Chapter 15: The Siege Is Begun.
The Fifth Legion--which had been stationed at Emmaus, halfwaybetween Jerusalem and Jaffa--marching the greater part of thenight, joined the Twelfth and Fifteenth at their halting place atGaboth Saul and, the next morning, the three advanced together. TheTwelfth and Fifteenth marched halfway down the Hill of Scopus, andencamped together on a knoll; while the Fifth Legion encamped threefurlongs to their rear so that, in case of an attack by the Jews,its weary soldiers should not have to bear the brunt of theconflict. As these legions were marking out their camp, the TenthLegion--which had marched up from Jericho--appeared on the Mount ofOlives, and Titus sent word for them to encamp there. ThusJerusalem was overlooked, throughout its length and breadth, by theRoman camps on the hills to the north and east sides.
John had, at the earnest request of Simon, taken up his residencewith him in the Palace of Herod and, from the top of the Tower ofPhasaelus, watched the Roman legions at work.
"It seems to me," he said to Simon, "that now is the time for us tomake an assault. The Romans raise veritable fortifications roundtheir camp and, when once these are completed, we can scarcely hopeto storm them; whereas, if we fall suddenly upon them, now, we canfight on even terms. The legion on the Mount of Olives is widelyseparated from the rest; and we might overcome it, before theothers could come to its assistance."
"I agree with you," Simon said; "let us strike a blow, at once."
Simon at once sent off to John, to propose that the latter shouldissue out from the Golden Gate in the middle of the Templeplatform; while he, himself, would lead out his troops by the gateto the north of that platform. In accordance with the suggestion ofJohn, he requested John of Gischala to place a watchman on aconspicuous position on the wall, with orders to wave his mantle asa signal to both parties to charge as, from his position, he wouldbe better able than they to see what the Romans were doing; andboth parties could see him, while they might be invisible to eachother.
John of Gischala sent back, at once, to say that he approved of theplan, and would join in it. Simon called his troops togetherand--leaving the outer wall strongly manned, lest the Twelfth andFifteenth Legions might take advantage of the absence of so large aportion of the garrison to make a sudden attack upon it--marchedtowards the northeastern gate; being joined on the way by John,with his band. They waited until a messenger came from John ofGischala, saying that he was ready; then the gates were thrownopen, and the troops poured out.
John had given strict orders to his men to keep together in theircompanies, each under his commander; and not to try to maintainregular order as one band, for this would be next to impossible,fighting on such hilly and broken ground. Besides, they would besure to get mixed up with the masses of Simon's troops.
At the same moment that Simon's force poured through thenortheastern gate, that of John of Gischala issued from the Templeplatform and, in rivalry with each other, both dashed down thesteep declivity into the bottom of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, andthen climbed the sharp slope of the Mount of Olives. Then with loudshouts they fell, in wild disorder, each as he reached the spot,upon the Tenth Legion.
The Romans, anticipating no attack, and many of them unarmed asthey worked at the intrenchments, were unable to resist the fierceonslaught. Accustomed to regular warfare, this rush of armed menfrom all sides upon them surprised and disconcerted them. Everymoment added to the number of their assailants, as fresh combatantscontinued to pour out from the city and, fighting stubbornly andsullenly, the Romans were driven out of their half-formedintrenchments up the slope, and over the crest of the Mount ofOlives.
The Jews fought, regardless of life. Single men dashed into themidst of the Romans and fell there, fighting fiercely. John'scompact companies hurled themselves upon the line, and broke it.Simon fought desperately at the head of his men, cutting down allwho stood in his way. The Romans were wavering, and would soon havebroken into open flight, when rescue arrived. The general incommand had, immediately the Jews had been seen issuing out, sentoff a horseman to Titus with the news; and he, putting himself atthe head of his bodyguard, started instantly to their assistance.
Falling suddenly upon the flank of the Jews, he bore them down bythe impetuosity and weight of the charge. In vain, Simon and Johnof Gischala tried to rally their men; and John's bands, gatheringround him at the sound of his bugle, opposed a firm and steadyresistance. The Roman legion rallied and, ashamed of having beendriven back before the very eyes of Titus, attacked the Jews withfury; and the latter were driven down the hill into the valley.
Here, John's band refused to retire further. Simon and John ofGischala rallied their troops, and an obstinate contest ensued; theRomans being unable to push the Jews farther back, now that thelatter were, in turn, fighting with the ground in their favor. Forsome time the battle raged. Then Titus, seeing that he could notdrive the Jews back into the city, ordered a portion of the TenthLegion to reascend the Mount of Olives, and complete the work offortifying their camp; so that, at the end of the day, the legioncould fall back to a place of safety.
The watchman on the wall saw the movement, and thought that theRomans were retreating. He waved his mantle wildly and, at thesignal, the Jews again burst down upon their foes, and fresh forcespoured down from the gates to their assistance. In vain, the Romanline tried to hold the bottom of the valley. The Jews burst throughthem, and drove them in disorder up the hill; Titus alone, with afew followers, making a stand on the lower slopes. The Jews,rushing on, surrounded his party and fell upon him from all sides,while their main body swarmed up the hill, and the Romans, panicstricken, dispersed in all directions.
Victory seemed in the hands of the Jews, when some of the Romansdiscovered that Titus was not with them; but was cut off, andsurrounded, at the bottom of the hill. They shouted to others, andthe news rapidly spread through the fugitives. Overwhelmed withshame at having deserted their general, and knowing the severepunishment which, according to Roman military law, would befallthem for their cowardice, the Romans paused in their flight.
Their discipline came to their aid, and they quickly fell in, incompanies and, with a shout of fury, advanced upon the scatteredJews; who, although vastly superior in numbers, had no order orformation which would enable them to resist the downward impetus ofthe solid masses of heavy-armed Romans. Again they were driven downthe hill; and the Romans, pressing upon them, found to theirdelight that Titus and his band had successfully resisted theattacks of their foes.
The Jews were driven some distance up the side of the slope; andthere the combat was renewed until, seeing that they could make nofurther impression upon the enemy, the Jews retired sullenlythrough their gates into the city. They were, however, wellsatisfied with their day's work. Numbers had fallen, but they hadinflicted heavy loss upon the Romans. They had forced one of thelegions to retreat, in fair fight; had all but captured Titus; andhad proved, to the Romans, the formidable nature of the task theyhad undertaken.
The next day, the 13th of April, was the day of the Passover; andall Jerusalem prepared, as usual, to celebrate the day of the greatsacrifice. The gates of the Temple were, as usual, thrown open; andthe multitude thronged in to worship. John of Gischala had sworn toEleazar, as he had to Simon, to lay aside all hostility but, asusual, he did not allow his oath to prevent him from carrying outhis designs. A number of his men concealed their arms under theirgarments, and entered the Temple with the worshipers.
At a signal, the swords were drawn and the cry of battle wasraised. Eleazar and his followers at once fled, in dismay, to thevaults under the Temple. The multitude in the courts above, panicstricken at the threatened conflict, strove to escape. Many weretrampled under foot and killed. Some were wantonly slain by John'sfollowers, to whom murder had become a pastime.
When order was restored, John of Gischala went to the entrance ofthe vaults, and shouted to Eleazar that he desired to keep hisoath, and would do him no harm; but that, for the general safety ofthe city, he could be no longer p
ermitted to hold the inner Templebut must, with his men, take his share in the defense of the walls.If Eleazar would agree to do this, he promised that no harm,whatever, should be done to him or his followers. Eleazar, being atthe mercy of his foe, accepted the terms and, with his followers,ascended into the Temple.
For once, John of Gischala kept his word. Eleazar was permitted toretain the command of his own two thousand men, but his forcehenceforth formed a part of the Zealot army of John. Thus, fromthis time forward, there were but two factions in the city.
Josephus, always the bitter enemy of John of Gischala, speaks interms of the utmost reprobation of his conduct on this occasion;and the occasion and manner in which the deed was effected cannot,for a moment, be defended. At the same time, it must be admittedthat the occasion was an urgent one, that the existence of thisenemy in his midst crippled John of Gischala's power to defend hisportion of the city; and that the suppression of Eleazar's faction,and the conversion of his troops from enemies into allies, was anact of high policy, and was indeed a necessity, if Jerusalem was tobe successfully defended.
The desecration of the Temple, however, upon so sacred an occasionas the feast of the Passover, filled all pious Jews with horror;and caused John to be regarded with even greater detestation thanbefore. For the opinion of the unarmed multitude, however, he caredlittle. He had crushed the faction of Eleazar, had added twothousand men to his strength; and was now ready, without fear oftrouble within, to face the Roman enemy without.
The desperate sortie of the Jews had convinced Titus that, ifJerusalem was to be taken, it must be by means of regular siegeoperations, conducted with the greatest care and caution and,having made a circuit of the city, he perceived that it wasimpregnable, save on the north and northwestern sides--that is, thepart defended by the third wall. He therefore, reluctantly, gaveorders that all the villas, mansions, gardens, and groves standingbetween that wall and the foot of Mount Scopus should be destroyedand, placing strong bodies of troops opposite the gates, to preventany sortie of the defenders, he set the whole of the three legionsencamped on that side to carry out the work of destruction.
A feeling of grief and dismay filled the city, at the sight of thedevastation that was being wrought; and there were very many amongthe multitude who would gladly have avoided further evils, bysubmitting to the Romans. But such an idea did not enter the headsof the military leaders, and Simon determined upon another sortie.
A number of the citizens were ordered to take their places upon thewalls, and to cry out to the Romans that they desired peace, and toimplore them to enter the town and take possession. In themeantime, a number of Simon's men issued out from the Women's Gatein confusion, as if expelled by the peace party. They appeared tobe in a state of extreme terror: sometimes advancing towards theRomans, as if to submit to them; at other times retreating towardsthe wall, as if afraid of putting themselves into the hands of theRomans--but, as they neared the walls, they were assailed by ashower of missiles from above.
Titus suspected that a trick was being played, and ordered thetroops to stand fast; but the battalion facing the gate, seeing itstand open, were unable to resist the impulse to rush in and takepossession. They therefore advanced, through the crowd of Jewsoutside, until close to the gate. Then Simon's men drew out theirconcealed weapons, and fell upon them in the rear; while a freshbody of armed men rushed out from the gate, and attacked them infront while, from the two flanking towers, a storm of javelins,arrows, and stones was poured upon them. The Romans foughtdesperately, but numbers of them were slain; and the rest took toflight, pursued by the Jews, and did not halt until they reachedthe tombs of Helen, half a mile from the walls; while the Jews,with shouts of triumph, re-entered the city.
John had taken no part in this sortie. He had lost more than fiftymen, in the fight on the Mount of Olives; and determined to holdthe rest in reserve, until they were needed in a moment of extremeperil. The manner in which the bands had held together, and hadsteadfastly resisted the Roman attacks, had greatly excited theadmiration of Simon.
"I see now," he said, on the evening of the sortie, when talkingthe matter over with John, "the secret of the successes you havegained over the Romans. Your men fight as steadily, and with asmuch discipline as they do; while they are far quicker in theirmovements. They unite the activity of my men with the steadiness ofthe Romans. I wish, now, that I had spent the last year in trainingand disciplining my men, to act with equal steadiness and order;but it is too late to try to do so, now. Each will do his best, andwill die fighting but, were I to attempt, now, to introduceregularity among them, they would lose the fierce rush with whichthey assault the Romans; without acquiring sufficient discipline toenable them to keep their order, as yours do, in the confusion ofthe battle."
"Mine are all picked men," John said. "I had eight thousand undermy orders, during the last two years of fighting; but I bade allleave me, when I advanced to Jerusalem, save those who were readyand prepared to die. Therefore, I can rely upon every man, as uponmyself.
"Unless I see some exceptional opportunity, I do not think I shalllead them out beyond the walls again. The time will come, as thesiege goes on, when you will need a body of men to hold a breach,or arrest the advance of a Roman column; men who will die, ratherthan give way a foot. When that time comes, my band shall fill thegap."
"I think you are right," Simon agreed. "Your men are too good to bewasted in desultory fighting. They shall be kept as a lastresource; and I know that, when the time comes, they can be reliedupon."
The clearing of the ground occupied four days; and Titus thendetermined to advance his camp nearer to the city, and fixed upon aspot which was the highest on the plateau--a quarter of a mile tothe northwest of the Rubble Tower. Before moving into it, theposition was strongly fortified and, so much impressed was Titus,by the sallies which the Jews had made, that he formed up his wholearmy along the north and northwest side of the city. Theheavy-armed troops, three deep, were the first line. Behind themcame a rank of archers, and behind these the cavalry, three deep.
Brave as were the Jews, they did not venture to sally out toendeavor to break through this living wall; which stood all day,immovable, while the baggage animals--aided by a great crowd ofartisans and camp followers--moved the war engines, reserves, andbaggage of the army from Mount Scopus down to the new camp. Herethe Twelfth and Fifteenth Legions, under Titus himself, took uptheir position. The Fifth Legion, under the command of Cerealis,formed their camp on a knoll, a quarter of a mile from the JaffaGate, and divided from it by the Valley of Hinnom which is, here,of no great depth. It lay about a third of a mile south of the campof Titus. The Tenth Legion remained on the Mount of Olives. Theircamp had now been very strongly fortified, and was in a position torepel any attack that might be made against it.
Now that his dispositions were complete, Titus determined to savethe city, if possible, from the horrors of siege. He therefore sentNicanor and Josephus, with a flag of truce, towards the walls tooffer them terms. No sooner had they come within bow shot than anarrow was discharged from the wall, and struck Nicanor upon theshoulder. The ambassador at once retired; and Titus, indignantalike at the insult to his messengers, and the violation of theflag of truce, immediately began to make preparations for thesiege.
Could the population of the city have been consulted, they wouldhave declared, by an immense majority of voices, for surrender; butSimon and John of Gischala, whose men held the walls, were absolutemasters of the city; and the inhabitants were to pay now, as theyhad paid in the past, for their cowardice in allowing themselves tobe tyrannized over by a body of men whom they outnumbered by ten toone.
Titus, after a careful examination of the walls, determined toattack at a spot between the Jaffa Gate and Psephinus. In formertimes, all assaults of the enemy had been directed against thenorth; and it was here, consequently, that the wall was strongest.At its foot, too, a wide and deep fosse had been cut in the solidrock: rendering it impossible for the assailants to advance
to theattack, until this was filled up. But, on the northwest, the wallshad not been made equally strong; nor had the fosse been continuedfrom Psephinus to the Jaffa Gate. It had no doubt been consideredthat the projecting angle of the wall at Psephinus, and thefortifications of the Palace of Herod, covered this portion of thewall--which was, moreover, to some extent protected by the Valleyof Hinnom But between the top of the slope of that valley, and thefoot of the walls, was a level space of ground sufficiently widefor the establishment of machines for breaching the wall.
Here, therefore, Titus determined to make his attack. On the 22ndof April, the troops began the work. Each legion was to erect abank, mount a battering ram, and construct a tower. A vast quantityof timber was required, and the desolation already effected betweenthe north wall and Scopus was now widely extended; the whole of thetrees, for a great distance round Jerusalem, being cut down andbrought to the spot. The towers were constructed about ninety feetin height, and with a wide face. They were put together beyond therange of the missiles of the defenders; and were to be advanced,upon wheels, up the bank until they neared the wall. As the threebanks approached the wall, hurdles covered with hides were erectedto protect the workers; and on each side javelin men and archerswere posted, together with the war engines for casting missiles.
Simon was not idle. He possessed the war engines taken when Antoniawas surrendered by the Romans, and those captured from the legionof Cestius; but his men had no experience in the working of thesemachines. They could only manipulate them slowly, and their aim wasbad. They were able, therefore, to interfere but little with thework of the Romans. The archers and slingers, however, did greaterdamage, and killed many while, at times, the gate would be thrownopen, and Simon would dash out at the head of his men, and do muchdamage before the Romans could drive him back within the walls.
The Tenth Legion did more injury to the defenders than did theothers, being provided with more powerful war machines. Theirballistae threw stones, weighing a hundred weight, a distance of aquarter of a mile. The Jewish watchmen on the walls kept a vigilantwatch upon these machines and, each time a stone was coming,shouted a warning; and the defenders threw themselves on theirfaces, until the stone passed over. Even at night, the whiteness ofthe newly-cut rock rendered the masses visible, as they flewthrough the air; and Titus then ordered the stones to be paintedblack, before they were discharged, and thus added to their effect,as their approach could be no longer seen.
Night and day, the Romans toiled at the work; night and day theJews, with missiles and sorties, hindered their approach; until thebanks had approached so close to the walls that the battering ramswould be within striking distance. Then the towers were brought upand the rams began to strike their mighty blows upon the wallwhile, from the top of the lofty towers, and from the storiesbelow, the archers and war machines poured a storm of missiles downupon the defenders of the walls.
As it was evident, now, that the danger lay solely in this quarter;and that the whole strength of the besieged was needed here; Simonsent to John of Gischala, to urge that the line of demarcationagreed upon by them between their respective troops should nolonger be observed. John would not trust himself in the power ofSimon, but gave leave to his soldiers to go down and aid in thedefense; and they, who had been chafing at their forced inactivity,while Simon's men were bearing the brunt of the fighting, went downto take their share in the struggle.
Regardless of the storm of missiles, the Jews maintained theirplace upon the walls, shooting blazing arrows and hurlingcombustibles down upon the Roman works; and executing such frequentand desperate sorties that Titus was obliged to keep the greaterpart of his force constantly under arms, and to gather round thetowers large bodies of archers and horsemen, to repel the attacks.At length, a corner tower fell before one of the battering rams;but the wall behind stood firm, and no breach was effected.Nevertheless, the Jews appeared dispirited at this proof of thepower of the battering rams, and fell back into the city.
The Roman legionaries, under the belief that the fighting was over,for the evening, were drawn back into their camps. Suddenly, from asmall gate hitherto unnoticed by the Romans--situated at the footof the tower of Hippicus--the Jews poured out, with flaming brandsin their hands, and dashed at the Roman banks; sweeping thedefenders of the works before them, swarming up the banks, andsurrounding the towers, to which they endeavored to set fire. Theywere, however, plated with iron outside, and the beams inside wereof so massive a description that the Jews were unable to set lightto them.
While some of the Jews were striving to do this, the rest fell withsuch fury upon the Roman troops--who hurried up to the protectionof their works--that they were driven back. A body of Alexandriantroops only, posted near the towers, maintained themselves againstthe attacks; until Titus with his cavalry charged down upon theJews who, although a match for the Roman infantry, were never,throughout the war, able to resist the charges of the bodies ofheavy horsemen. Titus is said to have killed twelve Jews with hisown hand and, fighting desperately to the end, the assailants weredriven back into the city. One prisoner only was taken; and himTitus, with the barbarity which afterwards distinguished hisproceedings during the siege, ordered to be crucified close to thewalls.
Among those killed on the Jewish side was John, the commander ofthe Idumeans, who formed part of Simon's force. He was shot by anArab, while he was parleying with a Roman soldier. He was a man ofgreat courage and excellent judgment, and his loss was a seriousone for the besieged.
At night all was still, and silent. Both parties were exhaustedwith their long and desperate struggle, and even the machinesceased to hurl their missiles. Suddenly a terrific crash was heard,and the very ground seemed to shake. Both parties sprang to arms:the Jews, fearing that the wall had fallen; the Romans, not knowingwhat had happened, but apprehensive of another of the sorties--whichthey had begun to hold in high respect.
Something like a panic seized them; until Titus, riding about amongthem, reassured them by his presence and words. They knew, indeed,that a repetition of the defeats they had suffered at the Jewishhands would not be forgiven. The battalion which had been defeated,at the sortie at the Women's Gate, had been sternly rebuked byTitus; who had ordered the military law to be carried into effect,and a certain number of the soldiers to be executed; and had onlypardoned them upon the intercession of the whole army on theirbehalf. Therefore, the legionaries now fell into their ranks, atthe order of Titus, and drew up in order of battle; while partieswere sent forward to ascertain what had happened.
It was found that a serious misfortune had befallen them. The Jews,in their attack, had been unable to set fire to the towers; butthey had worked so vigorously, in their attempt to destroy thebank, that they had weakened that portion of it upon which one ofthe towers stood. This had given way, beneath the tremendous weightresting upon it; and the great tower had fallen, with a crash, tothe ground.
In the morning the combat recommenced but, although the Jewsexposed their lives on the walls unflinchingly, they were unable towithstand the terrible shower of missiles poured upon them from theremaining towers, or to interrupt the steady swing of the huge ramswhich, day and night, beat against the walls. One of these,especially, did material damage; and the Jews themselves christenedit "Nico," or the Conqueror.
At length, wearied out by their efforts, disheartened by thefailure of their attempts to interfere with the work ofdestruction, and knowing that the inner lines were vastly strongerthan those without, the Jews abandoned the defense of the totteringwall, and retired behind their next line of defense The Romans soondiscovered that they were unopposed, and scaled the wall. As soonas they found that the whole space between it and the second wallwas abandoned, they set to work and threw down a large portion ofthe third wall, and took up their post inside. Titus establishedhimself at the spot known as the camp of the Assyrians, at the footof the Tower of Psephinus.
As soon as his arrangements were completed, he gave orders for theassault to be recommence
d. The date of the capture of the outerwall was on the 6th of May, fifteen days after the commencement ofthe siege. The capture of Bezetha, or the new town, enabled theRomans to make an attack directly on the Palace of Herod, on theone side, and Mount Moriah upon the other; without first assaultingthe second wall, which defended the inner lower town. But two orthree days' fighting convinced Titus that these positions could notbe successfully attacked, until the lower town was in his power.
The three great towers Phasaelus, Hippicus, andMariamne--desperately defended by Simon's soldiers--formed animpregnable obstacle on the one side; while Antonia, and the steepascent up to the Temple platform, was defended with equalstubbornness, and success, by the soldiers of John of Gischala.Titus therefore prepared for the assault of the second wall. Thepoint selected for the attack was the middle tower on the northernface, close to which were the wool mart, the clothes mart, and thebraziers' shops.
There were no natural obstacles to the approach, and the batteringram was soon placed in position, while a strong body of archersprevented the defenders showing themselves above the parapet. Thewall was of far less strength than that which the Romans had beforeencountered, and soon began to totter before the blows of thebattering ram. The Jews, indeed, were indifferent as to its fall;for they knew that the possession of the inner town was of slightimportance to them, and that its fall would not greatly facilitatethe attack upon what was the natural line of defense--namely, theheights of Zion and Moriah.
For a short time, the Roman advance was delayed by the proceedingsof Castor, the Jewish officer commanding the tower which they hadassaulted. He, with ten men, alone had remained there when the restof the defenders had retired; and he got up a sham battle among hismen--the Romans suspending operations, under the belief that aparty of the defenders were anxious to surrender. Castor himselfstood on the parapet, and offered Titus to surrender. Tituspromised him his life and, when an archer standing near sent anarrow which pierced Castor's nose, he sternly rebuked him.
He then asked Josephus, who was standing beside him, to go forwardand assure Castor and his companions that their lives should bespared. Josephus, however, knew the way of his countrymen too well,and declined to endanger his life. But, upon Castor offering tothrow down a bag of gold, a man ran forward to receive it, whenCastor hurled a great stone down at him; and Titus, seeing that hewas being fooled, ordered the battering ram to recommence its work.Just before the tower fell, Castor set fire to it; and leaped withhis companions--as the Romans supposed into the flames--but reallyinto a vault, whence they made their escape into the city.
As soon as the tower fell, Titus entered the breach, with hisbodyguard and a thousand heavy-armed troops. The inhabitants,almost entirely of the poorer class, surrendered willingly; andTitus gave orders that none, save those found with arms upon them,should be killed. The Romans dispersed through the narrow andwinding streets when, suddenly, Simon and his men poured down fromthe upper city; and John, at the head of his band, issued from hisquarters.
While some fell upon the Romans in the streets, others entered thehouses and rained missiles upon them from above; while anotherparty, issuing from the gate by Phasaelus, attacked the Romansbetween the second and third walls, and drove them into their camp.For a time, Titus and those in the lower town suffered terribly;but at last Titus posted archers, to command the lanes leadingtowards the breach, and managed--but with considerable loss--towithdraw his troops through it.
The Jews at once manned the wall, and formed in close order behindthe breach. Titus led his heavy-armed troops against it, but Johnand Simon defended it with the greatest valor and, for three daysand nights, beat back the continued attacks of the Roman soldiers;but at the end of that time they were utterly exhausted, while theRomans incessantly brought up fresh troops. Even Simon--who hadfought desperately at the head of his men, and had performedprodigies of valor--could no longer continue the struggle and,slowly and in good order, the defenders of the breach fell back tothe upper city, and the lower town remained in the possession ofthe Romans.
In order to avoid a recurrence of the disaster which had befallenthem, Titus ordered a considerable portion of the second wall to beleveled; so that the troops could, if necessary, pour in or outwithout difficulty. But Simon had no thought of repeating hissortie. A large number of his best men had already fallen, and hedetermined to reserve his force for the defense of the almostimpregnable position of the upper city.
Two hundred of John's band had fallen round the breach, he himselfhad received several wounds, and the fighting strength of his bandwas now but one-half of what it was at the commencement of thesiege. He had, before the Romans first entered the inner town, hadthe remainder of his store of grain removed to the building in theupper town which Simon had assigned to his band. It had as yet beenbut little trenched upon, as Simon had ordered that rations,similar to those issued to his own men, from the few granarieswhich had escaped destruction, should be given to John's band.
"What do you think, now, of the prospect?" Simon asked, as John andhe stood together on the Tower of Phasaelus, on the day after theRomans had taken possession of the lower town.
"I think, as I did at first," John said, "that nothing but amiracle can save the Temple."
"But the difficulties that the Romans have overcome," Simon said,"are as nothing to those still before them."
"That is quite true," John agreed, "and, had we but a good supplyof food, I believe that we might hold out for months; but the grainis already nearly exhausted, and cannot support even the fightingmen much longer, while the inhabitants are dying from hunger. Welland strong, we might resist every attack that the Romans can makebut, when we can no longer lift our swords, they must overcome us.Still, as long as I can fight I am ready to do so, in hopes thatGod may yet have mercy upon us, and deliver his Temple."