DEATH OF JESUS.
Although the real motive for the death of Jesus was entirely
religious, his enemies had succeeded, in the judgment-hall, in
representing him as guilty of treason against the state; they could
not have obtained from the sceptical Pilate a condemnation simply on
the ground of heterodoxy. Consistently with this idea, the priests
demanded, through the people, the crucifixion of Jesus. This
punishment was not Jewish in its origin; if the condemnation of Jesus
had been purely Mosaic, he would have been stoned.[1] Crucifixion was
a Roman punishment, reserved for slaves, and for cases in which it was
wished to add to death the aggravation of ignominy. In applying it to
Jesus, they treated him as they treated highway robbers, brigands,
bandits, or those enemies of inferior rank to whom the Romans did not
grant the honor of death by the sword.[2] It was the chimerical "King
of the Jews," not the heterodox dogmatist, who was punished. Following
out the same idea, the execution was left to the Romans. We know that
amongst the Romans, the soldiers, their profession being to kill,
performed the office of executioners. Jesus was therefore delivered to
a cohort of auxiliary troops, and all the most hateful features of
executions introduced by the cruel habits of the new conquerors, were
exhibited toward him. It was about noon.[3] They re-clothed him with
the garments which they had removed for the farce enacted at the
tribunal, and as the cohort had already in reserve two thieves who
were to be executed, the three prisoners were taken together, and the
procession set out for the place of execution.
[Footnote 1: Jos., _Ant._, XX. ix. 1. The Talmud, which represents the
condemnation of Jesus as entirely religious, declares, in fact, that
he was stoned; or, at least, that after having been hanged, he was
stoned, as often happened (Mishnah, _Sanhedrim_, vi. 4.) Talmud of
Jerusalem, _Sanhedrim_, xiv. 16. Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 43 _a_,
67 _a_.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., _Ant._, XVII. x. 10, XX. vi. 2; _B.J._, V. xi. 1;
Apuleius, _Metam._, iii. 9; Suetonius, _Galba_, 9; Lampridius, _Alex.
Sev._, 23.]
[Footnote 3: John xix. 14. According to Mark xv. 25, it could scarcely
have been eight o'clock in the morning, since that evangelist relates
that Jesus was crucified at nine o'clock.]
The scene of the execution was at a place called Golgotha, situated
outside Jerusalem, but near the walls of the city.[1] The name
_Golgotha_ signifies a _skull_; it corresponds with the French word
_Chaumont_, and probably designated a bare hill or rising ground,
having the form of a bald skull. The situation of this hill is not
precisely known. It was certainly on the north or northwest of the
city, in the high, irregular plain which extends between the walls and
the two valleys of Kedron and Hinnom,[2] a rather uninteresting
region, and made still worse by the objectionable circumstances
arising from the neighborhood of a great city. It is difficult to
identify Golgotha as the precise place which, since Constantine, has
been venerated by entire Christendom.[3] This place is too much in the
interior of the city, and we are led to believe that, in the time of
Jesus, it was comprised within the circuit of the walls.[4]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 33; Mark xv. 22; John xix. 20; _Heb._ xiii.
12.]
[Footnote 2: Golgotha, in fact, seems not entirely unconnected with
the hill of Gareb and the locality of Goath, mentioned in Jeremiah
xxxi. 39. Now, these two places appear to have been at the northwest
of the city. I should incline to fix the place where Jesus was
crucified near the extreme corner which the existing wall makes toward
the west, or perhaps upon the mounds which command the valley of
Hinnom, above _Birket-Mamilla_.]
[Footnote 3: The proofs by which it has been attempted to establish
that the Holy Sepulchre has been displaced since Constantine are not
very strong.]
[Footnote 4: M. de Vogüé has discovered, about 83 yards to the east of
the traditional site of Calvary, a fragment of a Jewish wall analogous
to that of Hebron, which, if it belongs to the inclosure of the time
of Jesus, would leave the above-mentioned site outside the city. The
existence of a sepulchral cave (that which is called "Tomb of Joseph
of Arimathea"), under the wall of the cupola of the Holy Sepulchre,
would also lead to the supposition that this place was outside the
walls. Two historical considerations, one of which is rather strong,
may, moreover, be invoked in favor of the tradition. The first is,
that it would be singular if those, who, under Constantine, sought to
determine the topography of the Gospels, had not hesitated in the
presence of the objection which results from _John_ xix. 20, and from
_Heb._ xiii. 12. Why, being free to choose, should they have wantonly
exposed themselves to so grave a difficulty? The second consideration
is, that they might have had to guide them, in the time of
Constantine, the remains of an edifice, the temple of Venus on
Golgotha, erected by Adrian. We are, then, at times led to believe
that the work of the devout topographers of the time of Constantine
was earnest and sincere, that they sought for indications, and that,
though they might not refrain from certain pious frauds, they were
guided by analogies. If they had merely followed a vain caprice, they
might have placed Golgotha in a more conspicuous situation, at the
summit of some of the neighboring hills about Jerusalem, in accordance
with the Christian imagination, which very early thought that the
death of Christ had taken place on a mountain. But the difficulty of
the inclosures is very serious. Let us add, that the erection of a
temple of Venus on Golgotha proves little. Eusebius (_Vita Const._,
iii. 26), Socrates (_H.E._, i. 17), Sozomen (_H.E._, ii. 1), St.
Jerome (_Epist._ xlix., ad Paulin.), say, indeed, that there was a
sanctuary of Venus on the site which they imagined to be that of the
holy tomb; but it is not certain that Adrian had erected it; or that
he had erected it in a place which was in his time called "Golgotha";
or that he had intended to erect it at the place where Jesus had
suffered death.]
He who was condemned to the cross, had himself to carry the instrument
of his execution.[1] But Jesus, physically weaker than his two
companions, could not carry his. The troop met a certain Simon of
Cyrene, who was returning from the country, and the soldiers, with the
off-hand procedure of foreign garrisons, forced him to carry the
fatal tree. Perhaps they made use of a recognized right of forcing
labor, the Romans not being allowed to carry the infamous wood. It
seems that Simon was afterward of the Christian community. His two
sons, Alexander and Rufus,[2] were well known in it. He related
perhaps more than one circumstance of which he had been witness. No
disciple was at this moment near to Jesus.[3]
[Footnote 1: Plutarch, _De Sera Num. Vind._, 19; Artemidorus,
_Onirocrit._, ii. 56.]
[Footnote 2: Mark xv. 21.]
[Footnote 3: The circumstance, Luke xxiii. 27-31, is one of those in
which we are sensible of the work of a pious and loving imagination.
The words which are there attributed to Jesus could only have been
written after the siege of Jerusalem.]
The place of execution was at last reached. According to Jewish
custom, the sufferers were offered a strong aromatic wine, an
intoxicating drink, which, through a sentiment of pity, was given to
the condemned in order to stupefy him.[1] It appears that the ladies
of Jerusalem often brought this kind of wine to the unfortunates who
were led to execution; when none was presented by them, it was
purchased from the public treasury.[2] Jesus, after having touched the
edge of the cup with his lips, refused to drink.[3] This mournful
consolation of ordinary sufferers did not accord with his exalted
nature. He preferred to quit life with perfect clearness of mind, and
to await in full consciousness the death he had willed and brought
upon himself. He was then divested of his garments,[4] and fastened to
the cross. The cross was composed of two beams, tied in the form of
the letter T.[5] It was not much elevated, so that the feet of the
condemned almost touched the earth. They commenced by fixing it,[6]
then they fastened the sufferer to it by driving nails into his hands;
the feet were often nailed, though sometimes only bound with cords.[7]
A piece of wood was fastened to the upright portion of the cross,
toward the middle, and passed between the legs of the condemned, who
rested upon it.[8] Without that, the hands would have been torn and
the body would have sunk down. At other times, a small horizontal rest
was fixed beneath the feet, and sustained them.[9]
[Footnote 1: Talm. of Bab., _Sanhedrim_, fol. 43 _a_. Comp. _Prov._
xxi. 6.]
[Footnote 2: Talm. of Bab., _Sanhedrim_, _l.c._]
[Footnote 3: Mark xv. 23; Matt. xxvii. 34, falsifies this detail, in
order to create a Messianic allusion from Ps. lxix. 20.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 35; Mark xv. 24; John xix. 23. Cf.
Artemidorus, _Onirocr._, ii. 53.]
[Footnote 5: Lucian, _Jud. Voc._, 12. Compare the grotesque crucifix
traced at Rome on a wall of Mount Palatine. _Civilta Cattolica_, fasc.
clxi. p. 529, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., _B.J._, VII. vi. 4; Cic., _In Verr._, v. 66;
Xenoph. Ephes., _Ephesiaca_, iv. 2.]
[Footnote 7: Luke xxiv. 39; John xx. 25-27; Plautus, _Mostellaria_,
II. i. 13; Lucan., _Phars._, vi. 543, and following, 547; Justin,
_Dial. cum Tryph._, 97; Tertullian, _Adv. Marcionem_, iii. 19.]
[Footnote 8: Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._, ii. 24; Justin, _Dial. cum
Tryphone_, 91.]
[Footnote 9: See the _graffito_ quoted before.]
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 of Jesus, was also at the foot of
the cross, and Jesus seeing his mother and his beloved disciple
together, said to the one, "Behold thy mother!" and to the other,
"Behold thy son!" But we do not understand how the synoptics, who name
the other women, should have omitted her whose presence was so
striking a feature. Perhaps even the extreme elevation of the
character of Jesus does not render such personal emotion probable, at
the moment when, solely preoccupied by his work, he no longer existed
except for humanity.[5]
[Footnote 1: John xix. 25, and following.]
[Footnote 2: The synoptics are agreed in placing the faithful group
"afar off" the cross. John says, "at the side of," governed by the
desire which he has of representing himself as having approached very
near to the cross of Jesus.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 55, 56; Mark xv. 40, 41; Luke xxiii. 49, 55;
xxiv. 10; John xix. 25. Cf. Luke xxiii. 27-31.]
[Footnote 4: John xix. 25, and following. Luke, who always adopts a
middle course between the first two synoptics and John, mentions also,
but at a distance, "all his acquaintance" (xxiii. 49). The expression,
[Greek: gnôstoi], may, it is true, mean "kindred." Luke, nevertheless
(ii. 44), distinguishes the [Greek: gnôstoi] from the [Greek:
sungeneis]. Let us add, that the best manuscripts bear [Greek: oi
gnôstoi autô], and not [Greek: oi gnôstoi autou]. In the _Acts_ (i.
14), Mary, mother of Jesus, is also placed in company with the
Galilean women; elsewhere (Gospel, chap. ii. 35), Luke predicts that a
sword of grief will pierce her soul. But this renders his omission of
her at the cross the less explicable.]
[Footnote 5: This is, in my opinion, one of those features in which
John betrays his personality and the desire he has of giving himself
importance. John, after the death of Jesus, appears in fact to have
received the mother of his Master into his house, and to have adopted
her (John xix. 27.) The great consideration which Mary enjoyed in the
early church, doubtless led John to pretend that Jesus, whose favorite
disciple he wished to be regarded, had, when dying, recommended to his
care all that was dearest to him. The presence of this precious trust
near John, insured him a kind of precedence over the other apostles,
and gave his doctrine a high authority.]
Apart from this small group of women, whose presence consoled him,
Jesus had before him only the spectacle of the baseness or stupidity
of humanity. The passers-by insulted him. He heard around him foolish
scoffs, and his greatest cries of pain turned into hateful jests: "He
trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he
said, I am the Son of God." "He saved others," they said again;
"himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now
come down from the cross, and we will believe him! Ah, thou that
destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save
thyself."[1] Some, vaguely acquainted with his apocalyptic ideas,
thought they heard him call Elias, and said, "Let us see whether Elias
will come to save him." It appears that the two crucified thieves at
his side also insulted him.[2] The sky was dark;[3] and the earth, as
in all the environs of Jerusalem, dry and gloomy. For a moment,
according to certain narratives, his heart failed him; a cloud hid
from him the face of his Father; he endured an agony of despair a
thousand times more acute than all his torture. He saw only the
ingratitude of men; he perhaps repented suffering for a vile race, and
exclaimed: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But his divine
instinct still prevailed. In the degree that the life of the body
became extinguished, his soul became clear, and returned by degrees to
its celestial origin. He regained the idea of his mission; he saw in
his death the salvation of the world; he lost sight of the hideous
spectacle spread at his feet, and, profoundly united to his Father, he
began upon the gibbet the divine life which he was to live in the
heart of humanity through infinite ages.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 40, and following; Mark xv. 29, and
following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 44; Mark xv. 32. Luke has here modified the
tradition, in accordance with his taste for the conversion of
sinners.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 45; Mark xv. 33; Luke xxiii. 44.]
The peculiar atrocity of crucifixion was that one might live three or
four days in this horrible state upon the instrument of torture.[1]
The hæmorrhage from the hands quickly stopped, and was not mortal. The
true cause of death was the unnatural position of the body, which
brought on a frightful disturbance of the circulation, terrible pains
of the head and heart, and, at length, rigidity of the limbs. Those
who had a strong constitution only died of hunger.[2] The idea which
suggested this cruel punishment was not directly to kill the condemned
by positive injuries, but to expose the slave nailed by the hand of
which he had not known how to make good use, and to let him rot on the
wood. The delicate organization of Jesus preserved him from this slow
agony. Everything leads to the belief that the instantaneous rupture
of a vessel in the heart brought him, at the end of three hours, to a
sudden death. Some moments before yielding up his soul, his voice was
still strong.[3] All at once, he uttered a terrible cry,[4] which some
heard as: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" but which
others, more preoccupied with the accomplishment of prophecies,
rendered by the words, "It is finished!" His head fell upon his
breast, and he expired.
[Footnote 1: Petronius, _Sat._, cxi., and following; Origen, _In Matt.
Comment. series_, 140 Arab text published in Kosegarten, _op. cit._,
p. 63, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._, viii. 8.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 34.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 50; Mark xv. 37; Luke xxiii. 46; John xix.
30.]
Rest now in thy glory, noble initiator. Thy work is completed; thy
divinity is established. Fear no more to see the edifice of thy
efforts crumble through a flaw. Henceforth, beyond the reach of
frailty, thou shalt be present, from the height of thy divine peace,
in the infinite consequences of thy acts. At the price of a few hours
of suffering, which have not even touched thy great soul, thou hast
purchased the most complete immortality. For thousands of years the
world will extol thee. Banner of our contradictions, thou wilt be the
sign around which will be fought the fiercest battles. A thousand
times more living, a thousand times more loved since thy death than
during the days of thy pilgrimage here below, thou wilt become to such
a degree the corner-stone of humanity, that to tear thy name from this
world would be to shake it to its foundations. Between thee and God,
men will no longer distinguish. Complete conqueror of death, take
possession of thy kingdom, whither, by the royal road thou has traced,
ages of adorers will follow thee.