After the destruction of the storehouses, Rabbi Jochanan in walking through the city saw the populace boiling straw in water and drinking of the same for sustenance. Ah, woe is me for this calamity! he exclaimed; " how can such a people strive against a mighty host? He applied to Ben Batiach, his nephew, one of the chiefs of the city, for permission to leave Jerusalem. But Ben Batiach replied, " It may not be; no living body may leave the city.w "Take me out then as a corpse,8 entreated Jochanan. Ben Batiach assented to this, and Jochanan was placed in a coffin and carried through the gates of the