do any thing else.

3. Which thing when the Romans understood, on those days which we call
Sabbaths they threw nothing at the Jews, nor came to any pitched battle
with them; but raised up their earthen banks, and brought their engines
into such forwardness, that they might do execution the next day. And
any one may hence learn how very great piety we exercise towards God,
and the observance of his laws, since the priests were not at all
hindered from their sacred ministrations by their fear during this
siege, but did still twice a-day, in the morning and about the ninth
hour, offer their sacrifices on the altar; nor did they omit those
sacrifices, if any melancholy accident happened by the stones that were
thrown among them; for although the city was taken on the third month,
on the day of the fast, 6 upon the hundred and seventy-ninth olympiad,
when Caius Antonius and Marcus Tullius Cicero were consuls, and the
enemy then fell upon them, and cut the throats of those that were in the
temple; yet could not those that offered the sacrifices be compelled to
run away, neither by the fear they were in of their own lives, nor by
the number that were already slain, as thinking it better to suffer
whatever came upon them, at their very altars, than to omit any thing
that their laws required of them. And that this is not a mere brag, or
an encomium to manifest a degree of our piety that was false, but is the
real truth, I appeal to those that have written of the acts of Pompey;
and, among them, to Strabo and Nicolaus [of Damascus]; and besides these
two, Titus Livius, the writer of the Roman History, who will bear
witness to this thing. 7

4. But when the battering-engine was brought near, the greatest of the
towers was shaken by it, and fell down, and broke down a part of the
fortifications, so the enemy poured in apace; and Cornelius Faustus, the
son of Sylla, with his soldiers, first of all ascended the wall, and
next to him Furius the centurion, with those that followed on the other
part, while Fabius, who was also a centurion, ascended it in the middle,
with a great body of men after him. But now all was full of slaughter;
some of the Jews being slain by the Romans, and some by one another;
nay, some there were who threw themselves down the precipices, or put
fire to their houses, and burnt them, as not able to bear the miseries
they were under. Of the Jews there fell twelve thousand, but of the
Romans very few. Absalom, who was at once both uncle and father-in-law
to Aristobulus, was taken captive; and no small enormities were
committed about the temple itself, which, in former ages, had been
inaccessible, and seen by none; for Pompey went into it, and not a few
of those that were with him also, and saw all that which it was unlawful
for any other men to see but only for the high priests. There were in
that temple the golden table, the holy candlestick, and the pouring
vessels, and a great quantity of spices; and besides these there were
among the treasures two thousand talents of sacred money: yet did Pompey
touch nothing of all this, 8 on account of his regard to religion; and
in this point also he acted in a manner that was worthy of his virtue.
The next day he gave order to those that had the charge of the temple to
cleanse it, and to bring what offerings the law required to God; and
restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, both because he had been
useful to him in other respects, and because he hindered the Jews in the
country from giving Aristobulus any assistance in his war against him.
He also cut off those that had been the authors of that war; and
bestowed proper rewards on Faustus, and those others that mounted the
wall with such alacrity; and he made Jerusalem tributary to the Romans,
and took away those cities of Celesyria which the inhabitants of Judea
had subdued, and put them under the government of the Roman president,
and confined the whole nation, which had elevated itself so high before,
within its own bounds. Moreover, he rebuilt Gadara, 9 which had been
demolished a little before, to gratify Demetrius of Gadara, who was his
freedman, and restored the rest of the cities, Hippos, and Scythopolis,
and Pella, and Dios, and Samaria, as also Marissa, and Ashdod, and
Jamnia, and Arethusa, to their own inhabitants: these were in the inland
parts. Besides those that had been demolished, and also of the maritime
cities, Gaza, and Joppa, and Dora, and Strato's Tower; which last Herod
rebuilt after a glorious manner, and adorned with havens and temples,
and changed its name to Cæsarea. All these Pompey left in a state of
freedom, and joined them to the province of Syria.

5. Now the occasions of this misery which came upon Jerusalem were
Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, by raising a sedition one against the other;
for now we lost our liberty, and became subject to the Romans, and were
deprived of that country which we had gained by our arms from the
Syrians, and were compelled to restore it to the Syrians. Moreover, the
Romans exacted of us, in a little time, above ten thousand talents; and
the royal authority, which was a dignity formerly bestowed on those that
were high priests, by the right of their family, became the property of
private men. But of these matters we shall treat in their proper places.
Now Pompey committed Celesyria, as far as the river Euphrates and Egypt,
to Scaurus, with two Roman legions, and then went away to Cilicia, and
made haste to Rome. He also carried bound along with him Aristobulus and
his children; for he had two daughters, and as many sons; the one of
which ran away, but the younger, Antigonus, was carried to Rome,
together with his sisters.