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But he did not leave the Idumaeans unguarded, and he interspersed the wall with more careful guards because of the deserters. And while many were being killed, more were the ones escaping. The Romans received them all, out of a surfeit of killing and in the hope of profit. For leaving the common people alone, they sold the others with their wives and children, each for a very small price, because of the multitude of those being sold and the scar2.72 city of buyers. And of those sold off, there was an immense number, but of the common people over forty thousand were saved. But a certain priest named Jesus, having received an oath for his safety so that he might hand over some of the treasures, comes out and hands over two lampstands and a table and bowls and cups, all of solid gold, and the curtains and the garments of the high priests and many of the other vessels. And indeed the treasurer of the temple, Phineës, having been captured, pointed out both the tunics and the girdles of the high priests and many of the other treasures. When the earthworks were now completed, the Romans brought their engines up to the wall. Of the rebels, some retreated to the citadel, others hid themselves in the underground passages, and many also defended themselves. When part of the wall was breached, fear fell also upon the tyrants, and they were ready for flight. And since they did not have their formerly loyal men, for they had been scattered, and the enemy were reported to be near, falling on their faces they lamented their own madness, and they came down willingly from the towers, from which they could never have been taken by force, but only by famine, and they flee down into the Siloam ravine, then they went down into the underground passages. The Romans, having taken the walls without bloodshed, killed those they caught and set fire to the houses. They stopped towards evening. On the next day, Titus, having come inside, marveled at the city's fortification and the towers, and said, 'We have fought with God, and it was God who brought the Jews down from these fortifications.' And while destroying the rest of the city and demolishing the walls, he left these towers to be a monument of his 2.73 fortune, with which as a fellow-soldier he conquered what could not be conquered. The number, then, of all the captives who were taken throughout the whole war was brought together to ninety-seven thousand, and of those who perished during the entire siege, one million one hundred thousand. The greater part of these were of the same race, but not native to the place; for having come together from the whole country for the feast of unleavened bread, they were suddenly shut in by the war, and the war surrounded a city full of men. When the Romans had killed some of the visible people, and taken others captive, they searched for those in the underground passages, and breaking up the ground, they killed as many as they came upon. And there were found there dead bodies beyond two thousand. A terrible stench from the bodies met those who stooped over, so that many immediately withdrew. But others entered out of greed, treading upon heaps of the dead; for they were finding many of the treasures in the trenches. And many prisoners held by the tyrants were also brought up and set free. Of these villains, John, starving in the underground passages with his brothers, begged to receive a pledge from the Romans, but Simon was captured afterwards, while Titus was staying at the city called Caesarea Philippi. For while Jerusalem was being besieged, being in the upper city, when the Romans got inside the city, Simon, taking the most faithful of his friends, and with them stonemasons and the iron suitable for this work, let himself down with them into one of the underground passages, and having gone through the old tunnel, he 2.74 undermined the earth, so that having advanced further they might make their emergence in safety. However, when the miners had advanced a little way, their food failed them. Then indeed he put on white tunics, and fastening on a purple cloak he came up out of the ground at that place where the temple had formerly been. At first, then, amazement to those who saw him

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̓Ιδουμαίους δὲ οὐκ ἀφυλάκτους ειχε, καὶ τὸ τεῖχος φρουραῖς ἐπιμελεστέραις διελάμβανε διὰ τοὺς αὐτομολοῦντας. πολλῶν δὲ φονευομένων, πλείους ησαν οἱ διαφεύγοντες. ἐδέχοντο δὲ οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι πάντας κόρῳ τοῦ κτείνειν καὶ κέρδους ἐλπίδι. τοὺς γὰρ δημοτικοὺς ἐῶντες μόνους τοὺς αλλους ἐπώλουν σὺν γυναιξὶ καὶ τέκνοις, ἐλαχίστης τιμῆς εκαστον, διὰ πλῆθος τῶν πωλουμένων καὶ ὀλι2.72 γότητα τῶν ὠνουμένων. καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀπεμποληθέντων απειρόν τι πλῆθος ην, οἱ δημοτικοὶ δὲ διεσώθησαν ὑπὲρ τετρακισμυρίους. τῶν ἱερέων δέ τις ονομα ̓Ιησοῦς, λαβὼν περὶ σωτηρίας ορκον ωστε τινὰ παραδοῦναι τῶν κειμηλίων, εξεισι καὶ παραδίδωσι λυχνίας δύο τράπεζάν τε καὶ κρατῆρας καὶ φιάλας, πάντα ὁλόχρυσα, καὶ τὰ καταπετάσματα καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων ἐνδύματα καὶ πολλὰ τῶν σκευῶν ετερα. ὁ δέ γε γαζοφύλαξ τοῦ ἱεροῦ Φινεὲς συλληφθεὶς τούς τε χιτῶνας καὶ τὰς ζώνας τῶν ἀρχιερέων ὑπέδειξε καὶ τῶν αλλων κειμηλίων πολλά. Συντετελεσμένων δὲ ηδη τῶν χωμάτων προσῆγον οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι τῷ τείχει τὰς μηχανάς. τῶν δὲ στασιαστῶν οἱ μὲν ἀνεχώρουν εἰς τὴν ακραν, οἱ δ' ἐγκατεδύοντο τοῖς ὑπονόμοις, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ἠμύνοντο. ὡς δὲ περιερράγη μέρος τοῦ τείχους, δέος καὶ τοῖς τυράννοις ἐμπίπτει, καὶ μετέωροι πρὸς φυγὴν ησαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τοὺς μὲν πάλαι πιστοὺς οὐκ ειχον, ἐσκεδάσθησαν γάρ, οἱ δὲ πολέμιοι πλησίον ειναι ἠγγέλλοντο, ἐπὶ στόμα πεσόντες ἀνῴμωξαν τὴν ἑαυτῶν φρενοβλάβειαν, κἀκ τῶν πύργων ἑκόντες κατέβησαν, ἀφ' ων βίᾳ μὲν οὐδέποτε ἁλῶναι ἠδύναντο, λιμῷ δὲ μόνῳ, καὶ εἰς τὴν Σιλωὰμ φάραγγα καταφεύγουσιν, ειτα κατέδυσαν εἰς τοὺς ὑπονόμους. ̔Ρωμαῖοι δὲ τῶν τειχῶν κρατήσαντες ἀναιμωτί, τοὺς καταλαμβανομένους ἐφόνευον καὶ τὰς οἰκίας ὑφῆπτον. ἐπαύσαντο δὲ πρὸς ἑσπέραν. τῇ δ' ἐπιούσῃ παρελθὼν ὁ Τίτος εισω, τῆς τε ὀχυρότητος τὴν πόλιν καὶ τῶν πύργων ἐθαύμασε, καὶ Σὺν θεῷ ἐπολεμήσαμεν, εφη, καὶ θεὸς ην ὁ τῶνδε τῶν ἐρυμάτων ̓Ιουδαίους καθελών. τὴν αλλην τε πόλιν ἀφανίζων καὶ τὰ τείχη κατασκάπτων τούτους τοὺς πύργους κατέλιπε μνημεῖον ειναι τῆς 2.73 αὐτοῦ τύχης, ῃ συστρατιώτιδι χρησάμενος ἐκράτησε τῶν ἁλῶναι μὴ δυναμένων. Τῶν μὲν ουν αἰχμαλώτων πάντων, οι δι' ολου τοῦ πολέμου ἐλήφθησαν, ὁ ἀριθμὸς εἰς ἐννέα μυριάδας καὶ ἑπτακισχιλίους συνήχθη, τῶν δὲ ἀπολλυμένων κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν πολιορκίαν μυριάδες ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα. τούτων τὸ πλέον ὁμόφυλον μέν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπιχώριον· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς χώρας ολης ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἀζύμων ἑορτὴν συνεληλυθότες ἐξαπίνης τῷ πολέμῳ περιεσχέθησαν, καὶ μεστὴν ὁ πόλεμος τὴν πόλιν ἀνδρῶν ἐκυκλώσατο. ̓Επεὶ δὲ τῶν φανερῶν ους μὲν ἀνεῖλον, ους δ' ᾐχμαλώτισαν ̔Ρωμαῖοι, τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ὑπονόμοις ἀνηρεύνων, καὶ ἀναρρηγνύντες τὸ εδαφος, οσοις ἐνετύγχανον, εκτεινον. εὑρέθησαν δὲ κἀκεῖ νεκροὶ δισχιλίων ἐπέκεινα. δεινὴ δὲ ὑπήντα τοῖς ἐπικύπτουσι τῶν σωμάτων ὀδμή, ὡς πολλοὺς εὐθέως ἀναχωρεῖν. αλλοι δ' ὑπὸ πλεονεξίας εἰσεδύοντο, σωρείαις ἐμπατοῦντες νεκρῶν· ευρισκον γὰρ πολλὰ τῶν κειμηλίων ἐν ταῖς διώρυξιν. ἀνήγοντο δὲ καὶ πολλοὶ ὑπὸ τῶν τυράννων κατεχόμενοι δεσμῶται καὶ ἀπελύοντο. Τούτων δὲ τῶν ἀλαστόρων ὁ μὲν ̓Ιωάννης ἐν τοῖς ὑπονόμοις μετὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν λιμώττων δεξιὰν παρὰ ̔Ρωμαίων λαβεῖν ἱκέτευε, Σίμων δὲ μετέπειτα συνελήφθη, τοῦ Τίτου διάγοντος εἰς τὴν Φιλίππου λεγομένην Καισάρειαν. πολιορκουμένων γὰρ ̔Ιεροσολύμων ἐπὶ τῆς ανω πόλεως ων, τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων ἐντὸς γενομένων τῆς πόλεως, ὁ Σίμων τοὺς πιστοτάτους παραλαβὼν τῶν φίλων, καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς λιθοτόμους καὶ τὸν πρὸς τὴν ἐργασίαν ἐπιτήδειον τούτοις σίδηρον, εις τινα τῶν ὑπονόμων σὺν ἐκείνοις καθίησιν ἑαυτόν, καὶ τὸ παλαιὸν ορυγμα διελθὼν τὴν 2.74 γῆν ὑπενόμευεν, ινα πορρωτέρω προελθόντες ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ ποιήσωνται τὴν ἀνάδυσιν. ὀλίγον μέντοι τῶν μεταλλευόντων προχωρησάντων ἡ τροφὴ αὐτοῖς ἐπιλέλοιπε. τότε δὴ λευκοὺς ἐνδύεται χιτωνίσκους, καὶ χλαμύδα πορφυρᾶν ἐμπερονησάμενος ἀνέδυ τῆς γῆς κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν τόπον ἐν ῳ πρόσθεν τὸ ἱερὸν ην. πρῶτον μὲν ουν θάμβος τοῖς ἰδοῦσι