THE SAME, SILANUS, APPIUS, CŒLIUS
APPIUS (GOING TO MARY MAGDALENE)
“Venus has left Cyprus and soars above Jerusalem!” Or, rather, it is the fair Techmessa, who already brings back the smile to the lips of the son of Telamon!... Admire, O Cœlius, the magnificent image raised under this portico by Love and Beauty!
CŒLIUS
It is as though the azure sky were spread for them between those two columns.
SILANUS
The azure and the light seem happy only when environing youth and love.... But, to return to less dazzling images, better-suited to my head burdened with years, I observed that it must have been a sort of presentiment that urged us to speak, but a moment ago, of the Nazarene’s band, for it was that same band which delayed our guests....
APPIUS
Yes, imagine, when we approached the last cross-road down there, we found the whole country in a stir and the way blocked by a shouting, gesticulating throng, which was crowding round a blind man who saw!...
VERUS
Yes, that is one of those phenomena which one meets with nowhere except in Judæa....
CŒLIUS
It was extraordinary!... The poor man, crushed against an old wall, rolled two drunk and virgin eyes, crying, “He is a prophet! He is a prophet! I see men as trees, walking!” And the crowd stamped all around for joy. He seemed dazed with the light....
APPIUS
Or rather with wine, for he was plainly staggering.
VERUS
And the Nazarene, did you see him?...
APPIUS
No, he had just gone away, taking with him the most turbulent part of the crowd; but for that, we should never have been able to pass....
MARY MAGDALENE
Yes, it appears that, when those ruffians crowd round their leader, they would not trouble to make way for Cæsar.
CŒLIUS
Where did he go?... I should be curious to see him....
SILANUS
He cannot be very far.... Do you see that laurel-hedge, at the bottom of my garden?... It divides my little domain from the orchard of my neighbour, known as Simon the Leper....
MARY MAGDALENE (STARTING)
What, your next neighbour is a leper?... You should have told us....
SILANUS
Be reassured, lady, he has no leprosy now....
APPIUS
I thought that one became a leper for life, just as one becomes a senator.... This is another of the surprises of this monstrous Judæa....
SILANUS
The Nazarene healed him.
CŒLIUS
Is he really healed?... As his next neighbour, you must know the truth....
SILANUS
I know that he is as healthy in the face as the rose of Magdala and lily of Bethany whom you see before you; but I do not know if he was ever sick, not having seen him before his recovery....
APPIUS
I thought so.... Besides, I have seen much more extraordinary magicians in Thrace and Egypt.... But, to return to this leper without leprosy, what happens behind that hedge and in the house of your mysterious neighbour?
SILANUS
The Nazarene has been his guest for the past three days. This Simon, his sister, his wife and, I believe, his brother-in-law are common people, who live on the produce of their olive-trees. They were timorous, peaceable neighbours; but, since the arrival of the Nazarene, everything is in commotion. It is a perpetual coming and going, a perpetual tumult. Their orchard is filled incessantly with a multitude of sick, of vagrants, of cripples, issuing from all the rocks in Judæa to beseech him whom, with loud cries, they call the Saviour of the World, the Son of David and King of the Jews. There are sometimes so many of them that they overflow into my garden. The hedge, as you see, has been trampled, crushed and even torn in certain places. Fortunately, the Nazarene’s appearances are few and brief. Besides, this picturesque spectacle, despite its inconveniences, amuses and puzzles me.
(ENTER, on the left, five or six POOR FOLK.)
CŒLIUS
Who are those people?
SILANUS
What did I tell you?... Here are half-a-dozen coming to ask for bread....
APPIUS
Do they belong to this famous band?
MARY MAGDALENE
They are hateful and loathsome!... One of them has his face gnawed with an ulcer, another is almost naked, another is starving!...
APPIUS
They certainly lack shame, thus to flaunt ugliness and dread....
SILANUS
Do not be uneasy: these will not long mar the pleasing grace of the porticoes that refresh our eyes. My gardener has discovered them; he is armed with a stout hoe and is driving them back uncivilly.... You see, they do not insist, they walk away in silence, hanging their heads.... And, now that we have occupied ourselves long enough with these unfortunate people, with their great leader and their maladies, let us think a little of ourselves and enjoy the delightful afternoon which spring-time sets before us.... My pleasure at seeing you here would be flawless, if only our old friend Longinus had yielded to Appius’ entreaties and consented to accompany you....
APPIUS
I never felt more keenly the vanity of the great eloquence which he himself taught me. To all my most convincing and well-stated arguments he replied with a sullen silence, or shook his head, repeating that he did not wish to throw a gloom over our happy party with his dismal presence....
CŒLIUS
And yet it is quite three weeks since that child died.... I should not have thought that grief could have affected him so much....
APPIUS
The more so as it concerned a child of tender years, whom her father knew less well than did her nurse!...
SILANUS
There is something more astonishing yet, which clearly shows that the greatest wisdom is not so much to know as to conform to what one knows!... When, more than fifteen years ago, I lost a little boy who must have been of about the same age as the child whom he now mourns, Longinus undertook to console me. He wrote me an eloquent letter, wherein, relying on the authority of Metrodorus, Panætius and Hermachus, he proved that sorrow is not only useless, but ungrateful. I found and read the letter again this morning; and so striking are its more important passages that I know them almost by heart.... They were the loftiest words that human wisdom could utter against death and sorrow.... They protected me once....
MARY MAGDALENE
What were the words? It is well to know anything that can relieve sorrow....
SILANUS
“You expect consolation,” he said; “you shall receive only reproaches. If you bear the death of a child with so little patience, what would you do if you had lost a friend? You ought to bring yourself to this frame of mind, that you were more pleased at having had him than grieved that you had him no longer. But most men reckon past advantages and pleasures as of no account. They bury friendship with their friend....”
APPIUS
I recognize and hail the mighty wisdom of our venerable master.
SILANUS
Why does he not remember it, when misfortune strikes him? But why did I forget it myself, when I needed it most?... “I assure you,” he added, “that of those whom we have loved, much remains to us after death has removed them. The time that is past is ours; and I see nothing of which we are more certain than of that which has been. The hope of the future makes us ungrateful for the benefits which we have received, as though the favours which we expect were not bound soon to be ranked among things past. Death has deprived you of a son so young that he could be of no promise to you yet; it is only a little time lost. There are instances without end of fathers losing infant children without shedding a single tear and returning to the senate after laying them in the grave. This is not unreasonable; for, in the first place, it is idle to give way to grief when grief can serve no purpose. And then it is unjust to complain of a misfortune that has befallen one person and still threatens all the others. Moreover, it is madness to complain, when there is so little distance between the one who is dead and the one who mourns him. Consider that all mankind, destined to one and the same end, is divided only by little intervals, even when they appear very great. He whom you think lost has only gone before. Since we must all travel the same road, is it not unworthy of a wise man to weep for one who has set out earlier than ourselves? To complain that the friend or the child is dead is to complain that he was ever born. We are all linked to the same fate. He who has come into the world must also leave it. His stay may be longer, but the end is always alike. The time that elapses between the first day and the last is uncertain and variable. If you consider the wretchedness of life, it is long, even for a child; if you regard the duration, it is short, even for an old man.”
MARY MAGDALENE
That would not have consoled me....
SILANUS
To console, lady, is not to do away with sorrow, but to teach one how to overcome it.
(At this moment, there is heard rising from the roads, the paths and all the invisible country commanded by the terrace a noise, at first dull and confused, which gradually becomes more positive and precise. Sounds of a crowd forming and hurrying, stones rolling, children crying, dogs barking; shouts that grow more and more distinct: “This way! This way!... Come quickly!... Come down!... To the right, to the right!... He is there!... We saw him!... He is leaving the house!... To Simon’s orchard!... Carry the palsied there!... Lead the blind!... Quick, quick, this way!... They say he is going to speak!” etc.)
APPIUS
What is this? What is happening?...
VERUS
They are hurrying from every side!...
CŒLIUS
All the roads are covered with people running like madmen!...
APPIUS
They seem to spring from the stones!...
CŒLIUS
But what is happening?... They are disappearing behind those olive-trees....
VERUS
Here come two sick men carried on their beds....
CŒLIUS
A blind man falling!...
APPIUS
What is the matter with them?... Are they mad?...
VERUS
Who are those extraordinary creatures leaping among the rocks?...
SILANUS
They are the men possessed by devils, coming out of the tombs....
APPIUS
But, after all, what is happening?...
SILANUS
They have seen the Nazarene....
MARY MAGDALENE
The Nazarene?... Where is he?...
SILANUS
He has probably just come out of Simon’s house. They watch all his movements. As soon as he is seen, they bring the sick; and the fanatics come rushing up.... He must be walking in the neighbouring orchard.... (Listening.) Yes.... Do you hear the crowd humming like bees?... It is close to my laurel-hedge....
APPIUS
Let us go and see....
SILANUS
I do not advise you to. In the first place, those people are mostly very poor, extremely dirty and very unpleasant to come into touch with.... Then, you know the Jewish fanaticism.... In these moments of exaltation, the most inoffensive become dangerous; and the sight of the Roman toga and arms enrages them strangely.... Besides, we shall hear what happens quite well from where we stand.... Listen!... The cries are coming nearer still and increasing....
(Behind the hedge that closes the end of the garden rise cries that sound nearer and nearer: “Hosannah! Hosannah!... Son of Man!... Lord, Lord, have pity! Lord, Son of David, heal the sick man!... Master! Master! Lord!... Jesus of Nazareth, have pity on me!... Make way!... Silence, silence!... He is going to speak!” At these words, the tumult suddenly subsides. An incomparable silence, in which it seems as though the birds and the leaves of the trees and the very air that is breathed take part, falls with all its supernatural weight upon the countryside; and, in this silence, which weighs upon people on the terrace also, there rises, absolute sovereign of space and the hour, a wonderful voice, soft and all-powerful, intoxicated with ardour, light and love, distant and yet near to every heart and present in every soul.)
THE VOICE
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!... Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted!... Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth!...
APPIUS
What is he saying?...
SILANUS
Listen!... It is rather curious....
THE VOICE
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled!... Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!...
MARY MAGDALENE
I want to see!... (She rises and, as though irresistibly drawn by the divine voice, goes as if to descend the steps of the terrace and to make for the bottom of the garden.)
SILANUS (in a low voice, trying to hold her back)
Do not go there!...
THE VOICE
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!...
I will go!...
VERUS
I shall go with you....
MARY MAGDALENE (fiercely, imperiously)
No! Nobody!... Let me be!... (She goes down towards the hedge, as though fascinated.)
THE VOICE
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God!... Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!...
VERUS
Where is she going....
APPIUS
What is she doing?... She is mad!... She is trying to pass through the hedge!...
THE VOICE
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you!... Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven!...
VERUS
She has opened the gate of the garden!... She is in the orchard!...
SILANUS
Women sometimes have thoughts which wise men do not understand....
VERUS
I shall go and join her; and, if I have to protect her against those....
SILANUS
Do no such thing.... They are listening to the voice and will not perceive her presence, whereas the sight and sound of your arms.... Listen, listen to what he is saying: it is rather singular....
THE VOICE
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you!...
(At that moment, cries, at first scattered, rise among the invisible crowd behind the hedge. A few words are distinguishable: “It Is the Roman woman! The Roman woman!... The adulteress!... Shame!... Shame! Shame!... Magdalene!... The strumpet!... Drive her away, drive her away!...” Immediately afterwards, these cries are lost in a violent and formidable shout of reprobation, in which only a few resounding words are, with difficulty, perceived: “Shame! Shame!... Stone her! Stone her!... Death! Death!... Stone her!” etc. All this is accompanied by a noise of flight, of hurrying footsteps, of sticks and pebbles clashing, of broken branches, etc.)
SILANUS
They have seen her!...
VERUS
But what is happening?... Is it she whom they are attacking?...
SILANUS
It is what I feared.... We must take care....
VERUS (rushing to the bottom of the garden)
This way!... Follow me!... Appius, Cœlius, your swords!...
(At the moment when he rushes down, the laurel-hedge is burst through in every part by the yelling and gesticulating crowd pursuing MARY MAGDALENE. She makes a frenzied attempt to reach the terrace. VERUS and his two friends run towards her, to try to protect her against the invading multitude. Stones fly. VERUS, standing in front of the others, brandishes his bare sword. Just as the fighting is about to begin, when already branches are broken, a statue overturned and so forth, suddenly a loud call of the supernatural voice rings under the nearer olive-trees. All cease, struck with stupor. A word of command is passed from mouth to mouth: “Silence! Silence!... Listen! Listen!... He is speaking! He is going to speak!... The Master has made a sign!... Listen! Listen!...” Then, in the silence thus suddenly produced, the divine voice rises, calm, august, profound and irresistible.)
THE VOICE
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!...
(The stones are heard to drop to the ground. The crowd sways to and fro, abashed, and disappears gradually, in silence, through the hedge. VERUS comes forward to support MARY MAGDALENE, who has stopped and is standing erect and motionless in the middle of the walk. She rejects the proffered aid, with a harsh and fierce gesture, and, staring in front of her, alone among the others, who look at her without understanding, slowly she climbs the steps of the terrace.)
CURTAIN