To the Death (30 page)

On their behalf Mucianus, who agreed with them, formally requested Vespasian to accept Sovereignty, with the legionaries loudly demanding that he should command them against any that opposed him.

But Vespasian hesitated. He had privately given thought to what his men were now articulating. The key to success was, however, out of his control, and he knew it. Without the support of the city of Alexandria he would not be master of Egypt, the most important province in the Empire because it supplied Rome with a third of its annual corn consumption. Vespasian had calculated that if he controlled Egypt, he could make life difficult to the point of impossible for whoever ruled Rome. He also needed the support of the two legions garrisoned in Alexandria, which controlled Egypt.

He knew that if he had these two things in place, he could use Egypt as a shield.

With Judaea and Galilee conquered, Vespasian had relieved Tiberius Alexander of his duties as second in command, returning him to Egypt to resume his governing of the province. Titus was promoted to command all forces, reporting directly to his father. Vespasian decided that he would declare his intentions to Tiberius and ask him for his support.

Before receiving Vespasian's letter, Tiberius Alexander had unsurprisingly carefully considered his own position. As governor of Rome's most important province, he literally lived like a King and, providing he kept the grain ships moving, he was far enough away from Rome to be untroubled by political intrigue. Like Vespasian, he was an old soldier and regarded civil war as unthinkable. The Empire would fall and along with it his tenure of office. Rome needed a stable government fast. That meant a reliable man at the top - a position he wasn't remotely interested in for himself. Vespasian, he decided, fitted the bill and had the backing of his men.

After consulting with his officers and, very importantly, recommending backing Vespasian, he assembled the legions and the city's dignitaries. After reading Vespasian's letter to them, he invited the soldiers and the civilians alike to swear allegiance to Vespasian.

Security in uncertain times carried the day. Support for Vespasian was overwhelming, so in July 69 the populace and the legions of Alexandria swore allegiance to Vespasian. In doing so they made him Emperor in waiting. Tiberius then set about preparing to receive Vespasian. His first task was to send messengers to every province, declaring Vespasian Emperor of the East. Cities throughout the region celebrated the news and offered sacrifices on Vespasian's behalf. The Moesian and Pannonia legions, with a view to the future, promptly swore allegiance to Vespasian who had left Caesarea for Beirut to meet the deputations from Syria and other provinces who came to offer their congratulations.

Vespasian then sent Mucianus to Italy in command of a powerful army. Mucianus, unwilling to risk his forces in a sea crossing in winter, marched his army overland. This was in the autumn of 69. In the meantime Antonius Primus, commander of the Third Legion garrisoned in Moesia who had declared for Vespasian, was confronted by General Ceacina Alienus who had been ordered to punish his defection. The two armies met at Cremona. Before they could engage in battle, Alienus changed sides after persuading his men that to do otherwise would put them on the losing side. Alienus, however, hadn't persuaded all of his men that switching sides was a good move. During the night his senior officers arrested him and tied him up, with the intention of taking him to Rome and charging him with treason.

Primus, not best pleased at this change of heart, met Alienus' forces which, without a commanding general, retreated towards Cremona. Fearing they would enter the city and become safe from anything but a prolonged siege, Primus led his cavalry in a headlong charge to out-flank and surround them. He then brought up his army and using his archers massacred Alienus' thirty thousand men, at a cost to Primus of four thousand casualties. After sending a report of his victory and his intentions to Vespasian, Primus looted the town before resuming his march on Rome.

Eventually the legions of Primus and Mucianus joined up and declared they were taking possession of Rome on behalf of Vespasian. They then called a meeting of the senate and put forward a motion that Vespasian's youngest son, Domitian, should be head of state until his father arrived. The ordinary citizens cheered this proposal and a weary senate ratified the motion and appointed Vespasian emperor.

Arriving in Alexandria, Vespasian was met with this amazing news and was soon receiving ambassadors from all over the world, who had come to congratulate their new sovereign and swear their countries' continued allegiance.

With the whole Empire secure and the supremacy of Rome re-established, Vespasian turned his attention to the final stages of his Judaean campaign. He was, however, eager to leave for Rome as soon as winter ended. With this in mind, he poured all his energy into putting things in order in Alexandria.

He sent Titus the pick of his army and made him commanding general of all forces in Judaea with Mucianus to be his second in command. His orders were that Jerusalem was to be levelled. Rebel Jews who survived the war were to be shipped abroad and sold into slavery. Large tracts of land were to be awarded to their Arab allies, with choice portions of good land made available to legionaries due for retirement, who were willing to settle in the region. The handful of remaining Jews would not be allowed to own land. If they wished to farm, it would be as tenants. In fact “all land in Judaea/Palestine would become the personal property of the Emperor”.

With his sovereignty secure, Vespasian turned his thoughts to Judaea and his son. A letter, he decided, was long overdue.

29

T
itus
was enjoying a breakfast of cold cuts when a box of mail arrived. The document that caught his eye and was fished out first, bore his father's seal. Gesturing to his steward to replenish his goblet, he broke the crimson wax with the tip of his dagger and settled back to read what would turn out to be the most momentous letter he would ever receive in his life.

Hail Flavius Titus Vespasianous

From your father Flavius Vespasianous Augustus

My dear Son

News of your preparations for the final assault on Jerusalem is most welcome, and we look forward to your complete victory. The events of the last year in Rome have been the most significant in the history of the Empire. An account of which we desire to be accurately recorded in the history of the Empire, particularly those events which are interwoven with the war of Jews, which we have waged for five long years at great cost.

The vacuum caused by Nero's death caused in a power struggle that could have resulted in a devastating civil war. A war that may well have brought the empire to an end. With the throne empty and no natural successor, Servius Galba declared himself emperor. Within three months he was dead - assassinated by Salvius Otho who committed suicide when challenged by Aulus Vitellius.

When Primus and Mucianus' legions entered the city he tried to hide on a building site dressed as a common workman. Discovered, he was taken to the very spot in the
forum
where Galba had been assassinated. Declared an enemy of the people, he was executed.

Fortunately our prisoner, the Jewish scholar Josephus, is writing an eye witness account of the war and will be able to record these events. When it and the war are finally concluded, it is my intention to place a copy in every library in the Empire.

From your earlier reports I know you have come to value Josephus' assistance and have noted your recommendations with regard to a reward for his loyalty. You may, of course, furnish him with anything that is within your gift as Caesar of our forces in Judaea. You may also confer on him, in my name Roman citizenship and a gift of land in Judaea. In addition, when he comes to Rome he will have a pension and our old house in Rome to live in.

The senate has agreed that, when you have won the final victory, we will share a Triumph together. Nothing in this world will give me more pleasure and pride.

I salute you

Your father

Vespasianous Agustus.

Rome

After ordering three legions to their quarters in Caesarea and Scythopolis, Titus rode up to the strong hold of Gischala with a thousand picked horsemen. He was tired of bloodshed and knew from his spies that the majority of Gischala's population, peasant farmers, only wanted to live in peace. But John had no intention of being captured by the Romans. He treacherously pretended to be ready to agree terms but said that, as it was the Sabbath, he would need to postpone the formalities until the morrow. Titus, as a sign of his own good faith, withdrew to Cadesh Napthaly.

When night fell, John, surrounded by a mob of unarmed men, women and children, whom he later abandoned, made off in the direction of Jerusalem. As a consequence, six thousands of John's wretched dupes were slaughtered and the women and children brought back, whereupon a weary Gischala opened its gates to Titus. The whole of Galilee was now at peace – a peace bought by the death of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Jews who had no say in the politics of revolution.

As soon as he arrived in Jerusalem, John strutted about declaring himself to be a patriot. Older people, who had heard it all before, knew him for what he was - an unscrupulous, calculating egoist who had already been defeated by the Romans. But the city's impressionable and disaffected youth, fired by the dream of home rule, flocked to his support. The Holy City was soon severely divided, its population split by implacable factions, its streets divided by sectarianism into ‘no go' areas.

Things were made worse by the demands of a long standing tradition that the city gates must stand open to any child of Israel who wished to enter. Outlaws, bandits, war lords, anarchists, terrorists and nationalists from all over the country converged on this sanctuary. In the confusion of the infighting there were no sentries posted on the walls. The opportunists and carpet baggers found it easy to infiltrate the pilgrims fleeing to the city for protection.

To strengthen their position the rebels decided they wanted to replace the Temple priests with their own men. They decided to activate a most obscure pontifical law, that of
Eniahan,
which allowed them to carry out a travesty of an ancient custom, which was to cast lots as to who should be High Priest of all Israel. The lot fell to a village stonemason, Anius Ben Samuel. He was carted off to the city, dressed in the sacred vestments and taught by rote the sacerdotal functions - of which of course he knew nothing.

The group which had carried out this blasphemous act were of course Simon's zealots, who then installed themselves in the Temple.

30

B
etween
Simon and John, a “stand-off ” had developed. Simon controlled the Upper and Lower City and the Great Wall. John controlled the Temple and the surrounding area as far as the Kidron Valley. Between them stretched a wasteland of burnt out buildings, testimony to the savagery of the civil war. A truce between the two was agreed and even though mutual suspicions lingered, they joined forces. John and Simon's first combined sortie was a disaster. They had barely cleared the city gates, before turning on each other. They were like rabid dogs, snapping at anything and everything in a mindless frenzy. Within a week of its ceasefire the war within a war was resumed. “It was as if ” Josephus observed “the Jews suffer less at Roman hands, than they do at their own”.

As the agony of the Holy city continued, the despairing citizens began to believe that God had turned his face from them in punishment for their sins. Many were plunged into a deep depression and simply stayed in their homes, faces turned to the wall, devoid of expression, unable or unwilling to speak. Having polluted the sanctuary, desecrated the Holy of Holies and rendered unclean the High Altar, its sacred flame never to be relit, the rebels continued to fight each other. The victims of the return to war and murder lay unburied in the streets, their putrefaction bringing more death from disease.

Such were the circumstances Titus found on his arrival at Jerusalem. With his legions busy building their fortifications, the young general decided to take a closer look at the city he had heard so much about. With no sign of anybody outside the city walls, Titus ordered a cohort of cavalry to accompany him on a tentative reconnoitre.

As they cantered forward he scanned the wall. From a distance no point of weakness could be seen. As they approached the edge of the valley, protecting what was the first of three walls built one behind the other, he discounted any attempt to enter its bottomless depths. After being out for a couple of hours Titus noticed that at a point in the fortifications, the ramparts were lower and did not connect to the inner second wall. Instead they were interrupted by a small building. He learned later that this was a temple to a high priest. Surprisingly, this important junction in the walls' defences was unguarded. Titus then looked hard at the Antonia fortress. He decided that a possible route into the city might be through the less well protected new city and the allegedly un-take-able Antonia Fortress.

After Titus had ridden out to survey the city, Josephus had asked to be allowed to approach the walls in an effort to establish contact with the rebels. His efforts, even under a flag of truce, were met with a shower of missiles, resulting in one of his accompanying party, the centurion Nicanor, taking an arrow in his arm.