In the other two,
there is, round this possible and probable nucleus, a mass of
accretions of the most questionable character.
The cruelty of death by crucifixion depended very much upon its
lingering character. If there were a support for the weight of the
body, as not unfrequently was the practice, the pain during the first
hours of the infliction was not, necessarily, extreme; nor need any
serious physical symptoms, at once, arise from the wounds made by the
nails in the hands and feet, supposing they were nailed, which was not
invariably the case. When exhaustion set in, and hunger, thirst, and
nervous irritation had done their work, the agony of the sufferer must
have been terrible; and the more terrible that, in the absence of any
effectual disturbance of the machinery of physical life, it might be
prolonged for many hours, or even days. Temperate, strong men, such as
were the ordinary Galilean peasants, might live for several days on
the cross. It is necessary to bear these facts in mind when we read
the account contained in the fifteenth chapter of the second gospel.
Jesus was crucified at the third hour (xv. 25), and the narrative
seems to imply that he died immediately after the ninth hour (_v_.
34). In this case, he would have been crucified only six hours; and
the time spent on the cross cannot have been much longer, because
Joseph of Arimathaea must have gone to Pilate, made his preparations,
and deposited the body in the rock-cut tomb before sunset, which, at
that time of the year, was about the twelfth hour.
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