nd slew all they met with. There were also found slain there
above two thousand persons, partly by their own hands, and partly by one
another, but chiefly destroyed by the famine; but then the ill savor
of the dead bodies was most offensive to those that lighted upon them,
insomuch that some were obliged to get away immediately, while others
were so greedy of gain, that they would go in among the dead bodies
that lay on heaps, and tread upon them; for a great deal of treasure was
found in these caverns, and the hope of gain made every way of getting
it to be esteemed lawful. Many also of those that had been put in prison
by the tyrants were now brought out; for they did not leave off their
barbarous cruelty at the very last: yet did God avenge himself upon them
both, in a manner agreeable to justice. As for John, he wanted food,
together with his brethren, in these caverns, and begged that the Romans
would now give him their right hand for his security, which he had
often proudly rejected before; but for Simon, he struggled hard with the
distress he was in, fill he was forced to surrender himself, as we shall
relate hereafter; so he was reserved for the triumph, and to be then
slain; as was John condemned to perpetual imprisonment. And now the
Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down,
and entirely demolished its walls.

CHAPTER 10.

That Whereas The City Of Jerusalem Had Been Five Times Taken
Formerly, This Was The Second Time Of Its Desolation. A
Brief Account Of Its History.

1. And thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of
Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul]. It had been
taken five [34] times before, though this was the second time of its
desolation; for Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, and
after him Pompey, and after them Sosius and Herod, took the city, but
still preserved it; but before all these, the king of Babylon conquered
it, and made it desolate, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight
years and six months after it was built. But he who first built it.
Was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our own tongue called
[Melchisedek], the Righteous King, for such he really was; on which
account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple
[there], and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called
Salem. However, David, the king of the Jews, ejected the Canaanites,
and