Which 'Josephus' is Closer to the Original? Pseudo-Hegesippus Book 3 Chapter 20 or Bellum Judaicum Book 3 Chapter 9?

Continuing with our side by side comparison of Pseudo-Hegesippus and Jewish War the next passage in Pseudo-Hegesippus is:

But however Vespasian was not unoccupied by military tasks. And indeed it having been learned that very many from separate locations had taken themselves to the city Iopen it being ideal to them for piratical raids the buildings having been repaired which had been destroyed by Cestius, they renewed them, since the region having been ravaged the supplying of food was obtained by sea, he searched out everything. But they building ships of such nature that were adapted to the use of pirates, having observed the passages of those traveling, the entire commerce almost of Phoenicia and Egypt was being plundered, so that the frequent pillagings closed all that sea with panic and its use for navigation was interrupted by fear of the certain danger. Which having been discovered he orders a band of foot soldiers and most of the cavalry to proceed and and to go into Iopen by night. Which was easily done, since no guard was spread before the city, inasmuch as it was thought that the rumor that the city had been destroyed would arouse no worries in the Roman leader. They were present however but not daring to resist and to deny entrance to the arriving Romans, having embarked on the boats beyond the range of an arrow of the advance force they spent the night on the sea. The situation is seen to demand a position on the shore from which to show quickly that Iopen is hemmed in, so that it would be clearly evident to the aforesaid city in what manner without any battle that there will be a second destruction. The city is without harbors by nature, whose shore is rough and straight but gently bent with curves on both sides, in which there are deep rocks and gigantic stones which stick up from the sea, and although they may rise up from the depths of the sea, they extend into the sea however. From which even Andromeda (is said) to have been there, when she was offered to the sea monster, the patterns of the places and the very appearances of things are seen to hand this down, applying a not mediocre trust to the old tales. And so by the breath of the north wind falling against the shore huge waves are raised up, which striking against the cliffs cause a great noise and falling back into the waves render that bay of the sea unquiet, so that there is more danger in the port than in desert wastes. In that place toward early morning a violent wind, which those sailing in these regions call the Melamborium, struck against the boats bouncing on the waves, which had been brought out from the city of Iopen as we said above, and immediately entangled the boats among themselves and overturned them with driving waves. Some their anchor cables having broken it drove into the rocks, the wave which standing very high above sank those crushed by its mass opposed others when they were lifted up violently against the sea -- the danger of the rocky shore or slaughter by the Romans, who scattered themselves on the shore, the sailors fleeing. Nor was there any place for one fleeing or hope of staying when the wind drove them from the sea. The sound of the ships was painful when they dashed [p. 224] together, the cries of the men unbearable when the ships broke up. Who when they saw the sea to break into the tottering ships, some experienced in swimming threw themselves (into the sea), others while they jump into the approaching ships having fallen into the sea are crushed by the collision of the ships, most sank down in the depths with the small ships, whom it deprived of any hope of swimming out. Death transfixed itself with less suffering however upon those to whom skill was lacking or any hope of attempts. But yet having been attacked in the nose the shattered remnants of the ships shook from frequent blows and struck in the sides they cruelly beat up the wretched limbs or death followed them driven against the rocks between the very vows of embracing the shore, having however whatever consolation it is to have perished on land. The face however had to be pitied, the heads of the unlucky having been struck the rocks were stained, and the shores were wet with blood. You could see the sea dyed with blood, the whole filled with bodies. And if anyone escaped those approaching the shore were killed by the appraising Romans, because a storm did not lessen its rage in these places from the roughness of the places or the use of the winds, but from divine anger beyond the ordinary the sea was enveloped by winds blowing together, lest the Jews should escape, and thus to pardon those fearing, whom god had not pardoned. There were those who killed themselves with the sword judging it more tolerable to perish by the sword than by shipwreck, others who wishing to push with the long lances had pierced the ships, some who pushed off with oars or struck with a dart those who having fallen into the sea if perhaps they were praying that they should be picked by those sailing by. I have not thus passed over that by which it is clear that the greatest danger to have been from the very people of the Jews to themselves rather than from the enemy, who were killing themselves, as if the dangers were inadequate for their destruction at the same time as everything else, heaven, the enemy, the sea, and the rocks. And so four thousand five hundred bodies of the dead were counted, which the sea had spat out, without a battle the city was captured and razed to its foundations. And thus in a second short time the Roman troops razed Iopen, which with justice Vespasian thought should have been warned, that dwellings of pirates should not be built in that place a second time. Although departing from that place he left in it cavalry with a few foot soldiers, so that the foot soldiers should remain in the place lest a band accustomed to brigandage of robbers should dare something, the cavalry would harry the neighboring areas of the region, and the villages and small towns, where all were completely destroyed lest daringly they should conspire against somebody.[Pseudo-Hegesippus 20]

And now the parallel narrative in Jewish War:

In the mean time, there were gathered together as well such as had seditiously got out from among their enemies, as those that had escaped out of the demolished cities, which were in all a great number, and repaired Joppa, which had been left desolate by Cestius, that it might serve them for a place of refuge; and because the adjoining region had been laid waste in the war, and was not capable of supporting them, they determined to go off to sea. They also built themselves a great many piratical ships, and turned pirates upon the seas near to Syria, and Phoenicia, and Egypt, and made those seas unnavigable to all men. Now as soon as Vespasian knew of their conspiracy, he sent both footmen and horsemen to Joppa, which was unguarded in the night time; however, those that were in it perceived that they should be attacked, and were afraid of it; yet did they not endeavor to keep the Romans out, but fled to their ships, and lay at sea all night, out of the reach of their darts.

Now Joppa is not naturally a haven, for it ends in a rough shore, where all the rest of it is straight, but the two ends bend towards each other, where there are deep precipices, and great stones that jut out into the sea, and where the chains wherewith Andromeda was bound have left their footsteps, which attest to the antiquity of that fable. But the north wind opposes and beats upon the shore, and dashes mighty waves against the rocks which receive them, and renders the haven more dangerous than the country they had deserted. Now as those people of Joppa were floating about in this sea, in the morning there fell a violent wind upon them; it is called by those that sail there "the black north wind," and there dashed their ships one against another, and dashed some of them against the rocks, and carried many of them by force, while they strove against the opposite waves, into the main sea; for the shore was so rocky, and had so many of the enemy upon it, that they were afraid to come to land; nay, the waves rose so very high, that they drowned them; nor was there any place whither they could fly, nor any way to save themselves; while they were thrust out of the sea, by the violence of the wind, if they staid where they were, and out of the city by the violence of the Romans. And much lamentation there was when the ships were dashed against one another, and a terrible noise when they were broken to pieces; and some of the multitude that were in them were covered with waves, and so perished, and a great many were embarrassed with shipwrecks. But some of them thought that to die by their own swords was lighter than by the sea, and so they killed themselves before they were drowned; although the greatest part of them were carried by the waves, and dashed to pieces against the abrupt parts of the rocks, insomuch that the sea was bloody a long way, and the maritime parts were full of dead bodies; for the Romans came upon those that were carried to the shore, and destroyed them; and the number of the bodies that were thus thrown out of the sea was four thousand and two hundred. The Romans also took the city without opposition, and utterly demolished it. [Jewish War 3.9.2,3]

They are very close it must be acknowledged. However I was so distracted by the recurrence of our discovery - the para-suicidal impulse at the heart of the Jewish race. Have people being paying attention to this thread? We claimed that we had uncovered the key to unlock the secret behind the composition of the text. The editor had developed Josephus's original text into an indictment of Judaism. The missing speech of the forty Jews in the cistern identify 'demand of the law of the Jews' to kill oneself rather than submit to authority. The legal precedent for this para-suicidal impulse was the example of king Saul who fell on his sword after being surrounded by enemies. 

We argued that the narrative of all manuscripts of Jewish War were developed into a fabulous story about Josephus as a paradigmatic 'new Jew' who turned his back on these destructive beliefs. We argued that the whole cistern narrative was fictitious. So too the scene which follows in Jewish War where Josephus acknowledges again the command of the law which forbids surrender to authorities. We argued also that there were countless narratives in the Jewish War which were nothing more than fables designed to show the error of traditional Judaism which led to an irrational impulse to revolt against the natural order, and none of these fables were more fabulous than the myth of Masada, the legendary tale of a Jewish mass suicide where all the hold outs 'fell upon their swords' like the ancient king Saul. 

So isn't it odd, that only a few sentences after Pseudo-Hegesippus preserves the words of the forty Jews in the cistern, and Jewish War puts the very same words in the mouth of Josephus we have this ludicrous image of Jewish sailors so crazy with hatred of the 'natural order' that they would kill themselves rather than submit to nature. First Pseudo-Hegesippus:

There were those who killed themselves with the sword judging it more tolerable to perish by the sword than by shipwreck, others who wishing to push with the long lances had pierced the ships, some who pushed off with oars or struck with a dart those who having fallen into the sea if perhaps they were praying that they should be picked by those sailing by. I have not thus passed over that by which it is clear that the greatest danger to have been from the very people of the Jews to themselves rather than from the enemy, who were killing themselves, as if the dangers were inadequate for their destruction at the same time as everything else, heaven, the enemy, the sea, and the rocks. 

And then Jewish War again:

But some of them thought that to die by their own swords was lighter than by the sea, and so they killed themselves before they were drowned

Is there anyone out there who now really thinks that Jewish War was developed from a second century document written ten years after the bar Kochba revolt and whose intention was nothing more than to use Josephus as a paradigmatic example of the benefits of 'turning one's back' on irrational logos of Judaism.