As it happened, they were fortunate upon that journey, since, with the
armed guard of twenty men who accompanied Caleb, they were too strong a
party to be attacked by the wandering bands of thieves, and, although
it was reported that Titus and his army had already reached Caesarea from
Egypt, they met no Romans. Indeed, their only enemy was the cold, which
proved so bitter that when, on the second night, they camped upon the
heights over against Jerusalem, having no tents and fearing to light
fires, they were obliged to walk about till daylight to keep their blood
astir. Then it was that they saw strange and terrible things.
In the clear sky over Jerusalem blazed a great comet, in appearance like
a sword of fire. It was true that they had seen it before at Tyre, but
never before had it shown so bright. Moreover, there it had not the
appearance of a sword. This they thought to be an ill omen, all of them
except Benoni, who said that the point of the sword stretched out over
Caesarea, presaging the destruction of the Romans by the hand of God.
Towards dawn, the pale, unnatural lustre of the comet faded, and the
sky grew overcast and stormy. At length the sun came up, when, to their
marvelling eyes, the fiery clouds took strange shapes.
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