Secondly, They caused them to bear their own Cross,[600] Malefici cùm ad supplicium educuntur, quisq; suum effert crucem. Thus Christ bore his own Cross, John 19. 17. To this there is allusion, He that taketh not his Cross, and followeth after me, he is not worthy of me, Mat. 10. 38.
[600] Plutarch. de sera num. vind.
Thirdly,[601] That the equity of the proceeding might clearly appear, the cause of the punishment was written in a table, and so carried before the condemned person; or else it was proclamed by a publick Cryer. This cause was termed by the Romans commonly Titulus, by some[602] it is called Elegium. Thus Pilate wrote in Hebrew, Greek, and Latine, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
[601] Euseb. Eccl. hist. lib. 5. cap. 1. It. Suet. Domit. cap. 10.
[602] Tertul. Apol. cap. 2. Sueton. in Calig.
Fourthly,[603] They pluckt off their cloaths from such as were to be crucified. Thus Christ suffered naked.
[603] Artemidor. l. 2. c. 58.
Serra dissectio, A sawing one in sunder. They sawed them from the head downward. The Romans[604] they used this kind of punishment, so likewise did the Hebrews. Thus Manasses is thought to have punisht the Prophet Isaiah, and the Apostle to have alluded unto it, They were sawn a-sunder, Heb. 11. 37.
[604] Sueton. in Calig. cap. 27.