THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS,
FORMERLY CALLED THE ACTS OF PONTIUS PILATE.
CHAP. I.
ANNAS and Caiphas, and Summas, and Datam, Gamaliel, Judas, Levi, Nepthalim, Alexander, Cyrus, and other Jews, went to Pilate about Jesus, accusing him with many bad crimes.
2 And said, We are assured that Jesus is the son of Joseph, the carpenter,[1] and born of Mary, and that he declares himself the Son of God, and a king;[2] and not only so, but attempts the dissolution of the Sabbath,[3] and the laws of our fathers.
3 Pilate replied, What is it which he declares? and what is it which he attempts dissolving?
4 The Jews told him, We have a law which forbids doing cures on the Sabbath day;[4] but he cures both the lame and the deaf, those afflicted with the palsy, the blind, the lepers, and demoniacs, on that day, by wicked methods.
5 Pilate replied, How can he do this by wicked methods? They answered He is a conjurer, and casts out devils by the prince of the devils;[5] and so all things, become subject to him.
6 Then said Pilate, Casting out devils seems not to be the work of an unclean spirit, but to proceed from the power of God.
7 The Jews replied to Pilate, We entreat your highness to summon him to appear before your tribunal, and hear him yourself.
8 Then Pilate called a messenger, and said to him, By what means will Christ be brought hither?
9 Then went the messenger forth, and knowing Christ, worshipped him; and having spread the cloak which he had in his hand upon the ground, he said, Lord, walk upon this, and go in, for the governor calls thee.
10 When the Jews perceived what the messenger had done, they exclaimed (against him) to Pilate, and said, Why did you not give him his summons by a beadle, and not by a messenger?—For the messenger, when he saw him, worshipped him, and spread the cloak which he had in his hand upon the ground before him, and said to him, Lord, the governor calls thee.
11 Then Pilate called the messenger, and said, Why hast thou done thus?
12 The messenger replied, When thou sentest me from Jerusalem to Alexander, I saw Jesus sitting in a mean figure upon a she-ass, and the children of the Hebrews cried out, Hosannah, holding boughs of trees in their hands.
13 Others spread their garments in the way, and said, Save us, thou who art in heaven; blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord.[6]
14 Then the Jews cried out, against the messenger, and said, The children of the Hebrews made their acclamations in the Hebrew language; and how couldst thou, who art a Greek, understand the Hebrew?
15 The messenger answered them and said, I asked one of the
