Codex 47

[Josephus, Jewish War]

Read the work of Josephus the Jew [1] on The Calamities of the Jews.The capture of Iotapata[2] (at which Josephus himself was taken prisoner) and Gischala,[3] and the desolation of other Jewish fortresses is described, and in the last book the destruction of Jerusalem and the fortress of Masada.[2] The work is in seven books. The author has a pure style, and is apt at expressing his meaning with dignity, with distinctness and charm. In the speeches introduced he is persuasive and agreeable, even when the opportunity invites him to take opposite views; he is clever and prolific in the use of arguments on either side, and is extremely fond of aphorisms. He is also very skilful in introducing the emotional, in rousing the passions and calming them.

He relates that many signs and portents preceded the taking of Jerusalem. A heifer that was being led to the sacrifice brought forth a lamb; a light shone in the temple and a voice was heard saying, “Let us remove hence”; the gates of the temple, which twenty men could hardly open, opened of their own accord; in the evening troops appeared clad in armour. A man named Jesus, son of Ananias, for six years and three months incessantly repeated, like one inspired, the words “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” When he was whipped for it, he made no reply, but repeated the same words. He was present at the capture of the city, and while crying out “Woe, woe, to the city!” he was hit by a stone from one of the enemy’s engines, and gave up the ghost.

Such were the signs that foretold the taking of the city; but it was internal sedition, together with the enemy, that overthrew it. Split up into the factions of Zelotae and Sicarii,[4]they destroyed one another, and thus the body of the state was cruelly and mercilessly torn asunder by the common people. The city suffered so grievously from famine that the inhabitants were driven to all kinds of excesses; a woman even ate the flesh of her own son. Famine was succeeded by pestilence, a clear proof that it was the work of the divine wrath, in fulfilment of the Lord’s proclamation and threat that the city should be taken and utterly destroyed.