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’ 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 impatience. 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, Appius. They were a very united family; 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, suddenly, the rumour spread that the Nazarene 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.