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The Life of Flavius Josephus -
Autobiography
Page 12 — Chapter 73-76
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73. When Sylla and his party were
informed what happened to me,
they took courage again; and understanding that the watch was
negligently kept in our camp, they by night placed a body of
horsemen in ambush beyond Jordan, and when it was day they
provoked us to fight; and as we did not refuse it, but came into
the plain, their horsemen appeared out of that ambush in which
they had lain, and put our men into disorder, and made them run
away; so they slew six men of our side. Yet did they not go off
with the victory at last; for when they heard that some armed men
were sailed from Taricheae to Juli, they were afraid, and
retired.
74. It was not now long before Vespasian came to Tyre, and king
Agrippa with him; but the Tyrians began to speak reproachfully of
the king, and called him an enemy to the Romans. For they said
that Philip, the general of his army, had betrayed the royal
palace and the Roman forces that were in Jerusalem, and that it
was done by his command. When Vespasian heard of this report, he
rebuked the Tyrians for abusing a man who was both a king and a
friend to the Romans; but he exhorted the king to send Philip to
Rome, to answer for what he had done before Nero. But when Philip
was sent thither, he did not come into the sight of Nero, for he
found him very near death, on account of the troubles that then
happened, and a civil war; and so he returned to the king. But
when Vespasian was come to Ptolemais, the chief men of Decapolis
of Syria made a clamor against Justus of Tiberias, because he had
set their villages on fire: so Vespasian delivered him to the
king, to he put to death by those under the king's jurisdiction;
yet did the king only put him into bonds, and concealed what he
had done from Vespasian, as I have before related.
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But the people of Sepphoris met Vespasian, and saluted him, and had forces sent
him, with Placidus their commander: he also went up with them, as
I also followed them, till Vespasian came into Galilee. As to
which coming of his, and after what manner it was ordered, and
how he fought his first battle with me near the village
Taricheae, and how from thence they went to Jotapata, and how I
was taken alive, and bound, and how I was afterward loosed, with
all that was done by me in the Jewish war, and during the siege
of Jerusalem, I have accurately related them in the books
concerning the War of the Jews. However, it will, I think, he fit
for me to add now an account of those actions of my life which I
have not related in that book of the Jewish war.
75. For when the siege of Jotapata was over, and I was among the
Romans, I was kept with much Care, by means of the great respect
that Vespasian showed me. Moreover, at his command, I married a
virgin, who was from among the captives of that country (25) yet
did she not live with me long, but was divorced, upon my being
freed from my bonds, and my going to Alexandria. However, I
married another wife at Alexandria, and was thence sent, together
with Titus, to the siege of Jerusalem, and was frequently in
danger of being put to death; while both the Jews were very
desirous to get me under their power, in order to haw me
punished. And the Romans also, whenever they were beaten,
supposed that it was occasioned by my treachery, and made
continual clamors to the emperors, and desired that they would
bring me to punishment, as a traitor to them: but Titus Caesar
was well acquainted with the uncertain fortune of war, and
returned no answer to the soldiers' vehement solicitations
against me. Moreover, when the city Jerusalem was taken by force,
Titus Caesar persuaded me frequently to take whatsoever I would
of the ruins of my country; and did that he gave me leave so to
do. But when my country was destroyed, I thought nothing else to
be of any value, which I could take and keep as a comfort under
my calamities; so I made this request to Titus, that my family
might have their liberty: I had also the holy books (26) by
Titus's concession. Nor was it long after that I asked of him the
life of my brother, and of fifty friends with him, and was not
denied. When I also went once to the temple, by the permission of
Titus, where there were a great multitude of captive women and
children, I got all those that I remembered as among my own
friends and acquaintances to be set free, being in number about
one hundred and ninety; and so I delivered them without their
paying any price of redemption, and restored them to their former
fortune. And when I was sent by Titus Caesar with Cerealins, and
a thousand horsemen, to a certain village called Thecoa, in order
to know whether it were a place fit for a camp, as I came back, I
saw many captives crucified, and remembered three of them as my
former acquaintance. I was very sorry at this in my mind, and
went with tears in my eyes to Titus, and told him of them; so he
immediately commanded them to be taken down, and to have the
greatest care taken of them, in order to their recovery; yet two
of them died under the physician's hands, while the third
recovered.
76. But when Titus had composed the troubles in Judea, and
conjectured that the lands which I had in Judea would bring me no
profit, because a garrison to guard the country was afterward to
pitch there, he gave me another country in the plain. And when he
was going away to Rome, he made choice of me to sail along with
him, and paid me great respect: and when we were come to Rome, I
had great care taken of me by Vespasian; for he gave me an
apartment in his own house, which he lived in before he came to
the empire. He also honored me with the privilege of a Roman
citizen, and gave me an annual pension; and continued to respect
me to the end of his life, without any abatement of his kindness
to me; which very thing made me envied, and brought me into
danger; for a certain Jew, whose name was Jonathan, who had
raised a tumult in Cyrene, and had persuaded two thousand men of
that country to join with him, was the occasion of their ruin.
But when he was bound by the governor of that country, and sent
to the emperor, he told him that I had sent him both weapons and
money. However, he could not conceal his being a liar from
Vespasian, who condemned him to die; according to which sentence
he was put to death. Nay, after that, when those that envied my
good fortune did frequently bring accusations against me, by
God's providence I escaped them all. I also received from
Vespasian no small quantity of land, as a free gift, in Judea;
about which time I divorced my wife also, as not pleased with her
behavior, though not till she had been the mother of three
children, two of whom are dead, and one whom I named Hyrcanus, is
alive. After this I married a wife who had lived at Crete, but a
Jewess by birth: a woman she was of eminent parents, and such as
were the most illustrious in all the country, and whose character
was beyond that of most other women, as her future life did
demonstrate. By her I had two sons; the elder's name was Justus,
and the next Simonides, who was also named Agrippa. And these
were the circumstances of my domestic affairs. However, the
kindness of the emperor to me continued still the same; for when
Vespasian was dead, Titus, who succeeded him in the government,
kept up the same respect for me which I had from his father; and
when I had frequent accusations laid against me, he would not
believe them. And Domitian, who succeeded, still augmented his
respects to me; for he punished those Jews that were my accusers,
and gave command that a servant of mine, who was a eunuch, and my
accuser, should be punished. He also made that country I had in
Judea tax free, which is a mark of the greatest honor to him who
hath it; nay, Domitia, the wife of Caesar, continued to do me
kindnesses. And this is the account of the actions of my whole
life; and let others judge of my character by them as they
please. But to thee, O Epaphroditus, (28) thou most excellent of
men! do I dedicate all this treatise of our Antiquities; and so,
for the present, I here conclude the whole.
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