hould not be higher than those of the two thieves, but it was
necessary for it to be so, because there would otherwise not have been
sufficient place for Pilate's inscription; they therefore endeavoured to
persuade him not to have this obnoxious inscription put up at all. But
Pilate was determined, and their words made no impression upon him; the
cross was therefore obliged to be lengthened by a fresh bit of wood.
Consequently the form of the cross was peculiar--the two arms stood out
like the branches of a tree growing from the stem, and the shape was
very like that of the letter Y, with the lower part lengthened so as to
rise between the arms, which had been put on separately, and were
thinner than the body of the cross. A piece of wood was likewise nailed
at the bottom of the cross for the feet to rest upon.

During the time that Pilate was pronouncing the iniquitous sentence,
I saw his wife, Claudia Procles, send him back the pledge which he had
given her, and in the evening she left his palace and joined the
friends of our Lord, who concealed her in a subterraneous vault in the
house of Lazarus at Jerusalem. Later in the same day, I likewise saw a
friend of our Lord engrave the words, Judex injustus, and the name of
Claudia Procles, on a greenlooking stone, which was behind the terrace
called Gabbatha--this stone is still to be found in the foundations of a
church or house at Jerusalem, which stands on the spot formerly called
Gabbatha. Claudia Procles became a Christian, followed St. Paul, and
became his particular friend.

No sooner had Pilate pronounced sentence than Jesus was given up
into the hands of the archers, and the clothes which he had taken off
in the court of Caiphas were brought for him to put on again. I think
some charitable persons had washed them, for they looked clean. The
ruffians who surrounded Jesus untied his hands for his dress to be
changed, and roughly dragged off the scarlet mantle with which they had
clothed him in mockery, thereby reopening all his wounds; he put on his
own linen under-garment with trembling hands, and they threw his
scapular over his shoulders. As the crown of thorns was too large and
prevented the seamless robe, which his Mother had made for him, from
going over his head, they pulled it off violently, heedless of the pain
thus inflicted upon him. His white woollen dress was next thrown over
his shoulders, and then his wide belt and cloak. After this, they again
tied