foul-brained fool; a man in no respect exalted in bad eminence of treachery above the mass of common traitors, but merely a distinct type of the eternal treachery to good, in vulgar men, which stoops beneath, and opposes in its appointed measure, the life and efforts of all noble persons, their natural enemies in this world; as the slime lies under a clear stream running through an earthy meadow.  Our careless and thoughtless English use of the word into which the Greek “Diabolos” has been shortened, blinds us in general to the meaning of “Deviltry,” which, in its essence, is nothing else than slander, or traitorhood;—­the accusing and giving up of good.  In particular it has blinded us to the meaning of Christ’s words, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a traitor and accuser?” and led us to think that the “one of you is a devil” indicated some greater than human wickedness in Judas; whereas the practical meaning of the entire fact of Judas’ ministry and fall is, that out of any twelve men chosen for the forwarding of any purpose,—­or, much more, out of any twelve men we meet,—­one, probably, is or will be a Judas.

The modern German renderings of all the scenes of Christ’s life in which the traitor is conspicuous are very curious in their vulgar misunderstanding of the history, and their consequent endeavours to represent Judas as more diabolic than selfish, treacherous, and stupid men are in all their generations.  They paint him usually projected against strong effects of light, in lurid chiaroscuro;—­enlarging the whites of his eyes, and making him frown, grin, and gnash his teeth on all occasions, so as to appear among the other Apostles invariably in the aspect of a Gorgon.

How much more deeply Giotto has fathomed the fact, I believe all men will admit who have sufficient purity and abhorrence of falsehood to recognise it in its daily presence, and who know how the devil’s strongest work is done for him by men who are too bestial to understand what they betray.

* * * * *

XXXI.

CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS.

Little is to be observed in this design of any distinctive merit; it is only a somewhat completer version of the ordinary representation given in illuminated missals and other conventual work, suggesting, as if they had happened at the same moment, the answer, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil,” and the accusation of blasphemy which causes the high-priest to rend his clothes.

Apparently distrustful of his power of obtaining interest of a higher kind, Giotto has treated the enrichments more carefully than usual, down even to the steps of the high-priest’s seat.  The torch and barred shutters conspicuously indicate its being now dead of night.  That the torch is darker than the chamber, if not an error in the drawing, is probably the consequence of a darkening alteration in the yellow colours used for the flame.