Now it was that the defenders learned that
they had to deal with no mere rabble, but with savage hordes, many
thousands strong, directed by officers skilled in war. Indeed these men
might be seen moving among them, and from their armour and appearance
it was easy to guess that they were Romans. This, in fact, was the case,
since Gessius Florus, the wicked, and after him other officers, made it
part of their policy to send Romans to stir up the Syrians against the
Jews and to assist them in their slaughter.
First an attack was made upon the main gates, but when it was found that
these were too strong to be taken easily, the assailants retreated with
a loss of a score of men shot by the defenders from the wall. Then other
tactics were adopted, for the Syrians, possessing themselves of the
neighbouring houses, began to gall the garrison with arrows from the
windows. Thus they drove them under cover, but did little more, since
the palace was all of marble with cemented roofs, and could not be fired
with the burning shafts they sent down upon it.
So the first day passed, and during the night no attack was made upon
them. When dawn came they learned the reason, for there opposite to
the gates was reared a great battering-ram; moreover, out at sea a huge
galley was being rowed in as close to their walls as the depth of water
would allow, that from her decks the sailors might hurl stones and siege
arrows by means of catapults and thus break down their defences and
destroy them.
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