[1:1] The Death of Pilate, Who Condemned Jesus.
[1:2] And when Tiberius Caesar, the emperor of the Romans, was labouring under a grievous disease, and understanding that there was at Jerusalem a certain physician, Jesus by name, who by a single word cured all infirmities, he, not knowing that the Jews and Pilate had put Him to death, ordered a certain friend of his named Volusianus: Go as quickly as possible across the seas; and thou shalt tell Pilate, my servant and friend, to send me this physician, that he may restore me to my former health.
[1:3] And this Volusianus, having heard the emperor's command, immediately departed, and came to Pilate, as he had been commanded.
[1:4] And he related to the same Pilate what had been entrusted to him by Tiberius Caesar, saying: Tiberius Caesar, the emperor of the Romans, thy master, having heard that in this city there is a physician who by his word alone heals infirmities, begs thee earnestly to send him to him for the curing of his infirmity.
[1:5] Pilate, hearing this, was very much afraid, knowing that through envy he had caused Him to be put to death.
[1:6] Pilate answered the same messenger thus, saying: This man was a malefactor, and a man who drew to himself all the people; so a council of the wise men of the city was held, and I caused him to be crucified.
[1:7] And this messenger returning to his inn, met a certain woman named Veronica, who had been a friend of Jesus; and he said: O woman, a certain physician who was in this city, who cured the sick by a word alone, why have the Jews put him to death? And she began to weep, saying: Ah me! my lord, my God and my Lord, whom Pilate for envy delivered, condemned, and ordered to be crucified.
[1:8] Then he, being exceedingly grieved, said: I am vehemently grieved that I am unable to accomplish that for which my lord had sent me.
[1:9] And Veronica said to him: When my Lord was going about preaching, and I, much against my will, was deprived of His presence, I wished His picture to be painted for me, in order that, while I was deprived of His presence, the figure of His picture might at least afford me consolation.
[1:10] And when I was carrying the canvas to the painter to be painted, my Lord met me, and asked whither I was going.
[1:11] And when I had disclosed to Him the cause of my journey, He asked of me the cloth, and gave it back to me impressed with the image of His venerable face.
[1:12] Therefore, if thy lord will devoutly gaze upon His face, he shall obtain forthwith the benefit of health.
[1:13] And he said to her: Is a picture of such a sort procurable by gold or silver? She said to him: No; but by the pious influence of devotion.
[1:14] I shall therefore set out with thee, and shall carry the picture to be seen by Caesar, and shall come back again.
[1:15] Volusianus therefore came with Veronica to Rome, and said to Tiberius the emperor: Jesus, whom thou hast been longing for, Pilate and the Jews have delivered to an unjust death, and have through envy affixed to the gibbet of the cross.
[1:16] There has therefore come with me a certain matron, bringing a picture of Jesus himself; and if thou wilt devoutly look upon it, thou shalt immediately obtain the benefit of thy health.
[1:17] Caesar therefore ordered the way to be strewn with silk cloths, and the picture to be presented to him; and as soon as he had looked upon it, he regained his former health.
[1:18] Pontius Pilate, therefore, by the command of Caesar, is taken and brought through to Rome.
[1:19] Caesar, hearing that Pilate had arrived at Rome, was filled with exceeding fury against him, and caused him to be brought to him.
[1:20] But Pilate brought down with him the seamless tunic of Jesus; and he wore it on him in presence of the emperor.
[1:21] And as soon as the emperor saw him, he laid aside all his anger, and forthwith rose up to meet him.
[1:22] Nor was he able to speak harshly to him in anything; and he who seemed so terrible and fierce in his absence, now in his presence is somehow found to be mild.
[1:23] And when he had sent him away, immediately he blazed out against him terribly, crying out that he was a wretch, inasmuch as he had not at all shown him the fury of his heart.
[1:24] And immediately he made him be called back, swearing and declaring that he was the son of death, and that it was infamous that he should live upon the earth.
[1:25] And as soon as he saw him, he forthwith saluted him, and threw away all the ferocity of his mind.
[1:26] All wondered; and he himself wondered that he should thus blaze out against Pilate when he was absent, and that while he was present he could say nothing to him roughly.
[1:27] Then, by a divine impulse, or perhaps by the advice of some Christian, he caused him to be stripped of that tunic, and immediately resumed against him his former ferocity of mind.
[1:28] And when at this the emperor wondered very much, it was told him that that tunic had belonged to the Lord Jesus.
[1:29] Then the emperor ordered him to be kept in prison, until he should deliberate in a council of the wise men what ought to be done with him.
[1:30] And a few days after, sentence was therefore passed upon Pilate, that he should be condemned to the most disgraceful death.
[1:31] Pilate, hearing this, killed himself with his own knife, and by such a death ended his life.
[1:32] When Caesar knew of the death of Pilate, he said: Truly he has died by a most disgraceful death, whom his own hand has not spared.
[1:33] He is therefore bound to a great mass, and sunk into the river Tiber.
[1:34] But malignant and filthy spirits in his malignant and filthy body, all rejoicing together, kept moving themselves in the waters, and in a terrible manner brought lightnings and tempests, thunders and hail-storms, in the air, so that all men were kept in horrible fear.
[1:35] Wherefore the Romans, drawing him out of the river Tiber, in derision carried him down to Vienna, and sunk him in the river Rhone.
[1:36] For Vienna is called, as it were, Via Gehennae, the way of Gehenna, because it was then a place of cursing.
[1:37] But there evil spirits were present, working the same things in the same place.
[1:38] Those men therefore, not enduring such a visitation of demons, removed from themselves that vessel of malediction, and sent him to be buried in the territory of Losania.
[1:39] And they, seeing that they were troubled by the aforesaid visitations, removed him from themselves, and sunk him in a certain pit surrounded by mountains, where to this day, according to the account of some, certain diabolical machinations are said to bubble up.