'Eh! my friends, of what do you complain?' inquired another: 'Pontius Pilate gives us more than we ask of him; we only wanted the death of the Nazarene, and he will be chastised before he is put to death. Glory to the generous Pontius Pilate.'
'Yes, yes! for he must certainly condemn him; we will force him to do it.'
'Ah! here's the executioner!' cried several voices: 'here's the executioner and his assistant.'
Genevieve recognized the same two men, who, three days before, had flogged her with a whip at the house of her master; she could not restrain her tears at the thought that this youth, who was all love and tenderness, was about to suffer an ignominous punishment reserved for slaves. The two executioners carried under their arm a package of hazel twigs, long, flexible, and as thick as a thumb. Each of the executioners took one, and on a sign from Caiphus, the blows began to fall violently and rapidly on the shoulders of the young man of Nazareth. When one twig broke, the executioners took another. At first Genevieve turned away her eyes from this cruel spectacle; but she was forced to hear the savage jests of the crowd, which, to the son of Mary, must have been a more horrible torture than the punishment itself. 'You who said, "Love one another," you cursed Nazarene!' cried one; 'see now how you are loved!'
'You who said, "Share your bread and your cloak with him who has neither bread nor cloak," the worthy executioners follow their precepts; they share paternally their rods to break them across your back.'
'You who said, "That it was more easy for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven," don't you think it will be easier for you to pass through the eye of a needle than to escape the rod with which they warm your back?'
'You who glorified vagabonds, thieves, prostitutes, and such like game; no doubt you loved the wretches, because you knew you should one day be flogged like them, great prophet!'
Genevieve, despite her repugnance to see the punishment of Jesus, not hearing him utter a cry of complaint, feared that he had swooned from the pain, and looked at him with eyes full of anguish! Alas! to her it was a horrible spectacle.
The back of the young man was one large bleeding wound, interrupted simply by some blue and swollen furrows; at these places only the skin had not been broken. Jesus turned his face to heaven, and closed his eyes, to escape, no doubt, the sight of this implacable crowd. His face, livid and bathed in sweat, betrayed a horrible suffering at each fresh stroke cutting into his living flesh. And yet, at times, he still attempted to smile with angelic resignation. The high priest, the doctors of the law, the senators, and all the wicked pharisees, followed with a triumphant and greedy regard the execution of the punishment.
Amongst the most rancorous in feasting on this torture, Genevieve remarked Doctor Baruch, Caiphus, and Jonas, the banker.