"I bring him," quickly replied a soldier. "He saith that he is one Simon of Cyrene."
"Let him carry the cross for Jesus of Nazareth," said the officer. "We may not be delayed. Scourge him forward!"
So again the procession moved on toward the place of execution.
Upon the bosom of each of the condemned ones, to be afterward affixed over his head upon his wood of torment, swung a wooden tablet inscribed with his name and with his crime. Of these tablets the first was written in Latin only, and it told of the rebel of the Lebanon. Upon the second was written:
"Ulric, the Saxon Murderer."
Upon the third, a larger tablet, was inscribed, in Latin and in Greek and in Hebrew:
"This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
Of this rather than of the others the rabble shouted mockeries as they read, for here, they said, was a king upon his way to die as a common malefactor, and for him there was no salvation.
Silent was Ulric the Jarl, even when his eyes met those of Caius of Thessalonica, but the centurion drew near to him and said:
"O jarl of the Saxons, I did what I could, but it was beyond my power to rescue thee. Thy sword hath fallen upon too many and thy condemnation is just."