Transcriber's notes
Variable spelling has been retained. Minor punctuation inconsistencies
have been silently corrected. A list of other corrections can be found
at the end of the book. Footnotes were sequentially numbered and placed
at the end of the text.
Mark up: _italics_
THE TRIAL OF JESUS
[Illustration: CHRIST BEFORE PILATE (MUNKACSY)]
THE TRIAL OF JESUS
FROM A LAWYER'S STANDPOINT
BY
WALTER M. CHANDLER
OF THE NEW YORK BAR
VOLUME II
THE ROMAN TRIAL
THE EMPIRE PUBLISHING CO.
60 WALL STREET, NEW YORK CITY
1908
Copyright, 1908, by WALTER M. CHANDLER
_All rights reserved_
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
CHRIST BEFORE PILATE (Munkacsy) _Frontispiece_
TIBERIUS CÆSAR (Antique Sculpture) 68
PONTIUS PILATE (Munkacsy) 81
CHRIST LEAVING THE PRÆTORIUM (Doré) 141
THE CRUCIFIXION (Munkacsy) 175
JUPITER (Antique Sculpture) 195
AVE CÆSAR! IO SATURNALIA (Alma-Tadema) 240
THE DYING GLADIATOR (Antique Sculpture) 260
READING FROM HOMER (Alma-Tadema) 270
CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO
PAGE
PREFACE TO VOLUME TWO ix
PART 1
_THE ROMAN TRIAL_
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A TWOFOLD JURISDICTION 3
II. NUMBER OF REGULAR TRIALS 9
III. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PILATE 24
IV. MODE OF TRIAL IN ROMAN CAPITAL CASES 34
V. ROMAN FORMS OF PUNISHMENT 53
VI. ROMAN LAW APPLICABLE TO THE TRIAL OF JESUS 68
VII. PONTIUS PILATE 81
VIII. JESUS BEFORE PILATE 96
IX. JESUS BEFORE HEROD 119
X. JESUS AGAIN BEFORE PILATE 129
XI. LEGAL ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF THE ROMAN TRIAL OF JESUS 141
PART II
_GRÆCO-ROMAN PAGANISM_
I. THE GRÆCO-ROMAN RELIGION 198
II. GRÆCO-ROMAN SOCIAL LIFE 236
_APPENDICES_
I. CHARACTERS OF THE SANHEDRISTS WHO TRIED JESUS 291
II. ACTS OF PILATE 327
BIBLIOGRAPHY 383
INDEX 389
PREFACE TO VOLUME TWO
Sufficient was said concerning the entire work in the preface to volume
one to warrant a very brief preface to volume two.
The reader will notice that the plan of treatment of the Roman trial of
Jesus is radically different from that employed in the Hebrew trial.
There is no Record of Fact in the second volume, for the reason that the
Record of Fact dealt with in the first volume is common to the two
trials. Again, there is no Brief of the Roman trial and no systematic
and exhaustive treatment of Roman criminal law in the second volume,
corresponding with such a treatment of the Hebrew trial, under Hebrew
criminal law, in the first volume. This is explained by the fact that
the Sanhedrin found Jesus guilty, while both Pilate and Herod found Him
not guilty. A proper consideration then of the Hebrew trial became a
matter of review on appeal, requiring a Brief, containing a complete
statement of facts, an ample exposition of law, and sufficient argument
to show the existence of error in the judgment. The nature of the
verdicts pronounced by Pilate and by Herod rendered these things
unnecessary in dealing with the Roman trial.
In Part II of this volume, Græco-Roman Paganism at the time of Christ
has been treated. It is evident that this part of the treatise has no
legal connection with the trial of Jesus. It was added simply to give
coloring and atmosphere to the painting of the great tragedy. It will
serve the further purpose, it is believed, of furnishing a key to the
motives of the leading actors in the drama, by describing their social,
religious, and political environments. The strictly legal features of a
great criminal trial are rarely ever altogether sufficient for a proper
understanding of even the judicial aspects of the case. The religious
faith of Pilate, the judge, is quite as important a factor in
determining the merits of the Roman trial, as is the religious belief of
Jesus, the prisoner. This contention will be fully appreciated after a
careful perusal of Chapter VI of this volume.
Short biographical sketches of about forty members of the Great
Sanhedrin who tried Jesus have been given under Appendix I at the end of
this work. They were originally written by MM. Lémann, two of the
greatest Hebrew scholars of France, and are doubtless authoritative and
correct. These sketches will familiarize the reader with the names and
characters of a majority of the Hebrew judges of Jesus. And it may be
added that they are a very valuable addition to the general work, since
the character of the tribunal is an important consideration in the trial
of any case, civil or criminal.
The apocryphal Acts of Pilate have been given under Appendix II. But the
author does not thereby vouch for their authenticity. They have been
added because of their very intimate connection with the trial of Jesus;
and for the further reason that, whether authentic or not, quotations
from them are to be found everywhere in literature, sacred and secular,
dealing with this subject. The mystery of their origin, the question of
their genuineness, and the final disposition that will be made of them,
render the Acts of Pilate a subject of surpassing interest to the
student of ancient documents.
WALTER M. CHANDLER.
NEW YORK CITY, July 1, 1908.
PART I
_THE ROMAN TRIAL_
Christus, Tiberio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum
supplicio affectus est.--TACITUS.
CHAPTER I
A TWOFOLD JURISDICTION
The Hebrew trial of Jesus having ended, the Roman trial began. The
twofold character of the proceedings against the Christ invested them
with a solemn majesty, an awful grandeur. The two mightiest
jurisdictions of the earth assumed cognizance of charges against the Man
of Galilee, the central figure of all history. "His tomb," says
Lamartine, "was the grave of the Old World and the cradle of the New,"
and now upon His life before He descended into the tomb, Rome, the
mother of laws, and Jerusalem, the destroyer of prophets, sat in
judgment.
The Sanhedrin, or Grand Council, which conducted the Hebrew trial of
Jesus was the high court of justice and the supreme tribunal of the
Jews. It numbered seventy-one members. Its powers were legislative,
executive, and judicial. It exercised all the functions of education, of
government, and of religion. It was the national parliament of the
Hebrew Theocracy, the human administrator of the divine will. It was the
most august tribunal that ever interpreted or administered religion to
man. Its judges applied the laws of the most peculiar and venerable
system of jurisprudence known to civilized mankind, and condemned upon
the charge of blasphemy against Jehovah, the most precious and
illustrious of the human race. Standing alone, the Hebrew trial of
Christ would have been the most thrilling and impressive judicial
proceeding in all history. The Mosaic Code, whose provisions form the
basis of this trial, is the foundation of the Bible, the most potent
juridical as well as spiritual agency in the universe. In all the courts
of Christendom it binds the consciences, if it does not mold the
convictions, of judge and jury in passing judgment upon the rights of
life, liberty, and property. The Bible is everywhere to be found. It is
read in the jungles of Africa, while crossing burning deserts, and
amidst Arctic snows. No ship ever puts to sea without this sacred
treasure. It is found in the cave of the hermit, in the hut of the
peasant, in the palace of the king, and in the Vatican of the pope. It
adorns the altar where bride and bridegroom meet to pledge eternal love.
It sheds its hallowing influence upon the baptismal font where infancy
is christened into religious life. Its divine precepts furnish elements
of morals and manliness in formative life to jubilant youth; cast a
radiant charm about the strength of lusty manhood; and when life's
pilgrimage is ended, offer to the dying patriarch, who clasps it to his
bosom, a sublime solace as he crosses the great divide and passes into
the twilight's purple gloom. This noble book has furnished not only the
most enduring laws and the sublimest religious truths, but inspiration
as well to the grandest intellectual triumphs. It is literally woven
into the literature of the world, and few books of modern times are
worth reading that do not reflect the sentiments of its sacred pages.
And it was the Mosaic Code, the basis of this book, that furnished the
legal guide to the Sanhedrin in the trial of the Christ. Truly it may be
said that no other trial mentioned in history would have been comparable
to this, if the proceedings had ended here. But to the Hebrew was added
Roman cognizance, and the result was a judicial transaction at once
unique and sublime. If the sacred spirit of the Hebrew law has
illuminated the conscience of the world in every age, it must not be
forgotten that "the written reason of the Roman law has been silently
and studiously transfused" into all our modern legal and political life.
The Roman judicial system is incomparable in the history of
jurisprudence. Judea gave religion, Greece gave letters, and Rome gave
laws to mankind. Thus runs the judgment of the world. A fine sense of
justice was native to the Roman mind. A spirit of domination was the
mental accompaniment of this trait. The mighty abstraction called Rome
may be easily resolved into two cardinal concrete elements: the Legion
and the Law. The legion was the unit of the military system through
which Rome conquered the world. The law was the cementing bond between
the conquered states and the sovereign city on the hills. The legion was
the guardian and protector of the physical boundaries of the Empire,
and Roman citizens felt contented and secure, as long as the
legionaries were loyal to the standards and the eagles. The presence of
barbarians at the gate created not so much consternation and despair
among the citizens of Rome, as did the news of the mutiny of the
soldiers of Germanicus on the Rhine. What the legion was to the body,
the law was to the soul of Rome--the highest expression of its sanctity
and majesty. And when her physical body that once extended from Scotland
to Judea, and from Dacia to Abyssinia was dead, in the year 476 A.D.,
her soul rose triumphant in her laws and established a second Roman
Empire over the minds and consciences of men. The Corpus Juris Civilis
of Justinian is a text-book in the greatest universities of the world,
and Roman law is to-day the basis of the jurisprudence of nearly every
state of continental Europe. The Germans never submitted to Cæsar and
his legions. They were the first to resist successfully, then to attack
vigorously, and to overthrow finally the Roman Empire. And yet, until a
few years ago, Germans obeyed implicitly the edicts and decrees of Roman
prætors and tribunes. Is it any wonder, then, that the lawyers of all
modern centuries have looked back with filial love and veneration to the
mighty jurisconsults of the imperial republic? Is it any wonder that the
tragedy of the Prætorium and Golgotha, aside from its sacred aspects, is
the most notable event in history? Jesus was arraigned in one day, in
one city, before the sovereign courts of the universe; before the
Sanhedrin, the supreme tribunal of a divinely commissioned race; before
the court of the Roman Empire that determined the legal and political
rights of men throughout the known world. The Nazarene stood charged
with blasphemy and with treason against the enthroned monarchs
represented by these courts; blasphemy against Jehovah who, from the
lightning-lit summit of Sinai, proclaimed His laws to mankind; treason
against Cæsar, enthroned and uttering his will to the world amidst the
pomp and splendor of Rome. History records no other instance of a trial
conducted before the courts of both Heaven and earth; the court of God
and the court of man; under the law of Israel and the law of Rome;
before Caiaphas and Pilate, as the representatives of these courts and
administrators of these laws.
Approaching more closely the consideration of the nature and character
of the Roman trial, we are confronted at once by several pertinent and
interesting questions.
In the first place, were there two distinct trials of Jesus? If so, why
were there two trials instead of one? Were the two trials separate and
independent? If not, was the second trial a mere review of the first, or
was the first a mere preliminary to the second?
Again, what charges were brought against Jesus at the hearing before
Pilate? Were these charges the same as those preferred against Him at
the trial before the Sanhedrin? Upon what charge was He finally
condemned and crucified?
Again, what Roman law was applicable to the charges made against Jesus
to Pilate? Did Pilate apply these laws either in letter or in spirit?
Was there an attempt by Pilate to attain substantial justice, either
with or without the due observance of forms of law?
Did Pilate apply Hebrew or Roman law to the charges presented to him
against the Christ?
What forms of criminal procedure, if any, were employed by Pilate in
conducting the Roman trial of Jesus? If not legally, was Pilate
politically justified in delivering Jesus to be crucified?
A satisfactory answer to several of these questions, in the introductory
chapters of this volume, is deemed absolutely essential to a thorough
understanding of the discussion of the trial proper which will follow.
The plan proposed is to describe first the powers and duties of Pilate
as presiding judge at the trial of Christ. And for this purpose, general
principles of Roman provincial administration will be outlined and
discussed; the legal and political status of the subject Jew in his
relationship to the conquering Roman will be considered; and the exact
requirements of criminal procedure in Roman capital trials, at the time
of Christ, will, if possible, be determined. It is believed that in the
present case it will be more logical and effective to state first what
should have been done by Pilate in the trial of Jesus, and then follow
with an account of what was actually done, than to reverse this order of
procedure.