The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-11-20
TO THE EMPEROR TlBERlUs
1t Was Recently Discovered In the
Vatican Library.
IS A SPURIOUS DOCUMENT
1t Is Considered Apocryphal by
Competent Critics.

An item Of news which has attracted
wide attention came over the cable
last week from that venerable store
house of the past-the Vatican Lii
brary. 1t told us that document of
the I'd century, the letter of Ponttus
PLATE to the Emperor Tiberius on the
crucitixion of Christ, had been recently
discovered, and at once OUR "instan-
taneous' scholars who are loaded" for
every emergency, began to speculate
In the press on its singularity and its
Importance. Of course a proven "doc-
ument" of the I'd century is rare enough
to be worth kings ransom and a gen.
uine letter from the procurator of Ju-
dea In the year "a A. D., to the Emperor
OF Rome, about the tragedy of Cavalry,
would be simply priceless, says writer
In the Providence Visitor.
1t is the hour of the ''fake," and one
listens wearily to all the "discoveries"
Which our papers proclaim. But On
the other hand there is no doubt that
never before were investigators so
richly rewarded for their labors and
never was the field of investigation so
wide as today. Perhaps this cable
gram refers to some important find"
Important less for it's sensational
value than as establishing some for
mer conclusion or unconfirmed guess of
the practiced historian. At least the
early apocryphal literature of Christian
1ty is full of the name of PLATE. and
contains many spurious works either
attributed to him or concerned with his
part in the story of the crucihxion.
No judges name in all history has
attained the fame of Pilates. For near
1y two thousand years it has been held
IN execration as the name of the mag
1strate who condemned Our Lord to
death. 1t has found place in every
creed, and been uttered in prayer by
millions of the faithful who proclaim
their belief in Christ. No Emperor of
the olden time, no parsonage of any
time, and none who wrought so poorly.
has ever come to the prominence t,f
Pontius Plate.
He was Romantic pr0curator of
Judea under the Emperor Tiberius. He
held his post for a long time-ten years.
Ihe Emperor Tiberius used to say that
officials, like gad flies, were better the
longer they stayed in power, since they
usually gorged themselves at the be-
ginning and were content with less af
terwards. He was under Vitellius, the
prefect of Syria, who resided at An
tioch.
Judea was hard province to rule.
and the Romans never ruled by SYM
pathy. A Roman procurator was q
good deal worse than an English official
Oh the company in the worst days of
East Indian rule. When a rising took
place the Weyler, whom the newspa-
pers have made us imagine a brutal.
Dloody tyrant, was meekness itself COM
pared to him. It was country seeth
Ing with rebellion. The genius of Ro-
man government was peace-pax Ro-
mana-though sometimes it was the
peace of wasted, ruined land.
Plate understood the Jews no more
and despised them no less than the
proudest and most aggressive of his
race. He felt the need Of Tightening
the reins CT government, and there
fore determined to move the seat of
power from Cesarea, the gentle city
on the coast to the inland sanctuary Of
Jerusalem. When he attempted to
plant the Emperor's standard in tie
sight OF the men who regarded it a
sacrilege to harbor craven thing with
IN their gates, there was riot. and
though he had no objection to killing
lew hundred, he dared not massacre
thousands and so he had to yield,
Herod Antipas, the native ruler Of
Gal1lee, was no friend of his, and
though they buried their jealousies and
hatreds on Good Friday, they soon re-
sumed their attitude of mutual suspfc-
Ion and distrust. Plate was always
outraging the feelings of the Jews. seiz-
Ing their poor box money for the COM
pletton OF an aqueduct and in a thous-
and other ways showing his contempt
Tor their religion. On the great feasts
crowds came from the whole country to
Jerusalem. There was danger of re.
beillon In the concourse. The procura-
tor always stuck to the post of danger
these times, and resided on these oc-
casions not at Cesarea but in Jerusalem.
When, therefore, Our Lord was taken
by the servants of the priests they
tried Him first before their own council.
headed by the high priest. This biased