Naomi

by Mrs. J. B. Webb

Simon was not idle during this interval; and as he was unable to meet the advancing foe in a pitched battle, he had recourse to stratagems, by which he hoped to obtain some advantage, however small. He placed the enterprise under the conduct of Javan, as the most daring and faithful of his officers; and the zealous young Jew readily accepted the command. To the astonishment of the Romans they one day beheld a considerable body of the Jews issue rapidly from a gate near the Women's Tower, as if forcibly driven out by a stronger party within. They supposed that this band consisted of the fiercer insurgents, and that they were expelled by the party who desired peace. This idea was confirmed by a number of Jews appearing on the wall, holding out their hands, and making every sign that they would willingly receive the Romans, and open their gates to them. At the same time they cast down stones upon those whom they had driven out, and who were cowering beneath the wall as if dreading the approach of the enemy, and supplicating mercy from their countrymen.

The Roman soldiers who beheld this transaction were about to charge in a body, but they were restrained by Titus, who suspected some artifice, and commanded them to remain at their posts. A small detachment, however, who were in front of the rest, employed under the inspection of their centurion Rufus, seized their arms and rushed towards the wall. Rufus, himself, in the ardour of the moment, forgot the attention to discipline for which he was usually remarkable. He recognised the hated and perfidious Javan among those who now seemed exposed to destruction; and with a strong desire of vengeance for all his cruelty and want of faith, he sprang forward with his unsuspecting men. The Jews, who had advanced to meet them at some distance from the wall, now fled to the gates, and were followed by the inconsiderate Romans, until they found themselves within the flanking towers. The artful Javan and his companions then turned upon them, while others sallied forth and surrounded the little band, and those on the walk hurled down stones and other missiles on their heads. They suffered a considerable loss in killed and wounded; but some of them escaped, with Rufus, fighting a valiant retreat, and pursued by the enemy as far as the monument of Helena. The Jews then retired, exulting in their victory, and when they reached their walls they insulted the vanquished Romans by clashing their shields and loading them with every ludicrous and opprobrious name, for their folly in being so easily deceived.

The proud spirit of Rufus was roused to the uttermost at these taunts, and he fiercely cast them back at Javan, with threats of future vengeance. For the present, however, that vengeance was beyond his reach, and he was forced to lead back the remnant of his men to the camp, greatly discomfited at their defeat and loss. Nor was this all, for they were received with severe reproofs by their tribune for their breach of discipline; and so great was the displeasure of Titus that he threatened to execute upon the offenders the martial law, which punished even such breach of orders with death. This announcement caused great sorrow throughout the army, for Rufus and his brave men were deservedly loved and respected by their comrades; and all the officers immediately gathered round the general to implore his mercy. For some time he sternly refused to listen to their entreaties, and it is probable that he might have carried his harsh sentence into effect, as a warning to the rest of the army, had it not been for the earnest intercessions of Marcellus. The grief of his young friend and favourite, and the high opinion which he had always entertained of Rufus, at length appeased his anger; and he pardoned the offence of the centurion and his band upon their pledging themselves to atone for the error by a strict attention to regularity and discipline for the future.

This act of lenity increased the popularity of the general, and the devotion of the army to his service. With fresh vigour they proceeded to carry his schemes into execution, and in four days the whole space from Scopus to the wall was levelled, for the conveyance of the baggage and removal of the camp. The army took up their position among the northern and western walls; the infantry in front, the cavalry in the rear, and the archers between them. With this impenetrable line between the city and the camp, they removed in perfect safety all the heavy baggage, and Titus encamped within a quarter of a mile from the outer wall, near the Tower of Psephina. Another detachment of the army was posted near the Tower of Hippicus, at some distance from head-quarters, and the tenth legion kept its position near the Mount of Olives.

At this period Jerusalem was divided into different quarters, which might almost be termed distinct cities, each inclosed in its own walls, and all surrounded by the great outer wall, which was guarded with towers of solid masonry, of the same kind as that which composed the rest of the fortifications. The first or outer wall encompassed the northern quarter called Bezetha. It was built of stones thirty-five feet long, and so massive as to offer an almost impenetrable obstacle even to the powerful battering-rams and other formidable engines of the Romans. It was erected by King Agrippa the First, and though it fell far short of his original design, it was yet a work of great power and strength, being upwards of seventeen feet in height, and the same in thickness. The Jews had carried it up to the height of thirty-five feet, but not with the same stability as that part which was built by Agrippa, and the summit was furnished with battlements and pinnacles, which gave it a still greater elevation.

The second wall enclosed a part of the lower city, and joined the north-west corner of the strong citadel of Antonia. This fortress was built on a high rock, and was separated from Bezetha by a deep ditch. It stood at the north-west of the temple, and with that beautiful and commanding edifice composed a separate and independent portion of the city.

The most ancient part of the walk was that which surrounded Sion, the southern quarter of the town, and containing the strong pile of buildings called the City of David. It passed along the verge of the Valley of Hinnom, and then turning northwards, joined the eastern portico of the temple.

Thus the city was calculated to resist the strength and perseverance of almost any army that could be brought against it, being composed of four distinct quarters, each, it would seem, able to stand a regular siege independent of the fate of the other portions.

The towers which guarded the whole of this circuit were thirty-five feet high, and of the same width. On their summits were lofty chambers, less solidly built, which were again surmounted with large tanks to receive the rain-water. There were in all a hundred and sixty-four of these massy towers, the ascent to which was by handsome flights of steps; and the space from tower to tower being about three hundred and fifty feet, the whole extent of the walls must have been rather more than four miles.

Titus ascended the most elevated height in the neighbourhood of the camp, attended by Marcellus and some other of his officers, with a strong escort of cavalry. He wished to obtain a commanding view of the celebrated city which he was destined to overthrow, so that not one stone should remain upon another. Had he known what was to be the fate of that splendid city, he would have regarded it with other and more melancholy feelings. The intimate knowledge which Marcellus possessed of the interior enabled him to point out to his admiring general the situation of all its various quarters, and the most distinguished buildings.