The whole procedure is awesome and terrifying, from the moment of condemnation, when we learn the certainty of the sentence about to be carried out. On being stripped for scourging, the condemned is deprived of personal possessions and exposed, defenceless, to the will of the executioner. The pain of the lash producing the first sight of blood confirms the reality of what lies ahead. Deprived of legal rights, a human being is reduced to being made an example in a prelude to extreme suffering. Life, in a relatively short sense, can only get worse. We know this is the beginning of the end.
Attempting to convey the experience of fear, the racing heartbeat, perspiration and hyper-ventilation of these moments presents a challenge for those seeking to depict sheer stark terror combined with the hopeless task of maintaining a sense of dignity. The mental anguish is as real as the physical torment. Feeling the patibulum pressed against bleeding shoulders with arms pulled out and tied securely, the subject knows that wood and flesh are now connected for as long as life endures. The cross demands its human burden, and the human has to carry this burden to the stake.
The walk to the execution site is the last opportunity to feel the ground beneath bare feet. This is a series of prolonged endings, relentless and inescapable. Arriving at the stake merely marks the end of the beginning. Thrown to the ground, exhausted but conscious of everything, our subject continues to endure the physical pain, knowing that the nails will be inserted next. This is the defining moment, when the human body is reduced to simple carpentry, with hammer blows, like one piece of worthless wood nailed to another, permanently. The new pain provided by the nails will be an intimate accompaniment, eventually unto death.
Physically, the roles are reversed, as the figure once supporting the beam, is now supported by it, and hoisted into position by the insensitive executioners. How can we imagine the agony of these moments, knowing that the ordeal will not be over for hours or even days? We can only try to empathise with the conscious subject, writhing in tense agony, in a state of shock, crying out in pain, perhaps trying to form coherent words or babbling insensibly, whilst gasping for breath.
The execution has been carried out according to the law, and all that remains is the waiting and watching by spectators who will not help a fellow human being, outcast by society, awaiting death and suffering indescribably. This is the lingering end which cannot come swiftly enough - a short life sentence of crucifixion. Named and shamed by the titulus overhead, bleeding freely and exposed to the public gaze - justice is done, and seen to be done.
The whole thing is spectacular, but arguably the nailing is the defining moment.
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