Ecce Homo
PILATE, on the tessellated pavement in front of his palace.Ye have brought unto me this man, as oneWho doth pervert the people; and behold!I have examined him, and found no faultTouching the things whereof ye do accuse him.No, nor yet Herod; for I sent you to him,And nothing worthy of death he findeth in him.Ye have a custom at the Passover;That one condemned to death shall be released.Whom will ye, then, that I release to you?Jesus Barabbas, called the Son of Shame,Or Jesus, Son of Joseph, called the Christ?
THE PEOPLE, shouting.Not this man, but Barabbas!
What then will yeThat I should do with him that is called Christ?
Crucify him!
Why, what evil hath he done?Lo, I have found no cause of death in him;I will chastise him, and then let him go.
THE PEOPLE, more vehemently.Crucify him! crucify him!
A MESSENGER, to PILATE.Thy wife sendsThis message to thee,--Have thou naught to doWith that just man; for I this day in dreamsHave suffered many things because of him.
PILATE, aside.The Gods speak to us in our dreams! I trembleAt what I have to do! O Claudia,How shall I save him? Yet one effort more,Or he must perish!
I am innocentOf the blood of this just person; see ye to it!
Let his blood be on us and on our children!
VOICES, within the palace.Put on thy royal robes; put on thy crown,And take thy sceptre! Hail, thou King of the Jews!
I bring him forth to you, that ye may knowI find no fault in him. Behold the man!
CHIEF PRIESTS and OFFICERS.Crucify him! crucify him!
Take ye him;I find no fault in him.
We have a Law,And by our Law he ought to die; becauseHe made himself to be the Son of God.
PILATE, aside.Ah! there are Sons of God, and demigodsMore than ye know, ye ignorant High-Priests!
To CHRISTUS.Whence art thou?
Crucify him! crucify him!
PILATE, to CHRISTUS.Dost thou not answer me? Dost thou not knowThat I have power enough to crucify thee?That I have also power to set thee free?
Thou couldst have no power at all against meExcept that it were given thee from above;Therefore hath he that sent me unto theeThe greater sin.
If thou let this man go,Thou art not Caesar's friend. For whosoeverMaketh himself a King, speaks against Caesar.
Ye Jews, behold your King!
Away with him!Crucify him!
Shall I crucify your King?
We have no King but Caesar!
Take him, then,Take him, ye cruel and bloodthirsty priests,More merciless than the plebeian mob,Who pity and spare the fainting gladiatorBlood-stained in Roman amphitheatres,--Take him, and crucify him if ye will;But if the immortal Gods do ever mingleWith the affairs of mortals, which I doubt not,And hold the attribute of justice dear,They will commission the EumenidesTo scatter you to the four winds of heaven,Exacting tear for tear, and blood for blood.Here, take ye this inscription, Priests, and nail itUpon the cross, above your victim's head:Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
Nay, we entreat! write not, the King of the Jews!But that he said: I am the King of the Jews!
Enough. What I have written, I have written.
Words in this poem
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- crucify v. t.
- To fasten to a cross; to put to death by nailing the hands and feet to a cross or gibbet. [F. crucifier, fr. (assumed) LL. crucificare, for crucifigere, fr, L. crux, crucis, cross + figere to fix, the ending - figere being changed to -ficare, F. -fier]
- sceptre n.
- A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. [F. sceptre, L. sceptrum, from Gr. shaft. See Shaft, and cf. Scape a stem, shaft.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- bloodthirsty a.
- Eager to shed blood; cruel; sanguinary; murderous.
- eumenides n.
- A euphemistic name for the Furies of Erinyes.
- entreat v. t.
- To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use. [OE. entreten to treat, request, OF. entraiter to treat of; pref. en- (L. in) + traitier to treat. See Treat.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ecce Homo is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ecce Homo, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/ecce-homo.html, id L17891.
Form and metre
Ecce Homo is 87 lines in 28 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 20 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ----AAA----- palace · one · behold · fault · himA · himA · himA · passover · released · you · shame · christ
- 14 AA himA · himA
- 19 --AA christus · know · theeA · freeA
- 20 A-A- meA · above · theeA · sin
- 23 AA himA · himA
- 26 -----AA-------- then · priests · mob · gladiator · amphitheatres · willA · mingleA · not · dear · eumenides · heaven · blood · it · head · jews
- 27 AA jewsA · jewsA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| PILATE, on the tessellated pavement in front of his palace. | 15 | ····/˘˘/˘····/˘ |
| Ye have brought unto me this man, as one | 10 | ·········· |
| Who doth pervert the people; and behold! | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| I have examined him, and found no fault | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Touching the things whereof ye do accuse him. | 11 | /˘······˘/· |
| No, nor yet Herod; for I sent you to him, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| And nothing worthy of death he findeth in him. | 12 | ·/˘/˘···/˘·· |
| Ye have a custom at the Passover; | 10 | ···/˘··/·˘ |
| That one condemned to death shall be released. | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Whom will ye, then, that I release to you? | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Jesus Barabbas, called the Son of Shame, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Or Jesus, Son of Joseph, called the Christ? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| THE PEOPLE, shouting. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Not this man, but Barabbas! | 7 | ······· |
| What then will ye | 4 | ···· |
| That I should do with him that is called Christ? | 10 | ·········· |
| Crucify him! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Why, what evil hath he done? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lo, I have found no cause of death in him; | 10 | ·········· |
| I will chastise him, and then let him go. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| THE PEOPLE, more vehemently. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Crucify him! crucify him! | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| A MESSENGER, to PILATE. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Thy wife sends | 3 | ··· |
| This message to thee,--Have thou naught to do | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With that just man; for I this day in dreams | 10 | ·········· |
| Have suffered many things because of him. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| PILATE, aside. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| The Gods speak to us in our dreams! I tremble | 11 | ······/··/˘ |
| At what I have to do! O Claudia, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| How shall I save him? Yet one effort more, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or he must perish! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I am innocent | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Of the blood of this just person; see ye to it! | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Let his blood be on us and on our children! | 11 | ········//˘ |
| VOICES, within the palace. | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Put on thy royal robes; put on thy crown, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And take thy sceptre! Hail, thou King of the Jews! | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| I bring him forth to you, that ye may know | 10 | ·········· |
| I find no fault in him. Behold the man! | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| CHIEF PRIESTS and OFFICERS. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Crucify him! crucify him! | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Take ye him; | 3 | ··· |
| I find no fault in him. | 6 | ······ |
| We have a Law, | 4 | ···· |
| And by our Law he ought to die; because | 10 | ··/······· |
| He made himself to be the Son of God. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| PILATE, aside. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Ah! there are Sons of God, and demigods | 10 | ·········· |
| More than ye know, ye ignorant High-Priests! | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| To CHRISTUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Whence art thou? | 3 | ··· |
| Crucify him! crucify him! | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| PILATE, to CHRISTUS. | 5 | ····· |
| Dost thou not answer me? Dost thou not know | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That I have power enough to crucify thee? | 11 | ···/˘/·/˘·· |
| That I have also power to set thee free? | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Thou couldst have no power at all against me | 10 | ····/····· |
| Except that it were given thee from above; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Therefore hath he that sent me unto thee | 10 | ·········· |
| The greater sin. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| If thou let this man go, | 6 | ······ |
| Thou art not Caesar's friend. For whosoever | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Maketh himself a King, speaks against Caesar. | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| Ye Jews, behold your King! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Away with him! | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Crucify him! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Shall I crucify your King? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| We have no King but Caesar! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Take him, then, | 3 | ··· |
| Take him, ye cruel and bloodthirsty priests, | 10 | ···/˘·/·˘· |
| More merciless than the plebeian mob, | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘· |
| Who pity and spare the fainting gladiator | 12 | ·/˘···/˘/˘·˘ |
| Blood-stained in Roman amphitheatres,-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘˘ |
| Take him, and crucify him if ye will; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But if the immortal Gods do ever mingle | 11 | ···˘/˘··//˘ |
| With the affairs of mortals, which I doubt not, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘···· |
| And hold the attribute of justice dear, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| They will commission the Eumenides | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| To scatter you to the four winds of heaven, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Exacting tear for tear, and blood for blood. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Here, take ye this inscription, Priests, and nail it | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| Upon the cross, above your victim's head: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| Nay, we entreat! write not, the King of the Jews! | 11 | ··˘/······· |
| But that he said: I am the King of the Jews! | 11 | ··········· |
| Enough. What I have written, I have written. | 11 | ˘/···/˘··/˘ |
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