CHAPTER VIII.

_THE CRUCIFIXION._ A.D. 30.

THUS the Holy One was formally delivered into the hands of the soldiers[563], who instantly made their preparations for His crucifixion. The place of execution was a spot of slightly rising ground without the gates of the city, called, probably from the shape of its rounded summit[564], Golgotha[565], _the place of a skull_ (Mtt. xxvii. 33; Jn. xix. 17). Thither, therefore, after stripping Him of the purple robe, and putting on Him His own garments (Mtt. xxvii. 31; Mk. xv. 20), the soldiers led Him forth bearing[566], as was customary, the Cross on which He was to suffer (Jn. xix. 17), attended by a centurion[567], and two malefactors who were to be crucified with Him[568] (Lk. xxiii. 32).

As they proceeded from the city, the Redeemer, exhausted by the grievous sufferings He had already undergone, sank under the heavy weight of the Cross, and the soldiers meeting one Simon[569] of Cyrene in Northern Africa, coming from the country[570], laid hold upon him, and compelled[571] him to assist in bearing it (Mtt. xxvii. 32; Mk. xv. 21; Lk. xxiii. 26). And so the mournful procession was resumed, followed by a great multitude, amongst which many women began to utter loud laments at the sad spectacle. Turning to these _daughters of Jerusalem_ the exalted Sufferer with superhuman composure bade them _weep not for Him, but for themselves_; for nameless sorrows awaited them, days when they would _bless the wombs which had never borne_, and _the paps that had never given suck_, when they would _cry to the mountains to fall upon them, and to the hills to cover them_[572] (Lk. xxiii. 28–31).

On reaching the appointed place, the hole for the Cross was dug in the ground, and the customary stupefying potion[573] of wine mingled with myrrh was offered to the Holy One. He touched it with his lips (Mtt.