midnight
I remember him well as he appeared that day . From what I had heard I was prepared to see a hard-faced impostor or a fanatic with frenzy in his eyes . He was a man of middle stature , with a face of striking beauty and benignity , eyes of mingled light and warmth , and auburn hair falling over his shoulders . It was not strange that he looked pale and haggard ; for he had passed through three judicial ordeals since the last sunset , besides being scourged with the _ flagellum horrible _ and exposed to the rude buffeting of the midnight guard . He had been clothed in the cast-off purple of the Roman procurator and wore a derisive crown of thorns . But , as he issued from the Hall of Judgment , such was his commanding presence that the multitude was hushed and separated to make way . The cross , constructed of transverse beams of sycamore , was brought and laid upon his shoulders .