ew and confessed that these prisoners were no way guilty
of any sedition against the Romans. Nor indeed did Titus now give his
consent, so far as appears, nor ever act of himself so barbarously;
nay, soon after this, Titus grew quite weary of shedding blood, and of
punishing the innocent with the guilty, and gave the people of Gischala
leave to keep the Jewish sabbath, B. IV. ch. 2. sect. 3, 5, in the midst
of their siege. Nor was Vespasian disposed to do what he did, till his
officers persuaded him, and that from two principal topics, viz. that
nothing could be unjust that was done against Jews; and that when both
cannot be consistent, advantage must prevail over justice. Admirable
court doctrines these!

BOOK IV.

Containing The Interval Of About One Year.

From The Siege Of Gamala To The Coming Of Titus To Besiege
Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 1.

The Siege And Taking Of Gamala.

1. Now all those Galileans who, after the taking of Jotapata, had
revolted from the Romans, did, upon the conquest of Taricheae, deliver
themselves up to them again. And the Romans received all the fortresses
and the cities, excepting Gischala and those that had seized upon Mount
Tabor; Gamala also, which is a city ever against Tarichem, but on the
other side of the lake, conspired with them. This city lay Upon the
borders of Agrippa's kingdom, as also did Sogana and Scleucia. And these
were both parts of Gaulanitis; for Sogana was a part of that called
the Upper Gaulanitis, as was Gamala of the Lower; while Selcucia was
situated at the lake Semechouitis, which lake is thirty furlongs in
breadth, and sixty in length; its marshes reach as far as the place
Daphne, which in other respects is a delicious place, and hath such
fountains as supply water to what is called Little Jordan, under the
temple of the golden calf, [1] where it is sent into Great Jordan. Now
Agrippa had united Sogana and Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the
very beginning of the revolt from the Romans; yet did not Gamala accede
to them, but relied upon the difficulty of the place, which was greater
than that of Jotapata, for it was situated upon a rough ridge of a high
mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle: where it begins to ascend,
it lengthens itself, and declines as much downward before as behind,
insomuch that it is like a camel in figure, from whence it is so named,
although the people of the country do not pronounce it accurately.