he Jews usually
wore, and which was wrapped round his neck, head, and arms. The archers
behaved in the most cruel manner to Jesus as they led him along; this
they did to curry favour with the six Pharisees, who they well knew
perfectly hated and detested our Lord. They led him along the roughest
road they could select, over the sharpest stones, and through the
thickest mire; they pulled the cords as tightly as possible; they
struck him with knotted cords, as a butcher would strike the beast he
is about to slaughter; and they accompanied this cruel treatment with
such ignoble and indecent insults that I cannot recount them. The feet
of Jesus were bare; he wore, besides the ordinary dress, a seamless
woollen garment, and a cloak which was thrown over all. I have
forgotten to state that when Jesus was arrested, it was done without
any order being presented or legal ceremony taking place; he was
treated as a person without the pale of the law.

The procession proceeded at a good pace; when they left the road
which runs between the Garden of Olives and that of Gethsemani, they
turned to the right, and soon reached a bridge which was thrown over
the Torrent of Cedron. When Jesus went to the Garden of Olives with the
Apostles, he did not cross this bridge, but went by a private path
which ran through the Valley of Josaphat, and led to another bridge
more to the south. The bridge over which the soldiers led Jesus was
long, being thrown over not only the torrent, which was very large in
this part, but likewise over the valley, which extends a considerable
distance to the right and to the left, and is much lower than the bed
of the river. I saw our Lord fall twice before he reached the bridge,
and these falls were caused entirely by the barbarous manner in which
the soldiers dragged him; but when they were half over the bridge they
gave full vent to their brutal inclination, and struck Jesus with such
violence that they threw him off the bridge into the water, and
scornfully recommended him to quench his thirst there. If God had not
preserved him, he must have been killed by this fall; he fell first on
his knee, and then on his face, but saved himself a little by
stretching out his hands, which, although so tightly bound before, were
loosened, I know not whether by miracle, or whether the soldiers had
cut the cords before they threw him into the water. The marks of his
feet, his elbows, and his fingers were miraculously impressed