were the women and children, saw me, they threw themselves down
upon their faces, and, with tears in their eyes, besought me not
to leave them exposed to their enemies, nor to go away and permit
their country to be injured by them. But when I did not comply,
with their entreaties, they compelled me to take an oath, that I
would stay with them: they also cast abundance of reproaches upon
the people of Jerusalem, that they would not let their country
enjoy peace.

43. When I heard this, and saw what sorrow the people were in, I
was moved with compassion to them, and thought it became me 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
thevillage 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.