1. The Works of Josephus
Speech of Eleazar at Masada
Translated into modern English by Jeff Martin
Book VII, Chap. VIII, para. 6 Page 600
"Long ago, my friends, we resolved never
to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other
than God himself, who alone is the true and just
Lord of mankind. Now the time has come to
enforce that resolution. Let us not bring
reproach on ourselves by contradicting our
commitment to remain free. We could have
been enslaved before without the danger of
punishment which we now face, which is
completely intolerable. We were the first to
revolt against the Romans, and the last to
continue to fight against them. Perhaps God has
granted us the power to die bravely, and in a
state of freedom, which has not been the case

2. with other rebels who were attacked
unexpectedly. It is plain to see that we will be
taken in a day's time. But we still can choose to
die in a glorious manner here with our dearest
friends. Even our enemies cannot prevent this,
although they desire to take us alive. We don't
have the potential to fight and beat the Romans
now. We should have thought about this long
ago when we were defending our liberty and
yet at the same time fighting with one another
as well. It seems that the same God, who had
long ago taken the Jewish nation into his favor,
has now condemned them to destruction. If He
had continued to be favorable toward us or at
least been a little less displeased with us,
maybe there wouldn’t have been so many men
killed, and His most holy city would not have
been burnt and demolished by our enemies. At
least our group here has tried to preserve our
lives and our liberty in a good conscience
toward God. And we also taught others to work
toward preserving their liberty. Now it is hard
to understand how God has shown us that our

3. hopes were in vain, by bringing this calamity
upon us which is worse than we would have
imagined. Especially since this fortress
which was thought to be unconquerable, and
yet has not provided for our deliverance, even
though we still have plenty of food and
weapons. God himself has deprived us of any
hope of deliverance. The fire which we tried to
use against our enemies even came back and
consumed our own wall, and it didn't do that by
itself, but it was the effect of God's anger
against us for our many sins. Let us not receive
the punishment now from the Romans for our
sins, but from God himself as executed by our
own hands, for we will be more moderate than
the Romans. Let our wives die before they are
abused, and our children before they have
tasted of slavery; and after we have slain
them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon
one another and preserve ourselves in
freedom, as an excellent funeral monument
for us. But first we will destroy our
storehouses of food and goods and the fortress

4. by fire, because that will surely make the
Romans mad since they will not be able to
capture us and enjoy the wealth of our
provisions. These provisions will be a
testimony that we were not defeated because of
a lack of food or water, but that according to
our original resolution, we have preferred death
before slavery."
When some of the men showed weakness
in not immediately deciding to begin the
gruesome task ahead, Eleazar spoke much more
about death, and the afterlife as well as the
abuses and slavery which they faced if they
surrendered to the Romans.
Eleazar continues: "Our hands are still at
liberty and we have a sword in them: Let us
die before we become slaves under our
enemies, and let us go out of the world,
together with our children and our wives in a

5. state of freedom. This is what our laws
command us to do, and this is what our wives
and children crave at our hands, and God
himself has made this necessary for us. But the
Romans desire to take us alive. So let’s hurry
and instead of giving them the pleasure of
taking us into their control, let us leave them
an example which shall at once cause their
astonishment, and their admiration of our
hardiness in carrying out our own deaths."
Now, Eleazar was cut short in his speech
and the men at once took their wives and
children into their arms, and gave them the
longest parting kisses with tears in their eyes,
and at the same time carried out the task of
ending their lives. Then the men, one by one
laid down embracing the bodies of their
families, as certain men who were appointed to
do so carried out the death sentence upon
them as well. The last man made sure that all
were dead, set fire to the palace, then ran a

6. sword through himself and fell down beside his
family.
In this way 960 men, women, and children
died together in freedom at Masada. Two
women and five children had been spared and
hidden down below. They came out when the
Romans entered, and told what had happened.