ed exceeded all
the destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world;
for, to speak only of what was publicly known, the Romans slew some of
them, some they carried captives, and others they made a search for
underground, and when they found where they were they broke up the
ground and slew all they met with. There were also found slain there
above two thousand persons, partly by their own hands and partly by one
another, but chiefly destroyed by the famine; but then the ill-savor of
the dead bodies was most offensive to those that lighted upon them,
insomuch that some were obliged to get away immediately, while others
were so greedy of gain that they would go in among the dead bodies that
lay on heaps and tread upon them, for a great deal of treasure was found
in these caverns, and the hope of gain made every way of getting it to
be esteemed lawful.

Many also of those that had been put in prison by the tyrants were now
brought out, for they did not leave off their barbarous cruelty at the
very last; yet did God avenge himself upon upon them both in a manner
agreeable to justice. As for John, he wanted food, together with his
brethren, in these caverns, and begged that the Romans would now give
him their right hand for his security, which he had often proudly
rejected before; but for Simon, he struggled hard with the distress he
was in, till he was forced to surrender himself. So he was reserved for
the triumph, and to be then slain, as was John condemned to perpetual
imprisonment. And now the Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the
city, and burned them down, and entirely demolished its walls.

And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of
Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpieus (Elul). It had been
taken five times before, though this was the second time of its
desolation, for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and
after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but
still preserved it; but before all these the king of Babylon conquered
it and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight years
and six months after it was built.

But he who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is
in our own tongue called (Melchisedek), the righteous king, for such he
really was. On which account he was (there) the first priest of God, and
first built a temple (there), and called the city Jerusalem, which was
former