A strength and self-denial more than human seemed necessary if he would turn his back coldly on the splendid prospect that opened before him as his country's avenger and deliverer.

What words can do justice to the conflicting emotions which Manasseh experienced in that hour of trial?
His comrades in arms and many of his dearest friends, he felt convinced, would turn upon him with mockery and reviling if he should now still cling to his principles and refuse to disobey the commandment of his God,--"Thou shalt not kill." In Italy every house has its image of the crucified Saviour.

Manasseh stood now before one of these crucifixes, lost in troubled thought.

To Jesus, too, the people had cried: "Be our general, lead us against the Romans, free your nation!" And he had answered them: "I will lead you to a heavenly kingdom, and will free all mankind." Then he was heaped with scorn and abuse, was scourged by the Roman lictors, and was finally dragged before Pontius Pilate and crucified.

But not the scourging, not the crown of thorns, or the cruel nails, or the spear of Longinus,--none of these was the really hard thing to bear.