804 J E 
that many of the former were con fumed in it, and the reft, 
venturing to jump down from the battlements, -were, all 
but one, crufhed to death. 
On the very next day, Titus having fet fire to the north 
gallery, which inclofecf the outer court of the temple, 
from fort Antonia to the valley of Cedron, got an eafy 
admittance into it, and forced the befieged into that of 
the priefts. He tried in vain for fix days to batter down 
one of the galleries of that precindt with an helepolis; he 
was forced to mount his battering-rams on the terrace, 
which was raifed by this time; and yet the ftrength of 
this wall was fuch, that it eluded the force of thefe alfo, 
though others, of his troops were bufy in Tapping it. 
When they found that neither rams nor tapping could 
gain ground, they bethought themfelves of foaling; but 
were vigoroufly repulfed in the attempt, with the lofs of 
fome - ftandards, and a number of men. When Titus 
therefore found that his defire of faving that building was 
likely to coft fb many lives, he fet fire to the gates, which, 
being plated with filver, burnt all that night, whilft the 
metal dropt down in the melting. The flame foon com¬ 
municated' itlelf to the porticoes and galleries ; which the 
befieged beheld without offering to ftop it, but con¬ 
tented themfelves with lending volleys of impotent curfes 
againft the Romans. This was done on the 8th of Au- 
guft; and, on the next day, Titus, having given orders 
to extingujlh the fire, called a council, to determine whe¬ 
ther the remainder of the temple Ihould be faved or de- 
melilhed. That prince was ffill for the former, but moll 
of the reft declared for the latter; alleging, that it was 
no longer a temple, but a fcene of war and (laughter, and 
that the Jews would never be at reft as long as any part 
of it was left Handing; but, when they found Titus 
•Stiffly bent on preferving fo noble an edifice, againft which 
iie told them he could have no quarrel, they all came over 
to his mind. 
The next day, Auguft the ioth, was therefore deter¬ 
mined for' a general affault ; and the night before the 
jews made two defperate (allies on the Romans ; in the 
daft of which, thefe, being timely fuccoured by Titus, 
beat them back into their inclofure. But whether this 
bift Jewilh effort exafperated the beliegers, or, which is 
more likely, as Jofephus thinks, puflied'by the hand of 
Providence, one of the Roman foldiers, of his own ac¬ 
cord, --took up a blazing fire-brand, and, getting on his 
comrade’s (boulders, threw it into one of the apartments 
that lurrounded the -fan&uary, through a window. This 
immediately- fet the whole north-lifte in a flame up to the 
•third (lory, on the fame fatal day and month in which it 
had been formerly burnt by Nebuchadnezzar. Titus, 
-who was gone to reft himfelf awhile in his pavilion, was 
awaked at the noife, and ran immediately to give orders 
to have the fire extinguiftied. He called, prayed, threat¬ 
ened, and even beat his men, but in vain; the confufion 
was fo great, and the foldiers fo obftinately bent upon de- 
ftroying all that 1 ^as left, that he was neither heard nor 
minded. Thofe that flocked thither from the camp,' in- 
-ftead of -obeying his orders, were bufy, either in killing 
-the Jews, or in increasing the flames. When Titus'ob- 
Terved that all his endeavours were vain, he entered into 
theTamSluary and the moft holy place, in which he found 
(till fuch fumptuous utenflls and other riches as even ex- 
-ceeded all that had been told him of it. Out of the for¬ 
mer he laved the golden-candleftick-, the table of lliew- 
■br-ead, the altar of perfumes, all of-pure gold, and the 
-book or volume of the law, wrapped up in a rich gold 
tiffue ; but in the latter he found-no utenflls, becaufe, in 
all probability, they had not made a frelh ark fince that 
of Solomon-had been loft. Upon his coming out of that 
Tacred place, fome other foldiers fet fire-to it, and obliged 
-thofe that had ftaid behind to come out; they all fell 
foul on the plunder of it, tearing even the gold plating 
,off the gates and timber-work, and carried off all the 
softly utenflls, robes, &c. they found, infomuch that there 
■*ygs ,not one.of them who did not enrich himfelf by it. 
w. 
A horrid maflacre followed Toon after, in which a great 
many tlioufands periflied; fome by the flames, others by 
the fall from the battlements, and a greater number by 
the enemy’s fword, which deftroyed all it met with, with¬ 
out diftinftion of age, (ex, or quality. Among them 
were upwards of 6ooo perfons who had been (educed thi¬ 
ther by a falfe prophet, who promifed them that they 
(hould find a fpeedy and miraculous relief there on that 
very day. Some of them remained five whole days oil 
the top of the walls, and afterwards tlu'ew themfelves on 
the general’s mercy; but “ he, whofe virtue figh’d to lofe 
a day,” anfwered that they had outftaid the time; and they 
were led to execution. The Romans carried their fury 
to the burning of all the treafure-houfes of the place, 
though they .were full of the richeft furniture, plate, veft- 
ments, and other things of value, which had been laid up 
in thofe places for fecurity. In a word, they did not 
ceafe burning and butchering, till they had deftroyed all, 
except two of the temple-^ates, and that part of the court 
which was dellined for the women. 
In the mean time, the feditious made fuch a vigorous 
pufli, that they efcaped the fury of the Romans, at lead 
Tor the prefent, and retired into the city. But here they 
found all the avenues fo -well guarded, that there was no 
poilibility left for them to get out; which obliged them 
to fecure themselves as well as they could-.on the Couth 
fide of it, from whence Simon, and John of Gifchala, fent 
to defire a parley with Titus. They were'anfwered, that, 
though they had been the caufe of all this bloodflied and 
ruin, yet they (hould have their lives fpared, if they laid 
dou'n their arms, and furrendered themfelves prifoners. 
To this they replied, that they had engaged themfelves 
by the moft folemn oath's never to furrender; and there¬ 
fore, only begged leave to retire into the mountains with 
their wives and children; which fo exafperated the Ro¬ 
man general, that he caufed a herald to bid them ftand to 
their defence; for that not one of them (hould be fpared, 
fince they had rejeded his laft offers of pardon. Imme¬ 
diately after this, he abandoned the city to thp fury of 
the foldiers, who fell forthwith on plundering, letting 
fire every where, and murdering all that fell into their 
hands ; whilft the factious, who were left, went and for¬ 
tified themfelves in the royal palace, where they killed 
8ooo Jews who had taken refuge there. 
In the mean time, great preparations were making for 
a vigorous attack on the upper city, efpecially on the 
royal palace; and this took them up from the 2.0th of 
Auguft to the 7th of September, during which time great 
numbers came and made their fubmiflion to Titus. The 
warlike engines then played fo furioufly on the factious, 
that they were taken with a ludden panic ; and, inttead 
-of fleeing into the towers of Hippicos, Phafael, or Mari- 
amne, \jhich were yet untaken, and fo ltrong .that no¬ 
thing but famine could have reduced them, they ran like 
madmen towards Siloah, with a deflgn to have attacked 
the wall of circumvallation, and to have efcaped out of 
the city ; but, being there repulfed, they were forced to 
go and hide themfelves in the public finks and common 
(ewers, fome one way and fome another. All whom the 
Romans could find were put to the fword, and the city 
was let on fire. This was on the 8th of September, when 
the city w r as taken and entered by Titus. . He would 
have put an end to the maflacre; but his men killed all, 
except the moft vigorous, whom they (hut up in the 
porch of the women juft mentioned. Fronto, .who had 
the care of them, referved the youngeft and moft beauti¬ 
ful for Titus’s triumph ; and fent all that were above le- 
venteen years of age into Egypt, to be employed in fome 
public works there; and a great number of others were 
lent into leveral cities of Syria, and other provinces; to 
be expofed on the public theatre, to exhibit fights, or 
be devoured by wild bealts. The number of thofe pri¬ 
foners amounted to 97,000, befides about 11,000 more, 
who were either ftarved through neglect, or ftarved them- 
felves through fulleiinefs and'defpair. The whole number 
I - p-f 
