*About the sixth hour.* A very great difficulty arises from a comparison of this account with that of St. Mark. For St. Mark says: “And it was the _third_ hour, and they crucified Him.... And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour” (Mark xv. 25, 33). Thus, while St. John represents our Lord as _condemned_ about the _sixth_ hour, St. Mark represents Him as already _crucified_ at the _third_ hour. How, it is asked, could He be crucified at the _third_ hour, if He was not condemned till the _sixth_? Many solutions of this difficulty have been proposed, but some of them are so improbable, that we will not delay upon them. When, for instance, St. Augustine says that St. Mark, in stating that the Jews crucified Jesus at the third hour, means that at that time they crucified Him with their _tongues_ by calling for His crucifixion, it is plain from the whole context of St. Mark that such a view cannot be admitted; because he evidently speaks of the real nailing of Jesus to the cross. Thus he says: “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the inscription of his cause was written over, _The King of the Jews_. And with him they crucify two thieves, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.... And they that passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying: ... save thyself, coming down from the cross” (Mark xv. 25‐30). But, setting aside the less probable methods of reconciliation, we must notice four which have found favour with commentators. (1) Maldonatus and many of the older commentators hold that besides the division of the Jewish day into twelve hours, there was also another division into four periods, corresponding to the four watches of the night.(124) Thus, at the Pasch, which occurred about the time of the vernal equinox, these four periods, or “hours,” would be respectively—(_a_) from 6 to 9 a.m.; (_b_) from 9 a.m. to noon; (_c_) from noon to 3 p.m.; and (_d_) from 3 to 6 p.m. According to Mald., these periods were called respectively, the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth “hour.” He curiously supposes, however, that sometimes any one of these “hours” or periods was referred to either by the name of the hour with which it began, or by the name of that with which it closed. Hence the period between 9 a.m. and noon, or, to speak more correctly, a time within that period—about 11.30 a.m.—is referred to by St. Mark as the _third_ hour; while a time within the same period, but about an hour earlier is referred to by St. John as the sixth hour. This view is now generally abandoned, and not without reason. For, in the first place, there are no solid grounds for believing that the fourfold division of the Jewish day here supposed, ever existed. In the second place, even if it had existed, we should require a great deal of proof, indeed, before we could believe that the “hours” were numbered in so strange and confusing a fashion.