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[68]
Now two days afterward twelve of those men that were on the forefront,
and kept watch upon the banks, got together, and called to them the standard-bearer
of the fifth legion, and two others of a troop of horsemen, and one trumpeter;
these went without noise, about the ninth hour of the night, through the
ruins, to the tower of Antonia; and when they had cut the throats of the
first guards of the place, as they were asleep, they got possession of
the wall, and ordered the trumpeter to sound his trumpet. Upon which the
rest of the guard got up on the sudden, and ran away, before any body could
see how many they were that were gotten up; for, partly from the fear they
were in, and partly from the sound of the trumpet which they heard, they
imagined a great number of the enemy were gotten up. But as soon as Caesar
heard the signal, he ordered the army to put on their armor immediately,
and came thither with his commanders, and first of all ascended, as did
the chosen men that were with him. And as the Jews were flying away to
the temple, they fell into that mine which John had dug under the Roman
banks. Then did the seditious of both the bodies of the Jewish army, as
well that belonging to John as that belonging to Simon, drive them away;
and indeed were no way wanting as to the highest degree of force and alacrity;
for they esteemed themselves entirely ruined if once the Romans got into
the temple, as did the Romans look upon the same thing as the beginning
of their entire conquest. So a terrible battle was fought at the entrance
of the temple, while the Romans were forcing their way, in order to get
possession of that temple, and the Jews were driving them back to the tower
of Antonia; in which battle the darts were on both sides useless, as well
as the spears, and both sides drew their swords, and fought it out hand
to hand. Now during this struggle the positions of the men were undistinguished
on both sides, and they fought at random, the men being intermixed one
with another, and confounded, by reason of the narrowness of the place;
while the noise that was made fell on the ear after an indistinct manner,
because it was so very loud. Great slaughter was now made on both sides,
and the combatants trod upon the bodies and the armor of those that were
dead, and dashed them to pieces. Accordingly, to which side soever the
battle inclined, those that had the advantage exhorted one another to go
on, as did those that were beaten make great lamentation. But still there
was no room for flight, nor for pursuit, but disorderly revolutions and
retreats, while the armies were intermixed one with another; but those
that were in the first ranks were under the necessity of killing or being
killed, without any way for escaping; for those on both sides that came
behind forced those before them to go on, without leaving any space between
the armies. At length the Jews' violent zeal was too hard for the Romans'
skill, and the battle already inclined entirely that way; for the fight
had lasted from the ninth hour of the night till the seventh hour of the
day, While the Jews came on in crowds, and had the danger the temple was
in for their motive; the Romans having no more here than a part of their
army; for those legions, on which the soldiers on that side depended, were
not come up to them. So it was at present thought sufficient by the Romans
to take possession of the tower of Antonia.
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