The two sisters, wild-eyed, mechanically, blindly fumbled and cut the napkin and the grave-clothes; then, supporting the dead man and helping him to walk, they led him away to the same house. The crowd dared not follow them save with their eyes. No one uttered a word; even the two women did not yet speak to the dead man. MARY MAGDALENE And the Nazarene? Has he been seen again? SILANUS He has not left Simon’s house. The swaying multitude is waiting for him in the orchard and along the roads; for, after the first long minutes of stupor, reaction set in and a general alacrity followed.... APPIUS Which was as extraordinary as the miracle itself! First, a confused and almost dumb gladness, made up of whispers that seek and feel for one another, passed through the crowd. Then, as though the truth had suddenly burst forth under the skies, an unspeakable gaiety seized upon the mass. The whispers became cries that were not recognizable. The women, the children and especially the older men exulted frantically. It was as though they were trampling on death, which a god had just conquered and laid low, for the first time since man came into existence. At this moment, an inconceivable and dangerous exaltation still prevails in all the region round about the tombs; and, by Hercules, though we have escaped unscathed, I would not advise my worst enemy to risk the Roman toga and arms there! VERUS Is that all?... APPIUS What more would you have?... VERUS I should like to know what all this proves. APPIUS It proves that this man who has conquered death, which hitherto had conquered the world, is greater than we and our gods. It therefore behoves us to hear what he has to tell us and to conform our lives to it. SILANUS I will conform mine to it, Appius, if what he teaches is better than what I have learned. By awaking a dead man, in the depth of his grave, he shows us that he possesses a power greater than that of our masters, but not a greater wisdom. Let us await everything with an even mind. It is not difficult, even for a child, to discern that which, in men’s words, augments or decreases the love of virtue. If he can convince me that I have acted wrong until to-day, I will amend, for I seek only the truth. But, if all the dead who people these valleys were to rise from their graves to bear witness, in his name, to a truth less high than that which I know, I would not believe them. Whether the dead sleep or wake, I will not give them a thought unless they teach me to make a better use of my life.... MARY MAGDALENE (_starting_) Listen!... VERUS What is it?... APPIUS I hear stones rolling.... VERUS It is like the murmur of a crowd.... MARY MAGDALENE He is coming!... APPIUS (_going to the first columns of the vestibule_) From here we overlook the wall of the first court.... I see them!...