36 Eckhard J. Schnabel our way out and persevere unaided, as we endeavour by our own prowess to come through safe and reach a haven”; P. H. De Lacy / B. Einarson) (i). Plutarch, Galba 21.2: δοκεῖ δὲ μηδ’ ἂν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις χρήμασι μόνον ἑλέσθαι τὸν Ὄθωνα κληρονόμον, ἀκόλαστον εἰδὼς καὶ πολυτελῆ καὶ πεντακισχιλίων μυριάδων ὀφλήμασι βεβαπτισμένον (“Indeed he does not seem to have been so much as inclined to make choice of Otho had it been but to inherit his own private fortune, knowing his extravagant and luxurious character, and that he was already plunged in debt five thousand myriads deep”; J. Dryden) (i). Josephus, De bello Judaico 1.535: τοῦτο δ’ ὥσπερ τελευταία θύελλα χειμαζομένους τοὺς νεανίσκους ἐπεβάπτισεν (“This was, as it were, the final hur- ricane which submerged the tempest-tossed youths”; H. St. J. Thackeray) (i).80 Josephus, De bello Judaico 3.196: ἐπιβαπτίσειν γὰρ αὐτοῖς τὴν πόλιν μηδενὸς ἔτι τοῖς πολεμίοις τολμῶντος ἀνθίστασθαι δι’ ὃν ἂν θαρσοῖεν οἰχομένου (“For his departure would wreck the town [the citizens of Jotapata argued], as none would have the heart to resist the enemy any longer, when he whose presence would have given them courage was gone”; H. St. J. Thackeray) (i). Josephus, De bello Judaico 4.135-137: μέχρι κόρῳ τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἁρπαγῶν ἀθροισθέντες οἱ τῶν πανταχοῦ συνταγμάτων ἀρχιλῃσταὶ καὶ γενόμενοι πονηρίας στῖφος εἰς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα παρεισφθείρονται, πόλιν ἀστρατήγητον καὶ πατρίῳ μὲν ἔθει πᾶν ἀπαρατηρήτως δεχομένην τὸ ὁμόφυλον, τότε δ’ οἰομένων ἁπάντων τοὺς ἐπιχεομένους πάντας ἀπ’ εὐνοίας ἥκειν συμμάχους. ὃ δὴ καὶ δίχα τῆς στάσεως ὕστερον ἐβάπτισεν τὴν πόλιν (“In the end, satiated with their pillage of the country, the brigand chiefs of all these scattered bands joined forces and, now merged into pack of villainy, stole into poor Jerusalem—a city under no command- ing officer and one which, according to hereditary custom, unguardedly admitted all of Jewish blood, and the more readily at that moment when it was universally believed that all who were pouring into it came out of goodwill as its allies. Yet it was just this circumstance which, irrespectively of the sedition, eventually wrecked the city”; H. St. J. Thackeray) (i).81 80 Josephus describes the fate of Aristobulus, one of Herod’s sons, who had warned Salome that Herod wanted to kill her, a warning that Salome reported to the king who then arrested Aristobulus and Alexander. 81 When the people from the countryside were ‘pouring’ (ἐπιχεομένους) into Jerusalem, the city was ‘immersed’ by masses of Jews and ‘overwhelmed’ by the demand for supplies which soon could not be met; W. Whiston translates ἐβάπτισεν τὴν πόλιν as ″the city’s destruction⁇.