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[85]
This march of the Romans seemed to the Jews to be a flight; and as
the watchman who was placed upon the wall gave a signal by shaking his
garment, there came out a fresh multitude of Jews, and that with such mighty
violence, that one might compare it to the running of the most terrible
wild beasts. To say the truth, none of those that opposed them could sustain
the fury with which they made their attacks; but, as if they had been cast
out of an engine, they brake the enemies' ranks to pieces, who were put
to flight, and ran away to the mountain; none but Titus himself, and a
few others with him, being left in the midst of the acclivity. Now these
others, who were his friends, despised the danger they were in, and were
ashamed to leave their general, earnestly exhorting him to give way to
these Jews that are fond of dying, and not to run into such dangers before
those that ought to stay before him; to consider what his fortune was,
and not, by supplying the place of a common soldier, to venture to turn
back upon the enemy so suddenly; and this because he was general in the
war, and lord of the habitable earth, on whose preservation the public
affairs do all depend. These persuasions Titus seemed not so much as to
hear, but opposed those that ran upon him, and smote them on the face;
and when he had forced them to go back, he slew them: he also fell upon
great numbers as they marched down the hill, and thrust them forward; while
those men were so amazed at his courage and his strength, that they could
not fly directly to the city, but declined from him on both sides, and
pressed after those that fled up the hill; yet did he still fall upon their
flank, and put a stop to their fury. In the mean time, a disorder and a
terror fell again upon those that were fortifying their camp at the top
of the hill, upon their seeing those beneath them running away; insomuch
that the whole legion was dispersed, while they thought that the sallies
of the Jews upon them were plainly insupportable, and that Titus was himself
put to flight; because they took it for granted, that, if he had staid,
the rest would never have fled for it. Thus were they encompassed on every
side by a kind of panic fear, and some dispersed themselves one way, and
some another, till certain of them saw their general in the very midst
of an action, and being under great concern for him, they loudly proclaimed
the danger he was in to the entire legion; and now shame made them turn
back, and they reproached one another that they did worse than run away,
by deserting Caesar. So they used their utmost force against the Jews,
and declining from the straight declivity, they drove them on heaps into
the bottom of the valley. Then did the Jews turn about and fight them;
but as they were themselves retiring, and now, because the Romans had the
advantage of the ground, and were above the Jews, they drove them all into
the valley. Titus also pressed upon those that were near him, and sent
the legion again to fortify their camp; while he, and those that were with
him before, opposed the enemy, and kept them from doing further mischief;
insomuch that, if I may be allowed neither to add any thing out of flattery,
nor to diminish any thing out of envy, but to speak the plain truth, Caesar
did twice deliver that entire legion when it was in jeopardy, and gave
them a quiet opportunity of fortifying their camp.
1
1 HOW THE SEDITION WAS AGAIN REVIVED WITHIN JERUSALEM AND YET THE JEWS CONTRIVED SNARES FOR THE ROMANS. HOW TITUS ALSO THREATENED HIS SOLDIERS FOR THEIR UNGOVERNABLE RASHNESS.
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