THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book IV: Chapter 8
HOW VESPASIAN .UPON HEARING OF SOME
COMMOTIONS IN GALL, (12) MADE HASTE TO FINISH THE
JEWISH WAR. A DESCRIPTION OF. JERICHO, AND OF THE
GREAT PLAIN; WITH AN ACCOUNT BESIDES OF THE LAKE
ASPHALTITIS.
1. IN the mean time, an account came that there
were commotions in Gall, and that Vindex, together
with the men of power in that country, had revolted
from Nero; which affair is more accurately described
elsewhere. This report, thus related to Vespasian,
excited him to go on briskly with the war; for he
foresaw already the civil wars which were coming upon
them, nay, that the very government was in danger; and
he thought, if he could first reduce the eastern parts
of the empire to peace, he should make the fears for
Italy the lighter; while therefore the winter was his
hinderance [from going into the field], he put
garrisons into the villages and smaller cities for
their security; he put decurions also into the
villages, and centurions into the cities: he besides
this rebuilt many of the cities that had been laid
waste; but at the beginning of the spring he took the
greatest part of his army, and led it from Cesarea to
Antipatris, where he spent two days in settling the
affairs of that city, and then, on the third day, he
marched on, laying waste and burning all the
neighboring villages. And when he had laid waste all
the places about the toparchy of Thamnas, he passed on
to Lydda and Jamnia; and when both these cities had
come over to him, he placed a great many of those that
had come over to him [from other places] as
inhabitants therein, and then came to Emmaus, where he
seized upon the passage which led thence to their
metropolis, and fortified his camp, and leaving the
fifth legion therein, he came to the toparchy of
Bethletephon. He then destroyed that place, and the
neighboring places, by fire, and fortified, at proper
places, the strong holds all about Idumea; and when he
had seized upon two villages, which were in the very
midst of Idumea, Betaris and Caphartobas, he slew
above ten thousand of the people, and carried into
captivity above a thousand, and drove away the rest of
the multitude, and placed no small part of his own
forces in them, who overran and laid waste the whole
mountainous country; while he, with the rest of his
forces, returned to Emmaus, whence he came down
through the country of Samaria, and hard by the city,
by others called Neapoils, (or Sichem,) but by the
people of that country Mabortha, to Corea, where he
pitched his camp, on the second day of the month
Desius [Sivan]; and on the day following he came to
Jericho; on which day Trajan, one of his commanders,
joined him with the forces he brought out of Perea,
all the places beyond Jordan being subdued already.
2. Hereupon a great multitude prevented their
approach, and came out of Jericho, and fled to those
mountainous parts that lay over against Jerusalem,
while that part which was left behind was in a great
measure destroyed; they also found the city desolate.
It is situated in a plain; but a naked and barren
mountain, of a very great length, hangs over it, which
extends itself to the land about Scythopolis
northward, but as far as the country of Sodom, and the
utmost limits of the lake Asphaltiris, southward. This
mountain is all of it very uneven and uninhabited, by
reason of its barrenness: there is an opposite
mountain that is situated over against it, on the
other side of Jordan; this last begins at Julias, and
the northern quarters, and extends itself southward as
far as Somorrhon, which is the bounds of Petra, in
Arabia. In this ridge of mountains there is one called
the Iron Mountain, that runs in length as far as Moab.
Now the region that lies in the middle between these
ridges of mountains is called the Great Plain; it
reaches from the village Ginnabris, as far as the lake
Asphaltitis; its length is two hundred and thirty
furlongs, and its breadth a hundred and twenty, and it
is divided in the midst by Jordan. It hath two lakes
in it, that of Asphaltitis, and that of Tiberias,
whose natures are opposite to each other; for the
former is salt and unfruitful, but that of Tiberias is
sweet and fruitful. This plain is much burnt up in
summer time, and, by reason of the extraordinary heat,
contains a very unwholesome air; it is all destitute
of water excepting the river Jordan, which water of
Jordan is the occasion why those plantations of palm
trees that are near its banks are more flourishing,
and much more fruitful, as are those that are remote
from it not so flourishing, or fruitful.
3. Notwithstanding which, there is a fountain by
Jericho, that runs plentifully, and is very fit for
watering the ground; it arises near the old city,
which Joshua, the son of Naue, the general of the
Hebrews, took the first of all the cities of the land
of Canaan, by right of war. The report is, that this
fountain, at the beginning, caused not only the
blasting of the earth and the trees, but of the
children born of women, and that it was entirely of a
sickly and corruptive nature to all things whatsoever;
but that it was made gentle, and very wholesome and
fruitful, by the prophet Elisha. This prophet was
familiar with Elijah, and was his successor, who, when
he once was the guest of the people at Jericho, and
the men of the place had treated him very kindly, he
both made them amends as well as the country, by a
lasting favor; for he went out of the city to this
fountain, and threw into the current an earthen vessel
full of salt; after which he stretched out his
righteous hand unto heaven, and, pouring out a mild
drink-offering, he made this supplication, - That the
current might be mollified, and that the veins of
fresh water might be opened; that God also would bring
into the place a more temperate and fertile air for
the current, and would bestow upon the people of that
country plenty of the fruits of the earth, and a
succession of children; and that this prolific water
might never fail them, while they continued to he
righteous. To these prayers Elisha joined proper
operations of his hands, after a skillful manner, and
changed the fountain; and that water, which had been
the occasion of barrenness and famine before, from
that time did supply a numerous posterity, and
afforded great abundance to the country. Accordingly,
the power of it is so great in watering the ground,
that if it do but once touch a country, it affords a
sweeter nourishment than other waters do, when they
lie so long upon them, till they are satiated with
them. For which reason, the advantage gained from
other waters, when they flow in great plenty, is but
small, while that of this water is great when it flows
even in little quantities. Accordingly, it waters a
larger space of ground than any other waters do, and
passes along a plain of seventy furlongs long, and
twenty broad; wherein it affords nourishment to those
most excellent gardens that are thick set with trees.
There are in it many sorts of palm trees that are
watered by it, different from each other in taste and
name; the better sort of them, when they are pressed,
yield an excellent kind of honey, not much inferior in
sweetness to other honey. This country withal produces
honey from bees; it also bears that balsam which is
the most precious of all the fruits in that place,
cypress trees also, and those that bear myrobalanum;
so that he who should pronounce this place to be
divine would not be mistaken, wherein is such plenty
of trees produced as are very rare, and of the must
excellent sort. And indeed, if we speak of those other
fruits, it will not be easy to light on any climate in
the habitable earth that can well be compared to it, -
what is here sown comes up in such clusters; the cause
of which seems to me to be the warmth of the air, and
the fertility of the waters; the warmth calling forth
the sprouts, and making them spread, and the moisture
making every one of them take root firmly, and
supplying that virtue which it stands in need of in
summer time. Now this country is then so sadly burnt
up, that nobody cares to come at it; and if the water
be drawn up before sun-rising, and after that exposed
to the air, it becomes exceeding cold, and becomes of
a nature quite contrary to the ambient air; as in
winter again it becomes warm; and if you go into it,
it appears very gentle. The ambient air is here also
of so good a temperature, that the people of the
country are clothed in linen-only, even when snow
covers the rest of Judea. This place is one hundred
and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, and sixty from
Jordan. The country, as far as Jerusalem, is desert
and stony; but that as far as Jordan and the lake
Asphaltitis lies lower indeed, though it be equally
desert and barren. But so much shall suffice to have
said about Jericho, and of the great happiness of its
situation.
4. The nature of the lake Asphaltitis is also worth
describing. It is, as I have said already, bitter and
unfruitful. It is so light [or thick] that it bears up
the heaviest things that are thrown into it; nor is it
easy for any one to make things sink therein to the
bottom, if he had a mind so to do. Accordingly, when
Vespasian went to see it, he commanded that some who
could not swim should have their hands tied behind
them, and be thrown into the deep, when it so happened
that they all swam as if a wind had forced them
upwards. Moreover, the change of the color of this
lake is wonderful, for it changes its appearance
thrice every day; and as the rays of the sun fall
differently upon it, the light is variously reflected.
However, it casts up black clods of bitumen in many
parts of it; these swim at the top of the water, and
resemble both in shape and bigness headless bulls; and
when the laborers that belong to the lake come to it,
and catch hold of it as it hangs together, they draw
it into their ships; but when the ship is full, it is
not easy to cut off the rest, for it is so tenacious
as to make the ship hang upon its clods till they set
it loose with the menstrual blood of women, and with
urine, to which alone it yields. This bitumen is not
only useful for the caulking of ships, but for the
cure of men's bodies; accordingly, it is mixed in a
great many medicines. The length of this lake is five
hundred and eighty furlongs, where it is extended as
far as Zoar in Arabia; and its breadth is a hundred
and fifty. The country of Sodom borders upon it. It
was of old a most happy land, both for the fruits it
bore and the riches of its cities, although it be now
all burnt up. It is related how, for the impiety of
its inhabitants, it was burnt by lightning; in
consequence of which there are still the remainders of
that Divine fire, and the traces [or shadows] of the
five cities are still to be seen, as well as the ashes
growing in their fruits; which fruits have a color as
if they were fit to be eaten, but if you pluck them
with your hands, they dissolve into smoke and ashes.
And thus what is related of this land of Sodom hath
these marks of credibility which our very sight
affords us.
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