f a party which--since the
reduction of Judea to a Roman province soon after the death of
Herod--had resisted the oppression of the procurators, were now
stirred to revolt by the exactions of the procurator Gessius
Florus. The revolutionary party, called the Zealots, gained power,
and there were many outbreaks in Jerusalem. The counsel of the more
prudent spirits was disregarded. At last Roman blood was shed. The
nobility and priesthood played into the hands of the Zealots by
applying to Florus to put down the revolt. Florus marched against
Jerusalem and was badly beaten by the Zealots.

Open war henceforth existed. Josephus, a Jew of the lineage of
Aaron, trained according to the best discipline of his race, and
who had also been well received at Rome, was placed by his
countrymen in command of the province of Galilee. Afterward, as a
historian, he described the events of the war.

Vespasian, who was then Rome's greatest general, soon came at the
head of sixty thousand Roman soldiers. He attacked Galilee.
Josephus, with such followers as he could gather, took position on
an almost inaccessible hill in Jotapata, which the Romans for five
days stormed in vain, then besieged its brave defenders, afterward
repeatedly assaulted; and finally, during the night following the
forty-seventh day of the siege, Titus, serving under his father,
Vespasian, gained possession of the place. Josephus, with forty of
the principal citizens, hid in a cave, but their refuge was
discovered through treachery.

Vespasian was anxious to take Josephus alive. He sent the tribune
Nicanor, who had been his friend, to the Jewish leader to induce
him with fair promises to surrender. Josephus was about to give
himself up, but was prevented by his companions. "We will care for
the honor of our country," they said. At the same time they offered
a sword and "a hand that shall use it against thee." Josephus then
proposed that they should all die together, but by the hands of
one another, instead of suicide. Lots were cast. He who drew the
first offered his neck to him who stood next and so forward.
Finally, through marvellous fortune, Josephus and one other alone
were left, and here the slaughter ended. The two survivors
surrendered to the Romans. Loud cries for the death of Jo