And I asked Him again: “Have you not said that you are the King of the Jews?”
And He looked upon me.
Then He answered with a quiet voice:
“You yourself proclaimed me king. Perhaps to this end I was born, and for this cause came to bear witness unto truth.”
Behold a man speaking of truth at such a moment.
In my impatience I said aloud, to myself as much as to Him:
“What is truth? And what is truth to the guiltless when the hand of the executioner is already upon him?”
Then Jesus said with power: “None shall rule the world save with the Spirit and truth.”
And I asked Him saying:
“Are you of the Spirit?”
He answered: “So are you also, though you know it not.”
And what was the Spirit and what was truth, when I, for the sake of the State, and they from jealousy for their ancient rites, delivered an innocent man unto His death?
No man, no race, no empire would halt before a truth on its way towards self-fulfilment.
And I said again: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
And He answered: