The Mors Pilati, otherwise known as The Death of Pilate, Who Condemned Jesus, is a late medieval work. The narrative offers a far less ancient and alternative explanation for the death of Pontius Pilate.
1 And when Tiberius Caesar, the emperor of the Romans, was laboring under a grievous disease, and understanding that there was at Jerusalem a certain Physician, Jesus by Name, who by a single word cured all sicknesses, he, not knowing that the Jews and Pilate had put Him to death, ordered a certain friend of his named Volusianus: 2 “Go as quickly as possible across the seas; and you will tell Pilate, my servant and friend, to send me this Physician, so that He may restore me to my former health.” 3 And this Volusianus, having heard the emperor’s command, immediately departed and came to Pilate as he had been commanded. 4 And he related to the same Pilate what had been entrusted to him by Tiberius Caesar, saying, “Tiberius Caesar, the emperor of the Romans, your master, having heard that in this city there is a Physician who by His word alone heals sicknesses, begs you earnestly to send Him to him for the curing of his sickness.” 5 Pilate, hearing this, was very greatly afraid, knowing that through envy he had caused Him to be put to death. 6 Pilate answered the same messenger thus, saying, “This Man was a criminal, and a Man who drew to Himself all the people; so a council of the wise men of the city was held, and I caused Him to be crucified.” 7 And this messenger returning to his inn, met a certain woman named Veronica, who had been a friend of Jesus; and he said: “O woman, a certain Physician who was in this city, who cured the sick by a word alone, why have the Jews put Him to death?” 8 And she began to weep, saying, “Oh my lord, my God and my Lord, whom Pilate for envy delivered, condemned, and ordered to be crucified.” 9 Then he, being exceedingly grieved, said: “I am vehemently grieved that I am unable to accomplish that for which my lord had sent me.” 10 And Veronica said to him: “When my Lord was going around preaching, and I, much against my will, was deprived of His presence, I wished [for] His picture to be painted for me, in order that, while I was deprived of His presence, the figure of His picture might at least provide me consolation. 11 And when I was carrying the canvas to the painter to be painted, my Lord met me and asked where I was going. 12 And when I had disclosed to Him the cause of my journey, He asked for the cloth from me and gave it back to me impressed with the image of His noble face. 13 Therefore, if your lord will devoutly gaze on His face, he will immediately obtain the benefit of health.” 14 And he said to her: “Is a picture of such a sort obtainable by gold or silver?” 15 She said to him: “No; but by the pious influence of devotion. I will therefore set out with you, and carry the picture to be seen by Caesar, and come back again.” 16 Therefore, Volusianus came with Veronica to Rome and said to Tiberius the emperor: “Jesus, whom you have been longing for, Pilate and the Jews have delivered to an unjust death, and have through envy affixed to the scaffold of the cross. 17 There has therefore come with me a certain matron, bringing a picture of Jesus Himself; and if you will devoutly look on it, you will immediately obtain the benefit of your health.” 18 Caesar therefore ordered the way to be strewn with silk cloths, and the picture to be presented to him; and as soon as he had looked on it, he regained his former health. 19 Pontius Pilate, therefore, by the command of Caesar, is taken and brought through to Rome. 20 Caesar, hearing that Pilate had arrived at Rome, was filled with exceeding fury against him and caused him to be brought to him. 21 But Pilate brought down with him the seamless tunic of Jesus; and he wore it on him in the presence of the emperor. 22 And as soon as the emperor saw him, he laid aside all his anger, and immediately rose up to meet him. Nor was he able to speak harshly to him in anything; and he who seemed so terrible and fierce in his absence, now in his presence is somehow found to be mild. 23 And when he had sent him away, he immediately blazed out against him terribly, crying out that he was a wretch, inasmuch as he had not at all shown him the fury of his heart. 24 And he immediately made him be called back, swearing and declaring that he was the son of death, and that it was infamous that he should live on the earth. 25 And as soon as he saw him, he immediately saluted him and threw away all the ferocity of his mind. 26 Everyone marveled; and he himself wondered why he should thus blaze out against Pilate when he was absent, and that while he was present he could say nothing to him sternly. 27 Then, by a divine impulse, or perhaps by the advice of some Christian, he caused him to be stripped of that tunic, and immediately resumed his former ferocity of mind against him. 28 And when at this the emperor wondered very greatly, it was told to him that that tunic had belonged to the Lord Jesus. 29 Then the emperor ordered him to be kept in prison, until he should deliberate in a council of the wise men what ought to be done with him. 30 And a few days later, sentence was therefore passed on Pilate, that he should be condemned to the most disgraceful death. Pilate, hearing this, killed himself with his own knife, and by such a death ended his life. 31 When Caesar knew of the death of Pilate, he said: “Truly he has died by a most disgraceful death, whom his own hand has not spared.” 32 He is therefore bound to a great mass and sunk into the Tiber River. But malignant and filthy spirits in his malignant and filthy body, all rejoicing together, kept moving themselves in the waters, and in a terrible manner brought lightnings and tempests, thunders and hailstorms, in the air, so that all men were kept in horrible fear. 33 Therefore, the Romans, drawing him out of the Tiber River, carried him down to Vienna in derision and sunk him in the Rhone River. For Vienna is called, as it were, Via Gehennae, “The Way of Gehenna,” because it was then a place of cursing. 34 But evil spirits were present there, working the same things in the same place. Those men therefore, not enduring such a visitation of demons, removed from themselves that vessel of blight and sent him to be buried in the territory of Losania. 35 And they, seeing that they were troubled by the aforementioned visitations, removed him from themselves and sunk him in a certain pit surrounded by mountains, where to this day, according to the account of some, certain diabolical machinations are said to bubble up.