How were the pacific overtures of Titus through Josephus received by the Jews?

The operations of the siege were resumed. John still retained his old post in the temple, with the charge of the fort of Antonia, and Simon defended the fortifications of the upper city. Rendered expert by long practice in the use of their military machines, the Jews now gave much more serious annoyance to the Romans than at the beginning of the siege; and Titus, both to spare his own soldiers, and to avoid the horrors of an indiscriminate massacre, made another effort to induce them to surrender. Josephus, their own countryman, was the messenger employed on this occasion. The choice must be confessed to have been unfortunate, for the desperadoes of Jerusalem were not likely to be either affected or convinced by the declamation of a man they detested, as a renegade from the cause of his country, and an apostate from the service of his God. Josephus, however, approached the walls, and addressed his infatuated countrymen. He urged upon them the generous forbearance of the Romans, their own interest in the preservation of their temple, their dreadful condition in the event of the city being taken by storm, and the appalling evils of that famine which had already begun to debilitate their strength. The only reply of the Zealots was to scoff, and even to cast their darts at him. He still proceeded however to point out how God had always been the protector of their nation, and how certain it was that he had now abandoned them to the Romans, because of their aggravated crimes. "Obdurate men,' were his words in conclusion, "do you not blush to see the melancholy situation to which your rage has reduced your country? such a country! consider but its beauty and magnificence. Such a city! such offerings, as have been brought to it, by all the kings and nations of the world! yet that very city you have devoted to destruction and consuming flames. Even the fate of your own families, of your wives and children, who must fall victims, either to famine or the sword, does not move you. Suspect me not of any private views in what I now say to you. I know that all that is dearest to me in the world, my mother, my wife, and

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kindred are shut up with you in Jerusalem. But I am ready to sacrifice even them for the good of my country. Happy! if their deaths and mine could purchase your repentance."

Were the representations of Josephus inforced by the dreadful state of the city?

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Although the representations of Josephus only excited the indignation and insults of the Zealots, they produced a strong impression upon the minds of many of the suffering people. They were induced to dispose of their possessions at any price they could cure; and concealing about their persons the produce of the sales, they fled to the camp of Titus, who suffered them to go to any part of the country they pleased. Happy escape it was for them! for now the famine began to rage in the city, and the oppressions of the tyrants became more terrible than ever.

Describe the wretched condition of the Jews.

No supplies were procured; the factions forcibly tore away from the people their miserable pittance, to increase their own stores; they broke into the houses; if provisions were discovered, they accused the inmates of fraud; if none were discovered, they were tortured to confess where they had placed their hoards. The healthy were suspected from their appearance, and were forced to undergo the severest examination; and whoever was in possession of a morsel of food, was compelled to eat it in haste, in secrecy, and often without any kind of preparation. The horrible condition of the Jews transcends all the power of description. Even the numbers of miserable wretches, who at the hazard of their lives, stole out of the city at night to procure a scanty supply of roots and herbs which grew in the country without the walls, were seized upon their return, and the hard-earned pittance was torn from their grasp. In vain they invoked even the sacred name of God to affect the minds of their ruthless plunderers; if they escaped with their lives, though with the loss of the support which life required, they might think themselves happy. The two tyrants in the city continued their abominable practices of extortion and cruelty. The rich were punished with

fines and forfeitures upon factitious charges of designing to go over to the Romans; the spoils of the city were divided between them; and Jerusalem was a vast Aceldema, a field of blood, where every evil passion was let loose, where monsters worse than the most ferocious wild beasts preyed upon the innocent and helpless, where fiends in a human shape perpetrated continually their deeds of horror, and from which deliverance was alone effected by the gloomy agency of the king of terrors.

By what were the calamities of the Jews aggravated?

The calamities of the unhappy Jews were aggravated by the conduct of Titus. In order to conquer the invincible obstinacy of the besieged, whose continual efforts harassed his troops beyond description, he determined to make a terrible example of every Jew who fell into his hands; and he commanded that all those who ventured beyond the walls in search of food, in the night, should be taken and crucified in the sight of the city in the morning. In consequence of this order, four or five hundred Jews were frequently seen on crosses in the agonies of death at the same time, until the Romans could find no more wood for the crosses, and no more room for the executions. Even these dreadful scenes produced no salutary effects upon the minds of the Zealots. To incense the people against the Romans, and to prove to them the inevitable consequences of desertion, they dragged the friends and relations of the victims to the walls, "Behold," said they, "how the Romans treat such as trust to their mercy, see what you are to expect if you fly to them for shelter." Even this artifice produced only a partial effect, for there were many who preferred to endure all the cruelties of the Romans, than the horrors of increasing famine, and the oppressions of their atrocious tyrants at home. Titus, as a last resource, sent some of the prisoners with their hands lopped off back to the city, to induce the Zealots to capitulate ;. all his overtures were received with insolent invectives against Titus and his father, and the city was abandoned to its fate. Such was the accurate fulfilment of the melancholy prophecy of the Redeemer, "there shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the

beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.'

Relate an instance of the obstinate resolution of the Jews.

Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Commagene, arrived in the camp of Titus, with some soldiers called Macedonians, because they were armed after the Macedonian manner; he expressed his astonishment that no attempt had been made by the Romans to gain possession of the wall; Titus, with a smile, told him to make the attempt himself; Antiochus assailed the wall with great valour, but most of his men were soon killed or wounded by the Jews.

Relate another instance of the same description.

The platforms upon which the Romans had been labouring for seventeen days, were at length finished. They were four in number; two of them were erected against fort Antonia, and two against the upper city. John, however, had undermined those which had been built against his quarter, and he had filled his mines with the most combustible materials he could procure. The Romans were preparing for the assault, when all at once the ground beneath them gave way with a tremendous crash; the flames then burst forth with dreadful fury, and the embankments, the platforms, and the engines, were soon reduced to ashes. The other platforms shared the same fate. Simon, whose valour rivalled that of John, made a desperate sally at the head of the bravest of his men. Three of the most undaunted of his officers led the attack, they bore down all before them, the battering-rams and engines of the Romans were consumed. A dreadful fight ensued; the Jews, heedless of the showers of darts and stones which were hurled upon them by the Romans, assaulted the very guards in the trenches; these men who knew that, according to the severity of their discipline, it was death to desert their post, maintained their ground with obstinate valour; the Jews however still pressed on, and their numbers were continually increased by fresh reinforcements from the city. Titus, who was then near fort Antonia, flew to assist his men, and after a furious conflict succeeded in forcing

back the Jews within their walls, but not until they had disconcerted his schemes, ruined his preparations, and dispirited his men.

How did Titus determine to prosecute the siege?

A council was called among the Romans to decide upon the manner in which the seige should now be conducted, since all the ordinary means had proved abortive. Various were the opinions of the generals. Some were for attempting an immediate storm with the whole force of the army; others were for restoring the military preparations which had been destroyed; and others were for reducing the besieged by famine and blockade. Titus was for none of these opinions singly. He was desirous, says Tacitus, of returning to the grandeur, the opulence, and pleasure, which awaited him at Rome. He therefore determined, while he took advantage of the dreadful distresses of the Jews to cut them off completely from all supplies, not to discontinue the attack, that the besieged might be compelled to surrender, both by the miseries of famine, and the force of arms. This resolution was immediately executed; the prediction of Christ was fulfilled; a trench was made about the unhappy people, and compassed them round and kept them in on every side; a wall was built thirty-nine stadia in length, flanked on the outside with thirteen towers; the whole stupendous work, by the incredible efforts of the soldiers, was finished in the amazingly short period of three days; a strict guard was kept along the whole extent of the fortification; and Titus every night personally inspected the picquets, to maintain the vigilance of the soldiers, and to prevent the possibility of a surprise.

SECTION III.

THE DREADFUL CONDITION OF THE CITY.

WHAT was now the state of Jerusalem?

THE whole city was filled with the dying and the