might themselves appear comparatively less impious
with regard to strangers. They confessed what was true, that they were
the slaves, the scum, and the spurious and abortive offspring of our
nation, while they overthrew the city themselves, and forced the Romans,
whether they would or no, to gain a melancholy reputation, by acting
gloriously against them, and did almost draw that fire upon the Temple
which they seemed to think came too slowly; and indeed when they saw
that Temple burning from the upper city, they were neither troubled at
it nor did they shed any tears on that account, while yet these passions
were discovered among the Romans themselves.

So now Titus' banks were advanced a great way, notwithstanding his
soldiers had been very much distressed from the wall. He then sent a
party of horsemen and ordered they should lay ambushes for those that
went out into the valleys to gather food. Some of these were indeed
fighting men, who were not contented with what they got by rapine; but
the greater part of them were poor people, who were deterred from
deserting by the concern they were under for their own relations, for
they could not hope to escape away, together with their wives and
children, without the knowledge of the seditious; nor could they think
of leaving these relations to be slain by the robbers on their account;
nay, the severity of the famine made them bold in thus going out; so
nothing remained but that, when they were concealed from the robbers,
they should be taken by the enemy; and when they were going to be taken
they were forced to defend themselves for fear of being punished; as
after they had fought they thought it too late to make any supplications
for mercy; so they were first whipped and then tormented with all sorts
of tortures before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of
the city. This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity them,
while they caught every day five hundred Jews; nay, some days they
caught more; yet it did not appear to be safe for him to let those that
were taken by force go their way, and to set a guard over so many he saw
would be to make such as guarded them useless to him. The main reason
why he did not forbid that cruelty was this: that he hoped the Jews
might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might
themselves afterward be liable to the same cruel treatment. So the
soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed