Syrians of Cesarea; for it was reported that they had slain the king. But Philip restrained their zeal, and put them in mind of the benefits the king had bestowed upon them; and told them how powerful the Romans were, and said it was not for their advantage to make war with them; and at length he prevailed with them. But now, when the king was acquainted with Varus's design, which was to cut off the Jews of Cesarea, being many ten thousands, with their wives and children, and all in one day, he called to him Equiculus Modius, and sent him to be Varus's successor, as we have elsewhere related. But still Philip kept possession of the citadel of Gamala, and of the country adjoining to it, which thereby continued in their allegiance to the Romans.
12. NOW, AS soon as I was come into
Galilee, and had learned this state of things by the
information of such as told me of them, I wrote to
the sanhedrim of Jerusalem about them, and
required their direction what I should do. Their
direction was that I should continue there, and
that, if my fellow-legates were willing, I should
join with them in the care of Galilee. But those
my fellow-legates, having gotten great riches from
those tithes which as priests were their dues, and
were given to them, determined to return to their
own country. Yet when I desired them to stay
so long, that we might first settle the public
affairs, they complied with me. So I removed,
together with them, from the city of Sepphoris,
and came to a certain village called Bethmaus,
four furlongs distant from Tiberias; and thence I
sent messengers to the senate of Tiberias, and
desired that the principal men of the city would
come to me; and when they were come, Justus
himself being also with them, I
Josephus a
legate in
Galilee.
told them that I was sent to them
by the people of Jerusalem as a
legate, together with these other
priests, in order to persuade them
to demolish that house which Herod the tetrarch
had built there, and which had the figures of
living creatures in it, although our laws have
forbidden us to make any such figures; and I
desired that they would give us leave so to do
immediately. But for a good while Capellus and
the principal men belonging to the city would not
give us leave, but were at length entirely overcome
by us, and were induced to be of our opinion. So
Jesus the son of Sapphias, one of those whom we
have already mentioned as the leader of a
seditious tumult of mariners and poor people,
prevented us, and took with him certain Galileans,
and set the entire palace on fire, and thought he
should get a great deal of money thereby, because
he saw some of the roofs gilt with gold. They
also plundered a great deal of the furniture, which
was done without our approbation: for, after we
had discoursed with Capellus and the principal
men of the city, we departed from Bethmaus, and
went into the Upper Galilee. But Jesus and his
party slew all the Greeks that were inhabitants
of Tiberias, and as many others as were their
enemies before the war began.
13. WHEN I understood this state of things,
I was greatly provoked, and went down to
Tiberias, and took all the care I could of the
royal furniture, to recover all that could be
recovered from such as had
plundered it. They consisted of
The plunderers
and their
proceedings.
candlesticks made of Corinthian brass, and
of royal tables, and of a great
quantity of uncoined silver; and I
resolved to preserve whatsoever came
to my hand for the king. So I sent for ten of the
principal men of the senate, and for Capellus the
son of Antyllus, and committed the furniture to
them, with this charge, That they should part
with it to nobody else but to myself. From thence
I and my fellow-legates went to Gischala, to
John, as desirous to know his intentions, and soon
saw that he was for innovations, and had a mind
to the principality, for he desired me to give him
authority to carry off that corn which belonged to
Cæsar, and lay in the villages of Upper Galilee;
and he pretended that he would expend what it
came to in building the walls of his own city.
But when I perceived what he endeavoured at,
and what he had in his mind, I said I would not
permit him so to do; for that I thought either to
keep it for the Romans or for myself, now I was
entrusted with the public affairs there by the
people of Jerusalem: but, when he was not able
to prevail with me, he betook himself to my
fellow-legates; for they had no sagacity in providing for
futurity, and were very ready to take bribes: so
he corrupted them with money, to decree that all
that corn which was within his province should be
delivered to him; while I, who was but one, was
outvoted by two, and held my tongue. Then did
John introduce another cunning contrivance of
his; for he said that those Jews
who inhabited Cesarea Philippi,
John’s
craft and
cunning.
and were shut up by the order of
the king's deputy there, had sent
to him to desire him that, since
they had no oil that was pure for their use, he
would provide a sufficient quantity of such oil for
them, lest they should be forced to make use of
oil that came from the Greeks, and thereby
transgress their own laws. Now this was said by
John, not out of his regard to religion, but out of
his most flagrant desire of gain; for he knew that
two sectaries were sold with them of Cesarea for
one drachma; but that at Gischala fourscore
sectaries were sold for four sectaries: so he gave
order that all the oil which was there should be
carried away, as having my permission for so
doing; which yet I did not grant him voluntarily,
but only out of fear of the multitude, since, if I
had forbidden him, I should have been stoned by
them. When I had therefore permitted this to be
done by John, he gained vast sums of money by
this his knavery.
14. BUT WHEN I had dismissed my fellow-legates, and sent them back to Jerusalem, I took care to have arms provided, and the cities fortified: and, when I had sent for the most hardy among the robbers, I saw that it was not in my power to take their arms from them; but I persuaded the multitude to allow them money as pay, and told them it was better for them to give them a little wittingly, rather than to [be forced to] overlook them when they plundered their goods from them. And when I had obliged them
