[462] XXII
Deiotariana
and III Cyrenaica.
Tacitus
[517] This enigmatic prophecy really
applied to Vespasian and Titus. But men are blinded by their hopes.
The Jews took to themselves the promised destiny, and even defeat
could not convince them of the truth. The number of the besieged, men
and women of every age, is stated to have reached six hundred
thousand. There were arms for all who could carry them, and far more
were ready to fight than would be expected from their total numbers.
The women were as determined as the men: if they were forced to leave
their homes they had more to fear in life than in death.
Such was the city and such the people with which Titus was faced. As
the nature of the ground forbade a sudden assault, he determined to
employ siege-works and penthouse shelters. The work was accordingly
divided among the legions, and there was a truce to fighting until
they had got ready every means of storming a town that had ever been
devised by experience or inventive ingenuity.
FOOTNOTES:
[460] A. D. 70.
[461] See ii. 4; iv. 51.
[462] XXII Deiotariana and III Cyrenaica.
[463] Cp. ii. 4.
[464] There seems little to recommend Tacitus' theory of the
identity of the Idaei and Judaei, though it has been suggested
that the Cherethites of 2. Sam. viii. 18 and Ezek. xxv. 16 are
Cretans, migrated into the neighbourhood of the Philistines.
The Jewish Sabbath (Saturn's day) seems also to have suggested
connexion with Saturn and Crete.
[465] Elsewhere the Idaei figure as supernatural genii in
attendance on either Jupiter or Saturn.
[466] Ethiopian here means Phoenician. Tradition made Cepheus,
the father of Andromeda, king of Joppa.
[467] From Damascus, said Justin, where Abraham was one of
their kings, and Trogus Pompeius adds that the name of Abraham
was honourably remembered at Damascus. These are variants of
the Biblical migration of Abraham.
applied to Vespasian and Titus. But men are blinded by their hopes.
The Jews took to themselves the promised destiny, and even defeat
could not convince them of the truth. The number of the besieged, men
and women of every age, is stated to have reached six hundred
thousand. There were arms for all who could carry them, and far more
were ready to fight than would be expected from their total numbers.
The women were as determined as the men: if they were forced to leave
their homes they had more to fear in life than in death.
Such was the city and such the people with which Titus was faced. As
the nature of the ground forbade a sudden assault, he determined to
employ siege-works and penthouse shelters. The work was accordingly
divided among the legions, and there was a truce to fighting until
they had got ready every means of storming a town that had ever been
devised by experience or inventive ingenuity.
FOOTNOTES:
[460] A. D. 70.
[461] See ii. 4; iv. 51.
[462] XXII Deiotariana and III Cyrenaica.
[463] Cp. ii. 4.
[464] There seems little to recommend Tacitus' theory of the
identity of the Idaei and Judaei, though it has been suggested
that the Cherethites of 2. Sam. viii. 18 and Ezek. xxv. 16 are
Cretans, migrated into the neighbourhood of the Philistines.
The Jewish Sabbath (Saturn's day) seems also to have suggested
connexion with Saturn and Crete.
[465] Elsewhere the Idaei figure as supernatural genii in
attendance on either Jupiter or Saturn.
[466] Ethiopian here means Phoenician. Tradition made Cepheus,
the father of Andromeda, king of Joppa.
[467] From Damascus, said Justin, where Abraham was one of
their kings, and Trogus Pompeius adds that the name of Abraham
was honourably remembered at Damascus. These are variants of
the Biblical migration of Abraham.
