Antiquities of the Jews — Book 17, Chapter 10

1. But before these things could be brought to a settlement, Malthace,
Archelaus's mother, fell into a distemper, and died of it; and letters
came from Varus, the president of Syria, which informed Cæsar of the
revolt of the Jews; for after Archelaus was sailed, the whole nation was
in a tumult. So Varus, since he was there himself, brought the authors
of the disturbance to punishment; and when he had restrained them for
the most part from this sedition, which was a great one, he took his
journey to Antioch, leaving one legion of his army at Jerusalem to keep
the Jews quiet, who were now very fond of innovation. Yet did not this
at all avail to put an end to that their sedition; for after Varus was
gone away, Sabinus, Cæsar's procurator, staid behind, and greatly
distressed the Jews, relying on the forces that were left there that
they would by their multitude protect him; for he made use of them, and
armed them as his guards, thereby so oppressing the Jews, and giving
them so great disturbance, that at length they rebelled; for he used
force in seizing the citadels, and zealously pressed on the search after
the king's money, in order to seize upon it by force, on account of his
love of gain and his extraordinary covetousness.

2. But on the approach of pentecost, which is a festival of ours, so
called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten thousands of
men got together; nor did they come only to celebrate the festival, but
out of their indignation at the madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries
he offered them. A great number there was of Galileans, and Idumeans,
and many men from Jericho, and others who had passed over the river
Jordan, and inhabited those parts. This whole multitude joined
themselves to all the rest, and were more zealous than the others in
making an assault on Sabinus, in order to be avenged on him; so they
parted themselves into three bands, and encamped themselves in the
places following:—some of them seized on the hippodrome and of the other
two bands, one pitched themselves from the northern part of the temple
to the southern, on the east quarter; but the third band held the
western part of the city, where the king's palace was. Their work tended
entirely to besiege the Romans, and to enclose them on all sides. Now
Sabinus was afraid of these men's number, and of their resolution, who
had little regard to their lives, but were very desirous not to be
overcome, while they thought it a point of puissance to overcome their
enemies; so he sent immediately a letter to Varus, and, as he used to
do, was very pressing with him, and entreated him to come quickly to his
assistance, because the forces he had left were in imminent danger, and
would probably, in no long time, be seized upon, and cut to pieces;
while he did himself get up to the highest tower of the fortress
Phasaelus, which had been built in honor of Phasaelus, king Herod's
brother, and called so when the Parthians had brought him to his death.
14 So Sabinus gave thence a signal to the Romans to fall upon the Jews,
although he did not himself venture so much as to come down to his
friends, and thought he might expect that the others should expose
themselves first to die on account of his avarice. However, the Romans
ventured to make a sally out of the place, and a terrible battle ensued;
wherein, though it is true the Romans beat their adversaries, yet were
not the Jews daunted in their resolutions, even when they had the sight
of that terrible slaughter that was made of them; but they went round
about, and got upon those cloisters which encompassed the outer court of
the temple, where a great fight was still continued, and they cast
stones at the Romans, partly with their hands, and partly with slings,
as being much used to those exercises. All the archers also in array did
the Romans a great deal of mischief, because they used their hands
dexterously from a place superior to the others, and because the others
were at an utter loss what to do; for when they tried to shoot their
arrows against the Jews upwards, these arrows could not reach them,
insomuch that the Jews were easily too hard for their enemies. And this
sort of fight lasted a great while, till at last the Romans, who were
greatly distressed by what was done, set fire to the cloisters so
privately, that those that were gotten upon them did not perceive it.
This fire 15 being fed by a great deal of combustible matter, caught
hold immediately on the roof of the cloisters; so the wood, which was
full of pitch and wax, and whose gold was laid on it with wax, yielded
to the flame presently, and those vast works, which were of the highest
value and esteem, were destroyed utterly, while those that were on the
roof unexpectedly perished at the same time; for as the roof tumbled
down, some of these men tumbled down with it, and others of them were
killed by their enemies who encompassed them. There was a great number
more, who, out of despair of saving their lives, and out of astonishment
at the misery that surrounded them, did either cast themselves into the
fire, or threw themselves upon their swords, and so got out of their
misery. But as to those that retired behind the same way by which they
ascended, and thereby escaped, they were all killed by the Romans, as
being unarmed men, and their courage failing them; their wild fury being
now not able to help them, because they were destitute of armor,
insomuch that of those that went up to the top of the roof, not one
escaped. The Romans also rushed through the fire, where it gave them
room so to do, and seized on that treasure where the sacred money was
reposited; a great part of which was stolen by the soldiers, and Sabinus
got openly four hundred talents.

3. But this calamity of the Jews' friends, who fell in this battle,
grieved them, as did also this plundering of the money dedicated to God
in the temple. Accordingly, that body of them which continued best
together, and was the most warlike, encompassed the palace, and
threatened to set fire to it, and kill all that were in it. Yet still
they commanded them to go out presently, and promised, that if they
would do so, they would not hurt them, nor Sabinus neither; at which
time the greatest part of the king's troops deserted to them, while
Rufus and Gratus, who had three thousand of the most warlike of Herod's
army with them, who were men of active bodies, went over to the Romans.
There was also a band of horsemen under the command of Rufus, which
itself went over to the Romans also. However, the Jews went on with the
siege, and dug mines under the palace walls, and besought those that
were gone over to the other side not to be their hinderance, now they
had such a proper opportunity for the recovery of their country's
ancient liberty; and for Sabinus, truly he was desirous of going away
with his soldiers, but was not able to trust himself with the enemy, on
account of what mischief he had already done them; and he took this
great [pretended] lenity of theirs for an argument why he should not
comply with them; and so, because he expected that Varus was coming, he
still bore the siege.

4. Now at this time there were ten thousand other disorders in Judea,
which were like tumults, because a great number put themselves into a
warlike posture, either out of hopes of gain to themselves, or out of
enmity to the Jews. In particular, two thousand of Herod's old soldiers,
who had been already disbanded, got together in Judea itself, and fought
against the king's troops, although Achiabus, Herod's first cousin,
opposed them; but as he was driven out of the plains into the
mountainous parts by the military skill of those men, he kept himself in
the fastnesses that were there, and saved what he could.

5. There was also Judas, 16 the son of that Ezekias who had been head of
the robbers; which Ezekias was a very strong man, and had with great
difficulty been caught by Herod. This Judas, having gotten together a
multitude of men of a profligate character about Sepphoris in Galilee,
made an assault upon the palace [there,] and seized upon all the weapons
that were laid up in it, and with them armed every one of those that
were with him, and carried away what money was left there; and he became
terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those that came near him;
and all this in order to raise himself, and out of an ambitious desire
of the royal dignity; and he hoped to obtain that as the reward not of
his virtuous skill in war, but of his extravagance in doing injuries.

6. There was also Simon, who had been a slave of Herod the king, but in
other respects a comely person, of a tall and robust body; he was one
that was much superior to others of his order, and had had great things
committed to his care. This man was elevated at the disorderly state of
things, and was so bold as to put a diadem on his head, while a certain
number of the people stood by him, and by them he was declared to be a
king, and thought himself more worthy of that dignity than any one else.
He burnt down the royal palace at Jericho, and plundered what was left
in it. He also set fire to many other of the king's houses in several
places of the country, and utterly destroyed them, and permitted those
that were with him to take what was left in them for a prey; and he
would have done greater things, unless care had been taken to repress
him immediately; for Gratus, when he had joined himself to some Roman
soldiers, took the forces he had with him, and met Simon, and after a
great and a long fight, no small part of those that came from Perea, who
were a disordered body of men, and fought rather in a bold than in a
skillful manner, were destroyed; and although Simon had saved himself by
flying away through a certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him, and cut
off his head. The royal palace also at Amathus, by the river Jordan, was
burnt down by a party of men that were got together, as were those
belonging to Simon. And thus did a great and wild fury spread itself
over the nation, because they had no king to keep the multitude in good
order, and because those foreigners who came to reduce the seditious to
sobriety did, on the contrary, set them more in a flame, because of the
injuries they offered them, and the avaricious management of their
affairs.

7. But because Athronges, a person neither eminent by the dignity of his
progenitors, nor for any great wealth he was possessed of, but one that
had in all respects been a shepherd only, and was not known by any body;
yet because he was a tall man, and excelled others in the strength of
his hands, he was so bold as to set up for king. This man thought it so
sweet a thing to do more than ordinary injuries to others, that although
he should be killed, he did not much care if he lost his life in so
great a design. He had also four brethren, who were tall men themselves,
and were believed to be superior to others in the strength of their
hands, and thereby were encouraged to aim at great things, and thought
that strength of theirs would support them in retaining the kingdom.
Each of these ruled over a band of men of their own; for those that got
together to them were very numerous. They were every one of them also
commanders; but when they came to fight, they were subordinate to him,
and fought for him, while he put a diadem about his head, and assembled
a council to debate about what things should be done, and all things
were done according to his pleasure. And this man retained his power a
great while; he was also called king, and had nothing to hinder him from
doing what he pleased. He also, as well as his brethren, slew a great
many both of the Romans and of the king's forces, and managed matters
with the like hatred to each of them. The king's forces they fell upon,
because of the licentious conduct they had been allowed under Herod's
government; and they fell upon the Romans, because of the injuries they
had so lately received from them. But in process of time they grew more
cruel to all sorts of men, nor could any one escape from one or other of
these seditions, since they slew some out of the hopes of gain, and
others from a mere custom of slaying men. They once attacked a company
of Romans at Emmaus, who were bringing corn and weapons to the army, and
fell upon Arius, the centurion, who commanded the company, and shot
forty of the best of his foot soldiers; but the rest of them were
affrighted at their slaughter, and left their dead behind them, but
saved themselves by the means of Gratus, who came with the king's troops
that were about him to their assistance. Now these four brethren
continued the war a long while by such sort of expeditions, and much
grieved the Romans; but did their own nation also a great deal of
mischief. Yet were they afterwards subdued; one of them in a fight with
Gratus, another with Ptolemy; Archelaus also took the eldest of them
prisoner; while the last of them was so dejected at the other's
misfortune, and saw so plainly that he had no way now left to save
himself, his army being worn away with sickness and continual labors,
that he also delivered himself up to Archelaus, upon his promise and
oath to God [to preserve his life.] But these things came to pass a good
while afterward.

8. And now Judea was full of robberies; and as the several companies of
the seditious lighted upon any one to head them, he was created a king
immediately, in order to do mischief to the public. They were in some
small measure indeed, and in small matters, hurtful to the Romans; but
the murders they committed upon their own people lasted a long while.

9. As soon as Varus was once informed of the state of Judea by Sabinus's
writing to him, he was afraid for the legion he had left there; so he
took the two other legions, [for there were three legions in all
belonging to Syria,] and four troops of horsemen, with the several
auxiliary forces which either the kings or certain of the tetrarchs
afforded him, and made what haste he could to assist those that were
then besieged in Judea. He also gave order that all that were sent out
for this expedition, should make haste to Ptolemais. The citizens of
Berytus also gave him fifteen hundred auxiliaries as he passed through
their city. Aretas also, the king of Arabia Petrea, out of his hatred to
Herod, and in order to purchase the favor of the Romans, sent him no
small assistance, besides their footmen and horsemen; and when he had
now collected all his forces together, he committed part of them to his
son, and to a friend of his, and sent them upon an expedition into
Galilee, which lies in the neighborhood of Ptolemais; who made an attack
upon the enemy, and put them to flight, and took Sepphoris, and made its
inhabitants slaves, and burnt the city. But Varus himself pursued his
march for Samaria with his whole army; yet did not he meddle with the
city of that name, because it had not at all joined with the seditious;
but pitched his camp at a certain village that belonged to Ptolemy,
whose name was Arus, which the Arabians burnt, out of their hatred to
Herod, and out of the enmity they bore to his friends; whence they
marched to another village, whose name was Sampho, which the Arabians
plundered and burnt, although it was a fortified and a strong place; and
all along this march nothing escaped them, but all places were full of
fire and of slaughter. Emmaus was also burnt by Varus's order, after its
inhabitants had deserted it, that he might avenge those that had there
been destroyed. From thence he now marched to Jerusalem; whereupon those
Jews whose camp lay there, and who had besieged the Roman legion, not
bearing the coming of this army, left the siege imperfect: but as to the
Jerusalem Jews, when Varus reproached them bitterly for what had been
done, they cleared themselves of the accusation, and alleged that the
conflux of the people was occasioned by the feast; that the war was not
made with their approbation, but by the rashness of the strangers, while
they were on the side of the Romans, and besieged together with them,
rather than having any inclination to besiege them. There also came
beforehand to meet Varus, Joseph, the cousin-german of king Herod, as
also Gratus and Rufus, who brought their soldiers along with them,
together with those Romans who had been besieged; but Sabinus did not
come into Varus's presence, but stole out of the city privately, and
went to the sea-side.

10. Upon this, Varus sent a part of his army into the country, to seek
out those that had been the authors of the revolt; and when they were
discovered, he punished some of them that were most guilty, and some he
dismissed: now the number of those that were crucified on this account
were two thousand. After which he disbanded his army, which he found no
way useful to him in the affairs he came about; for they behaved
themselves very disorderly, and disobeyed his orders, and what Varus
desired them to do, and this out of regard to that gain which they made
by the mischief they did. As for himself, when he was informed that ten
thousand Jews had gotten together, he made haste to catch them; but they
did not proceed so far as to fight him, but, by the advice of Achiabus,
they came together, and delivered themselves up to him: hereupon Varus
forgave the crime of revolting to the multitude, but sent their several
commanders to Cæsar, many of whom Cæsar dismissed; but for the several
relations of Herod who had been among these men in this war, they were
the only persons whom he punished, who, without the least regard to
justice, fought against their own kindred.