LUCIUS VERUS, MARY MAGDALENE
VERUS (_sarcastically_)
Who are those extraordinary persons?... I have never seen so many
cripples, vagrants and evil-smelling sick people gathered together....
What do they want with you?... I was told that you were living in the
midst of uncouth creatures, the oldest, the ugliest, the dirtiest and
the most pestilential of those Jews whom you mocked so pleasantly in
the house of the wise Silanus; but I could not have believed that they
were so intimate with you as this.... However, that no longer concerns
me. But I told you that we should meet again before long.... Appius
informed me that you had been looking for me in the Roman quarter.
I left everything to hasten at your first summons. I knew what was
happening and I was biding my time....
MARY MAGDALENE
How good and generous you are!... How reassuring and comforting your
presence and your smile!... Those others ... if you only knew!... They
were trembling like the reeds of which our Master speaks; and I was
helpless and dying with shame.... But I knew that you would come back
to us; and now this is you, your arms, your breast.... It seems to me
that Rome in her entirety is protecting us and that your arms, which
can do all things, cannot abandon him....
VERUS
They will not abandon you, Magdalene. The rest depends upon yourself
alone.... I am good and generous, perhaps, but in my own manner; and
we must understand each other.... So they have arrested him in whom you
take so lively an interest, as I told you that they would?...
MARY MAGDALENE
They have not only arrested him: all the menials of the Temple, the
grooms, the herds, the meanest scullions in the kitchens rushed at him,
insulted, flouted and ill-treated him.... And, as they were afraid,
as they were too cowardly to venture it alone, they made the Roman
soldiers help them!...
VERUS
I know.... But had we not best be brief and to the point?...
MARY MAGDALENE
Yes, we have no time to lose....
VERUS
Even so. It is not now a question of arrest nor of more or less
justifiable ill-usage, but of imminent death. I have seen the
Procurator Pontius Pilate.
MARY MAGDALENE
Good. What did he say?...
VERUS
I found him anxious, perplexed, at a loss. He is a mild, irresolute
man, an enemy to quarrels and violence. He had to choose between
the inevitably bloody revolt of the priests and their sectaries and
the sacrifice of an agitator who was unquestionably troublesome and
dangerous, but who has not, perhaps, incurred the death penalty in
the eyes of Roman law and justice. I spoke according to my duty and
conscience. He did not hesitate. He chose the more humane and wiser
course. And, as I am the armed guardian responsible for the Roman
peace, he gave the fate of your Nazarene into my hands. However, I must
admit that, before our interview, I had purposely allowed events to
take the course they did....
MARY MAGDALENE
He is saved! I was sure of it! And how right I was to fear nothing and
to hope all things in turning to you!...
VERUS
Do not let us go too fast. There are many things to consider....
MARY MAGDALENE
What do you say?...
VERUS
I say that there are many things to consider.... Had I known nothing
whatever of your adventure, my choice would not have been in doubt: I
should, while more or less pitying him, have sacrificed the wretched
man to the public tranquillity; it is the sovereign law of the empire;
but now....
MARY MAGDALENE
But now, it is different, you know him, you know everything.... There
is no excuse for a moment’s hesitation; it would be monstrous....
VERUS
Indeed, there is no excuse for a moment’s hesitation; it would be
monstrous, as you say.... Shall I, to snatch a favoured rival from a
well-merited death, for the second time lose the only woman whom I love
or can love?... That certainly is impossible....
MARY MAGDALENE
I do not quite understand....
VERUS
Yet it is simple enough: in saving him, I hand you over, without
defence, to the fellow who will drag you with him, by fall after fall,
to the bottom of none can tell what pit of folly and wretchedness,
whence no human and reasoning power will be able to extricate you.
Moreover, speaking for myself, I lose you irrevocably by thus giving
you, with my own simple, foolish hands, to one who robs me of my
happiness by methods against which a man who values the name does not
try to struggle. Whereas, if I abandon him to his fate, there remains
a chance of seeing you return to the light and for me some prospect of
finding you in my path; for our two lives have still, I hope, a long
space to cover; and many roads, as you well know, lead to Rome....
MARY MAGDALENE
I understand.... I understand, since I needs must understand.... But I
do not yet believe.... No, it is not possible; and you, the man whom I
know, have not come to tell me coldly that you wish to destroy him and
thus revenge yourself for an injury which he has not done you.... There
is, there must be, something else....
VERUS
Yes, there is something else.... There remains to us, if you are
absolutely bent upon it, one means of saving him. But, at the point to
which we have come and to which I have driven the adventure, saving
him probably means ruin to myself. Besides, time presses. The sentence
is written, I have seen it. He will be put to death at daybreak; for
the hours are numbered because of the Passover....
MARY MAGDALENE
What must I do?... Quick, quick, I will do it....
VERUS
The prisoner is guarded by my men; it is therefore not quite impossible
to effect his escape....
MARY MAGDALENE
Why yes, why yes, it is simple; and that, of course, is what we must
do!... Once free, he will hide and he will be forgotten.... Let us lose
no time.... But I do not understand why you came to say....
VERUS
You will soon understand.... I answer for the prisoner, therefore. Do
you know what I am doing, do you know what I risk by restoring him to
liberty?...
MARY MAGDALENE
You are only doing your duty in freeing an innocent man....
VERUS
It is not for me to enquire into his innocence; that does not concern
me. I am not his judge, but his keeper....
MARY MAGDALENE
Your soldiers will hold their tongues and no one will know that....
VERUS
My soldiers will not be able to hold their tongues. They will have to
choose between silence and their lives. It will therefore be known
that they acted only on my orders. Now there is no instance of the
high-priests’ ever abandoning a prey, a revenge, a hatred. They will
go and complain, first, at Antioch, to the Governor of Syria, and,
next, to Cæsar himself, whose anger is kindled at the very breath of a
suspicion. Do you know what Cæsar is? The greatest, the most powerful
men in Rome tremble before his shadow.... For me, it means, if not
death, at least exile far from Rome; and death, to us Romans, seems
sweet compared with exile.... That is what I give; that is my stake; I
am waiting for yours.
MARY MAGDALENE
You are waiting for mine?... What would you have me give?... I have
nothing left.... I distributed all to the poor the other evening....
VERUS
I do not ask for what one gives to the poor.... And, besides, I have
had enough of those evasions which lead to nothing and of those
shuffling phrases.... Ah, much I care for justice and a vagrant more
or less in the world and my own fate and my own exile!... Have you not
understood that it is you I want, you alone and all of you; that I have
wanted you for years; and that this is my hour?... It is not beautiful,
I know, and it is not as I dreamt it!... But it is all I have; and a
man takes what he can to make his life!... We stand here face to face,
with our two madnesses, which are more powerful than ourselves and
cannot recede; we must come to an understanding!... The more you love
him, the more I love you, the more you wish to save him and the more I
wish to destroy him! We must come to an understanding!... You want his
life, I want mine; and you shall have his life, but I shall have you,
before he escapes his death.... Is it understood?... Are we agreed?...
Say no, if you dare, and let his blood be upon her who has brought him
to this pass and who is destroying him twice over!...
MARY MAGDALENE
Ah, so that was it!... Yes, yes, I know, I see.... I was not conscious
and I no longer thought of it; but it was bound to be.... Ah, so it
was that which caused me just now, while you were speaking, to have no
confidence despite my confidence!... It is so strange, so monstrous, so
remote from us!... One needs a little time to understand.... All one’s
thoughts become deranged and one’s soul falls, falls, like a stone in
a well.... One grasps the meaning of nothing.... One no longer knows
where one stands....
VERUS
You and I know quite well; and there is nothing extraordinary in all
this.... A few days ago, you would not have needed so much urging; and
I do not understand that to-day, when the price of love is something
quite different, to-day, when a life, dear to you among all lives....
MARY MAGDALENE
Ah, you do not understand!... And to think that scarcely any one, not
even those who loved him, would understand better!... Am I then the
only being that has seen into his soul?... And yet it is not so very
difficult!... He has spoken to me only three times in my life, but I
know what he thinks. I know all that he wishes, I know all that he is
as completely as though I were within him, or as though he were there,
near me, fixing upon my brow his glance in which the angels come down
from heaven, as on the evening when I kissed his feet and wiped them
with my hair....
VERUS
I well knew that I came too late, but I should never have believed
that you had gone so far.... If he has spoken to you only three times,
he has not wasted the minutes and has told you enough to remove my
doubts.... But let us be calm. It is a question other than of love; and
your lover himself, were he consulted, would judge that a kiss does not
weigh much in the presence of death.... Since you love him so well,
is his life not worth a slight displeasure, which but lately would not
have inspired you with such horror?... If there were a looking-glass
in this room, I would go and gaze at myself with curiosity, to make
out what, in a few days, has made me so repulsive that the torture of
the one man whom you adore is preferred to the touch of my lips!...
But what is the matter?... One would think that I was speaking of
unimaginable things!... What have I said? What have I done?... Your
face is distorted.... There is no need to look at me like that, with
mad and terrified eyes, as though they beheld the fall of the sun or
the violation of a tomb!...
MARY MAGDALENE
Let me be.... You cannot know.... I am only beginning to understand....
VERUS
A few days since, you were not so slow in understanding....
MARY MAGDALENE (_in a soft and distant voice_)
Yes, yes.... For one sees only little by little.... (_Staring before
her_) It is unfolded slowly, like a thing that has no beginning, no
end, no name.... There are two deaths here, I hold two deaths in my
hand; and that is too heavy a weight for a poor creature born upon this
earth....
VERUS
Two deaths?... What do you mean?... You do not intend to follow him,
surely?... Your death, since he loves you, would only add a very
useless bitterness to his....
MARY MAGDALENE (_in the same soft and distant voice_)
No.... I am not speaking of mine.... It is two other deaths.... I still
have my senses.... I can see clearly in the abyss.... Let me look,
where you can see nothing....
VERUS
I should not have thought that, when I came to bring you his safety and
the great sacrifice which I am making to love....
MARY MAGDALENE (_with a sudden outburst_)
The sacrifice which you are making to love!... Ah, if you could see
the sacrifice which is being accomplished here and which the very
angels dare not look upon!... But you cannot know what has happened on
earth since he descended upon it!... It is no longer the same earth;
and it is no longer possible!... Before he came, the purest would not
have hesitated!... Before he came! Before he came!... And, even then,
to-day, I, who have been born again through him, if it were not he, if
it were a question of another, I should not have the strength!... I
should perhaps sin against all that he loves, to save what I love!...
But he gives too much strength to love and to suffer!... I could save
him in spite of himself; but no longer in spite of myself!... If I
bought his life at the price which you offer, all that he wished, all
that he loved would be dead!... I cannot plunge the flame into the mire
to save the lamp! I cannot give him the only death that could touch
him!... But look at me with clearer eyes and you shall perhaps see all
that I perceive without being able to tell you!... Were I to yield but
for a moment under the weight of love, all that he has said, all that
he has done, all that he has given would sink back into the darkness,
the earth would be more deserted than if he had not been born and
heaven would be closed to mankind for ever!... I should be destroying
him altogether, destroying more than himself, to gain for him days
which would destroy everything....
VERUS
It is not so much a question of gaining days for him as of sparing him
tortures, the mere thought of which should make you reflect....
MARY MAGDALENE
I know! I know!... Because I love him thus, as none has ever loved
upon this earth where heaven had not yet poured forth its love, must
I not sacrifice to him what no human soul has possessed before me?...
But you come to ask for all that he has given; and what he has given
is much more than his life and lives more in our hearts than it lives
in himself!... If I destroy him in myself, I destroy him in us!... I
know no more, I see no more, I understand no more.... I would do it,
perhaps, if my soul were alone; but it is no longer possible and God
would not have it!...
VERUS
The gods always will what men will.... Be sure that, if he whom you
are about to deliver to the torture could make his voice heard at this
moment, he would not hesitate....
MARY MAGDALENE
Ah, I know that he would not hesitate! And that is why I am struggling
thus, like a blind beast, between two sacrifices!... It is my past
shame that overwhelms me and prevents me from rising to the level of
his will!...
VERUS
Man has but one will in the presence of death....
MARY MAGDALENE
My God! My God!... I am nothing, I am defiled with every defilement:
what matters this one, which brings thee life?... But am I in
question?... Is it not thou alone whom I defile to-day in defiling thy
salvation, thou, the very source whence the source of all purity and
of every happiness and of every life will spring?... I no longer know
where to thrust back my soul!... Nothing remains to me, if I lose it;
nothing remains to us, if I save it!...
VERUS
Nothing is lost so long as life endures....
MARY MAGDALENE
Hush, I beseech you!... Leave me alone in his silence and his will....
Let me contemplate, let me listen to other things.... I do not yet love
him as he would be loved!... In vain I raise my eyes to his heaven
of light: I see only his death, his sorrows, his suffering ... his
steadfast face, his eyes that lit up all he looked upon, his mouth
that spoke unceasingly of happiness ... his feet which I have kissed,
lifeless and icy cold!... Verus, Verus, have pity!... I cannot bear
it, I cannot bear it! I am falling!... Do with me what you will!...
VERUS (_catching her in his arms_)
Magdalene, Magdalene!... I knew....
MARY MAGDALENE (_springing back at his touch_)
No, you did not know! And it is not that!... There is something
else!... There is another outlet!... Verus, Verus, come, you are not
without feeling, you are not a monster, you will understand also....
It depends on you.... For me it is impossible.... There is a wall
there defended by his angels.... I cannot pass it.... I must not
think of it.... But you, you can do everything!... To think that you
hold there, in that human hand of yours, the life of the God of Gods
descended upon earth!... I know, I know, you do not believe it....
But you must at least believe in his innocence; and you know that he
has done no evil.... He does not even know what evil is, since he is
all goodness.... He has done nothing but heal, console and pray....
He has done nothing but breathe over men’s souls and flood them with
happiness.... If only you knew him, if he had spoken to you, were it
but once!... Because he is innocent and because you are just, because
you have strength and because you are brave, you cannot deliver him
defenceless to the executioners.... It would not be Roman, it would not
even be manly....
VERUS
Enough of this; and, as everything is useless, let him be treated as
you have decided.... It is not I who am leading him to the torture....
MARY MAGDALENE (_clinging to the garments of VERUS, who takes a
step to the door_)
Verus! Verus!... I implore you!... That is not all!... All is not
said!... It cannot be decided like this!... But do not ask the one
impossible thing.... I will be your slave, I will live at your feet,
serve you on my knees for the rest of my days; but give me his life
without destroying in my soul and throughout the earth that which is
the very life of our new life!...
VERUS
Enough!... Besides, there is no time. My patience in saving a rival
whom I hate is as ridiculous as your persistent attempt to save your
lover by singing his praises!... When you see him dead, in less than
three hours hence, do not weep over him, lest your tears should be
flung back in your own face!... (_Perceiving JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA, who
discreetly opens the door, to the left, of the Supper-room._) Who
goes there?... Come in, come in, this is the very thing!... We need
witnesses. Where are the mountebanks, the monsters, the lepers? I want
to tell them....
MARY MAGDALENE
What?...
VERUS
They shall know who has betrayed their god!... We shall then see if you
have the heart to despatch him before their eyes and how they will take
the news!... Repugnant though they be, I want to see their ugly faces
again!... (_He reaches the door and throws it open wide._)
MARY MAGDALENE (_hurrying to stop his action_)
Verus! Verus!... This is not worthy of you!...
VERUS
I know! I know!... I am not worthy of anything, it appears! Not even of
you, harlot!... (_Calling in a loud voice_) Hi! Hi! The rest of you!...
Where are you?... Hasten this way, you halt and lame, you club-feet,
you cripples, you beggars, vagrants, lepers, paralytics!... I have
something of importance to tell you!... (_Startled faces appear in the
embrasures of the two doors._)