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For, bursting into the houses in want of food, they searched, and if they found it on the inhabitants who denied having any, they tortured them; but if they did not find it, they examined them more carefully on the grounds that they had hidden it. However, they made the bodies of the wretched people the proof of whether or not they had food. For those who 2.58 still had some strength were thought to have it, but those whose bodies were wasted away were passed by. But if anyone had a supply of wheat or barley, he would shut up his house and eat; but some, under the compulsion of the famine, even took their grain uncooked; and mothers would snatch food from the very mouths of their infants, children from their fathers, wives from their husbands. And eating in this way, they nevertheless 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 would drag the food from their very throats; nor was there any pity for either old age or youth. And upon those who had already eaten the food, they inflicted terrible and cruel punishments as if they were doing wrong, blocking the passages of their private parts with vetches and cruelly piercing their seats with sharp sticks. And one would suffer things dreadful even to hear, to confess to having a single loaf of bread, or to surrender a single handful of barley-meal to the robbers. To go through in detail, then, the things that happened then is difficult and indeed impossible; but, to speak concisely, may no other city suffer such things, nor may any other race since time began be more fruitful of evil. Such things, then, the Jews were suffering, but for Titus the earthworks were advancing, although his soldiers were being hard-pressed from the wall. And those going out to gather food were ambushed; and they were not only common people but also some of the fighting men no longer content with their plundering, and being captured by the Romans, after every 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 safe neither to guard them nor to let them go, and at the same time he hoped that at the sight the rest would give in. But the rebels, dragging the relatives of the deserters to the wall, and those of the common people who were eager for information, showed them what those who fled to the Romans suffer, lying about both their enemies and their own people. And now that the earthworks were completed, the siege engines were brought up. But the Jews, having dug a mine from within opposite the Antonia as far as the earthworks, and having supported the mines with timbers, had made the earthworks suspended. Then, having filled the mine with wood, they threw fire on the wood, and when the supporting timbers were burned, the tunnel suddenly gave way and the earthworks collapsed; and for the Romans there was astonishment and despondency at the ingenuity. And in the other places, the Romans, bringing up the siege engines, were shaking the wall. But some, making a reckless charge, threw fire on them and burned them all down. And with the earthworks destroyed, the Romans were disheartened, but Titus was taking counsel with his commanders. And some ordered to raise others again, but others to lay siege without earthworks and to guard their exits and the entrances for provisions, and they said that in this way the city would be captured by famine, while to others it seemed best to bring up the whole force and make an attempt on the wall; for the Jews would not withstand the assault. But to Titus, none of these plans was pleasing, and it seemed best to him to encircle the city with a wall, in order to block every way out for those within. And 2.60 he divided the work among the army. And a certain rivalry for the work and a divine impulse fell upon them, and quickly the work was completed. And having enclosed the city with the wall, he himself went around and inspected the first watch of the night, and entrusted the remaining watches to others; and the guards cast lots for their sleep. And for the Jews, with their exits cut off, every hope of salvation was shut off, and the famine fed on the people, house by house and family by family, and the roofs were filled with fainting women and infants, and the narrow streets with the dead bodies of old men; and boys and young men, swollen like phantoms, throughout

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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 τοὺς λοιποὺς ηλπιζεν. οἱ στασιασταὶ δὲ τοὺς τῶν αὐτομόλων οἰκείους ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος ελκοντες, καὶ τῶν δημοτῶν τοὺς ἐπὶ πύστιν ὡρμημένους, οια πάσχουσιν οἱ ̔Ρωμαίοις προσφεύγοντες ἐπεδείκνυον, καταψευδόμενοι καὶ τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τῶν οἰκείων. Ηδη δὲ τῶν χωμάτων συντελεσθέντων αἱ ἑλεπόλεις προσήγοντο. ὑπορύξαντες δ' ενδοθεν ̓Ιουδαῖοι τὸ κατὰ τὴν ̓Αντωνίαν μέχρι τῶν χωμάτων διάστημα, καὶ τοὺς ὑπονόμους ξύλοις ὑποστηρίξαντες, μετέωρα τὰ χώματα πεποιήκασιν. ειτα υλης τὸ ορυγμα πλήσαντες, πῦρ τῇ υλῃ ἐνέβαλον, καὶ τῶν ὑποστηριζόντων ξύλων καυθέντων ἡ διῶρυξ ἀθρόον ἐνέδωκε καὶ κατεσείσθη τὰ χώματα· καὶ τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις εκπληξις καὶ ἀθυμία πρὸς τὴν ἐπίνοιαν γίνεται. κατὰ δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τὰς ἑλεπόλεις οἱ ̔Ρωμαῖοι προσάγοντες διέσειον τὸ τεῖχος. ἀλλά τινες παραβόλως ὁρμήσαντες πῦρ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐνῆκαν καὶ πάντα κατέπρησαν. διεφθαρμένων δὲ τῶν χωμάτων ̔Ρωμαῖοι μὲν ἠθύμουν, Τίτος δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἐβουλεύετο. καὶ οἱ μὲν αυθις ετερα ἐγείρειν ἐκέλευον, οἱ δὲ χωμάτων ανευ προσκαθέζεσθαι καὶ φυλάττειν τὰς ἐξόδους αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς τῶν ἐπιτηδείων εἰσαγωγάς, καὶ ουτως ελεγον λιμῷ τὴν πόλιν εσεσθαι ἁλωτήν, τοῖς δὲ πᾶσαν ἐδόκει προσάγειν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ ἀποπειρᾶσθαι τοῦ τείχους· μηδὲ γὰρ οισειν ̓Ιουδαίους τὴν εφοδον. τῷ γε μὴν Τίτῳ τούτων οὐδὲν ηρεσκεν, ἐδόκει δὲ περιβόλῳ τὴν πόλιν κυκλῶσαι, ιν' ουτω πᾶσαν ἐμφράξῃ τοῖς ενδον διέξοδον. καὶ τὸ 2.60 εργον τῇ στρατιᾷ κατεμέρισε. τοῖς δέ τις ερις ἐμπίπτει ἐπὶ τὴν ἐργασίαν καὶ ὁρμή τις δαιμόνιος, ταχύ τε τὸ εργον ἐξῳκοδόμητο. περικλείσας δὲ τῷ τείχει τὴν πόλιν, τὴν μὲν πρώτην φυλακὴν τῆς νυκτὸς περιιὼν αὐτὸς ἐπεσκέπτετο, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς ἑτέροις ἐπέτρεψε· διεκληροῦντο δὲ τὸν υπνον οἱ φύλακες. ̓Ιουδαίοις δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἐξόδων ἀπεκλείσθη πᾶσα σωτηρίας ἐλπίς, καὶ ὁ λιμὸς κατ' οικους καὶ γενεὰς τὸν δῆμον ἐβόσκετο, καὶ τὰ μὲν τέγη γυναικῶν καὶ βρεφῶν ἐκλελυμένων πεπλήρωτο, οἱ στενωποὶ δὲ γερόντων νεκρῶν· παῖδες δὲ καὶ νεανίαι διῳδηκότες ὡς ειδωλα κατὰ