This is actually a drama of the big novel I'm planning to write in near future. I didn't know how it worked, but many liked it. The plan is to set this on stage ion the upcoming Arts Day. Hope everyone like it then. Here is a small excerpt from the drama.
Curtain rises. A court room is shown on stage. Roman Emperor Claudius II and four of the senate members sit on the royal chair. The murmurs of the mob can be heard. Everyone becomes silent when two Roman soldiers come in with a priest with beard. He is pushed to the middle of the stage. Murmurs rise again. One of the priests raises his hand, and everyone becomes silent. He walks towards the bearded priest.
Priest 1: Good morning, Father Valentine. It is a pleasure to see you here. (Valentine smiles.) Do you know why you have been brought here?
Valentine: (Laughs) If I knew all answers, I would have been God.
Priest 1: Then I shall ask you some questions, of which I deserve to know some answers. (Looks back at the Emperor, and then to the mob.) The whole of Rome had heard at once, that to make strong men remain as such, to create a strong army, marriage was a sin of break. Young men were not allowed to marry by the rule of the Great Claudius.
Valentine: I had heard that one.
Priest 2: And despite of that, you conducted secret marriages. Is that true?
Valentine: By the Almighty’s grace, yes, it is true.
Murmurs heard around. The third priest rises and raises his hand, and the murmurs stop.
Priest 3: Answer me, Valentine! Did you or did you not make the siblings fall in something so called…love?
Valentine: No. They were in love. And I showed them how to be together.
Priest 1: That is a lie. You made them walk through the wrong path.
Valentine: They never felt it was wrong. And so do I believe that it was never wrong.
Priest 4: (Stands) And so do you believe that you have made a royal move by this mistake? (Silence) Don’t you have an answer?
Valentine: I don’t have an answer that suits you.
Murmurs heard again.
Priest 4: I also heard that you are referred to as friends of lovers. Do you have anything to say about that?
Valentine: They were young. They wanted to be together. Their love was stronger than the law of the weak. And so I was with them, as a friend.
Priest 3: Don’t you regret.
Valentine: No…I don’t.
Priest 1: Tell me, Valentine! Don’t you now realize the aftermath of the great sin you have committed. People have disgraced their king because of you. People have disrespect for the senate. All what was decided here was for the right of the people. And you made them move through the wrong path of life. Do you have any justification for that?
Claudius rises.
Claudius: I give you a chance, my friend Valentine. You are guiltily by law. Admit it in front of the mob around you, and you shall be pardoned. You shall be sentenced and nothing more. But mark your words properly, for any wrong word may cause the blade over your neck.
Valentine looks up at him. He then walks two steps ahead and looks at the mob.
Valentine: A confession it is I make today. Yes, I did. I did break the rule. Yes, I did. I did get them married. Yes, I did, I helped them be together. And to be guilty…no…I’m not guilty.
The mob almost screams. Claudius stares at them angrily.
Claudius: (Stands and screams) Enough of this joke. (To the priests.) I have made my mind. He has to be punished. (To Valentine.) Father Valentine. You are found guilty of breaking the rules made by the ruler of the country. And so, I hereby sentence you to imprisonment for the next 50 years.
Valentine: Very well, King. Let that be able to stop love.
