In spite of the fact that he condemned Jesus to death, the Gospels
present us a more favourable portrait of Pontius Pilate than that which
we derive from secular historians. Josephus relates incidents that
reveal him as the most insolent and provoking of governors. For
instance, the Jewish historian ascribes to him a gratuitous insult, the
story of which shows its perpetrator to have been as weak as he was
offensive. It was customary for Roman armies to carry an image of the
emperor on their standards; but previous governors of Judaea had
relaxed this rule when entering Jerusalem, in deference to the strong
objection of the Jews to admit "the likeness of anything."
Nevertheless Pilate ordered the usual images to be introduced at night.
When they were discovered, the citizens protested vehemently. Pilate
had the crowd that he had admitted to his presence surrounded with
soldiers, and threatened them with instant death. But they threw
themselves on the ground, protesting that they would submit to this
fate rather than that the wisdom of their laws should be transgressed.
The governor had not reckoned on this. He was only "bluffing," and now
he had to climb down, and the images were removed. On another
occasion, described by the same historian, Pilate had seized the sacred
money at the Temple and employed it in building an aqueduct, a piece of
utilitarian profanity which enraged the Jews to such an extent that a
vast crowd gathered, clamouring against Pilate and insisting on the
stoppage of the works. Then the governor sent soldiers among the
people, disguised in the garb of civilians, who at a given signal drew
their clubs and attacked them more savagely than Pilate had intended,
killing and wounding a great number. Although Josephus does not
mention the incident recorded by St Luke (xiii. 1), in which Pilate
mingled the blood of some Galilean pilgrims with their sacrifices, this
is entirely in accordance with his brutality of conduct in the events