sts an origin for the title Sinopitis,
applied to Serapis, and a cause for the invention of the
romantic story about Sinope in Pontus.

[458] Cp. chap. 68.

[459] i.e. Mucianus was too cunning to give Domitian any
excuse for declaring his suspicions.

BOOK V

THE CONQUEST OF JUDAEA

Early in this same year[460] Titus Caesar had been entrusted by his 1
father with the task of completing the reduction of Judaea.[461] While
he and his father were both still private citizens, Titus had
distinguished himself as a soldier, and his reputation for efficiency
was steadily increasing, while the provinces and armies vied with one
another in their enthusiasm for him. Wishing to seem independent of
his good fortune, he always showed dignity and energy in the field.
His affability called forth devotion. He constantly helped in the
trenches and could mingle with his soldiers on the march without
compromising his dignity as general. Three legions awaited him in
Judaea, the Fifth, Tenth, and Fifteenth, all veterans from his
father's army. These were reinforced by the Twelfth from Syria and by
detachments of the Twenty-second and the Third,[462] brought over from
Alexandria. This force was accompanied by twenty auxiliary cohorts and
eight regiments of auxiliary cavalry besides the Kings Agrippa and
Sohaemus, King Antiochus' irregulars,[463] a strong force of Arabs,
who had a neighbourly hatred for the Jews, and a crowd of persons who
had come from Rome and the rest of Italy, each tempted by the hope of
securing the first place in the prince's still unoccupied affections.
With this force Titus entered the enemy's country at the head of his
column, sending out scouts in all directions, and holding himself
ready to fight. He pitched his camp not far from Jerusalem.

Since I am coming now to describe the last days of this famous 2
city, it may not seem out of place to recount here its early history.
It is said that the Jews are refugees from Crete,[464] who settled on
the confines of Libya at the time when Saturn was forcibly deposed by
Jupiter. The evidence for this is sought in the name. Ida is a famous
mountain in Crete inhabited by the Idaei,[465] whose name became
lengthened into the foreign form Judaei. Others say that in the reign
of Isis the superfluous population of Egypt, under the leadership of
Hierosolymus and Juda, discharged itself upon the neighbouring
distri