wn with the dripping moisture. The Romans and most of the towns capiturated at once, 10 ανθια onfounded; for men who could waste so much out of mere wantonness, could not possibly be wretched state of destitution they had hoped. an, weary of blockading a city so amply supeturned to the assault - the mode of attack he Jews sought. daring exploit of an individual, a Galilean, by name, may also be mentioned. With an e stone from the wall he took such sure aim, that k off the iron head of the Roman battering ram; leaped down from the wall, secured the prize 3 bearing it back to the city. He was unarmed, the darts and arrows of the enemy were disat him. He was transfixed by five arrows: wever, he passed on, regained the walls, stood up, displaying his trophy in the sight of all; 1, still clinging to it with convulsive grasp, fell nd expired. ata had resisted the whole Roman army during ven long days and nights, and was overcome at by the discovery of its critical situation, through er. Vespasian followed the intimations of the as wretch, and succeeded in entering into the During the siege and capture, forty thousand rished. The city was razed to the ground. 3, after secreting himself for some days, was and, upon his surrender, and apparent ad› the Romans, was spared, through the respect by his skill and heroism. In the mean time, a ring city, Jafa, was attacked by Trajan, and, loody combat, was taken-losing fifteen thouits brave defenders. A body also of Sa, who, strange to tell, made common cause in rrection, was defeated on the sacred mountain Em, by Cereales, and more than eleven thouthem were slain. Both Trajan and Cereales ■detached by Vespasian with a strong force and infantry. same barbarities. Three cities alone still defied conqueror, Gamala, Gischala, and Itabyrium - the c which Josephus had fortified on Mount Tabor. Ga ala was more inaccessible than Jotapata. It stood a long and rugged ledge of mountains, which slop downward at each end, and rose in the middle int sudden ridge, like the hump of a camel - whence name of the city. One peculiarity of its struct was, that the houses rose one above another on steep declivity of the hill, and were crowded v thick and close. This circumstance was one of causes of the difficulty and disaster experienced the Roman army, after they had forced their way i the place. As it presents singular incidents in warfa it may be related in a few of its particulars. The Jews thronged the narrow streets, and brav resisted the advance of the assailants. At leng overpowered by numbers, who attacked them on sides, they were forced up the steep part of the c There they turned, and, charging the enemy w fury, drove them down the declivities, and made gr havoc among them, as they endeavored to make th way up the narrow streets and along the rugged a craggy paths. The Romans, who could not repel th enemy, thus hanging, as it were, over their heads, nor break through the throngs of their own men, who for them on from beneath, took refuge in the houses of citizens which were very low. The crowded hou could not bear the weight, and came crashing do One, as it fell, beat down another, and so all the v down the hill. The situation of the Romans was rific. As they felt the houses sinking, they leaped on roofs, and fell with the tumbling buildings. Many w totally buried in the ruins; many were caught by sc part of their bodies as in a trap; many were suffoca by the dust and rubbish. The Gamalites seemed behold the hand of God in this unexpected calan of the foe. They rushed on regardless of their ( lives, struck at the enemy on the roofs, or as t were slipping about in the narrow ways, and aim steadily from above, slew every one who fell. ruins furnished them with stones, and the slain of enemy with weapons. They drew the swords of dead to plunge into the hearts of the living. Many the Romans who had fallen from the houses ki themselves. Flight was impossible, from their iş rance of the ways and the blinding dust. Many each other by mistake, and fell among their own n Those who could find the road retreated from the Yet the city fell at last by the perseverance of Romans, and the exhaustion of its provisions twenty-third of September, A. D. 67. Nine thous Jews perished - five thousand by casting themse down the precipice. omans, long and unexpectedly delayed by the e valor they had met, now proceeded with rapidity. Vespasian returned to Ptolemais, ne proceeded along the coast to Cæsarea. Its habitants, having now the whole region at their by the massacre of their Jewish competitors, him with every demonstration of joy. Here his winter-quarters for two of his legions. r, he sent a considerable force against Joppa, habitants, fleeing to their boats, perished, the waves by means of a storm which sudse, or by the arms of the enemy as they were pon the shore. In the progress of the war, es were assaulted and taken, and their deut to the sword without mercy, while the ad children were secured as captives. Such ate of Tiberias and Tarichea, cities belongdominions of Herod, and early manifesting of insurrection - much against his wishes. in these places exhibited their accustomed nothing was proof against Roman prowess | Jerusalem, instead of aiding or being able to aid The story of Itabyrium and Gischala embodies cidents scarcely less tragical and interesting; but t must be passed over. Both of the cities fell, and t sands of their inhabitants perished. In the mean w 186 FACTIONS IN JERUSALEM. other cities of the land, was torn by domestic factions, | was received into the city, that he might overawe the and poorly preparing herself for the fearful crisis at hand. The factions arose in reference to the question of war and peace. They who advocated the war were the most numerous, and consisted of men of the vilest character. They opposed all pacific measures with invincible obstinacy, and breathed out nothing but slaughter, rapine, and devastation. These abandoned wretches began to exercise their wanton cruelty in plundering and assassinating all who presumed to oppose them, in the vicinage of Jerusalem, and then proceeded into the capital, with Zechariah and Eleazar at their head. Here they met with a strenuous opposition, as Ananus, the late high priest, exhorted the citizens to arm in their own defence, and boldly repulse those factious men, who had seized upon the temple and made it their garrison for offensive operations against the inhabitants. faction headed by John. Thus there were three con- The people adopted this advice, and made so vigorous an attack upon the Zealots, as these pretended champions of the cause of God were called, that they were compelled to retreat into the inner cincture of the temple, and were there closely besieged by Ananus. Dissensions still prevailed in the city-a circumJohn, of Gischala, under pretence of espousing the stance which greatly encouraged the enemy. Titus, pontiff's cause, was intrusted with some proposals of in the mean time, had caused his troops to level all peace for the besieged; but instead of executing his the ground, in their approach to the walls, and to make commission with fidelity, he persuaded them to hold every preparation for a vigorous onset. Some proout with unshaken firmness; and in the end, he was posals of peace were sent to the besieged, but they the means of bringing in twenty thousand Idumean were rejected with indignation; and the Romans were auxiliaries. These parties, having united, immediately consequently ordered to play their war engines against began to perpetrate the most horrid cruelties on those the city with all their might. The Jews were comof the opposite party. Twelve thousand individuals pelled to retire from those dreadful stones which the of noble extraction, and in the flower of their age, enemy threw incessantly; and the battering-rams were murdered by the most cruel methods. Not were at full liberty to ply against the walls. A satiated with the blood of so many persons of distinc-breach, at length, was made, and compelled the betion, they turned their sanguinary hands against the lower class, and literally filled Jerusalem with anguish. All who opposed them, or censured their doings, or wept for their dead, were deemed guilty of a crime to be expiated only with blood. At length, the Zealots began to turn their murderous weapons against each other. sieged to retire behind the enclosure. This lodgement was effected about a fortnight after the beginning of the siege. The second wall was then immediately attempted, and the engines and battering-rams were applied so furiously that one of the towers began to shake. The Jews who occupied it, aware of their impending ruin, Vespasian well saw the advantage this state of set it on fire, and precipitated themselves into the things would bring to his own cause, and suffered it flames. The fall of this structure afforded an ento proceed till his plans were fully matured. Being trance to the second enclosure; but, as Titus was invited, in the mean time, by the inhabitants of Gadara, desirous of preserving the city from demolition, the he sent Placidus to take possession of it. The latter breach and the lanes were left so narrow that a great accordingly fought his way thither, through several number of his men perished for want of room, when strong bodies of the rebels, and exerted himself so they were attacked by Simon. Titus, however, quickeffectually, that, in a short space of time, all that partly rectified this mistake, and carried the place four of Judea which lies east of the Jordan was completely reduced, except a single castle. Vespasian, in the beginning of spring, marched against Idumea, and reduced most of the towns and villages to ashes. Jerusalem now beheld the enemy at her gates: every approach to the city was cut off; every hour her wretched inhabitants expected to see the plain to the north glitter with the arms and eagles of Rome. On a sudden, however, intelligence came from the Imperial City which checked his march; and Jerusalem had yet a long period either to repent, or submit, or to prepare for effectual resistance. The result of the changes in Rome was the election of Vespasian as emperor whither he departed — A. D. 70. But this delay of an attack was not improved by Jerusalem. Infatuation possessed her councils, and to consummate her internal evils, Simon, a man of blood, who had wasted the country around Jerusalem, days after the first repulse, entering that part of the lower city which was within the wall. A famine now raged in this afflicted place, and a pestilence followed in its track. As these calamities increased, so did the cruelty of the factions, who forced the houses in quest of provisions, punishing those with death who had any, because they had not apprised these robbers of it; they put others to the most excruciating tortures, under the pretence that they had concealed food. Titus again attempted to prevail on the Jews to surrender, by sending Josephus to represent the fatal consequences of their obstinacy but without effect. He then caused the city to be surrounded by a high wall, to prevent their reception of any kind of succor, or their escape by flight. Nothing was now to be seen in the streets of Jerusalem but putrescent bodies, emaciated invalids, and MISERIES OF THE BESIEGED. objects of the deepest distress; and even those who escaped in safety to the Roman camp were murdered by the soldiers, who inferred, from certain circumstances, that they had swallowed quantities of gold. In searching for this, two thousand of them were ripped up in a single night. While the military operations against the city were making progress, the famine within made a still greater advance. In the language of the historian, " Men would fight even the dearest friends for the most miserable morsel. The very dead were searched, as though they might contain some scrap of food. Even the robbers began to suffer severely; they went prowling about like mad dogs, or reeling, like drunken men, from weakness, and entered and searched the same house twice or thrice in the same hour. The most loathsome and disgusting food was sold at an enormous price. They gnawed their belts, shoes, and even the leathern coats of their shields; chopped hay and shoots of trees sold at high prices. Yet what are all these horrors to that which followed? There was a woman of Perea, Mary, the daughter of Eleazar. She possessed considerable wealth when she took refuge in the city. Day after day, she had been plundered by the robbers, whom she had provoked by her bitter imprecations. No one, however, would mercifully put an end to her misery; and, her mind maddened with wrong, her body preyed upon by famine, she wildly resolved on an expedient which might gratify at once her vengeance and her hunger. She had an infant that was vainly endeavoring to obtain some moisture from her dry bosom; she seized it, cooked it, ate one half, and set the other aside! "The smoke and the smell of food quickly reached the robbers. They forced her door, and, with horrible threats, commanded her to give up what she had been feasting on. She replied, with fierce indifference, that she had carefully reserved her good friends a part of her meal. She uncovered the remains of her child. The savage men stood speechless, at which she cried out, with a shrill voice, 'Eat, for I have eaten; be ye not more delicate than a woman, more tender hearted than a mother.' They retired, pale and trembling with horror. The story spread rapidly through the city, and reached the Roman camp, where it was first heard with incredulity. afterwards with the deepest commiseration." It was upon hearing of this dreadful deed, that the Roman general swore to extirpate both city and people, at the same time taking Heaven to witness that this was not his work. Towards the end of summer, the Romans had made themselves masters of Fort Antonia, and set fire to the gates, after a destructive encounter; yet, so blind were the Jews to their real danger, that, though nothing was left but the temple, which must soon fall, they could not persuade themselves that God would permit his holy habitation to be taken by the heathen. On the 17th of July, the daily sacrifice ceased for the first time since its restoration by Judas Maccabeus, there being no proper person left in the temple to make the offering. The gallery that afforded a communication between the temple and Fort Antonia was now burnt down, and the Jews, having filled the western portico with combustibles, induced the Romans, by a feigned flight, to scale the battlements, and set fire to the building; so that the troops were either consumed in the flames, or dashed to pieces by leaping from the roof. Contrary to the intentions 187 and orders of Titus, who wished to preserve the temple, one of his soldiers set that noble edifice on fire. Efforts were made to extinguish it, but in vain. With a view to save what he could of its contents, the commander entered the sanctuary, and the most holy place, where he found the golden candlestick, the table of show-bread, the golden altar of perfumes, and the book of the law, wrapped up in a rich tissue of gold. A dreadful slaughter now ensued, in which many thousands perished; some by the sword, some by the flame, and others by falling from the battlements. The conquerors, exasperated by the useless obstinacy of the people, carried their fury to such a height as to massacre all whom they met, without distinction of age, sex, or quality, and even to inflict the dreadful torture of crucifixion on many wretches who fell into their hands. All the treasure houses were burnt, though they were full of the richest furniture, vestments, plate, and other valuables. In short, they persisted in their barbarous work, till the whole of the holy building was utterly demolished, except two of the gates of that part of the court which was appropriated to the women. Great preparations were made, in the mean time, for attacking the upper city, and the royal palace; and, on the 8th of September, the engines played so furiously on the iniquitous Zealots, that they were overwhelmed with confusion, and ran, like lunatics, towards Shiloah, intending to attack the wall of circumvallation, and by that means effect their escape. They were, however, repulsed by the enemy, and compelled to hide themselves in the public sinks and sewers, while all the other inhabitants were put to the sword, except some of the most vigorous, who were reserved for the victor's triumph. Among the latter were John and Simon, the two most desperate rebels. When the slaughter had ceased for want of subjects, and the troops were satisfied with plunder, Titus gave orders for the total demolition of the remaining parts of the city, with its fortifications, palaces, towers, and sumptuous edifices, excepting a part of the western wall, and the three towers of Hippicus, Phasael, and Mariamne, which might prove to future times the astonishing strength of the city, and the valor of its conqueror. During the whole siege, the number killed was one million one hundred thousand; that of the prisoners, ninetyseven thousand. In truth, the population, not of Jerusa lem alone, but of the adjacent districts, many who had taken refuge in the city, and more who had assembled for the feast of unleavened bread, had been shut up by the sudden formation of the siege. If the numbers in Josephus may be relied on, there must be added to this fearful list, in the contest with Rome, nearly one hundred and thirty thousand slain before the war under Vespasian, one hundred and eighteen thousand during the war in Galilee and Judea, and after the fall of Jerusalem, nearly nine thousand in other parts of the country. The prisoners who, in the whole of these wars, amounted to over one hundred thousand, were doomed to be exposed in public, to fight like gladiators, or be devoured by wild beasts; twelve thousand perished from want, either through the neglect of their keepers, or their own sullen despair. These items swell the number of victims of the war to more than a million and a half of souls. The fortresses of Herodion, Massada, and Macharon, in different parts of the country, were left uncaptured by Titus; but two of them, namely, Herodion and Macharon, were soon afterward reduced by Lucilius Bassus; and that of Massada was attacked with such vigor by Flavius Silva, that Eleazar, the commander of the Sicarii, persuaded the inhabitants, in the spirit of despair, to kill all their wives and children; next, to choose ten men by lot, who should despatch all the rest; and lastly, to select one out of the ten to kill them and himself. This terrible tragedy was accordingly enacted; and the Romans, preparing the next morning to scale the walls, received information of the particulars from two females who had escaped the massacre by concealing themselves in an aqueduct. Thus terminated the final subjugation of Judea, though the embers of the war still smouldered in distant countries, where the Jews resided. An edict of the emperor to set up all the lands for sale, had been received by Bassus. The whole profits of the sale had been reserved to the imperial treasury. At the same time, all the Jews within the empire were commanded to pay a tribute of half a shekel into the same treasurythe sum which they had formerly paid for the use of the sanctuary. Vespasian also caused all the branches of the house of Judah to be cut off, to defeat their hopes of a future Messiah. The fate of Josephus, King Agrippa, and his sister Berenice-the most important personages in the Jewish nation, may be told in a few words. They escaped from the general wreck of the country. Josephus lived in high favor at Rome, where he wrote his Histories, which Titus vouched as authentic by signing the manuscript with his own hand, when it was deposited in the public library. Agrippa, among the luxuries of this great capital, forgot the calamities of his country and the ruin of his people. He lived and died the humble and contented vassal of Rome. In him the line of the Idumean sovereigns was extinct. Berenice would have been taken to the throne by Titus, who became enamored of her beauty, had it not been for THE great event which had been the subject of scriptural prophecy in respect to the Jews, namely, the Dispersion, took place upon the conquest of Judea and its capital, and the annihilation of its civil and ecclesiastical polity. It has continued ever since, and is not yet terminated. It may be considered, however, under its various phases, and for convenience' sake, divided into three eras, up to the present time. The first term of time is designated under the caption of the present chapter. It must necessarily constitute a very compressed narrative. The political existence of the Jewish nation was now at an end; it was never again recognized as one of THE HEBREW MONARCHY-SAUL. 189 the states or kingdoms of the world. Their history, | circumcision, the reading of the law, and the observaexcept for a period, must be pursued where they are tion of the Sabbath. This was to be consummated by found, in different parts of the globe, among various the establishment of a Roman colony in Jerusalem, nations. For, refusing still to mingle their blood with and the building of a temple to Jupiter. A town had, any other race of mankind, they dwell in their distinct by this time risen by degrees out of the ruins of Jefamilies and communities, and still maintain, notwith-rusalem, in connection with the three towers and a standing their long separation from each other, the part of the western wall which had been left. The principle of national unity. They have ever been formal establishment of a colony implied the perpetual remarkable for attachment to their sacred writings and alienation of the soil. The Jews looked on with disrites; for their persecution by the powers of the world; may, with anguish, with secret thoughts of revenge; and for their industry, wealth, and numbers. "Per- at length, with hopes of glorious deliverance. petually plundered, yet always wealthy, massacred At this crisis, it was announced that the Messiah had by thousands, yet springing again from their undying come. The period of the first appearance of this imstock,― the Jews appear at all times and in all regions: postor is by no means certain; even his real name is untheir perpetuity, their national immortality, is at once known. known. He is designated by his title Barcochab, "the the most curious problem to the political inquirer; son of the star; " meaning that "star" which was to to the religious man a subject of profound and awful" arise out of Jacob." His claims were acknowledged admiration." by the greatest of the rabbins, Rabbi Akiba; but his countrymen, in the bitterness of disappointment, were induced at last to change the title to Barcosba, “the son of a lie." He is said to have been a robber, and, in heading an insurrection among his countrymen, showed no common vigor and ability. Many important advantages were manifestly gained, and the Romans, under Severus, found it expedient to act on the defensive, and reduce the province rather by blockade and famine, than by open war. At one time, the Jews were in possession of fifty of the strongest castles, and nine hundred and eighty-five villages. Some time after the dissolution of the Jewish state, it revived again in appearance, under the form of two separate communities, mostly independent of each other; one under a sovereignty purely spiritual, the other partly spiritual and partly temporal; but each comprehending all the Jewish families in the two great divisions of the world. The Patriarch of the West was at the head of the Jews on this side of the Euphrates; of those on the East, the chief was called the Prince of the Captivity. Nothwithstanding the destruction of life during the Roman wars, and the multitude carried off as prisoners, there was doubtless a very considerable population left in their native seats. But the country was not their own, and a foreign race was probably introduced into it, to some extent. The state of things at this era is not well ascertained, though we may be certain that, as their religious concerns were all in all to the Jews, they were occupied in a due attention to these. Their Sanhedrim and their various schools would naturally give little concern to the Romans, and would, in all probability, even excite their contemptuous indifference. The administration of ecclesiastical law was now the only resort of the Jew; and whether it assumed the form of an oligarchy or a monarchy, he submitted himself, with the most implicit confidence, to the Rabbinical do minion. Under the reign of Vespasian and his immediate successors, (A. D. 70 to 96,) the Jews, though looked upon with contempt, were regarded with jealous watchfulness. The tax imposed by Vespasian was exacted with unrelenting rigor, and, like the rest of the empire, they shared in the evils experienced during the cruel despotism of Domitian, (A. D. 81 to 96.) The reign of Nerva gave a brief interval of peace to the Jews with the rest of the world; but in that of Trajan, either the oppressions of their enemies, or their own mutinous disposition, drove them into a serious and disastrous revolt. It was finally subdued only after an obstinate struggle and great loss of life. In Egypt, in Cyrene, and in Babylonia, where the insurrections mostly occurred, thousands of this oppressed or infatuated people perished, as also thousands perished by their hands. Under Hadrian, (A. D. 117,) the Jews of Palestine sounded the lowest depths of misery. Hadrian had witnessed their horrible excesses in the island of Cyprus, and, apprehending that similar mischief might be brooding in Palestine, he resolved on the means of prevention. An edict was issued, which was, in effect, the total suppression of Judaism, interdicting At length, the discipline of the Roman troops, and the consummate conduct of Severus, brought the war to a close. At the siege of Bether, the last strong city that held out, Barcochab was killed, and his head carried in triumph to the Roman camp. The war, which lasted, as nearly as can be ascertained, from A. D. 130 to 135, seems to have been much more formidable than could well have been expected from the situation of the Jews-only at the distance of two generations from their subjection under Vespasian. But there was no Josephus to chronicle its events, and the extant accounts are few and imperfect. Dion Cassius states that, during the whole war, the enormous number of five hundred and eighty thousand fell by the sword, not embracing the multitudes who perished by famine, disease, and fire. The country was nearly a desert; wolves and hyenas went howling through the streets of the desolate cities. The inhabitants were reduced to slavery by thousands. The worst threatenings of prophecy seemed now to be accomplished with this indomitable but misguided people, whose surprising destiny has even yet much to unfold. The most furious persecution was commenced against all the rabbins, who were looked upon as the authors and ringleaders of the insurrection. Burning, flaying alive, and transfixing with spears, were some of the modes of execution. It was forbidden to fill up the number of the great synagogue, or Sanhedrim; but Akiba, just before he was put to death, had named five new members; and another, Judah, before he perished, secretly nominated others in a mountain glen, where he had taken refuge. Hadrian, to dissipate forever all hopes of the restoration of the Jewish kingdom, accomplished his plan of founding a new city on the site of Jerusalem, peopled by a colony of foreigners. The city was called Elia Capitolina. The Jews were prohibited by an edict from entering the new city, on the pain of death, or even approaching its environs so as to behold afar |