Rabanus Maurus, on Matt 27:15

“Now upon the solemn day the governor was accustomed to release to the people one prisoner, whom they would.”

“Those who were crucified being suspended on a cross, by nails driven into the wood through their hands and feet, perished by a lingering death, and lived long on the cross, not that they sought longer life, but that death was deferred to prolong their sufferings. The Jews indeed contrived this as the worst of deaths, but it had been chosen by the Lord without their privity, thereafter to place upon the foreheads of the faithful the same cross as a trophy of His victory over the Devil.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.