He was a kind man and he loved children, but now he was angry at them for bothering him with trifles.
It was disagreeable to him that a large crowd had gathered in the street and on the neighbouring roofs, doing nothing and looking curiously at Ben-Tovit, who had his head tied around with a kerchief like a woman.

He was about to go down, when his wife said to him: "Look, they are leading robbers there.

Perhaps that will divert you." "Let me alone.

Don't you see how I am suffering ?" Ben-Tovit answered angrily.
But there was a vague promise in his wife's words that there might be a relief for his toothache, so he walked over to the parapet unwillingly.
Bending his head on one side, closing one eye, and supporting his cheek with his hand, his face assumed a squeamish, weeping expression, and he looked down to the street.
On the narrow street, going uphill, an enormous crowd was moving forward in disorder, covered with dust and shouting uninterruptedly.

In the middle of the crowd walked the criminals, bending down under the weight of their crosses, and over them the scourges of the Roman soldiers were wriggling about like black snakes.