"But that is the fortune of war.

Still, you Jews have a habit of refusing to accept defeat rationally." "I am not a Jew," Joseph explained.

"I am born of Arab blood, and I am a Christian." "Worse and worse," said Titus.
Joseph shifted his position argumentatively.
"Is it ?" he asked.

"Are you making war on Pella or Jerusalem?
Was it Pella or the hundred Jewish towns that cost Rome so much of late?
Pella is not exactly your friend, though neither are most of your provinces; but are you going to pillage Egypt or Persia because Judea is in rebellion ?" Titus threw his plump leg over the horn of his saddle and sat sidewise.

One of his tribunes looked at the other with a flickering smile that was not entirely free of contempt.