tacked them, and that
both by his hand and his advice. So Ananus and his party believed his
oath, and did now receive him to their consultations without further
suspicion; nay, so far did they believe him, that they sent him as
their ambassador into the temple to the zealots, with proposals of
accommodation; for they were very desirous to avoid the pollution of the
temple as much as they possibly could, and that no one of their nation
should be slain therein.

14. But now this John, as if his oath had been made to the zealots, and
for confirmation of his good-will to them, and not against them, went
into the temple, and stood in the midst of them, and spake as follows:
That he had run many hazards o, their accounts, and in order to let them
know of every thing that was secretly contrived against them by Ananus
and his party; but that both he and they should be cast into the most
imminent danger, unless some providential assistance were afforded them;
for that Ananus made no longer delay, but had prevailed with the people
to send ambassadors to Vespasian, to invite him to come presently and
take the city; and that he had appointed a fast for the next day against
them, that they might obtain admission into the temple on a religious
account, or gain it by force, and fight with them there; that he did not
see how long they could either endure a siege, or how they could fight
against so many enemies. He added further, that it was by the
providence of God he was himself sent as an ambassador to them for an
accommodation; for that Artanus did therefore offer them such proposals,
that he might come upon them when they were unarmed; that they ought
to choose one of these two methods, either to intercede with those that
guarded them, to save their lives, or to provide some foreign assistance
for themselves; that if they fostered themselves with the hopes of
pardon, in case they were subdued, they had forgotten what desperate
things they had done, or could suppose, that as soon as the actors
repented, those that had suffered by them must be presently reconciled
to them; while those that have done injuries, though they pretend to
repent of them, are frequently hated by the others for that sort of
repentance; and that the sufferers, when they get the power into their
hands, are usually still more severe upon the actors; that the friends
and kindred of those that had been destroyed would always be laying
plots against them; and that