Then said Manasses to Jesus, "Why should you not display your wisdom here? Why should your power vanish before the eyes of the king, even as a soap bubble?" Then said Herod scornfully, "There is nothing remarkable about him. He is a conceited fellow whom the applause of the people hath made crazy. Let him go. It is not worth while making so much trouble on his account." "O, King," said Caiaphas, "do not trust this sly and crafty rogue. Indeed, he only makes himself out to be a fool in order to obtain a milder sentence from thee." Annas said, "If he be put away, then would the peace of the kingdom also stand in danger, for he has presumed to exalt himself to be king." "What!" said Herod, "to be a king! To be a king of fools, that is more credible. As such he deserves to receive homage, therefore will I give him as a present a king's mantle, and do formally install him as the king of all fools." Then cried the priests aloud, "Not this; he has deserved death." Caiaphas said, "O, King, protector of our holy law, remember thy duty to punish the transgressor as the law ordains." Then said Herod, "What have you really against him?" "He hath profaned the Sabbath," said the rabbi. Nathanael added, "He is a blasphemer." And all the priests cried, "And as such the law declares him worthy of death." Then said Ezekiel, "He has also spoken contemptuously of the Temple, which thy father so gloriously rebuilt; he has declared that he would rebuild a more beautiful one in three days." Then Herod laughed and said, "Now that proves indeed that he is a king of fools." Then said Jonas, "He has also spoken insultingly of thee. He has presumed to call thee, his lord and king, a fox." "Then he has attributed to me a quality which he cannot certainly claim himself," replied Herod. "Clothe him--wrapped in this splendid robe he will play his part well before the people." Then came in a servant bringing a white robe, which he put on the shoulders of Jesus, and after Jesus had been robed, Zabulon said to him, "Now for the first time thou wilt create a real sensation, thou great wonder-worker." The priests cried, "He must die!" Herod said, "No, I will not be guilty of the blood of so exalted a king; rather lead him forth before the people in this his proper apparel, that they may admire him to their heart's content." Then said the first soldier to Jesus, "Come, thou miraculous king, and allow us to accompany thee!" The second soldier said, "What good luck for me to walk by the side of so illustrious a lord!" And so saying, they led away Jesus, wearing the white robe which Herod had put on him. Then said Caiaphas, "Thou hast convinced thyself that his alleged great works were nothing but lies and deceit, whereby the people were defrauded by him. Give, then, thy sentence!" And all the priests cried, "Pronounce the sentence of death upon him, as the law demands!"