He sent out the two Roman legions that were in the city (Legio III Cyrenaica and the Legio XXII Deiotariana), together with 5,000 other soldiers, to punish the Jews. They were permitted not only to kill them, but to plunder them of what they had, and to set fire to their houses. The Romans showed no mercy to the infants, had no regard for the aged, and went on in the slaughter of persons of every age; over 50,000 Jews lay dead in the streets.