You Nubian eunuchs answer to the Jew.
Is the man cast?
A SLAVE. The circumcised will see
When Rome is ready.
[_Goes in and shuts the door._]
A VOICE. There. They nail a tree.
They make a cross, for those are spikes being driven.
He's damned.
A VOICE. Not so, he still may be forgiven.
The cross may be for one of those two thieves.
A VOICE. I had forgotten them.
A VOICE. This man believes
That Pilate was inclined to let him go.
2ND CIT. That was before this charge came.
A VOICE. Even so
This Roman swine is fond of swine like these.
A VOICE. Come, Pilate, come.
A VOICE. He will not have much ease
This Paschal Feast, if Jesus is not cast.
A VOICE. There is the door. Lord Pilate comes at last.
No. 'Tis the trumpet.
[A TRUMPETER _comes out._]
VOICES. Blow the trumpet, friend.
A VOICE. Roman. Recruit. When will the sitting end?
VOICES. Fling something at him. Roman.
A VOICE. O, have done.
He will not hang until the midday sun
And we shall lose our sleeps. Let sentence pass.
A VOICE [singing]. As I came by the market
I heard a woman sing:
"My love did truly promise to wed me with a ring,
But, oh, my love deceived me and left me here forlorn
With my spirit full of sorrow, and my baby to be born."
A VOICE. Why are you standing here?
A VOICE. I came to see.
A VOICE. O, did you so?
A VOICE. Why do you look at me?
A VOICE. You were his friend: you come from Galilee.
A VOICE. I do not.
A VOICE. Yes, you do.
A VOICE. I tell you, No.
A VOICE. You know this man quite well.
A VOICE. I do not know
One thing about him.
A VOICE. Does he know the cur?
A VOICE. Ay, but denies. He was his follower.
A VOICE. I was not.
A VOICE. Why, I saw you in the hall,
I watched you.
A VOICE. I was never there at all.
A VOICE. So he would be a King.
A VOICE. That was the plan.
A VOICE. I swear to God I never saw the man.
A VOICE. He did; you liar; fling him down the stair.
A VOICE. I did not, friends. I hate the man, I swear.
VOICES. You swear too much for truth, down with him, sons.
Leave him, here's Pilate.
_Enter_ LONGINUS _and_ SOLDIERS.
LONGINUS. Stand back. Keep further back.
Get down the stair,
Stop all this wrangling. Make less babble there.
Keep back yet further. See you keep that line.
Silence. These Jewish pigs.
THE JEWS. The Roman swine.
_Enter_ PILATE.
PILATE. Longinus.
LONGINUS. Lord.
PILATE. No Jew here thinks him King.
They want his blood.
LONGINUS. They would want anything
That would beguile the hours until the Feast.
PILATE. I would be glad to disappoint the priest.
I like this Jesus man. A man so wise
Ought not to end through crazy prophecies.
Still, he persists.
LONGINUS. They are a stubborn breed.
The medicine Cross is what they mostly need.
PILATE. Still, this man is, in fact, a kind of king,
A God beside these beasts who spit and sting,
The best Jew I have known.
LONGINUS. He had his chance.
PILATE. O, yes, he had. We'll let the Jews advance
Into the court. I tried to set him free.
Still, if he will persist, the thing must be.
And yet I am sorry.
LONGINUS. I am sorry, too.
He seemed a good brave fellow, for a Jew.
Still, when a man is mad there is no cure
But death, like this.
PILATE. I fear so.
LONGINUS. I am sure.
Shall I begin?
PILATE. Yes.
LONGINUS. Sound the Assembly. [_Trumpet._] Sound
The Imperial call. [_Trumpet._]
PILATE. You people, gathered round,
Behold your King.
VOICES. Our King. I see him. Where?
That heap of clothes behind the soldiers there.
He has been soundly beaten. Look, he bleeds.
A cross on Old Skull Hill is what he needs.
PILATE. What would you, then, that I should do to him?
VOICES. Stone the blasphemer, tear him limb from limb,
Kill him with stones, he uttered blasphemy,
Give him to us, for us to crucify.
Crucify!
PILATE. Would you crucify your King?
VOICES. He is no King of ours; we have no King
But Cæsar. Crucify!
PILATE. Bring pen and ink.
LONGINUS. Hold up the prisoner, Lucius; give him drink.
PILATE. I come to sentence.
SERVANT. Writing things, my lord.
PILATE. Fasten the parchment to the piece of board.
So. I will write.
VOICES. What does his writing mean?
It is the sentence of this Nazarene,
Condemning him to death. A little while
And he'll be ours. See Lord Pilate smile.
Why does he smile?
PILATE. Longinus.
LONGINUS. Lord.
PILATE. Come here.
Go to that man, that upland targeteer,
I want this writ in Hebrew. Bid him write
Big easy letters that will catch the sight.
LONGINUS. I will, my lord. Make way.
[_Exit_ LONGINUS.
A VOICE. What's on the scroll?
A VOICE. It gives the prisoner into his control
To nail to death, the foul blaspheming beast.
A VOICE. D'you think he will be dead before the Feast?
A VOICE. They'll spear him if he lingers until dark.
A VOICE. When Feast begins he will be stiff and stark.
There's little life left in him as it is.
VOICES. We'll hammer iron through those hands of his,
And through his feet, and when the cross is set
Jolt it; remember. I will not forget.
A VOICE. Here comes the sentence.
_Enter_ LONGINUS.
A VOICE. Wait; it is not signed.
A VOICE. Come to the hill, you will be left behind.
I want a good place at the cross's foot.
A VOICE. I've got a stone for when they move the brute.
Besides, I mean to bait him on the way.
I'll spatter him with filth.
A VOICE. No, come away.
PILATE. Imperial finding in the High Priest's suit.
In the name of Cæsar and of Rome....
LONGINUS. Salute.
PILATE. I, Procurator of Judæa, say
That Jesus, called the King, be led away
To death by crucifixion, here and now.
In the name of Cæsar and of Rome....
LONGINUS. We bow
To the sentence of the court.
PILATE. See sentence done.
This is your warrant.
LONGINUS. Sentence shall be done.
VOICES. Away, friends, hurry. Keep a place for me.
Get there before they come, then we shall see
All of the nailing and the fixing on.
PILATE. Longinus.
LONGINUS. Lord.
PILATE. Display this scroll upon
The head of Jesus' cross, that men may read.
Wait; I'll declare it publicly. Take heed....
I add this word, that over Jesus' head
This scroll shall be displayed till he is dead.
Show it, Longinus. Read it if you choose.
VOICES. "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
We'll make him King, we'll set him up in state.
At Golgotha. Come; drag him through the gate.
Give him his cross. Come, soldiers.
CH. CIT. Israel, wait.
Wait. I must speak. Lord Pilate.
VOICES. Stand aside....
Are we to miss his being crucified?
CH. CIT. Wait. Only wait. One word.
MADMAN. Lord Pilate. Lord.
SENTRY. Stand back.
MADMAN. I'll speak.
SENTRY. I'll tame you with the sword.
MADMAN. Lord Pilate, Jesus is an upright man,
I heard his teaching since it first began.
You are mistaken, Lord, you are misled.
Spare him, great King.
SENTRY. Get down.
MADMAN. Kill me instead.
He never said this thing. [_He is beaten aside._]
LONGINUS. The company,
Attention. Front. Take up the prisoner. By
The left, quick wheel. Down to the courtyard, wheel.
THE TROOPS _go out by the doors, into
the barracks, so as to reach the main gate
from within. The _PRISONER_ is not shown,
but only suggested._
A VOICE. He cannot lift his cross, I saw him reel.
A VOICE. We'll find a man to bring it.
Hurry, friends.
Three to be nailed.
A VOICE. The thieves will make good ends;
They always do. This fellow will die soon.
A VOICE. The troops will spear them all before full moon.
Come; watch them march them out.
Get mud to fling.
_They hurry down the staircase O.P. side._
CH. CIT. [_to Pilate_]. Lord Pilate, do not write "Jesus the King."
But that "He called himself, 'Jesus the King.'"
PILATE. Empty this water here.
[SERVANT _does._]
Remove this board.
Take in the bench.
CH. CIT. I have to ask, my lord,
That you will change the wording of your scroll,
My lord, it cuts my people to the soul.
PILATE. Tell Caius Scirrus that I want him.
[_Exit_ SERVANT.