Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act
that the philosophers at Rome kill themselves?
TIGELLINUS
There are some who kill themselves, sire. They are the Stoics.
The Stoics are coarse people. They are ridiculous people. I
myself regard them as being perfectly ridiculous.
HEROD
I also. It is ridiculous to kill oneself.
TIGELLINUS
Everybody at Rome laughs at them. The Emperor has written a
satire against them. It is recited everywhere.
HEROD
Ah! he has written a satire against them? Cæsar is wonderful. He
can do everything.... It is strange that the young Syrian has
killed himself. I am sorry he has killed himself. I am very
sorry; for he was fair to look upon. He was even very fair. He
had very languorous eyes. I remember that I saw that he looked
languorously at Salomé. Truly, I thought he looked too much at
her.
HERODIAS
There are others who look at her too much.
HEROD
His father was a king. I drove him from his kingdom. And you made
a slave of his mother, who was a queen, Herodias. So he was here
as my guest, as it were, and for that reason I made him my
captain. I am sorry he is dead. Ho! why have you left the body
here? I will not look at it--away with it! [_They take away the
body._] It is cold here. There is a wind blowing. Is there not a
wind blowing?
HERODIAS
No; there is no wind.
HEROD
I tell you there is a wind that blows.... And I hear in the air
something that is like the beating of wings, like the beating of
vast wings. Do you not hear it?
HERODIAS
I hear nothing.
HEROD
I hear it no longer. But I heard it. It was the blowing of the
wind, no doubt. It has passed away. But no, I hear it again. Do
you not hear it? It is just like the beating of wings.
HERODIAS
I tell you there is nothing. You are ill. Let us go within.
HEROD
I am not ill. It is your daughter who is sick. She has the mien
of a sick person. Never have I seen her so pale.
HERODIAS
I have told you not to look at her.
HEROD
Pour me forth wine [_wine is brought_]. Salomé, come drink a
little wine with me. I have here a wine that is exquisite. Cæsar
himself sent it me. Dip into it thy little red lips, that I may
drain the cup.
SALOMÉ
I am not thirsty, Tetrarch.
HEROD
You hear how she answers me, this daughter of yours?
HERODIAS
She does right. Why are you always gazing at her?
HEROD
Bring me ripe fruits [_fruits are brought_]. Salomé, come and eat
fruit with me. I love to see in a fruit the mark of thy little
teeth. Bite but a little of this fruit and then I will eat what
is left.
SALOMÉ
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 also a robber!
HEROD
Thou liest!
HERODIAS
Thou knowest well that it is true.
HEROD
Salomé, come and sit next to me. I will give thee the throne of
thy mother.
SALOMÉ
I am not tired, Tetrarch.
HERODIAS
You see what she thinks of you.
HEROD
Bring me--what is it that I desire? I forget. Ah! ah! I remember.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN
Lo! the time is come! That which I foretold has come to pass,
saith the Lord God. Lo! the day of which I spoke.
HERODIAS
Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man is
for ever vomiting 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. Moreover, 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. In these days God
doth not show Himself. He 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
everything. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.
A FOURTH JEW
That must not be said. It is a very dangerous doctrine. It is a
doctrine that cometh from the schools at Alexandria, where men
teach the philosophy of the Greeks. And the Greeks are Gentiles:
They are not even circumcised.
A FIFTH JEW
No one can tell how God worketh. His ways are very mysterious. 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 any
thing. We must needs submit to everything, for God is very
strong. He breaketh in pieces the strong together with the weak,
for He regardeth not any man.
FIRST JEW
Thou speaketh truly. God is terrible; He breaketh the strong and
the weak as a man brays corn in a mortar. But this man hath never
seen God. No man hath seen God since the prophet Elias.
HERODIAS
Make them be silent. They weary me.
HEROD
But I have heard it said that Jokanaan himself is your prophet
Elias.
THE JEW
That cannot be. It is more than three hundred years since the
days of the prophet Elias.
HEROD
There be some who say that this man is the prophet Elias..
A NAZARENE
I am sure that he is the prophet Elias.
THE JEW
Nay, but he is not the prophet Elias.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN
So the day is come, the day of the Lord, and I hear upon the
mountains the feet of Him who shall be the Saviour of the world.
HEROD
What does that mean? The Saviour of the world.
TIGELLINUS
It is a title that Cæsar takes.
HEROD
But Cæsar is not coming into Judæa. Only yesterday I received
letters from Rome. They contained nothing concerning this matter.
And you, Tigellinus, who were at Rome during the winter, you
heard nothing concerning this matter, did you?
TIGELLINUS
Sire, I heard nothing concerning the matter. I was explaining the
title. It is one of Cæsar's titles.
HEROD
But Cæsar cannot come. He is too gouty. They say that his feet
are like the feet of an elephant. Also there are reasons of
State. He who leaves Rome loses Rome. He will not come. Howbeit,
Cæsar is lord, he will come if he wishes. Nevertheless, I do not
think he will come.
FIRST NAZARENE
It was not concerning Cæsar that the prophet spake these words,
sire.
HEROD
Not of Cæsar?
FIRST NAZARENE
No, sire.
HEROD
Concerning whom then did he speak?
FIRST NAZARENE
Concerning Messias who has come.
A JEW
Messiah hath not come.
FIRST NAZARENE
He hath come, and everywhere He worketh miracles.
HERODIAS Ho! ho! miracles! I do not believe in miracles. I have
seen too many. [_To the page._] My fan!
FIRST NAZARENE
This man worketh true miracles. Thus, at a marriage which took
place in a little town of Galilee, a town of some importance, He
changed water into wine. Certain persons who were present related
it to me. Also He healed two lepers that were seated before the
Gate of Capernaum simply by touching them.
SECOND NAZARENE
Nay, it was blind men that he healed at Capernaum.
FIRST NAZARENE
Nay; they were lepers. But He hath healed blind people also, and
He was seen on a mountain talking with angels.
A SADDUCEE
Angels do not exist.
A PHARISEE
Angels exist, but I do not believe that this Man has talked with
them.
FIRST NAZARENE
He was seen by a great multitude of people talking with angels.
A SADDUCEE
Not with angels.
HERODIAS
How these men weary me! They are ridiculous! [_To the page._]
Well! my fan! [_The page gives her the fan._] You have a
dreamer's look; you must not dream. It is only sick people who
dream. [_She strikes the page with her fan._]
SECOND NAZARENE
There is also the miracle of the daughter of Jairus.
FIRST NAZARENE
Yes, that is sure. No man can gainsay it.
HERODIAS
These men are mad. They have looked too long on the moon. Command
them to be silent.
HEROD
What is this miracle of the daughter of Jairus?
FIRST NAZARENE
The daughter of Jairus was dead. He raised her from the dead.
HEROD
He raises the dead?
FIRST NAZARENE
Yea, sire, He raiseth the dead.
HEROD
I do not wish Him to do that. I forbid Him to do that. I allow no
man to raise the dead. This Man must be found and told that I
forbid Him to raise the dead. Where is this Man at present?
SECOND NAZARENE
He is in every place, my lord, but it is hard to find Him.
FIRST NAZARENE
It is said that He is now in Samaria.
A JEW
It is easy to see that this is not Messias, if He is in Samaria.
It is not to the Samaritans that Messias shall come. The
Samaritans are accursed. They bring no offerings to the Temple.
SECOND NAZARENE
He left Samaria a few days since. I think that at the present
moment He is in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
FIRST NAZARENE
No; He is not there. I have just come from Jerusalem. For two
months they have had no tidings of Him.
HEROD
No matter! But let them find Him, and tell Him from me, I will
not allow him to raise the dead! To change water into wine, to
heal the lepers and the blind.... He may do these things if He
will. I say nothing against these things. In truth I hold it a
good deed to heal a leper. But I allow no man to raise the dead.
It would be terrible if the dead came back.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN
Ah! the wanton! The harlot! Ah! the daughter of Babylon with her
golden eyes and her gilded eyelids!--Thus saith the Lord God, Let
there come up against her a multitude of men. Let the people take
stones and stone her....
HERODIAS
Command him to be silent.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN
Let the war captains pierce her with their swords, let them crush
her beneath their shields.
HERODIAS
Nay, but it is infamous.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN
It is thus that I will wipe out all wickedness from the earth,
and that all women shall learn not to imitate her abominations.
HERODIAS
You hear what he says against me? You allow him to revile your
wife?
HEROD
He did not speak your name.
HERODIAS
What does that matter? You know well that it is I whom he seeks
to revile. And I am your wife, am I not?
HEROD
Of a truth, dear and noble Herodias, you are my wife, and before
that you were the wife of my brother.
HERODIAS
It was you who tore me from his arms.
HEROD
Of a truth I was stronger.... But let us not talk of that matter.
I do not desire to talk of it. It is the cause of the terrible
words that the prophet has spoken. Peradventure on account of it
a misfortune will come. Let us not speak of this matter. Noble
Herodias, we are not mindful of our guests. Fill thou my cup, my
well-beloved. Fill with wine the great goblets of silver, and the
great goblets of glass. I will drink to Cæsar. There are Romans
here, we must drink to Cæsar.
ALL
Cæsar! Cæsar!
HEROD
Do you not see your daughter, how pale she is?
HERODIAS
What is it to you if she be pale or not?
HEROD
Never have I seen her so pale.
HERODIAS
You must not look at her.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN
In that day the sun shall become black like sackcloth of hair,
and the moon shall become like blood, and the stars of the