'See if one of them has simply dared rebel to defend this Nazarene, by whose name they were always swearing, he whom they called their friend!'
'Let them finish with the brawler! Let him be crucified, and we shall hear no more of him!'
'Yes, yes, death to the Nazarene!' cried the people, amongst whom was Genevieve. And this assemblage still increasing, repeated, with greater fury, those fatal cries:
'Death to the Nazarene!'
'Alas!' said the slave to herself, 'is there a more horrible fate than that of this young man; abandoned by the poor, whom he befriended; hated by the rich, to whom he preached humility and charity! How deep must be the bitterness of his heart!'
The soldiers, followed by the crowd, had arrived opposite the house of Pilate.
Several high priests, doctors of law, senators, and other pharisees, among whom were Caiphus, Doctor Baruch, and the banker Jonas, had joined the troop and walked at its head. One of these pharisees having cried:
'Seigneurs, let us enter Pontius Pilate's that he may instantly condemn the cursed Nazarene to death!'
Caiphus replied with a pious air:
'My seigneurs, we cannot enter the house of a heathen: this stain would prevent our eating the passover to-day.'