Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History

At that same feast, a cow, when led by the high priest 3.8.4 to the sacrifice, gave birth to a lamb in the midst of the temple; and the eastern gate of the inner temple, which was of bronze and very solid, and was closed in the evening with difficulty by twenty men, and was secured with iron-bound bars, and had bolts sunk very deep, 3.8.5 was seen at the sixth hour of the night to have opened of its own accord. And not many days after the feast, on the twenty-first of the month Artemisios, a certain demonic phantom was seen, greater than belief. And what is about to be said would have seemed a prodigy, if it had not been recorded by those who saw it, and if the sufferings which followed had not been worthy of the signs. For before sunset, there were seen in the air over all the country chariots and armed phalanxes darting through the clouds and surrounding 3.8.6 the cities. And at the feast which is called Pentecost, the priests, having entered the temple at night, as was their custom for their ministrations, said they first perceived a motion and a noise, and after that a voice as of a multitude: We are departing from here. And what was more terrible than these, for a certain Jesus 3.8.7 by name, son of Ananias, a common man, a peasant, four years before the war, when the city was at its greatest peace and prosperity, having come to the feast, when it was the custom for all to make tabernacles to God, suddenly began to cry out in the temple: A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against bridegrooms and brides, a voice against all the people. This by day and 3.8.8 by night he went about all the narrow streets crying. But some of the leading citizens, being indignant at the evil omen, seize the man and afflict him with many stripes. But he, speaking neither in his own defense nor privately to those present, 3.8.9 continued crying out the same words as before. And the magistrates, thinking, as indeed it was, that the man's impulse was something more than human, bring him before the Roman procurator. There, though scourged to the bone, he neither entreated nor wept, but modulating his voice as mournfully as possible, he responded to each stripe: Woe, woe to Jerusalem. 3.8.10 And another thing still more paradoxical than this the same author relates, saying that a certain oracle was found in the sacred writings which declared that at that time one from their country would rule the world, which he himself understood to have been fulfilled in Vespasian; 3.8.11 but he did not rule over the whole world, but only over that which was under the Romans. But it might more justly be referred to Christ, to whom it was said by the Father: "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," of whom indeed at that very time "the sound" of the holy apostles "went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." 3.9.1 In addition to all these things, it is worthwhile not to be ignorant of Josephus himself, who contributed so much to the history at hand, from whence and from what sort of family he came. And he himself again makes this clear, saying thus: "Josephus, son of Matthias, a priest from Jerusalem, who himself at first fought against the Romans and was present at the later events by necessity." 3.9.2 And he was the most distinguished of the Jews of that time, not only among his own countrymen, but also among the Romans, so that he was honored with the erection of a statue in the city of the Romans, and the works which he had composed were deemed worthy of a place in the library. 3.9.3 This man has composed the whole Antiquities of the Jews in twenty books, and the history of the Roman war in his own time in seven, which he testifies for himself that he delivered not only in the Greek language but also in his native tongue, being worthy of belief in other matters. And two other 3.9.4 works of his are extant, worthy of study, namely, On the Antiquity of the Jews, in which he also includes refutations against Apion the grammarian, who at that time was writing against the Jews

αὐτὴν ἑορτὴν βοῦς μὲν ἀχθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως 3.8.4 πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν ἔτεκεν ἄρνα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ μέσῳ· ἡ δ' ἀνατολικὴ πύλη τοῦ ἐνδοτέρω χαλκῆ μὲν οὖσα καὶ στιβαρωτάτη, κλειομένη δὲ περὶ δείλην μόλις ὑπ' ἀνθρώπων εἴκοσι, καὶ μοχλοῖς μὲν ἐπερειδομένη σιδηροδέτοις, καταπῆγας δ' ἔχουσα βαθυτάτους, 3.8.5 ὤφθη κατὰ νυκτὸς ὥραν ἕκτην αὐτομάτως ἠνοιγμένη. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἡμέραις οὐ πολλαῖς ὕστερον, μιᾷ καὶ εἰκάδι Ἀρτεμισίου μηνός, φάσμα τι δαιμόνιον ὤφθη μεῖζον πίστεως, τέρας δ' ἂν ἔδοξεν εἶναι τὸ ῥηθησόμενον, εἰ μὴ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς θεασαμένοις ἱστόρητο καὶ τὰ ἐπακολουθήσαντα πάθη τῶν σημείων ἦν ἄξια· πρὸ γὰρ ἡλίου δύσεως ὤφθη μετέωρα περὶ πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν ἅρματα καὶ φάλαγγες ἔνοπλοι διᾴττουσαι τῶν νεφῶν καὶ κυκλού3.8.6 μεναι τὰς πόλεις. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἣ πεντηκοστὴ καλεῖται, νύκτωρ οἱ ἱερεῖς παρελθόντες εἰς τὸ ἱερόν, ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς ἔθος ἦν, πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας, πρῶτον μὲν κινήσεως ἔφασαν ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ κτύπου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φωνῆς ἀθρόας· μεταβαίνομεν ἐντεῦθεν. τὸ δὲ τούτων φοβερώτερον, Ἰησοῦς γάρ 3.8.7 τις ὄνομα, υἱὸς Ἀνανίου, τῶν ἰδιωτῶν, ἄγροικος, πρὸ τεσσάρων ἐτῶν τοῦ πολέμου, τὰ μάλιστα τῆς πόλεως εἰρηνευομένης καὶ εὐθηνούσης, ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἐπεὶ σκηνοποιεῖσθαι πάντας ἔθος ἦν τῷ θεῷ, κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐξαπίνης ἀναβοᾶν ἤρξατο· φωνὴ ἀπ' ἀνατολῆς, φωνὴ ἀπὸ δύσεως, φωνὴ ἀπὸ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων, φωνὴ ἐπὶ Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ τὸν ναόν, φωνὴ ἐπὶ νυμφίους καὶ νύμφας, φωνὴ ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν λαόν. τοῦτο μεθ' ἡμέραν καὶ 3.8.8 νύκτωρ κατὰ πάντας τοὺς στενωποὺς περιῄει κεκραγώς. τῶν δ' ἐπισήμων τινὲς δημοτῶν ἀγανακτήσαντες πρὸς τὸ κακόφημον, συλλαμβάνουσι τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ πολλαῖς αἰκίζονται πληγαῖς· ὃ δ' οὔθ' ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ φθεγξάμενος οὔτε ἰδίᾳ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας, 3.8.9 ἃς καὶ πρότερον φωνὰς βοῶν διετέλει. νομίσαντες δ' οἱ ἄρχοντες ὅπερ ἦν, δαιμονιώτερον εἶναι τὸ κίνημα τἀνδρός, ἀνάγουσιν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἔπαρχον· ἔνθα μάστιξιν μέχρις ὀστέων ξαινόμενος οὔθ' ἱκέτευσεν οὔτ' ἐδάκρυσεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐνῆν μάλιστα τὴν φωνὴν ὀλοφυρτικῶς παρεγκλίνων, πρὸς ἑκάστην ἀπεκρίνατο πληγήν· αἲ αἲ Ἱεροσολύμοις». 3.8.10 ἕτερον δ' ἔτι τούτου παραδοξότερον ὁ αὐτὸς ἱστορεῖ, χρησμόν τινα φάσκων ἐν ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν εὑρῆσθαι περιέχοντα ὡς κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας τις αὐτῶν ἄρξει τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὃν αὐτὸς μὲν ἐπὶ Οὐεσπασιανὸν πεπληρῶσθαι ἐξείληφεν· 3.8.11 ἀλλ' οὐχ ἁπάσης γε οὗτος ἢ μόνης ᾖρξεν τῆς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους. δικαιότερον δ' ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ἀναχθείη, πρὸς ὃν εἴρητο. ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς· «αἴτησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς,» οὗ δὴ κατ' αὐτὸ δὴ ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ· «εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος» τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων «καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν». 3.9.1 Ἐπὶ τούτοις ἅπασιν ἄξιον μηδ' αὐτὸν τὸν Ἰώσηπον, τοσαῦτα τῇ μετὰ χεῖρας συμβεβλημένον ἱστορίᾳ, ὁπόθεν τε καὶ ἀφ' οἵου γένους ὡρμᾶτο, ἀγνοεῖν. δηλοῖ δὲ πάλιν αὐτὸς καὶ τοῦτο, λέγων ὧδε· «Ἰώσηπος Ματθίου παῖς, ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων ἱερεύς, αὐτός τε Ῥωμαίους πολεμήσας τὰ πρῶτα καὶ τοῖς ὕστερον παρατυχὼν ἐξ ἀνάγκης». 3.9.2 μάλιστα δὲ τῶν κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ Ἰουδαίων οὐ παρὰ μόνοις τοῖς ὁμοεθνέσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις γέγονεν ἀνὴρ ἐπιδοξότατος, ὡς αὐτὸν μὲν ἀναθέσει ἀνδριάντος ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων τιμηθῆναι πόλεως, τοὺς δὲ σπουδασθέντας αὐτῷ λόγους βιβλιο3.9.3 θήκης ἀξιωθῆναι. οὗτος δὴ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν ἀρχαιολογίαν ἐν ὅλοις εἴκοσι κατατέθειται συγγράμμασιν, τὴν δ' ἱστορίαν τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν Ῥωμαϊκοῦ πολέμου ἐν ἑπτά, ἃ καὶ οὐ μόνον τῇ Ἑλλήνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ πατρίῳ φωνῇ παραδοῦναι αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ μαρτυρεῖ, ἄξιός γε ὢν διὰ τὰ λοιπὰ πιστεύεσθαι· καὶ ἕτερα 3.9.4 δ' αὐτοῦ φέρεται σπουδῆς ἄξια δύο, τὰ Περὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίων ἀρχαιότητος, ἐν οἷς καὶ ἀντιρρήσεις πρὸς Ἀπίωνα τὸν γραμματικόν, κατὰ Ἰουδαίων τηνικάδε