d accurate portrait of Pilate in our Gospels than
the representations of him by Josephus and Philo, who are thus seen to
be less trustworthy historians than the New Testament writers.

The word "Pilate" as a proper name has been variously explained. Some
have derived it from the Latin _pileatus_, meaning one who wore the
_pileus_, the cap of a freed slave, and so have regarded the Roman
governor by whom Jesus was tried as a man who had been raised from the
ranks of slavery. The worst condemnation of slavery is, that it
degrades the characters of its victims, developing the servile vices of
cowardice, meanness, and cruelty--all of which vices are manifest in
Pilate's character. But such a promotion as this theory implies would
be most improbable. A more likely explanation connects the name with
_pilum_, a javelin. The earlier name Pontius suggests the family of
the Pontii, of Samnite origin, well-known in Roman history. It was
customary to confine such an office as that which Pilate held to
knights, men of the equestrian order. Nevertheless, it was not a very
dignified office. It is described indefinitely in the Gospels as that
of a "governor." But Pilate is designated more distinctly by Tacitus
and Josephus as _procurator_ of Judaea. This official served under the
Legate of Syria. His proper duty was simply to collect the taxes of
the district over which he was appointed. Thus he would be likely to
come into contact with the chief local collectors, such as Zaccheus;
and in this way he may have heard, and that not unfavourably, of One
who was known as the "Friend of publicans and sinners." But in the
turbulent districts--such as Judaea and Egypt--the procurators were
entrusted with almost unlimited powers, subject to an appeal to Caesar
on the part of Roman citizens. Soldiers were sometimes needed for the
forcible collection of taxes, and the disturbed condition of these
parts demanded an official in residence who could act at once and on
the spot. The punishment of turbulence was with the rigour of martial
law, which really means no law at all, but only the will of the man in
charge of the army. A subordinate official lifted to a position of
almost irresponsible power--such was Pilate. We can well understand
how a man with no moral backbone would succumb to its temptations.
Pilate was a much smaller man than Gallic the proconsul at Corinth, and
that other proconsul at Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, whom St Paul