ces; but when they were penned up in their
descent through narrow passages, then did some of them get before, and
hindered them from getting out of them; and others of them thrust the
hinder-most down into the lower places; and the whole multitude extended
themselves over against the neck of the passage, and covered the Roman
army with their darts. In which circumstances, as the footmen knew not
how to defend themselves, so the danger pressed the horsemen still more,
for they were so pelted, that they could not march along the road in
their ranks, and the ascents were so high, that the cavalry were not
able to march against the enemy; the precipices also and valleys into
which they frequently fell, and tumbled down, were such on each side of
them, that there was neither place for their flight, nor any contrivance
could be thought of for their defense; till the distress they were at
last in was so great, that they betook themselves to lamentations, and
to such mournful cries as men use in the utmost despair: the joyful
acclamations of the Jews also, as they encouraged one another, echoed
the sounds back again, these last composing a noise of those that at
once rejoiced and were in a rage. Indeed, things were come to such a
pass, that the Jews had almost taken Cestius's entire army prisoners,
had not the night come on, when the Romans fled to Bethoron, and the
Jews seized upon all the places round about them, and watched for their
coming out [in the morning].

9. And then it was that Cestius, despairing of obtaining room for a
public march, contrived how he might best run away; and when he had
selected four hundred of the most courageous of his soldiers, he placed
them at the strongest of their fortifications, and gave order, that when
they went up to the morning guard, they should erect their ensigns, that
the Jews might be made to believe that the entire army was there still,
while he himself took the rest of his forces with him, and marched,
without any noise, thirty furlongs. But when the Jews perceived, in the
morning, that the camp was empty, they ran upon those four hundred who
had deluded them, and immediately threw their darts at them, and slew
them; and then pursued after Cestius. But he had already made use of a
great part of the night in his flight, and still marched quicker when it
was day; insomuch that the soldiers, through the astonishment and
fear they were in, left behind them their engines for sieges, an