Synopsis

A woman helps her friend to escape from prison and as a result is crucified. No titles. Scene at a Roman feast. A soothsayer arrives and reads bad omens in the hand of the woman present. She is not believed and is led away by one of the servants as the celebrations continue (44). Inside a house, a woman confides in her friend who had just had her fortune told by the soothsayer. The servant arrives and leads the friend away. The woman's husband, a soldier, arrives and recounts his recent exploits (157). The couple in the gardens where the husband leaves in a row boat. The servant arrives leading the king and entourage whilst the wife goes off in the opposite direction. The king presides over a feast at which the servant presents various women to him. The king offers the wife a pearl necklace which she rejects, throwing it to the floor. The king orders her to be beaten and locked away in prison (283). The woman in her bare cell where the servant smuggles her friends in to visit her. The woman asks her friend to take a message to her husband. The friend rides through woodland to deliver it. At the army camp, a wrestling match is in progress. It is followed by a match between the husband and another man using short swords. The friend arrives and tells of his wife's imprisonment and the soldier returns with her (474). Outside the cell, the husband attacks the guard and rescues his wife (519). All three run through the woodlands where the couple take leave of their friend who is subsequently found by the king's servant and is taken prisoner. The friend hanging on a cross in the woods. The escaped couple walk by, take down her body and carry it away. They bury the body in a glade and as they are doing so, a group of friends arrives and leaves flowers by the grave. The king too arrives and, seeing his escaped prisoner, orders his soldiers to arrest her but her husband intervenes and in the ensuing struggle, stabs the king (743). The husband and wife are seen some time later walking past the grave where they find that flowers have taken root and are blooming (749ft). (Shotlist)