son of the situation of these horsemen; and for the footmen, he
ordered them to cut down the trees that were in the wood whither
they were fled. So the Jews were under a necessity of performing some
glorious exploit, and of greatly exposing themselves in a battle, since
they might perhaps thereby escape. So they made a general attack, and
with a great shout fell upon those that surrounded them, who received
them with great courage; and so while the one side fought desperately,
and the others would not yield, the fight was prolonged on that account.
But the event of the battle did not answer the expectation of the
assailants; for so it happened, that no more than twelve fell on the
Roman side, with a few that were wounded; but not one of the Jews
escaped out of this battle, but they were all killed, being in the whole
not fewer in number than three thousand, together with Judas, the son
of Jairus, their general, concerning whom we have before spoken, that he
had been a captain of a certain band at the siege of Jerusalem, and by
going down into a certain vault under ground, had privately made his
escape.
6. About the same time it was that Caesar sent a letter to Bassus, and
to Liberius Maximus, who was the procurator [of Judea], and gave order
that all Judea should be exposed to sale [12] for he did not found any
city there, but reserved the country for himself. However, he assigned
a place for eight hundred men only, whom he had dismissed from his army,
which he gave them for their habitation; it is called Emmaus, [13] and
is distant from Jerusalem threescore furlongs. He also laid a tribute
upon the Jews wheresoever they were, and enjoined every one of them to
bring two drachmae every year into the Capitol, as they used to pay the
same to the temple at Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jewish
affairs at this time.
CHAPTER 7.
Concerning The Calamity That Befell Antiochus, King Of
Commagene. As Also Concerning The Alans And What Great
Mischiefs They Did To The Medes And Armenians.
1. And now, in the fourth year of the reign of Vespasian, it came to
pass that Antiochus, the king of Commagene, with all his family, fell
into very great calamities. The occasion was this: Cesennius Petus, who
was president of Syria at this time, whether it were done out of regard
to truth, or whether out of hatred to Antiochus, [for which was the real
motive was never thoroughly discovered,] sent an epistle to
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