A servant sent by Herod had already reached Pilate, with a message to the effect that his master had fully appreciated his polite deference to his opinion, but that he looked upon the far famed Galilean as not better than a fool, that he had treated him as such, and now sent him back.

Pilate was quite satisfied at finding that Herod had come to the same conclusion as himself, and therefore returned a polite message.

From that hour they became friends, having been enemies many years; in fact, ever since the falling-in of the aqueduct.
[The cause of the quarrel between Pilate and Herod was, according to the account of Sister Emmerich, simply this: Pilate had undertaken to build an aqueduct on the south-east side of the mountain on which the Temple stood, at the edge of the torrent into which the waters of the pool of Bethsaida emptied themselves, and this aqueduct was to carry off the refuse of the Temple.

Herod, through the medium of one of his confidants, who was a member of the Sanhedrin, agreed to furnish him with the necessary materials, as also with twenty-eight architects, who were also Herodians.

His aim was to set the Jews still more against the Roman governor, by causing the undertaking to fail.