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[22]
However, Simon and Jonathan returned to the lakes of the river, and
abode there. But Bacchides, when he had secured all Judea with his garrisons,
returned to the king; and then it was that the affairs of Judea were quiet
for two years. But when the deserters and the wicked saw that Jonathan
and those that were with him lived in the country very quietly, by reason
of the peace, they sent to king Demetrius, and excited him to send Bacchides
to seize upon Jonathan, which they said was to be done without any trouble,
and in one night's time; and that if they fell upon them before they were
aware, they might slay them all. So the king sent Bacchides, who, when
he was come into Judea, wrote to all his friends, both Jews and auxiliaries,
that they should seize upon Jonathan, and bring him to him; and when, upon
all their endeavors, they were not able to seize upon Jonathan, for he
was sensible of the snares they laid for him, and very carefully guarded
against them, Bacchides was angry at these deserters, as having imposed
upon him, and upon the king, and slew fifty of their leaders: whereupon
Jonathan, with his brother, and those that were with him, retired to Bethagla,
a village that lay in the wilderness, out of his fear of Bacchides. He
also built towers in it, and encompassed it with walls, and took care that
it should be safely guarded. Upon the hearing of which Bacchides led his
own army along with him, and besides took his Jewish auxiliaries, and came
against Jonathan, and made an assault upon his fortifications, and besieged
him many days; but Jonathan did not abate of his courage at the zeal Bacchides
used in the siege, but courageously opposed him. And while he left his
brother Simon in the city to fight with Bacchides, he went privately out
himself into the country, and got a great body of men together of his own
party, and fell upon Bacchides's camp in the night time, and destroyed
a great many of them. His brother Simon knew also of this his falling upon
them, because he perceived that the enemies were slain by him; so he sallied
out upon them, and burnt the engines which the Macedonians used, and made
a great slaughter of them. And when Bacchides saw himself encompassed with
enemies, and some of them before and some behind him, he fell into despair
and trouble of mind, as confounded at the unexpected ill success of this
siege. However, he vented his displeasure at these misfortunes upon those
deserters who sent for him from the king, as having deluded him. So he
had a mind to finish this siege after a decent manner, if it were possible
for him so to do, and then to return home.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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