44. ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος καταβαίνμοντες. Even if καταβαίνοντος (א V X, Vulg. Boh.) be right, the words do not necessarily mean more than that the drops of sweat in some way resembled drops of blood, e.g. by their size and frequency. But it is not likely that no more than this is intended, or that the words are a metaphorical expression. like our “tears of blood.” That Justin in referring to the statement omits αἵματος—ἱδρὼς ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι κατεχεῖτο (Try. 103.)—does not prove that he did not understand actual blood to be meant. Rather it shows that he considered that θρόμβοι, “clots,” sufficiently expressed “drops of blood.”
The expression “bloody sweat” is probably a correct interpretation: and the possibility of blood exuding through the pores seems to be established by examples. Comp. Arist. Hist. Anim. 3:19. De Mezeray states of Charles 9. of France that “During the last two weeks of his life (May 1574) his constitution made strange efforts … blood gushed from all the outlets of his body, even from the pores of his skin; so that on, one occasion he was found bathed in a bloody sweat.” See W. Stroud, The Physical Cause the Death of Christ, 1847, pp. 85–88, 379–389. Schanz cites Lönarz, De sudore sanguinis, Bonn, 1850, and Langen, Die letzten Lebenstage, p. 214. Why is αἵματος added, if no αἶμα accompanied the ἱδρώς? It would be visible in the moonlight, when Jesus returned to the disciples: ubi quidem non solis oculis, sed quasi membris omnibus flevisse videtur (Bernard, In Dom. Palm. Serm. 3:4). Diatess-Tat. has “like a stream of blood.” (Plummer, A. (1896). A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to S. Luke (pp. 510–511). London: T&T Clark International.)
