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