About the Work
The Buried Temple is a play by Maurice Maeterlinck, presented in the form of a dramatic text. The work is set in the gardens of Annceus Silanus at Bethany, a location near Jerusalem, during the period of Roman rule in Judea. The play is structured as a series of scenes involving a cast of Roman aristocrats and their associates, along with the presence of a growing religious movement led by a figure referred to as the Nazarene. The text is written as a stage play, with detailed descriptions of the setting and dialogue-driven interactions among the characters. The action unfolds over the course of a single gathering, during which the characters discuss their lives, loves, and the unsettling events occurring in the region around them.
Context
The play is set in the historical context of Roman-occupied Judea, a time of political tension and religious ferment. The characters are Roman citizens and officials who view the local Jewish population with a mixture of disdain, curiosity, and unease. The Procurator Pontius Pilate is mentioned as having arrived in Jerusalem, fearing disturbances as the Passover approaches. The region is depicted as a “stony desert” by one character, who finds the city dull and barren and its inhabitants ugly, churlish, crafty, and barbarous. The Jewish sacred books are described by Silanus as crude and bloodthirsty, though containing beautiful myths and singular wisdom. The play captures a moment of cultural clash, where Roman sophistication meets what the Romans perceive as provincial fanaticism. The presence of the Nazarene and his band of followers, preaching a new law and performing healings, adds a layer of religious tension to the social gathering. The characters are aware of this movement but treat it with varying degrees of amusement, suspicion, and curiosity.
Structure of the Book
The book is structured as a play divided into acts and scenes. The notes cover the opening of Act I, which includes four scenes. The first scene introduces the setting and the main characters, Silanus and Lucius Verus, as they converse on the terrace. The second scene brings Mary Magdalene into the gathering, followed by further dialogue. The third scene features a private conversation between Mary Magdalene and Verus. The fourth scene sees the return of Silanus with additional guests, Appius and Coelius, and includes the arrival of poor folk and the distant voice of the Nazarene preaching. The play’s structure relies on the interplay of conversation, character revelation, and the offstage presence of the Nazarene, whose words and actions influence the characters’ reactions.
Detailed Section-by-Section Summary
Part 1: The play opens with a detailed description of the gardens of Annceus Silanus at Bethany, a Roman terrace featuring a quincunx, marble benches, porticoes, statues, a central fountain basin, arbors, and orange and laurel trees in stone vases, with balustrades overlooking a valley. In Scene I, Silanus and Lucius Verus enter. Silanus shows Verus his terrace, comparing it to his former one at Praneste, and points out a statue of Minerva discovered at Antioch. He praises the view and expresses his enjoyment of the peace of old age, which appreciates the past, unlike youth, which only considers the present. Verus expresses relief at finding trees, water, and grass in the “stony desert” of Judea, calling the city dull and barren and its men ugly, churlish, crafty, mischievous, unclean, and barbarous. Silanus explains he came with the Procurator Valerius Gratus to Caesarea, then returned to Rome, where Verus was his pupil. He became ashamed of teaching wisdom whose certainties grew doubtful and was brought back to Judea by curiosity, having begun studying the sacred books of the Jews, which he finds crude and bloodthirsty but containing beautiful myths and singular wisdom. Verus mentions their friend Appius, whom he met at Antioch, who told him of Silanus’s passion for old Jewish books. Silanus says Appius will arrive shortly. Verus reveals he has been in the country nearly a week, having left Antioch for Jerusalem with the Procurator Pontius Pilate, who fears disturbances. Silanus relays that Appius said Verus seemed prey to a great unhappy love, concerning a Galilean woman. Verus asks if it is Mary of Magdala, noting she left Antioch suddenly and he lost trace of her. Silanus says Appius told him she sets the men of the country at naught but is not inexorable to Roman knights. Verus describes her as a riddle, with a dislike that was not without a harsh gentleness, mingled with incomprehensible dread, and says she seemed to have suffered a great sorrow. Silanus offers to cure Verus’s ill with wise counsels. Verus admits he desires her as he has never desired any woman. Silanus says she is the loveliest of women he has admired and reveals she is nearer than Jerusalem, which is fifteen stadia from Bethany. He points out her villa, which was built by Herod the Great, whom he calls a raving lunatic given to building. Silanus says she told him she was fleeing the fanaticism of the Jews and the tumult of Jerusalem as the Passover approaches. Verus asks what she said and what impression she made. Silanus describes her raiment of pearls and dew, a Tyrian purple cloak with sapphire ornaments, and jewels, and her hair which would cover a porphyry vase. Verus insists she is no vulgar courtesan. Silanus says she will soon be coming and that she knows Verus will be there, having smiled with a quivering and pensive grace. He mentions other guests: Appius, Coelius (Verus’s fellow-pupil at Praneste), and their friend Longinus, who recently lost a two-year-old daughter. Silanus plans to console Longinus for a sorrow he deems disproportionate. He hears a double flute, announcing Mary’s litter. Verus says “She is here.” Scene II: Mary Magdalene enters on the right side, followed by slaves, whom she dismisses with a harsh and imperious gesture.
Part 2: In Scene II continued, Silanus greets Mary Magdalene, quoting her sacred books about the Shulamite, comparing her to pillars of smoke, myrrh, frankincense, the morning, the moon, the sun, and an army with banners. Mary Magdalene rejects this, saying she loathes her sacred books and everything from that “deceitful and sordid, greedy and mischievous nation.” Verus greets her in Roman fashion, hailing her as eldest daughter of Aglaia, youngest and happiest of the Graces. Mary Magdalene asks for pity, not praise: last night she was robbed of her Carthaginian rubies, twelve pearls, her Babylonian peacock, and all the muraenae in her fish pond. Verus asks who dared such sacrilege; she does not know. She had the slaves in charge of the aviary and fish pond beaten and tortured; they confessed nothing. Silanus says the theft amazes him, as the country is safe; he has lived there six years and no one robbed him of his wisdom, his only precious thing. He notes the Jew is crafty and sly but avoids frank, straightforward theft. Mary Magdalene first suspected Tyrian workmen fitting movable panels in her villa (panels changed at every course to match dishes). Verus has seen such panels in the house of Governor Pomponius Flaccus at Antioch, a fashion new even to Rome. She says the Tetrarch Antipas’s palace lacks them; she has proofs the workmen are innocent, and now suspects vagrants infesting the country. Silanus names them “the famous band of the Nazarene.” She agrees, describing their leader as an unwashed brigand using sorcery, preaching a new law, living by plunder. Two days ago, a dozen of the band insulted her and threatened her with stones in her gardens. Verus offers to have them watched and to arrest their leader; she urges him to do so soon. Silanus disagrees: the band has been near his house for five or six days; he attended one meeting near the old road to Jericho. The leader spoke to a dusty, ragged crowd with repulsive cripples and sick; they seemed ignorant, exalted, poor, dirty, but harmless, incapable of stealing more than water or wheat. They listened to a story of a son returning to his father after squandering his patrimony. He calls the Galilean/Nazarene “curious,” with a sweet, penetrating voice, son of a carpenter. He leaves to check for his belated guests. In Scene III, Mary Magdalene and Verus are alone. He says her cruel words deprived him of hope; she calls herself stupid and foolish, now knowing the best love is not worth a tear. He counters that a love causing tears is hardly best. She says she lived among falsehoods others profited from, but for six months has lived among truths she profits from—she sells herself more skilfully and dearer. He protests she slanders herself; she says she rates herself highly. He insists she cannot degrade herself in his eyes, seeing only a wounded soul’s rebellion. She says it is a soul finding itself, not struggling. He declares she is his from this moment. She says maybe, but their host returns. In Scene IV, Silanus returns with Appius and Coelius. Appius greets her with verses about Venus and Techmessa bringing smiles to the son of Telamon; Coelius admires the image of Love and Beauty under the portico. Silanus says a presentiment made them speak of the Nazarene’s band, which delayed the guests. Appius recounts finding the road blocked by a crowd around a blind man who saw, crying “He is a prophet! I see men as trees, walking.” Verus says such phenomena occur only in Judea. Coelius describes the man as dazed with light; Appius says he was staggering, perhaps with wine. Verus asks if they saw the Nazarene; Appius says he had just gone, taking the turbulent crowd. Mary Magdalene says those ruffians would not make way for Caesar. Silanus points to a laurel-hedge dividing his domain from his neighbor Simon the Leper. Mary Magdalene is startled; Silanus reassures her Simon has no leprosy now—the Nazarene healed him. Appius jokes that one becomes a leper for life like a senator. Silanus says Simon is as healthy as the rose of Magdala, but he never saw him before recovery. Appius mentions more extraordinary magicians in Thrace and Egypt. Silanus explains the Nazarene has been Simon’s guest for three days; Simon’s household (sister, wife, brother-in-law) are common olive-growers, but now their orchard is filled with sick, vagrants, and cripples crying “Saviour of the World, Son of David, King of the Jews,” overflowing into his garden, trampling the hedge. He finds the spectacle amusing and puzzling.
Part 3: Five or six Poor Folks enter, and Coelius asks who they are. Silanus notes they come begging for bread. Appius asks if they belong to “this famous band.” Mary Magdalene finds them hateful and loathsome, noting one has an ulcer, another is nearly naked, another starving. Appius says they lack shame. Silanus reassures them his gardener is driving the poor away with a hoe; the poor walk away silently. Silanus wishes their friend Longinus had joined them. Appius says Longinus refused despite his eloquence, replying with sullen silence. Coelius notes it has been three weeks since Longinus’s child died. Appius observes the child was so young her father barely knew her. Silanus recalls that fifteen years ago, when he lost a little boy, Longinus wrote him an eloquent letter citing Metrodorus, Panaetius, and Hermachus, proving sorrow is useless and ungrateful. Silanus quotes the letter: “You expect consolation; you shall receive only reproaches,” urging that one should be more pleased at having had the child than grieved at losing him. The letter continues that past time is ours, the future makes us ungrateful, and it is madness to complain when death threatens all. Mary Magdalene says this would not have consoled her. Silanus replies that consolation teaches one how to overcome sorrow, not remove it. Suddenly, a crowd gathers, shouting about the Nazarene leaving Simon’s house, carrying the palsied and blind. Silanus identifies them as devil-possessed men from tombs. The crowd cries “Hosannah” and “Jesus of Nazareth, have pity.” A Voice speaks the Beatitudes: blessed are the poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, those hungering after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted. Mary Magdalene, drawn irresistibly, descends toward the hedge despite Silanus’s warning. Verus offers to accompany her; she refuses fiercely. She opens the garden gate into the orchard. The Voice continues: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you.” Cries arise: “It is the Roman woman! The adulteress! Magdalene! The strumpet!” followed by a shout of reprobation.
Main Arguments
The play presents several intertwined arguments through its characters’ dialogues. One argument concerns the nature of wisdom and certainty. Silanus, an older Roman who once taught philosophy, expresses shame at having taught wisdom whose certainties grew doubtful. His study of Jewish sacred books, which he finds crude yet containing singular wisdom, suggests a search for meaning beyond traditional Roman thought. Another argument revolves around love and desire. Verus’s passionate pursuit of Mary Magdalene is contrasted with her cynical self-assessment. She claims she lives among truths she profits from, selling herself more skilfully and dearer, while Verus insists he sees only a wounded soul’s rebellion. The play also engages with the question of sorrow and consolation. Silanus’s recollection of Longinus’s letter, which argues that sorrow is useless and one should be more pleased at having had a child than grieved at losing him, is presented as a philosophical stance that Mary Magdalene rejects, saying it would not have consoled her. Silanus’s response—that consolation teaches one how to overcome sorrow, not remove it—offers a nuanced view of grief. Finally, the play presents the tension between Roman civilization and the emerging religious movement of the Nazarene. The characters debate whether the Nazarene and his followers are harmless or dangerous, with Mary Magdalene seeing them as brigands and Silanus finding them curious and harmless. The Beatitudes spoken by the Voice introduce a radically different moral framework that challenges the values of the Roman characters.
Key Concepts
Several key concepts emerge from the text. The concept of the “buried temple” itself is not explicitly defined in the notes, but the play’s title suggests a hidden or submerged spiritual reality. The Roman characters represent a sophisticated but spiritually hollow civilization, as seen in Silanus’s doubt about his teachings and Verus’s restless desire. The Nazarene’s movement, with its emphasis on the poor, the meek, and the merciful, stands in contrast to the Roman values of wealth, status, and pleasure. Mary Magdalene embodies a figure caught between these worlds: she is a wealthy courtesan who loathes her Jewish heritage yet is irresistibly drawn to the Nazarene’s message. The concept of consolation is explored through the discussion of Longinus’s letter, which presents a Stoic-like acceptance of loss. The play also engages with the idea of healing and miracles, as seen in the healed blind man and Simon the Leper’s recovery, which the Roman characters treat with skepticism or amusement. The Beatitudes, spoken by the Voice, introduce a set of blessings that invert worldly values, blessing the poor in spirit, those that mourn, the meek, and the persecuted. The concept of the crowd is also significant, as the poor and the sick gather around the Nazarene, creating a disruptive presence that intrudes upon the Roman garden party.
Themes
The play explores several themes grounded in the text. A central theme is the clash between Roman paganism and the emerging Christian message. The Roman characters’ disdain for the Jewish people and their customs is contrasted with the Nazarene’s teachings of love and mercy. The theme of spiritual emptiness is evident in Silanus’s disillusionment with philosophy and Verus’s obsessive desire for Mary Magdalene, which he frames as a form of conquest. The theme of love and its transformation is central to Mary Magdalene’s arc: she begins as a cynical, self-aware courtesan who sells herself, but her reaction to the Nazarene’s voice suggests a profound internal change. The theme of sorrow and consolation is explored through the discussion of Longinus’s letter, which offers a philosophical approach to grief that Mary Magdalene finds inadequate. The theme of social class and marginalization appears in the presence of the poor and sick who follow the Nazarene, contrasted with the wealthy Romans in their garden. The theme of the miraculous is treated with skepticism by the Romans, who attribute the blind man’s healing to wine or coincidence, yet the Nazarene’s power is shown to have real effects, such as healing Simon the Leper. The theme of judgment and reprobation is present in the final cries against Mary Magdalene, who is labeled “the adulteress” and “the strumpet” by the crowd, highlighting the gap between her past and the possibility of redemption. The theme of the individual versus the crowd is also present, as Mary Magdalene defies the warnings of her host and the jeers of the crowd to approach the Nazarene.
The Author’s Conclusions
The play’s conclusions, as reflected in the text, suggest that the old certainties of Roman philosophy and pagan religion are inadequate in the face of a new spiritual movement. Silanus, the representative of Roman wisdom, admits his teachings have grown doubtful, and his curiosity about Jewish books indicates a search for something more. The character of Mary Magdalene embodies a transition: she is drawn irresistibly toward the Nazarene despite her hatred of her Jewish heritage and her cynical self-image. Her decision to open the garden gate and enter the orchard, despite the crowd’s hostility, suggests that the spiritual message of the Nazarene has a power that transcends social boundaries and personal history. The play seems to conclude that the new teaching, with its blessings on the poor, the meek, and the persecuted, offers a form of consolation and meaning that the Roman world cannot provide. The final cries of reprobation against Mary Magdalene, however, indicate that this transition is not without conflict and judgment. The play leaves the outcome uncertain, but the direction is clear: the buried temple of spiritual truth is being uncovered, and it calls to those who are willing to listen, even at the cost of social ostracism.
Significance
The significance of The Buried Temple lies in its dramatic portrayal of a pivotal moment in cultural and religious history. The play captures the encounter between the Roman world and the nascent Christian movement, presenting it through the eyes of characters who are sophisticated, skeptical, and ultimately confronted with something they cannot fully understand. The setting at Bethany, near Jerusalem, places the action at the geographical and spiritual heart of the conflict. The play’s treatment of Mary Magdalene is particularly notable, as she is depicted not as a simple sinner but as a complex figure whose cynicism masks a deeper vulnerability and whose attraction to the Nazarene suggests a genuine spiritual awakening. The play also engages with philosophical questions about wisdom, sorrow, and consolation, offering a critique of Stoic detachment in the face of human grief. The presence of the Beatitudes, spoken by the Voice, introduces a moral framework that challenges the values of the Roman characters and points toward a new understanding of blessedness. The play’s significance lies in its ability to dramatize the tension between an old world and a new one, between worldly power and spiritual humility, and between the individual and the crowd. It is a work that explores the moment when the buried temple of faith begins to emerge, and the varied human responses to that emergence.
