Epistula ad Tiberium
Standard abbreviation: Ep. Pil. Tib.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 585; CANT 68
Category: Pilate Cycle
Related literature: Handing Over of Pontius Pilate (Paradosis Pilati)
Compiled by Stephen E. Hopkins, University of Virginia
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Hopkins, Stephen. “The Epistle of Pilate to Tiberius.” Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/epistle-of-pilate-to-tiberius/.
Created August 2024.
1. TRANSLATION
The text is so brief that it is here presented in full (translation from Elliott, Apocryphal New Testament).
Pontius Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius Caesar greeting.
On Jesus Christ, of whom I told you clearly in my last letter, a cruel punishment has been inflicted by the will of the people. I was unwilling and apprehensive about it. He was a man, by Hercules, so pious and upright no age has ever had nor will ever have. But the efforts of the people themselves, and the unanimity of all the scribes, chiefs, and elders to crucify this ambassador of truth, were remarkable, even though their prophets, like the Sibyls with us, warned against it. Supernatural signs appeared when he was hanging, and in the judgment of philosophers these threatened the destruction of the whole world. His disciples flourish, and in their work and temperate life they do no belie their master, but rather in his name they are most beneficent. Had I not greatly feared an uprising of the people, who were on the point of rebelling, that man would perhaps still be alive for us. Constrained more by fidelity to your dignity than led by my own will, I did not strive to the utmost of my power to prevent the loss and suffering of righteous blood, guiltless of every accusation. It was an injustice due to the malice of men, although, as the scriptures testify, it was to their own destruction.
Farewell. The Fifth of the Kalends of April.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Latin
The edition of Tischendof is based on two earlier editions and two manuscripts assigned the sigla:
Chas. the text printed by Chassanaeus in part 4 of his catalogi gloriae mundi, 1571
Flor. the text printed by Florentinius in Martyrolog. vet. Hieronymi, p. 113 (and reprinted by Fabricius)
Bodl. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. F. 2. 24, p. 343 (1463) ~ Catalog
Ven. Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, class. X. num. CXXXIV (16th cent.)
Additional witnesses:
Venice, Biblioteca del Museo Correr, 1036, fols. 90r–90v (1376–1437) ~ catalog
Fabricius, Johann Albert. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. 2 vols. Hamburg: Schiller, 1703 (Latin text, vol. 1, pp. 300–301).
Giles, J. A. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti: The Uncanonical Gospels and Other Writings. 2 vols. London: D. Nutt, 1852 (republication of Thilo’s Latin text, vol. 2, pp. 464–65).
Gronovius, Abraham. C. Cornelii Taciti Opera quae exstant. Utrecht: Apud Jacobum à Poolsum et Johannem Visch, 1721 (the preface to his edition includes the text of Bodl.).
Thilo, Ioannis Caroli. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. Lipsius: Vogel, 1832 (Latin text, pp. 801–802).
Tischendorf, Constantin von, ed. Evangelia Apocrypha. Leipzig: Mendelssohn, 1853; 2nd ed. 1876 (description of sources, p. lxxvii; Latin text, pp. 433–34).
3.2 Incunables
Hiernoymus. De infantia Salvatoris. Turin: Johannes Fabri Lingonensis, 1476. Copy in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 79. CERL entry.
Rabbi, Samuel. Epistola contra Judaeorum errores. Sant’Orso: Johannes de Reno, 1475. CERL entry.
3.3 Modern Translations
3.3.1 English
Cowper, B. Harris. The Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ. 4th ed. 1867. London: Frederic Norgate, 1874 (translation of Tischendorf’s Latin text, pp. 398–99).
Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993 (pp. 206–208).
James, Montague Rhodes. The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924; corrected edition, 1953 (English translation of Tischendorf’s Latin text, p. 153).
Walker, A. Apocryphal Gospels, Acts and Revelations. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1873. Repr. as vol. 16 of The Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. 24 vols. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867–1883 (translations of Tischendorf’s Latin text, p. 223).
3.3.2 Italian
Craveri, Marcello. I Vangeli Apocrifi. Torino: Giulio Einardi, 1969 (p. 397).
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (vol. 2, p. 130).
Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (vol. 1, p. 739).
3.3.3 Spanish
de Santos Otero, Aurelio. Los Evangelios Apócrifos. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Christianos, 1988 (pp. 472–73).
3.4 General Works
Elliott, J. K.. “Pilate Cycle.” Pages 128–41 in Early New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by J. Christopher Edwards. Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 9. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2022 (pp. 133–34).
Hall, Thomas N. “The Evangelium Nicodemi and Vindicta Salvatoris in Anglo-Saxon England.” Pages 36–81 in Two Old English Apocrypha and their Manuscript Source. Edited by James E. Cross. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 (p. 51).
Winter, Paul. “A Letter from Pontius Pilate.” NovT 7 (1964): 37–43.