they loved me because I was a priest, they should reply, that two of these were priests also.
40. NOW, WHEN they had given Jonathan
and his companions these instructions, they gave
them forty thousand [drachma] out of the public
money: but when they heard that there was a
certain Galilean that then sojourned
at Jerusalem, whose name was
Jesus, who had about him a band
Jonathan
reinforced.
of six hundred armed men, they
sent for him, and gave him three months' pay,
and gave him orders to follow Jonathan and his
companions, and be obedient to them. They also
gave money to three hundred men that were
citizens of Jerusalem, to maintain them all, and
ordered them also to follow the ambassadors; and
when they had complied, and were gotten ready
for the march, Jonathan and his companions went
out with them, having along with them John's
brother and a hundred armed men. The charge
that was given them by those that sent them was
this: That if I would voluntarily lay down my
arms, they should send me alive to the city of
Jerusalem; but that, in case I opposed them,
they should kill me, and fear nothing; for that it
was their command for them so to do. They also
wrote to John to make all ready for fighting me,
and gave order to the inhabitants of Sepphoris,
and Gabara, and Tiberias, to send auxiliaries
to John.
41. NOW, AS my father wrote me an account
of this (for Jesus the son of Gamala, who was
present in that council, a friend
and companion of mine, told him
of it), I was very much troubled,
Josephus
resolves to
leave the
country.
as discovering thereby that my
fellow-citizens proved so ungrateful
to me, as, out of envy, to give
order that I should be slain; my father earnestly
pressed me also in his letter to come to him, for
that he longed to see his son before he died. I
informed my friends of these things, and that
in three days' time I should leave the country and
go home. Upon hearing this, they were all very
sorry, and desired me, with tears in their eyes,
not to leave them to be destroyed; for so they
thought they should be, if I were deprived of the
command over them: but as I did not grant their
request, but was taking care of my own safety,
the Galileans, out of the dread of the consequence
of my departure, that they should then be at the
mercy of the robbers, sent messengers over all
Galilee to inform them of my resolution to leave
them. Whereupon, as soon as they heard it,
they got together in great numbers, from all
parts, with their wives and children; and this
they did, as appeared to me, not more out of
their affection to me, than out of their fear on
their own account; for, while I stayed with
them, they supposed that they should suffer no
harm. So they all came into the great plain,
wherein I lived, the name of which was
Asochis.
42. BUT WONDERFUL it was what a dream
I saw that very night; for when I had betaken
myself to my bed, as grieved and disturbed at the
news that had been written to me, it seemed to me,
that a certain person stood by me,[1] and said "O
Josephus! leave off to afflict thy
soul, and put away all fear; for
Josephus has
a vision.
what now grieves thee will render
thee very considerable, and in all
respects most happy; for thou shall get over not
only these difficulties, but many others, with great
success. However, be not cast down, but
remember that thou art to fight with the Romans.
When I had seen this dream, I had got up with
an intention of going down to the plain. Now,
when the whole multitude of the Galileans,
among whom were the women and children, saw
me, they threw themselves down upon their faces,
and, with tears in their eyes, besought me not to
leave them exposed to their enemies, nor to go
away and permit their country to be injured by
them; but, when I did not comply with their
entreaties, they compelled me to take an oath,
that I would stay with them: they also cast
abundance of reproaches upon the people of
Jerusalem, that they would not let their country
enjoy peace.
43. WHEN I heard this, and saw what sorrow
the people were in, I was moved with compassion
to them, and thought it became me to undergo the
most manifest hazards for the sake
of so great a multitude; so I let
Marches to
Chabolo.
them know I would stay with
them; and when I had given order
that five thousand of them should come to me
armed, and with provisions for their maintenance,
I sent the rest away to their own homes; and,
when those five thousand were come, I took them,
together with three thousand of the soldiers that
were with me before, and eighty horsemen, and
marched to the village of Chabolo, situated in the
confines of Ptolemais, and there kept my forces
together, pretending to get ready to fight with
Placidus, who was come with two cohorts of
footmen, and one troop of horsemen; and was
sent thither by Cestius Callus to burn those
villages of Galilee that were near Ptolemais.
Upon whose casting up a bank before the city
Ptolemais, I also pitched my camp at about the
distance of sixty furlongs from that village; and
now we frequently brought out our forces as if we
would fight, but proceeded no farther than
skirmishes at a distance; for when Placidus
perceived that I was earnest to come to battle, he
was afraid, and avoided it; yet he did not remove
from the neighbourhood of Ptolemais.
44. ABOUT THIS time it was that Jonathan and his fellow-legates came. They were sent, as we have said already, by Simon, and Ananus, the high priest; and Jonathan contrived how he might catch me by treachery; for he durst not make any attempt upon me openly. So he wrote me the following epistle:—"Jonathan and those that are with him, and are sent by the people of Jerusalem to Josephus, send greeting.—We are
- ↑ This I take to be the first of Josephus's remarkable or divine dreams, which were predictive of the great things that afterward came to pass; of which see more in the note on Antiq. b. iii. chap. viii. sect. 9. The other is in the War, b. iii. ch. viii. sect. 3, 9.
