XIII.
Evenerant prodigia, quae neque hostiis neque votis piare fas habet gens superstitioni obnoxia, religionibus adversa. (quae neque hostiis neque votis piare fas habet gens superstitioni obnoxia, religionibus adversa: ‘[these prodigies] the Jewish nation, slave to superstition and hostile to true religion, considers illicit to expiate through sacrifices and pledges’. To a Roman, meticulous observance of formal propitiatory practices, entailing official sacrifices and vow offerings to avert the ominous influence of prodigies, was an essential aspect of true religion. In the eyes of the Jews such practices were blasphemous. piare: the use of the simple form instead of the compound expiare, or of a synonym like procurare is another ‘signature’ of Tacitus’ style, always in search of novel or out-of-the-way modes of expression.) Visae per caelum concurrere acies, rutilantia arma et subito nubium igne conlucere templum. (visae per caelum concurrere acies, rutilantia arma et subito nubium igne conlucere templum: ‘armies in battle array were seen to charge across the skies, their weapons glowing red, and the temple to light up with the fire of the clouds’. concurrere …conlucere: onomatopoeic and evocative) Apertae repente delubri fores et audita maior humana vox (audita maior humana vox: humana [voce] is abl. of comparison.) excedere deos; (excedere deos: ‘that the gods were leaving the city’; in this context, scholiasts report that it was established practice with the Romans, when about to besiege a city, to invite the guardian gods of the place to come over to their side, promising greater piety than in the present home.) simul ingens motus excedentium. Quae pauci in metum trahebant: (quae pauci in metum trahebant: ‘few saw these signs as reason for fear’.) pluribus persuasio inerat antiquis sacerdotum litteris contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens profectique Iudaea rerum potirentur. (pluribus persuasio inerat antiquis sacerdotum litteris contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens profectique Iudaea rerum potirentur: lit. ‘in many was the deep conviction that in the ancient scrolls of the priests was contained [the prophecy] that in those very days the Orient was going to prevail and that men having started from Judaea would gain control of all things’. pluribus is dative of possessor with inerat; fore ut valesceret: since valesco lacks supine and therefore future participle, the circumlocution fore ut, or futurum esse ut, + subjunctive must be used to replace the active future infinitive. Cf. A.G. 569, a., G. 248. profecti …Iudaea: Tacitus omits the prep. ex before the place from which, as poets often do.) Quae ambages Vespasianum ac Titum praedixerat, (quae ambages Vespasianum ac Titum praedixerat: ‘this obscure, covert reference had foreshown Vespasian and Titus’.) sed vulgus more humanae cupidinis sibi tantam fatorum magnitudinem interpretati ne adversis quidem ad vera mutabantur. (vulgus … sibi tantam fatorum magnitudinem interpretati ne adversis quidem ad vera mutabantur: ‘the common people having understood such great destiny to be meant for themselves, not even by misfortune were they turned to the truth’. sibi is dat. of interest; adversis is abl. of agent, without a or ab when the agent is a thing. vulgus …interpretati …mutabantur: vulgus, being a collective name, can have the verb in the plural; the perfect participle interpretati is an example of constructio ad sententiam or agreement according to sense: interpretati does not agree with the grammatical subject of the sentence (neuter, beside being singular), but with the logical subject (men, people etc.); this occurs, again, after a collective noun such as multitudo, pars, turba, plebs, vulgus, exercitus, etc.) Multitudinem obsessorum omnis aetatis, virile ac muliebre secus, (virile ac muliebre secus: the indeclinable neuter noun secus is an archaic form of sexus, here used as accusative of respect, ‘male or female as to sex’.) sexcenta milia fuisse accepimus: arma cunctis, qui ferre possent, et plures quam pro numero audebant. (qui ferre possent, et plures quam pro numero audebant: possent is potential subjunctive: ‘…those who could bear arms, and more dared [to fight] than was proportionate to the total number’. ) Obstinatio viris feminisque par; (obstinatio viris feminisque par: viris feminisque is dat. of possessor with an implied form of esse, the subject obstinatio being the thing possessed: ‘men and women had equal resolution [to fight]’.) ac si transferre sedis cogerentur, maior vitae metus quam mortis. Hanc adversus urbem gentemque Caesar Titus, quando impetus et subita belli locus abnueret, (quando impetus et subita belli locus abnueret: quando is causal particle, normally followed by indicative, except when the reason given is presumed by someone other than the writer, in this case Titus.) aggeribus vineisque certare statuit: dividuntur legionibus munia et quies proeliorum fuit, donec cuncta expugnandis urbibus reperta apud veteres aut novis ingeniis (novis ingeniis: ‘by modern ingenious minds’) struerentur. (donec … struerentur: for use of donec cf. notes for donec in chapters 11 and 12. Here ends Tacitus’ chronicle of the siege of Jerusalem. The rest is lost with all parts of the Histories after ch. 26 of the present book. For the actual storming and destruction of the city we rely on information contained in the Bellum Judaicum, the main work of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian, himself a prisoner earlier in the war. The fighting was fierce and cruel; the Romans brought to bear the most advanced siege techniques to reduce the city. Between the end of April and the end of May of 70 A.D. they managed to penetrate the third and second set of walls protecting Jerusalem, beginning their assault in the NW sector of the city. Despairing to be able to overcome the first or inner wall, Titus ordered the construction of a stone vallum to seal off the remaining parts of the city from all outside supply sources. Famine and cannibalism quickly spread. In July the inner wall was breached, in August the temple went up in flames, and soon after resistance ceased. In 73 A.D. the last embers of the revolt were estinguished with the capture of Masada, a mountan fortress well south of Jerusalem, near the Dead Sea. The second Diaspora then began. )