had all been murdered, and Titus was obliged to parade them before the walls to satisfy the suspicions thus raised. An attempt was made to take the Temple by a night attack. This, however, failed, and Titus foresaw the necessity of raising new banks. Fighting went on daily in the cloisters, until the Jews set fire to them, and occasional sorties were made by the besieged in hopes to catch the enemy at unguarded moments. The banks were finished on the 1st of August. Titus ordered that they should be brought and set over against the western wall of the inner Temple. For six days the battering rams played against the masonry of the inner Temple, for by this time the beautiful cloisters which surrounded it, and ran from east to west, were all destroyed, and the inner Temple, a fortress in itself, stood naked and alone, the last refuge of John and his men. Had they yielded this at least would have been spared. But it was not to be. With a pertinacity which had no longer any hope in it the obstinate zealots held out. On the north side the Bomans undermined the gate, but could not bring it down ; they brought ladders and endeavoured to tunnel the wall. The Jews allowed them to mount, and then killed every one and captured their ensigns. And thus it was that Titus, fearing perhaps that the spirit of his own troops would give way, ordered the northern gate to be set on fire. This was done, and the cloisters, not those of the outer court, but of the inner, were soon destroyed. But Titus resolved still to save the Holy of Holies. It was the day on which Nebuchadnezzar had Aug. 9. burned the Temple of Solomon. The Jews made another sortie, their last but one. They could effect nothing, and retired after five hours' fighting into their stronghold, the desecrated Temple, on whose altar no more sacrifices were now made, or ever would be made again. Titus retired to Antonia, resolving to take the place the next day ; but the Jews would not wait so long. They