על חיי משה, ספר א מ״זOn the Life of Moses, Book I 47
א׳
1[258] A few days after, he entered the land of the Amorites, and sent ambassadors to the king, Sihon by name, with the same demands as he had made to his kinsman before. But Sihon not merely answered the envoys insolently, and came nigh to putting them to death, had he not been prevented by the law of embassies, but also mustered his whole army, and went to the attack thinking to win an immediate victory.
ב׳
2[259] But, when he engaged, he perceived that he had no untrained or unpractised fighters to deal with, but men who were truly masters in warfare and invincible, men who had shortly before performed many great feats of bravery and shown themselves strong in body, mettlesome in spirit, and lofty in virtue, and through these qualities had captured their enemies with abundant ease, while they left the spoil untouched in their eagerness to dedicate the first prizes to God.
ג׳
3[260] So, too, on this occasion, mightily fortified by the same resolutions and armoury, they went out to meet the foe, taking with them that irresistible ally, justice, whereby also they became bolder in courage and champions full of zeal. The proof of this was clearly shewn.
ד׳
4[261] No second battle was needed, but this first fight was the only one, and in it the whole opposing force was turned to flight, then overthrown and straightway annihilated in wholesale slaughter.
ה׳
5[262] Their cities were at once both emptied and filled—emptied of their old inhabitants, filled with the victors. And, in the same way, the farm-houses in the country were deserted by the occupants, but received others superior in every way.