‘Good heavens,’ the procurator exclaimed, smiling, ‘there’s no more hopeless place on earth. I’m not even speaking of natural conditions — I get sick every time I have to come here - but that’s only half the trouble! ... But these feasts! ... Magicians, sorcerers, wizards, these flocks of pilgrims! ... Fanatics, fanatics! ... Just take this messiah5 they suddenly started expecting this year! Every moment you think you’re about to witness the most unpleasant bloodshed ... The shifting of troops all the time, reading denunciations and calumnies, half of which, moreover, are written against yourself! You must agree, it’s boring. Oh, if it weren’t for the imperial service!’
‘Yes, the feasts are hard here,’ agreed the guest.
‘I wish with all my heart that they should be over soon,’ Pilate added energetically. ‘I will finally have the possibility of going back to Caesarea. Believe me, this delirious construction of Herod’s’ — the procurator waved his arm along the colonnade, to make clear that he was speaking of the palace — ‘positively drives me out of my mind! I cannot spend my nights in it. The world has never known a stranger architecture! ... Well, but let’s get back to business. First of all, this cursed Bar-Rabban — you’re not worried about him?’
And here the guest sent his peculiar glance at the procurator’s cheek. But the latter, frowning squeamishly, gazed into the distance with bored eyes, contemplating the part of the city that lay at his feet and was fading into the twilight. The guest’s eyes also faded, and his eyelids lowered.
‘It may be supposed that Bar has now become as harmless as a lamb,’ the guest began to say, and wrinkles appeared on his round face. ‘It would be awkward for him to rebel now.’
‘Too famous?’ Pilate asked with a smirk.
‘The procurator has subtly understood the problem, as always.’
‘But in any case,’ the procurator observed with concern, and the thin, long finger with the black stone of its ring was raised, ‘there must be...’
‘Oh, the procurator can be certain that as long as I am in Judea, Bar will not take a step without having someone on his heels.’
‘Now I am at peace — as I always am, incidentally, when you are here.’
The procurator is too kind!‘
‘And now I ask you to tell me about the execution,’ said the procurator.
‘What precisely interests the procurator?’
‘Were there any attempts on the part of the crowd to display rebelliousness? That is the main thing, of course.’
‘None,’ replied the guest.
‘Very good. Did you personally establish that death took place?’
The procurator may be certain of it.‘
‘And tell me ... were they given the drink before being hung on the posts?’6
‘Yes. But he,’ here the guest closed his eyes, ‘refused to drink it.’
‘Who, precisely?’ asked Pilate.
‘Forgive me, Hegemon!’ the guest exclaimed. ‘Did I not name him? Ha-Nozri!’
‘Madman!’ said Pilate, grimacing for some reason. A little nerve began to twitch under his left eye. ‘To die of sunburn! Why refuse what is offered by law! In what terms did he refuse it?’
‘He said,’ the guest answered, again closing his eyes, ‘that he was grateful and laid no blame for the taking of his life.’
‘On whom?’ Pilate asked in a hollow voice.
That he did not say, Hegemon ...‘
‘Did he try to preach anything in the soldiers’ presence?’
‘No, Hegemon, he was not loquacious this time. The only thing he said was that among human vices he considered cowardice one of the first.’7
This was said with regard to what?‘ the guest heard a suddenly cracked voice.
That was impossible to understand. He generally behaved himself strangely — as always, however.‘
‘What was this strangeness?’
‘He kept trying to peer into the eyes of one or another of those around him, and kept smiling some sort of lost smile.’
‘Nothing else?’ asked the hoarse voice.
‘Nothing else.’
The procurator knocked against the cup as he poured himself some wine. After draining it to the very bottom, he spoke:
‘The matter consists in the following: though we have been unable — so far at least - to discover any admirers or followers of his, it is none the less impossible to guarantee that there are none.’
The guest listened attentively, inclining his head.
‘And so, to avoid surprises of any sort,’ the procurator continued, ‘I ask you to remove the bodies of all three executed men from the face of the earth, immediately and without any noise, and to bury them in secrecy and silence, so that not another word or whisper is heard of them.’
‘Understood, Hegemon,’ replied the guest, and he got up, saying: ‘In view of the complexity and responsibility of the matter, allow me to go immediately.’
‘No, sit down again,’ said Pilate, stopping his guest with a gesture, ‘there are two more questions. First, your enormous merits in this most difficult job at the post of head of the secret service for the procurator of Judea give me the pleasant opportunity of reporting them to Rome.’
Here the guest’s face turned pink, he rose and bowed to the procurator, saying:
‘I merely fulfil my duty in the imperial service.’
