Titus, said rumour, having accomplished the utter destruction of Jerusalem, had moved his army to Caesarea or Berytus, where he passed the winter season in celebrating games in the amphitheatres.  These he made splendid by the slaughter of vast numbers of Jewish prisoners, who were forced to fight against each other, or, after the cruel Roman fashion, exposed to the attacks of ravenous wild beasts.  But although he thought of doing so, Marcus had no means of communicating with Titus, and was still too lame to attempt escape.  Could he have found any, indeed, to make use of them might have brought destruction upon the Essenes, who had treated him kindly and saved his life.  Also among the Romans it was a disgrace for a soldier, and especially for an officer of high rank, to be made prisoner, and he was loth to expose his own shame.  As Gallus had told Miriam, no Roman should be taken alive.  So Marcus attempted to do nothing, but waited, sick at heart, for whatever fate fortune might send him.  Indeed, had he been quite sure that Miriam was dead, he, who was disgraced and a captive, would have slain himself and followed her.  But although none doubted her death—­except Nehushta—­his spirit did not tell him that this was so.  Thus it came about that Marcus lived on among the Essenes till his health and strength came back to him, as it was appointed that he should do until the time came for him to act.  At length that time came.

When Samuel, the Essene, left Tyre, bearing the letter and the ring of Miriam, he journeyed to Jerusalem to find the Holy City but a heap of ruins, haunted by hyaenas and birds of prey that feasted on the innumerable dead.  Still, faithful to his trust, he strove to discover that entrance to the caverns of which Miriam had told him, and to this end hovered day by day upon the north side of the city near to the old Damascus Gate.  The hole he could not find, for there were thousands of stones behind which jackals had burrowed, and how was he to know which of these openings led to caverns, nor were there any left to direct him.  Still, Samuel searched and waited in the hope that one day an Essene might appear who would guide him to the hiding-place of the brethren.  But no Essene appeared, for the good reason that they had fled already.  In the end he was seized by a patrol of Roman soldiers who had observed him hovering about the place and questioned him very strictly as to his business.  He replied that it was to gather herbs for food, whereon their officer said that they would find him food and with it some useful work.  So they took him and pressed him into a gang of captives who were engaged in pulling down the walls, that Jerusalem might nevermore become a fortified city.  In this gang he was forced to labour for over four months, receiving only his daily bread in payment, and with it many blows and hard words, until at last he found an opportunity to make his escape.