s ordered him to be
bound still more strongly, and made answer in a contemptuous tone, 'Ah!
Thou couldst not overthrow us by thy witchcraft.' Jesus replied, but I do
not remember his words, and all the disciples fled. The four archers
and the six Pharisees did not fall to the ground at the words of Jesus,
because, as was afterwards revealed to me, they as well as Judas, who
likewise did not fall, were entirely in the power of Satan, whereas all
those who fell and rose again were afterwards converted, and became
Christians; they had only surrounded Jesus, and not laid hands upon
him. Malchus was instantly converted by the cure wrought upon him, and
during the time of the Passion his employment was to carry messages
backwards and forwards to Mary and the other friends of our Lord.

The archers, who now proceeded to pinion Jesus with the greatest
brutality, were pagans of the lowest extraction, short, stout, and
active, with sandy complexions, resembling those of Egyptian slaves,
and bare legs, arms, and neck.

They tied his hands as tightly as possible with hard new cords,
fastening the right-hand wrist under the left elbow, and the left-hand
wrist under the right elbow. They encircled his waist with a species of
belt studded with iron points, and to this collar were appended two
leathern straps, which were crossed over his chest like a stole and
fastened to the belt. They then fastened four ropes to different parts
of the belt, and by means of these ropes dragged our Blessed Lord from
side to side in the most cruel manner. The ropes were new; I think they
were purchased when the Pharisees first determined to arrest Jesus. The
Pharisees lighted fresh torches, and the procession started. Ten
soldiers walked in front, the archers who held the ropes and dragged
Jesus along, followed, and the Pharisees and ten other soldiers brought
up the rear. The disciples wandered about at a distance, and wept and
moaned as if beside themselves from grief. John alone followed, and
walked at no great distance from the soldiers, until the Pharisees,
seeing him, ordered the guards to arrest him. They endeavoured to obey,
but he ran away, leaving in their hands a cloth with which he was
covered, and of which they had taken hold when they endeavoured to
seize him. He had slipped off his coat, that he might escape more
easily from the hands of his enemies, and kept nothing on but a short
under garment without sleeves, and the long band which t