Thy life, should be thus proclaimed to the world: and so they came to Pilate the Governor with their complaints as to the honour needlessly conferred by such a title, saying-: " Write not, the King of the Jews; but that He said: I am the King of the Jews." For they feared that they would be confounded, and that their wicked cruelty in having crucified their King would be laid to their charge; and to prevent this being any longer spread abroad, they asked to have the title changed, so that Jesus might not appear to have been crucified on account of their malice; but that He might rather seem to have been condemned as a pretender to a throne, and because He Who had never in this world exercised any royal authority, had dared to say that He was a King.
O ye Jews, most impious of men, the fact is not as ye would make it out to be; but it is ye yourselves who are guilty of all this, it is ye who are the ringleaders in the killing of the Son of God. Ye are without excuse, try with all the artful cunning that ye may to cover up your grievous crime; for, before Pilate, ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you: and now ye have come to this, that ye would fain get rid of the truth of this title, and make yourselves out to be guiltless. But Pilate, who, in condemning the Lord to death, was much less guilty than yourselves, and in writing the title was more truthful, in his answer to your envious appeal showed himself to be also more consistent; for he said: " What I have written, I have written" It was as if he had said: " Read it, or not, as you please, but do not think to turn me from my purpose: what I have written I have written: I did not take your advice as to the title
