comply with what they proposed, lest the people of Tiberias
should have occasion to suppose that I was not careful of their
security. I therefore went out; but, when I was at the place, I
found not the least footsteps of any enemy, so I returned as fast
as ever I could, and found the whole council assembled, and the
body of the people gotten together, and Jonathan and his
colleagues bringing vehement accusations against me, as one who
had no concern to ease them of the burdens of war, and as one
that lived luxuriously. And as they were discoursing thus, they
produced four letters, as written to them from some people that
lived at the borders of Galilee, imploring that they would come
to their assistance, for that there was an army of Romans, both
horsemen and footmen, who would come and lay waste the country on
the third day; they desired them also to make haste, and not to
overlook them. When the people of Tiberias heard this, they
thought they spake truth, and made a clamor against me, and said
I ought not to sit still, but to go away to the assistance of
their countrymen. Hereupon I said (for I understood the meaning
of Jonathan and his colleagues) that I was ready to comply with
what they proposed, and without delay to march to the war which
they spake of, yet did I advise them, at the same time, that
since these letters declared that the Romans would make their
assault in four several places, they should part their forces
into five bodies, and make Jonathan and his colleagues generals
of each body of them, because it was fit for brave men, not only
to give counsel, but to take the place of leaders, and assist
their countrymen when such a necessity pressed them; for, said I,
it is not possible for me to lead more than one party. This
advice of mine greatly pleased the multitude; so they compelled
them to go forth to the war. But their designs were put into very