Patristic A.D. 407
“(Hom. lxxxiii. 4) Pilate however seeing Him bound, and such numbers conducting Him, supposed that they had not unquestionable evidence against Him, so proceeds to ask the question: And said, What accusation bring ye against this Man? For it was absurd, he said, to take the trial out of his hands, and yet give him the punishment. They in reply bring forward no positive charge but only their own conjectures: They answered and said unto him, If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up unto thee.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of John, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on John 18:28-32
PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1845) ↗