roduce another cunning contrivance of
his; for he said that those Jews who inhabited Cesarea Philippi, and
were shut up by the order of the king's deputy there, had sent to him to
desire him, that, since they had no oil that was pure for their use,
he would provide a sufficient quantity of such oil for them, lest they
should be forced to make use of oil that came from the Greeks, and
thereby transgress their own laws. Now this was said by John, not out of
his regard to religion, but out of his most flagrant desire of gain;
for he knew that two sextaries were sold with them of Caesarea for one
drachma, but that at Gischala fourscore sextaxies were sold for four
sextaries. So he gave order that all the oil which was there should be
carried away, as having my permission for so doing; which yet I did not
grant him voluntarily, but only out of fear of the multitude, since,
if I had forbidden him, I should have been stoned by them. When I had
therefore permitted this to be done by John, he gained vast sums of
money by this his knavery.

14. But when I had dismissed my fellow legates, and sent them back to
Jerusalem, I took care to have arms provided, and the cities fortified.
And when I had sent for the most hardy among the robbers, I saw that it
was not in my power to take their arms from them; but I persuaded the
multitude to allow them money as pay, and told them it was better for
them to give them a little willingly, rather than to [be forced to]
overlook them when they plundered their goods from them. And when I had
obliged them to take an oath not to come into that country, unless they
were invited to come, or else when they had not their pay given them, I
dismissed them, and charged them neither to make an expedition against
the Romans, nor against those their neighbors that lay round about them;
for my first care was to keep Galilee in peace. So I was willing to have
the principal of the Galileans, in all seventy, as hostages for their
fidelity, but still under the notion of friendship. Accordingly, I made
them my friends and companions as I journeyed, and set them to judge
causes; and with their approbation it was that I gave my sentences,
while I endeavored not to mistake what justice required, and to keep my
hands clear of all bribery in those determinations.

15. I was now about the thirtieth year of my age; in which time of life
it is a hard thing for any one to escape the calumnies of the envious,
although he r