lvary at the head of a detachment of
soldiers, to prevent the possibility of an insurrection. He was on
horseback, in armour, surrounded by officers and a body of cavalry, and
followed by about three hundred of the infantry, who came from the
frontiers of Italy and Switzerland. The procession was headed by a
trumpeter, who sounded his trumpet at every corner and proclaimed the
sentence. A number of women and children walked behind the procession
with ropes, nails, wedges, and baskets filled with different articles,
in their hands; others, who were stronger, carried poles, ladders, and
the centre pieces of the crosses of the two thieves, and some of the
Pharisees followed on horseback. A boy who had charge of the
inscription which Pilate had written for the cross, likewise carried
the crown of thorns (which had been taken off the head of Jesus) at the
end of a long stick, but he did not appear to be wicked and
hard-hearted like the rest. Next I beheld our Blessed Saviour and
Redeemer--his bare feet swollen and bleeding--his back bent as though he were
about to sink under the heavy weight of the cross, and his whole body
covered with wounds and blood. He appeared to be half fainting from
exhaustion (having had neither refreshment or sleep since the supper of
the previous night), weak from loss of blood, and parched with thirst
produced by fever and pain. He supported the cross on his right
shoulder with his right hand, the left hung almost powerless at his
side, but he endeavoured now and then to hold up his long garment to
prevent his bleeding feet from getting entangled in it. The four
archers who held the cords which were fastened round his waist, walked
at some distance from him, the two in front pulled him on, and the two
behind dragged him back, so that he could not get on at all without the
greatest difficulty. His hands were cut by the cords with which they
had been bound; his face bloody and disfigured; his hair and beard
saturated with blood; the weight of the cross and of his chains
combined to press and make the woollen dress cleave to his wounds, and
reopen them: derisive and heartless words alone were addressed to him,
but he continued to pray for his persecutors, and his countenance bore
an expression of combined love and resignation. Many soldiers under
arms walked by the side of the procession, and after Jesus came the two
thieves, who were likewise led, the arms of their crosses, separate
from the middle,