At which statement Joseph trembled, for he was acquiescing in a lie; but he did not dare to contradict the centurion, who was speaking in his favour for the sake of the money he had received, and in the hope of receiving more for the lie that he told.  On the cross at noon and dead before the ninth hour!  Pilate muttered:  he could but bear the cross for three hours!  After the scourging we gave him, Sir, the centurion answered, he was so weak and feeble that we had to pass on his cross to the shoulders of a Jew named Simon of Cyrene, who carried it to the top of the mount for him.  If he be dead there is no reason for my not giving up the body, Pilate answered.  Which I shall bury, Joseph replied, in my own sepulchre.  What, Joseph, have you already ordered your sepulchre?  To my eyes you do not look more than five or six and twenty years, and to my eyes you look as if you would live for sixty more years at least; but you Jews never lose sight of death, as if it were the only good.  We Romans think so too sometimes, but not so frequently as you.

And then this tall, grave, handsome man, whose face reflected a friendly but somewhat formal soul, took Joseph by the arm and walked with him up and down the tessellated pavement, talking in his ear, showing himself so well disposed towards him that the centurion congratulated himself that he had accepted Joseph’s bribe.  If I had only known that you were a close friend, Pilate said to Joseph—­but if I had known as much it would only have made things more difficult for me.  A remarkable man.  And now, on thinking it over, it must have been that I was well disposed to him for that reason, for there could have been no other; for what concern of mine is it that you Jews quarrel and would tear each other to pieces for your various beliefs in God and his angels?  So Jesus was your friend?  Tell me about him; I would know more about him than I could learn from a brief interview with him in the Praetorium, where I took him and talked to him alone.  A brief account I pray you give me.  And Joseph, who was thinking all the while that the Sabbath was approaching, gave to Pilate some brief account of Jesus in Galilee.

So you too, Joseph, are susceptible to this belief that the bodies of men are raised out of the earth into heaven?  I would ask you if the body is ridded of its worms before it is carried away by angels.  But I see that you are pressed for time; the Sabbath approaches; I must not detain you, and yet I would not let you go without telling you that it pleases me to give his body for burial.  A body deserves burial that has been possessed by a lofty soul, for how many years, thirty?  I would have saved him if it had been possible to do so; but he gave me no chance; his answers were brief and evasive; and he seemed to desire death; seemingly he looked upon his death as necessary for the accomplishment of his mission.  Have I divined him right?  Joseph answered that Pilate read Jesus’ soul truly, which flattered