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[216]
But now this John, as if his oath had been made to the zealots,
and for confirmation of his good-will to them, and not against them, went
into the temple, and stood in the midst of them, and spake as follows:
That he had run many hazards o, their accounts, and in order to let them
know of every thing that was secretly contrived against them by Ananus
and his party; but that both he and they should be cast into the most imminent
danger, unless some providential assistance were afforded them; for that
Ananus made no longer delay, but had prevailed with the people to send
ambassadors to Vespasian, to invite him to come presently and take the
city; and that he had appointed a fast for the next day against them, that
they might obtain admission into the temple on a religious account, or
gain it by force, and fight with them there; that he did not see how long
they could either endure a siege, or how they could fight against so many
enemies. He added further, that it was by the providence of God he was
himself sent as an ambassador to them for an accommodation; for that Artanus
did therefore offer them such proposals, that he might come upon them when
they were unarmed; that they ought to choose one of these two methods,
either to intercede with those that guarded them, to save their lives,
or to provide some foreign assistance for themselves; that if they fostered
themselves with the hopes of pardon, in case they were subdued, they had
forgotten what desperate things they had done, or could suppose, that as
soon as the actors repented, those that had suffered by them must be presently
reconciled to them; while those that have done injuries, though they pretend
to repent of them, are frequently hated by the others for that sort of
repentance; and that the sufferers, when they get the power into their
hands, are usually still more severe upon the actors; that the friends
and kindred of those that had been destroyed would always be laying plots
against them; and that a large body of people were very angry on account
of their gross breaches of their laws, and [illegal] judicatures, insomuch
that although some part might commiserate them, those would be quite overborne
by the majority.
1
1 THE IDUMEANS BEING SENT FOR BY THE ZEALOTS, CAME IMMEDIATELY TO JERUSALEM; AND WHEN THEY WERE EXCLUDED OUT OF THE CITY, THEY LAY ALL NIGHT THERE. JESUS ONE OF THE HIGH PRIESTS MAKES A SPEECH TO THEM; AND SIMON THE IDUMEAN MAKES A REPLY TO IT.
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