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turned with all the spoil of the Temple a storm arose on thehigh seas and he said," The power of their God is only inthe waters. He has drowned Pharaoh and Sisera and nowHe wants to drown me. Let Him come and fight me on dryland." And a voice came and said," O thou wicked one!any one of my small creatures will suffice to war againstthee." When he landed an insect got into his nostrils and Rosen, Mernews,from there to his brain and it gnawed for seven years. One261f.day he passed a smith and the noise of the hammer silencedthe insect. Then he called smiths who had continuallyto hammer; when the smith happened to be a heathen hepaid him 400 Zuzim but when it was a Jew he said to him," It is enough for thee to see the vengeance on your enemy,'and paid him nothing. After a time the insect got accus-tomed to the noise of the hammers and there was no longerany relief. On his death he ordered his body to be burnedand the ashes to be strewn over seven seas so that theGod of the Jews should not be able to find him.

"

71. Conversion to Judaism of Ankelos b. Kalinikos nephew ofTitus, who conjured up the spirits of Titus and Jesus. The lattertells him:" Great is the honour of the Jews in the other World."

72. It was the custom to present newly married peoplewith a hen and a cock and once the Roman soldiers passingby caught the birds and ate them; the Jews then attackedthem. This was taken as an act of rebellion and the Romanswent against the place. The leader of the Jews was Bar- Deroa,who could jump a mile and kill the people all along the way.But he forgot himself so far as to say: that God hadforgotten them. He was bitten by a snake and died. TheRoman Emperor had prayed not to be delivered into thepower of one man. After this miraculous death he wasso overjoyed that he raised the siege and went away. TheJews made a great illumination which was again taken asa sign of rebellion and the town and its inhabitants weredestroyed. The town was so large that whilst they werekilling the people in one quarter of it, they were holdingfestivities and rejoicings in the other.