and gave him to my friends that were with me,
to carry him into a village; and commanding my
armed men to come down, I with
them made an assault upon
Tiberias. Now, as the fight grew hot
on both sides, and the soldiers
Assault on
Tiberias.
belonging to Tiberias were in a fair way to
conquer me (for my armed men were already fled
away), I saw the posture of my affairs; and
encouraging those that were with me, I pursued
those of Tiberias, even when they were already
conquerors, into the city. I also sent another
band of soldiers into the city by the lake; and
gave them orders to set on fire the first house
they could seize upon. When this was done, the
people of Tiberias thought that their city was
taken by force, and so threw down their arms
for fear; and implored, they, their wives, and
children, that I would spare their city. So I was
overpersuaded by their entreaties, and restrained
the soldiers from the vehemency with which they
pursued them; while I myself, upon the coming
on of the evening, returned back with my soldiers,
and went to refresh myself. I also invited Simon
to sup with me, and comforted him on occasion of
what had happened; and I promised that I would
send him safe and secure to Jerusalem, and withal
would give him provision for his journey thither.
64. BUT, ON the next day, I brought ten
thousand men with me, and came to Tiberias. I
then sent for the principal men of the multitude
into the public place, and enjoined them to tell
me who were the authors of the revolt; and when
they had told me who the men were,
I sent them bound to the city
Jotapata; but, as to Jonathan
and Ananias, I freed them from
The chief
insurgents sent
to Jotapata.
their bonds, and gave them
provisions for their journey, together with Simon
and Joazar, and five hundred armed men who
should guard them; and so I sent them to
Jerusalem. The people of Tiberias also came to me
again, and desired that I would forgive them for
what they had done; and they said they would
amend what they had done amiss with regard to
me, by their fidelity for the time to come; and
besought me to preserve what spoils
remained upon the plunder of the city, for those
that had lost them. Accordingly, I enjoined those
that had got them, to bring them all before us;
and when they did not comply for a great while,
and I saw one of the soldiers that were about me
with a garment on that was more splendid than
ordinary, I asked him whence he had it; and he
replied that he had it out of the plunder of the
city. I had him punished with stripes; and I
threatened all the rest to inflict a severer
punishment upon them, unless they produced before us
whatsoever they had plundered; and when a
great many spoils were brought together, I
restored to every one of Tiberias what they claimed
to be their own.
65. AND NOW I am come to this part of
my narrative, I have a mind to
say a few things to Justus, who
hath himself written a history
Address to
Justus.
concerning these affairs; as also
to others who profess to write history, but have
little regard to truth, and are not afraid, either
out of ill-will or good-will to some persons, to
relate falsehoods. These men do like those who
compose forged deeds and conveyances; and
because they are not brought to the like
punishment with them, they have no regard to truth.
When, therefore, Justus undertook to write about
these facts, and about the Jewish war, that he
might appear to have been an industrious man,
he falsified in what he related about me, and
could not speak truth even about his own country;
whence it is that, being belied by him, I am under
a necessity to make my defence; and so I shall
say what I have concealed till now; and let no
one wonder that I have not told the world these
things a great while ago; for although it may be
necessary for an historian to write the truth, yet
is such a one not bound severely to animadvert
on the wickedness of certain men, not out of any
favour to them, but out of an author's own
moderation. How then comes it to pass, O
Justus! thou most sagacious of writers (that I
may address myself to him as if he were here
present), for so thou boastest of thyself, that I
and the Galileans have been the
authors of that sedition which thy
country engaged in both against
Denial of the
accusations
of Justus.
the Romans and against the king
[Agrippa, junior]?—for before ever
I was appointed governor of Galilee by the
community of Jerusalem, both thou and all the
people of Tiberias had not only taken up arms,
but had made war with Decapolis of Syria.
Accordingly, thou hadst ordered their villages to
be burnt, and a domestic servant of mine fell in
the battle. Nor is it I only who say this; but so
it is written in the Commentaries of Vespasian,
the emperor; as also how the inhabitants of
Decapolis came clamouring to Vespasian at
Ptolemais, and desired that thou, who wast the
author [of that war], mightest be brought to
punishment; and thou hadst certainly been
punished at the command of Vespasian, had not
king Agrippa, who had power given him to have
thee put to death, at the earnest entreaty of his
sister Bernice, changed the punishment from
death into a long imprisonment. Thy political
administration of affairs afterward doth also
clearly discover both thy own behaviour in life,
and that thou wast the occasion of thy country's
revolt from the Romans; plain signs of which I
shall produce presently. I have also a mind to
say a few things to the rest of the people of
Tiberias on thy account, and to demonstrate to
those that light upon this history that you bare
no good will neither to the Romans nor to the
king. To be sure, the greatest cities of Galilee,
O Justus! were Sepphoris, and thy country
Tiberias; but Sepphoris, situated in the very
midst of Galilee, and having many villages about
it, and able with ease to have been bold and
troublesome to the Romans, if they had so
pleased, yet did it resolve to continue faithful
to those their masters, and at the same time
excluded me out of their city, and prohibited all
their citizens from joining with the Jews in the
war; and, that they might be out of danger from
me, they, by a wile, got leave of me to fortify
