by G. A. Henty
Chapter 16: The Subterranean Passage.
For a few days after the capture of the lower city, the Jews had arespite. Titus knew that famine was sapping the strength of thedefenders, and that every day weakened their power of resistance.He saw that the assault upon their strong position would beattended with immense difficulty, and loss, and he was desirous ofsaving the city from destruction. He ordered, therefore, a grandreview of the troops to take place; and for four days the greatarmy at his command--the splendid cavalry, the solid masses of theRoman infantry, and the light-armed troops and cavalry of theallies, defiled before him. The Jews from the height of the citywatched, with a feeling of dull despair, the tremendous powerassembled against them; and felt the hopelessness of furtherresistance.
An intense desire for peace reigned, throughout the multitude, butJohn of Gischala and Simon had no thought of yielding. Theybelieved that, whatever mercy Titus might be ready to grant to theinhabitants of the town, for them and their followers there was nohope, whatever, of pardon; and they were firmly resolved to resistuntil the last. Titus, finding that no offers of submission camefrom the city, sent Josephus to parley with the defenders.
He could not have made a worse choice of an ambassador. Divided asthe Jews were, among themselves, they were united in a commonhatred for the man whom they regarded as a traitor to his country;and the harangue of Josephus, to the effect that resistance wasunavailing, and that they should submit themselves to the mercy ofTitus, was drowned by the execrations from the walls. In fact, inno case could his words have reached any large number of theinhabitants; for he had cautiously placed himself out of bow shotof the walls, and his words could scarcely have reached those forwhom they had been intended, even if silence had been observed. Hismission, therefore, was altogether unavailing.
Illustration: Misery in Jerusalem During the Siege by Titus.
John felt his own resolution terribly shaken, by the sights whichhe beheld in the city. The inhabitants moved about like specters,or fell and died in the streets. He felt, now, that resistance hadbeen a mistake; and that it would have been far better to havethrown open the gates, when Titus appeared before them--in whichcase the great proportion, at least, of those within would havebeen spared, and the Temple and the city itself would have escapeddestruction. He even regretted that he had marched down to takepart in the defense. Had he known how entirely exhausted were thegranaries, he would not have done so. He had thought that, atleast, there would have been sufficient provisions for a siege ofsome months, and that the patience of the Romans might have beenworn out.
He felt, now, that the sacrifice had been a useless one; butalthough he, himself, would now have raised his voice in favor ofsurrender, he was powerless. Even his own men would not havelistened to his voice. Originally the most fervent and ardentspirits of his band, they were now inspired by a feeling ofdesperate enthusiasm, equal to that which animated Simon and Johnof Gischala; and his authority would have been at once overthrown,had he ventured to raise his voice in favor of surrender.
Already, he had once been made to feel that there were points as towhich his influence failed to have any effect, whatever. He had,the morning after they retired to the upper city, spoken to his menon the subject of their store of grain. He had urged on them thehorrors which were taking place before their eyes--that women andchildren were expiring in thousands, and that the inhabitants weresuffering the extreme agonies of starvation--and had concluded byproposing that their store should be distributed among the starvingwomen. His words had been received in silence, and then one of thecaptains of the companies had risen.
"What you say, John, of the sufferings which the people areundergoing is felt by us all; but I, for one, cannot agree to theproposal that we should give up our store of food. Owing to thenumber of us that have fallen, there are still well-nigh fiftypounds a man left, which will keep us in health and strength foranother two months. Were we to give it out, it would not sufficefor a single meal, for a quarter of the people assembled here, andwould delay their death but a few hours; thus it would profit themnothing, while it will enable us to maintain our strength--andmaybe, at a critical moment, to hurl back the Romans from the verygates of the Temple.
"It would be wickedness, not charity, to part with our store. Itwould defeat the object for which we came here, and for which weare ready to die, without any real benefit to those on whom webestowed the food."
A general chorus of approval showed that the speaker representedthe opinion of his comrades. After a pause, he went on:
"There is another reason why we should keep what we, ourselves,have brought in here. You know how the soldiers of Simon persecutethe people--how they torture them to discover hidden stores offood, how they break in and rob them as they devour, in secret, theprovisions they have concealed. I know not whether hunger coulddrive us to act likewise, but we know the lengths to which famishedmen can be driven. Therefore, I would that we should be spared thenecessity for such cruelties, to keep life together. We are allready to die, but let it be as strong men, facing the enemy, andslaying as we fall."
Again, the murmur of approval was heard; and John felt that itwould be worse than useless to urge the point. He admitted tohimself that there was reason in the argument; and that, while adistribution of their food would give the most temporary relief,only, to the multitude, it would impair the efficiency of the band.The result showed him that, implicit as was the obedience given tohim in all military matters, his influence had its limits; andthat, beyond a certain point, his authority ceased.
Henceforth he remained in the house, except when he went to hispost on the walls immediately adjoining; and he therefore escapedbeing harrowed by the sight of sufferings that he could notrelieve. Each day, however, he set apart the half of his ownportion of grain; and gave it to the first starving woman he met,when he went out. The regulation issue of rations had now ceased.The granaries were exhausted and, henceforth, Simon's troops livedentirely upon the food they extorted from the inhabitants.
John of Gischala's followers fared better. Enormous as had been thedestruction of grain, the stores in the Temple were so prodigiousthat they were enabled to live in comparative abundance, and somaintained their strength and fighting power.
But the sufferings of the people increased daily, and great numbersmade their escape from the city--either sallying out from unguardedposterns, at night; or letting themselves down from the lower partof the walls, by ropes. Titus allowed them to pass through; butJohn of Gischala and Simon, with purposeless cruelty, placed guardson all the walls and gates, to prevent the starving people leavingthe city--although their true policy would have been to facilitate,in every way, the escape of all save the fighting men; and thus tohusband what provisions still remained for the use of the defendersof the city.
In the daytime, when the gates were open, people went out andcollected vegetables and herbs from the gardens between the wallsand the Roman posts; but on their return were pitilessly robbed bythe rough soldiers, who confiscated to their own use all that wasbrought in. The efforts to escape formed a fresh pretext, to Simonand John of Gischala, to plunder the wealthy inhabitants who, underthe charge of intending to fly to the Romans, were despoiled of allthey had, tortured and executed.
Titus soon changed his policy and, instead of allowing thedeserters to make their way through, seized them and those who wentout from the city to seek food, scourged, tortured, and crucifiedthem before the walls. Sometimes as many as five hundred werecrucified in a single day. This checked the desertion; and themultitude, deeming it better to die of hunger than to be torturedto death by the Romans, resigned themselves to the misery ofstarvation.
For seventeen days, the Romans labored at their embankments, andonly one attack was made upon the walls. This was carried out bythe son of the King of Commagene, who had just joined the army witha chosen band, armed and attired in the Macedonian fashion. As soonas he arrived, he loudly expressed his surprise at the duration ofthe siege. Titus, heari
ng this, told him that he was at perfectliberty to assault the city, if he liked. This he and his men atonce did, and fought with great valor; but with no successwhatever, a great number of them being killed, and scarcely oneescaping uninjured.
For a fortnight, John had bestowed the half of his ration upon apoor woman, whose child was sick; and who stood at the door of herhouse, every morning, to wait his passing. One day, she begged himto enter.
"I shall need no more food," she said. "Thanks to God, who sent youto our aid, my child is recovered, and can now walk; and I intendto fly, tonight, from this terrible place."
"But there is no escape," John said. "The soldiers allow none topass and, if you could pass through them, the Romans would slayyou."
"I can escape," the woman said, "and that is why I have called youin.
"My husband--who was killed by Simon's robbers, three monthsago--was for many years employed in working in the undergroundpassages of the city, and in repairing the conduits which carry thewater from the springs. As I often carried down his food to him,when he was at work, I know every winding and turn of theunderground ways.
"As you know, the ground beneath the city is honeycombed bypassages whence stone was, in the old time, obtained for buildings.There are many houses which have entrance, by pits, into theseplaces. This is one of them, and my husband took it for thatconvenience. From here, I can find my way down to the great conduitwhich was built, by King Hezekiah, to bring the water from theupper springs of the river Gihon down into the city. Some of thesewaters supply the pool known as the Dragon Pool, but the main bodyruns down the conduit in the line of the Tyropoeon Valley; andthose from the Temple could, in old times, go down and draw water,thence, should the pools and cistern fail. But that entrance haslong been blocked up for, when the Temple was destroyed and thepeople carried away captives, the ruins covered the entrance, andnone knew of it.
"My husband when at work once found a passage which ran, for somedistance, by the side of some massive masonry of old time. One ofthe great stones was loose; and he prised it out, to see what mightlie behind it. When he did so he heard the sound of running waterand, passing through the hole, found himself in a great conduit.This he afterwards followed up; and found that it terminated, atthe upper end of the Valley of Hinnom, in a round chamber, at thebottom of which springs bubbled up. There was an entrance to thischamber from without, through a passage. The outer exit of this waswell-nigh filled up with earth, and many bushes grew there; so thatnone passing by would have an idea of its existence.
"When the troubles here became great, he took me and showed me theconduit; and led me to the exit, saying that the time might comewhen I might need to fly from Jerusalem. The exit lies far beyondthe camps that the Romans have planted on either side of the Valleyof Hinnom; and by going out at night, I and my child can make ourway, unseen, to the hills. Since you have saved our lives, I tellyou of this secret; which is known, I think, to none but myselffor, after showing me the place, my husband closed up the entranceto the passage--which was, before, well-nigh filled up with stones.
"It may be that the time may come when you, too, will need to saveyourself by flight. Now, if you will come with me, I will show youthe way. See, I have mixed here a pot of charcoal and water, withwhich we can mark the turnings and the passages; so that you willafterwards be able to find your way for, without such aid, youwould never be able to follow the path, through its many windings,after only once going through it."
John thanked the woman warmly for her offer, and they at onceprepared to descend into the pit. This was situated in a cellarbeneath the house; and was boarded over so that plunderers,entering to search for provisions, would not discover it. Uponentering the cellar, the woman lit two lamps.
"They are full of oil," she said, "and I have often been sorelytempted to drink it; but I have kept it untouched, knowing that mylife might some day depend upon it."
Rough steps were cut in the side of the pit and, after descendingsome thirty feet, John found himself in a long passage. The womanled the way. As they went on, John was surprised at the number andextent of these passages, which crossed each other in alldirections--sometimes opening into great chambers, from which largequantities of stone had been taken--while he passed many shafts,like that by which they had descended, to the surface above. Thewoman led the way with an unfaltering step, which showed howthorough was her acquaintance with the ground; pausing, when theyturned down a fresh passage, to make a smear at the corner of thewall with the black liquid.
Presently, the passages began to descend rapidly.
"We are now under the Palace of King Agrippa," she said, "and aredescending by the side of the Tyropoeon Valley."
Presently, turning down a small side passage, they found their wayarrested by a pile of stones and rubbish. They clambered up this,removed some of the upper stones, and crawled along underneath theroof. The rubbish heap soon slanted down again, and they continuedtheir way, as before. Another turn, and they were in a widerpassage than those they had latterly traversed.
"This is the wall of the conduit," the woman said, touching themassive masonry on her right hand. "The opening is a little furtheron."
Presently they arrived at a great stone, lying across a passage,corresponding in size to a gap in the wall on the right. They madetheir way through this, and found themselves in the Conduit of KingHezekiah. A stream of water, ankle deep, was running through it.
"We need not go further," the woman said. "Once here, you cannotmiss your way. It will take nigh an hour's walking through thewater before you arrive at the chamber of the springs, from whichthere is but the one exit."
"I will come down again with you, tonight," John said, "and willcarry your child to the entrance. You will both need all yourstrength, when you sally out; so as to get well beyond the Romans,who are scattered all over the country, cutting wood for theirembankments. Moreover, I shall be able to see, as I come down withyou, whether all the marks are plainly visible, and that there isno fear of mistake for, once lost in these passages, one wouldnever find one's way again; and there would be the choice betweendying of hunger, and of being found by the Romans--who willassuredly search all these passages for fugitives, as they did atJotapata.
"Truly, I thank you with all my heart; I feel you have given me themeans of saving my life--that is, if I do not fall in thefighting."
As they made their way back to the house, John examined the marksat every turning, and added to those that were not sufficientlyconspicuous to catch the eye at once. When they had gained thecellar, and replaced the boards, the woman said:
"Why should you not also leave the city, tonight? All say thatthere is no hope of resistance; and that John of Gischala and Simonare only bringing destruction, upon all in the city, by thusholding out against the Romans. Why should you throw away your lifeso uselessly?"
"I have come here to defend the Temple," John said, "and so long asthe Temple stands I will resist the enemy. It may be it is useless,but no one can say what is the purpose of God, or whether He doesnot yet intend to save his Holy Seat. But when the Temple hasfallen, I shall have no more to fight for; and will then, if I can,save my life, for the sake of those who love me."
That evening, on his return from the wall, John proceeded to thehouse of the woman. She was in readiness for the journey. Thechild, who was seven or eight years old, was dressed; and themother had a little bundle with her valuables by her. As soon asthey descended into the passage below, John offered to carry thechild, but her mother refused.
"She can walk well," she said, "for a time, and you could not carryher upon your shoulder; for the passages are, in many places, butjust high enough for you to pass under without stooping. At anyrate, she can walk for a time."
It was not long, however, before the child, weakened by itsillness, began to drag behind; and John swung her up on to hisback. The marks, he found, were easily made out; and in half anhour they arrived at the entrance to the conduit. Here they wereforced to walk, slow
ly. In some places the water, owing to thechannel having sunk, deepened to the knee; at other times stoneshad fallen from the roof, and impeded their passage; and it wasnearly two hours before they reached the arched chamber, at thetermination of the conduit. There was a stone pavement round theedge of the pool, and upon this they sat down to rest, for an hour,for both John and the woman were exhausted by the labor they hadundergone.
"It is time for me to be moving," the woman said, rising. "It mustbe nigh midnight, and I must be some miles on my way beforemorning. The child has walked but a short distance, yet; and willdo her best, now, when she knows that those wicked Romans will killher--and her mother--if they catch them.
"Won't you, Mariamne?"
The child nodded. The Romans were the bogey with which Jewishchildren had, for the last five years, been frightened; and sheannounced her intention of walking till her feet fell off.
"I will carry you, as much as I can," her mother said, "but it canonly be for a short distance at a time; for I, too, am weak, andyour weight is too much for me.
"And now, God bless you, my friend," she said, turning to John;"and may He keep you safe through the dangers of the siege, andlead you to your home and parents again!"
They made their way to the end of the passage together; climbedover the rubbish, which nearly blocked the entrance; crawledthrough the hole, and found themselves in the outer air. Thick lowbushes covered the ground around them, and no sound was to beheard.
John rose to his feet, and looked round. Behind him, at thedistance of more than a quarter of a mile, the light of the Romanwatch fires showed where the legions were encamped. Beyond andabove could be seen, here and there, a light in the city. No soundwas to be heard, save the occasional call of a Roman sentinel. Onthe other side, all was dark; for the working parties alwaysreturned to camp, at night, in readiness to repel any sortie theJews might make against the camps or working parties.
"It is a very dark night," John said, doubtfully. "Do you think youcan find your way?"
"There are the stars," the woman replied, confidently. "Besides, Iwas born at Bethlehem, and know the country well. I shall keep onwest for a while, and then turn off into the deep valleys leadingdown towards Masada.
"God be with you!" and, taking the child's hand, she emerged fromthe bushes, and glided noiselessly away into the darkness.
John set out on his return journey--which he found very muchshorter than he had done coming, for the weight of a child for twohours, when walking over difficult ground, is trying even to astrong and active man. He carefully replaced the boards across themouth of the pit, placed the lamps in a position so that he couldfind them in the dark and, upon going out of the house, closed thedoor carefully.
The next morning, that of the 29th of May, the Roman attack began.The Fifth and Twelfth Legions had raised embankments near theStruthion--or Soapwort--Pool, facing the Castle of Antonia; whilethe Tenth and Fifteenth raised theirs facing the great towers ofHippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne. They had not carried out theirwork unmolested, for the Jews had now learned the art ofconstructing and managing war machines; and had made three hundredscorpions for throwing arrows, and forty ballistae for hurlingstones and, with these, they had caused terrible annoyance andgreat loss to the Romans.
But now, all was prepared. On the evening of the 28th, the laststroke had been given to the embankment; and on the followingmorning the engines were mounted, and the troops stood in readinessfor the attack. Suddenly a smoke was seen, stealing up round theembankments facing Antonia; and the Roman officers called backtheir men, not knowing what was going to occur. Then a series ofmighty crashes was heard. The great embankments, with their enginesand battering rams, tottered and fell. Dense smoke shot up incolumns, followed rapidly by tongues of fire, and soon the vastpiles of materials, collected and put together with so much pains,were blazing fiercely; while the Jews laughed, and shouted intriumph, upon the walls.
The moment John of Gischala perceived where the Romans were goingto construct their embankments, he had begun to run a mine frombehind the walls towards them. When the gallery was extended underthem, a great excavation was hollowed out; the roof being supportedby huge beams, between which were piled up pitch and othercombustibles. When the Romans were seen advancing to the attack,fire was applied and, as soon as the supports of the roof wereburned away, the ground, with the embankments upon it, fell in.
Simon, on his side, was equally ready to receive the enemy, but hetrusted rather to valour than stratagem; and as soon as the Romanengines facing the towers began to shake the walls, Tepthaus,Megassar, and Chagiras rushed out, with torches in their hands,followed by a crowd of Simon's soldiers. They drove the Romansbefore them, and set fire to the great machine.
The Romans crowded up to the assistance of the working parties but,as they advanced, they were received with showers of missiles fromthe walls; and attacked fiercely by the Jews, who poured out fromthe city in a continuous stream. The flames spread rapidly and,seeing no hope of saving their engines and embankments, the Romansretreated to their camp. The triumphant Jews pressed hard on theirrear, rushed upon the intrenchments, and assailed the guards.Numbers of these were killed, but the rest fought resolutely, whilethe engines on the works poured showers of missiles among the Jews.
Careless of death, the assailants pressed forward, stormed theintrenchment; and the Romans were on the point of flight whenTitus, who had been absent upon the other side, arrived with astrong body of troops, and fell upon the Jews. A desperate contestensued, but the Jews were finally driven back into the city.
Their enterprise had, however, been crowned with complete success.The embankments, which had occupied the Romans seventeen days inbuilding, were destroyed; and with them the battering rams, and thegreater part of their engines. The work of reconstruction would befar more difficult and toilsome than at first, for the country hadbeen denuded of timber, for many miles off. Moreover, the soldierswere becoming greatly disheartened by the failure of all theirattacks upon the city.
Titus summoned a council, and laid before them three plans: one foran attempt to take the city by storm; the second to repair theworks and rebuild the engines; the third to blockade the city, andstarve it into surrender. The last was decided upon and, as a firststep, the whole army was set to work, to build a trench and wallround the city. The work was carried on with the greatest zeal; andin three days the wall, nearly five miles in circumference, wascompleted. Thus there was no longer any chance of escape to theinhabitants; no more possibility of going out, at night, to searchfor food.
Now the misery of the siege was redoubled. Thousands died daily. Amournful silence hung over the city. Some died in their houses,some in the streets. Some crawled to the cemeteries, and expiredthere. Some sat upon their housetops, with their eyes fixed uponthe Temple, until they sank back dead. No one had strength to diggraves, and the dead bodies were thrown from the walls into theravines below.
The high priest Matthias, who had admitted Simon and his followersinto the city, was suspected of being in communication with theRomans; and he and his three sons were led out on to the wall, andexecuted in sight of the besiegers, while fifteen of the members ofthe Sanhedrin were executed at the same time. These murders causedindignation even on the part of some of Simon's men, and one Judas,with ten others, agreed to deliver one of the towers to the enemy;but the Romans--rendered cautious by the treachery which had beforebeen practised--hesitated to approach and, before they wereconvinced that the offer was made in good faith, Simon discoveredwhat was going on, and the eleven conspirators were executed uponthe walls, and their bodies thrown over.
Despair drove many, again, to attempt desertion. Some of these, onreaching the Roman lines, were spared; but many more were killed,for the sake of the money supposed to be concealed upon them. Up tothe 1st of July, it was calculated that well-nigh six hundredthousand had perished, in addition to the vast numbers buried inthe cemetery, and the great heaps of dead before the walls. Greatnumbers of the h
ouses had become tombs, the inhabitants shuttingthemselves up, and dying quietly together.
But, while trusting chiefly to famine, the Romans had labouredsteadily on at their military engines--although obliged to fetchthe timber for ten miles--and, at the beginning of July, thebattering rams began to play against Antonia. The Jews sallied out,but this time with less fury than usual; and they were repulsedwithout much difficulty by the Romans. All day long the batteringrams thundered against the wall; while men, protected by hurdlesand penthouses, laboured to dislodge the stones at the foot of thewalls, in spite of the storm of missiles hurled down from above.
By nightfall, they had got out four large stones. It happened thatthese stones stood just over the part under which John of Gischalahad driven his mine, when he destroyed the Roman embankments; andthus, doubly weakened, the wall fell with a crash during the night.John, however, had built another wall in the rear and, when theRomans rushed to the assault of the breach, in the morning, theyfound a new line of defence confronting them.
Titus addressed the troops, and called for volunteers. Sabinus, aSyrian, volunteered for the attack, and eleven men followed him. Inspite of the storm of missiles he reached the top of the wall. TheJews, believing that many were behind him, turned to fly; but hisfoot slipped and he fell and, before he could regain his feet, theJews turned round upon him and slew him. Three of his companionsfell beside him, on the top of the wall; and the rest were carriedback, wounded, to camp.
Two days later, in the middle of the night, twenty Roman soldiers,with a standard bearer and trumpeter, crept silently up to thebreach, surprised, and slew the watch. The trumpeter blew thecharge; and the Jews, believing that the whole Roman army was uponthem, fled in a sudden panic. Titus at once advanced with his men,stormed the new wall, entered the Castle of Antonia, and thenadvanced along the cloisters which connected it with the Temple;but John of Gischala had by this time arrived at the spot, andopposed a desperate resistance to the assault; until Simon,crossing from the upper city by the bridge, came to his assistance;and John, finding that the Temple was attacked, also led his bandacross.
For ten hours, the struggle raged. Vast numbers fell, on bothsides; till the dead formed a bank between the combatants. Titus,finding that even the courage and discipline of his troops did notavail, against the desperate resistance of the Jews, at last calledthem off from the assault--well satisfied with having capturedAntonia.
During the fight the Romans had, several times, nearly penetratedinto the Temple. Indeed, a centurion named Julian--a man of greatstrength, courage, and skill at arms--had charged the Jews withsuch fury that he had made his way, alone, as far as the innercourt; when his mailed shoes slipped on the marble pavement, and hefell; and the Jews, rushing back, slew him--after a desperateresistance, to the end.
Titus commanded that the fortress of Antonia should be levelled tothe ground; and then sent Josephus with a message to John ofGischala, offering him free egress for himself and his men, if hewould come out to fight outside, in order that the Temple might besaved further defilement. John replied by curses upon Josephus,whom he denounced as a traitor; and concluded that he feared notthat the city should be taken, for it was the city of God. ThenTitus sent for a number of persons of distinction who had, fromtime to time, made their escape from the city; and these attempted,in vain, to persuade the people--if not to surrender--at least tospare the Temple from defilement and ruin. Even the Roman soldierswere adverse to an attack upon a place so long regarded aspre-eminently holy, and Titus himself harangued the Jews.
"You have put up a barrier," he said, "to prevent strangers frompolluting your Temple. This the Romans have always respected. Wehave allowed you to put to death all who violated its precincts;yet you defile it, yourselves, with blood and carnage. I call onyour gods--I call on my whole army--I call upon the Jews who arewith me--I call on yourselves--to witness that I do not force youto this crime. Come forth and fight, in any other place, and noRoman shall violate your sacred edifice."
But John of Gischala, and the Zealots, would hear of no surrender.They doubted whether Titus would keep his promise, and feared tosurrender the stronghold which was now their last hope. Above all,they still believed that God would yet interfere to save hisTemple.
Titus, finding that the garrison were obstinate, raised his voiceand called out:
"John--whom I met near Hebron--if you be there, bear witness that Ihave striven to keep my oath. I will strive to the end; but blameme not if, not through my fault, but by the obstinacy of these men,destruction comes upon the Temple."
John, who was standing within hearing, called out:
"I am here, Titus, and I bear witness; yet, I pray you, strive tothe end to keep the oath which you swore to me."
"What is this oath, John?" Simon, who was standing close by, asked."What compact have you with the Roman general?"
"We met in battle, alone," John said, quietly, "and it chanced thathe fell. I might have slain him, but it came to me that it werebetter to try to save the Temple, than to slay one of its enemies;and therefore swore him to save the Temple, if it lay in his power.He has offered to spare it. It lay with you, and John of Gischala,to save the Temple from destruction by accepting his terms. Youhave not done so. If the Temple is destroyed, it is by theobstinacy of its defenders, not by the cruelty of the Romans."
"It would be madness to accept his offer," Simon said, angrily."Titus knows well that, in the plains, we should be no match forhis troops. Did you ever hear, before, of a garrison giving up aposition so strong that it could not be taken from them, and goingout to fight beyond the walls? Besides, who can tell that theRomans will keep their promises? Once we are at their mercy, theymight level the Temple."
"In that case, the sin would be upon their heads. Besides, there isno occasion to retire beyond the walls. Why should not all thefighting men retire into the upper city, and leave the Temple toGod? If it is his will that the Romans should destroy it, they willdo so. If it is his will that they should respect it, they will doso. He can save, or destroy, at his will. If we retreat to theupper town, and break down the bridge after us, they could nevertake it."
"And how long could we hold out?" Simon said, with a hard laugh."Is there a day's food left, in the city? If there is, my men areless sharp than I give them credit for. No, we will fight here, tothe end, for the Temple; and the sooner the Romans attack, thebetter, for if they delay many days, there is not a single man willhave strength enough to lift a sword."
