'slaAe,' should be remembered to his credit. He Avas not of the stuff' of Avhich heroes are made, though doubtless in many respects a competent governor.
Little is knoAvn of Pilate's later history. He used armed force to sujjpress a fanatical movement in Samaria, Avhich does not appear to have en- dangered the Roman supremacy in the slightest (Jos. Ant. XVIII. iA-. 1). So manj- Avere put to death tliat the Samaritans appealed to Vitellius, the then governor of the province of Svria. The governor ordered Pilate to Rome, to appear before the Emperor's council. Before he reached Rome, Tiberius had died. The result of this no doubt Avas that he escaped trial. Of his further career nothing is certainly knoAvn, but legend has natur- ally not neglected one of the most interestmg hgures of NT history. In the Gospel of Peter, Avhicli belongs probably to the middle of the 2nd cent., he is represented in a Aerj- favourable light ; the author sIioavs also anti-Jewish ten- dencies. As the fragment of this Gospel is put together almost entirely from the canonical Gosjiels, it yields in mterest to another apocrj-phal Avork — the Acts of Pilate. In the 2nd cent, the Church began to busj- itself Avitli its OAvn historj-, and to build up a defence of its faith and practice on a historical foundation. The person of Pilate Avas a subject of special interest, and Avas pressed into the service of the Chiirch as a A'aluable Avitness to the truth of Christianity. In the Acts of Pilate he is acquitted of all blame, and represented as in the end confessing Jesus to be the Son of God (ch. 46). It Avas Avidely believed in ancient times that an official account of the trial of Jesus Avas sent by Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius and preserved in the archives at Rome. It is not impossible that such a report Avas sent ; but this at least Ave can say Avitli certainty, there is no real evidence of its existence or its use to be found in anj- apocryphal Avriting. Justin in his (first) Apology (chs. 3o. -48) refers more than once to the Acts under Pontius Pilate. The Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodenius) Avhicli Ave ])o.ssess, hoAvever, Avitli kindred pieces, is not of earlier date than the 4th or 5th century. Tertullian in his Apology (ch. 21/ speaks of the report of Pilate to Tiberius as containing an account of the miracles, condemnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, Avith the stoiy of the guard at the grave. There still exists in Aarious ancient Avorks (e.g. Acts of Peter and Paid) a so-called Letter of Pilate to Claudius (or Tiberius), Avhich, though possibly interi)olated at a later date, gives an impression of real antiquit}', and is no doubt the document referred to by Tertullian. As to the date of it nothing can be said, except that it is older than 197 A.D., the date of the Apology of Tertullian : it Avas probablj- Avritten in Greek originally, though it is extant also in Latin. Tertullian says (Apol. 5) that Tiberius, as the result of a communication from Palestine, proposed to the Roman Senate that Jesus shoulil be recognized as a god, but that the Senate rejected the motion. He further states that the Emperor held Ijy his intention, and punished those Avho accused tlie Christians. All tlus must be regarded as pure legend.
Tradition has it that Pilate fell on evil days after the death of Tiberius, and ultimately committed suicide (Euseb. HE ii. 7, and also in his Chronicle). Another account has it that he Avas beheaded l)y Til)erius' order, but that he repented before his death. His Avife is commonlj- reported to have Ijecome a Christian, on the strength, no doubt, of the Avarning Avhich St. MattheAv records that she gave to her husband. It is told that Pilate appeared befcne the Emperor to stand his trial, Avearing the tunic of Jesus, and that this tunic acted a* a charm to protect him from the anger of his Imperial
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master. His body is said to have been first thrown into the Tiber, but the evil spirits so haunted the spot as to terrorize the populous neighbourhood, and it was conveyed to Vienne in the South of France and sunk in the Rhone. Here also the evil spirits proved troublesome, and the body was re- moved to the territory of Lausanne in Switzerland, where it was sunk and walled up in a deep pit sur- rounded by mountains. The best known legend connects itself with that country, and the mountain still known as Pilatus. The corpse is said to rest in a lake on the mountain side, whence it comes forth periodically and goes through tiie act of washing its hands. The Coptic Church reveres Pilate as a saint and martyr (June 25th).
Literature. — The art. ' Pilate ' in Hastings' DB contains a verj- full bibliography. A few works only are mentioned here : G. A. Miiller, Pontius Pilatus derfdnfte Prokurator von Judda (Stuttgart, 1888) ; A. Taylor Inn'es, Trial of Jesus Christ : a Legal Monograph (Edinburgh, 1899); G. Rosadi, The Trial of Jesus (London," 1905) ; F. VV. Robertson, Serm. 1st ser. 292 ff.; Expositor, II. viii. [1884] 107, vi. ii. [1900] 59 ; J. B. Lightfoot, Serm. in St. Paul's Cathedral, 91 ; W. B. Carpenter, The Son of Man, 33 ; W. H. Simcox, The Cessation of Prophecy, 287 ; J. H. Moulton, Visions of Sin, 185 ; for the early apocryphal literature, see R. A. Lipsius, Die Pilatus-Akten kritisch untersucht (1871) ; F. C. Conybeare, ' Acta Pilati ' in Stud. Bill, et Eccles. vol. iv. pp. 59-132 (Oxford, 1896) ; E. Hennecke, Neutest. Apokryphen, pp. 74-76 (Tubingen and Leipzig, 1904), and Handbuch z. neu- test. Apokr. p. 143 ff . (Tubingen and Leipzig, 1904).