X KEEPERS OF THE HERD OF SWINE 381 



Whatever increase in population the Ghetto of 

 Gadara may have undergone, between B.C. 4 and 

 A.D. 66, it nowise affected the gentile and anti- 

 Judaic character of the city at the outbreak of the 

 great war ; for Josephus tells us that, immediately 

 after the great massacre of CeEsarea, the revolted 

 Jews " laid waste the villages of the Syrians and 

 their neighbouring cities, Philadelphia and Se- 

 bonitis and Gerasa and Pella and Scythopolis, 

 and after them Gadara and Hippos " (" Wars," II. 

 xviii. 1). I submit that, if Gadara had been a 

 city of " Hebrews bound by the Mosaic law," the 

 ravaging of their territory by their brother Jews, 

 in revenge for the massacre of the Csesarean Jews 

 by the Gentile population of that place, would 

 surely have been a somewhat unaccountable pro- 

 ceeding. But when we proceed a little farther, to 

 the fifth section of the chapter in which this state- 

 ment occurs, the whole affair becomes intelligible 

 enough. 



Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the other cities rose up 

 against the Jews that were among them : those of Askelou slew 

 two thousand five hundred, and those of Ptolemais two thousand, 

 and put not a few into bonds ; those of Tyre also put a great 

 number to death, but kept a greater number in prison ; more- 

 over, those of Hippos and those of Gadara did the like, while 

 vhey put to death the boldest of the Jews, but kept those of 

 whom they were most afraid in custody ; as did the rest of the 

 cities of Syria according as tl^y every one either hated them or 

 were afraid of them. 



Josephus Is not always trustworthy, but he has 



