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