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!”
Mary Magdalene
Pity me, instead of praising me. I was robbed, last night, of my Carthaginian rubies, besides twelve of my finest pearls; and, what I feel even more, my Babylonian peacock and all the murænæ in my fish-pond....
Verus
Who dared commit such manifest sacrilege?...
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 torture: they have confessed nothing and I believe that they know nothing....
Verus
Have you no clue, no suspicion?