For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 11: A Tale Of Civil Strife.

  Towards the spring, Simon and his family were surprised by a visitfrom the Rabbi Solomon Ben Manasseh. It was a year since they hadlast seen him, when he called to take leave of them, on startingfor Jerusalem. They scarcely recognized him as he entered, so oldand broken did he look.

  "The Lord be praised that I see you all, safe and well!" he said,as they assisted him to dismount from the donkey that he rode. "Ah,my friends, you are happy, indeed, in your quiet farm; free fromall the distractions of this terrible time! Looking round here, andseeing you just as I left you--save that the young people havegrown, somewhat--I could think that I left you but yesterday, andthat I have been passing through a hideous nightmare.

  "Look at me! My flesh has fallen away, and my strength has gone. Ican scarce stand upon my legs, and a young child could overthrowme. I have wept, till my tears are dried up, over the misfortunesof Jerusalem; and yet no enemy has come within sight of her walls,or dug a trench against her. She is devoured by her own children.Ruin and desolation have come upon her."

  The old man was assisted into the house, and food and wine placedbefore him. Then he was led into the guest chamber, and there sleptfor some hours. In the evening, he had recovered somewhat of hisstrength, and joined the party at their meal.

  When it was concluded, and the family were alone, he told them whathad happened in Jerusalem during the past year. Vague rumors ofdissension, and civil war, had reached them; but a jealous watchwas set round the city, and none were suffered to leave, under thepretext that all who wished to go out were deserters who sought tojoin the Romans.

  "I passed through, with difficulty," the rabbi said, "after bribingJohn of Gischala, with all my worldly means, to grant me a passthrough the guards; and even then should not have succeeded, had henot known me in old times, when I looked upon him as one zealousfor the defense of the country against the Romans--little thinking,then, that the days would come when he would grow into an oppressorof the people, tenfold as cruel and pitiless as the worst of theRoman tribunes.

  "Last autumn when, with the band of horsemen, with steeds wearywith hard riding, he arrived before the gates of Jerusalem--sayingthat they had come to defend the city, thinking it not worth whileto risk their lives in the defense of a mere mountain town, likeGischala--the people poured out to meet him, and do him honor.Terrible rumors of slaughter and massacre, in Galilee, had reachedus, but none knew the exact truth. Moreover, John had been an enemyof Josephus and, since Josephus had gone over to the Romans, hisname was hated and accursed among the people; and thus they werefavorably inclined towards John.

  "I don't think anyone was deceived by the story he told, for it wasevident that John and his men had fled before the Romans. Still,the tidings he brought were reassuring, and he was gladly receivedin the city. He told us that the Romans had suffered very heavilyat the sieges of Jotapata and Gamala, that they were greatlydispirited by the desperate resistance they had met with, that anumber of their engines of war had been destroyed, and that theywere in no condition to undertake the siege of a strong city likeJerusalem. But though all outwardly rejoiced, many in their heartsgrieved at the news, for they thought that even an occupation bythe Romans would be preferable to the suffering they wereundergoing.

  "For months, bands of robbers, who called themselves Zealots, hadravaged the whole country; pillaging, burning, and slaying, underthe pretense that those they assaulted were favorable to the causeof Rome. Thus, gradually, the country people all forsook theirhomes, and fled to Jerusalem for refuge and, when the country wasleft a desert and no more plunder was to be gained, these robberbands gradually entered Jerusalem. As you know, the gates of theholy city were always open to all the Jewish people; and nonethought of excluding the strangers who entered, believing thatevery armed man would add to the power of resistance, when theRomans appeared before it.

  "The robbers, who came singly or in small parties from all parts ofthe country, soon gathered themselves together in the city, andestablished a sort of terror over the peaceable inhabitants. Menwere robbed, and murdered, openly in the street; houses were brokenopen, and pillaged; none dare walk in the street, without the riskof insult or assault. Antipas, Levias, and Saphias--all of royalblood--were seized, thrown into prison, and there murdered; andmany others of the principal people were slain.

  "Then the robbers proceeded to further lengths. They took uponthemselves to appoint a high priest; selected a family which had noclaim whatever to the distinction and, drawing lots among them,chose as high priest one Phannias--a country priest, ignorant,boorish, and wholly unable to discharge the function of the office.Hitherto, the people had submitted to the oppression of theZealots, but this desecration of the holy office filled them withrage and indignation; and Ananus--the oldest of the chief priests,a man of piety and wisdom--was the head of the movement and,calling the people together, exhorted them to resist the tyrannywhich oppressed them, and which was now desecrating the Temple--forthe Zealots had taken refuge there, and made the holy place theirheadquarters.

  "The people seized their arms, but before they were ready for theattack the Zealots, learning what was going on, took the initiativeand fell upon them. The people were less accustomed to arms thantheir foes, but they had the superiority of numbers, and foughtwith fury. At first the Zealots gained the advantage, but thepeople increased in numbers. Those behind pressed those in frontforward, and the Zealots were driven back into the Temple, and theQuadrangle of the Gentiles was taken.

  "The Zealots fled into the inner court, and closed the gates.Thither their wounded had already been carried, and the whole placewas defiled with their blood. But Ananus, having the fear of Godbefore his eyes, did not like to attack them there and, leaving sixthousand chosen men on guard in the cloisters, and arranging thatthese should be regularly relieved, retired.

  "Such was the state of things, when John of Gischala arrived. He atonce professed complete agreement with the party of Ananus, and wasadmitted into all their councils; but all the time, as weafterwards learned, he was keeping up a secret correspondence withthe Zealots, and betrayed to them all that took place at thecouncil. There was some distrust of him but, in addition to theparty that had entered the city with him, he had speedily gatheredtogether many others and, distracted as we already were with ourtroubles, none cared to add to the number of their enemies byopenly distrusting John--who took many solemn oaths of fidelity tothe cause of order.

  "He at length volunteered to enter the inner Temple, on a missionto the Zealots; and to persuade them to surrender, and leave thecity. But no sooner was he among them than he threw off the mask,and told the Zealots that the offers to allow them to depart inpeace were blinds, and that they would at once be massacred if theysurrendered. He therefore advised them to resist, and to send forassistance without--recommending them especially to send to theIdumeans. Eleazar and Zacharias--the chiefs of the Zealots--feltsure that they, above all, would be sacrificed if they surrendered;and they embraced John's counsel, and sent off swift-footedmessengers to the Idumeans, urging them to come to theirassistance.

  "The Idumeans had, since their conquest by Hyrcanus, beenincorporated with the Jews. They were a fierce and warlikepeople--of Arab descent--and, immediately the messengers of theZealots arrived, they embraced the proposal, anticipating theacquisition of great plunder in Jerusalem. Marching with all speed,they appeared, twenty thousand strong, before the walls ofJerusalem.

  "Although taken completely by surprise--for none knew thatmessengers had gone over to the Idumeans--the people manned thewalls; and Jesus, a colleague of Ananus, addressed the Idumeans. Heasked them to take one of three courses: either to unite with thepeople, in punishing the notorious robbers and assassins who weredesecrating the Temple; or to enter the city unarmed, and arbitratebetween the conflicting parties; or to depart, and leave the cityto settle its own difficulties. Simon, the leader of the Idumeans,answered that they came to take the part of the true patriots,against men wh
o were conspiring basely to sell the people into thehands of the Romans.

  "At this answer Jesus left the wall, and we held debate upon thesituation. Before the arrival of this new enemy, we felt certain ofoverpowering the Zealots; and Ananus would, ere long, have beenpersuaded to lay aside his scruples and attack them for, as theywere desecrating the sanctuary, it would be better to shed theirblood there and, when these wicked men were slain, to offer upatonement and purify the Temple--as had been done before, in thedays of the Maccabees, after the Temple had been defiled.

  "We redoubled our guards round the Temple, so that none could issueout thence to communicate with the Idumeans. At night a terriblestorm set in, with lightning, thunder, and rain, so that the veryearth seemed to shake. A great awe fell upon all, within andwithout the city. To all, it seemed a sign of the wrath of God atthe civil discords; but though, doubtless, it was the voice of theAlmighty, it was rather a presage of further evils.

  "Under shelter of the storm--which drove all the guards to takerefuge--some of the Zealots cut asunder the bars of the gate, andcrept along the street to the wall. Then they sawed through thebars of the gate that faced the Idumeans, who were trembling withterror in the storm. Unseen by anyone, the Idumeans entered thegate, marched through the city, and approached the Temple. Thenthey fell upon our guards, while the Zealots attacked them frombehind.

  "Furious at the hours they had passed exposed to the tempest,ashamed of their fears, and naturally pitiless and cruel, theIdumeans gave no quarter; and a terrible carnage took place amongthe ten thousand men who had been placed in the outer court of theTemple. Some fought desperately, others threw themselves down fromthe wall into the city and, when morning dawned, eight thousandfive hundred of our best fighting men had been slain.

  "As soon as it was daylight, the Idumeans broke into the city,pillaging and slaying. The high priests, Ananus and Jesus, wereamong those who were slain; and in that terrible night wereextinguished the last hopes of saving Jerusalem.

  "Ananus was a man of the highest character. He had laboredunceasingly to place the city in a posture of defense; believing,and rightly, that the stronger were its walls, and the moreformidable the resistance it could offer, the better chance therewas of obtaining favorable terms from the Romans. Ananus was theleader and hope of the peace party, which comprised all therespectable classes, and all the older and wiser men in Jerusalem.His death left the conduct of affairs in the hands of thethoughtless, the rash, and the desperate.

  "The massacre continued for days, the Idumeans hunting the citizensin the streets. Vast numbers were killed, without question. Theyoung men of the upper classes were dragged to prison, and werethere scourged and tortured to force them to join the Zealots, butnot one would do so. All preferred death. Thus perished twelvethousand of the best and wisest in Jerusalem.

  "Then the Zealots set up a tribunal and, by proclamation, assembledseventy of the principal citizens remaining to form a court; andbefore it brought Zacharias, the son of Baruch--an upright,patriotic, and wealthy man. Him they charged with entering intocorrespondence with the Romans, but produced no shadow of evidenceagainst him. Zacharias defended himself boldly, clearlyestablishing his own innocence, and denouncing the iniquities ofhis accusers. The seventy unanimously acquitted the prisoner,preferring to die with him, to condemning an innocent man. TheZealots rushed forward, with cries of rage, and slew Zacharias and,with blows and insults, turned the judges out of the Temple.

  "The Idumeans at length began to weary of massacre, and were satedwith pillage and, declaring that they had been deceived by theZealots, and that they believed no treason had been intended, theyleft the city; first opening the prisons, and releasing twothousand persons confined there, who fled to Simon the son ofGioras, who was wasting the country toward Idumea.

  "The Zealots, after their departure, redoubled their iniquities;and seemed as if they would leave none alive, save the lowest ofthe people. Gorion, a great and distinguished man, was among theslain. Niger of Peraea, who had been the leader in the attack onthe Romans at Ascalon--a noble and true-hearted patriot--was alsomurdered. He died calling upon the Romans to come to avenge thosewho had been thus murdered; and denouncing famine, pestilence, andcivil massacre, as well as war, against the accursed city.

  "I had lain hidden, with an obscure family, with whom I had lodgedduring these terrible times. So great was the terror and misery inthe city that those who lived envied the dead. It was death to buryeven a relative, and both within and without the city lay heaps ofbodies, decaying in the sun.

  "Even among the Zealots themselves, factions arose. John ofGischala headed one party, and that the more violent. Over these heruled with absolute authority, and occupied one portion of thecity. The other party acknowledged no special leader. Sometimes,then, the factions fought among themselves; but neither side ceasedfrom plundering and murdering the inhabitants.

  "Such, my friends, was the condition of Jerusalem when I left it;having, as I told you, purchased a permission from John of Gischalato pass through the guards at the gates.

  "As I traveled here, I learned that another danger threatens us.The sect called the Assassins, as you know, seized the strongfortress of Masada, near the Dead Sea, at the beginning of thetroubles. Until lately, they have been content to subsist on theplunder of the adjacent country but, on the night of the Passover,they surprised Engaddi, dispersed all who resisted, and slew sevenhundred women and children who could not escape. They carried offthe contents of the granaries, and are now wasting the wholeregion.

  "What hope can there be of success, my friends, when, with an enemyclose to their gates, the Jews are slaying more of their fellowcountrymen than the Romans themselves? Did ever a country presentso humiliating and terrible a spectacle? Were such atrocities everperpetrated by men upon their brothers? And yet, the madmen stillbelieve that the Almighty will deliver them--will save fromdestruction that Temple which they have polluted, the altars thatthey have deluged with blood."

  When the rabbi had finished his narration, there was a longsilence. Martha was in tears, at the recital of the misery whichwas endured by the inhabitants of Jerusalem; Simon sat with hisface covered with his hands; John had scarce moved, since the rabbihad begun his story, but sat with a heavy frown on his face,looking straight before him; while Mary anxiously watched him, tosee the effect of the recital upon him.

  Simon was the first to speak.

  "It is a tale of mourning, lamentation, and woe that you have toldus, rabbi. Not even in the days of our captivity in Babylon werethe Jewish people fallen so low. Let us to bed now. These thingsare too terrible to speak of, until we have laid them before theLord, and asked his guidance. I wonder not, now, rabbi, that yearsseem to have rolled over your head since we last met."

  The others rose. Mary, as she passed John, laid her hands on hisshoulder with a caressing action--which was very rare to her, forshe generally behaved to him as to a brother, holding anyexhibition of greater affection unmaidenly, until the days ofbetrothal were ended. The action seemed to recall John from hisgloomy thought, and he smiled down at her anxious face; then, whenthe others went off to their apartments, he went out into the nightair and stood for hours, nearly immovable, with his eyes fixed onthe stars.

  In the morning, Mary joined him in the garden; as had come to betheir custom, this being the only time in the day when they werealone together.

  "Well, John?" she asked.

  He understood her question.

  "I have thought it over, Mary, in every way; but I cannot see thatmy duty is changed by what we heard last night. Affection for you,and my parents, would keep me here; and I wish that I could seethat my duty could go hand in hand with my wishes. I have beensorely tempted to yield--to resign the struggle, to remain here inpeace and quiet--but I should never be happy. I do not believe thatI am, as so many think, specially called to be a deliverer--thoughGod has assuredly specially protected and aided me--but, did I drawback now, it would be a grievous discouragement to many. I h
ave putmy hand to the plow, and cannot look back.

  "God has permitted these miseries to fall upon Jerusalem,doubtless, as a punishment for the sins of the people. It may beyet that his wrath will be abated, and that he will remember themercies of old. He has suffered his Temple to be profaned, but itmay not be his purpose to allow it to be destroyed, utterly. Theevil doings, therefore, of evil men do not release us from ourduty; and it has always been held the chief duty of all Jews todie, if need be, in defense of the Temple. Never, so long as thatstands, can we say that the Lord has wholly turned his face fromus--that he purposes another period of exile, and captivity, tobefall his people.

  "Therefore, Mary, I shall go on as I have intended; warring againstthe Romans, and doing what I can to hinder their advance againstJerusalem. I think that the war may last longer than I hadexpected. Vespasian will have heard--from those who, like therabbi, have escaped from Jerusalem--what is going on within thecity; and knowing the great strength of its walls; and judging,from what he saw at Jotapata and Gamala, how desperate would be itsresistance, were he to appear before it, he may well decide toleave it for the present; suffering the population to prey uponeach other, to consume their provisions and waste their strengthtill, when he marches against it, there will be no longer men leftto man the walls."

  "I thought you would decide so, John," Mary said, quietly; "andmuch as I love you--for I do love you, John--I would rather partwith you so, never to see you again, than that you should draw backnow. I set you up on a pedestal, before I knew that it was you whowas my hero; and I would not have it said that he, of whom suchhigh hopes were cherished, drew back from the enterprise he hadtaken up. Rather would I mourn for you, all my life, than that menshould say of you:

  "'This is he of whom we said, he is the deliverer; but who shrankfrom the dangers of battle, and threw down his country's sword.'"

  "Thank you, Mary. I am glad to hear you say so. I thought that Iwas right, but it was very hard so to decide. And, now that youagree with me, my chief cause for hanging back is removed.Henceforth, I shall trouble no more over it. My conscience tells methat I am right to go. You say go, also. Therefore now, whateverbetides, I shall not blame myself; but shall feel that I could nothave taken any other course."

  "I have faith, John, that you will come back to me, when thetroubles are over. I believe that, whatever may happen atJerusalem, you will be spared to me. I think that it was either forthe country, or for me, that your life was spared, alone of allthose that fought at Jotapata; and I mean to keep on thinking so.It will keep up my spirits, while you are away, and will help me tocheer our mother."

  "If the Romans do not move upon Jerusalem, I may be able to beoften at home. Our policy will be to strike a blow; and then, whenthe Romans gather in force, to scatter and disappear; so that I mayoften be home, until the time comes when the enemy gather roundJerusalem.

  "But at any rate, Mary, I shall try and believe that your hope iswell founded; and that, in the end, I shall return alive to you.Certainly I shall not spare my life; for, when one takes up thepost of a leader of his fellows, he must never hang back fromdanger, but must be always in the front. At the same time, I shallnever forget that you are thinking and praying for me, and willnever throw away my life recklessly; and if the time comes when Isee that all is lost--that fighting is no longer of avail--I willneither rush into the enemy's ranks to die, nor will I throw downmy arms and die unresisting, nor will I slay myself with my ownweapons; but I will strive, in every way, to save my life for yoursake, having done all that I could for our country, and theTemple."

  "That is all I ask, John. I am quite content to wait here, untilthe day comes that you shall return; and then, though our cause belost, our country ruined, and God's Temple destroyed, we can yetfeel that God has been good and merciful to us--even if we bedriven out of our home, and have to become exiles, in a far land."

  A week later, the news came that the Romans were preparing to takethe field. The young men of the village at once started, asmessengers, through the country. At night, a vast pile of brushwoodwas lighted on the hill above Gamala; and answering fires soonblazed out from other heights. At the signal, men left their homeson the shores of Galilee, in the cities of the plains, in themountains of Peraea and Batanaea. Capitolias, Gerisa and Pella,Sepphoris, Caphernaum and Tiberias--and even the towns and villagesalmost within sight of Caesar's camp, at Caesarea--sent theircontingents and, in twenty-four hours, eight thousand armed menwere gathered on the slopes of Mount Galaad.

  Each man brought with him grain, sufficient for a week'sconsumption; and all had, according to their means, brought money,in accordance with the instructions John and the other commandershad issued. For John held that although--as they were fighting forthe country--they must, if necessary, live upon the country; yetthat, as far as possible, they should abstain from taking foodwithout payment, and so run the risk of being confounded with thebands who, under the cloak of patriotism, plundered and robbed thewhole country.

  The bands assembled, each under their leaders. It was easy to seethat they had come from different localities. Tarichea and Tiberiashad both sent two companies, and the aspect of these differedwidely from that of the companies of peasants, raised in thevillages on the slopes of Hermon or among the mountains of Peraea;but all seemed animated by an equal feeling of devotion, and ofconfidence in their young leader.

  John, after carefully inspecting his own band, visited the camps ofthe other companies; and was everywhere received with acclamations.He addressed each company in turn--not only urging them to showbravery, for that every Jew had shown, who had fought against theRomans--but pointing out that far more than this was required.While they must be ready to give their lives, when need be; theymust be equally ready to shun the fight, to scatter and fly, whentheir leaders gave the orders. It was not by bravery that theycould hope to overcome the Romans; but by harassing them night andday, by attacking their camps, cutting off their convoys, andgiving them no rest. Above all, obedience was required.

  "Look at the Roman soldiers," he said. "They have no wills of theirown. They advance, or retreat; they attack, when they know thatthose who first attack must die; they support all hardships andfatigues; they accomplish marvels, in the way of work; they givethemselves up, in fact, to obey the orders given them, neverquestioning whether those orders are the best, but blindly obeyingthem; and so it must be, here, if we are to fight the Romans with achance of success.

  "The most useful man here--the man who will do best service to hiscountry--is not he who is strongest, or bravest, but he who is mostprompt in his obedience to orders. The true hero is he who gives uphis will and, if need be, his life, at the order of his leader. Youhave chosen your own officers, and I have confirmed the choice thatyou have made. It is for you, now, to give them your support andassistance. There will be hardships, these must be borne withoutcomplaint; there will be delays, these must be supported withpatience; there will be combats and dangers, these must be met withconfidence and courage--believing that God will give you success;and that, although the issue of the strife is in his hands, each ofyou should do his best, by his conduct and courage, to gainsuccess.

  "We shall not act in one great body, for we could not find food, inthe villages, for so large a number. Moreover, to do so would be togive the Romans an opportunity of massing their forces against us,of surrounding and destroying us. On great occasions, and for agreat object, we may gather together and unite our forces. At othertimes, although acting upon a general plan, and in concert witheach other, each company will work independently. So we shall eludethe Romans. When they strike at us, we shall be gone. When they tryto inclose us, we shall disperse. When they pursue one body, otherswill fall upon them. When they think that we are in one part of thecountry, we will be striking a blow in another. When they fancythemselves in security, we will fall upon them. We will give themno rest, or peace."

  John's addresses were received with shouts of approval. By thegreat majority of those present, h
e was now seen for the firsttime; but his appearance, the tone of authority with which hespoke, his air of confidence, and the manner in which he hadevidently thought out the plans of action, and prepared for allcontingencies, confirmed the reports which they had heard of him;and the conviction that he was a specially appointed leader wasdeepened, and strengthened. How otherwise could one who was a mereyouth speak with such firmness, and authority?

  The memories of the Jews were stored with legends of the prowess ofJudas the Maccabean, and his brothers; and of other leaders whohad, from time to time, arisen and enabled them to clear theircountry of oppressors; and they were thus prepared to accept,willingly, those who appeared to them specially sent as leaders,and the question of age and experience weighed but little withthem. Moreover, as none had been trained as soldiers, there werenone who had to set aside superior claims.

  Samuel had been chosen as a child, Saul was the youngest of hisbrethren, and David a lad when he slew the champion of thePhilistines. Such being the case, the youth of John was nodrawback, in the eyes of his followers; and indeed the fact that,being still a youth, he had yet escaped from Jotapata, where allhis elders had died; and that he had inflicted a heavy blow uponthe Romans, when all others who had opposed them had perished,seemed in itself a proof that he was under special protection.

  John probably believed in himself less than did any man among hisfollowers. Piously and devoutly brought up, he saw in the twoescapes that he had had, from death at the hands of the Romans,signs of a special protection of God. But, while he hoped that hemight be able to do the Romans much harm, he had not any convictionthat he was destined to deliver his country. He had none of thefervent enthusiasm of men who are convinced that they have a divinemission, and that miracles would be wrought in his favor.

  He had seen the tremendous strength of the Roman army, as itdefiled from the mountains before Jotapata. He had learned thepower of their war engines, and had evidence of their discipline,their bravery and perseverance; and had no idea that such a forceas that gathered round him could cope with the legions of Rome.Still, that firm and pious belief, which was so deeply ingrained inthe heart of the Jews, that God specially interested himself inthem--that he personally directed everything that befell them, andintervened in every incident of their history--had its naturaleffect upon him.

  His training taught him that he was an instrument in God's handsand, although he hardly even hoped that he was destined to be adeliverer of Jerusalem, he thought that God might intend him to dogreat things for his people. At any rate, while never claiming anyspecial authority--or to have, more than those around him, anyspecial mission--he was careful not to damp the enthusiasm of hisfollowers, by disclaiming the mission they attributed to him;knowing how much such a belief added to his authority, and to theefficiency of the force under his command.