CHAR A CTERISA TION IN THE PA SSION-PLA Y 36 1 



demned. To appease the Jews he orders the crucifixion, 

 but at the same time he very formally washes his hands 

 on the stage and strongly expresses his private views 

 as to the innocence of the prisoner. Sometimes we find 

 an element of realistic indifferentism ; it is not his 

 business to set watchers at the grave, but he will give 

 his consent provided the Jews pay for the soldiers ; as 

 for the resurrection well, the priests must themselves 

 make the best they can of the disappearance of the 

 body it does not concern Pilate. The character is, 

 however, rarely worked out with any consistency, not 

 to say skill. Pilate will in the same play on one 

 occasion term Jesus a swindler, and on another testify 

 to his innocence. 1 



Lastly, we may, passing by the characters of the 

 chief disciples, whose parts are slight, refer to Mary 

 Magdalen, concerning whom the gospels left free scope 

 for the mass of legend which soon gathered round this 

 most poetic figure among mediaeval favourites. Mary, 

 according to legend, was the sister of Martha and 

 Lazarus of Bethany. One version makes the family of 

 noble, even royal birth ; besides property in Jerusalem, 

 they owned two castles, one at Bethany and the other 

 at Magdala. When the children came of age Lazarus 

 took the property in the city, desiring to be a soldier, 

 while of the two castles Bethany fell to Martha and 

 Magdala to Mary. Lazarus and Martha were prosperous 



1 See A, pp. 114 et seq. ; I, pp. 129 el seq. ; B, vol. i. p. 109, and vol. ii. pp. 301 

 et seq. ; F, pp. 191 et seq. For the character and motives of Pilate, compare La 

 Resurrection du Sauveur, Jubinal, Paris, 1834: "Jol' consenti par veisdie, Que 

 ne perdisse ma baillie " ; and Townley Mysteries, p. 203 : "I am fulle of sotelty, 

 falsehood, gylt, and trechery. " 



