for bitterness could I look again before be was nailed fast. On rising, I beheld my Son hanging miserably, and I, his most wretched mother, filled with terror on all sides, could scarcely stand for grief. But my Son, seeing me and his friends weeping disconsolately, in a loud and tearful voice cried out to his Father, saying: “ Father, why hast thou forsaken me ?” Then his eyes appeared half dead, his cheeks hollow, and his countenance mournful, his mouth open and his tongue bloodstained, his body collapsed as though he had nothing within, the humors being all drained; his whole body, pale and languid from the loss and flow of blood. His hands and feet were stretched out most rigidly, drawn and shaped to the form of the cross, his beard and hair all clotted with blood. Now when my Son was thus torn and livid, his heart alone was vigorous, it being naturally very good and strong; for at his birth he assumed a most pure body of my flesh, and an excellent constitution. His skin was so tender and fair, that it could not be slightly struck without blood issuing at once. His blood was so fresh, that it could be seen in his clear skin; and as he was of an excellent temperament, life struggled with death in his pierced body. For sometimes
