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Now while Ananus was choosing out his men, and putting those that
were proper for his purpose in array for fighting, the zealots got information
of his undertaking, (for there were some who went to them, and told them
all that the people were doing,) and were irritated at it, and leaping
out of the temple in crowds, and by parties, spared none whom they met
with. Upon this Ananus got the populace together on the sudden, who were
more numerous indeed than the zealots, but inferior to them in arms, because
they had not been regularly put into array for fighting; but the alacrity
that every body showed supplied all their defects on both sides, the citizens
taking up so great a passion as was stronger than arms, and deriving a
degree of courage from the temple more forcible than any multitude whatsoever;
and indeed these citizens thought it was not possible for them to dwell
in the city, unless they could cut off the robbers that were in it. The
zealots also thought that unless they prevailed, there would be no punishment
so bad but it would be inflicted on them. So their conflicts were conducted
by their passions; and at the first they only cast stones at each other
in the city, and before the temple, and threw their javelins at a distance;
but when either of them were too hard for the other, they made use of their
swords; and great slaughter was made on both sides, and a great number
were wounded. As for the dead bodies of the people, their relations carried
them out to their own houses; but when any of the zealots were wounded,
he went up into the temple, and defiled that sacred floor with his blood,
insomuch that one may say it was their blood alone that polluted our sanctuary.
Now in these conflicts the robbers always sallied out of the temple, and
were too hard for their enemies; but the populace grew very angry, and
became more and more numerous, and reproached those that gave back, and
those behind would not afford room to those that were going off, but forced
them on again, till at length they made their whole body to turn against
their adversaries, and the robbers could no longer oppose them, but were
forced gradually to retire into the temple; when Ananus and his party fell
into it at the same time together with them.
1
This horribly affrighted the robbers, because it deprived them of the first
court; so they fled into the inner court immediately, and shut the gates.
Now Ananus did not think fit to make any attack against the holy gates,
although the other threw their stones and darts at them from above. He
also deemed it unlawful to introduce the multitude into that court before
they were purified; he therefore chose out of them all by lot six thousand
armed men, and placed them as guards in the cloisters; so there was a succession
of such guards one after another, and every one was forced to attend in
his course; although many of the chief of the city were dismissed by those
that then took on them the government, upon their hiring some of the poorer
sort, and sending them to keep the guard in their stead.