Scene Eight
The following day.
CATALUNI sits alone in a prison cell. HE glances about him pitiably.
CATALUNI
(at a far slower and more ironic tempo than originally)
Growing up in
Gaul, I always heard about Rome,
The greatest, grandest
nation.
I believed every word
about Rome---
And I must say it's a
sensation.
(HE stops and smiles
ruefully. The door to the cell creaks open and HELVIDIUS enters.)
HELVIDIUS
I have tried everything in
my power to alleviate your sentence.
CATALUNI
And…?
HELVIDIUS
Even though you have not
been kind to me, Cataluni. But if only you hadn't tried to hide in the
Temple and pretend to be a Vestal Virgin, then knocking me out…it only
compounded your guilt.
CATALUNI
I fell in love.
HELVIDIUS
So did I.
CATALUNI
And just what is my sentence?
HELVIDIUS
Well, I have good news and
I have bad news.
CATALUNI
Oh?
HELVIDIUS
The good news is that they
are not going to place you in the arena to be mauled by wild beasts.
You are to be exiled instead.
CATALUNI
To where?
HELVIDIUS
Lepros.
CATALUNI
You mean that terrible volcanic
island where the Leper Colony is?
HELVIDIUS
For twenty years.
CATALUNI
That is bad news.
HELVIDIUS
No. That's the good news.
CATALUNI
What can be worse than twenty
years of exile on Lepros?
HELVIDIUS
Emasculation.
(CATALUNI
regards him in abject panic.)
LIGHTS SLOWLY DIM
