n ever came thus to destroy the Jews at any of their solemn
festivals, from the days of Moses till this time, but came now upon
their apostasy from God, and from obedience to him. Nor is it possible,
in the nature of things, that in any other nation such vast numbers
should be gotten together, and perish in the siege of any one city
whatsoever, as now happened in Jerusalem.

[34] This is the proper place for such as have closely attended to these
latter books of the War to peruse, and that with equal attention, those
distinct and plain predictions of Jesus of Nazareth, in the Gospels
thereto relating, as compared with their exact completions in Josephus's
history; upon which completions, as Dr. Whitby well observes, Annot.
on Matthew 24:2, no small part of the evidence for the truth of the
Christian religion does depend; and as I have step by step compared
them together in my Literal Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies. The
reader is to observe further, that the true reason why I have so
seldom taken notice of those completions in the course of these notes,
notwithstanding their being so very remarkable, and frequently so very
obvious, is this, that I had entirely prevented myself in that treatise
beforehand; to which therefore I must here, once for all, seriously
refer every inquisitive reader. Besides these five here enumerated, who
had taken Jerusalem of old, Josephus, upon further recollection, reckons
a sixth, Antiq. B. XII. ch. 1. sect. 1, who should have been here
inserted in the second place; I mean Ptolemy, the son of Lagus.

BOOK VII.

Containing The Interval Of About Three Years.

From The Taking Of Jerusalem By Titus To The Sedition At
Cyrene

CHAPTER 1.

How The Entire City Of Jerusalem Was Demolished, Excepting
Three Towers; And How Titus Commended His Soldiers In A
Speech Made To Them, And Distributed Rewards To Them And
Then Dismissed Many Of Them.

1. Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder,
because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, [for they
would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be
done,] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city
and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of
the greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne;
and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This
wall was spared, in