old men, together with the others that
were useless, which were in number a thousand and two hundred. Out of
the young men he chose six thousand of the strongest, and sent them to
Nero, to dig through the Isthmus, and sold the remainder for slaves,
being thirty thousand and four hundred, besides such as he made a
present of to Agrippa; for as to those that belonged to his kingdom, he
gave him leave to do what he pleased with them; however, the king sold
these also for slaves; but for the rest of the multitude, who were
Trachonites, and Gaulanites, and of Hippos, and some of Gadara, the
greatest part of them were seditious persons and fugitives, who were of
such shameful characters, that they preferred war before peace. These
prisoners were taken on the eighth day of the month Gorpiaeus [Elul].

WAR BOOK 3 NOTES

[1] Take the confirmation of this in the words of Suetonius, here
produced by Dr. Hudson: "In the reign of Claudius," says he, "Vespasian,
for the sake of Narcissus, was sent as a lieutenant of a legion into
Germany. Thence he removed into Britain battles with the enemy." In
Vesp. sect. 4. We may also here note from Josephus, that Claudius the
emperor, who triumphed for the conquest of Britain, was enabled so to
do by Vespasian's conduct and bravery, and that he is here styled "the
father of Vespasian."

[2] Spanheim and Reland both agree, that the two cities here esteemed
greater than Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, were Rome and Alexandria;
nor is there any occasion for doubt in so plain a case.

[3] This description of the exact symmetry and regularity of the Roman
army, and of the Roman encampments, with the sounding their trumpets,
etc. and order of war, described in this and the next chapter, is so
very like to the symmetry and regularity of the people of Israel in the
wilderness, [see Description of the Temples, ch. 9.,] that one cannot
well avoid the supposal, that the one was the ultimate pattern of the
other, and that the tactics of the ancients were taken from the rules
given by God to Moses. And it is thought by some skillful in these
matters, that these accounts of Josephus, as to the Roman camp and
armor, and conduct in war, are preferable to those in the Roman authors
themselves.

[4] I cannot but here observe an Eastern way of speaking, frequent among
them, but not usual among us, where the word "only" or "alone" is not
set down, but perhaps some way supplied in the pronunciation. Thus
J