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has happened from the beginning of the world until now, nor will ever happen. To go through all their sufferings, therefore, is not for the present time, but it is necessary to speak of a few things out of many. And I will speak not my own word, but that of a Jewish man who has accurately recorded their history. What then does this man say? After he narrated the burning of the temple, and reported those unheard-of calamities. 5. The events concerning the temple, he says, were thus; but of those perishing by famine throughout the city, an infinite number fell, and their sufferings were indescribable. For in every house, if but a shadow of food appeared anywhere, there was war, and the dearest friends came to blows with one another, snatching away the miserable provisions for life. There was no trust that they were without provisions even for the dying, but the 47.326 robbers would search even those breathing their last, lest anyone hiding food under his cloak should be feigning his own death. Those gaping from want, like rabid dogs, staggered and reeled about, dashing against the doors like drunkards, and out of helplessness they would burst into the same houses two or three times in one hour. Necessity brought everything to their teeth, and collecting things not even fit for the filthiest of irrational animals, they endured to eat them; at last they did not even abstain from their belts and shoes, and they tore off and chewed the hides of their shields. For some, scraps of old hay were food; for some, gathering the fibers, would sell a very small weight for four Attic drachmas. And why must one speak of the famine's shamelessness in regard to inanimate things? For I am about to relate a deed of it, such as has been recorded neither among Greeks nor barbarians, dreadful to tell, and incredible to hear. And I, lest I should seem to be telling a monstrous tale to future generations, would have gladly omitted the calamity, had I not numberless witnesses from among my own contemporaries; and besides, I would be offering a poor favor to my country by toning down the accounts of the deeds it has suffered. A certain woman of those dwelling beyond the Jordan, Mary by name, daughter of Eleazar, of the village of Bethezob—which means house of hyssop—distinguished for her family and wealth, having fled with the rest of the multitude to Jerusalem, was besieged with them. The tyrants plundered the rest of her property, all that she had gathered up from Perea and brought into the city; and the remnants of her valuables, and whatever food could be devised, the guards, bursting in daily, would seize. A terrible indignation entered the woman, and by often reviling and cursing the robbers, she provoked them against herself. But when no one, either out of anger or pity, would kill her, and she grew weary of finding any food for others, and it was now impossible to find any from anywhere, and the famine was piercing her bowels and marrow, and her passions were inflamed more than the famine, taking rage along with necessity as her counselor, she turned against nature, and seizing her child—for she had a suckling infant—"Wretched child," she said, "in war and famine and sedition, for what shall I keep you? With the Romans, there is slavery, even if we should live under them; but the famine comes before slavery, and the seditionists are more cruel than both. Come, be food for me, and a Fury for the seditionists, and a story for the world, the only thing still lacking in the calamities of the Jews." And as she said these things, she killed her son, then roasted him, ate half, and covering the rest, she kept it. Immediately the seditionists were there, and smelling the unholy savor, they threatened to cut her throat at once if she did not show what she had prepared. But she, saying that she had kept a fine portion for them, uncovered the remains of her child. Horror and ecstasy of mind immediately seized them, 47.327 and they were frozen at the sight. But she said, "This is my own child, and my own work; eat, for I have eaten too. Do not be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother. But if you are pious, and turn away from my sacrifice, I have eaten half, and let the rest remain for me." After this they went out trembling, cowards in this one thing, and they yielded this food to the mother alone. And immediately the whole

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γέγονεν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς κόσμου ἕως τοῦ νῦν, οὐδὲ μὴ γένηται. Πάντα μὲν οὖν αὐτῶν τὰ πάθη διελθεῖν οὐ τοῦ παρόντος καιροῦ, ὀλίγα δὲ ἐκ πολλῶν ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν. Ἐρῶ δὲ οὐκ ἐμὸν λόγον, ἀλλ' ἀνδρὸς Ἰουδαίου τοῦ τὰ ἐκείνων ἱστορηκότος ἀκριβῶς. Τί ποτε οὖν οὗτος φησίν; Ἐπειδὴ τὸν ἐμπρησμὸν διηγήσατο τοῦ ἱεροῦ, καὶ τὰς καινὰς ἐκείνας ἀπήγγειλε συμφοράς. εʹ. Τὰ μὲν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν, φησὶν, ἐν τούτοις ἦν· τῶν δ' ὑπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ φθειρομένων κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἄπειρον μὲν ἔπιπτε τὸ πλῆθος, ἀδιήγητα δὲ συνέβαινε τὰ πάθη. Καθ' ἑκάστην γὰρ οἰκίαν, εἴ που τροφῆς παραφανείη σκιὰ, πόλεμος ἦν, καὶ διὰ χειρῶν ἐχώρουν οἱ φίλτατοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἐξαρπάζοντες τὰ ταλαίπωρα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐφόδια. Πίστις δ' ἀπορίας οὐδὲ τοῖς θνήσκουσιν ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐκπνέοντας οἱ 47.326 λῃσταὶ διηρεύνων, μή τις ὑπὸ τὸν κόλπον ἔχων τροφὴν, σκήπτοιτο τὸν θάνατον ἑαυτῷ. Οἱ δὲ ὑπ' ἐνδείας κεχηνότες ὥσπερ λυσσῶντες κύνες ἐσφάλλοντο καὶ παρεφέροντο, ταῖς τε θύραις ἐνσειόμενοι μεθυόντων τρόπον, ὑπὸ ἀμηχανίας δὲ εἰς τοὺς αὐτοὺς οἴκους εἰσεπήδων δὶς ἢ τρὶς ὥρᾳ μιᾷ. Πάντα δὲ ὑπ' ὀδόντας ἦγεν ἡ ἀνάγκη, καὶ τὰ μηδὲ τοῖς ῥυπαρωτάτοις τῶν ἀλόγων ζώων πρόσφορα συλλέγοντες, ἐσθίειν ὑπέφερον· ζωστήρων γοῦν καὶ ὑποδημάτων τὸ τελευταῖον οὐκ ἀπέσχοντο, καὶ τὰ δέρματα τῶν θυρεῶν ἀποδέροντες ἐμασσῶντο. Τροφὴ δὲ ἦν καὶ χόρτου τισὶ παλαιοῦ σπαράγματα· τὰς γὰρ ἶνας ἔνιοι συλλέγοντες, ἐλάχιστον σταθμὸν ἐπώλουν ἀττικῶν τεσσάρων. Καὶ τί δεῖ τὴν ἐπ' ἀψύχοις ἀναίδειαν τοῦ λιμοῦ λέγειν; Εἶμι γὰρ αὐτοῦ δηλώσων ἔργον, οἷον μήτε παρ' Ἕλλησι, μήτε παρὰ βαρβάροις ἱστόρηται, φρικτὸν μὲν εἰπεῖν, ἄπιστον δ' ἀκοῦσαι. Καὶ ἔγωγε, μὴ δόξαιμι τερατεύεσθαι τοῖς αὖθις ἀνθρώποις, κἂν παρέλιπον τὴν συμφορὰν ἡδέως, εἰ μὴ τῶν κατ' ἐμαυτὸν εἶχον ἀπείρους μάρτυρας· ἄλλως τε καὶ ψυχρὰν ἂν καταθείμην τῇ πατρίδι χάριν καθυφέμενος τῶν λόγων ὧν πέπονθε τὰ ἔργα. Γυνή τις τῶν ὑπὲρ τὸν Ἰορδάνην κατοικούντων, Μαρία τοὔνομα, πατρὸς Ἐλεαζάρου, κώμης Βηθεζὼ, σημαίνει δὲ τοῦτο οἶκος ὑσσώπου, διὰ γένος καὶ πλοῦτον ἐπίσημος, μετὰ τοῦ λοιποῦ πλήθους εἰς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα καταφυγοῦσα συνεπολιορκεῖτο. Ταύτης τὴν μὲν ἄλλην κτῆσιν οἱ τύραννοι διήρπασαν, ὅσην ἐκ τῆς Περαίας ἀνασκευασαμένη μετήνεγκεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν· τὰ δὲ λείψανα τῶν κειμηλίων, κἂν εἴ τι τροφῆς ἐπινοηθείη, καθ' ἡμέρας εἰσπηδῶντες ἥρπαζον οἱ δορυφόροι. ∆εινὴ δὲ τὸ γύναιον ἀγανάκτησις εἰσῄει, καὶ πολλάκις λοιδοροῦσα καὶ καταρωμένη τοὺς ἅρπαγας ἐφ' ἑαυτὴν ἠρέθιζεν. Ὡς δ' οὔτε παροξυνόμενός τις, οὔτ' ἐλεῶν αὐτὴν ἀνῄρει, καὶ τὸ μὲν εὑρεῖν τι σιτίου ἄλλως ἐκοπία, πανταχόθεν δ' ἄπορον ἦν ἤδη καὶ τὸ εὑρεῖν, ὁ λιμὸς δὲ διὰ σπλάγχνων καὶ μυελῶν ἐχώρει, καὶ τοῦ λιμοῦ μᾶλλον ἐξέκαιον οἱ θυμοὶ, σύμβουλον λαβοῦσα τὴν ὀργὴν μετὰ τῆς ἀνάγκης, ἐπὶ τὴν φύσιν ἐχώρει, καὶ τὸ τέκνον ἦν δ' αὐτῇ παῖς ὑπομάζιος ἁρπασαμένη, Βρέφος, εἶπεν, ἄθλιον, ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ λιμῷ καὶ στάσει, τίνι σε τηρήσω; τὰ μὲν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις δουλεία, κἂν ζήσωμεν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς· φθάνει δὲ καὶ δουλείαν ὁ λιμὸς, οἱ στασιασταὶ δ' ἀμφοτέρων χαλεπώτεροι· ἴθι, γενοῦ μοι τροφὴ, καὶ τοῖς στασιασταῖς ἐριννὺς, καὶ τῷ βίῳ μῦθος, ὁ μόνος ἐλλείπων ταῖς Ἰουδαίων συμφοραῖς. Καὶ ταῦθ' ἅμα λέγουσα κτείνει τὸν υἱὸν, ἔπειτ' ὀπτήσασα, τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ κατεσθίει, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν κατακαλύψασα ἐφύλαττεν. Εὐθέως δ' οἱ στασιασταὶ παρῆσαν, καὶ τῆς ἀθεμίτου κνίσσης σπάσαντες, ἠπείλουν, εἰ μὴ δείξειε τὸ παρασκευασθὲν, ἀποσφάξειν αὐτὴν εὐθέως. Ἡ δὲ καὶ μοῖραν αὐτοῖς εἰποῦσα καλὴν τετηρηκέναι, τὰ λείψανα τοῦ τέκνου διεκάλυψε. Τοὺς δ' εὐθέως φρίκη τε καὶ φρενῶν ἔκστασις ᾕρει, 47.327 καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν ἐπεπήγεσαν. Ἡ δὲ, Ἐμὸν, ἔφη, τοῦτο τὸ τέκνον γνήσιον, καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἐμόν· φάγετε, καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ βέβρωκα· μὴ γένησθε μήτε μαλακώτεροι γυναικὸς, μήτε συμπαθέστεροι μητρός. Εἰ δ' ὑμεῖς εὐσεβεῖς, καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀποστρέφεσθε θυσίαν, ἐγὼ μὲν ἥμισυ βέβρωκα, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν δ' ἐμοὶ μεινάτω. Μετὰ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν τρέμοντες ἐξῄεσαν πρὸς ἓν τοῦτο δειλοὶ, καὶ μόνης ταύτης τῆς τροφῆς τῇ μητρὶ παραχωρήσαντες. Ἀνεπλήσθη δ' εὐθέως ὅλη