MARY MAGDALENE Mary Magdalene A Play in Three Acts BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1910 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN SANTA BARBARA COLLEGE LII AUTHOR'S NOTE I have borrowed from Mr. Paul Heyse's drama, Maria von Magdala, the idea of two situations in my play, namely, at the end of the first act, the intervention of Christ, who stops the crowd raging against Mary Magdalene with these words, spoken behind the scenes: "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone;" and, in the third, the dilemma in which the great sinner finds herself, of saving or destroying the Son of God, according as she consents or refuses to give herself to a Roman. Before setting to work, I asked the ven- erable German poet, whom I hold in the highest esteem, for his permission to de- velop those two situations, which, so to v Author's Note speak, were merely sketched in his play, with its incomparably richer plot than mine ; and I offered to recognize his rights in whatever manner he thought proper. My respectful request was answered with a refusal, none too courteous, I regret to say, and almost threatening. From that moment, I was bound to con- sider that the words from the Gospel, quoted above, are common property; and that the dilemma of which I speak is one of those which occur pretty frequently in dramatic literature. It seemed to me the more lawful to make use of it inasmuch as I had happened to imagine it in the fourth act of Joyzelle, in the same year in which Maria von Magdala was published and before I was able to become acquainted with that play. I will add that, excepting the principle of these two situations, in all that concerns vi Author's Note the subject of the play, the conduct of the action, the persons, the characters, the evo- lution and the atmosphere, our two works have absolutely nothing in common: not a phrase, not a cue of the one will be found in the other. Having said this, I am happy to express to the aged master my gratitude for an in- tellectual benefit which is none the less great for being involuntary. MAURICE MAETERLINCK. ACT I ACT I (The gardens of ANNCEUS SILANUS at Bethany. A Roman terrace. A quincunx. Marble benches, porti- coes, statues. In the centre, a basin with a fountain. Arbours. Orange* trees and laurel-trees in stone vases. A balustrade on the right and left, overlooking the valley. A balus- trade at the back, open at the middle to give access to a walk lined with plane-trees and statues and ending in a thick hedge of laurels which closes the garden. ) SCENE I (ENTER ANNCEUS SILANUS and Lucius VERUS) SILANUS Here is the terrace, the glory of my little 3 Mary Magdalene domain: it reminds me of my terrace at Praeneste, which was the crown of my de- sires. Here are my orange-trees, my cy- presses and my oleanders. Here is the fish- pond, the portico with the images of the gods : one of them is a statue of Minerva, discovered at Antioch. (Pointing to the landscape on the left.} And here you have the incomparable view over the val- ley, where spring already reigns. We hang midway in space. Admire the anem- ones streaming down the slopes of Beth- any. It is as though the earth were ablaze beneath the olive-trees. Here I relish in peace the advantages of old age, which knows how to take pleasure in the past; for youth narrows the enjoyment of good things, by considering only those which are present. . . . Mary Magdalene VERUS At last ! Here are trees and water and grass! ... I had lost the memory of them since my arrival in this stony desert which men call Judaea. . . . But how comes it, O my good master, that you have taken up your abode near that dull and barren city, where the soil is abominable, where the men are ugly, churlish, crafty and mischievous, unclean and barbarous? SILANUS As you know, I came with the Procu- rator Valerius Gratus to Csesarea; then I returned to Rome, where you were for some time my faithful and favourite pupil. But soon I became ashamed of teaching a wisdom whose certainties be- came more doubtful to my mind as the assurance wherewith I proclaimed them 5 Mary Magdalene increased. I was brought back here, to this barbarous Judaea, by the strangest curiosity. During my first sojourn, I had begun to study the sacred books of the Jews. They are crude and bloodthirsty; but they also contain beautiful myths and the early efforts of an uncivilized but, at times, singular wisdom. They have not yet wearied me. VERUS Yes, our friend Appius, whom I met at Antioch, told me of your studies and of your sudden and inordinate passion for old Jewish books. . . . SILANUS He will be here shortly. . . . VERUS Who? Appius? . . . Is he at Jeru- salem? 6 Mary Magdalene SILANUS Did you not know? . . . But how long have you yourself been in this coun- try? ... In your letter of two days since, you did not tell me. . . ; . ; VERUS Nearly a week; and I wished to give my first leisure to you. I left Antioch to go to Jerusalem with the Procurator Pontius Pilate. He fears disturbances and will probably need the help of my old legionaries. . : . . SILANUS The spacious, ample Appius, whose words are as rambling as his habits and bring together the most distant friends, spoke to me of you, even as he spoke to you of me. He told me that, when he had 7 Mary Magdalene the good fortune to meet you at Antioch, you seemed a prey to some great unhappy love. . . . VERUS Which was that? SILANUS What! Can the handsomest of military tribunes, in his magnificent array, know more than one love that is not happy? ... It concerned a woman of these regions, a Galilean, if I be not mis- taken. ., . ., VERUS Mary of Magdala? . . . Did he speak to you of her? . . . Where is she? ... I did not see her again; she left Antioch suddenly; and I lost trace of her. . . ;.. SILANUS But why did she not listen to you ? . . . 8 Mary Magdalene Appius declared to me that she sets the men of this country, it is true, at naught, but shows herself not at all inexorable to the Roman knights. . . . VERUS It is one of those riddles of womankind which our duties as soldiers hardly leave us time to solve. She did not appear to dislike me; at least, the dislike which she affected was not without a harsh gentle- ness. . . . But there was mingled with it a certain incomprehensible dread, which made her timidly avoid me. . . . Be- sides, she seemed lately to have suffered a great sorrow, for which she has already, I hear, consoled herself more than once. . . SILANUS I do not know; and all this does not seem to me so very discouraging. After all, 9 Mary Magdalene why afflict one's self with what the gods created for pleasure? . . . Appius, therefore, wished me to cure you, by my wise counsels, of an ill that saddens you needlessly. But, first, do you love her as much as Appius declares? His talk is often extravagant and heedless. .... VERUS I desired her, I still desire her, as I have never desired any woman. ; . . . SlLANUS You speak wisely in not separating, from the outset, desire and love. Besides, I understand. She is certainly the love- liest of all the many women whom I have admired in my life. VERUS What! . . . You have seen her? . . . Is she at Jerusalem then? 10 Mary Magdalene SILANUS She is even nearer to us than Jerusalem, which is fifteen stadia from Bethany. . . (Drawing him a little to the right} . Come to this portico and look over there, at the bottom of the valley. . . . What do you see? . . . VERUS I see olive-trees, paths, tombs. . . . Then I see the pediments of palaces or temples, columns, cypresses. . . . One might think one's self in the outskirts of Rome. . . . But I do not perceive. . . . SILANUS It was Herod the Great, a sort of ra- ving lunatic, but given to building, who filled this valley with splendid palaces more Roman than those of Rome herself. 11 Mary Magdalene . . . But look half-way down the hill, to the left of those three tall cypresses, three or four stadia from here. . . . Do you espy one of the most beautiful marble villas? . . . VERUS The villa with the wide white steps lead- ing to a semicircular colonnade adorned with statues? ... SILANUS That is where she has retired. ,. . . VERUS Mary Magdalene ? . . . In that soli- tude, so far from the city? . . ... SILANUS She told me that she was fleeing from the fanaticism of the Jews, the tumult and the sickening smells, which increase two- Mary Magdalene fold at Jerusalem as the Passover ap- proaches. . . . VERUS Then you see her? . . . You have spoken to her? . . . SILANUS The good Appius, knowing that the sight of a young and beautiful woman de- lights my eyes without endangering them, did not dissuade her from coming up to the house of a disarmed and harmless old man. .. . . VERUS What did she say to you ? . . . What impression did she make upon you ? . . . SILANUS She was clad in a raiment that seemed woven of pearls and dew, in a cloak of 13 Mary Magdalene Tyrian purple with sapphire ornaments, and decked with jewels that rendered a little heavier this eastern pomp. As for her hair, surely, unloosed, it would cover the surface of that porphyry vase with an impenetrable veil of gold. . . . VERUS I speak of her intelligence, her char- acter. ,.. . . Do not mistake: she is no vulgar courtezan. . . . She has other attractions, binding love more firmly. . . SlLANUS I minded only her beauty, which is real and contents the eye. ,. . . However, we can judge better presently: she will soon be coming. . . . VERUS She is coming here? . _,. . But does 14 Mary Magdalene she know that she will find me with you? . ... . SlLANUS Most certainly. It seemed to me that this meeting would do more to assuage your malady than the wise counsels threat- ened by Appius. . . . VERUS But she? . . . What did she say when she learnt that. . . . SlLANUS She smiled with a quivering and pensive grace. . . . The other guests will be our indispensable Appius and Coelius, your fellow-pupil at Praeneste. ... I hope that they will bring our poor friend Longi- nus, who, three weeks ago, lost a little daughter two years old. ... I will try to console him, by good and persua- 15 Mary Magdalene sive arguments, for a sorrow certainly dis- proportionate to his loss. We shall have, among other dishes all excellent, I hope, two fish from the Jordan, new to you, which, dressed by Davus, my old cook. . . . But I hear the sound of the double flute. ... It must be the litter of the queen of Bethany and Jerusalem at the threshold of my house . . . Your eyes will soon behold the soft light which they have missed and mine the smile that pleases them. . . . unless the silver mir- rors in the Atrium delay her longer than they should . . . VERUS She is here. . . . (ENTER, on the right, MARY MAGDALENE. She is followed by some slaves, whom she dismisses 16 Mary Magdalene with a harsh and imperious ges- ture. ) SCENE II THE SAME, MARY MAGDALENE SILANUS (going up to receive MARY MAGDALENE R Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense? . . . Who is she that looketh forth as the morn- ing, fau* as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners," as your sacred books sing at the approach of the Shulamite? . . . MARY MAGDALENE Do not speak to me of my sacred books. I loathe them, as I loathe everything that 17 Mary Magdalene comes from that deceitful and sordid, greedy and mischievous nation. . . . VERUS (coming forward to greet her in his turn} I will say then, in the Roman fashion, "Hail to the eldest daughter of Aglaia, youngest and happiest of the Graces I " MARY MAGDALENE Pity me, instead of praising me. I was robbed, last night, of my Carthaginian ru- bies, besides twelve of my finest pearls; and, what I feel even more, my Babylonian peacock and all the muraenae in my fish- pond. . . . VERUS Who dared commit such manifest sac- rilege? . . . Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE I do not know. ... I have had the slaves in charge of the aviary and the fish- pond beaten with rods and put to the tor- ture: they have confessed nothing and I believe that they know nothing. . . . VERUS Have you no clue, no suspicion? SILANUS The theft amazes me, for the country is safe. ... I have been living here for nigh six years; and no one has ever tried to rob me of an atom of my wisdom, which is never under lock and key and is the only precious thing that I possess. . . . The Jew is crafty, sly and evil-minded; he practises cheating and usury as well as most of the cringing virtues and vices; but he nearly always 19 Mary Magdalene avoids frank, straightforward theft, hon- est theft, if one may say so. ... MARY MAGDALENE I at first suspected some Tyrian work- men who are fitting one of the rooms in my villa with those movable panels which are changed at every course, so that the walls may harmonize with the dishes cov- ering the table. . . . VERUS I have seen some like them in the house of our Governor, Pomponius Flaccus, at Antioch; but I did not know that this fashion, so new to Rome herself, had al- ready made its way into this remote country. . . . MARY MAGDALENE Nor will you find it, except in my house; and the last palace of the Tetrarch Antipas is still without it. ... Therefore I be- 20 Mary Magdalene gan by suspecting those workmen; but I have proofs that they are innocent. I now feel sure that the thieves must be sought among that band of vagrants and prowl- ers who have been infesting the country for some time. . . . SILANUS The famous band of the Nazarene. . . . MARY MAGDALENE Even so. Their leader, I hear, is a sort of unwashed brigand who entices the crowds with a rude kind of sorcery and, on the pretence of preaching some new law or doctrine, lives by plunder and surrounds himself with fellows capable of every- thing. . . . Besides, I have other causes to complain of them. . . . Two days ago, when I was walking in my gardens, under the portico that divides them from the road, a dozen wretches, belonging to 21 Mary Magdalene that band, insulted me foully and threat- ened me with stones. ... It is becom- ing intolerable; and it is time that the countryside were rid of them. . . .., I have heard about those people. . . w I know that the authorities have their eyes upon them. ... I will have them watched more closely. For that matter, if you wish, it would be easy for me to arrest their leader. . . . MARY MAGDALENE Do so, I pray you, and as soon as possi- ble. ... I should be especially grateful to you. . . . SILANUS I believe that you are misled. The rob- 22 Mary Magdalene bers, in my opinion, must not be looked for there. I am in a fairly good position to know the band, seeing that, for five or six days, it has been gathered near my house. I have even had the pleasure for everything turns to pleasure at my age I have even had the pleasure of attending one of their meetings. It was near the old road to Jericho. The leader was speaking in the midst of a crowd covered with dust and rags, among whom I observed a large number of rather repulsive cripples and sick. They seem extremely ignorant and exalted. They are poor and dirty, but I believe them to be harmless and incapable of stealing more than a cup of water or an ear of wheat. . . . They were listen- ing greedily to a more or less silly anec- dote, the story of a son who returns to his father after squandering his patrimony. ... I did not hear the end, for they 23 Mary Magdalene looked upon me with a certain suspicion. ... But the Galilean, or the Nazarene, as they call him here, is rather curious; and his voice is of a penetrating and pecul- iar sweetness. . . . He appears to be the son of a carpenter. ... I will tell you more of him, I know many interesting things about him; but permit me first to go to the other side of the house, which commands the road, to see if my belated guests are not in sight. . . . (He GOES OUT on the left.) SCENE III MARY MAGDALENE, VERUS VERUS I was not prepared for the joy of seeing you again, of your own consent, after your cruel words. They deprived me even of the 24 Mary Magdalene hope that is sometimes left to those whom one would drive to despair. . . . MARY MAGDALENE I was stupid and foolish; but reason has returned; and I now know that the best love is not worth a tear. . . . VERUS Inasmuch as it is hardly the best, nor even a good love, as soon as it causes tears to be shed. . . . MARY MAGDALENE There is no more best or worst love for me. Until lately, I lived among falsehoods by which others profited; for the past six months, I have lived among truths by which I myself profit. VERUS What do you mean ? . .. . 25 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE That I sell myself more skilfully and dearer than before. VERUS Magdalene! . . . You slander your- self! . .., . MARY MAGDALENE You would see, if your desire prompted you to try your fortune, that, on the con- trary, I rate myself very highly. VERUS You will always rate yourself less highly than I do. You will not succeed in de- grading yourself in my eyes; and I see in what you say no more than the just rebel- lion of a deeply wounded soul struggling against pain. . . . 26 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE You are wrong: it is not a soul strug- gling, but one that is finding itself. VERUS I do not believe a word of it. However, I would rather spite or hatred gave you to me than lose you for the noblest of rea- sons ; and, as it is a question only of rating you very highly, know, Magdalene, that from this moment you are mine. . . . MARY MAGDALENE May be. ... But here is our host returning. We have nothing more to say to each other, for the moment. . . ,. (ENTER, on the left, SILANUS, AP- pius and CCELIUS.) Mary Magdalene SCENE IVi THE SAME, SILANUS, APPIUS, CGELIUS APPIUS (going to MARY MAGDALENE)' " Venus has left Cyprus and soars above Jerusalem I " Or, rather, it is the fair Techmessa, who already brings back the smile to the lips of the son of Tela- monl . . . Admire, O Coelius, the magnificent image raised under this por- tico by Love and Beauty! CCELIUS 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, Mary Magdalene 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 Judaea. . ,. . CCELIUS It was extraordinary ! . . ,. The poor man, crushed against an old wall, rolled two drunk and virgin eyes, crying, "He 29 Mary Magdalene 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 Caesar. 30 Mary Magdalene CCELIUS 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 do- main 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. . . , ; 31 Mary Magdalene This is another of the surprises of this monstrous Judaea. . . . SILANUS The Nazarene healed him. CCELIUS 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 Beth- any 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 re- turn to this leper without leprosy, what 32 Mary Magdalene happens behind that hedge and in the house of your mysterious neighbour? SlLANUS 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 pro- duce 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 multi- tude of sick, of vagrants, of cripples, is- suing from all the rocks in Judaea to be- seech 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 over- flow into my garden. The hedge, as you 33 Mary Magdalene 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.) CCELIUS 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 I ... One of them has his face gnawed with an 34 Mary Magdalene 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 unfortu- nate people, with their great leader and their maladies, let us think a little of our- selves and enjoy the delightful after- noon which spring-time sets before us. . . . My pleasure at seeing you here 35 Mary Magdalene 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, repeat- ing that he did not wish to throw a gloom over our happy party with his dismal pres- ence. . . . CCELIUS 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 36 Mary Magdalene tender years, whom her father knew less well than did her nurse ! . . SlLANUS There is something more astonishing yet, which clearly shows that the greatest wisdom is not so much to know as to con- form 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, Longlnus undertook to console me. He wrote me an eloquent letter, wherein, relying on the authority of Metrodorus, Panaetius 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 im- portant passages that I know them almost by heart. . . . They were the loftiest words that human wisdom could utter 37 Mary Magdalene against death and sorrow. . . . They protected me once. . . . MARY MAGDALENE What were the words? It is well to know anything that can relieve sor- row. . . . SlLANUS "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 your- self 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. 38 Mary Magdalene SILANUS Why does he not remember it, when misfortune strikes him? But why did I for- get 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 in- stances without end of fathers losing in- fant children without shedding a single tear and returning to the senate after 39 Mary Magdalene 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 be- fallen one person and still threatens all the others. Moreover, it is madness to com- plain, when there is so little distance be- tween the one who is dead and the one who mourns him. Consider that all mankind, destined to one and the same end, is di- vided 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. 40 Mary Magdalene His stay may be longer, but the end is al- ways alike. The time that elapses between the first day and the last is uncertain and variable. If you consider the wretched- ness 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 41 Mary Magdalene 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 t this way! . . . They say he is going to speak!" etc.) APPIUS What is this? What is happening? . . . VERUS They are hurrying from every side! . . . 43 Mary Magdalene CCELIUS All the roads are covered with people running like madmen! . . . APPIUS They seem to spring from the stones! . . . CCELIUS But what is happening? . . . They are disappearing behind those olive-trees. . . . VERUS Here come two sick men carried on their beds. . . . CCELIUS A blind man falling! . . . APPIUS What is the matter with them? . . . Are they mad? . . . 43 Mary Magdalene 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 move- ments. As soon as he is seen, they bring the sick; and the fanatics come rushing 44 Mary Magdalene up. . . . He must be walking in the neighbouring orchard. . . . (Listening.) Yes. . . . Do you hear the crowd hum- ming 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 in- offensive 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. . . . 45 Mary Magdalene (Behind the hedge that closes the end of the garden rise cries that sound nearer and nearer: " Hosan- nahf 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 sub- sides. 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 46 Mary Magdalene 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 com- forted! . . . Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth! . . . APPIUS What is he saying? . . . SILANUS Listen 1 ... It is rather curious. . . . THE VOICE Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall 47 Mary Magdalene be filled! . . . Blessed are the merci- ful, for they shall obtain mercy I . . . 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! . . . MARY MAGDALENE. I will go ! . . . VERUS I shall go with you. . . . 48 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE (fiercely, ously) 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 king- dom of heaven I ... VERUS Where is she going ,. . . APPIUS What is she doing? . . . She is mad ! . . . She is trying to pass through the hedge ! . . . 49 Mary Magdalene THE VOICE Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you ! . . . Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your re- ward in heaven! . . . VERUS She has opened the gate of the gar- den! . . . 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 50 Mary Magdalene 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 de- spitefully use you ! . . . (At that moment, cries, at frst scat- tered, rise among the invisible crowd behind the hedge. A few words are distinguishable: "It is the Roman woman! The Roman woman! . . . The adulter- ess! . . / . Shame! . . . Shame! Shame! . . ,.. 'Magdalene! . . . The strumpet! . . . Drive her away, drive her away ! ..." Im- mediately afterwards, these cries are lost in a violent and formidable shout of reprobation, in which only A Mary Magdalene a few resounding words are, with difficulty, perceived: "Shame! Shame! . . . Stone her! Stone her! . . . Death! Death! . . . Stone her!" etc. All this is accom- panied by a noise of flight, of hurry- ing footsteps, of sticks and pebbles clashing, of broken branches, etc.} SILANUS. They have seen her 1 ... 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, Ccelius, your swords 1 ... 53 Mary Magdalene (At the moment when he rushes down, the laurel-hedge is burst through In every part by the yelling and ges- ticulating crowd pursuing MARY MAGDALENE. She makes a fren- zied attempt to reach the terrace. VERUS and his two friends run to- wards 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 fight- ing is about to begin, when already branches are broken, a statue over- turned 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! Si- lence! . . . Listen! Listen! . . .. 53 Mary Magdalene He is speaking! He is going to speak! . . . The Master has made a sign! . . . Listen! Lis- ten! ..." 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 gradu- ally, 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 54 Mary Magdalene 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 55 ACT II ACT II ( The Tablinttm [or large room behind the Atrium] of MARY MAGDALENE'S villa at Bethany. At the back, lead- ing one into the other, the Atrium and a long vestibule with marble col- umns.) SCENE I MARY MAGDALENE, Lucius VERUS (ENTER Lucius VERUS. MARY MAGDALENE runs up to him and throws herself into his arms.) MARY MAGDALENE. You at last, my Verus! . . . For three days I have awaited you, for three days I have called you. Men grant me my beauty when its triumph brings me noth- 59 Mary Magdalene ing but regret and disgust. And I ask my- self, is that beauty really powerless when, at last, there is a question of the happiness which every woman has the right to ex- pect in her life? . . . VERUS I know not if I shall be able to give you the happiness that Is your due, Mag- dalene; but be assured that your beauty never gained a more complete victory. . . . MARY MAGDALENE What care I now for its victory! . . ., It is I who am vanquished, utterly van- quished beforehand, without daring to con- fess it to myself, without being able to hide it from my indifference, so odiously ac- quired, or from my vanity, which has never been more than the shameful crown of my shame I ... But why keep me waiting so long? .... I thought that everything 60 Mary Magdalene was abandoning me, that all was lost be- cause of the dreadful words which I spoke at our good Silanus' and which were not true, which were only a profounder lie then my other lies, because I was mad, because I did not know, because I did not wish for an impossible happiness. . . . VERUS You well know, Magdalene, that I never believed you fhe woman you depicted. . . . But now neither do I dare be- lieve in the happiness that approaches. ... I am quite dazzled, I doubt, I grope in the dark. ... I do not recog- nize the voice that has so often and so harshly repelled me. MARY MAGDALENE (in VERUS' arms ) It is not the same voice, it is not the same soul. . . . 61 Mary Magdalene VERUS And yet it is really you whom I hold in my arms, it is every parcel of you whom I have implored so long 1 ... I ask my- self still if all is indeed real, if all is in- deed possible, if you are not trifling with a too-credulous happiness which you will fling aside among all those which beauty shatters when testing its power. . . . But no, when I question, when I follow your eyes that plunge into mine, I see that it is indeed true, that it was always true. . . . MARY MAGDALENE Yes, yes, it is true, it is true and it was always true. ... I did not know it, I searched my heart in vain and I was ignorant of all my feelings until these days of anguish. ... I refused to see that you were coming towards me and 63 Mary Magdalene that everything was awaiting you. . . . And yet I ought to have known it. ... Already, at Antioch, do you remember, Verus, how I avoided you? ... I re- ceived so many others; and you alone, the comeliest, the purest, I tried to ignore, to blot out, to destroy. ... As soon as you appeared, I withdrew, like a shy and distrustful animal, to my lair; and, only the other day, at our good Silanus', I felt all the -evil, all the cruelty, or all the despair that fills my heart rise to my lips. . . . But, to-day, I see ; I am no longer the same; I no longer know myself, because I am myself once more. . . . All that used to resist is broken within my soul. ... I no longer understand myself and I did not know that happiness is so strange a thing. i. . . I, who never wept in my worst mo- ments of distress, am sobbing to-day when happiness awaits me. ... I am glad 63 Mary Magdalene and light-hearted and yet more shattered than if all the misfortunes that hover in the skies were about to burst over me. . . . (Embracing him more passionately ) Help me, my Verus, help me, support me, you whom nothing threatens, you who have nothing to fear! . . ... VERUS But what has happened? Can any one have dared, in my absence . . . ? MARY MAGDALENE No, no, nobody; and it is not that; and I myself do not know the danger that surrounds me. . . . But I have no other shelter than your arms; and I feel myself lost if I lose you too. . . . Take me, bear me away on that heart to which I am listening, far from myself, far from this place and from my anxiety. . . . You alone can save me and I have no life but 64 Mary Magdalene that which you give me. . . . But why did you forsake me so long in my tears, why did you not come until after the third day, abandoning me thus, without a word of pity, without a sign of hope? . . . VERUS You are mistaken, Magdalene, or else your slaves did not acquaint you with the truth. . . . The very day after our meet- ing at Silanus', I came to Bethany to tell you that, by order of the Procurator, I was suddenly sent, at the head of a co- hort, to suppress a curious riot that had broken out near Jericho. The slaves who keep your door would not allow me to approach you and replied to me in such a way that I dared not well insist. . . . I understood that they were obeying orders so precise and so stern that I must not try to thwart them. . . . 60 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE It is true. ... I forgot. ... I was mad and worn out, incapable of seeing, willing or hearing. ... I was not yet awake. ... It seemed to me that I was still struggling amid the hideous crowd in Simon's garden, where I called in vain upon him who had delivered me. . . . He was abandoning me, he too. ... I sent in search of him to no purpose. No one could tell me where he was hid- ing. . . . Have you not seen him since ? . . . Do you not know where he is? ... VERUS .Who? MARY MAGDALENE The Nazarene. . . . 66 Mary Magdalene VERUS Let us not speak of that wretched man : his hours are numbered. . . . MARY MAGDALENE His hours are numbered? . . . What do you mean? . . . VERUS No matter: that does not interest us now and soon we shall know nothing of aught that does not touch our love; for it is wonderful to see how the thoughts of those who love each other meet and unite in spite of the 'distance and of the ill-natured speeches that come between them. Is it not astonishing that, after leaving you at Silanus', where I had heard words that should have deprived me of all hope, I for the first time felt our young happiness swell and blossom in all its 67 Mary Magdalene strength and all its certainty? . . . While you were calling me, I called you also with all the deep and wonderful voices of my heart. I was kept far from you by a duty unworthy of a soldier; for that expedition to Jericho, the last, I trust, upon which I shall be sent, was almost odious and often ridiculous. I counted with rage the minutes stolen from our new life, which was al- ready beginning in a soul that feared none of my reasons for fearing. . . . MARY MAGDALENE It will not really begin until we are far from this land where I suffocate, where everything darkens and threatens happi- ness, where I can no longer live. . . . Verus, I beseech you, if ypu love me as I love you, let us hasten, let us leave every- thing; there is no time to lose. . . . 68 Mary Magdalene VERUS You are right: a joy so long awaited must not be born among these sinister rocks, where floats an odour of death and madness. . . . And yet, even here, our thoughts came to an understanding long before our words. . . . Like you, I have resolved to leave this hated city, where really my obedience is abused. ... I am at the orders of the Procurator, but not at the venomous service of the Jewish priests, nor of the clamorous and perfidious nation whom my old legionaries have con- quered. I have had enough of this am- biguous life. Before to-night, I shall find a pretext for evading an order which I was to execute this very day, an order of which I but too well know the origin. . . . If the pretext appear insufficient, let Caia- phas and Annas go and complain to Cse- 69 Mary Magdalene sar. . . . Nothing counts in the presence of our love; and the inglorious errand which they claim the right to impose upon me repels me all the more inasmuch as it was to be accomplished, so to speak, be- fore your eyes. . . . MARY MAGDALENE Before my eyes? ... Of what are you speaking? . . . VERUS Nothing that interests you; let us think only of our happy escape. . . . MARY MAGDALENE I know that some danger threatens him. . . . VERUS Whom do you mean ? . . . MARY MAGDALENE It is impossible, after what he has done, 70 Mary Magdalene that you should become the instrument of his worst enemies. . . . You owe him my life and perhaps our happiness. . . . What do they want with him? What or- ders have you received? . . . VERUS I am charged to arrest him before this evening, together with the principal leaders of his band. It is a vulgar constabulary measure, directed against sick men and va- grants, of a kind that has never yet been ex- acted of the legionaries. ... It shall not take place; do not let us speak of it. . . ., MARY MAGDALENE But why arrest him? What has he done? What is he accused of ?. . . He is innocent, I know; besides, one need but see him to understand. . . . He brings a happiness that was not known before; 71 Mary Magdalene and all those who come near him are happy, it seems, like children at their awak- ing. ... I myself, who only caught a glimpse of him among the olive-trees, felt that gladness was rising in my soul like a sort of light that overtook my thoughts. . . . He fixed his eyes for but a moment on mine; and that will be enough for the rest of my life. ... I knew that he rec- ognized me without ever having seen me and I knew that he wished to see me again. i. . . He seemed to choose me gravely, absolutely, for ever. . . . VERUS What does this mean? Are you speak- ing of him? What happened? .. . . Have you seen him again? ... I was told, for that matter, that he is an intri- guer, ready for everything; but I should never have believed that he would have dared . . . 73 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE He has dared nothing. ... I have not seen him again, I shall never see him again, now that we are about to leave everything, to be only we two alone. . . . VERUS (clasping her more closely} To be one alone, Magdalene, in a hap- pkr land, where everything encourages happiness, smiles upon lovers and blesses beauty. . . . MARY MAGDALENE (bursting into convulsive sobs on VERUS' breast ) I love you. ... I know it. ,. . . VERUS Come, I know these tears that well at the same moment from our two hearts in our one joy. . . . But here, between the columns of the vestibule, come the greatest 73 Mary Magdalene ornaments of that beautiful Rome which we shall soon astonish with our love. . . . I am right: it is our good Silanus, accom- panied by the faithful Appius; led by the immortal gods, they descend the marble steps to hallow with their fraternal pres- ence the first smiles of a happiness born under their eyes. . . . SILANUS It was said and it was written that, on this most propitious day, I should behold two marvels, not the lesser of which is to see thus promptly reunited two lovers who, according to love's -ancient custom, should have fled from each other the more obsti- nately the more they yearned to meet. . . . 74 Mary Magdalene APPIUS By Metrodorus, Hermachus and Zeno, there are other things on hand than the too-long-expected happiness of two lovers cutting short their quarrels! . . . Tell them at once what has happened; shout it to them, with all your throat and all your soul : death no longer exists ! The graves are about to open, the spirits of the dead to show themselves; the gods are shaken, all the laws of life are overturned! . . . We have just admired an unequalled, un- speakable, unheard-of phenomenon, that has never been seen since light first rose upon the world, that will not be seen again before the death of the gods ! . . . SILANUS The more extraordinary it seems to you, Appius, the less should it trouble the per- 75 Mary Magdalene feet composure of your soul, considering that a phenomenon that will not be seen again could not well shake the laws of the universe nor the stability of the gods! VERUS But what has happened? Appius seems to be the victim of a greater exaltation than usual; and you yourself, my worthy mas- ter, despite your even mind . . . APPIUS I will tell you what has happened: he has brought a dead man to life ! . . . MARY MAGDALENE Who? . . . SlLANUS The Nazarene, whose return I have come to announce to you, as I promised. 76 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE He has come back? Since when? Where is he? ... Have you seen him? . . . SILANUS To reply to your questions in order, lady, I will tell you that he returned this morn- ing, that I saw him with my eyes and that, at this moment, he is with my neighbour Simon the Leper. I am surprised, how- ever, that the absolute frenzy which has shaken the country for two or three hours has not yet spread as far as here. It is true that your dwelling is separated by a high hill and some olive-woods from the spot where the sepulchre lies hidden. MARY MAGDALENE I have heard nothing, learned nothing. ... In spite of my orders, no one has 77 Mary Magdalene told me. . ,. . But, after all, what has happened? . . . Appius is as pale as a ghost. . . . What is it? What has he said, what has he done ? . . . APPIUS He has done a thing which no man, no god, has done before him; a thing which I would not have believed if ten thousand witnesses had come to swear it in the name of the immortals, but in which I believe as firmly as I am bound to believe in my own existence, having seen it with my eyes, as I, see you now, and almost touched it with my hands, as I touch this vase. He said, " Rise, come forth and walk." And the dead man rose, came forth and began to walk among us I VERUS It was apparently a dead man whose health left nothing to be wished for? . . . 78 Mary Magdalene SILANUS No, I am convinced that it was really a dead man. APPIUS It was a real, a terrible dead man ! . . . If not, my senses can no longer declare that the sun shines in the blue or that human flesh decays! . . . He had been four days in the grave! . . . MARY MAGDALENE But who? How? Where? . . . And the Nazarene? ... I want to know. . . . Speak for him, Silanus: he has not yet recovered his senses. . . . SILANUS Here, in a few words, is what happened. Nevertheless, it is right that I should tell you that I do not entirely share Appius' 79 Mary Magdalene amazement. It should astonish us no more to see a man return to life than to see a child come to life or an old man leave it. (MAGDALENE makes a movement of impatience.} But I understand your im- patience. I spoke to you the other day of my neighbour Simon. He lives in the little house that touches my property, with his wife, his sister-in-law and his brother-in- law, named Lazarus. This Lazarus, whom I saw only two or three times, for he was often away from home, had been ailing for some weeks and died four days ago. . . . APPIUS Four days, do you understand? . . .- That is what nobody would dare deny. . . . SILANUS Nor does any one think of doing so, Ap- pius. They were a very united family; 80 Mary Magdalene and the sorrow of those poor people was great. From my terrace, I could hear the lamentations of the women. According to the custom of the Jews, Lazarus was buried on the night that followed after his death. They laid him in a new grave, dug in the rocks that form the other side of that hill, and closed the grave with an enormous stone. This morning, sud- denly, the rumour spread that the Naza- rene had returned and that he was going to restore to life the dead man, who was his friend. Appius, who was at my house, persuaded me to go down with him; and we followed the crowd into the valley of the tombs. MARY MAGDALENE I knew that he was to return to-day; but why did you not send word to me at once, as you promised? . . . 81 Mary Magdalene SILANUS It seemed to me that the spectacle at hand was not one of those on which the eyes of a woman in the hour of her beauty love to rest. Moreover, there was cause to fear lest your arrival among the ex- cited crowd should cause a repetition of the violence of the other day. For an enormous crowd, silent, but quivering like a swarm of bees, escorted the Nazarene, in front of whom walked the two sisters of Lazarus. We, Appius and I, climbed on to a block of stone hidden behind some bushes, whence we could see and hear everything without arousing the suspicion of the Jews. They showed the grave to the Nazarene, who stopped and lowered his head. APPIUS He wept. They whispered in the 82 Mary Magdalene crowd, " Behold how he loved him! " But nobody dared approach. They formed a circle at a distance, as though round a dread being. . . . SILANUS '"Take ye away the stone," said the Nazarene; and two men stepped toward the grave. APPIUS You forget that, at that moment, one of the sisters of the dead man, alarmed and all in tears, seized the Nazarene by the arm and said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he hath been dead four days." The Nazarene answered I have not forgotten a single one of his words "Said I not unto thee that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Take ye away the stone." 83 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE Who is this sister of Lazarus? Is she Simon's wife? SlLANUS No, it is the other one: her name is Mary and, when the Nazarene stays at Bethany, she never leaves him. MARY MAGDALENE Is she young? SlLANUS She is younger than Simon's wife. MARY MAGDALENE Have you seen her? Do you know her? . . . SlLANUS I have spoken to her more than once. But to return to the stone, which was enor- 84 Mary Magdalene mous, flat and fastened into the walls of the cave: two men attacked it with levers. It resisted at first and then, suddenly, fell down all of a piece. . . . APPIUS We were quite close, hanging aslant over the cave. By all the gods who from, heaven rule the earth and men, I swear that, at that moment, I felt the terrible breath of the dead man strike me in the face! . . . MARY MAGDALENE Did you see the dead man? . . . APPIUS As I see you now, lady ! . . . VERUS I do not understand how you can seri- 85 Mary Magdalene ously interest yourselves in these things which happen in an incongruous, mad world, where all is witchcraft, coarse illu- sions and barbarous lies. . . .. APPIUS By Hades and Persephone, what my senses perceived was no illusion, I assure you! . . . We nearly fell from our rock! . . . The corpse was there, in the greedy light that devoured the cave, lying like a stiff and shapeless statue, closely bound in grave-clothes, the face covered with a napkin. The crowd, heaped up in a semicircle, irresistibly attracted and re- pelled, leaned forward, stretched its thou- sand necks, without daring to approach. The Nazarene stood alone, in front. He raised his hand, spoke a few words which I did not catch and then, addressing the corpse in a voice whose pent-up force I 86 Mary Magdalene shall never forget, he cried, " Lazarus, come forth ! " MARY MAGDALENE Did he come forth? . . . APPIUS We heard only the sound of the wind moving the garments of the multitude and the buzzing of the flies that swarmed into the grave. All eyes were so firmly fixed upon the corpse that I saw, so to speak, their motionless beams, as one sees the sunbeams in a dark room. . . . Sud- denly, it became plain, terrifying, super- human! The dead man, obeying the or- der, slowly bent in two; then, snapping the bandages that fastened his legs, he stood up erect, like a stone, all white, with his arms bound and his head veiled. With small, almost impossible steps, guided by 87 Mary Magdalene the light, he came forth from the grave. The affrighted crowd gradually fell back, without being able to turn away its gaze. "Loose him and let him go," said the Nazarene. And the two sisters of the dead man, releasing themselves from the human hedge, rushed to their brother. MARY MAGDALENE And he? . . . APPIUS He staggered, he stumbled at every step. . . . MARY MAGDALENE But the Nazarene? . . . APPIUS He went away without a word and with- drew into Simon's house. 88 Mary Magdalene VERUS And the dead man, how did he go ? ... APPIUS The two sisters, wild-eyed, mechanic- ally, blindly fumbled and cut the napkin and the grave-clothes ; then, supporting the dead man and helping him to walk, they led him away to the same house. The crowd dared not follow them save with their eyes. No one uttered a word; even the two women did not yet speak to the dead man. MARY MAGDALENE And the Nazarene? Has he been seen again? SILANUS He has not left Simon's house. The swaying multitude is waiting for him in 89 Mary Magdalene the orchard and along the roads; for, after the first long minutes of stupor, reaction set in and a general alacrity followed. ... APPIUS Which was as extraordinary as the mira- cle itself! First, a confused and almost dumb gladness, made up of whispers that seek and feel for one another, passed through the crowd. Then, as though the truth had suddenly burst forth under the skies, an unspeakable gaiety seized upon the mass. The whispers became cries that were not recognizable. The women, the children and especially the older men ex- ulted frantically. It was as though they were trampling on death, which a god had just conquered and laid low, for the first time since man came into existence. At this moment, an inconceivable and danger- ous exaltation still prevails in all the re- 90 Mary Magdalene gion round about the tombs ; and, by Her- cules, though we have escaped unscathed, I would not advise my worst enemy to risk the Roman toga and arms there I VERUS Is that all? . . . APPIUS What more would you have ? . . . VERUS I should like to know what all this proves. APPIUS It proves that this man who has con- quered death, which hitherto had con- quered the world, is greater than we and our gods. It therefore behoves us to hear what he has to tell us and to conform our lives to it. 91 Mary Magdalene SILANUS I will conform mine to it, Appius, if what he teaches is better than what I have learned. By awaking a dead man, in the depth of his grave, he shows us that he possesses a power greater than that of our masters, but not a greater wisdom. Let us await everything with an even mind. It is not difficult, even for a child, to dis- cern that which, in men's words, augments or decreases the love of virtue. If he can convince me that I have acted wrong until to-day, I will amend, for I seek only the truth. But, if all the dead who peo- ple these valleys were to rise from their graves to bear witness, in his name, to a truth less high than that which I know, I would not believe them. Whether the dead sleep or wake, I will not give them a thought unless they teach me to make a better use of my life. . . . 93 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE (starting)' Listen I . . . VERUS What is it? ... APPIUS I hear stones rolling. .. . .., VERUS It is like the murmur of a crowd. . . . MARY MAGDALENE He is coming! . . . APPIUS (going to the first columns of the vestibule) From here we overlook the wall of the first court. ... I see theml . . . 93 Mary Magdalene MARY MAGDALENE (pale and stag- gering, takes a few steps toward the back of the Atrium and gazes into the distance) Yes. . . . APPIUS They are wrapped in a cloud of dust. . . . There are two or three thousand of them crowding toward the entrance. ... I think it is those who were at the grave. . . . VERUS They would not dare ! . . . MARY MAGDALENE Verus! . . . VERUS Fear nothing, Magdalene: this time, I alone will defend you. 94 Mary Magdalene APPIUS They are following, at a distance, a man clad in white, who is entering the court. . . . VERUS But what is the janitor of the first court- yard doing? ... Will he not stop him? . . . APPIUS Yes. . . . He is coming now. . . . What is he doing? . . . One would think he was afraid! . . . He suddenly stops and lets him pass without a word. . . . VERUS And the others follow him. . . . They are entering the second court. . . . The impudence of those Jews is really incredi- ble! ... In Rome, even during the Saturnalia, we should not allow the crowd 95 Mary Magdalene to push its way like that. . . . What are the slaves doing? . . . MARY MAGDALENE Is it he? . . . SILANUS Who? . . . MARY MAGDALENE The Nazarene. . . . SILANUS I think not. ... It is not his walk. ... I believe rather that it is ... APPIUS There he is, in the plane-tree avenue ! SILANUS He is coming straight in our direc- tion. . . . 96 Mary Magdalene VERUS He is even taking the shortest way. He is coming up the steps under the box- wood arbour. . . . He seems at home. . . . Fortunately, the slaves are running from every side to bar his entrance to the vestibule. . . . MARY MAGDALENE Hush, I entreat youl . . . VERUS What is the matter? . . . APPIUS He is coming nearer; he is terribly pale. . . . SILANUS I believe it is ... MARY MAGDALENE Who? . . . 97 Mary Magdalene SILANUS The other one. . . . The one whom he brought forth from the . . . MARY MAGDALENE Lazarus? . . . SILANUS .Yes, I recognize him. . . . VERUS What does he want with us? . Ghosts do not walk like that, in broad daylight. . . . He is horrible ! . . . MARY MAGDALENE Oh, hush, hush! . . . SILANUS Here he is. ... 98 Mary Magdalene SCENE III THE SAME, LAZARUS. At the back of the vestibule, the SLAVES. Further away, imagined rather than perceived, the crowd of JEWS. (A great silence. LAZARUS ad- vances slowly from the back of the vestibule. Pie looks neither to the right nor to the left. The SLAVES of the villa, who have hastened up among the last columns, form a group for a moment as though to block his way. But, at the ap- proach of the man risen from the dead, who seems unaware of their presence, they fall back silently, one after the other. LAZARUS ENTERS by the back of the Atrium and stops on the threshold, which is raised by three steps. MARY 99 Mary Magdalene MAGDALENE moves backwards to one of the columns in the fore- ground, against which she crushes herself, motionless. But VERUS, breaking the silence, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, goes up to LAZARUS.) VERUS (in a hectoring voice) Who are you? . . . ( LAZARUS does not reply.) You do not answer? . . . It is indeed easier to cover with silence what one dare not confess. But, if you have nothing to say, you have no business here. It is well for you that my pity is stronger than my indignation. Go! (A new and profound silence.) LAZARUS (in a voice that does not seem yet to have recovered its human note t to MAGDALENE) Come. The Master calls you. 100 Mary Magdalene (MAGDALENE leaves the column against which she is leaning and takes four or five steps towards LAZARUS, as though walking in her sleep.) VERUS (barring the road) Where are you going? ; . . MARY MAGDALENE (as though recov- ering consciousness with difficulty, in a sti- fled, hesitating voice, which she vainly tries to render firmer) Wherever he wishes. . . .. VERUS No, not while I am here ! . . . MARY MAGDALENE (throwing herself convulsively into VERUS' arms) Verus! . . . 101 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BANTA BARBARA COLLEGE LIBRARY Mary Magdalene VERUS (clasping her violently) Have no fear, Magdalene. Nothing can touch you in these arms which close round you. The madness of this land seems more contagious than its pestilence and more tenacious than its leprosy; but Roman reason does not waver, like the rest, at the first foul breath that issues from a tomb. We will cut this matter short. ( To LAZARUS ) You I will not touch with my sword. It shrinks from corpses, even when they walk and drive the trade which you do. It is for the slaves to show you the road back to the sepulchre. . . . Where are the slaves? . . . But, before going, look at this and tell your master that the woman whom he covets by the gods, he lacks neither taste nor daring ! has sought a refuge in these arms, which will know how to defend her 102 Mary Magdalene against his barbarous witchcraft and his childish spells. Above all, repeat to him what I am about to say: he will perhaps understand. His life, which will not be a long one, after what he has done, lies wholly in this hand which drives you hence. I have spoken. Go. She will not follow you. . . . MARY MAGDALENE (struggling to es- cape from VERUS' embrace, while, in the effort, her hair becomes loosened and falls over her shoulders) Yes! . . . VERUS (holding her back by force) What does this mean? . . . Then you wish to . . .? (MAGDALENE nods her head.) I no longer understand. . . . Or rather I begin to understand too well. ... You were at one. . . . And it 103 Mary Magdalene was he whom you were awaiting with that impatience which seemed so sweet to me? . . . For who could be made to believe that the fairest, richest and proudest woman in all Judea would thus, without a previous understanding, obey the first word, the first sign of the grotesque and repulsive messenger sent by one whom she had seen but once in her life ! . . . It is too much. ... I see, I know : go, since you love him! . . . MARY MAGDALENE No, no ! ... I love you, but he. ... VERUS But he? . . . MARY MAGDALENE (sinking in sobs at VERUS' feet) It is a different thing! . . . 104 Mary Magdalene VERUS It is well, stand up. ... I do not keep you by force. But I could not have believed that you had come to this. . . . ; I have fallen into one of your Jewish traps. Do you see the crowd posted there, under the portico, spying upon its hostages? ... I will not have Roman property defiled. ... I bear you no grudge, Magdalene. Love, in me, is not extinguished in a moment; and I possess more constancy than woman. ... I shall watch over you. I know now that, by destroying him, I can save her whom he wished to destroy. He does not sus- pect that he owes his life to me; for hith- erto, from pity or indifference, I had held back the threats that were gathering over his head. But, since he himself comes to attack me in my happiness, I add to those 105 Mary Magdalene threats all the weight of flouted lave. . . . And, now, go with your guide from the tombs. . . . We shall meet again be- fore long. (LAZARUS GOES OUT slowly through the vestibule. MAGDALENE, with- out a word, without a movement, without a look, GOES OUT after him, amid the profound, still silence of all present.) APPIUS (after a long pause) We have this day seen more than one thing that we had not seen before. . . . SILANUS It is true, Appius; and this is as sur- prising as the resurrection of a dead man.. . . . CURTAIN 106 ACT III ACT III (In the house of JOSEPH OF ARIMATH^A. The Supper-room in which the Last Supper took place. Windows at the back. Doors to the right and left. Jud