pushed forward by a great number of men; being covered, as it
advanced, with a great shield constructed of wattles and hides. As
it was brought forward, the archers and slingers covered its
advance by a shower of missiles against the defenders of the wall;
while all the war machines poured in their terrible shower.

The Jews, unable to show themselves above the battlements, or to
oppose the advance of the terrible machine, crouched in shelter
until the battering ram was placed in position.

Then the ropes by which it swung from the framework overhead were
seized, by a number of soldiers, and the first blow was delivered
at the wall. It quivered beneath the terrible shock, and a cry of
dismay arose from the defenders. Again and again the heavy ram
struck, in the same place. The wall tottered beneath the blows; and
would soon have fallen, had not Josephus ordered a number of sacks
to be filled with straw, and let down by ropes from the walls, so
as to deaden the blows of the ram.

For a time the Romans ceased work; and then, fastening scythes to
the ends of long poles, cut the ropes. The Jews were unable to show
themselves above the walls, or to interfere with the men at work.
In a few minutes the sacks were cut down, and the ram recommenced
its work of destruction.

Chapter 6: The Fall Of The City.

The Roman soldiers--seeing the wall of Jotapata tremble beneath the
blows of the battering ram, whose iron head pounded to powder the
stones against which it struck--redoubled their efforts when,
suddenly, from three sally ports which they had prepared, the Jews
burst out; carrying their weapons in their right hands, and blazing
torches in their left. As on previous occasions, their onslaught
was irresistible. They swept the Romans before them; and set fire
to the engines, the wattles, and the palisades, and even to the
woodwork of the embankment. The timber had by this time dried and,
as bitumen and pitch had been used as cement in the construction of
the works, the flames spread with great rapidity; and the work of
many days was destroyed, in an hour. All the engines and
breastworks of the Fifth and Tenth Legions were entirely consumed.

Just as the attack began, Eleazar--the son of Sameas, a
Galilean--with an immense stone from the wall, struck the iron head
of the battering ram, and knocked it off. He then leaped down from
the wall, seized the iron head, and carried it back into the city.
He was pierced by