Judah then boldly confronts him and asks about his mother and sister, threatening: "Find them Messala! Restore them to me, and I will forget what I have vowed with every stroke of that oar you chained me to." He demands that Messala trace his loved ones and learn whether they are still alive in prison. Judah will return the next day for the news: "Don't disappoint me, Messala." An aide is dispatched to the citadel to find out and is horrified to find that they have contracted leprosy after years of being kept in solitary confinement deep in Roman dungeons. Miriam and Tirzah are ordered to be freed, but moved as outcasts to the Valley of the Lepers, outside the city.