NICODEMUS. LEVI THE PUBLICAN. SIMON THE LEPER. LAZARUS, THE MAN RISEN FROM THE DEAD. CLEOPHAS, ZACCHÆUS. THE MAN THAT WAS BORN BLIND. BARTIMÆUS, THE BLIND MAN OF JERICHO. THE MAN OF GERASA POSSESSED BY A DEVIL. THE IMPOTENT MAN OF BETHESDA. THE MAN HEALED OF A DROPSY. THE MAN WHOSE HAND WAS WITHERED. SIMON PETER’S MOTHER-IN-LAW MARY CLEOPHAS. SALOME, THE WIFE OF ZEBEDEE. SUSANNA. SEVERAL NAMELESS MEN AND WOMEN CURED BY MIRACLES. A FEW HUNCHBACKED, HALT, BLIND, LEPERS AND PALSIED WAITING TO BE HEALED. SOME BEGGARS, TWO OR THREE HARLOTS, ETC. (ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE STRUCK WITH CONSTERNATION AND ALARM AT THE ARREST OF JESUS AND AT THE BAD NEWS THAT IS CURRENT. THEY CROWD AT THE BACK OF THE ROOM, MUTTERING AND WHISPERING. ENTER MARTHA, THE SISTER OF LAZARUS.)
MARTHA (affrighted, looking anxiously around her)
I have seen him!
(Sensation. ALL gather eagerly round MARTHA.)
NICODEMUS
Where is he?...
MARY CLEOPHAS
Has he suffered?...
SALOME
What does he say?...
MARTHA
Where is my sister?...
MARY CLEOPHAS
She is with her mother, in our host’s chamber.... Her mother was worn out with sorrow....
MARTHA (going to one of the windows)
Did no one follow me?... No, the street is empty.... I went a long way round....
NICODEMUS
Where did you see him?...
MARTHA
He was coming out of Annas’ palace.... I followed him to Caiaphas’.... It seems they are looking for us.... They have a special grudge against Lazarus, the man raised from the dead.... Where is he?...
NICODEMUS (pointing to LAZARUS, in the shadow)
Here, among us....
MARTHA
They mean to arrest all those who went with him.... They mean to stone us according to the law.... They will persecute all those who come from Galilee....
CLEOPHAS
We are all Galileans....
A MAN CURED BY A MIRACLE
No, not I....
ANOTHER
Nor I: I am from Bethany.
BARTIMÆUS
And I from Jericho....
A MAN CURED BY A MIRACLE
It is not well that we should be found together....
NICODEMUS
Where will you go?...
A MAN CURED BY A MIRACLE
No matter where.... We shall be safer than here....
ANOTHER
They do not know us.... I have never been seen with him....
A WOMAN
Nor I either: he just simply healed me.... I was bowed together and he made me straight....
A MAN
I saw him only once: it was when he said to me, “Arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house.” I am he whom they let down through the roof upon a bed.... Now I walk like other men.... (He turns to the door and GOES OUT, followed by THOSE CURED BY MIRACLES who spoke before him.)
A SICK MAN
They are right.... We are not known either.... I came to be healed of a dysentery.... I have not had time to touch him. (He also makes for the door.)
MARTHA
Are you not ashamed?...
THE SICK MAN (stopping on the threshold)
Of what?... It serves no purpose that those whom he has healed should perish because of him.... (He GOES OUT.)
ANOTHER MAN CURED BY A MIRACLE
He can do nothing for us, because he can do nothing for himself; and we can do nothing for him....
A HUNCHBACK
Yes, why does he not protect us?... He is constantly speaking of his father and the angels.... Where are those angels?
NICODEMUS
It is because his hour has not yet come.
THE HUNCHBACK
When will his hour come?... When it is too late.... I have not the time to wait.... (He GOES OUT.)
NICODEMUS
Let those who do not love him go.... The Son of Man shall come in such an hour as you think not....
CLEOPHAS
His kingdom is not of this world....
A BLIND MAN
His kingdom is lost....
NICODEMUS
He said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God?”...
CLEOPHAS
He said, “Live not in careful suspense.”...
NICODEMUS
He said, “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”...
THE BLIND MAN
But he also said, “Let the dead bury their dead.” (He gropes his way to the door and GOES OUT.)
A LAME MAN
I am going away, not that I am afraid, but to go and look for him....
ANOTHER
I also.... (They GO OUT.)
A LEPER
Who said that we must wait for him here?...
NICODEMUS
Simon Peter.
THE LEPER
Where is Simon Peter?... He hardly shows himself.
MARTHA
He was by the fire, in the high-priest’s hall....
NICODEMUS
And John?...
MARTHA
I heard that he was in Annas’ house....
NICODEMUS
And what was the Master doing when you saw him?...
MARTHA
I saw him only for a moment, while he passed between the columns of the vestibule.... There was a great crowd around him....
MARY CLEOPHAS
Did he see you?...
MARTHA
Yes. He looked at me....
NICODEMUS
He was not free?...
MARTHA
His hands were bound.... The Roman soldiers were striking him to make him walk faster....
MARY SALOME
Oh!...
CLEOPHAS
And the others, the twelve, where are they?...
MARTHA
Nobody knows.... They were seized with panic.... I have heard that Thomas and Jude have fled to Galilee....
NICODEMUS
And Mary Magdalene, did you see her?...
MARTHA
No, but James met her.... She is mad with grief, it seems.... She was crying out, tearing her garments and dashing her head against the walls in Annas’ palace.... The servants drove her away; and, since then, nobody knows what became of her.... A poor man told me that she was wandering in the Roman quarter....
NICODEMUS
Does she know that we are here?...
MARTHA
Yes, Simon Peter told her....
A SICK MAN
When she comes, do not let her go out again.... She will bring misfortune upon us. She is dangerous and does not know what she is doing....
A MAN CURED BY A MIRACLE
There are men marching in the street.... I hear the sound of arms.... They are coming to arrest us!... Let all escape who can!... (To NICODEMUS, who is going to a window) Do not go to the windows, you will be recognized!...
BARTIMÆUS
I will go, I am not known, I am from Jericho.... (He looks cautiously into the street). It is twelve soldiers, with a centurion.... Hush!... Do not speak!...
NICODEMUS
Are they stopping?...
BARTIMÆUS
No.... They are passing.... There is no one in the street now.... Yes!... There is some one coming at the other end.... Do not make a noise.... It is a woman and four men.... Why, I know them!... It is Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathæa, James, I believe, and Andrew and Simon Zelotes.... They are looking around them.... They are knocking.... Go down and open the door to them.…