bidding him to bite.
The witnesses were then called for. The first were persons of the
lowest class, whose accusations were as incoherent and inconsistent as
those brought forward at the court of Annas, and nothing could be made
out of them; Caiphas therefore turned to the principal witnesses, the
Pharisees and the Sadducees, who had assembled from all parts of the
country. They endeavoured to speak calmly, but their faces and manner
betrayed the virulent envy and hatred with which their hearts were
overflowing, and they repeated over and over again the same
accusations, to which he had already replied so many times: 'That he
cured the sick, and cast out devils, by the help of devils--that he
profaned the Sabbath--incited the people to rebel--called the Pharisees a
race of vipers and adulterers--predicted the destruction of
Jerusalem--frequented the society of publicans and sinners--assembled the
people and gave himself out as a king, a prophet, and the Son of God.'
They deposed 'that he was constantly speaking of his kingdom,--that he
forbade divorce,--called himself the Bread of Life, and said that whoever
did not eat his flesh and drink his blood would not have eternal life.'

Thus did they distort and misinterpret the words he had uttered, the
instructions he had given and the parables by which he had illustrated
his instructions, giving them the semblance of crimes. But these
witnesses could not agree in their depositions, for one said, 'He calls
himself king;' and a second instantly contradicted, saying, 'No, he allows
persons to call him so; but directly they attempted to proclaim him, he
fled.' Another said, 'He calls himself the Son of God,' but he was
interrupted by a fourth, who exclaimed, 'No, he only styles himself the
Son of God because he does the will of his Heavenly Father.' Some of the
witnesses stated that he had cured them, but that their diseases had
returned, and that his pretended cures were only performed by magic.
They spoke likewise of the cure of the paralytic man at the pool of
Bethsaida, but they distorted the facts so as to give them the
semblance of crimes, and even in these accusations they could not
agree, contradicting one another. The Pharisees of Sephoris, with whom
he had once had a discussion on the subject of divorces, accused him of
teaching false doctrines, and a young man of Nazareth, whom he had
refused to allow to become one of his disciples, was likewise base
enough to bear w