And at this time, some of those who had principally excited
the people to go to war made an assault upon a certain fortress
called Masada. They took it by treachery and slew the Romans
that were there, and put others of their own party to keep
it. At the same time Eleazar, the son of Ananias
the high priest, a very bold youth who was at that time
governor
of the temple, persuaded those who officiated in the
divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice from any
foreigner. This
was the true beginning of our war with the Romans; for they
rejected the sacrifice of Caesar on this account; and
when many of the high priests and principal men begged them
to continue the customary sacrifices on behalf of their
rulers, they would not listen. They relied upon their numbers,
for the stalwarts of the revolutionaries assisted them,
and they relied above all on the authority of Eleazar, the
governor of the temple.
Then the men of power got together and conferred with the
high priests, as did the most notable of the Pharisees,
and knowing that stakes were high and that their calamities
were becoming incurable, they took counsel as to what was
to be done. Accordingly, they determined to try an appeal
to the revolutionaries. . . .
As they spoke, they produced those priests who were expert
in the traditions of their country, who reported that all
their forefathers had received sacrifices from foreign nations.
But still not one of the revolutionaries would listen to
what was said: Indeed, those who ministered in the temple
failed to come to their support but were already preparing
to go to war. . . .
Upon this the men of power along with the high priests,
and the part of the multitude who were desirous of peace,
took courage and seized the upper city [Mount Zion]; for
the revolutionaries held the lower city and the temple in
their power. They constantly made use of stones and slings
against one another, and threw darts continually on both
sides, and sometimes it happened that they made excursions
by troops and fought it out hand to hand. The revolutionaries
were superior in boldness, but the
king's soldiers in skill. The latter strove chiefly
to gain the temple and to drive out of it those who profaned
it. Eleazar and the rebels labored to gain the upper city
in addition to what they held already. Thus there were continual
slaughters on both sides for seven days, but neither side
would surrender the portion of town they had seized.
Now the
next day was the festival of wood-offering on which
the custom was for everyone to bring wood for the altar
(so that there might never be a lack of fuel for that fire
which was unquenchable and always burning). On that day,
the Jews in the temple excluded the opposite party from
the ceremony. And when they had joined together with many
of the Sicarii (that was the name for those robbers who
carried under their bosoms swords called Sicae) who crowded
in among the weaker people, they grew bolder and carried
their undertakings further. Since the king's soldiers were
overpowered by their multitude and boldness, they gave way
and were driven out of the upper city by force. The others
then set fire to the house of Ananias the high priest and
to the palaces of Agrippa and Bernice.
Then they carried the fire to the place where the archives
were deposited, and made haste to burn
the contracts belonging to their creditors in order
to dissolve their obligations to pay their debts. This was
done in order to gain the support of the multitude of those
who had been debtors, to persuade the poorer sort to join
in their insurrection with safety against the more wealthy;
so the keepers of the records fled away and the rest set
fire to them. When they had burned down the nerve center
of the city, they fell upon their enemies. This time some
of the men of power and the high priests went into the vaults
under ground and concealed themselves, while others fled
with the king's soldiers to the upper palace and shut the
gates immediately, among whom were Ananias the high priest,
his brother Hezekiah, and the ambassadors that had been
sent to Agrippa.
