their breastplates on ; as did the horsemen lead the horses in their fine trappings. . . . The whole of the old wall and the north side of the Temple were full of spectators, and one might see the houses full of such as looked at them ; nor was there any part of the city which was not covered over with their multitudes; nay, a great consternation seized upon the hardiest of the Jews themselves, when they saw all the army in the same place, together with the success of their arms and the good order of the men. The Jews saw and trembled. But they did not submit. There could be no longer any hope. The multitude, pent up in limits too narrow for one-tenth of their number, daily obtained more room by death, for they died by thousands. The bodies were thrown out into the valleys, where they lay rotting, a loathsome mass. Ptoaming bands of soldiers went up and down the city looking for food. When they came upon a man who looked fat and well-fed they tortured him till he told the secret of his store : to be starving or to appear to be starving was the only safety: and "now," says Josephus, "all hope of escaping was cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families ; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine ; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged ; the children also and the young men wandered about the market-places like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead wheresoever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it ; and those that were hearty and well, were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how * Joseph. ' Bell. Jud.' y. ix. 1.