e. One was a soldier, the other a Turk.
They took the oath to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. They
were both of them stupid and comic, confused and contradictory, and made
the audience laugh, and when one of them admitted that he had been
bribed, Annas in his rage gobbled like a turkey.

Pilate closed the debate and washed his hands in a basin held by a
servant. Then he wrote the sentence and made Misandro read it. The
trial lasted a whole hour, the intention being, I suppose, to reproduce
that tediousness which is so characteristic of real trials.

In the next scene Judas continued his remorse and Peter--it was really
Peter this time--came and counselled him to ask pardon of Jesus, but he
would not listen.

Then came the journey to Calvary and the meeting with the Daughters of
Jerusalem and S. Veronica, Misandro ill-treating the women and Claudio
Cornelio protecting them.

The last scene was the Crucifixion. The thieves were in place. At the
back was the Cross lying on the ground. The figure of Christ was nailed
to it by a Turk with a hammer; the Cross was raised; Misandro approved;
the Turk gave the sponge; Misandro reviled Christ, saying: "Thou that
destroyest the temple of God and buildest it in three days, save
thyself"; Christ and the thieves held their dialogue; the Madonna and S.
John stood at the foot of the Cross while Christ spoke the sentences and
inclined his head. Then there was the earthquake, and we saw the souls
in purgatory surrounding the Cross and heard them welcoming their Lord.

SATURDAY

Compare Turiddu came early and we went to the duomo to see the Gloria.
The church was full and he told me to be careful about my watch and my
money because--"picketi pocketi"; and then he asked me whether I
understood those two words which his mother had brought back from one of
her tours.

His Eminence, the Cardinal Archbishop, was conducting a service in a side
chapel--blessing the baptismal water, or the font, or both, or perhaps
doing something else, for Turiddu is not such an authority on
ecclesiastical matters as Carmelo is on matters theatrical. He knows
more than I do, however; it was he who made me go to see the Gloria on
the Saturday, without him I should have missed it by waiting till the
Sunday. The western doors were thrown open and we looked through into
the sunshine and up to the arch that stands at the top of the Via
Garibaldi. The archbishop finished his service a