e, they reared four strong towers;
and on these placed their military engines and bowmen, and so swept
the approaches to the Temple that Simon was forced to desist from
the attack. All through the winter, fighting went on without
intermission, and the streets of Jerusalem ran with blood.

A further division took place among the Zealots. Eleazar--who had
been their head before the arrival of John of Gischala--jealous of
the supremacy of that leader, got together a party and suddenly
seceded from the main band, and seized the inner court of the
Temple. Now, fighting went on within as well as without the holy
buildings. The party of Eleazar were well supplied with provisions,
for the stores in the Temple were of immense extent. They were too
few in numbers to sally out to attack the party of John; but they
were strong enough to defend the walls of the inner court, which
looked down upon the rest of the Temple, and enabled them to
command the positions of John's troops.

Day and night the struggle went on. The inner court of the Temple
was desecrated by blood--dying men lay on the steps of the altar,
and the shouts and songs of the savage soldiery rose, where the
hymns of praise of the Levites had been wont to ascend.

John's troops continued their attacks upon the inner court, while
they successfully resisted the assaults of Simon; who tried to take
advantage of the internecine strife raging between the two parties
of Zealots, but the superior height of the positions held by John's
men enabled them to defend themselves as successfully as did those
of Eleazar against their attacks.

And yet, during all this terrible strife, the services of the
Temple were continued, in the midst of blood and carnage. Free
ingress and egress were, as at all times, permitted to the pious;
who made their way unharmed through the fierce combatants, passed
over the pavement slippery with blood, and laid their offering on
the altars--often paying with their lives for their pious services,
being smitten down, even as they prayed at the altar, by the
missiles which the followers of John poured incessantly into the
inner court.

Sometimes, drunk with the wine obtained from the abundant stores of
the Temple, the followers of Eleazar would sally out against John.
Sometimes John would pour out against Simon, wasting and destroying
the city as far as his troops could penetrate. Thus, the Temple
became surrounded by a waste of ruins, held in turn