Eusebius Book 3, Section 6

3.6.1

VI. φέρε δὴ οὖν, τῶν Ἱστοριῶν τὴν πέμπτην τοῦ Ἰωσήπου μετὰ χεῖρας αὖθις ἀναλαβών, τῶν τότε πραχθέντων δίελθε τὴν τραγῳδίαν· “τοῖς γε μὴν εὐπόροις’’ φησί “καὶ τὸ μένειν πρὸς ἀπωλείας ἴσον ἢν· γὰρ αὐτομολίας ἀνῃρεῖτό τις διὰ τὴν οὐσίαν. τῷ Λιμῷ δ’ ἢ ἀπόνοια τῶν στασιαστῶν συνήκμαζεν, καὶ καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀμφότερα προσεξεκάετο τὰ δεινά. φανερὸς μέν γε οὐδαμοῦ οῖτος ἢν, ἐπεισπηδῶντες δὲ διηρεύνων τὰς οἰκίας, ἔπειθ’ εὑρόντες μὲν ὡς ἀρνησαμένους ᾐκίζοντο, μὴ εὑ· ρόντες δὲ ὡς ἐπιμελέστερον κρύψαντας ἐβασάνιζον. τεκμήριον δὲ τοῦ τ’ ἔχειν καὶ μή, τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀθλίων· ὧν οἱ μὲν ἔτι συνεστῶτες εὐπορεῖν τροφῆς ἐδόκουν, οἱ τηκόμενοι δὲ ἤδη παρωδεύοντο, καὶ κτείνειν ἄλογον ἐδόκει τοὺς ὑπ’ ἐνδείας τεθνηξομένους αὐτίκα. πολλοὶ δὲ λάθρα τὰς κτήσεις ἑνὸς ἀντικατηλλάξαντο μέτρου, πυρῶν μέν, εἰ πλουσιώτεροι τυγχάνοιεν ὄντες, οἱ δὲ πενέστεροι κριθῆς · ἔπειτα κατακλείοντες ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ μυχαίτατα τῶν οἰκιῶν, τινὲς μὲν ὑπ’ ἄκρας ἐνδείας ἀνέργαστον τὸν σῖτον ἤσθιον, οἳ δ᾿ ἔπεσσον ὡς ἥ τε ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ δέος παρῄνει, καὶ τράπεζα μὲν οὐδαμοῦ παρετίθετο, τοῦ δὲ πυρὸς ὑφέλκοντες ἔτ᾿ ὠμὰ τὰ σιτία διήρπαζον. ἐλεεινὴ δ᾿ ἦν ἡ τροφὴ καὶ δακρύων ἄξιος ἡ θέα, τῶν μὲν δυνατωτέρων πλεονεκτούντων, τῶν δὲ ἀσθενῶν ὀδυρομένων. πάντων μὲν δὴ παθῶν ὑπερίσταται λιμός, οὐδὲν δ᾿ οὕτως ἀπόλλυσιν ὡς αἰδῶ1. τὸ γὰρ ἄλλως ἐντροπῆς ἄξιον ἐν τούτῳ καταφρονεῖται. γυναῖκες γοῦν ἀνδρῶν καὶ παῖδες πατέρων καί, τὸ ἀκτρότατον, μητέρες νηπίων ἐξήρπαζον ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν στομάτων τὰς τροφάς, καὶ τῶν φιλτάτων ἐν χερσὶ μαραινομένων οὐκ ἦν φειδὼ τοὺς τοῦ ζῆν ἀφελέσθαι σταλαγμούς. τοιαῦτα δ᾿ ἐσθίοντες, ὅμως οὐ διελάνθανον, πανταχοῦ δ᾿ ἐφίσταντο οἱ στασιασταὶ καὶ τούτων ταῖς ἁρπαγαῖς. ὁπότε γὰρ κατίδοιεν ἀποκεκλεισμένην οἰκίαν, σημεῖον ἦν τοῦτο τοὺ ςἔνδον προσφέρεσθαι τροφήν, εὐθέως δ᾿ ἐξαράξαντες τὰς θύρας εἰσεπήδων, καὶ μόνον οὐκ ἐκ τῶν φαρύγγων ἀναθλίδβοντες τὰς ἀκόλους ἀνέφερον. ἐτύπτοντο δὲ γέροντες ἀντεχόμενοι τῶν σιτίων, καὶ κόμης ἐσπαράσσοντο γυναῖκες συγκαλύπτουσαι τὰ ἐν χερσίν, οὐδέ τις ἦν οἶκτος πολιᾶς ἢ νηπίων, ἀλλὰ συνεπαίροντες τὰ παιδία τῶν ψωμῶν ἐκκρεμάμενα κατέσειον εἰς ἔδαφος. τοῖς δὲ φθάσασι τὴν εἰσδρομὴν αὐτῶν καὶ προκαταπιοῦσιν τὸ ἁρπαγησόμενον ὡς ἀδικηθέντες ἦσαν ὠμότεροι, δεινὰς δὲ βασάνων ὁδοὺς ἐπενόουν πρὸς ἔρευναν τροφῆς, ὀρόβοις μὲν ἐμφράττοντες τοῖς ἀθλίοις τοὺς τῶν αἰδοίων πόρους, ῥάβδοις δ’ ὀξείαις ἀναπείροντες τὰς ἕδρας· τὰ φρικτὰ δὲ καὶ ἀκοαῖς ἔπασχέ τις εἰς ἐξομολόγησιν ἑνὸς ἄρτου καὶ ἵνα μηνύσῃ δράκα μίαν κεκρυμμένων ἀλφίτων. οἱ βασανισταὶ δ’ οὐδ’ ἐπείνων καὶ γὰρ ἦττον ἂν ὠμὸν ἦν τὸ μετὰ ἀνάγκης), γυμνάζοντες δὲ τὴν ἀπόνοιαν καὶ προπαρασκευάζοντες ἑαυτοῖς εἰς τὰς ἑξῆς ἡμέρας ἐφόδια. τοῖς δ’ ἐπὶ τὴν ‘Ρωμαίων φρουρὰν νύκτωρ ἐξερπύσασιν ἐπὶ λαχάνων συλλογὴν ἀγρίων καὶ πόας ὑπαντῶντες, ὅτ’ ἤδη διαπεφευγέναι τοὺς πολεμίους ἐδόκουν, ἀφήρπαζον τὰ κομισθέντα, καὶ πολλάκις ἱκετευόντων καὶ τὸ φρικτότατον ἐπικαλουμένων ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ μεταδοῦναί τι μέρος αὐτοῖς ὧν κινδυνεύσαντες ἤνεγκαν, οὐδ’ ὁτιοῦν μετέδοσαν, ἀγαπητὸν δ’ ἢν τὸ μὴ καὶ προσαπολέσθαι σεσυλημένον.”

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VI. Come then, take up again the fifth book of the history of Josephus and go through the tragedy of what was then done. “For the wealthy,” he says, “to remain was equal to destruction, since for the sake of their property they were murdered on the charge of intended desertion. But the madness of the rebels grew with the famine, and the terror of both blazed more fiercely day by day. No corn was visible anywhere, but they burst into houses and searched them. Then, if they found any, they tormented the inmates for their denying; if not, they tortured them for having hidden it too carefully. The bodies of the miserable creatures were evidence whether they had it or not. Those who were still in health seemed to be provided with food, while those who were already wasted away were passed by, and it seemed unreasonable to kill those who would soon die of need. Many secretly exchanged their property for a single measure of wheat, if they were richer, of barley, if they were poorer. Then, shutting themselves up in the inmost recesses of their houses, some, in the extremity of their want, would eat the grain unprepared, others would cook it as necessity and fear dictated. No table was set anywhere, but snatching it from the fire they tore in pieces the still uncooked food. Their living was pitiable, and their appearance worthy of tears; the strong plundered and the weak wailed. Famine truly surpasses all sufferings, but it destroys nothing so much as shame; for what is at other times worthy of respect is despised in famine. Women took the food from the very mouths of their husbands, children from their fathers, and, most piteous of all, mothers from their children, and while their dearest were wasting away before them there was no scruple in taking away the last drops of life. Yet they did not escape detection when they thus ate, but everywhere the rioters arose to rob them even of this; for whenever they saw a house shut up it was a sign that those within had obtained food, and at once they tore down the doors, rushed in, and seized the morsels, almost squeezing them out of their throats. Old men were beaten for withholding food, and women were dragged by the hair for concealing it in their hands. There was no pity for grey-headed age or for little children, but they picked up babies clinging to crusts and dashed them on the floor. To those who had anticipated their entry, and had gulped down their expected prey, they were the more cruel, as though they had been injured by them. For the discovery of food they sought for terrible methods of torture, sewing up their victims and impaling them on sharp stakes. Men suffered things terrible even to hear to secure the confession of a single loaf, and to disclose a single drachma of hidden barley. But the torturers suffered no hunger (and indeed their cruelty would have been less had it been from necessity), but there was method in their madness and they provided sustenance for themselves for days to come. When some crept out by night as far as the Roman lines to gather wild herbs and grass, they intercepted them when they thought that they had at last escaped the enemy, plundered them of what they were carrying, and for all their many entreaties and invocations of the awful name of God to give them some share of what they had brought at their own risk, they gave them nothing whatever, and he who was robbed was lucky not to be murdered too.” After some other details he continues: “Now when all hope of safety was cut off from the Jews by the closing of the exits from the city and famine, deepening from house to house and family to family, was eating up the people, the rooms were filled with dead women and children and the alleyways with the corpses of old men. Boys and young men, wandering like ghosts through the market-place, were seized by death and lay each where the blow had struck him. The sick had no strength to bury sufferers from famine, nor the strong to do so, for the number of the dead and their own doubtful fate. Many indeed fell in death on those whom they were burying, and many went to their graves before the necessity arose. There was no lamentation or wailing at losses, but famine overcame emotion and those who were dying in misery looked with dry eyes on those who had found rest before them. Deep silence and night pregnant with death encompassed the city. Worse than these were the robbers. Breaking into houses like body-snatchers they robbed the dead, tearing the garments from their bodies, and went out with laughter. They tried the edge of their swords on the corpses, and to prove the steel ran through some of the fallen who were still alive, but those who begged for the kindliness of a mortal blow they left in contempt to the famine. These all died with eyes fixed on the temple and left the rebels to life. At first orders were given to bury the dead at the public expense because of the unbearable stench; then afterwards, when this was impracticable, they were thrown from the walls into the trenches. When Titus, going round the trenches, saw them full of the dead and the thick gore oozing from the rotting bodies, he groaned, and, raising his hand, called God to witness that this was not his doing.”

3.6.2

ούτοις μεθ’ ἕτερα ἐπιφέρει λέγων· “ Ἰουδαίοις δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἐξόδων ἀπεκόπη πᾶσα σωτηρίας ἐλπίς, καὶ βαθύνας ἑαυτὸν ὁ λιμὸς κατ’ οἴκους καὶ γενεὰς τὸν δῆμον ἐπεβόσκετο, καὶ τὰ μὲν τέγη πεπλήρωτο γυναικῶν καὶ βρεφῶν λελυμένων, οἱ στενωποὶ δὲ γερόντων νεκρῶν, παῖδες δὲ καὶ νεανίαι διοιδοῦντες ὥσπερ εἴδωλα κατὰ τὰς ἀγορὰς ἀνειλοῦντο καὶ κατέπιπτον ὅπη τινὰ τὸ πάθος καταλαμβάνοι. θάπτειν δὲ τοὺς προσήκοντας οὔτε ἴσχυον οἱ κάμνοντες καὶ τὸ διευ- τονοῦν ὤκνει διά τε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν νεκρῶν καὶ τὸ κατὰ ἁφᾶς ἄδηλον· πολλοὶ γοῦν τοῖς ὑπ’ αὐτῶν θαπτομένοις ἐπαπέθνῃσκον, πολλοὶ δ’ ἐπὶ τὰς θήκας, πρὶν ἐπιστῆναι τὸ χρεών, προῆλθον. οὔτε δὲ θρῆνος ἐν ταῖς συμφοραῖς οὔτε ὀλοφυρμοὸς ἢν, ἀλλ’ ὁ λιμὸς ἤλεγχε τὰ πάθη, ξηροῖς δὲ τοῖς ὄμμασιν οἱ δυσθανατοῦντες ἐθεώρουν τοὺς φθάσαντας ἀναπαύσασθαι, βαθεῖα δὲ τὴν πόλιν περιεῖχεν σιγὴ καὶ νὺξ θανάτου γέμουσα. καὶ τούτων οἱ λῃσταὶ χαλεπώτεροι. τυμβωρυχοῦντες γοῦν τὰς οἰκίας, ἐσύλων τοὺς νεκρούς, καὶ τὰ καλύμματα τῶν σωμάτων περισπῶντες, μετὰ γέλωτος ἐξήεσαν, τάς τε ἀκμὰς τῶν ξιφῶν ἐδοκίμαζον ἐν τοῖς πτώμασιν, καί τινας τῶν ἐρριμμένων ἔτι ζῶντας διήλαυνον ἐπὶ πείρᾳ τοῦ σιδήρου, τοὺς δ’ ἱκετεύοντας χρῆσαι σφίσιν δεξιὰν καὶ ξίφος, τῷ Λιμῷ κατέλιπον ὑπερηφανοῦντες, καὶ τῶν ἐκπνεόντων ἕκαστος ἀτενὲς εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἀφεώρα, τοὺς στασιαστὰς ζῶντας ἀπολιπών. οἳ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου θησαυροῦ τοὺς νεκροὺς θάπτειν ἐκέλευον, τὴν ὀσμὴν οὐ φέροντες· ὡς οὐ διήρκουν, ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἐρρίπτουν εἰς τὰς φάραγγας. περιιὼν δὲ ταύτας ὁ Τίτος ὡς ἐθεάσατο πεπλησμένας τῶν νεκρῶν καὶ βαθὺν ἰχῶρα μυδώντων τὸν ὑπορρέοντα τῶν σωμάτων, ἐστέναξέν τε καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀνατείνας κατεμαρτύρατο τὸν θεόν, ὡς οὐκ εἴη τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ.’’

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After a little more he goes on: “I cannot refrain from stating what emotion bids me. I think that had the Romans delayed their attack on the scoundrels, the city would have been engulfed by the earth opening or overwhelmed by a flood or shared the thunderbolts of Sodom, for it had brought forth a generation far more ungodly than those who thus suffered. It was by their madness that the whole people perished.”

3.6.3

Τούτοις τούτοις ἐπειπών τινα μεταξὺ ἐπιφέρει λέγων· “ οὐκ ἂν ὑποστειλαίμην εἰπεῖν ἅ μοι κελεύει τὸ πάθος· οἶμαι Ῥωμαίων βραδυνάντων ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀλιτηρίους, ἢ καταποθῆναι ἂν ὑπὸ χάσματος ἢ κατακλυσθῦναι τὴν πόλιν ἢ τοὺς τῆς Σοδομηνῆς μεταλαβεῖν κεραυνούς· πολὺ γὰρ τῶν ταῦτα παθόντων ἤνεγκεν γενεὰν ἀθεωτέραν· τῆ γοῦν τούτων ἀπονοίᾳ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς συναπώλετο.”

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In the sixth book he writes thus: “Of those who perished in the city from the famine the number which fell was countless and their sufferings indescribable. For in each house, if there appeared the very shadow of food, there was fighting, and the dearest friends wrestled together for it, snatching the miserable sustenance of life. Nor were even the dying believed to be destitute, but while they were still breathing the robbers searched them, lest any should feign death while having food on his person. Others, gaping from lack of food, stumbled and hurried along like mad dogs, beating at the doors like drunken men, and rushing two or three times in a single hour into the same houses from sheer incompetence. Necessity brought all things to men's teeth, and they endured eating a collection of scraps unfit for the filthiest of brute beasts. At the last they abstained not even from belts and shoes and gnawed the hides stripped off their shields. Some fed on wisps of old straw, others collected stubble and sold a tiny portion for four Attic drachmae.1

3.6.4

Καὶ ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ δὲ βιβλίῳ οὕτως γράφει. “ τῶν δ’ ὑπὸ τοῦ Λιμοῦ φθειρομένων κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἄπειρον μὲν ἔπιπτε τὸ πλῆθος, ἀδιήγητα δὲ συνέβαινεν τὰ πάθη. καθ’ ἑκάστην γὰρ οἰκίαν, εἴ που τροφῆς παραφανείη σκιά, πόλεμος ἦν, καὶ διὰ χειρῶν ἐχώρουν οἱ φίλτατοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἐξαρπάζοντες τὰ ταλαίπωρα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐφόδια, πίστις δ’ ἀπορίας οὐδὲ τοῖς θνῄσκουσιν ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐμπνέοντας οἱ λῃσταὶ διηρεύνων, μή τις ὑπὸ κόλπον ἔχων τροφήν, σκήπτοιτο τὸν θάνατον αὐτῷ. οἳ δ’ ὑπ’ ἐνδείας κεχηνότες ὥσπερ λυσσῶντες κύνες ἐσφάλλοντο καὶ παρεφέροντο ταῖς τε θύραις ἐνσειόμενοι μεθυόντων τρόπον καὶ ὑπ’ ἀμηχανίας τοὺς αὐτοὺς οἴκους εἰσεπήδων δὶς ἢ τρὶς ὥρᾳ μιᾷ. πάντα δ’ ὑπ’ ὀδόντας ἦγεν ἡ ἀνάγκη, καὶ τὰ μηδὲ τοῖς ῥυπαρωτάτοις τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων πρόσφορα συλλέγοντες ἐσθίειν ὑπέφερον. ζωστήρων γοῦν καὶ ὑποδημάτων τὸ τελευταῖον οὐκ ἀπέσχοντο καὶ τὰ δέρματα τῶν θυρεῶν ἀποδέροντες ἐμασῶντο, τροφὴ δ’ ἢν καὶ χόρτου τισὶν παλαιοῦ σπαράγματα· τὰς γὰρ ἶνας ἔνιοι συλλέγοντες, ἐλάχιστον σταθμὸν ἐπώλουν Ἀττικῶν τεσσάρων.

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But what need is there to speak of the shamelessness of the famine toward inanimate things? I purpose to relate a consequence of it such as has been narrated neither by the Greeks nor by the barbarians, horrible to tell, incredible to hear. I myself would have gladly omitted the tragedy, to avoid appearing to posterity to fabricate legend, had I not had countless witnesses to it in my own generation. Certainly I should render cold comfort to my country were I to compromise the account of her sufferings. There was a woman among those who lived beyond Jordan named Mary, whose father was Eliezer of the village Bathezor (which means “House of ”). She was famous for her family and wealth, and, having fled with the rest of the population to Jerusalem, was caught in the siege. The tyrants seized all her other possessions which she had brought from Peraea and carried into the city, and the guards rushed in daily and seized the remnants of her property and any food which they perceived. Fierce indignation seized the woman, and by her frequent abuses and curses she tried to irritate the robbers against herself. But when no one killed her either in anger or pity, and she wearied of finding food for others, and indeed it was now impossible to do so anywhere, famine entered into her heart and marrow, and rage burned more fiercely than famine. Anger and necessity were her councillors: she turned against nature and seized her child, a boy whom she was suckling. “Miserable infant,” she said, “amid war, famine, and rebellion, for what am I keeping you? Slavery among the Romans faces us if they give us our lives; famine is overtaking slavery; the rebels are worse than both. Come, be food for me, an avenging fury to the rebels, and the one story still lacking to the sufferings of the Jews to be told to the world.” With these words she slew her son, and then cooked him, ate half, and covered up and kept the rest. At that moment the rebels came and, smelling the horrible savour, threatened to kill her at once if they were not given what she had made ready. She told them that she had kept a good helping for them and uncovered the remains of the child. As for them, horror and amazement seized them at once, and they stood transfixed at the sight, but she said, “This was my own child and the deed is mine. Eat, for I myself have eaten. Do not be more squeamish than a woman, or compassionate than a mother. But if you have scruples, and turn away from my sacrifice, what I have eaten was your share; let the rest remain for me.” At they went out trembling, for only this made them cowards, and they scarcely yielded even this food to the mother; but the whole city was at once filled with the horror, and each, holding the tragedy before his eyes, shuddered as if it had been his own crime. And the sufferers from the famine sought for death and pronounced those blessed whom it had reached before they heard or saw such awful evils.

3.6.5

“Καὶ τί δεῖ τὴν ἐπ’ ἀψύχοις ἀναίδειαν τοῦ λιμοῦ λέγειν; εἶμι γὰρ αὐτοῦ δηλώσων ἔργον ὁποῖον μήτε παρ’ Ἕλλησιν μήτε παρὰ βαρβάροις ἱστόρηται, φρικτὸν μὲν εἰπεῖν, ἄπιστον δ’ ἀκοῦσαι. καὶ ἔγωγε, μὴ δόξαιμι τερατεύεσθαι τοῖς αὖθις ἀνθρώποις, κἂν παρέλιπον τὴν συμφορὰν ἡδέως, εἰ μὴ τῶν κατ’ ἐμαυτὸν εἶχον ἀπείρους μάρτυρας· ἄλλως τε καὶ ψυχρὰν ἂν καταθείμην τῆ πατρίδι χάριν, καθυφέμενος τὸν λόγον ὧν πέπονθε τὰ ἔργα. γυνὴ τῶν ὑπὲρ Ἰορδάνην κατοικούντων, Μαρία τοὔνομα, πατρὸς Ἐλεαζάρου, κώμης Βαθεζώρ (σημαίνει δὲ τοῦτο οἶκος ὑσσώπου), γένος καὶ πλοῦτον ἐπίσημος, μετὰ τοῦ λοιποῦ πλήθους εἰς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα καταφυγοῦσα συνεπολιορκεῖτο. ταύτης τὴν μὲν ἄλλην κτῆσιν οἱ τύραννοι διήρπασαν, ὅσην ἐκ τῆς Περαίας ἀνασκευασαμένη μετήνεγκεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, τὰ δὲ λείψανα τῶν κειμηλίων καὶ 1 εἴ τι τροφῆς ἐπινοηθείη καθ’ ἡμέραν εἰσπηδῶντες ἥρπαζον οἱ δορυφόροι. δεινὴ δὲ τὸ γύναιον ἀγανάκτησις εἰσῄει, καὶ πολλάκις λοιδοροῦσα καὶ καταρωμένη τοὺς ἅρπαγας ἐφ’ ἑαυτὴν ἠρέθιζεν. ὡς δ’ οὔτε παροξυόμενός τις οὔτ’ ἐλεῶν αὐτὴν ἀνῄρει καὶ τὸ μὲν εὑρεῖν τι σιτίον ἄλλοις ἐκοπία, πανταχόθεν δ’ ἄπορον ἦν ἤδη καὶ τὸ εὑρεῖν, ὁ λιμὸς δὲ διὰ σπλάγχνων καὶ μυελῶν ἐχώρει καὶ τοῦ λιμοῦ μᾶλλον ἐξέκαιον οἱ θυμοί, σύμβουλον λαβοῦσα τὴν ὀργὴν μετὰ τῆς ἀνάγκης, ἐπὶ τὴν φύσιν ἐχώρει, καὶ τὸ τέκνον, ἢν δ’ αὐτῇ παῖς ὑπομάστιος, ἁρπασαμένη, ‘βέφος,’ εἷπεν, ἴ’ ἄθλιον, ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ λιμῷ καὶ στάσει, τίνι ἄε τηρῶ; τὰ μὲν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις δουλεία κἂν ζήσωμεν ἐπ’ αὐτούς, φθάνει δὲ καὶ δουλείαν ὁ λιμός, οἱ στασιασταὶ δὲ ἀμφοτέρων χαλεπώτεροι. ἴθι, γενοῦ μοι τροφὴ καὶ τοῖς στασιασταῖς ἐρινὺς καὶ τῷ βίῳ μῦθος, ὁ μόνος ἐλλείπων ταῖς Ἰουδαίων συμφοραῖς.' καὶ ταῦθ’ ἅμα λέγουσα κτείνει τὸν υἱόν, ἔπειτ’ ὀπτήσασα, τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ κατεσθίει, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν κατακαλύψασα ἐφύλαττεν. εὐθέως δ’ οἱ στασιασταὶ παρῆσαν καὶ τῆς ἀθεμίτου κνίσης σπάσαντες, ἠπείλουν, εἰ μὴ δείξειεν τὸ παρασκευασθέν, ἀποσφάξειν αὐτὴν εὐθέως· ἢ δὲ καὶ μοῖ· ’ρᾶν αὐτοῖς εἰποῦσα καλὴν τετηρηκέναι, τὰ λείψανα τοῦ τέκνου διεκάλυψεν. τοὺς δ’ εὐθέως φρίκη καὶ φρενῶν ἔκστασις ᾕρει, καὶ παρὰ τὴν ὄφιν ἐπεπήγεσαν. ἢ δ’, ‘ ἐμόν,’ ἔφη, ‘τοῦτο τὸ τέκνον γνήσιον, καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἐμόν. φάγετε, καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ βέβρωκα· μὴ γένησθε μήτε μαλακώτεροι γυναικὸς μήτε συμπαθέστεροι μητρός. εἰ δ’ ὑμεῖς εὐσεβεῖς καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀποστρέφεσθε ἐγὼ μὲν ὑμῖν βέβρωκα, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν δ’ ἐμοὶ μεινάτω.’ μετὰ ταῦθ’ οἳ μὲν τρέμοντες ἐξῄεσαν, πρὸς ἓν τοῦτο δειλοὶ καὶ μόλις ταύτης τῆς τροφῆς τῆ μητρὶ παραχωρήσαντες, ἀνεπλήσθη δ’ εὐθέως ὅλη τοῦ μύσους ἡ πόλις, καὶ πρὸ ὀμμάτων ἕκαστος τὸ πάθος λαμβάνων ὡς παρ’ αὐτῷ τολμηθέν, ἔφριττεν. σπουδὴ δὲ τῶν λιμωττόντων ἐπὶ τὸν θάνατον ἢν καὶ μακαρισμὸς τῶν φθασάντων πρὶν ἀκοῦσαι καὶ θεάσασθαι κακὰ τηλικαῦτα.”

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