themselves are received by the darkest place in Hades, and while
God, who is their Father, punishes those that offend against
either of them in their posterity? for which reason God hates
such doings, and the crime is punished by our most wise
legislator. Accordingly, our laws determine that the bodies of
such as kill themselves should be exposed till the sun be set,
without burial, although at the same time it be allowed by them
to be lawful to bury our enemies [sooner]. The laws of other
nations also enjoin such men's hands to be cut off when they are
dead, which had been made use of in destroying themselves when
alive, while they reckoned that as the body is alien from the
soul, so is the hand alien from the body. It is therefore, my
friends, a right thing to reason justly, and not add to the
calamities which men bring upon us impiety towards our Creator.
If we have a mind to preserve ourselves, let us do it; for to be
preserved by those our enemies, to whom we have given so many
demonstrations of our courage, is no way inglorious; but if we
have a mind to die, it is good to die by the hand of those that
have conquered us. For nay part, I will not run over to our
enemies' quarters, in order to be a traitor to myself; for
certainly I should then be much more foolish than those that
deserted to the enemy, since they did it in order to save
themselves, and I should do it for destruction, for my own
destruction. However, I heartily wish the Romans may prove
treacherous in this matter; for if, after their offer of their
right hand for security, I be slain by them, I shall die
cheerfully, and carry away with me the sense of their
perfidiousness, as a consolation greater than victory itself."
6. Now these and many the like motives did Josephus use to these
men to prevent their murdering themselves; but desperation had