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There was a rock, not small in circumference, and very high. It was
encompassed with valleys of such vast depth downward, that the eye could
not reach their bottoms; they were abrupt, and such as no animal could
walk upon, excepting at two places of the rock, where it subsides, in order
to afford a passage for ascent, though not without difficulty. Now, of
the ways that lead to it, one is that from the lake Asphaltiris, towards
the sun-rising, and another on the west, where the ascent is easier: the
one of these ways is called the Serpent, as resembling that animal
in its narrowness and its perpetual windings; for it is broken off at the
prominent precipices of the rock, and returns frequently into itself, and
lengthening again by little and little, hath much ado to proceed forward;
and he that would walk along it must first go on one leg, and then on the
other; there is also nothing but destruction, in case your feet slip; for
on each side there is a vastly deep chasm and precipice, sufficient to
quell the courage of every body by the terror it infuses into the mind.
When, therefore, a man hath gone along this way for thirty furlongs, the
rest is the top of the hill - not ending at a small point, but is no other
than a plain upon the highest part of the mountain. Upon this top of the
hill, Jonathan the high priest first of all built a fortress, and called
it Masada: after which the rebuilding of this place employed the care of
king Herod to a great degree; he also built a wall round about the entire
top of the hill, seven furlongs long; it was composed of white stone; its
height was twelve, and its breadth eight cubits; there were also erected
upon that wall thirty-eight towers, each of them fifty cubits high; out
of which you might pass into lesser edifices, which were built on the inside,
round the entire wall; for the king reserved the top of the hill, which
was of a fat soil, and better mould than any valley for agriculture, that
such as committed themselves to this fortress for their preservation might
not even there be quite destitute of food, in case they should ever be
in want of it from abroad. Moreover, he built a palace therein at the western
ascent; it was within and beneath the walls of the citadel, but inclined
to its north side. Now the wall of this palace was very high and strong,
and had at its four corners towers sixty cubits high. The furniture also
of the edifices, and of the cloisters, and of the baths, was of great variety,
and very costly; and these buildings were supported by pillars of single
stones on every side; the walls and also the floors of the edifices were
paved with stones of several colors. He also had cut many and great pits,
as reservoirs for water, out of the rocks, at every one of the places that
were inhabited, both above and round about the palace, and before the wall;
and by this contrivance he endeavored to have water for several uses, as
if there had been fountains there. Here was also a road digged from the
palace, and leading to the very top of the mountain, which yet could not
be seen by such as were without [the walls]; nor indeed could enemies easily
make use of the plain roads; for the road on the east side, as we have
already taken notice, could not be walked upon, by reason of its nature;
and for the western road, he built a large tower at its narrowest place,
at no less a distance from the top of the hill than a thousand cubits;
which tower could not possibly be passed by, nor could it be easily taken;
nor indeed could those that walked along it without any fear (such was
its contrivance) easily get to the end of it; and after such a manner was
this citadel fortified, both by nature and by the hands of men, in order
to frustrate the attacks of enemies.
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