have drawn the enemy away from their camp
and brought them out into the field, which was
done accordingly; for Sylla, supposing that our
party did really run away, was ready to pursue
them, when our soldiers that lay in ambush took
them on their backs, and put them all into great
disorder. I also immediately made a sudden
turn with my own forces, and met those of the
king's party, and put them to flight. And I had
performed great things that day, if a certain
fate had not been my hindrance;
for the horse on which I rode, and
Josephus
wounded.
upon whose back I fought, fell
into a quagmire, and threw me on
the ground; and I was bruised on my wrist, and
carried into a village named Cepharnome, or
Capernaum. When my soldiers heard of this,
they were afraid I had been worse hurt than I
was: and so they did not go on with their pursuit
any farther, but returned in very great concern
for me. I therefore sent for the physicians, and
while I was under their hand, I continued feverish
that day; and as the physicians directed, I was
that night removed to Taricheæ.
73. WHEN SYLLA and his party were
informed what happened to me,
they took courage again; and,
understanding that the watch was
Sylla's renewed
attack.
negligently kept in our camp,
they by night placed a body of horsemen in
ambush beyond Jordan, and when it was day
they provoked us to fight; and as we did not
refuse it, but came into the plain, their horsemen
appeared out of that ambush in which they had
lain, and put our men into disorder, and made
them run away; so they slew six men on our
side. Yet did they not go off with the victory at
last; for when they heard that some armed men
were sailed from Taricheæ to Julius, they were
afraid, and retired.
74. IT WAS not now long before Vespasian
came to Tyre, and king Agrippa with him; but
the Tyrians began to speak
reproachfully of the king, and called
Vetpaslan and
Agrippa at
Tyre.
him an enemy to the Romans;—for
they said that Philip, the
general of his army, had betrayed
the royal palace and the Roman forces that were
in Jerusalem, and that it was done by his
command. When Vespasian heard of this report, he
rebuked the Tyrians for abusing a man who was
both a king and a friend to the Romans; but he
exhorted the king to send Philip to Rome, to
answer for what he had done before Nero.
But when Philip was sent thither, he did not
come into the sight of Nero, for he found him
very near death, on account of the troubles that
then happened, and a civil war; and so he
returned to the king. But when Vespasian was
come to Ptolemais, the chief men of Decapolis of
Syria made a clamour against Justus of Tiberia,
because he had set their villages on fire: so
Vespasian delivered him to the
king, to be put to death by those
under the kin g's jurisdiction ; yet
Justus
delivered to
the king by
Vespasian.
did the king [only] put him into
bonds, and concealed what he
had done from Vespasian, as I have before
related. But the people of Sepphoris met
Vespasian, and saluted him, and had forces
sent him, with Placidus their commander: he
also went up with them, as I also followed
them, till Vespasian came into Galilee. As to
which coming of his, and after what manner it
was ordered, and how he fought his first battle
with me near the village Taricheæ, and how
from thence they went to Jotapata, and how I
was taken alive, and bound, and how I was
afterward loosed, with all that was done by me in
the Jewish war, and during the seige of Jerusalem,
I have accurately related them in the books
concerning the War of the Jews. However, it will,
I think, be fit for me to add now an account of
those actions of my life which I have not related
in that book of the Jewish war.
75. FOR, WHEN the siege of Jotapata was
over, and I was among the
Romans, I was kept with much
Josephus
favoured by
Vespasian.
care, by means of the great
respect that Vespasian shewed
me. Moreover, at his command,
I married a virgin, who was from among the
captives of the country:[1] yet did she not live
with me long, but was divorced, upon my being
freed from my bonds, and my going to
Alexandria. However, I married another wife at
Alexandria, and was thence sent, together with
Titus, to the siege of Jerusalem, and was
frequently in danger of being put to death,—while
both the Jews were very desirous to get me under
their power, in order to have me punished; and
the Romans also, whenever they were beaten,
supposed that it was occasioned by my treachery,
and made continual clamours to the emperors,
and desired that they would bring me to
punishment, as a traitor to them: but Titus Cæsar was
well acquainted with the uncertain fortune of war,
and returned no answer to the soldiers' vehement
solicitations against me. Moreover, when the
city Jerusalem was taken by force, Titus Cæsar
persuaded me frequently to take whatsoever I
would of the ruins of my country;
and said that he gave me leave so
Protected by
Titus.
to do: but when my country was
destroyed, I thought nothing else
to be of any value which I could take and keep
as a comfort under my calamities; so I made this
request to Titus, That my family might have their
liberty: I had also the holy books[2] by Titus's
concession: nor was it long after, that I asked of
him the life of my brother, and, of fifty friends with
him, and was not denied. When I also went once
- ↑ Here Josephus, a priest, honestly confesses that he did that at the command of Vespasian, which he had before told us was not lawful for a priest to do by the laws of Moses—Antiq. b. iii. ch. xii. sect. 3. I mean the taking a captive woman to wife. See also against Apion, b. i. ch. vii. But he seems to have been quickly sensible that his compliance with the commands of an emperor would not excuse him, for he soon put her away, as Reland justly observes here.
- ↑ Of this most remarkable clause, and its most important consequences, see Essay on the Old Testament, page 193-195.
