Jesus tasted these horrors in all their atrocity.  A burning thirst, one of the tortures of crucifixion,[1] devoured him, and he asked to drink.  There stood near, a cup of the ordinary drink of the Roman soldiers, a mixture of vinegar and water, called posca.  The soldiers had to carry with them their posca on all their expeditions,[2] of which an execution was considered one.  A soldier dipped a sponge in this drink, put it at the end of a reed, and raised it to the lips of Jesus, who sucked it.[3] The two robbers were crucified, one on each side.  The executioners, to whom were usually left the small effects (pannicularia) of those executed,[4] drew lots for his garments, and, seated at the foot of the cross, kept guard over him.[5] According to one tradition, Jesus pronounced this sentence, which was in his heart if not upon his lips:  “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."[6]

[Footnote 1:  See the Arab text published by Kosegarten, Chrest.  Arab., p. 64.]

[Footnote 2:  Spartianus, Life of Adrian, 10; Vulcatius Gallicanus, Life of Avidius Cassius, 5.]

[Footnote 3:  Matt. xxvii. 48; Mark xv. 36; Luke xxiii. 36; John xix. 28-30.]

[Footnote 4:  Dig., XLVII. xx., De bonis damnat., 6.  Adrian limited this custom.]

[Footnote 5:  Matt. xxvii. 36.  Cf.  Petronius, Satyr., cxi., cxii.]

[Footnote 6:  Luke xxiii. 34.  In general, the last words attributed to Jesus, especially such as Luke records, are open to doubt.  The desire to edify or to show the accomplishment of prophecies is perceptible.  In these cases, moreover, every one hears in his own way.  The last words of celebrated prisoners, condemned to death, are always collected in two or three entirely different shapes, by even the nearest witnesses.]

According to the Roman custom, a writing was attached to the top of the cross, bearing, in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the words:  “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”  There was something painful and insulting to the nation in this inscription.  The numerous passers-by who read it were offended.  The priests complained to Pilate that he ought to have adopted an inscription which would have implied simply that Jesus had called himself King of the Jews.  But Pilate, already tired of the whole affair, refused to make any change in what had been written.[1]

[Footnote 1:  John xix. 19-22.]

His disciples had fled.  John, nevertheless, declares himself to have been present, and to have remained standing at the foot of the cross during the whole time.[1] It may be affirmed, with more certainty, that the devoted women of Galilee, who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem and continued to tend him, did not abandon him.  Mary Cleophas, Mary Magdalen, Joanna, wife of Khouza, Salome, and others, stayed at a certain distance,[2] and did not lose sight of him.[3] If we must believe John,[4] Mary, the mother