Ecce Homo (Notes)

Saint John - Chapter 19

Ecce Homo. J-J Tissot

[4] Exivit ergo iterum Pilatus foras, et dicit eis : Ecce adduco vobis eum foras, ut cognoscatis quia nullam invenio in eo causam.
Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith to them: Behold, I bring him forth unto you, that you may know that I find no cause in him.

[5] ( Exivit ergo Jesus portans coronam spineam, et purpureum vestimentum.) Et dicit eis : Ecce homo.
(Jesus therefore came forth, bearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment.) And he saith to them: Behold the Man.

[6] Cum ergo vidissent eum pontifices et ministri, clamabant, dicentes : Crucifige, crucifige eum. Dicit eis Pilatus : Accipite eum vos, et crucifigite : ego enim non invenio in eo causam.
When the chief priests, therefore, and the servants, had seen him, they cried out, saying: Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith to them: Take him you, and crucify him: for I find no cause in him.

[7] Responderunt ei Judaei : Nos legem habemus, et secundum legem debet mori, quia Filium Dei se fecit.
The Jews answered him: We have a law; and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

Saint Matthew - Chapter 27

[28] et exeuntes eum, chlamydem coccineam circumdederunt ei,
And stripping him, they put a scarlet cloak about him.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

After the agony of the scourging and the mocking ceremony of the crowning with thorns, Jesus was again taken before Pilate.  The latter, who had once more taken his place in the loggia of the Court of Justice, seeing the lamentable condition to which the Prisoner was reduced, thought it would be enough to show Him thus attired and bleeding, to excite the pity of the spectators and to appease the hatred of His enemies.  He led Him, therefore, to the front of the Judgment Hall and presented Him to the people with the words: Ecce homo!  Behold the man!

In our picture we have endeavoured to depict as nearly as possible the exact spot from which Pilate addressed the people.  We can tell what was the approximate height of the storey in which the Praetorium and the adjoining loggia were situated, from that of the Scala Sancta of 28 steps which led up to them and which was taken to Rome by Saint Helena.  What is now called the Ecce Homo Arch is too far from the Praetorium to have been the spot from which Jesus was pointed out to the people by Pilate; but the stones of which the arch is composed were probably silent witnesses of the scene, the arch being near enough for that.  The restricted space in which the crowd is shown represents the street leading to the Sheep-Gate and the Sheep-Pool, and the steps leading up to the Praetorium are kept clear of the populace by the body-guard of the Roman Garrison, while the entrance to the Forum the other side is shut in by the tribunal called Gabatha.  Between these two points the angry populace is closely packed, yelling and howling, their hatred ever on the increase; the farther off the brawlers are, the louder do they shout; they brandish their arms and their fingers twitch as if eager to seize their enemy.  Jesus, His hands bound, yet holding in them His reed sceptre, looks down upon the Gehenna into which He is doomed to descend again ere long, standing there motionless and calm in spite of the pain He must be suffering from His many Wounds.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam