FIRST SOL. A prophet.

THE CAPPA. What is his name?

FIRST SOL. Iokanaan.

THE CAPPA. Whence comes he?

FIRST SOL. From the desert, where he fed on locusts and wild honey.

He was clothed in camel's hair, and round his loins he had a

leathern belt. He was very terrible to look upon. A great

multitude used to follow him. He even had disciples.

THE CAPPA. What is he talking about?

FIRST SOL. We can never tell. Sometimes he says thing that affright

one, but it is impossible to understand what he says.

THE CAPPA. May one see him?

FIRST SOL. No. The Tetrarch has forbidden it.

THE YOUNG SYR. The Princess has hidden her face behind her fan! Her

little white hands are fluttering like doves that fly to their

dove-cots. They are like white butterflies. They are just white

butterflies.

THE PAGE OF HER. What is that to you? Why do you look at her? You

must not look at her.... Something terrible may happen.

THE CAPPA. [Pointing to the cistern.] What a strange prison!

SECOND SOL. It is an old cistern.

THE CAPPA. An old cistern! That must be a poisonous place in which

to dwell!

SECOND SOL. Oh no! For instance, the Tetrarch's brother, his elder

brother, the first husband of Herodias the Queen, was imprisoned

there for twelve years. It did not kill him. At the end of the

twelve years he had to be strangled.

THE CAPPA. Strangled? Who dared to do that?

SECOND SOL. [Pointing to the Executioner, a huge negro.] That man

yonder, Naaman.

THE CAPPA. He was not afraid?

SECOND SOL. Oh no! The Tetrarch sent him the ring.

THE CAPPA. What ring?

SECOND SOL. The death ring. So he was not afraid.

THE CAPPA. Yet it is a terrible thing to strangle a king.

FIRST SOL. Why? Kings have but one neck, like other folk.

THE CAPPA. I think it terrible.

THE YOUNG SYR. The Princess is getting up! She is leaving the

table! She looks very troubled. Ah, she is coming this way. Yes,

she is coming towards us. How pale she is! Never have I seen her

so pale.

THE PAGE OF HER. Do not look at her. I pray you not to look at her.

THE YOUNG SYR. She is like a dove that has strayed.... She is like

a narcissus trembling in the wind.... She is like a silver

flower. -

[Enter Salome.] -

SALOME. I will not stay. I cannot stay. Why does the Tetrarch look

at me all the while with his mole's eyes under his shaking

eyelids? It is strange that the husband of my mother looks at me

like that. I know not what it means. Of a truth I know it too

well.

THE YOUNG SYR. You have left the feast, Princess?

SALOME. How sweet is the air here! I can breathe here! Within there

are Jews from Jerusalem who are tearing each other in pieces

over their foolish ceremonies, and barbarians who drink and

drink and spill their wine on the pavement, and Greeks from

Smyrna with painted eyes and painted cheeks, and frizzed hair

curled in columns, and Egyptians silent and subtle, with long

nails of jade and russet cloaks, and Romans brutal and coarse,

with their uncouth jargon. Ah! how I loathe the Romans! They are

rough and common, and they give themselves the airs of noble

lords.

THE YOUNG SYR. Will you be seated, Princess?

THE PAGE OF HER. Why do you speak to her? Oh! something terrible

will happen. Why do you look at her?

SALOME. How good to see the moon! She is like a little piece of

money, a little silver flower. She is cold and chaste. I am sure

she is a virgin. She has the beauty of a virgin. Yes, she is a

virgin. She has never defiled herself. She has never abandoned

herself to men, like the other goddesses.

THE VOICE OF IOK. Behold! the Lord hath come. The Son of Man is at

hand. The centaurs have hidden themselves in the rivers, and the

nymphs have left the rivers, and are lying beneath the leaves in

the forests.

SALOME. Who was that who cried out?

SECOND SOL. The prophet, Princess.

SALOME. Ah, the prophet! He of whom the Tetrarch is afraid?

SECOND SOL. We know nothing of that, Princess. It was the prophet

Iokanaan who cried out.

THE YOUNG SYR. Is it your pleasure that I bid them bring your

litter, Princess? The night is fair in the garden.

SALOME. He says terrible things about my mother, does he not?

SECOND SOL. We never understand what he says, Princess.

SALOME. Yes; he says terrible things about her. -

[Enter a Slave.] -

THE SLAVE. Princess, the Tetrarch prays you to return to the feast.

SALOME. I will not return.

THE YOUNG SYR. Pardon me, Princess, but if you return not some

misfortune may happen.

SALOME. Is he an old man, this prophet?

THE YOUNG SYR. Princess, it were better to return. Suffer me to

lead you in.

SALOME. This prophet... is he an old man?

FIRST SOL. No, Princess, he is quite young.

SECOND SOL. One cannot be sure. There are those who say that he is

Elias.

SALOME. Who is Elias?

SECOND SOL. A prophet of this country in bygone days, Princess.

THE SLAVE. What answer may I give Tetrarch from the Princess?

THE VOICE OF IOK. Rejoice not, O land of Palestine, because the rod

of him who smote thee is broken. For from the seed of the

serpent shall come a basilisk, and that which is born of it

shall devour the birds.

SALOME. What a strange voice! I would speak with him.

FIRST SOL. I fear it may not be, Princess. The Tetrarch does not

suffer any one to speak with him. He has even forbidden the high

priest to speak with him.

SALOME. I desire to speak with him.

FIRST SOL. It is impossible, Princess.

SALOME. I will speak with him.

THE YOUNG SYR. Would it not be better to return to the banquet?

SALOME. Bring forth this prophet. [Exit the Slave.]

FIRST SOL. We dare not, Princess.

SALOME. [Approaching the cistern and looking down into it.] How

black it is, down there! It must be terrible to be in so black a

hole! It is like a tomb.... [To the soldiers.] Did you not hear