Scene Twelve

Scene Twelve

We hear "Men in Exile" played slowly, tragically. CATALUNI walks on from stage right. It is now night, and it appears he has been walking for hours. The curtains part, and we are back in the Forum. Only now it is deserted. CATALUNI looks about him, trying to recapture the moment in his youth when he first entered the city. Then HE sits down against one of the buildings, yawns and falls asleep. The lights slowly change from midnight to early morning. CATALUNI is still asleep. Gradually PEOPLE begin entering the Forum. Among them is JOSEPHUS, now much older, carrying his stand and heading for the place he occupied when last we saw him. MAZACA comes on next followed by the PERSIAN. A moment later, the EGYPTIAN appears. They have not aged as much as Josephus. Then the SECOND CHRISTIAN. But now SEVEN OTHER ZEALOTS we have not seen before also enter with their scrolls and stands, so that there are twelve in all. ZEALOTS Listen to me, you Romans,
You are here in this cesspool of degradation,
Soon you will see, you Romans,
There is only one path to true salvation.

Jove and Juno,
Mars, Minerva---
Their exploits are all absurd---
Those who swallow
The tales of Apollo
Have got to have the brains of a bird.

Neptune, Venus,
Diana, Pluto---
All they do is screw and sin---
To worship Cupid
Is shallow and stupid---
No wonder Rome’s in the state that it’s in!

Any fornicator or slattern
Can purge himself in the temple of Saturn,
And leave those halls feeling perfectly swell;
But what never occurs to each transgressor
Is without the proper trained Confessor,
That transgressor
Is gonna fry in hell!

Living up On Mt. Olympus---
Folderol and applesauce---
To know what strife is,
The misery life is---
You have got to find the Man on the Cross,
You have got to find that Man on the Cross---
And you’ve got to find Him now!
(On the release there is pure cacophony for while JOSEPHUS and the SECOND CHRISTIAN sing about "the proper Confessor"---all the others are singing something else. The same applies to "Man on the Cross", MAZACA sings "the Great Goddess Ma", the PERSIAN sings "The Great God Mithras", another sings "the Great Goddess Isis", another "Old Dionysus", another "the great God Hadad"---and some use "Him" and some use "Her". The number builds to a greater climax than the two previous times.) ZEALOTS Salvation! Find your salvation here! (Through all this little by little CATALUNI has awakened, glancing from one to the other. Then HE gets to his feet and as he speaks he points to each of the Zealots.) CATALUNI Amo…amas…amat…amamus…amatis…amant. Amo…amas…amat….amamus…amatis…amant… (The last "amant" just happens to point to Josephus. CATALUNI shrugs and moves to him. By his pantomime we can see he is trying to remind Josephus that they have met before---which Josephus hardly remembers---and is now willing to be converted. JOSEPHUS is overjoyed.)

CURTAIN SLOWLY FALLS