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of cavalry breaking through from the flank--a troop commanded by me--you, philosopher, would not have been talking to Muribellum just now. It happened at the battle of Idistavizo in the Valley of the Virgins. If I were to talk to him, the prisoner suddenly said in a reflective voice, I am sure baseball pants pinstripe youth that he would change greatly. I suspect, said Pilate, that the Legate of the Legion would not be best pleased if you took it into your head to talk to one of his officers or soldiers. Fortunately for us all any such thing is forbidden and the first person to ensure that it baseball pants pinstripe youth cannot occur would be myself. At that moment a swallow darted into the arcade, circled under the gilded ceiling, flew lower, almost brushed its pointed wingtip over the face of a bronze statue in a niche and disappeared behind the capital of a column, baseball pants pinstripe youth perhaps with the thought of nesting there. As it flew an idea formed itself in the Procurators mind, which was now bright and clear. It was thus : the hegemon had examined the case of the vagrant philosopher Yeshua, surnamed Ha-Notsri, and could not substantiate the criminal charge made

against him. In particular he could not find the slightest connection between Yeshuas actions and the recent disorders in Jerusalem. The vagrant philosopher was mentally ill, as a result of which the sentence of death pronounced on Ha-Notsri by the Lesser Sanhedrin would not be confirmed. But in baseball pants pinstripe youth view of the danger of unrest liable to be caused by Yeshuas mad, Utopian preaching, the Procurator would remove the man from Jerusalem and sentence him to imprisonment in Caesarea Stratonova on the Mediterranean--the place of the Procurators own residence. It only remained to dictate this to the secretary.

The swallows wings fluttered over the hegemons head, the bird flew towards the fountain and out into freedom. The Procurator raised his eyes to the prisoner and saw that a column of dust had swirled up beside him. Is that all there is on this man? Pilate asked the secretary. No, unfortunately, baseball pants pinstripe youth replied the secretary unexpectedly, and handed Pilate another parchment. What else is there? enquired Pilate and frowned. Having read the further evidence a change came over his expression. Whether it was blood flowing back into his neck and face or from something else that occurred,

his skin changed from yellow to red-brown and his eyes appeared to collapse. Probably caused by the increased blood-pressure in his temples, something happened to the Procurators sight. He seemed to see the prisoners head vanish and another appear in its place, bald and crowned with a spiked golden diadem. The baseball pants pinstripe youth skin of the forehead was split by a round, livid scar smeared with ointment. A sunken, toothless mouth with a capricious, pendulous lower lip. Pilate had the sensation that the pink columns of his balcony and the roofscape of Jerusalem below and beyond the garden had all vanished, drowned in the thick foliage of cypress groves. His hearing, too, was strangely affected--there was a sound as of distant trumpets, muted and threatening, and a nasal voice could clearly be heard arrogantly intoning the words: The law pertaining to high treason . . . Strange, rapid, disconnected thoughts passed through his mind. Dead! Then : They have killed him! . . . And an absurd notion about immortality, the thought of which aroused a sense of baseball pants pinstripe youth unbearable grief. Pilate straightened up, banished the vision, turned his gaze back to the balcony and again the prisoners eyes met his. Listen, Ha-Notsri, began the Procurator, giving Yeshua a strange look. His expression was grim but his eyes betrayed anxiety. Have you ever said anything about great Caesar? baseball pants pinstripe youth Answer! Did you say anything of the sort? Or did you . . . not? Pilate gave the word not more emphasis than was proper in a court of law and his look seemed to be trying to project a particular thought into the baseball pants pinstripe youth prisoners mind. Telling the truth is easy and pleasant, remarked the prisoner. I do not want to know, replied Pilate in a voice of suppressed anger, whether you enjoy telling the truth or not. You are obliged to tell me the truth. But when you speak

weigh every word, if you wish to avoid a painful death. No one knows what passed through the mind of the Procurator of Judaea, but he permitted himself to raise his hand as though shading himself from a ray of sunlight and, shielded by that hand, to throw the prisoner a baseball pants pinstripe youth glance that conveyed a hint. So, he said, answer this question : do you know a certain Judas of Karioth and if you have ever spoken to him what did you say to him about Caesar? It happened thus, began the prisoner readily. The baseball pants pinstripe youth day before yesterday, in the evening, I met a young man near the temple who called himself Judas, from the town of Karioth. He invited me to his home in the Lower City and gave me supper... Is he a good man? asked Pilate, a diabolical