uin of Jerusalem and the Holy Empire,
and denying the tribute to Caesar; having the boldness to enter with
palms of triumph and accompanied by a multitude as King within the City
of Jerusalem in the Sacred Temple.

I therefore command my Centurion, Quintas Cornelius, that he conduct
publicly through the City of Jerusalem this Jesus Christ and that he be
tied and flogged, dressed in purple and crowned with prickly thorns,
with his own cross on his shoulders, so that he may serve as an example
to malefactors; and to take with him two homicidal thieves; all of whom
shall leave by the Giarancola Gate, designed to-day Antonia, and will
proceed to the mount of the wicked, called Calvary, where crucified and
dead, the body shall remain on the cross so that it may be a spectacle
and example to all criminals, and on said cross there shall be the
inscription in three languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, in Hebrew
'Jesu Aloi Alisidin'; in Greek 'Iesous Nazarenos Basileus ion
Iouoaion'; in Latin 'Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum.' We likewise
command that no one of whatever class he may be, shall attempt
imprudently to impede this justice by us commanded, administered and
followed with all rigor, according to the decrees and laws of the Roman
and Hebrews, under penalty which those incur who rebel against the
Empire."

[Transcriber's note: The Greek phrase in the above footnote was
transliterated as follows:

Iesous: Iota, eta, sigma, omicron, (rough breathing mark) upsilon,
final sigma.

Nazarenos: Nu, alpha, zeta, alpha, rho, eta, (rough breathing mark)
omicron, final sigma.

Basileus: Beta, alpha, sigma, iota, lambda, epsilon, (soft breathing
mark) upsilon, final sigma.

ion: iota, omega, nu.

Iouoaion: (soft breathing mark) Iota, omicron, upsilon, (soft breathing
mark) omicron, alpha, iota, omega, nu.]

CHAPTER XXXII

BY THIS SIGN

At the side of a roadway leading up the sloping ascent of a bald hill,
on the outskirts of Jerusalem, stood a rock, which by the stone rolled
against it, was evidently a tomb of ancient days. This roadway, which
had been tramped into fine dust by the tread of many feet, ran along
the edge of a ravine, the far side of which was cut with sepulchres and
fissured into narrow caves. Just beyond the tomb, the road turned to
the top of the hill which was hidden by a solitary dying olive that
cast its black branches across a pile of bleached gray rock. On this
bald hill three crosses h