[295]
As for the furniture that was within this fortress, it was still
more wonderful on account of its splendor and long continuance; for here
was laid up corn in large quantities, and such as would subsist men for
a long time; here was also wine and oil in abundance, with all kinds of
pulse and dates heaped up together; all which Eleazar found there, when
he and his Sicarii got possession of the fortress by treachery. These fruits
were also fresh and full ripe, and no way inferior to such fruits newly
laid in, although they were little short of a hundred years 1
from the laying in these provisions [by Herod], till the place was taken
by the Romans; nay, indeed, when the Romans got possession of those fruits
that were left, they found them not corrupted all that while; nor should
we be mistaken, if we supposed that the air was here the cause of their
enduring so long; this fortress being so high, and so free from the mixture
of all terrain and muddy particles of matter. There was also found here
a large quantity of all sorts of weapons of war, which had been treasured
up by that king, and were sufficient for ten thousand men; there was east
iron, and brass, and tin, which show that he had taken much pains to have
all things here ready for the greatest occasions; for the report goes how
Herod thus prepared this fortress on his own account, as a refuge against
two kinds of danger; the one for fear of the multitude of the Jews, lest
they should depose him, and restore their former kings to the government;
the other danger was greater and more terrible, which arose from Cleopatra
queen of Egypt, who did not conceal her intentions, but spoke often to
Antony, and desired him to cut off Herod, and entreated him to bestow the
kingdom of Judea upon her. And certainly it is a great wonder that Antony
did never comply with her commands in this point, as he was so miserably
enslaved to his passion for her; nor should any one have been surprised
if she had been gratified in such her request. So the fear of these dangers
made Herod rebuild Masada, and thereby leave it for the finishing stroke
of the Romans in this Jewish war.
1 Pliny and others confirm this strange paradox, that provisions laid up against sieges will continue good for a hundred ears, as Spanheim notes upon this place.
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