h through a part of
their territory to attack the Arabs, they objected that the standards of
the legions were crowded with profane images, which their sacred laws
did not permit to be seen in their country. The governor yielded to
their remonstrance, and marched around the land of Judaea.

This concession did not allay the discontent. Felix, a governor under
Claudius, by oppression and cruelty aroused a general spirit of revolt.
Gessius Florus, appointed by Nero governor of Judaea, found his province
in a state of irritation and tumult. His avarice and robbery of the
people ripened this to war. The province broke into open rebellion. It
was quickly invaded by Gallus, the governor of Syria, who marched
through the country to the walls of Jerusalem. But he was not a soldier,
and was quickly forced to abandon the siege and retreat in haste, losing
six thousand men in his flight.

[Illustration: THE JEWS' WAILING PLACE, JERUSALEM.]

Nero now, finding that Rome had an obstinate struggle on its hands,
chose Vespasian, a soldier of renown, to conduct the war. This he did
with the true Roman energy and thoroughness, subduing the whole country,
and capturing every stronghold except Jerusalem, within two years. He
was called from this work to the struggle for the empire of Rome,
leaving his able son Titus to complete the task.

The taking of Jerusalem was not to be easily performed. The city was of
immense strength. It stood upon two hills, Mount Sion to the south,
Mount Acra to the north. The former, being the loftiest, was called the
upper, and Acra the lower, city. Each of these hills was surrounded by a
wall of great strength and elevation, their bases washed by a rapid
stream that ran through the valleys of Hinnom and Cedron, to the foot of
the Mount of Olives. A third hill, Mount Moriah, was the seat of the
famous Temple, an immense group of courts and edifices which looked more
like a citadel than a sanctuary of religious faith. The true temple
stood separate, in the midst of these buildings, its interior being
divided by a curtain into two parts, of which the inmost was the Holy of
Holies. The total group of edifices was nearly a mile in circumference.

Jerusalem, unfortunately for its defence, had, during the conquest of
the country, become filled with fugitives. To these the celebration of
the Passover, now at hand, added other great numbers, so that when the
army of Titus invested it, it was crowded with a vast mul