n, but received
these men. At that time, indeed, he kept them all in custody, but still
bound the King's sons and kinsmen, and led them with him to Rome, in
order to make them hostages for their country's fidelity to the Romans.

And now the seditious rushed into the royal palace, into which many had
put their effects, because it was so strong, and drove the Romans away
from it. They also slew all the people that had crowded into it, who
were in number about eight thousand four hundred, and plundered them of
what they had.

On the next day the Romans drove the robbers out of the lower city and
set all on fire as far as Siloam. These soldiers were indeed glad to see
the city destroyed. But they missed the plunder, because the seditious
had carried off all their effects, and were retired into the upper city,
for they did not yet at all repent of the mischiefs they had done, but
were insolent, as if they had done well; for, as they saw the city on
fire, they appeared cheerful, and put on joyful countenances, in
expectation, as they said, of death to end their miseries. Accordingly,
as the people were now slain, the holy house was burned down, and the
city was on fire, there was nothing further left for the enemy to do.
Yet did not Josephus grow weary, even in this utmost extremity, to beg
of them to spare what was left of the city; he spake largely to them
about their barbarity and impiety, and gave them his advice in order to
their escape, though he gained nothing thereby more than to be laughed
at by them; and as they could not think of surrendering themselves up,
because of the oath they had taken, nor were strong enough to fight with
the Romans any longer upon the square, as being surrounded on all sides,
and a kind of prisoners already, yet were they so accustomed to kill
people that they could not restrain their right hands from acting
accordingly.

So they dispersed themselves before the city and laid themselves in
ambush among its ruins, to catch those that attempted to desert to the
Romans. Accordingly, many such deserters were caught by them and were
all slain, for these were too weak, by reason of their want of food, to
fly away from them; so their dead bodies were thrown to the dogs. Now
every other sort of death was thought more tolerable than the famine,
insomuch that, though the Jews despaired now of mercy, yet would they
fly to the Romans, and would themselves, even of their own accord, fall
among the mu