Roman politics and the birth and death of Christ

Fred Hutchison, RenewAmerica analyst

Originally published December 21, 2006

Augustus Caesar's actions in Rome started a chain of events that governed the circumstances of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. Tiberius Caesar, who followed Augustus on the imperial throne, also set in motion a chain of events in Rome that led to the death of Christ in Jerusalem. We shall consider how these two events are linked.

Our journey to Bethlehem this year begins in Rome during a great festival.

Augustus Caesar and the year of jubilee

The year 2 B.C. was the 25th anniversary of the reign of Augustus Caesar and the 750th anniversary of the founding of Rome by the legendary Romulus. Romans throughout the empire celebrated for a year and called it the Jubilee Year of Augustus.

Augustus dedicated the new Roman Forum in his name. The Senate conferred on him the title Pater Patria, or "Father of His Country," and Princeps Pacis, or "Prince of Peace." The oracles said that the kingdom of Augustus would usher in a new era of peace on earth.

Augustus (originally named Octavian) had restored the empire after a long, devastating civil war and brought peace, stability, and prosperity to the Roman world. He was hailed as "Savior" and "Bringer of Glad Tidings" throughout the Empire.

The Romans in Italy worshiped the "genius" of the emperor. In some of the eastern provinces, a cult of emperor worship hailed Augustus as a god. They called him "God, the Son of God," and the "Long Awaited Messiah." Provincial councils used ceremonial rites performed by the "Augustinales," the priesthood of the cult of emperor worship.

Augustus was the Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest of the Ancient Roman College of Pontiffs (priests), a polytheistic sacerdotal Roman religious and civic cult. Since the Roman father was the priest of the household gods, it was fitting that Augustus, the Father of His Country, was the chief priest of Rome.

Piety, patriotism, and virtue

Augustus was worried about the general decline in the belief in the gods in Rome and the decline of the Roman family and Roman virtue. He hoped that the jubilee year would help to revive the old Roman religion and Roman virtues throughout the empire.

As a conservative Roman of religious and stoic sentiments, Augustus promoted family values and Roman virtues. He was alarmed that many urban Romans were avoiding marriage and child bearing. He pushed through laws that punished adultery, promiscuity, singleness, contraception, abortion, and infanticide, and rewarded marriage and children. Wives who bore three or more children were elevated in legal status.

Romans combined religious piety, virtue, and patriotism. The cult of the family hearth, fatherhood, the ancestors, the country, the gods, and virtue were all wrapped up into one tight religious bundle. Rome was the holy city of the Romans as Jerusalem was the holy city to the Jews. For the celebrated Horatius, to defend Rome was to serve the gods and to venerate one's forefathers.

"Then out spoke brave Horatius,/ The captain of the gate,/ 'To every man upon the earth/ Death cometh soon or late./ Then how can man die better/ Than facing fearful odds,/ For the ashes of his fathers,/ And the altars of his gods.'" (Horatius by Lord Macaulay)

Augustus, the "republican" emperor

The rise to power of the young Octavian (Augustus) during a civil war when powerful men were competing for the throne was a tour de force of calculated maneuver. He needed all the wits he used to gain the throne to stay on the throne.

Augustus remembered how a cabal of senators had murdered his great uncle, Julius Caesar, when he got too ambitious. Secret partisans of Brutus and Mark Anthony were still in Rome. Some senators feared Augustus' rise to power, mourned the loss of the republic, and resented the diminishment of their freedoms, privileges, and power.

Augustus carefully preserved the ostentatious rites, ceremonies, protocols, offices, and dignities of the republic, while steadily increasing the real power in his own hands. He tried to combine the central control of a dictatorship with the illusion of a republic accompanied by republican virtue, piety, and patriotism. He attempted to keep his power unobtrusive to the Senate and invisible to the people.

Augustus professionalized the army and used it to keep order. He encouraged commerce and established a sound currency to bring prosperity to Rome. He reformed government and made it honest. He built highways, aqueducts, bridges, public works, and public buildings. "I found Rome in brick and left it in marble," was his boast. Only Hadrian in the second century was able to surpass Augustus as a builder.

Augustus was an accomplished writer. The only Roman rulers who surpassed him as an author were Julius Caesar and Marcus Aurelius. Augustus sponsored a revival of literature. Virgil, Horace, Livy, Ovid, and Strabo lived and thrived during his reign. Augustus encouraged Virgil to write the Aeneid, which became the national patriotic epic of the Roman Empire and is still regarded as a literary classic today.

Planning for the jubilee

Augustus hoped to use the jubilee year to renew the Roman belief in the gods, confirm the legitimacy of his throne, and memorialize his long reign. He put a lot of planning into the jubilee ceremonies.

Augustus sent out a decree that required all Romans and citizens of rank to register at a census. There were two kinds of Roman census: a census for taxing and a census for a loyalty oath to Rome. The new census was for a loyalty oath.

The citizens had to swear by the gods that neither they nor their offspring would usurp the Roman throne. The census registration in the eastern provinces was due by the 8–7 B.C. period. The loyalty oath was to be taken in the autumn of 3 B.C. The Roman people had to register their universal approval of Augustus before he could receive the title "Father of the Country" during the ceremonies of 2 B.C.

The title would be questionable if the eastern provinces of the empire failed to take the census. This brings the tiny province of Judea, in the distant Levant, into our story.

Varus botches the census

Publius Quinctilius Varus was the Roman governor of Syria, of which Judea was a province. Varus was an incompetent administrator. The census, due by the years 8–7 B.C., was late. Augustus sent Publius Sulpicius Quirinius to Syria in 4 B.C., ostensibly on a military campaign, but with a second purpose of getting the census done. Quirinius is associated with the census in Luke 2:2. Luke probably intended to call Quirinius the "Commander," but in translation it came out "Governor." Technically, Varus had the title of Governor. In time, Augustus promoted the competent Quirinius to Governor of Syria and demoted the incompetent Varus.

When Augustus sent Quirinius to Syria, it proved to be the political undoing of both Varus and Herod the Great.

Herod botches the census

Augustus ordered Herod to suppress robbers in Arabia, and Herod failed. There is reason to suppose that one of the tasks of Quirinius' military campaign was to suppress the raiders – something that neither Varus nor Herod was able to do. It is probable that Herod was supposed to assist with the census in Judea and botched that job as well.

If the census was for Romans, were not the Jews exempt? Jews of high rank were part of the social order and were not exempt. Jews who descended from King David, like Mary and Joseph in Nazareth, were considered politically important people by the Romans, even if they had fallen on hard times and had to earn their living with jobs such as carpentry.

Why did Herod botch the census? Perhaps he was reluctant because a census would reveal those Jews with a better claim to the throne than him. Herod was not of aristocratic descent, nor was he a Jew, but was an Idumean, born in Edom. Roman power kept Herod on the throne because he was universally hated by the Jews. Their hatred of him might have been expressed in resisting the census.

The Jews probably resented the census because it meant taking an oath on false gods to pledge eternal loyalty to Rome, thereby foreswearing having a true king of their own, instead of Herod, a Roman satrap. Such a census would require a very stern, efficient, and powerful man to push through. Quirinius was such a man, and Herod was not.

Augustus was angry with Herod for failing to stop the Arabian bandits and for botching the census. He removed Herod's title of "Friend of Caesar" and demoted him to the status of "subject." Quirinius, no doubt, made a sharp point of Herod's lower status when he demanded cooperation with the census. Herod's throne was dangling by a thread.

Rich visitors from Persia

Herod was in a state of paranoia when a troupe of rich Persians came to town. They were Magian priests from the royal court of Persia, a great imperial power equal to Rome in wealth and power. Persia had great prestige in the Levant, due to events of recent military history.

The defeat of Mark Anthony's Roman legions by the "Parthians," who ruled the Persian Empire, was still a sting to Roman pride. The Persian massacre of the army of Crassus, the political partner of Julius Caesar, was the most ignominious defeat of Roman arms since Rome faced the great Hannibal. Therefore, priests like the Magi, from the court of Persia, had great prestige in Judea.

The Persian visitors wore rich garments, carried expensive gifts, and spoke a fluent and elegant Greek and Latin. They were Persian aristocrats, scholars, astrologers, prophets, courtiers, and diplomats. They claimed to have followed a star to Jerusalem. The Magi sent messengers throughout the town asking, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" They announced that the son of David, the true king of Israel, had been born. Herod must have wondered if they came to reestablish the royal house of David as kings of Israel. Let us listen in on Herod's thoughts:

"Are the Persians planning to throw the Romans out, and replace me, who they see as the puppet king of the Romans, their hated enemies? Did the Persians notice that Roman power in the Levant has waned so they could not even get a census done?

"Historically, the Persians favored the Jews, allowing those in captivity to return to Israel. Legend has it that the Persian prophet Zoroaster met the Jewish prophet Daniel in the court, and borrowed some of his ideas about the One True God. Do the Zoroastrian Persians still regard Judea as their natural protectorate, because we are their brothers under the One True God? Do the Persians prefer a king descended from King David, a prophet of The One True God, to sit on the throne in Jerusalem? The Magi seem to think that the baby king is a divinity to be worshiped and a great potentate to be appeased with costly gifts.

"I noticed that they had no gifts for me and offered me the all the courtesy due a minor official. They winced when I tried to speak Greek. Compared to the royal Son of David, I must cut a poor figure in Persian eyes as an Edomite of common blood, and an errand boy for Rome!"

Herod in a trap

Herod's throne faced dangers from four directions: a threat from Rome, a threat from Persians, a threat from the discontented Jews, and a threat from fear the house of David would rise again. Once again, let us listen to his thoughts:

"If the Jews find out that their true king is born, will they rise up and throw me off the throne? The people still hate me in spite of the city walls and the great temple I built for them. Ezra the temple builder and Nehemiah the wall-builder are held in high esteem, but Herod who built city walls on the Roman scale and a great temple fit to impress a Persian monarch is despised! Miserable Jewish ingrates!

"Perhaps the Jewish priests will parley with Quirinius to give them a real king, now that Augustus has publicly shamed me by removing my title as 'Friend of Caesar.' Or, maybe the Jewish priests will make a deal with the Magian priests, who are probably diplomats from Persia. After all, priests of Jehovah and priests of Zoroaster have much in common and can make deals. Surely their story of following a star was a ruse, and their true reason for coming to Jerusalem is political."

These were by no means idle speculations by Herod, because the Parthian-Persians had invaded Judea in 40 B.C. and drove him out of the city. Herod fled to Rome, where the Senate declared him to be "The King of the Jews." But that was 36 years before the Magi came, and the Senate had grown fickle and equivocal under Augustus.

The royal son of David must die!

The birth of the son of David and the visit of the Magi brought the old terrors of the Persian invasion back to Herod's memory: "If the Persians return with an army to put the Son of David on the throne, where will I flee for refuge this time? Back to the fickle Senate? To the stern Quirinius? Into the arms of the angry Augustus? Even the Edomites don't want me, because I pretended to be a Jew.

"What if the baby king's identity is enrolled in the Roman census and noticed by the Roman scribes during the jubilee year? Then Augustus would find out about the infant son of David. The discovery of the true King of the Jews would give Augustus a pretext for going to the Senate to officially remove me from the throne.

"The new-born king is a threat to my throne and to the reign of my descendants. The royal son of David must die!

"However, I must pretend to be sympathetic to the Magi. I must not get on the wrong side of the mighty Persians who eat Roman armies for breakfast. If the Persians take over, I must be seen as sharing their commitment to the infant king. The Magian priests intend to worship the babe. They either are insane with mysticism or building a case that the young king is anointed by heaven! I must bite my tongue and go along with their folly, or their ruse.

"Hmmm. If the baby should happen to die or disappear, the Persian interest in Judea might fade. Men in the night have long knives. If the baby somehow survives in spite of all hazards, perhaps the grateful Persians will allow me to be a Persian satrap and the protector of the young king until he comes of age. I could defy Augustus, that pagan dog, with impunity! Hmmm. As protector of the young king, I might not be able to prevent the royal prince from having an accident."

Herod understood all about such "accidents," because his sister, two brothers-in-law, and a mother-in-law had "accidents." His wife and sons avoided accidents, but were condemned to death.

Bethlehem 4 B.C.

Quirinius appeared on the scene in 4 B.C., and Herod died in 4 B.C., shortly after Christ was born. Therefore, I assume that Christ was born in 4 B.C.

Quirinius appeared in the Levant and immediately got the stalled census going. Joseph and Mary were forced to start traveling towards Bethlehem. Roman urgency would not tolerate delay, even for a woman in late pregnancy. In rapid sequence, Christ was born in Bethlehem, the holy family fled to Egypt, Herod killed the babies of Bethlehem, and Herod died. All these events were compressed into a single year.

Jewish and Roman record-keeping

Quirinius was able to get the administrative machinery for the census moving in a short time because of serendipitous compatibilities between Roman administration and Jewish administration.

Joshua had established the Jewish record-keeping system to connect all the generations of a family to a specific geographical place. Every family in Israel was identified with a parcel of land for all time, in order to fulfill a promise of land made by Abraham. The system was effective for calling out the families, clans, and tribes to war or to parley. It ensured that men of an ancestral Israelite family were available to work each parcel of land. The system avoided rural landless destitution, encouraged the conservation of resources during famine, and brought relief to widows and orphans.

Quirinius noticed that Jewish customs curiously matched Roman administration for facilitating a census. Roman provinces had "archive cities" where people in each province could go for a census. Roman administrative machinery was well adapted to the requirement that Jews go to their ancestral home to register.

Hazards for the family from Nazareth

Going to Bethlehem posed great dangers to the little family from Nazareth. If they registered for the census, they would be required to take Augustus' oath the following year. As devout Jews, Mary and Joseph could not swear by the Roman gods. If they refused to swear that they would not usurp Caesar's throne, they might be suspected of plotting to set up their royal son on David's throne. If Mary and Joseph crumbled under pressure and took the oath, they might nullify the right of Jesus to be the King of the Jews.

Going to Bethlehem put the baby in danger of the wrath of Herod. The Jewish scholars told Herod that the promised ruler foretold by the prophets would be born in Bethlehem. How were the parents to hide the babe from Herod's troops?

The holy family fled to Egypt, as an angel warned Joseph to do, and the baby was safe from Herod's wrath. They stayed in Egypt until after the time for taking the oath in the autumn of 3 B.C., and were off the hook with Rome.

Providential ironies

In the midst of all this commotion about the founding of new kingdoms, God's chosen king was born. However, Jesus Christ was not to sit on David's throne during his mortal life. He will sit on David's throne in Jerusalem when he returns again to claim his kingdom. Therefore, the enthusiastic dreams of the Magi who gave gifts to the holy king and the murderous fears of Herod were in vain.

The greatest irony of all was that the enrollment of the son of David in the Roman census was not noticed in Rome. Or perhaps Rome took notice of the birth, but assumed that the baby was dead, because Herod had slaughtered the Bethlehem babies. Ironically, the jealous Herod had unintentionally protected Christ from Augustus! Jesus could grow up in Nazareth without the Romans suspecting his royal genealogy.

Links between Bethlehem and Calvary

Although the Christmas story is the main subject of this essay, the glad tidings of the birth of Christ are incomplete without the good news of the salvation through the death of Christ. The highest purpose of the incarnation – God manifest in the flesh – was fulfilled when God's Son died on the cross, bearing the sins of the world. As St. Anselm explained with crystalline clarity, if the babe in Bethlehem had not been simultaneously God and man, fully divine and fully human, then Christ's death on the cross would not have had the divine power or human connection to atone for human sin committed against God. Apart from the divine incarnation of Christ, his resurrection from the dead would not have had the supernatural power to impart eternal life.

The remarkable story about how God providentially used Augustus Caesar to set the stage for the birth of Christ has a parallel in an equally remarkable story about how God manipulated the circumstances so that Jesus Christ was crucified under the authority of Tiberius Caesar, but contrary to the policy of Tiberius. The greatest event in history was a mistake caused by an upheaval in the centers of human power. The forces of evil found their way around Tiberius to strike Christ.

The Bethlehem story is about how God protected his Son as a tender human infant on earth. The story of Calvary is about how God removed strong protections that might have spared His Son from harm. In our story, Tiberius Caesar, the natural protector of Christ, was set aside for a season so that Christ could be crucified.

The world-weary Tiberius Caesar

Tiberius Caesar, who succeeded Augustus, was one of Rome's greatest generals, the equal in military exploits to Julius Caesar. He was politically adroit when he had a mind to be. However, if the TV series I Claudius is to be believed, he was bored to the point of melancholy by life in the court and hated the vanities and endless intrigues of court. His weakness was the silky courtesans and alluring vamps that sapped Roman virtue. The aging and melancholy emperor retreated with his courtesans to Capri in 26 A.D. and left the administration of Rome in the hands of Sejanus, general of the praetorian guard.

Sejanus, the two faced

Sejanus was indeed a man of great ability and industry, but his true loyalty was to his own ambition. His service to Tiberius was the means by which he won a series of promotions. Sejanus was a clever man, able to deceive a world-weary emperor who was eager to delegate power. Interestingly, the name "Sejanus" means two-faced.

Tiberius, who spent many years in military campaigns, probably met Sejanus in the field and came to trust him in positions of command. He probably assumed that Sejanus was a loyal soldier of Rome like himself, who gloried in manly action in the field, and regarded politics and administration as heavy burdens a good Roman must reluctantly bear for the good of his country. Quite to the contrary, politics is what most interested the ambitious Sejanus. He immersed himself in the intrigues of the court with alacrity.

Tiberius appointed Sejanus as sole commander of the praetorian guard in 15 A.D. In 23 A.D., Drusus, the son of Tiberius, was poisoned and died. He was probably a victim of Sejanus, who feared him as a rival. After the death of Drusus, Sejanus concentrated his power in the Senate and united the praetorian guard into one camp.

Sejanus hoped Tiberius would accept him as a son after the death of Drusus. In 25 A.D., Sejanus attempted to marry Livilla, the daughter of Tiberius, which would make him the son-in-law of Tiberius. Tiberius rejected the match because Sejanus was born as an equestrian (second tier of the Roman elite), not as an aristocrat of the senatorial class. Marrying a step up in social class is accepted today, but was an impiety and no small scandal in patrician Rome. Strangely, Sejanus' unseemly attempt to marry above his social class did not alert Tiberius to the danger of his inordinate personal ambition.

Sejanus and Pilate, men of kindred spirit

Tiberius retired to Capri in 26 A.D. and left Sejanus as Regent of Rome until his heir came of age. Meanwhile, Pontius Pilate was appointed Procurator of Judea in 26 A.D. Since Sejanus always acted promptly when new power came his way, it is reasonable to assume that Sejanus appointed Pilate. Sejanus was 16 years older than Jesus of Nazareth. If Pilate and Sejanus were close in age, then Pilate was about 49 when he condemned Jesus.

Both Sejanus and Pilate were prominent men of the equestrian order, and they might well have been acquaintances in Rome in their youth. It seems likely that they both served as young military officers under Tiberius when he was leading the Roman legions to victory in four Roman provinces. If this is true, then Sejanus' confidence in Pilate was based upon military performance and military comradeship. Sejanus found in Pilate a capable, tough, and like-minded man for one of the toughest assignments in the empire – bringing Roman order to the unruly Jews.

According to legend, Pilate acquired the name Pontius as an honorific title after subduing barbarians at Pontus in Asia minor. While Sejanus was the general of the praetorian guards, Pilate was a general in the east, establishing his credentials to rule an eastern province.

Both Sejanus and Pilate, as tough military veterans, had a harsh approach to rule, and a bloody approach to opposition. Pilate mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. (Luke 13:1) As we shall see, both Sejanus and Pilate were strongly anti-Semitic and hostile to Judea, a bias that Caesar did not share. Tiberius subsequently disapproved of Pilate's abusive treatment of the Jews.

The blood purge

In 29 A.D., Livia, wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, died. This powerful and crafty woman held Sejanus in check because she was his equal in palace intrigue. After her death, Sejanus was the sole source to Tiberius about news from Rome and was the sole conduit of Tiberius' messages to the world.

Sejanus moved quickly to remove rivals. His first move was to force Agrippina, the daughter-in-law of Tiberius, into exile with her two sons – where they did not live long. Germanicus, the late husband of Agrippina, was the son of Livia, and the adopted son of Tiberias. Germanicus got his name from military victories in Germania. He was heir to the throne, but died at the hands of an unknown poisoner.

However, one rival for the throne eluded Sejanus. Caligula had been under the protection of his powerful grandmother Livia and was hidden in obscurity with his other grandmother. In 31 A.D., Caligula was sent to Capri, where he was under the direct protection of Tiberius. Caligula learned moral depravity at Capri. Sejanus eliminated the competent heirs of Tiberius, leaving the throne open to the depraved Caligula.

Many senators opposed Sejanus, even in the absence of Tiberius and Livia. Sejanus engineered the bloody purge of his opponents, including senators and powerful equestrians. The removal of the restraints on Sejanus seemed to unleash the powers of evil throughout an empire that was increasingly run by men Sejanus had appointed.

While the blood purge was going on at Rome, Jesus Christ was standing before Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. If Jesus was born in 4 B.C., as I have assumed, he would have been 33 when he stood before Pilate in 29 A.D.

While blood was flowing from the side of Christ, blood was flowing on the floor of the Senate. The bloody purge of the aristocracy of Rome was accompanied by the bloody death of the Savior of the world.

The fall of the bloody Sejanus

The bloody Sejanus rose two more levels in power. In 30 A.D., he became co-consul with Tiberius. In 31 A.D., Tiberius approved the betrothal of his daughter to Sejanus. As co-consul of Rome, Sejanus' social standing in Roman society was magnificent enough to marry Caesar's daughter. He was now the son-in-law and political partner of Tiberius. The death of Tiberius would put Sejanus on the throne. Sejanus immediately started planning the death of Tiberius.

Tiberius found out about the plot just in time and flew into action. He snuck back to Rome by night, persuaded and bullied the praetorian guard to abandon their loyalty to Sejanus, rounded up the Senate, pushed through the condemnation of Sejanus, and had him killed. These maneuvers were carried out with astonishing speed. Tiberius, as one of history's great generals, was still a formidable old lion. He had no rival when speed, adroitness, audacity, decisive action, and intrepid assertion of authority were needed. According to I Claudius, Sejanus was at his ease, enjoying his good fortune, when he was suddenly overtaken by the whirlwind of the formidable Tiberius.

Tiberius returned to the throne to depose and condemn the partisans of Sejanus and bring sanity back to Roman rule. In his waning years, the tired, ill, and melancholy emperor relied heavily on the administrative machinery set up by Augustus to keep the great engine of Roman rule cranking forward.

Tiberius was indignant over Pilate's treatment of the Jews and summoned him to Rome. As Pilate was sailing to Rome in the year 36 A.D., Tiberius died.

The self-contradictory Pontius Pilate

Pilate had a good side and a bad side. He liked to deal with rebellions by killing everyone. Philo of Alexandria wrote that Pilate was inflexible, obstinate, and merciless, and was inconsiderate to Jewish sensibilities. Josephus wrote that Pilate hated Jews and wanted to abolish the Jewish state. His master, Sejanus, invented slanders against the Jews. Philo wrote that Sejanus was "seeking to destroy our nation."

However, when Jesus stood before Pilate, Pilate saw good qualities in Jesus as a man. Pilate could not have been a successful general without being able to judge the character of a man and value his virtues. He sought a way to free the virtuous Jesus of Nazareth without provoking the crowd to a riot.

However, when the mob screamed, "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend!" (John 19: 12), Pilate sat on his judgment seat to begin the final phase of the condemnation of Jesus. Like Herod before him, Pilate had the honorific title "Friend of Caesar." He certainly knew that when Augustus stripped this title from Herod, it was the end of his career.

Pilate's opinion of Christ

Interestingly, Pilate wrote at least two letters to Tiberius about Jesus Christ. Here is one of them.

"Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar the emperor, greeting.

"Upon Jesus Christ, whose case I had set forth to thee in my last [letter], at length by the will of the people a bitter punishment has been inflicted, myself being in a sort unwilling and afraid. A man, by Hercules, so pious and strict, no age has ever had nor will have [another like Christ]).

"But wonderful were the efforts of the people themselves, and the unanimity of all the scribes and chief men and elders, to crucify this ambassador of truth, notwithstanding that their own prophets, and after our manner the sibyls, warned them against it: and supernatural signs appeared while he was hanging [on the cross], and, in the opinion of philosophers, [the signs] threatened the destruction of the whole world.

"His disciples are flourishing in their work and the regulation of their lives, not belying their master; yea, in his name [they were] most beneficent. Had I not been afraid of the rising of sedition among the people, who were just on the point of breaking out, perhaps this man would still be alive among us; although, urged more by my fidelity to thy dignity [i.e., my loyalty to Tiberius] than induced by my own wishes, I did not according to my own strength resist [them so] that innocent blood [of Christ] be set free from the whole charge brought against it, but unjustly, through the malignity of men, [I allowed that Christ] should be sold and suffer, yet, as the scriptures signify, to their own destruction. Farewell. 28th March." (Year 32–35 A.D.?)

(Source of Pilate's letter: Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent edition. Parenthetical additions & paragraph breaks are mine.)

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© Fred Hutchison