Characters
Myrrhina
The courtesan covered with jewels
A celebrated courtesan from Alexandria who comes into the desert to find the hermit who will not look at women. She has had emperors and kings as lovers and watched men die for her, yet admits she is afraid of Death. Converted by Honorius, she curses her beauty and seeks a cave of her own, and says she tempted him so that he might see sin for what it is.
Honorius
The young hermit
A beautiful young hermit living in a cave beneath a crucifix, fed by the local men, who think him holy and are afraid of him. A voice speaks to him at night. He answers Myrrhina's temptation with the story of Christ and urges her to repent, but when they next meet he has lost his faith and wants to go with her to Alexandria.
The two men
Common men of the valley
Two labourers who call themselves 'common men and of no account'. They take Myrrhina for the Emperor's daughter or a goddess, cannot look at her for her brightness, and tell her the legends of the hermit's cave. They worship seven hidden gods and bring Honorius food every evening.