of no avail, by bringing the Romans upon him before he had reared one of his towers.

Vespasian being now emperor, and at Rome, the conduct of the war in Judea devolved upon Titus, his son. Titus having got his forces around him, marched out of Cesarea, and ordered the rest of his army to meet him at Jerusalem. He had with him those three legions, of which we have already spoken, and with which Vespasian had laid waste the beautiful cities and country of Judea; he had also with him the twelfth legion, which had been discomfitted formerly at Jerusalem, under the command of Cestius, and which was now fired with vengeance at the remembrance of that defeat. Of these legions, Titus ordered the fifth to meet him by going through Emmaus; and the tenth he directed to go up by Jericho. He marched on with the rest himself, namely, the auxiliaries furnished by the kings, now augmented in numbers; together with others which came from Syria. There were also two thousand men chosen out of the armies at Alexandria, to supply the place of others who had

gone with Mucianus to Italy, when Vespasian was made emperor. These were followed by three thousand more, drawn from the army that guarded the Euphrates. Tiberius Alexander, the friend and counsellor of Titus, accompanied him, and acted as general of the army under Cæsar. He was a man valuable to Titus, both on account of his age and prudence, as well as his skill in the affairs of war.

F 2

CHAP. V.

"And when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation therefore is nigh."

The order in which this formidable army approached Jerusalem was as follows:-The auxi liary troops led the van, accompanied by the men who were to prepare the roads and measure the encampments. Then followed the baggage of the commanders, with the soldiers all completely armed, who were destined to protect it. Next Titus, with his select guard; then the pikemen ; and after these the cavalry belonging to that legion. All these preceded the engines which were followed by the tribunes, and the leaders of the cohorts, with their select bodies of men.

After

these were carried the ensigns with the eagle,

preceded by the trumpeters belonging to the standards; next came the main body of the army in their ranks, every rank six deep. The servants belonging to each of the legions with their baggage followed close upon the main body. The mercenaries came last, and those that guarded them brought up the rear.

Now Titus, according to the Roman custom, went in the front of the army, and marched through Samaria to Gophna, a city that had been taken by Vespasian Cæsar, and which was garrisoned by Roman soldiers. After lodging there one night, he marched next day to a valley called the Valley of Thorns, where he pitched his camp near a village called Gabaoth-Saul, which signifies the Hill of Saul, being distant from Jerusalem about thirty furlongs, or four English miles. Here he chose out six hundred select horsemen, and went to view the city,-to observe its strength and the courage of the Jews, and to discover whether, when they saw him, they would stand a battle or submit; for, hearing of their intestine seditions, he believed many wished for peace, but that, being afraid, or too weak to rise up

against the rest they were constrained to lie quiet.

While Titus kept the straight path that led towards the wall of the city, no one appeared to come out of the gates. But when he declined towards the tower Psephinus, and led his horsemen obliquely, an immense number of the Jews leapt out suddenly at the towers, called the Women's towers, and intercepted his cavalry. They intercepted Titus also, and a few others, which made it impossible for him to proceed,—for the ground was all dug with trenches to preserve the gardens round about, and was full of gardens and hedges, and to return to his own men from whom he had been separated was equally impossible, on account of the multitude of enemies that lay between them,-while his own men were ignorant of his danger, thinking that Cæsar was still among them.*

Titus perceiving that his safety must depend upon his cnurage, wheeled round, and cried out

* Josephus here and elsewhere, often styles Titus, Cæsar and king, though he was not so at this time, but only general of the army; the Romans never had a king after Tarquin, surnamed Superbus, or the Proud.