Verus monologue (Act 3) — Mary Magdalene: A Play in Three Acts

My soldiers will not be able to hold their tongues. They will have to choose between silence and their lives. It will therefore be known that they acted only on my orders. Now there is no instance of the high-priests’ ever abandoning a prey, a revenge, a hatred. They will go and complain, first, at Antioch, to the Governor of Syria, and, next, to Cæsar himself, whose anger is kindled at the very breath of a suspicion. Do you know what Cæsar is? The greatest, the most powerful men in Rome tremble before his shadow.... For me, it means, if not death, at least exile far from Rome; and death, to us Romans, seems sweet compared with exile.... That is what I give; that is my stake; I am waiting for yours.