Salome I am not hungry, Tetrarch.

Herod (to Herodias) You see how you have brought up this daughter of yours.

Herodias My daughter and I come of a royal race. As for thee, thy father was a camel driver! He was a thief and a robber to boot!

Herod Thou liest!

Herodias Thou knowest well that it is true.

Herod Salome, come and sit next to me. I will give thee the throne of thy mother.

Salome I am not tired, Tetrarch.

Herodias You see in what regard she holds you.

Herod Bring me—What is it that I desire? I forget. Ah! ah! I remember.

The Voice of Iokanaan Behold the time is come! That which I foretold has come to pass. The day that I spake of is at hand.

Herodias Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man is for ever hurling insults against me.

Herod He has said nothing against you. Besides, he is a very great prophet.

Herodias I do not believe in prophets. Can a man tell what will come to pass? No man knows it. Also he is for ever insulting me. But I think you are afraid of him.…I know well that you are afraid of him.

Herod I am not afraid of him. I am afraid of no man.

Herodias I tell you you are afraid of him. If you are not afraid of him why do you not deliver him to the Jews who for these six months past have been clamouring for him?

A Jew Truly, my lord, it were better to deliver him into our hands.

Herod Enough on this subject. I have already given you my answer. I will not deliver him into your hands. He is a holy man. He is a man who has seen God.

A Jew That cannot be. There is no man who hath seen God since the prophet Elias. He is the last man who saw God face to face. In these days God doth not show Himself. God hideth Himself. Therefore great evils have come upon the land.

Another Jew Verily, no man knoweth if Elias the prophet did indeed see God. Peradventure it was but the shadow of God that he saw.

A Third Jew God is at no time hidden. He showeth Himself at all times and in all places. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.

A Fourth Jew Thou shouldst not say that. It is a very dangerous doctrine. It is a doctrine that cometh from Alexandria, where men teach the philosophy of the Greeks. And the Greeks are Gentiles.° They are not even circumcised.

A Fifth Jew No man can tell how God worketh. His ways are very dark. It may be that the things which we call evil are good, and that the things which we call good are evil. There is no knowledge of anything. We can but bow our heads to His will, for God is very strong. He breaketh in pieces the strong together with the weak, for He regardeth not any man.