3RD CIT. Wait here awhile. It is not over yet. This is the door, the man shall pay his debt. After the beating they will let him go And we shall catch him. 2ND CIT. We will treat him so That he will not be eager to blaspheme So glibly, soon. 3RD CIT. We will. 1ST CIT. Did Pilate seem To you, to try to spare him? 2ND CIT. Ay, he did, The Roman dog. 3RD CIT. We will not. 2ND CIT. God forbid. 1ST CIT. Well, we'll stay here. 2ND CIT. We will anoint this King. CH. CIT. You talk of Jesus? 1ST CIT. Yes. CH. CIT. I had to bring News from the Temple but a minute past, To-day is like to be King Jesus' last. 1ST CIT. So? CH. CIT. It is sure. Wait here a little while. 1ST CIT. We mean to, Lord. His tongue shall not defile Our Lord again, by God. CH. CIT. By a happy chance There came a hang-dog man with looks askance, Troubled in mind, who wished to speak with us. He said that he had heard the man speak thus That he was the Messiah, God in man. He had believed this, but his doubts began When Jesus, not content, claimed further things; To be a yoke upon the necks of Kings, Emperor and Priest. Then, though he found him kind In friendship, he was troubled. With bowed mind He came to us and swore what Jesus claimed. This Emperor over Kings will now be tamed. VOICES. Will Pilate back the priests? CH. CIT. He cannot fail. It threatens Roman power. A VOICE. Listen, friends, Pilate is coming; hark! the sitting ends. No. 'Tis the Bench. [_The bench is set by_ SLAVES.] What will Lord Pilate do? THE SLAVES _do not answer._ You Nubian eunuchs answer to the Jew. Is the man cast? A SLAVE. The circumcised will see When Rome is ready. [_Goes in and shuts the door._] A VOICE. There. They nail a tree. They make a cross, for those are spikes being driven. He's damned. A VOICE. Not so, he still may be forgiven. The cross may be for one of those two thieves. A VOICE. I had forgotten them. A VOICE. This man believes That Pilate was inclined to let him go. 2ND CIT. That was before this charge came. A VOICE. Even so This Roman swine is fond of swine like these. A VOICE. Come, Pilate, come. A VOICE. He will not have much ease This Paschal Feast, if Jesus is not cast. A VOICE. There is the door. Lord Pilate comes at last. No. 'Tis the trumpet. [A TRUMPETER _comes out._] VOICES. Blow the trumpet, friend. A VOICE. Roman. Recruit. When will the sitting end? VOICES. Fling something at him. Roman. A VOICE. O, have done. He will not hang until the midday sun And we shall lose our sleeps. Let sentence pass. A VOICE [singing]. As I came by the market I heard a woman sing: "My love did truly promise to wed me with a ring, But, oh, my love deceived me and left me here forlorn With my spirit full of sorrow, and my baby to be born."