Reading Josephus certainly makes that seem rather … unlikely.
The Masadans were the last hold-outs of the Jewish Revolt, and the other rebels received short shift (according to Josephus, 2500 of them were sacrificed in the arena at Caesarea; thousands more were enslaved or crucified; hundreds were taken all the way to Rome to fight in the Arena there). Why would the Romans not make an example of the last die-hards?
Masada wasn’t a “whole city”, but rather a desert fortress containing the last, desperate and most fanatical rebels against Rome - and the Romans went through truly extraordinary efforts to root them out (as a fortress Masada is all but impregnable - looking at it today, it is hard to imagine the effort it must have taken to build the ramp in the middle of the wasteland).
For cowardice, I present the decoy flight crew team from the Munich massacre. Basic idea is that they told the terrorists that they could take a Boeing 727 to a Muslim country and take the hostages with them. In actuality, the flight crew were German police officers. The two leaders were supposed to check out the plane and the police officers were to take them out. It was a surprise attack on two men by five or six men.
The officers instead took a vote amongst themselves, decided it was “certain death”, and abandoned post without notifying anyone. Needless to say, when the two terrorist leaders got to the plane to find it empty, they knew it was a trap and the situation went to hell, resulting in the deaths of every hostage.
This is what I came in to mention,though my first thought was of Lenny Skutnik(the man who jumped in the river), but Mr.Williams and the two men on the helicopter are also etched in my memory.All 4 of their actions are spine tingling and bring tears to my eyes.
…and then there are those that think this is “heroic”. I immediately did this :rolleyes: when I read it.
Although I still don’t know a lot about it, I’m very impressed by Pope Leo I (Leo the Great) going out to parley with Attila the Hun when he threatened Rome in 452 AD.
The government of Rome had fled. Leo didn’t command any army, and Attila’s forces were poised to take Rome. As far as I can tell there was no effective opposition. Leo effectively bought Attila off, promising and delivering a ransom of goods and spices, but I don’t think there was any reason Attila couldn’t have simply killed the pope, ridden into Rome, and taken everything he wanted. Later generations unsurprisingly were impressed by Leo, and there are paintings and dramatizations of the scene, and it’s been credited with stopping the advance of Attila (which I kinda doubt). Still, as far as I can tell, he went to the table with a hand that didn’t even have a pair, and bluffed to a win.
The freedom riders; the people who followed Martin Luther King on his walks (among them teenagers); the people who followed Mahatma Ghandi.
To fight in a battle is one thing; but to go out knowing that you will be brutally beaten, will suffer serious injuries that might cripple you for life or even kill you, while all around you, women and young people and friends are similarly brutalized, and forcing yourself not to fight back, not to defend, all that with only your own will power and your conviction that the truth is right and will endure in the end, even if you might not survive this … I can’t imagine the bravery of this.
That’s some outstanding cowardice! I never knew about that.
Reading further, it would appear that there was plenty of cowardice going around in the German government as well - ordering a cover-up of the incompetence involved.