Pilate, governor of Jerusalem, greets the tetrarch Herod.
I did nothing good at your instigation on the day the Jews presented Jesus, who is called Christ. For just as he was crucified, so he rose again from the dead on the third day, as some have just told me, including the centurion. I myself have decided to send an expedition to Galilee, and they testify that they have seen him in his own body and with the same appearance. And he has even been seen by more than five hundred people, with the same voice and identical teachings. These individuals have gone around giving testimony to this; and, far from wavering, they have preached his resurrection as an extraordinary phenomenon and have announced an eternal kingdom, so much so that heaven and earth seemed to rejoice at his holy teachings [of Jesus].
And you must know that Procla, my wife, believing the apparitions she had of him when I was about to have him crucified at your instigation, left me alone and went away with ten soldiers and Longinus, the faithful centurion, to behold his countenance, as if it were a great spectacle. And they saw him sitting in a cultivated field, surrounded by a great crowd, and illustrating the magnificences of the Father; so that they were all beside themselves and filled with admiration, wondering whether he who had suffered the torment of crucifixion had been raised from the dead.
And while they were all watching him with great attention, he saw them and addressed them in these words: “Do you still not believe me, Procla and Longinus? Are you not the one who stood guard during my passion and watched over my tomb? And you, wife, are you not the one who sent a letter to your husband about me? […] the testament of God which the Father has ordained. I, therefore, who was raised up and suffered many things, will give life through my death, which is so clearly known to you, all flesh that has perished. Now therefore, know that not everyone who has believed in God the Father and in me will perish, because I have put an end to the pains of death and pierced the many-headed dragon. And at my coming, each one will rise again with the same body and soul that he now has and will bless my Father, the Father of him who was crucified under Pontius Pilate.”
When they heard him say these things, both my wife Procla, and the centurion who was in charge of Jesus’ execution, and the soldiers who had gone with him, began to weep, filled with grief, and came to me to tell me these things. I, in turn, after hearing them, told them to my high commissioners and fellow soldiers. They, filled with grief and pondering the evil they had done to Jesus, wept during the day. And I, sharing my wife’s grief, am fasting and sleeping on the ground. […] And then the Lord came and raised my wife and me from the earth. I then fixed my eyes on him and saw that his body still had the bruises. And he laid his hands on my shoulders, saying: "Blessed will all generations and peoples call you, for in your lifetime the Son of Man died and rose again, and now he is going to ascend to heaven and sit on the highest throne. And all the tribes of the earth will realize that I am the one who will judge the living and the dead on the last day.
Herod, tetrarch of the Galileans, greets the governor of the Jews, Pontius Pilate.
I am plunged into no small affliction, according to the scriptures, for the things I am about to relate to you, just as I think you in your turn will be afflicted when you read them. For you must know that my daughter Herodiades, whom I ardently loved, is dead because she was playing by the water as it overflowed the banks of the river. Indeed, the water suddenly covered her up to her neck; her mother then took hold of her head to prevent it from being carried away by the current, but it broke away from the body and was all that my wife could pick up, for the rest of the body was swept away by the current. The woman now presses her head on her knees, weeping, and the whole house is plunged in unceasing grief. For I, for my part, find myself surrounded by many evils since I learned that you had despised him [Jesus]; and I want to set out just to see him and worship him and hear a word from his lips, for I have done many evil things to him and to John the Baptist. Indeed, I am receiving what is justly due to me, for my father shed much blood of other people’s children on earth for Jesus, and I, in turn, have killed John, the one who baptized him.
God’s judgments are just, for each person receives his reward according to his desires. Therefore, since it has been given to you to see Jesus again, fight for me now and say a word to him on my behalf, because the kingdom has been given to you Gentiles, just as Christ and the prophets spoke.
Lesbonax, my son, is in dire need, having suffered from a debilitating illness for many days. I, for my part, am seriously ill, suffering from dropsy, so much so that worms are coming out of my mouth. My wife has even lost her left eye because of the calamity that has befallen my house. The judgments of God are just, for we have insulted the innocent eye. There is no peace for the priests, says the Lord. Death will take hold of them and of the senate of the children of Israel, for they wickedly laid their hands on the righteous Jesus. All this has come to pass at the end of the ages; and thus the nations will inherit the kingdom of God, while the children of light will be cast out for not having observed what was fitting in regard to the Lord and his Son. Therefore, now gird up your loins, assume your judicial authority night and day, united to your wife in the memory of Jesus, and the kingdom will be yours, for we have made the Righteous One suffer. And, if there is room for my prayers, O Pilate, since we were born simultaneously, bury my house diligently, for we prefer to be buried by you rather than by the priests, who, according to the writings of Jesus, will soon face judgment. Farewell.
I have sent you my wife’s earrings and my own ring. If you remember, you will return it to me on the last day. The worms are already creeping into my mouth, and with that I receive the punishment of this world; but I fear the sentence of another world more, for the modules of justice that the living God will apply to me will be double. We fleetingly disappear from this life a few years after birth, and from there comes eternal judgment and the retribution of our actions.