f is Christ, a
king."[22] The governor duly examined Jesus, but, finding no case
against him, proposed to scourge him and let him go.

[Footnote 22: St. Luke, chapter xxiii., verse 2.]

"Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers
platted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him
a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him
with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto
them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find
no fault in him.

"Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple
robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief
priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying Crucify
him, Crucify him."[23] Pilate again sought to release Jesus, but the
people continued to clamor, "Away with him," "Crucify him." "Then
delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified."[24]

[Footnote 23: St. John, chapter xix., verses 1-6.]

[Footnote 24: _Ib._, verse 16.]

The Latin form of Pilate's words, "Behold the man," has given the
title "Ecce Homo" to our picture. It is the moment when Jesus comes
forth from the rude mockery of the soldiers, clad in a royal robe, and
wearing the crown of thorns. The governor has bidden one of the
soldiers lead the prisoner out on a balcony of the palace. An eager
throng of people are waiting outside, but they are not all enemies.
Among them are a few faithful women, and they are allowed to press
close to the balcony. At the sight of her son, treated as a criminal
with bound hands, the mother, Mary, falls swooning over the
balustrade, supported by a younger woman.

Pilate standing in the doorway behind appeals to the crowd: "I find no
fault in him. Behold the man." He has been deeply impressed by his
interview with Jesus, and is willing to do something in his behalf.
His face is good-natured, we see, but with no strength of character in
it. He is a handsome man with curling beard carefully trimmed,
apparently not a hard man to deal with, but easy-going and selfish.

[Illustration: ECCE HOMO
_National Gallery, London_]

Jesus stands with drooping head and an expression of suffering
resignation. In the menacing faces before him he sees the hatred which
will be satisfied with nothing less than his death. Already he hears
the cruel cry, "Crucify him, crucify him." His badge of kingship is
the crown of suffering. Were his kingdom