Ch. 35 English

However, such of the watch as at the first perceived they were taken, and ran away as fast as they could, went up into one of the towers on the north side of the city, and for a while defended themselves there; but as they were encompassed with a multitude of enemies, they tried to use their right hands when it was too late, and at length they cheerfully offered their necks to be cut off by those that stood over them. And the Romans might have boasted that the conclusion of that siege was without blood [on their side] if there had not been a centurion, Antonius, who was slain at the taking of the city. His death was occasioned by the following treachery; for there was one of those that were fled into the caverns, which were a great number, who desired that this Antonius would reach him his right hand for his security, and would assure him that he would preserve him, and give him his assistance in getting up out of the cavern; accordingly, he incautiously reached him his right hand, when the other man prevented him, and stabbed him under his loins with a spear, and killed him immediately.

The Fall of Jotapata (Ch. 36)

Illo quidem die comparentem1 multitudinem peremere2 Romani. postea vero secutis3 diebus scrutando4 latebras, per5 cuniculos et speluncas in omnem saeviebant aetatem, praeter infantes ac foeminas. Itaque captivi quidem mille ducenti congregati erant: quadraginta vero millia connumerata sunt excidii tempore et pugnis6 superioribus mortuorum. At Vespasianus civitatem ipsam exscindi iubet, castellaque eius omnia exurit. Iotapata quidem ita devicta est tertiodecimo7 imperii Neronis8 anno, calendarum Juliarum die.

  1. Comparentem: from compareo, -ere meaning appearing, since many of the Jews were hiding from the Romans ↩

  2. Premere: this is a fake infinitive ↩

  3. Secutis: from sequor, sequi, deponent PPP ↩

  4. Scrutando: gerund (FPP as a noun) ↩

  5. per cuniculos et speluncas: the Jews are hiding in these tunnels and caves to avoid detection from the Romans ↩

  6. pugnis superioribus: this means in previous fights, as in superior (higher up) on a timeline, not superior as in better ↩

  7. tertiodecimo imperii Neronis anno, calendarum Juliarum die: this is a date referring to the 13th year of Nero’s reign, on the first day of the month of July, coming from the Greek word kalends which the first day of the month ↩

  8. Neronis: Nero is the current Roman emperor during the start of the Jewish War. He dies in 68 AD, leading to the Year of the Four Emperors before Vespasian consolidates power in 69 AD ↩

All material is taken, with gratitude, from The Latin Library as well as my own work, available under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license CC BY-SA 4.0