duty? He was an instrument in the hand of Providence to assist in the accomplishment of its great design-the destruction of impenitent and rebellious Jerusalem. Though he had failed in the immediate object of his attempt, yet in the end it proved successful through its influence upon the Roman soldiery. In a noble deed there is a wonderful contagion; the electric spark of enthusiasm quickly flies from one heart to another; and example is as productive of heroic actions as we know that, unfortunately, it is sometimes fertile in deeds degraded and vile. At length, a formidable breach in the wall of Antonia was effected; one of its turrets fell; and during the dead of night (July 5th) it was entered by a party of twentyfive veterans, who made themselves masters of the citadel. A fierce fight raged for some hours in the narrow streets between the fortress and the Temple; but, eventually, the besiegers were driven back. Titus then ordered the Antonia to be razed to the ground, and on the open site thus obtained he began to plant his engines against the Temple. But first, adopting a policy of mildness, he despatched Josephus on a second mission to the besieged, offering them their lives if they submitted. Hundreds accepted his clemency; the more resolute fled to Zion and the Temple. Josephus was bidden to assure them that they should have free egress, if they would come forth and fight, and spare the holy place the pollution of bloodshed. He spoke to them in Hebrew, that all might understand him; but John of Gischala, observing that his eloquence was touching the hearts of his hearers, broke in upon it with the stern assertion that they had nothing to fear, for their city was the Lord's, and He would protect it. The captives of the Lower City, who had recently surrendered, were next put forward by Titus to test their influence on the minds of their fellow-countrymen. Arrayed before the Temple gates, they implored them to accept the terms of the Roman general, and rescue Jehovah's favoured sanctuary from the impending ruin. In their fanatical patriotism, the Zealots refused to hear them, and erecting their engines on the gates, discharged a storm of missiles which strewed the ground in front with bodies of their own countrymen as thickly as the cemetery, where slaves were flung out unburied. Then Titus himself, standing on the sole remaining turret of the Antonia fortress, condescended to expostulate with these stern patriots, and bade them abstain from the guilt of staining the Holy of Holies with blood. "I call on your God," said he, "I call on my whole army, I call on those of your countrymen who are now in my ranks, I call on yourselves to witness that I do not force you to this crime." The appeal of the Cæsar fell upon deaf ears, and he ordered the immediate resumption of the siege. But, as Merivale observes, his materials, often consumed and as often replaced, were now less abundant, and had to be drawn from a greater distance; if the defences of the Temple were less formidable than those of the city, it is probable that the works advanced against them were also of inferior strength; if the assail BALISTA FOR DISCHARGE OF ARROWS. ants were stimulated by success, the defenders were maddened by despair, and baffled all their attacks with a wonderful tenacity. A night surprise attempted by the Romans was vigilantly met and successfully defeated. On the other hand, an equally ill result attended the sallies of the Jews. On one occasion the western corridor of the outer court, which had a timber roof, was heaped with combustibles, and then purposely evacuated. The Romans rushed in all haste to scale it, and fell victims to a fearful conflagration. Titus avenged the disaster by burning |