If, as the geographical position of Judæa demanded, the first attack of the Romans was made on the north, on the Syrian and Phœnician side, the three northernmost citadels of Cabul, Sichin and Magdala must have been first attacked. The Jewish sources which have handed down the details of the war, as given by survivors, relate the manner of the destruction of these three cities, and the circumstances which led to their downfall. Cabul fell through internal dissensions; Sichin through sorcery, by which an unlooked-for attack was probably meant; lastly, Magdala, the birthplace of the penitent Mary Magdalene, fell, weakened through the vices of its inhabitants. After the fall of the three strongholds on the borders, the war was virtually at an end, just as in the first revolution, after the subjection of Jotapata and Gischala, the land was considered as subdued. The plain of Rimmon seems to have been another seat of the war, for the Roman legions had to traverse this plain in order to reach the interior of the land. On this plain a terrible battle seems to have taken place, which became the subject-matter of many a legend. The next campaign of the Romans was evidently directed against the cities in the mountains. Legend relates how 100,000 Romans marched into the citadel of Tur-Simon with drawn swords, and how, during three days and nights, they massacred the inhabitants. The fifty fortified places occupied by the Jews fell one after another into the hands of the enemy, and the Roman generals gave battle to the Jewish army on fifty-two, or, according to some authorities, on fifty-four occasions. The circle drawn round Bethar, where Bar-Cochba and the flower of his army had retreated, became ever narrower. All fugitives had betaken themselves to his side, in order to escape the sword of destruction and to find a place of refuge. On this spot, where the two greatest generals of the time—Julius Severus and Bar-Cochba—were opposed, the decisive conflict was to take place.

Bethar was, no doubt, filled to overflowing by the contingents who came in from all sides. The sources could not speak with sufficient hyperbole of this final scene of the defense; they relate, amongst other things, that several hundreds of schools existed in Bethar, and that the numbers of the pupils were so great that they boasted that they could overthrow the enemy with their writing-reeds. The siege of Bethar probably lasted for a year, and the duration of the whole war was about three years and a-half. We are left in uncertainty as to the various incidents of the siege, as also regarding the causes which led to the fall of the citadel. A Jewish authority relates that the river Joredethha-Zalmon faithlessly deprived the besieged of its waters, which may mean that the summer heat dried it up. A somewhat vague account from Samaritan sources recounts that the food-supplies, which had been secretly conveyed into the town, were suddenly cut off; this agrees with the Jewish accounts, which relate that Bethar fell through the stratagems of the Samaritans. The Jewish sources assert that Eleazar of Modin prayed in sackcloth and ashes that Bethar might be spared; and perhaps his piety inspired the besieged with endurance and courage.

Hadrian, or his general, being wearied with the long contest, was about to raise the siege, when a Samaritan promised to aid him, and told him that Eleazar was the guardian spirit of the citadel, adding that "so long as that hen cackles in ashes Bethar is impregnable." Thereupon the Samaritan, passing through a subterranean passage, approached Eleazar whilst he was engaged in prayer, and whispered in his ear. The spectators, whose suspicions were aroused by this secrecy, led him to Bar-Cochba and related the incident. The spy, when questioned, declared: "If I tell thee the truth, my master will kill me; and if I keep it from thee, thou wilt kill me; but I would rather die by thy hand than by my masters." Bar-Cochba, suspecting a traitorous understanding between Eleazar and the enemy, summoned him to appear, and questioned him as to his meeting with the Samaritan. Eleazar, who had been absorbed in his devotions, and had hardly noticed the Samaritan, could only reply that he knew nothing of the matter. Bar-Cochba, who thought that he was being deceived, struck Eleazar a blow with his foot, and, enfeebled as he was by fasting, Eleazar fell down dead. Then a voice was heard: "Thou hast lamed the arm of Israel and blinded his eyes; therefore shall thine arm and thine eye lose their power."

The Samaritan sources describe the conquest of Bethar as similar to that of Jerusalem. Hadrian, they assert, who had laid siege to the city, had already raised the siege, as the inhabitants had obtained supplies, which they showed to the enemy. Then two Samaritan brothers, who were held imprisoned by the Jews, contrived to throw over the wall a letter wrapped in linen to Julius, saying that if the exits were guarded the inhabitants of the town would certainly die of starvation. He followed their advice, and entered the city on a Sabbath. So much is certain, that the Romans, introduced by a traitor into a subterranean way, massacred the people of Bethar. This is described with fearful detail. Horses were said to wade to the nozzle in blood—a river of blood flowed into the distant sea, carrying bodies along with it. One can scarcely credit the numbers said to have been slain, and yet they are confirmed both by Jewish and by Greek historians. The authentic historian Dio Cassius relates that besides those who died of hunger and fire, there fell half a million Jews.

The loss of the Romans was equally great, and Hadrian did not dare employ in his message to the Senate the usual formula, "I and the army are well." The Senate did not decree the Emperor a triumph, but a medal was struck in commemoration of the services rendered by the army. This coin bore the inscription, "Exercitus Judaicus. Thanks to the army victorious over the Jews." Bethar fell, as tradition relates, on the 9th Ab, the date on which the Temple had twice been reduced to ashes. The end of the mighty Bar-Cochba is not known. One who brought his head to the Roman General boasted that he had killed him. His body, however, was found crushed by a snake. On this the conqueror said, "Had not God's hand killed him, a human hand could not have injured him." Hadrian established three military stations to capture the fugitives, in Chamath (Ammaus near Tiberias), in Kephar Lekitaja, and in Bethel. Whoever escaped the one garrison was captured by the other. Thus all the warriors were destroyed, all towns and villages laid waste, and the land was literally converted into a desert. The prisoners, mostly women and children, were dragged by thousands to the slave markets of Hebron and Gaza, where they were sold. There were, however, some fugitives who lived in caves in order to escape the enemy. But even this miserable existence was not permitted to them. Heralds announced that to those who voluntarily yielded themselves up, mercy would be granted. Many listened to the temptation, but were carried off to the plain of Rimmon, and the victors were commanded to massacre their prisoners before Hadrian tasted food. Many fugitives, however, fled to Arabia, whence that country obtained its Jewish population, which afterward played so important a part in its history. Hadrian also caused foreign Jews to feel the weight of his anger, and imposed on them a tax much heavier than that exacted by Vespasian. In memory of this last revolt, the Jews, as a sign of mourning, decreed that brides should no longer be carried in beautiful sedan-chairs into the houses of their bridegrooms.

[CHAPTER XVI.]
CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR OF BAR-COCHBA.

Turnus Rufus persecutes the Jews​—​The Ten Martyrs​—​The Book of Tobit​—​Relations between Judaism and Christianity​—​The Return of the Schools to Palestine​—​The Synod at Usha​—​Meïr​—​Simon ben Jochai​—​The Babylonian Synhedrion​—​Antoninus Pius and Aurelius Verus​—​The Revolt against Rome​—​The Patriarchate of Simon.

135–170 C. E.