Ch. 9

Surrounding the City

Tunc igitur Vespasianus machinis¹ missilium circumpositis (erant autem omnes centum sexaginta) in² eos qui super murum astarent, iussit tela contendi³: simulque ex catapultis lanceae⁴ percurrebant, saxaque tormentis⁵ ingentia mittebantur, ignisque⁶ et sagittarum frequentissima multitudo, quae⁷ non solum⁸ murum⁹, sed etiam⁸ totum intra¹⁰ iactum earum spatium⁹ Judaeis inaccessum fecere¹¹: Arabum¹² enim sagittariorum manus¹³, et iaculatores, itemque funditores¹⁴ et omnes machinae tela iaciebant. Neque tamen his¹⁵ Judaei prohibiti, ne¹⁶ desuper propugnarent, quieti erant: sed excurrendo¹⁷ per cuneos¹⁸ more¹⁹ latronum, tegmina²⁰ operantium detrahebant, nudatosque²¹ feriebant: et ubi illi cessissent, aggerem dissipabant, vallorumque munimenta cum cratibus²² igni tradebant: donec Vespasianus cognito²³, huius damni causam ex distributione operum contigisse, quod interiecta spacia Judaeis locum aggrediendi²⁴ praeberent, adunavit tegmina : coniunctisque pariter viribus obreptiones²⁵ hostium praepeditae sunt.

Ch. 10 in English

And when the bank was now raised, and brought nearer than ever to the battlements that belonged to the walls, Josephus thought it would be entirely wrong of him if he could make no counter-attack in opposition to theirs, and that might be for the city’s preservation; so he got together his workmen, and ordered them to build the wall higher; and while they said that this was impossible to be done while so many darts were thrown at them, he invented this sort of cover for them: He bid them fix piles, and expand before them the raw hides of oxen newly killed, that these hides by yielding and hollowing themselves when the stones were thrown at them might receive them, for that the other darts would slide off them, and the fire that was thrown would be quenched by the moisture that was in them. And these he set before the workmen, and under them these workmen went on with their works in safety, and raised the wall higher, and that both by day and by night, fill it was twenty cubits high. He also built a good number of towers upon the wall, and fitted it to strong battlements. This greatly discouraged the Romans, who in their own opinions were already gotten within the walls, while they were now at once astonished at Josephus’s cunning ploy, and at the fortitude of the citizens that were in the city.

Ch. 11 in English

And now Vespasian was plainly irritated at the great subtlety of this stratagem, and at the boldness of the citizens of Jotapata; for taking heart again upon the building of this wall, they made fresh sallies upon the Romans, and had every day conflicts with them by parties, together with all such tricks, as robbers make use of, and with the plundering of all that came to hand, as also with the setting fire to all the other works; and this till Vespasian made his army leave off fighting them, and resolved to lie round the city, and to starve them into a surrender, as supposing that either they would be forced to petition him for mercy by want of provisions, or if they should have the courage to hold out till the last, they should perish by famine: and he concluded he should conquer them the more easily in fighting, if he gave them an interval, and then fell upon them when they were weakened by famine; but still he gave orders that they should guard against their coming out of the city.

machinis missilium circumpositis: ablative absolute ↩
in eos: in + ACC can sometimes be “against” in a hostile sent, like “into the enemies” ↩
contendi: passive infinitive, to be hurled ↩
lanceae: a lancea, -ae (f) is a long spear/javelin, here being launched from the catapults ↩
tormentis: a tormentum, -i (n) is another kind of catapult or throwing siege weapon ↩
ignisque: probably best to take this as genitive, I’d imagine. There are 3rd declension nouns where both your nominative and genitive is -is (ignis, ensis, canis, avis) ↩
quae: this refers back to multitudo, since the -o nominative 3rd declension nouns are feminine ↩
non solum….sed etiam: not only……,but also….. This is a great stock phrase to commit to memory ↩ ↩²
murum: take this, similar to the totum spatium later on, as your direct object of fecere, being modified by the inaccessum ↩ ↩²
intra iactum earum: within their range, referring to the siege machines ↩
fecere: recognize this as a fake infinitive, they have made ↩
Arabum: sections of the Arabian Peninsula client kingdoms under Roman control during the Jewish Wars, so their forces were called on to assist Rome in the conflict ↩
manus: go with “band of soliders,” or a maniple,” rather than “hand” here ↩
funditores: these are slingers, soldiers who fought with slingshots. They were often recruited, or forcibly conscripted, from the Balearic islands off the eastern coast of Spain ↩
his: ablative of means, by these (troops) ↩
ne desuper propugnarent: this acts as what they were prohibited from ↩
excurrendo: gerund (FPP on its own) in the ablative, by running out ↩
per cuneos: through the wedges, meaning that the Jews are rushing out in small groups to do damage to the Roman defenses and siege craft ↩
more latronum: in the custom of thieves ↩
tegmina operantium: take operantium as a substantive participle, meaning that you should treat it as a noun, of the ones working. By working, Josephus means those building the siege crafts. The tegmina are coverings used to protect the men as they build, a time when they are greatly exposed ↩
nudatosque feriebant: add a “them” in here. And not naked naked, but rather without protection or defenses, having lost their temina ↩
cratibus: as we’ve seen, a cratis was a wicker shield used to protect men while building siege craft ↩
cognito: sigh, is a super rare one word ablative absolute, with this thing having been known. It will start off indirect statement in your next phrase ↩
aggrediendi: another gerund, this time in the genitive ↩
obreptiones hostium praepeditae sunt: Vespasian foils the Jews tactic rather easily ↩