Romans dreaded civil and servile wars:
that fear shook bones, and caused old swords to rattle:
especially threats to Egyptian corn,
or that which, like a sharp edge, might have torn
the City and its vast empire asunder,
subjecting Roman wealth to brigands' plunder.
Because old scabs can open on new sores,
the cross was busy---as death penalty---
for any of whom Rome became suspicious
(no matter how absurd or how capricious),
in order to avoid that kind of battle
(civil, servile) and militarily.
Thus, we should not be very much surprised
that Pontius Pilate crucified the Christ.
Starward
[*/+/^]
Author's Notes/Comments:
The civil war between Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar, and the servile wars (especially that of Sparticus), likely haunted many Roman administrators---and likely those in hostile provinces that were administered by the Emperor, and governors and prefects often appointed from among the military ranks (and less likely among the governors of the settled provinces under the administration of the Senate, with officials appointed from civilian politicians).
I do not believe that Pilate feared an uprising led by Jesus. He had already declared, most probably "according to the will of Tiberius in the name of the Senate and People of Rome," that Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing---which must have included being innocent of starting a rebellion against Rome. I think Pilate had more to fear from the crowd that the priests had bestirred to demand the crucifixion of Jesus. Cicero had written (in Ad Atticum, VI:8) that Sparticus had begun his rebellion with less than fifty followers; I suspect that, due to the swollen population in Jerusalem during Passover (which was the very reason Pilate was temporarily residing there, and not in Caesarea, the provincial capitol), a good many more than fifty were demanding the death of Jesus. A rebellion from Jerusalem might have spread to Joppa or Ceasarea; and, from those ports, might have interrupted the orderly and regularly scheduled transport of Egyptian corn (wheat) from Alexandria to Rome's great seaport at Ostia. Mark Antony and Cleopatra had attempted this in their civil war with Octavian, later to become the first emperor, Augustus (and stepfather to Tiberius). Pilate's attempt at crowd control and avoidance of civil unrest, in Jerusalem, had, as its direct effect, the death of Jesus on the Cross. Our Salvation was secured by His death; but that does not absolve Pilate from being condemned by his own motives and political fears.
BTW, they tell me that Pontius Pilate was not, personally, the weak and sniveling administrator so often portrayed in Biblical fiction and films. The Emperor he served, Tiberius, was a very astute supervisor: he selected only the most competent persons (after having them thoroughly researched), and his demands for success were excessively high: failure, in such as position as Pilate held, could result in a death sentence. Tiberius, a bitter old man frustrated in his choice of career and spouse (in adolescence he had wanted to be a scholar of Greek Poetry, and was very happily married, as a teenager, to Vipsania; his mother, Livia, effectively destroyed both the career ambition and the marriage) received reports daily which he poured over, collated, cross-checked, and re-read; so that he was one of the most informed Emperors of that era. He was driven to near insanity by the loss of his scholarly career; by the knowledge that Vipsania had been given to a Senator, who impregnanted her several times (some years after her death, Tiberius ordered the arrest and incarceration of that Senator, who, after her death, had implied that she had been unfaithful to Tiberius---a base lie, given what we know of their intense marital love; the Senator was starved to death over the course of a year on Tiberius' order, and was found to have eaten straw in his final hours); and the repeated taunts of his stepfather, who constantly reminded him that he seemed very "second-rate." This is the kind of Emperor for whom Pontius Pilate worked; an Emperor who had snuffed out the lives of many people who had disappointed him in their official capacities. Only a prefect with some solid administrative experience and skill could have held the position in Caesare, given Tiberius' baleful and exacting scrutiny.
