But there was another wall inside. One Sabi"nus, a little dark Syrian soldier, led a forlorn hope of eleven men up to this in broad noon-day, gained the top, and put the Jews to flight; but tripping over a stone he was killed, as were three of his band. A night or two after, sixteen Romans stole up the wall, slew the guards, and blew a startling trumpet blast. The Jews fled. Titus and his men, swarming up the ruined wall, dashed at the entrance of the Temple. After ten hours" fighting, the Jews drove the Romans out of the Temple, but not from the Tower of Antonia.
After the Roman wall was built, the famine and the plague grew worse. Young men dropt dead in the streets. Piles of decaying corpses filled the lanes, and were thrown by thousands over the walls. No herbs were to be got now. Men, in the rage of hunger, gnawed their shoes, the leather of their shields, and even old wisps of hay. Robbers, with wolfish eyes, ransacked every dwelling, and, when one day they came clamouring for food to the house of the daughter of Eleazar, she set before them the roasted flesh of her own infant son! Brutal and rabid though they were, they fled from the house of that wretched mother.
At last the daily sacrifice ceased to be offered, and the war closed round the Temple. The cloisters were soon burned. Six days" battering had no effect on the great gates; fire alone could clear a path for the eagles. A day was fixed for the grand assault; but on the evening before, the Romans having penetrated as far as the Holy House, a soldier, climbing on the shoulders of another, put a blazing torch to one of the golden windows of the north side. The building was soon a sheet of leaping flames; and Titus, who had always desired to save the Temple, came running from his tent, but the din of war and the crackling flames prevented his voice from being heard.
On over the smoking cloisters trampled the legions,fierce for plunder. The Jews sank in heaps of dead and dyingaround the altar, which dripped with their blood. More fire was thrown upon the hinges of the gate; and then no human word or hand could save the house, where God himself had loved to dwell. Never did the stars of night look down on a more piteous scene. Sky and hill and town and valley were all reddened with one fearful hue. The roar of flames, the shouts of Romans, the shrieks of wounded Zealots, rose wild into the scorching air, and echoed among the mountains all around. But sadder far was the wail of broken hearts which burst from the streets below, when marble wall and roof of gold came crashing down, and the Temple was no more. Then, and only then, did the Jews let go the trust which had all along sustained them, that God would deliver his ancient people, smiting the Romans with some sudden blow.
The Upper City then became a last refuge for the despairing remnant of the garrison. Simon and John were there; but the arrogant tyrants were broken down to trembling cowards. And when, after eighteen days" work, banks were raised and the terrible ram began to sound anew on the ramparts, the panic- struck Jews fled like hunted foxes to hide in the caves of the hill. The eagles flew victorious to thesummit of the citadel, while Jewish blood ran so deep down Zion that burning houses were quenched in the red stream!