Silanus monologue (Act 1) — Mary Magdalene: A Play in Three Acts

She smiled with a quivering and pensive grace.... The other guests will be our indispensable Appius and Cœlius, your fellow-pupil at Præneste.... I hope that they will bring our poor friend Longinus, who, three weeks ago, lost a little daughter two years old.... I will try to console him, by good and persuasive arguments, for a sorrow certainly disproportionate to his loss. We shall have, among other dishes--all excellent, I hope,--two fish from the Jordan, new to you, which, dressed by Davus, my old cook.... But I hear the sound of the double flute.... It must be the litter of the queen of Bethany and Jerusalem at the threshold of my house.... Your eyes will soon behold the soft light which they have missed and mine the smile that pleases them ... unless the silver mirrors in the Atrium delay her longer than they should....