ce charge, and their camp nearly taken. And now famine came to
add to the horrors of the siege, and made frightful havoc in the dense
multitude with which every part of the city was thronged. The dead and
dying filled the streets, the wounded soldiers perished of starvation,
groans and lamentations resounded in every quarter; to rid themselves of
the hosts of dead John and Simon had them thrown from the walls, to
fester in heaps before the Roman works. Among the scenes of horror
related, a woman was seen to kill and devour her own infant child.

At length the Romans made such progress that all the city was theirs
except the Temple enclosure, into which the remainder of the garrison
had gathered. Titus wished to save this famous structure, and made a
last effort to end the siege by peaceful measures. Josephus, the Jewish
historian, who had been taken prisoner during the war, and was now in
his camp, was sent into the city, with an offer of amnesty if they would
even now yield. The offer was refused, and Titus saw that but one thing
remained.

On the next day the assault on Mount Moriah began. The Jews fought with
fierce courage, but the close lines and steady discipline of the legions
prevailed. The defenders, after a bitter resistance, were forced back;
the assailants furiously pursued; the inner court of the Temple was
entered; in the uproar of the furious strife the orders of Titus and his
officers to save the Temple were unheard; all was tumult, the roar of
battle, the shedding of blood. The Jews fought with frantic obstinacy,
but their undisciplined valor failed to affect the steady discipline or
break the close array of the legions. Many fled in despair to the
sanctuary. Here were gathered priests and prophets, who still declared
the Lord of Hosts was on their side, and that He would protect His holy
seat.

Even while these assurances were being given the assailants forced the
gates. The eyes of the avaricious Romans rested on the golden and
glittering ornaments of the Temple, and they sought more fiercely than
ever to hew their way through flesh and blood to these alluring
treasures. One soldier, frantic with the fury of the fight, snatched a
flaming ember from some burning materials, and, lifted by a comrade, set
fire to a gilded window of the Temple. Almost in an instant the flames
flared upward, and the despairing Jews saw that their holy house was
doomed. A great groan of agony burst from their lips. Many oc