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[155]
But as for the inhabitants of the city of Tiberias, they wrote to
the king, and desired him to send them forces sufficient to be a guard
to their country; for that they were desirous to come over to him: this
was what they wrote to him. But when I came to them, they desired me to
build their walls, as I had promised them to do; for they had heard that
the walls of Tarichess were already built. I agreed to their proposal accordingly;
and when I had made preparation for the entire building, I gave order to
the architects to go to work; but on the third day, when I was gone to
Tarichess, which was thirty furlongs distant from Tiberias, it so fell
out, that some Roman horsemen were discovered on their march, not far from
the city, which made it to be supposed that the forces were come from the
king; upon which they shouted, and lifted up their voices in commendations
of the king, and in reproaches against me. Hereupon one came running to
me, and told me what their dispositions were, and that they had resolved
to revolt from me: upon hearing which news I was very much alarmed; for
I had already sent away my armed men from Tarichess, to their own homes,
because the next day was our sabbath; for I would not have the people of
Tarichess disturbed [on that day] by a multitude of soldiers; and indeed,
whenever I sojourned at that city, I never took any particular care for
a guard about my own body, because I had had frequent instances of the
fidelity its inhabitants bore to me. I had now about me no more than seven
armed men, besides some friends, and was doubtful what to do; for to send
to recall my own forces I did not think proper, because the present day
was almost over; and had those forces been with me, I could not take up
arms on the next day, because our laws forbade us so to do, even though
our necessity should be very great; and if I should permit the people of
Tarichess, and the strangers with them, to guard the city, I saw that they
would not be sufficient for that purpose, and I perceived that I should
be obliged to delay my assistance a great while; for I thought with myself
that the forces that came from the king would prevent me, and that I should
be driven out of the city. I considered, therefore, how to get clear of
these forces by a stratagem; so I immediately placed those my friends of
Tarichee, on whom I could best confide, at the gates, to watch those very
carefully who went out at those gates: I also called to me the heads of
families, and bade every one of them to seize upon a ship 1
to go on board it, and to take a master with them, and follow him to the
city of Tiberias. I also myself went on board one of those ships, with
my friends, and the seven armed men already mentioned, and sailed for Tiberias.
1 In this section, as well as in the 18 and 33. those small vessels that sailed on the sea of Galilee, are called by Josephus, i.e. plainly ships; so that we need not wander at our evangelists, who still call them ships; nor ought we to render them boats, as some do, Their number was in all 230, as we learn from our author elsewhere. Jewish War. B. II. ch. 21. sect. 8.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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