e to undergo the
most manifest hazards for the sake of so great a multitude; so I let
them know I would stay with them. And when I had given order that five
thousand off them should come to me armed, and with provisions for their
maintenance, I sent the rest away to their own homes; and when those
five thousand were come, I took them, together with three thousand of
the soldiers that were with me before, and eighty horsemen, and marched
to the village of Chabolo, situated in the confines of Ptolimias, and
there kept my forces together, pretending to get ready to fight with
Placidus, who was come with two cohorts of footmen, and one troop of
horsemen, and was sent thither by Cestius Gallus to burn those villages
of Galilee that were near Ptolemais. Upon whose casting up a bank before
the city Ptolemais, I also pitched my camp at about the distance of
sixty furlongs from that village. And now we frequently brought out our
forces as if we would fight, but proceeded no further than skirmishes at
a distance; for when Placidus perceived that I was earnest to come to
a battle, he was afraid, and avoided it. Yet did he not remove from the
neighborhood of Ptolemais.

44. About this time it was that Jonathan and his fellow legates came.
They were sent, as we have said already, by Simon, and Ananus the high
priest. And Jonathan contrived how he might catch me by treachery;
for he durst not make any attempt upon me openly. So he wrote me the
following epistle: "Jonathan and those that are with him, and are sent
by the people of Jerusalem, to Josephus, send greeting. We are sent by
the principal men of Jerusalem, who have heard that John of Gischala
hath laid many snares for thee, to rebuke him, and to exhort him to be
subject to thee hereafter. We are also desirous to consult with thee
about our common concerns, and what is fit to be done. We therefore
desire thee to come to us quickly, and to bring only a few men with
thee; for this village will not contain a great number of soldiers."
Thus it was that they wrote, as expecting one of these two things;
either that I should come without armed men, and then they should have
me wholly in their power; or, if I came with a great number, they should
judge me to be a public enemy. Now it was a horseman who brought the
letter, a man at other times bold, and one that had served in the army
under the king. It was the second hour of the night that he came, when
I was feasting with my friends,