were left behind; and as he saw
that he had not an army sufficient to engage the enemy, that the spirits
of the Jews were sunk, and that the greater part would willingly come to
terms, if they might be credited, he already despaired of the success of
the whole war, and determined to get as far as he possibly could out
of danger; so he took those that staid along with him, and fled to
Tiberias.

CHAPTER 7.

Vespasian, When He Had Taken The City Gadaea Marches To
Jotapata. After A Long Siege The City Is Betrayed By A
Deserter, And Taken By Vespasian.

1. So Vespasian marched to the city Gadara, and took it upon the first
onset, because he found it destitute of any considerable number of men
grown up and fit for war. He came then into it, and slew all the youth,
the Romans having no mercy on any age whatsoever; and this was done out
of the hatred they bore the nation, and because of the iniquity they had
been guilty of in the affair of Cestius. He also set fire not only to
the city itself, but to all the villas and small cities that were round
about it; some of them were quite destitute of inhabitants, and out of
some of them he carried the inhabitants as slaves into captivity.

2. As to Josephus, his retiring to that city which he chose as the most
fit for his security, put it into great fear; for the people of Tiberias
did not imagine that he would have run away, unless he had entirely
despaired of the success of the war. And indeed, as to that point, they
were not mistaken about his opinion; for he saw whither the affairs of
the Jews would tend at last, and was sensible that they had but one way
of escaping, and that was by repentance. However, although he expected
that the Romans would forgive him, yet did he chose to die many times
over, rather than to betray his country, and to dishonor that supreme
command of the army which had been intrusted with him, or to live
happily under those against whom he was sent to fight. He determined,
therefore, to give an exact account of affairs to the principal men at
Jerusalem by a letter, that he might not, by too much aggrandizing the
power of the enemy, make them too timorous; nor, by relating that their
power beneath the truth, might encourage them to stand out when they
were perhaps disposed to repentance. He also sent them word, that if
they thought of coming to terms, they must suddenly write him an answer;
or if they resolved upon war, they must send