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