The Jewish War, fit the fifth, concluding Book II

[lethargic_man]

In II.20, we learn that "almost all of" the wives of the people of Damascus had converted to Judaism; as all too often in War, the context in which we learn it is not pleasant:

In the mean time, the people of Damascus, when they were informed of the destruction of the Romans, set about the slaughter of those Jews that were among them; and as they had them already cooped up together in the place of public exercises, which they had done out of the suspicion they had of them, they thought they should meet with no difficulty in the attempt; yet did they distrust their own wives, which were almost all of them addicted to [Williamson: gone over to] the Jewish religion; on which account it was that their greatest concern was, how they might conceal these things from them; so they came upon the Jews, and cut their throats, as being in a narrow place, in number ten thousand, and all of them unarmed, and this in one hour's time, without any body to disturb them.

With the Romans temporarily driven from the land, Josephus is appointed governor of Galilee, where he first encounters John of Gischala, "the most unprincipled trickster that ever won ill fame by such vicious habits" [Williamson]. After John has tried to induce towns to revolt against Josephus, and came within a squeak of assassinating him (Josephus only escaped by taking a flying leap onto a boat and making for the centre of Lake Tiberias), he tried to get the authorities in Jerusalem to impeach Josephus. Josephus ignores the impeachment attempt, and retakes the towns that go over to the other side, but then Tiberias revolted again, calling in King Agrippa and being taken by Roman cavalry.

Josephus is at the time in Tarichaeae, and has no soldiers with him, having sent them all out in search of food; but he still manages to retake the city through an amazing tactic:

In the first place he ordered the gates of Taricheae to be shut, that nobody might go out and inform [those of Tiberias], for whom it was intended, what stratagem he was about; he then got together all the ships that were upon the lake, which were found to be two hundred and thirty, and in each of them he put no more than four mariners. So he sailed to Tiberias with haste, and kept at such a distance from the city, that it was not easy for the people to see the vessels, and ordered that the empty vessels should float up and down there, while himself, who had but seven of his guards with him, and those unarmed also, went so near as to be seen; but when his adversaries, who were still reproaching him, saw him from the walls, they were so astonished that they supposed all the ships were full of armed men, and threw down their arms, and by signals of intercession they besought him to spare the city.

Upon this Josephus threatened them terribly, and reproached them [...]; owever, he would admit of any intercessors from them that might make some excuse for them, and with whom he would make such agreements as might be for the city's security. Hereupon ten of the most potent men of Tiberias came down to him presently; and when he had taken them into one of his vessels, he ordered them to be carried a great way off from the city. He then commanded that fifty others of their senate, such as were men of the greatest eminence, should come to him, that they also might give him some security on their behalf. After which, under one new pretence or another, he called forth others, one after another, to make the leagues between them. He then gave order to the masters of those vessels which he had thus filled to sail away immediately for Taricheae, and to confine those men in the prison there; till at length he took all their senate, consisting of six hundred persons, and about two thousand of the populace, and carried them away to Taricheae.

[...] Thus he took the people of Tiberias prisoners, and recovered the city again with empty ships and seven of his guard.

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