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they went around the marketplaces, and fell down wherever each person happened to grow faint. And those who were still living were not strong enough to bury their relatives; and many who set out to bury them died on top of those they were burying. But the rebels became more grievous than the evils of the famine, robbing graves and plundering houses. And at first, unable to bear the stench, they ordered the dead to be buried at public expense, but then they threw them from the walls into the ravines. And Titus, going around and seeing them filled with corpses and the deep gore flowing from the decaying bodies, groaned and, raising his hands, called God to witness that this was not a work of his choosing. And again he took up building earthworks, though the timber was procured for him with difficulty, for it was brought from ninety stades away. And many of the people deserted, some throwing themselves from the walls, others going forth as if for battle with stones in hand and fleeing to the Romans. And even so, most of them perished; for being famished and encountering an abundance of food, they gorged themselves insatiably 2.61 and burst asunder. And something else also happened which destroyed the deserters. For some of them, who possessed gold coins, swallowed them when they were about to desert to the Romans, so that if captured they would not be deprived of them. And when they were among the Romans, they passed the gold coins along with their excrement, and picking them out, they would take them. So one of the deserters was caught doing this; and when a rumor spread through the camp that the deserters were arriving full of gold, the wretches had their bellies cut open, so that from this there came a great slaughter of the Jews; for in one night it happened that more than three thousand were cut open. When Titus learned of this, he threatened the army; but Titus's anger helped the deserters little or not at all. But the money was found on only a few, while mere hope destroyed the rest. And it is said that the corpses of the poor, carried out of the city through the gates and cast away, numbered six hundred thousand, while the number of the others could not be discovered, and that a medimnus of wheat was sold for a talent. And when the city had been walled in by the Romans, as I have said above, it was not even possible to gather herbs; whence they searched through old animal dung and made it their food. But the earthworks had already been raised for the Romans, and with the siege-engines the wall of the Antonia was being battered, but it was not brought down by the battering. But some of the soldiers, making a roof over their bodies with their shields, were digging under the foundations with crowbars, and they dislodged four of the stones. And night coming on stopped the fighting 2.62 on both sides; and the wall, shaken by the rams, suddenly collapsed during it. But another wall was seen, built up inside, which turned the Romans' joy over the fallen one into despondency. But Titus addressed the soldiers and roused their spirits. And a certain man from Syria, Sabinus by name, raising his shield over his head with his left hand, and drawing his sword with his right, advanced toward the wall; and eleven others followed him, emulating his courage. But those on the wall were throwing javelins and shooting arrows at them, and rolling down enormous stones, by which some of the eleven were swept away. But Sabinus did not check his charge until he had ascended the wall and routed the enemy. So when he had succeeded in his attempt, he slipped, tripping on a certain rock, and fell face-down upon it with a clash of his armor. So the Jews, turning at the sound and seeing him alone and lying there, shot at him from all sides. But he, rising to his knee, defended himself, but from the multitude of his wounds his right hand grew weak and he was buried under the missiles. Of the rest, they killed with stones three who had already reached the top, and the eight wounded were carried back to the camp. And after two days, at night, some men quietly approached the Antonia through the ruins, and having slaughtered the guards there as they slept, they sounded the trumpet. and there was a flight of the other guards, Titus

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τὰς ἀγορὰς περιῄεσαν, καὶ κατέπιπτον οπῃ εκαστος ἀτονήσας ετυχε. θάπτειν δὲ τοὺς προσήκοντας οἱ ετι ζῶντες οὐκ ισχυον· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ θάπτειν ὁρμήσαντες τοῖς θαπτομένοις ἐπαπέθνησκον. οἱ δὲ στασιασταὶ καὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ λιμοῦ κακῶν ἐγίνοντο χαλεπώτεροι, τυμβωρυχοῦντες καὶ τὰς οἰκίας συλῶντες. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου θησαυροῦ θάπτειν ἐκέλευον τοὺς νεκρούς, τὴν δυσωδίαν μὴ φέροντες, ειτ' ἐρρίπτουν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν τειχῶν εἰς τὰς φάραγγας. περιιὼν δ' ὁ Τίτος καὶ θεασάμενος νεκρῶν πεπληρωμένας αὐτὰς καὶ βαθὺν ἰχῶρα μυδώντων σωμάτων ἐκρέοντα, ἐστέναξε καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀνατείνας ἐμαρτύρετο τὸν θεὸν ὡς οὐκ ειη τὸ εργον αὐτῷ πρὸς βουλῆς. καὶ πάλιν ηπτετο χωμάτων, χαλεπῶς αὐτῷ τῆς υλης ποριζομένης· πρὸ γὰρ σταδίων κεκόμιστο ἐνενήκοντα. Πολλοὶ δ' ηὐτομόλουν τοῦ δήμου, οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν τειχῶν κρημνίζοντες ἑαυτούς, οἱ δὲ προϊόντες ὡς ἐπὶ μάχην μετὰ χερμάδων πρὸς ̔Ρωμαίους κατέφευγον. καὶ ουτω δ' οἱ πλείους ἀπώλλυντο· λιμώττοντες γὰρ καὶ ἀφθονίᾳ τροφῶν ἐντυγχάνοντες ἀπλήστως τε κο2.61 ρεννύμενοι διερρήγνυντο. συνέβη δέ τι καὶ ετερον τοὺς αὐτομόλους φθεῖρον. τινὲς γὰρ αὐτῶν κεκτημένοι χρυσοῦς ἐν τῷ μέλλειν πρὸς ̔Ρωμαίους αὐτομολεῖν κατέπινον σφᾶς, ινα μὴ ἁλόντες ἀφαιρεθῶσιν αὐτούς. παρὰ δὲ τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις γενόμενοι τοῖς τῆς γαστρὸς σκυβάλοις τοὺς χρυσοῦς συνεξέκρινον, καὶ ἐκλέγοντες αὐτοὺς ἐλάμβανον. φωρᾶται τοίνυν τῶν αὐτομόλων τις τοῦτο ποιῶν· καὶ φήμης γεγονυίας εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον ὡς μεστοὶ χρυσίου προσίασιν οἱ αὐτόμολοι, ἀνετέμνοντο τὰς γαστέρας οἱ αθλιοι, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν πολλὴν γενέσθαι τῶν ̓Ιουδαίων φθοράν· μιᾷ γὰρ νυκτὶ ὑπὲρ τρισχιλίους ἀνασχισθῆναι συνέβη. ο γνοὺς ὁ Τίτος ἠπείλησε τῷ στρατεύματι· ἀλλὰ μικρὸν η οὐδὲν τοῖς αὐτομόλοις ἐπήμυνεν ἡ τοῦ Τίτου ὀργή. ἐν ὀλίγοις δ' εὑρίσκετο τὰ ἀργύρια, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐλπίδες μόναι ἀπώλλυον. λέγεται δὲ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως διὰ τῶν πυλῶν ἐκκομισθέντας καὶ ῥιφέντας νεκροὺς τῶν ἀπόρων γενέσθαι μυριάδας ἑξήκοντα, τῶν δ' αλλων ἀνεξεύρετον ειναι τὸν ἀριθμόν, τοῦ μέντοι σίτου τὸ μέδιμνον πραθῆναι ταλάντου. περιτειχισθείσης δὲ τῆς πόλεως παρὰ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων, ὡς ανω μοι ειρηται, οὐδὲ ποηλογεῖν οιόν τε ην· οθεν τὰς τῶν ζῴων κόπρους τὰς παλαιὰς ἀνερευνῶντες ἐποιοῦντο τροφήν. ̔Ρωμαίοις δὲ ηδη ἠγέρθη τὰ χώματα, καὶ ταῖς ἑλεπόλεσι τὸ τεῖχος τῆς ̓Αντωνίας ἐτύπτετο, οὐ μὴν καθῃρεῖτο τυπτόμενον. τινὲς δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν σωμάτων τοὺς θυρεοὺς ὀροφώσαντες, μοχλοῖς τοὺς θεμελίους ὑπώρυττον, καὶ τέσσαρας τῶν λίθων ἐξέσεισαν. νὺξ δ' ἐπελθοῦσα τοὺς πολέμους 2.62 ἑκατέρωθεν επαυσε· καὶ τὸ τεῖχος ὑπὸ τῶν κριῶν σαλευθὲν κατ' αὐτὴν αἰφνίδιον κατερείπεται. ωφθη δ' αλλο τεῖχος ἀνῳκοδομημένον ἐντός, ο τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πεσόντι χαρὰν τοῖς ̔Ρωμαίοις εἰς ἀθυμίαν μετέβαλεν. ὁ Τίτος δὲ τοῖς στρατιώταις διαλεχθεὶς ἐπήγειρεν αὐτῶν τὰ φρονήματα. καί τις ἀπὸ Συρίας ἀνὴρ Σαβῖνος τὸ ονομα, ὑπὲρ τῆς κεφαλῆς τῇ λαιᾷ τὸν θυρεὸν ἐπανατεινάμενος, τῇ δεξιᾷ δὲ τὸ ξίφος σπασάμενος, ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἐχώρησεν· ειποντο δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ετεροι ενδεκα, τὴν ἀνδρείαν ζηλώσαντες. οἱ δ' ἐν τῷ τείχει κατηκόντιζόν τε αὐτοὺς καὶ βέλεσιν εβαλλον, καὶ λίθους ὑπερμεγέθεις ἐκύλιον, δι' ων τῶν ενδεκα παρεσύρησαν ενιοι. ὁ δὲ Σαβῖνος οὐ πρότερον ἐπέσχε τὴν ὁρμὴν η ἀνελθεῖν εἰς τὸ τεῖχος καὶ τρέψασθαι τοὺς πολεμίους. οτε γοῦν ἐκράτησε τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως, ἐσφάλη προσπταίσας πέτρᾳ τινί, καὶ πρηνὴς ἐν αὐτῇ μετὰ ψόφου τῶν οπλων κατέπεσε. πρὸς γοῦν τὸν ψόφον ἐπιστραφέντες οἱ ̓Ιουδαῖοι, καὶ μόνον αὐτὸν ἰδόντες καὶ κείμενον, εβαλλον πάντοθεν. ὁ δ' εἰς γόνυ διαναστὰς ἠμύνετο, ὑπὸ δὲ πλήθους τραυμάτων παρείθη τὴν δεξιὰν καὶ κατεχώσθη τοῖς βέλεσι. τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν τρεῖς μὲν ηδη πρὸς τοῖς ακροις γενομένους τοῖς λίθοις ἀπέκτειναν, οἱ δ' ὀκτὼ τραυματίαι πρὸς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐκομίσθησαν. Μετὰ δὲ δύο ἡμέρας νυκτός τινες ἡσυχῇ διὰ τῶν ἐρειπίων εἰς τὴν ̓Αντωνίαν προσβαίνουσι, καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖ φρουροῦντας ἀποσφάξαντες κοιμωμένους, ἐσάλπισαν. καὶ φυγὴ τῶν αλλων φρουρῶν ην, Τίτος