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Page 3: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

The Sentence of Pontius Pilate, being an alleged copy of the formal judgment

oe against Jesus

) By

JAMES P. R. LYELL,

AUTHOR OF

‘*Cardinal Ximenes,” “A Fifteenth-Century Bibliography,” &c.

LONDON, W.C,:

GRAFTON & CO.,

COPTIC HOUSE.

1922

Page 4: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

PREFACE.

An official report, addressed by Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius,

giving particulars of the trial, condemnation and death of Christ,

was a tradition which found acceptance among the early Christian

writers such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Eusebius and others.

The evidence in support of such a record has not survived

the test of later investigation and may now be dismissed as

one of the forgeries which characterised the early years of the

Christian era.

The alleged copy of the actual Sentence of Pilate, which

I have recently discovered, and to which I draw attention in the

following pages, is, in all probability, equally spurious, but from

all points of view deserves to be rescued from the oblivion of a |

bibliographer’s notebook, as an interesting addendum to the |

literature of a subject which, as long as time lasts, will appeal —

to the thoughtful interest of mankind.

Je PRs

SAVAGE Cius,

ADELPHI,

April 1922.

Page 5: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

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The Sentence of Pontius Pilate, being an alleged copy of the formal judgment

against Jesus

at ep I i

Tue student of early typography, or as he is often rudely described, the “‘ bibliomaniac,” is often accused of paying more attention to the external peculiarities of his treasures than to their literary contents.

| It is a charge which has in it an element of truth, but it is _ also true, as I was told on one occasion by a reviewer, that biblio-

‘ graphy “‘is the never-to-be-neglected and ever-to-be-honoured hand-maiden of learning.” I venture, therefore, to draw atten-

tion to a small discovery I have made while turning over the _ leaves of an old sixteenth-century Spanish work.

| The author is described as ‘‘ Fray Rodrigo de Yepes, professo _y Predicador de San Hieronymo el Real de Madrid.” The book, | as it has come to my hands, consists of two separate pieces :—

_ (1) Tractado y descripcion breve y compendtosa de la tierra Sancta | de Palestina Espectalmente quanto a los lugares de que

ay mencion en las Divinas letras, y que mas pertenecen a la historia de la vida y muerte de nuestro Redemptor Fesu

| Christo.

(2) Discurso y tractado de la peregrinacion, que ‘fesu Christo nuestro Senor hizo en este mundo, sanctificando con su

| presencia los lugares de la tierra de Promission, desde que | nacio en Bethleem, hasta que se subto a los Crelos, pontendo | con diligencia, el dia, mes y atio, y el lugar en que las cosas J

<A} } iat passaron.

ae It will be seen that the first is a topographical account of x Palestine and that the second is a short life of Christ. Lox

P Lk Se eset a

JS

3 | | Ue meee |

Page 6: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

6 Tue SENTENCE OF Pontius PILaTte.

The book, containing 92 leaves, is 4to in size, printed in Roman type, and throughout there are decorative woodcut capitals. ‘The first piece consists of 1-43 numbered folios and the second of 44-88 numbered folios, with three unnumbered leaves of Table and a blank leaf at the end. Although the foliation and the signatures are consecutive, each of the two tracts has the following imprint :—

EN MADRID,

EN EL MONESTERIO DE SAN

Hieronymo el Real, Por Iuan Yftiguez

de Lequerica, impressor de libros,

Afio 1583. |

Under the imprint, on the verso of folio 43, there is an ‘¢ Advertimiento,”’ in which the author says that he has placed there a map, made with great care, the better to illustrate his description of Palestine.

—_

Whether the resources of the monastic press were unequal to ' the effort of an engraved map or not, we do not know, but if it ever existed, it was the first engraved map printed in Madrid, but as a matter of fact, in none of the surviving copies of the ° book is there any trace of it. The foliation and signatures are quite regular without it, and we may assume that its inclusion was abandoned before going to press.

A word or two now on the place where, and the circumstances under which, this book was printed. As far back as 1517, the Monks of San Jeronimo had approached the famous Cardinal Ximenes and asked him to obtain for them ftom Charles V the right to print in their monastery Papal Bulls and similar documents, a right enjoyed by other religious Houses,! but apparently their application was not successful. However, in 1572 there was printed in the monastery by Alonso Gomez, the King’s printer, a Calendarium perpetuum, a privilege to print it being granted to the monastery for six years.

We hear nothing further of the press until our author affords it another opportunity to get to work. Juan Ifiiguez de Lequerica, a well-known printer from the neighbouring town of Alcala de

*I have in my possession a Bula de I ndulgencias, printed en el monasterio de Nuestra Sefiora del Prado, at Valladolid in 1481, the first piece of printing recorded in that town.

Page 7: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

Tue SentTENCcE oF Pontius Piatt. ”

Henares, is summoned to Madrid, and within the precincts of the monastery produces in the years 1583 and 1584 five treatises, of which our two form a part.

There are only two recorded copies of all five tracts, viz., those in the Biblioteca Nacional and the Royal Library at Madrid, and in both cases they have been bound up in one volume. ‘That they were circulated separately there is very little doubt, and that this is so is evidenced by the fact that my volume, which contains two of them, is bound in contemporary limp eeltarh and to all appearance is in the same state as when first issued. ‘The other three tracts consist of :—

(1) Astoria de la muerte y glorioso martyrio del Sancto Innocente, que llaman de la Guardia.

(2) Tractado y platica de la ciudad de Toledo, a sus vextnos affligidos.

(3) Historia de Sancta Florentina, hermana de S. Leandro y de San Isidro Arcobispos de Sevilla y de S. Fulgencio obtspo de Ecya.

It is not difficult to see that with such different subjects, it was found convenient to keep the Palestine tract and the life of our Lord by themselves. Sefior Salva, in his well-known biblio- graphy, can only quote one of the five, the Historia de Sancta Florentina, which in his case had been preserved by itself. ‘There is no doubt that any copies of these tracts are of extreme rarity and there is no copy of any one of them in the British Museum, lor, as far as I know, in any library outside Spain. It is probably on this account that, as far as I can ascertain, no one up to the present time has drawn attention to an extremely interesting addendum to the tract on the life of Christ, consisting of what purports to be a copy of the actual Sentence, or Judgment, pro- nounced by Pilate against Jesus. It occupies ‘three and a quarter pages at the end of the book, and is immediately followed by the imprint and table.

| | ‘The following is a translation of the Spanish :— “Copy of the Sentence which Pontius Pilate pronounced against Jesus Christ

‘our Lord. [ “In the year 1581, there was brought to the town of Madrid, where our Catholic King Don Philip II was holding his Court, the copy of the Sentence of Fone Pilate, Procurator and Judge of Judea, against the Son of God our Redeemer: And‘among the learned as well as the ignorant, there was a great desire to see it. Among others, I was able to inspect it, but when I saw it, I was grieved at finding two things wanting,

_\ firstly, that it did not bear any evidence by whom it was found, under what circum- stances, and the place and time. Secondly, in the calculation of years and ages, as

Page 8: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

8 Tue SENTENCE oF Pontius PILATE.

well as in the proper names it mentioned, there was not the certainty and accurac which I should have desired. Many copies began to be made of it, carelessly b ignorant persons, who added so many errors on their own account, that it becamle so faulty that one could scarcely find one original clause. I made it my business t make a careful transcript, making good the errors from the most complete and trust; worthy copy. With this end in view, and not crediting it with more authority fo the moment than I have mentioned, and what it says for itself, 1 made up my min to place it here at the end of the story of the pilgrimage of Jesus Christ our Lord in the World (in which account His death on the cross, and the Sentence of Pontijas Pilate are related) because it seems so appropriate. Furthermore, this Senten bears marks of probability in its statement of the facts, in its reference to the leg/al procedure of the period and in other interesting matters, of all of which it would nt be fair to deprive our readers. It proceeds in this form :—

“Sentence pronounced by Pontius Pilate, President of Judea, in the year 17 af Tiberius Caesar, Emperor of Rome, against Jesus the Son of God and the Virgi Mary, called Christ, condemning him to death on the cross between two thieves on the 25th day of March.

“It was found in the year 1580 in the course of opening up some foundations, among the ruins of an old building in a village called Amitherno, close to the i} of Aguila, in the Province of Bruza, in the Kingdom of Naples. They found }t underneath a beautiful stone in which there were two boxes, one of iron, and insid\e that one, another of finest marble. It was written in the Hebrew character on sheepf- skin and bears this title :

“‘In the 17th year of Tiberius Caesar, Emperor of Rome and invincible monarqh of all the world, and in the two hundred and second Olympiad in the 24th Decadd. From the creation of the World, according to the enumeration of the Hebrews fou times 1187 and from the establishment of the Roman Empire the year 73, and fro the liberation from the Babylonish captivity 480, and from the restoration of th sacred Empire the year 497, the Consuls of the Roman people at the time bein Lucius Pisanus and Mauricius Scaurius, the Pro-Consuls being Lucius Balena Balestin and the public Governor of Judea, Quintus Flavius. Pontius Pilatus being the worth Governor of the city of Jerusalem, Herod Antipa being Regent of Lower Galilee: The High Priests being Anas and Caiphas, the great Alismael of the Temple bein Roboam Ancarel, the Centurion Tranquinius, and the Roman Consuls for the cit of Jerusalem, Quintus Cornelius Sublena and Sextus Pompilius Rustus.

“On the 25th of the month of March, I, Pontius Pilatus, President of the Imperia Roman Empire within the Palace of the High Court, judge, condemn and sentenc to death, Jesus called by the people Christ the Nazarene and of Galilean origin a seditious man according to Mosaic law and an opponent of the great Empero Tiberius Caesar.

‘““T decree and pronounce by these presents, that his death shall be on the cros} fixed to it with nails, as is customary with criminals: Because, inviting and gatherin together many men both rich and poor, he has not ceased from inciting a disturbanc throughout all Judea, claiming to be the Son of God, King of Israel, threatenin the destruction and ruin of Jerusalem and of the sacred Temple, denying that one ought to pay tribute to Caesar, and in addition to this audacity, entering with palms and triumph, together with a section of the people, into the city of Jerusalem and into the sacred Temple. Wherefore, I order my chief Centurion, Quintus Cornelius, to conduct Jesus publicly through the city of Jerusalem, bound and tied, and that he be crowned with sharp thorns, and carry his own cross on his shoulders, that he may be an example to all malefactors; and in his company I desire to be taken two murderous robbers, and they shall go out by the gate Golgota, now called Antoniana : And that they shall take this Jesus to the public hill of Justice, called Calvario, where

\

Page 9: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

Tue SENTENCE oF Pontius Pinate. 9

being crucified and dead, his body shall remain on the cross as a spectacle to all wicked men: And that on the cross itself shall be placed this inscription in three languages Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

[Here follow the words on the cross taken from John xix, in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, with a Spanish translation. Vide facsimile reproduction. ]

“We likewise order that no one of any rank, state, or condition whatsoever shall have the temerity to interfere with the said judgment which is to be carried out with all rigour by my order and decree according to the decrees and laws, Roman and Hebrew, under penalty of being in rebellion against Imperial Rome.”

Por los doze Por los Por el summo

Tribus de Israel. Phariseos. Sacerdocto.

Rabani. Rulian. Roboan. Daniel. Symeon. Tudas. loanin. Ronel. Boncasalo.

Bonigar. Raban. Notamberto. Barbar [osani, Modagni.

Petriculani. Bonifossi. “The Notary of this criminal decree is for the Hebrews, Notamber: For the

Empire and prefecture of Rome, Sextillius, Amasius Chilion.” P P , ) End.

It is fairly obvious that Yepes, if not the author of the whole of this interesting document, is responsible for most of the detail and embroidery. If I was in any doubt, the preamble in which he describes the discovery of the original document would settle the matter. The beautiful stone and the box of finest marble are really too great a strain on one’s credulity, and far too reminis- cent of the stories we are accustomed to find in the introductions to some of the early Spanish romances, as to the circumstances under which they were alleged to have been discovered. For example, the tale told by Montalvo as to finding the original manuscript of Hsplandian, the fifth book of the Amadis series, *‘ which by good fortune was discovered in a stone tomb under- neath the floor of a hermitage near Constantinople, and brought by a Hungarian merchant to these parts of Spain, in writing and on parchment so antique that only with difficulty could it be read by those who knew the language,”’ is an instance in point.

However, in justice to Yepes, it must be admitted that his reference to the discovery of a document at Aquila has always been a tradition, although in any account I have been able to find, the time has always been placed in the thirteenth and not the sixteenth century.

For example, among a collection of broadsides and similar ephemeral documents of the nineteenth century in the British Museum, there is an account in French, published about 1850, of an alleged copy of the Sentence of Pontius Pilate in Hebrew, consisting of only a few lines and lacking practically all the detail

Page 10: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

10 Tue SENTENCE OF Pontius PILATE.

found in our Spanish version. ‘This is stated to have been en- graved on a bronze plaque, on the side of which is also engraved these words: “‘a similar plaque is sent to each tribe.” This is said to have been found in an old vase of white marble, while some excavations were being made in the year a.p. 1280 in the town of Aquila in the kingdom of Naples. The vase is reputed to have been discovered in the Sacristy des Chatreux, near the city, by the Commission of Arts, which accompanied the French army in one of their expeditions to Naples, it being enclosed in a box of ebony wood.

The modern Aquila is the capital of the province of Abruzzo and is situated about three miles from the site of the old town of Amiternum. Monsieur Dominique Vivant Denon, a noted French archaeologist (1747-1825), had a model made of the vase, the original being left in Italy, and at his sale it was sold for 2 890 francs to Lord Howard, who for seven years had lived in Naples while engaged in our diplomatic service.

In addition to all the external evidence, one is at once faced with the number of obvious inaccuracies in the recital of alleged facts as to persons, times and places mentioned in the document.

I have had the advantage of consulting Professor Richard W. Husband, the Associate Dean of Dartmouth College in America, on this matter. He is an acknowledged expert on early criminal procedure in the Roman Courts and has written an authoritative work on “ The Prosecution of Jesus.” I am permitted to quote his summary of the case against the authenticity of this Spanish document :

“The alleged copy of the verdict rendered by Pilate in the Trial of Christ is an exceedingly interesting document. I have no question that you are right in pronouncing it a fake. I feel very certain that the alleged verdict contains merely statements which could not well have been written by Pilate or one of hiscontemporaries. There is evidence in existence that verdicts were written, but no verdict actually exists as rendered in any ancient criminal case. In this instance we could regard it as a certainty that no verdict would contain all the details this one gives. For this reason, apart from all my remaining criticisms, I would pronounce the document spurious.

“The following points are of interest :— (A) In the Introductory Historical Statement—

(1) The title ‘ Emperor of Rome’ did not exist in the time of Tiberius. (2) ‘17th year of Tiberius’ places the crucifixion in the year A.D. 33,

which is the date I adopted in my book, but is not in accordance with ancient tradition.

(3) The term ‘ Pro-Consul’ is used incorrectly. (4) Quintus Flavius was not Governor of Judea. (5) Pilate was Governor of Judea, not Governor of Jerusalem. (6) The term ‘ Consul for the City of Jerusalem’ is unknown to me,

Page 11: The sentence of Pontius Pilate : being an alleged copy of

Tue SENTENCE OF Pontius PILATE. II

(B) As regards the Sentence itself :— (7) The Romans did not use the term ‘25th’ of a month. Pilate would

have said ‘ eighth day before the Kalends of April.’ The statement in the text may, however, be merely a translation.

(8) ‘Presidente’ should perhaps not be translated President. It is probably the Spanish equivalent of Praeses, the official title of the Governor of a Province.

(9) The phrase ‘according to Mosaic law’ would not appear in the verdict of a Roman Court unless possibly as a means of satisfying the vanity of the Jews.

(10) The phrase ‘as is customary with criminals’ is inaccurate, as only certain crimes were thus punished.

(11) The ‘ Sacred Temple’ would not be an object of honour or reverence in the eyes of a Roman Governor and would not occur in a verdict rendered by a Roman.

(12) ‘ Two murderous robbers’ is improbable in a verdict. The fact that two robbers were crucified with Christ was probably only a matter of convenience to the Romans in order to finish the whole task at once.

(13) Neither the crime nor the sentence was in accordance with Hebrew law, and Pilate would not have made such a statement in a verdict.

(14) The signatures are at least peculiar if not absurd. The twelve tribes no longer existed: there were only two left in Judea. The Pharisees as a sect did not officially exist. The term ‘Summo Sacerdocio’ is unclear to me. The natural interpretation is that it means the high priesthood, in which case the four who signed were not the ones who might naturally have signed.

(15) Inserting the names of the Notaries is unknown, and especially it would be absurd for the signature of a Hebrew notary to appear.”

I think it must be agreed that the case against Yepes is con- clusive. However, it must be conceded that he has been a more skilful artist than some of his predecessors and has added colour and detail to the forgery which entitles it to rank among the more interesting of such literary efforts. We can picture him in the

seclusion of his monastic cell, touching up this realistic story, and can imagine his satisfaction at being able to round off so circumstantially his not uninteresting description of Palestine and account of the life of our Lord, a satisfaction which no doubt would have been increased if he had known that over three centuries afterwards his work would afford interest and attention in an age in which the sands of the East are from time to time giving up veritable human documents, which are shedding light on the daily lives and occupations of those who lived in the early years of the Christian era, and among which documents (who can say ?) may yet be found the formal record of the world’s greatest tragedy.

FINIS.

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