With him into the East 1'iso. the prefect of Sj ria. look
his wife also along w'nh him at the same time (Tacit. Ami'il. ii. 54, 55). •• But," says Lardner i i. 162), "noth- ing can render tins (the practice in question) more ap- parent than a motion made in the Roman senate by Severus Csesina, in the fourth consulship of Tiberius, and second of Drusus Csesar | \.l>. 21 i, thai no magis- trate to whom any province was assigned should l.e ac- companied by his wife, except the senate's rejecting it. and thai with some indignation" (Tacit. Annul, iii. 88,
84). The facl ineniioin.il incidentally, or rather im- plied, in Matthew, being thus confirmed by full and un- questionable evidence, cannol fail to Berve as a corrob- oration of the evangelical history. (Comp. Paulus, iii, 723 ; Kuinol, Tn loc. Mat. ; Gotter, Z)< Conju- gis PHaii t, 1704 ; KJuge, I ■
l'H. Hal. 1720; Herbart, mU Uxaris Pil.
Oldenb. 1735.)
IV. Hit Character,— -The character of Pilate may be sufficiently inferred from the sketch given above ol bis conduct at our Lord's trial. By some he has been de- picted as ■ of the worst of tyrants: by other-, who
have passed to the opposite extreme, hi- faults have keen unduly palliated or denied. Terlullian speaks of him as virtually a Christian at heart ("jam pro sua conscientiat Ihristianura," I pol.c 21 |; and the Ethiopian Church has eve ade him a saint. We have no rea- son to suppose that, so far as bis g< m ral administration went, it differed greatly from that of the other Roman governors of Judsea. He was a type of the rich and corrupt Romans of his age; a worldly-minded states- man, conscious of no higher wants than those of this life, yet by no means unmoved by feelings ol justice and mercy. His conduct to the dews, in the instances quoted from Josephus, though severe, was not thought- lessly cruel or tyrannical, considering the general prae- tice of Roman governors, and the difficulties of dealing
w ilh a nation so arrogant and perverse. ( Yrtaiuh there is nothing in the facts recorded by profane authors in- consistent with his de-irc. ob\ ion- from the Gospel nar- rative, to save our Lord. But all his hotter feelings were overpowered by a selfish regard for his own secu- rity. He would not encounter the least hazard of per- sonal annoyance in behalf of innocence and justice: the unrighteous condemnation of a good man was a trifle in comparison with the Car of the emperor's frown and the loss of place and power. While we do not ditTer from Chrysostom's opinion that he was ■ucifu'ivofioq (Chrysost i. 802, Adv. Judceos, vi I, or that recorded in the Apostolical Constitutions (v, 14), that he was avav- Spog, we yet see abundant reason for our Lord's merci- ful judgment, •'lie that delivered mo unto thee haih the greater sin." At the same time his history furnishes a proof that worldlincss and want of principle art sources of crimes no less awful than those which spring from deliberate anil reckless wickedness. The unhappy no- toriety given to his name by its place in the two uni- versal creeds of Christendom is due. not to any desire
Of singling him out tor shame, hut to the need of fixing the dale of our Lord's death, and so bearing witness to the claims of Christianity as resting on a historical basis (August /'• /■'/•/< et Symb. c. v, vol. vi, p. 156; Pearson, On Ii,, Creed, p. 239, 240, ed. Hurt, and the authorities quoted in not,- c).
That the conduct of Pilate was highly criminal can- not he denied. But his guilt was light in comparison with the atrocious depravity of the dews, especially the
priests. His was the guilt id' weakness and fear, theirs
the guilt of settled and deliberate malice. Hi- state of mind prompted him to attempt the release of an ac- cused person in opposition to the clamors of a misguided mob; theirs urged them to compass the ruin of an ac- quitted per-. hi by instigating the populace, calumniat- ing tin' prisoner, and terrifying the judge. It Pilate yielded against his judgment under the fear of personal danger, and so took part in an act of unparalleled injus- tice, the pricsis and their ready tools originated the false accusation, sustained it by Bnbornation of perjury, ami when it was declared invalid enforced their own unfounded sent, nee i,\ appealing to the lowest passions. Pilate, it is (dear, was utterly destitute of principle. He was willing, indeed, to do right, if he could do right without personal disadvantage. < If gratuitous wicked- ness he w a- perhaps incapahle. certainly in the condem- nation of JeSUS he ha- I he merit of being lor a time I'll
the side ot innocence. But he \ ielded to \ toll nee. and -o committed an awful crime. In his hands was the life of the prisoner. Convinced of his innocence, he ought to have Bel him at liberty, thus doing right re. gardless ol consequences. Bul this is an act of high virtue which we hardly require at the hands of a Roman governor of Judsea; and though Pilate must bear the reproach of acting contrary to ids own declared convic- tions, yel he may equally claim some credit for the ap- parently sincere efforts which he made in order to de-