University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

The River Jordan. A Grove on one side; a Roman Temple on the other.
Enter Herodias from the Temple.
Herodias.
I have besought the Gods of Rome
For aid and vengeance,—and a sign
That every towering Form of stone
Approved of my design.
No smile—and no oracular word—
But from the walls there fell a sword!
The omen was divine.

(Voices from the Grove—Herodias retires within the Temple.)
Enter John from the Grove, followed by his Disciples.
John.
Do honestly; love God, but fear no man.
Herod, with all his guards, is of less weight
Than one true soul. Fear God, but love Him more;
For he whose love is only through his fear,
Owns a low piety, worse than a dog
Who hath no higher knowledge. Come, my brothers!

Enter many People to be Baptized.
(John now steps into the waters. Many come to him, in succession.)
Chorus of Disciples.
Destroying Wrath of ancient days—
The terrible God of Moses—
Is changing to a pitying love,
Surrounded by divine soft rays;
While from dark clouds we now can see,
Descending slow, a sun-lit dove
Whose breast hath tints of roses,
That glance and sparkle tremulously!

John
(baptizing).
Pass on your way, my brothers!—
Fix not your hopes for ever on this world,
But on a higher Kingdom, which is Heaven! —
Go on your way rejoicing in the Lord:—
Who is a pitying Father to us all:—
Do unto others as you would that they
Should do unto you: —in the wilderness
Aid those who are lost, and in a shipwreck those
Who sink where ye can swim;—but who now cometh?
This young man whose divine humility
Maketh my rough knees tremble! “One,” he saith,
“From Nazareth.” I know who he must be,—
Though since our childhood we have never met.
Behold, a white bird softly now descendeth,
And hovereth over him! This—this is he,
My younger brother, grown to man's estate
Since we were parted in our infant years,
Whom I have seen in visions!—this is he
Whose winnowing-fan shall separate the chaff
From the sound corn; shall make the poor rejoice,
The rich ones sorrow; give his pure heart's blood
For sinful men, and teach the trampled people—
Earth's slavish lap-dogs for successive kings—
Herodias appears in the porch of the Temple, and retires.)
The worshippers of gew-gaws in a row—
Of necklaces, crowns, bracelets that excite
Mad follies—seeing not reality—
Of chains and charms, all framed and forged in Hell—
Shall teach, I say unto ye, that the shade
That followeth on one godly ploughman's heel,
Homeward returning from his honest work,
Is nobler than the shining devilishness
Of all the Cæsars and their Tetrarch mimes!

Roman Guards issue from the Temple, and seize John, who is borne away to prison.
Several of his Disciples, striving to rescue John, are slain.