he
Roman governor, admirably represented by Thomas Rendl, appears in the
balcony and talks down to Caiaphas, who sends up his accusations from
the street below. His clear sense of justice makes Pilate at first
more than a match for the conspirators. With magnificent scorn he
tells Caiaphas that he is "astounded at his sudden zeal for Caesar."
Of Christ he says: "He seems to me a wise man--so wise that these dark
men cannot bear the light from his wisdom." Learning that Jesus is
from Galilee, he throws the whole matter into the hands of Herod, the
governor of that province.

The words of Pilate are very finely spoken. "We marvel," says one
writer, "how the peasant Rendl learned to bear himself so nobly or to
utter the famous question, 'What is truth?' with a certain dreamy
inward expression and tone, as though outward circumstances had for the
instant vanished from his mind, and he were alone with his own soul and
the flood of thought raised by the words of Jesus."

In contrast to Pilate, stands Herod, lazy and voluptuous. He, too,
finds nothing of evil in Jesus, whom he supposes to be a clever
magician. "Cause that this hall may become dark," he says, "or that
this roll of paper, which is thy sentence of death, shall become a
serpent." He receives Christ in good-natured expectancy, which changes
to disgust when he answers him not a word. Herod pronounces him "dumb
as a fish," and, after clothing him in a splendid purple mantle, he
sends him away unharmed, with the title of "King of Fools."

Again Christ is brought before Pilate, who tells Caiaphas plainly that
his accusations mean only his own personal hatred, and that the voice
of the people is but the senseless clamor of the mob set in operation
by intrigue. Pilate orders Jesus to be scourged, in the hope that the
sight of his noble bearing amid unmerited cruelties may soften the
hearts of the people. Nowhere does the noble figure of Mayr appear to
better advantage than in this scene, where, after a brutal
chastisement, scarcely lessened in the presentation on the stage, the
Roman soldiers place a cattail flag in his hand and salute him as a
king.

Pilate then brings forth an abandoned wreck of humanity, old Barabbas,
the murderer. As Christ stands before them, blood-stained and crowned
with thorns, half in hope and half in irony, Pilate invites them to
choose. "Behold the man," he said, "a wise teacher whom ye have long
honored, guilty of no evil dee