five arrows. Still, he pressed on and regained
the walls; and held up the iron head in the sight of all, and then
fell down dead.

Such was the spirit with which the Jews were animated; and the
Roman soldiers, trained as they were to conflict among many
peoples, were yet astounded by the valor displayed by the race that
they had considered as unwarlike peasants. But the Romans were not
discouraged. Heavy masses of troops were brought up, the Jews were
driven within their walls and, towards evening, the ram was again
in position.

While Vespasian was directing the attack, he was struck by a
javelin in the heel. The Romans ceased from the attack and crowded
round their general but, as soon as they ascertained that his wound
was not serious, they returned to the attack with redoubled fury.

All that night, the contest raged unceasingly. The Roman engines
swept the walls with missiles. The towers came crashing down, under
the blows of the huge stones; while the javelins, arrows, and the
stones from the slings created terrible havoc among the defenders
of the wall. But, as fast as these fell, fresh combatants took
their places; and they continued hurling down stones, and blazing
brands, upon the freshly-erected wattles round the battering ram.
The Romans had the advantage in this strife for, while the fires on
the walls--at which the Jews lighted their brands, and boiled the
pitch and sulphur in which these were dipped--enabled them to aim
accurately, they themselves worked in deep shadow, at the foot of
the wall.

The night was a terrible one. The bolts, stones, and arrows which
passed over the wall spread ruin and death over the town. The din
was unceasing. The thundering noise of the great stones; the dull,
deep sound as the ram struck the wall; the fierce shouts of the
combatants, as they fought hand to hand--for the corpses were, in
places, piled so thick that the assailants could mount upon them to
the top of the walls--the shrieks of the women, and the screams of
the children, combined in one terrible and confused noise; which
was echoed back, and multiplied, by the surrounding mountains.

Morning was just breaking when the shaken wall gave way, and fell,
with a crash. Vespasian called off his weary troops, and allowed
them a short time for refreshment; then he prepared to storm the
breach. He brought up, first, a number of his bravest horsemen;
dismounted, and clad in complete armor They were provided with lo