inscription; and not to put King of the Jews, but that he said, I am
the King of the Jews.

Pilate was vexed, and answered impatiently, 'What I have written I
have written!' They were likewise anxious that the cross of our Lord
should not be higher than those of the two thieves, but it was
necessary for it to be so, because there would otherwise not have been
sufficient place for Pilate's inscription; they therefore endeavoured to
persuade him not to have this obnoxious inscription put up at all. But
Pilate was determined, and their words made no impression upon him; the
cross was therefore obliged to be lengthened by a fresh bit of wood.
Consequently the form of the cross was peculiar--the two arms stood out
like the branches of a tree growing from the stem, and the shape was
very like that of the letter Y, with the lower part lengthened so as to
rise between the arms, which had been put on separately, and were
thinner than the body of the cross. A piece of wood was likewise nailed
at the bottom of the cross for the feet to rest upon.

During the time that Pilate was pronouncing the iniquitous sentence,
I saw his wife, Claudia Procles, send him back the pledge which he had
given her, and in the evening she left his palace and joined the
friends of our Lord, who concealed her in a subterraneous vault in the
house of Lazarus at Jerusalem. Later in the same day, I likewise saw a
friend of our Lord engrave the words, Judex injustus, and the name of
Claudia Procles, on a greenlooking stone, which was behind the terrace
called Gabbatha--this stone is still to be found in the foundations of a
church or house at Jerusalem, which stands on the spot formerly called
Gabbatha. Claudia Procles became a Christian, followed St. Paul, and
became his particular friend.