entered the city, to spare
the lives of all--but he yielded to the arguments of those who said
that the strangers were mountain robbers, the foes of every man.
Accordingly, they were ordered to leave the city, by the road to
Tiberias.

As soon as they had left the town, the troops surrounded them,
headed by Vespasian in person. Twelve hundred of the aged and
helpless he ordered to be slain, at once; six thousand of the most
able-bodied he sent to Nero, to be employed on the canal he was
digging across the isthmus of Corinth; thirty thousand four hundred
were sold as slaves; and a large number were bestowed upon Agrippa,
who also sold them as slaves. This act, after the formal promise of
pardon, disgraces the memory of Vespasian even more than the
wholesale massacres of the garrisons of the towns which resisted to
the last.

The news of this act of wholesale vengeance spread such terror
through the land that the whole of the cities of Galilee at once
opened their gates; and sent deputations to Vespasian to offer
their submission, and ask for pardon. Gamala, Gischala, and
Itabyrium--a town on Mount Tabor, which had been strongly fortified
by Josephus--alone held out. Itabyrium lay some ten miles to the
west of Tiberias.

Standing back among the trees, at a short distance from the lake,
Simon, John, and the workers on the farm watched with horror the
slaughter of the fishermen on the lake. None of their neighbors
were among those who had gone out to aid in the defense of
Tarichea; for Simon had gone among them, to dissuade them from
launching their boats and joining the flotilla, as it proceeded
down the lake in the morning. He urged upon them that, if they took
part in the affair, they would only bring down vengeance upon
themselves and their families.

"There is no lack of men," he said, "in Tiberias and Tarichea. Such
aid as you can give would be useless and, whether the cities fall
at once, or whether they resist, the vengeance of the Romans will
fall upon you. In a few hours, their horsemen can ride round the
shores of the lake, and cut off all who are absent from returning
to their homes, and give the villages to fire and sword. Those who
can point to their boats, drawn up at the side of the lake, will be
able to give proof to the Romans that they have not taken part
against them. So far, we have escaped the horrors of war on this
side of Jordan.

"If the strong cities of Galilee cannot resist the Roman arms