. But look you--aye, look you! To mystery is added yet
more mystery! Herod the Tetrarch doth approach Pilate. He smileth
until the rising light doth sparkle on his teeth. He holdeth forth his
hand! Will the Procurator whose hands are yet wet from their strange
cleansing give him greeting? Look you! Steady thine eyes for a rare
sight. He doth not hesitate! Now is the hand of Pontius Pilate
gripped together with that of Herod Antipas. By Castor and Pollux--by
Jove himself a rare fellowship hath been born of this tempest. What
next?" and laughing, the Romans turned back to the death sentence.

[1] The original of what is accepted as Pilate's sentence was
discovered about the year 1380 in an iron tube among the marble ruins
of a temple in the city of Aquila, Italy, written in Hebrew characters
on parchment. It is now in the custody of the Keeper of the Royal and
General Archives of Simancus, Spain. The following is the translation
from the original parchment:

In the year 17 of Tiberius Caesar, Emperor of Rome and of all the
world, unconquerable monarch: In the CXXI Olympiad; in the XXIV Illiad
and of the creation of the world according to the number and count of
the Hebrews, four times 1157; of the propagation of the Roman Empire,
the year 73; of the deliverance from slavery to Babylon the year 430;
and the restitution of the Holy Empire, the year 497. Lucius Marius
Sauricus being Consuls of Rome and Pontiff, Proconsuls of the
unconquerable Tiberius; Public Governor of Judea, Regent and Governor
of the City of Jerusalem, Flavius IV; its graceful president Pontius
Pilate; Regent of Lower Galilee, Herod Antipas; Pontiff of the High
Priesthood--Caiaphas; Ales Maelo, Master of the Temple; Rababan Ambe,
Centurion of the Consuls and of the City of Jerusalem. Quintas
Cornelius Sublimius and Setus Pompilius Rufus, on the 25th, I Pontius
Pilate, representative of the Roman Empire, in the Palace of Larchi,
our residence, judge, condemn and sentence to death, Jesus, called
Christ, the Nazarene, of the multitude of Galilee, a man seditious of
the Mosaic Law, against the Great Emperor Tiberius Caesar, I determine
and pronounce by reason of the explained, that he shall suffer death
nailed to the cross, according to the usage of criminals, because
having congregated many men, rich and poor, he hath not ceased to stir
up tumults throughout Galilee, pretending to be the Son of God, and
King of Israel, threatening the r