or rather Barcochab, a Jewish impostor, whose real name was Akiba, but who took that of Barcochab, which signifies the Son of a Star, in allusion to the prophecy of Balaam, "There shall a star arise out of Jacob." He proclaimed himself the Messiah; and talking of nothing but wars, victories, and triumphs, made his countrymen rise against the Romans, by which means he became the author of innumerable disorders. He ravaged many places, took a great number of fortresses, and massacred an infinite multitude of people, particularly Christians. The emperor sent troops to Rufus, governor of Judaea, with orders to suppress the sedition; and Rufus, in obedience, exercised a thousand cruelties, but could not complete his task. The emperor was therefore obliged to send Julius Severus, the greatest general of that time, who attained his end without a direct battle; for he fell on the enemy separately, cutting off their provisions, and at last the whole contest was reduced to the siege of Bitter, in the eighteenth year of Hadrian. There the impostor perished. This war cost the Romans a great deal of blood.