In front of this building, which the Romans had never attempted to
enter, since for military purposes it was useless to them, lay the open
space, once, no doubt, part of its garden, but of late years used as a
cattle market and a place where young men exercised themselves in arms.
Bordering the waste on its further side were strong fortifications, the
camping ground of the twelfth and fifteenth legions. Across this open
space those who remained of the Romans fled back towards their outer
line, followed by swarms of furious Jews. They gained them, such as
were not overtaken, but the Jews who pursued were met with so fierce
a charge, delivered by the fresh troops behind the defences, that
they were in turn swept back and took refuge among the ruined houses.
Suddenly Miriam's attention became concentrated upon the mounted officer
who led this charge, a gallant-looking man clad in splendid armour,
whose clear, ringing voice, as he uttered the words of command, had
caught her ear even through the tumult and the shouting. The Roman
onslaught having reached its limit, began to fall back again like the
water from an exhausted wave upon a slope of sand. At the moment the
Jews were in no condition to press the enemy's retreat, so that the
mounted officer who withdrew last of all, had time to turn his horse,
and heedless of the arrows that sang about him, to study the ground
now strewn with the wounded and the dead.
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