, what
hope should we have on this side, where the population is
comparatively scanty, and where there are few strong places? Do not
let us provoke the Romans, my friends. If they go up against
Jerusalem, let those who will, go, and die in defense of the
Temple; but it would be worse than folly to provoke the wrath of
the Romans, by thrusting yourselves into the quarrel here."

Warmly did the fishermen congratulate themselves, when they saw the
combat proceeding on the lake, and when a strong body of Roman
horse rode along the shore, leaving parties at regular intervals to
cut off those who might try and land. A body of twenty were posted
down by the boats, and two came into the village and demanded food
for the party. Simon, when he saw them coming, ordered all the
able-bodied men to retire, and remain in the olive groves on the
slopes, at a distance from the lake, until the Romans had gone;
while he, and Isaac, and some other old men, went down and met the
soldiers.

"Are any of the people of this place out there on the lake?" the
officer in command of the twenty men asked; as Simon and his party,
bringing bread, fruit, and wine, came down to the waterside.

"No, sir," Simon replied. "We have but eight boats belonging to the
village, and they are all there. We are peaceable people, who till
the soil and fish the lake, and take no part in the doings of the
great towns. We are subjects of King Agrippa, and have no cause for
discontent with him."

"A great many other people have no cause for discontent, old man,"
the officer said; "but they have, nevertheless, risen in rebellion.
However, as your boats are here, and your people seem to have taken
no part in this matter, I have naught to say against you;
especially as your wine is good, and you have brought down plenty
of it."

Simon and his companions withdrew and, with aching hearts, watched
from a distance the massacre upon the lake. The fury, however,
produced among the men in the towns and villages on the shore, at
the sight of the numerous corpses washed ashore, was so great that
many of the young men left their avocations and started for Gamala;
which, relying upon the strength of its position--which was even
stronger than that of Jotapata--was resolved to resist to the last.

Several of the young men of the village, and many from the villages
near, were determined to take this course, maddened by the
slaughter of many friends and relations. John himself w