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delaying, provoked the Romans to make the blows of the ram more powerful. Therefore the second wall was also captured on the fifth day after the first. But Titus, having entered within, forbade the killing of those who were captured, and commanded the soldiers not even to set fire to the houses, nor did he wish for a large part of the wall to be demolished; for he considered it of greater importance to preserve the city for himself, and the temple for the city. The rebels therefore attacked the Romans who had come into the city, and some assailed them from the narrow streets, others from the houses, and others from the wall. And the Roman guards of this, leaping down from the towers 2.57 were retreating to the camp. But the Jews, through their experience of the narrow streets, both wounded many and falling upon them, pushed them back. The Romans, therefore, having taken the second wall also, were again driven out, and the spirits of the rebels were lifted. And now the famine, creeping through the city, destroyed many of the good men through lack of provisions. But this was agreeable to the rebels, who thought that only those who did not want peace should be saved, and who considered the destruction of the others a relief to themselves. But the Romans again attempted to seize the second wall, but they prevented them; and for three days they held out, but on the fourth, not being able to withstand the assault, they withdrew to the inner part. And Titus, again having taken the wall, immediately demolished the northern part of it; and having placed a garrison in the remainder, he prepared to attack the third. and having divided the legions in two, he began to raise earthworks. Of those within, the rebels were unyielding and inflexible, but the people were moved to desert, and many were deserting secretly. But those whom the rebels found wishing to do this, or of whom they had even the mere shadow of a suspicion, they immediately slaughtered; and upon the wealthy, attaching even a false accusation of desertion, they immediately destroyed them and plundered their property. But the raging famine increased the cruelty of the rebels. For because of the lack of food, bursting into the houses, they searched them, and if they found any on those inhabitants who denied having it, they tortured them, but if they did not find any, they interrogated them more carefully as having hidden it. However, they took the bodies of the wretched people as proof of whether they had food or not. For those who still 2.58 had some strength were thought to have it, but those whose bodies were wasted away were passed by. But if anyone procured wheat or barley, having shut up his house, he would eat; but some, by the force of the famine, also ate the grain unprepared. and mothers would snatch the food from the very mouths of infants, children from fathers, wives from husbands. And eating thus, they nonetheless did not escape the notice of the rebels. And wherever they saw a closed house or smoke rising up, they took these as a sign that those within were eating, and breaking down the doors they brought up the food from their very throats; nor was there any pity for either old age or youth. And upon those who had already eaten what was being eaten, they inflicted terrible and cruel punishments, as if they were doing wrong, stuffing up the passages of their private parts with vetch, and cruelly piercing their seats with sharp rods. And a person would suffer things dreadful even to hear for the confession of one loaf of bread, or to make him surrender a single handful of barley-meal to the bandits. Therefore to go through each of the things that then happened is difficult and even impossible, but to speak concisely, neither has any other city suffered such things, nor has any other race from the beginning of time been more fruitful of wickedness. The Jews, therefore, were suffering such things, but for Titus the earthworks were progressing, although his soldiers were being harassed from the wall. But those who went out to collect food were ambushed, and these were not only common people, but also some of the fighting men no longer content with their plunder, and being captured by the Romans, after every kind of torture, they were crucified before the wall. To Titus, 2.59 however, the suffering seemed pitiful, with five hundred or even more being captured each day. And he judged it not safe either to guard them or to let them go, and at the same time to yield to the sight

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παρέλκων, παρώξυνε τοὺς ̔Ρωμαίους τὰς ἐμβολὰς τοῦ κριοῦ ποιεῖσθαι δυνατωτέρας. ἑάλω τοίνυν καὶ τὸ δεύτερον τεῖχος ἡμέρᾳ πέμπτῃ μετὰ τὸ πρῶτον. παρελθὼν δ' ἐντὸς ὁ Τίτος κτείνειν τε τοὺς καταλαμβανομένους ἐκώλυσε, καὶ μηδὲ τὰς οἰκίας ὑποπιμπρᾶν τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐκέλευσεν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦ τείχους πολὺ μέρος καθαιρεθῆναι ἠθέλησε· περὶ πλείονος γὰρ ἐποιεῖτο τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἑαυτῷ περισῶσαι, τῇ πόλει δὲ τὸν ναόν. ἐπιτίθενται τοίνυν οἱ στασιασταὶ τοῖς ἐπελθοῦσιν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ̔Ρωμαίοις, καὶ οἱ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς στενωπούς, οἱ δ' ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν, οἱ δ' ἐκ τοῦ τείχους αὐτοὺς εβαλλον. καὶ οἱ τούτου φρουροὶ ̔Ρωμαῖοι καθαλλόμενοι τῶν πύργων 2.57 ἀνεχώρουν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον. ̓Ιουδαῖοι δὲ κατ' ἐμπειρίαν τῶν στενωπῶν ἐτίτρωσκόν τε πολλοὺς καὶ προσπίπτοντες ἐξώθουν. ̔Ρωμαῖοι μὲν ουν κρατήσαντες καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου τείχους, αυθις ἐξώσθησαν, ἐπῆρτο δὲ τοῖς στασιασταῖς τὰ φρονήματα. ηδη δὲ καὶ ὁ λιμὸς ὑφέρπων τὴν πόλιν πολλοὺς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐνδείᾳ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων διέφθειρε. τοῦτο δὲ τοῖς στασιασταῖς καταθύμιον ην, μόνους ἀξιοῦσι σώζεσθαι τοὺς τὴν εἰρήνην μὴ θέλοντας, τὴν δὲ τῶν αλλων φθορὰν οἰομένοις κουφισμὸν ἑαυτῶν. ̔Ρωμαῖοι δὲ αυθις ἀπεπειρῶντο κατασχεῖν τὸ τεῖχος τὸ δεύτερον, οἱ δὲ διεκώλυον· καὶ ἐπὶ τρισὶ μὲν ἡμέραις ἀντέσχον, τῇ δὲ τετάρτῃ μὴ ἐνεγκόντες τὴν προσβολὴν εἰς τὸ ἐνδότερον μετεχώρησαν. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ Τίτος τοῦ τείχους κρατήσας αὐτίκα τούτου καθῄρησε τὸ προσάρκτιον· τῷ λοιπῷ δ' ἐγκαταστήσας φρουράν, τῷ τρίτῳ προσβαλεῖν ἡτοιμάζετο. καὶ διχῇ τὰ τάγματα διελὼν ἐγείρειν ηρχετο χώματα. τῶν δ' ἐντὸς οἱ μὲν στασιασταὶ ησαν ατεγκτοι καὶ ἀνένδοτοι, ὁ δὲ δῆμος πρὸς αὐτομολίαν κεκίνητο, καὶ πολλοὶ λανθάνοντες ηὐτομόλουν. ους δὲ τοῦτο βουλομένους οἱ στασιάζοντες ευρισκον, η καὶ μόνην εσχον ὑπονοίας σκιάν, εὐθέως ἀπέσφαττον· τοῖς δ' εὐπόροις καὶ ψευδῆ τὴν τῆς αὐτομολίας κατηγορίαν προσάπτοντες τοὺς μὲν αὐτίκα διέφθειρον, τὰς δὲ ἐκείνων οὐσίας διήρπαζον. ὁ λιμὸς δ' ἀκμάζων τὴν τῶν στασιαστῶν ὠμότητα ηυξανε. δι' ενδειαν γὰρ τῶν τροφῶν εἰσπηδῶντες τὰς οἰκίας ἠρεύνων, καὶ τοὺς οἰκοῦντας ἀρνουμένους εχειν, εἰ μὲν ευρισκον, ῃκιζον, εἰ δὲ οὐχ ευρισκον, ὡς κρύψαντας ἐπιμελέστερον ηταζον. ἐποιοῦντο μέντοι τοῦ εχειν τροφὰς η μὴ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀθλίων τεκμήριον. οις μὲν γὰρ 2.58 ετι μετῆν ἰσχύος, εχειν ἐδόκουν, οις δ' ἐξετάκη τὰ σώματα, παρωδεύοντο. εἰ δέ τις εὐπόρησε πυρῶν η κριθῆς, κατακλείσας τὴν οἰκίαν ησθιε· τινὲς δ' ὑπὸ βίας τῆς τοῦ λιμοῦ καὶ ἀνέργαστον τὸν σῖτον προσίεντο· καὶ ἀφήρπαζον ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ στόματος τὰς τροφὰς μητέρες βρεφῶν, παῖδες πατέρων, γυναῖκες ἀνδρῶν. καὶ ουτω δ' ἐσθίοντες, ομως τοὺς στασιαστὰς οὐκ ἐλάνθανον. οπου δὲ κεκλεισμένην οἰκίαν κατίδοιεν η καπνὸν ἀποθρώσκοντα, σημεῖον ταῦτ' ἐποιοῦντο τοῦ τοὺς ἐντὸς ἐσθίειν, καὶ ῥήσσοντες τὰς θύρας ἐκ τῶν φαρύγων αὐτῶν ἀνέφερον τὰς τροφάς· οὐδέ τις ην οικτος η πολιᾶς η νεότητος. τοῖς δὲ φθάσασι προβεβρωκέναι τὸ ἐσθιόμενον δεινὰς ἐπῆγον ὡς ἀδικοῦσι καὶ ἀπηνεῖς τιμωρίας, ὀρόβοις τοὺς αἰδοίων πόρους ἐμφράττοντες καὶ τὰς εδρας ῥάβδοις ὀξείαις ὠμῶς ἀναπείροντες. τὰ φρικτὰ δὲ καὶ ἀκοαῖς επασχέ τις εἰς ἑνὸς αρτου ἐξομολόγησιν, η ινα δράκα μίαν ἀλφίτων τοῖς λῃσταῖς καταπρόηται. καθ' εκαστον μὲν ουν ἐπεξιέναι τὰ τότε γενόμενα δυσχερὲς η καὶ ἀδύνατον, συνελόντα δ' εἰπεῖν, μήτε πόλιν αλλην τοιαῦτα παθεῖν μήτε γένος ετερον ἐξ αἰῶνος γενέσθαι κακίας γονιμώτερον. Τοιαῦτα μὲν ουν επασχον ̓Ιουδαῖοι, Τίτῳ δὲ τὰ χώματα προύκοπτε, καίτοι κακουμένων ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους τῶν στρατιωτῶν. οἱ δὲ πρὸς συλλογὴν ἐξιόντες τροφῆς ἐνηδρεύοντο, ησαν δὲ οὐ δημόται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν μαχίμων τινὲς οὐκέτι ταῖς ἁρπαγαῖς ἀρκούμενοι, καὶ συλλαμβανόμενοι ὑπὸ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων μετὰ πᾶσαν βάσανον πρὸ τοῦ τείχους ἀνεσταυροῦντο. Τίτῳ 2.59 μέντοι οἰκτρὸν τὸ πάθος ἐδόκει, πεντακοσίων ἑκάστης ἡμέρας η καὶ πλειόνων ἁλισκομένων. ουτε δὲ φυλάττειν αὐτοὺς ουτ' ἀφιέναι εκρινεν ἀσφαλές, καὶ αμα πρὸς τὴν οψιν ἐνδοῦναι