The Jewish War, fit the fifth, covering Book III

When Nero hears about the defeat of his army in Judaea, he gives the command to take the country back to the best of his generals, Vespasian. What I hadn't realised is what Vespasian had done beforehand (III.1):

he was also a man that had long ago pacified the west, and made it subject to the Romans, when it had been put into disorder by the Germans; he had also recovered to them Britain by his arms, which had been little known before whereby he procured to his father Claudius to have a triumph bestowed on him without any sweat or labour of his own.

I'd associated Claudius himself with the conquest of Britain; as we see here, Claudius was already at the time taking credit for Vespasian's work.

The Romans have a reputation for making their roads dead straight, going straight over any hill in the way, rather than round them for easier travelling as other road-making cultures do. Amusingly, III.6 says (in Williamson's wording):

After them came the pioneeers to straighten out bends in the highway, level rough surfaces, and cut down obstructive woods, so that the army would not be exhausted by laborious marching.

(Whitston simply says "to make the road even and straight" rather than to straighten out bends; but I found Williamson's wording amusing.)

Skipping a good deal, after the Romans had retaken Galilee and the siege of Yotapata, from which the Romans had prevented Josephus escaping, had ended with the city's conquest and destruction, Josephus took refuge in a cave with some others, but a woman from his party was captured and gave away his location to the Romans. Those with him urge them all to commit suicide; in his argument against this, Josephus says some interesting things about the contemporary views on the afterlife, resurrection and suicide (III.8):

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When Josephus is taken prisoner, and brought before Vespasian, he says (III.9):

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Given that R. Yoḥānān ben Zakkai would later say something similar to him when he too was taken before Vespasian, one wonders how much these two put the idea into Vespasian's head of proclaiming himself emperor, or of accepting it when his men tried to proclaim him such.

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