[219] These laws he gives to each single person but there are other more general commands which he addresses to the whole nation in common, advising them how to behave not only to friends and allies but also to those who renounce their alliance.
[220] For if these revolt, he tells us, and shut themselves up within their walls your well-armed fighting force should advance with its armaments and encamp around them, then wait for a time, not letting anger have free play at the expense of reason, in order that they may take in hand what they have to do in a firmer and steadier spirit.
[221] They must therefore at once send heralds to propose terms of agreement and at the same time point out the military efficiency of the besieging power. And if their opponents repent of their rebellious conduct and give way and show an inclination to peace, the others must accept and welcome the treaty, for peace, even if it involves great sacrifices, is more advantageous than war.
[222] But if the adversaries persist in their rashness to the point of madness, they must proceed to the attack invigorated by enthusiasm and having in the justice of their cause an invincible ally. They will plant their engines to command the walls and when they have made breaches in some parts of them pour in altogether and with well-aimed volleys of javelins and with swords which deal death all around them wreak their vengeance without stint, doing to their enemies as the enemies would have done to them, until they have laid the whole opposing army low in a general slaughter.
[223] Then after taking the silver and gold and the rest of the spoil they must set fire to the city and burn it up, in order that the same city may not after a breathing space rise up and renew its sedition, and also to intimidate and so admonish the neighbouring peoples, for men learn to behave wisely from the sufferings of others.
But they must spare the women, married and unmarried, since these do not expect to experience at their hands any of the shocks of war as in virtue of their natural weakness they have the privilege of exemption from war service.
[224] All this shows clearly that the Jewish nation is ready for agreement and friendship with all like-minded nations whose intentions are peaceful, yet is not of the contemptible kind which surrenders through cowardice to wrongful aggression. When it takes up arms it distinguishes between those whose life is one of hostility and the reverse.
[225] For to breathe slaughter against all, even those who have done very little or nothing amiss, shows what I should call a savage and brutal soul, and the same may be said of counting women, whose life is naturally peaceful and domestic, to be accessories to men who have brought about the war.
[226] Indeed so great a love for justice does the law instil into those who live under its constitution that it does not even permit the fertile soil of a hostile city to be outraged by devastation or by cutting down trees to destroy the fruits.
[227] “For why,” it says, “do you bear a grudge against things which though lifeless are kindly in nature and produce kindly fruits? Does a tree, I ask you, show ill will to the human enemy that it should be pulled up roots and all, to punish it for ill which it has done or is ready to do to you?
[228] On the contrary it benefits you by providing the victors with abundance both of necessaries and of the comforts which ensure a life of luxury. For not only men but plants also pay tributes to their lords as the seasons come round, and theirs are the more profitable since without them life is impossible.
[229] But as to the trees which have never had or have lost the power to bear fruit and all the wild type there should be no stinting in cutting them down at will for siege works and stakes and pales for entrenchment and when necessary for constructing ladders and wooden towers. For these and similar purposes will be a fitting use to which to put them.