But Mary said, "What may this noise signify? Surely it does not concern my son."
As the noise waxed ever louder, Joseph said, "It seems as if an insurrection had broken out."
Then said John, "We had better stop here till the storm passes over."
While they stood waiting and wondering Simon of Cyrene came hastily into the street that lay between those of Pilate and Annas. He carried a basket, and looking anxiously around him, said, "I must hasten in order to get into the city. The eve of the feast is coming, and I have only a short time left in which to make my purchases and get everything ready, so that I may get home in time." Hardly had he said this than he heard the sound of a great outcry, and amidst which he could only distinguish the words, "Let him not rest! Urge him on with blows!"
Said Simon, "I hear a tumult—an outcry of a crowd—what has happened in the city? I will keep quiet a little—perhaps my ears have deceived me." Jesus had fallen faint and had staggered against the house of Ahasverus and was there endeavoring to support himself.
The third executioner said to him roughly, "It is no use thy fainting. Thou must keep on to Golgotha."
Then Ahasverus came out of his house and said, "Be off from my house; here is no place for resting." Simon, who was listening without being able to see the cause of the commotion, said, "The noise waxes louder. I must hasten to see what it is. What comes there? Ah, I cannot get in here. I will wait and see what happens."
Then, as the procession turned the corner of Annas' street, Joseph of Arimathea, listening, said, "I think the crowd is coming out of the city gates," and John, seeing the cross said, "It appears that someone is being led out to Golgotha for execution."
Mary, the mother of Jesus, saw him and cried out with a piercing wail, "It is he. Oh God! it is my son."
Jesus meanwhile staggered under the cross, but was forced forward by the executioners grumbling as they did so, "He will drop on the road."