 | Herod |  |
55
ACT II
57
Enter Sohemus meeting Gadias.
Gadias.
No sight yet of the king?
Soh.
[Calling up.]
The king in sight?
Sent.
Nothing!
Second S.
Nothing!
Gadias.
And never will be sight.
Soh.
Gadias!
Gadias.
Young Octavius is no fool!
Herod hath walked into Octavius's arms.
Soh.
I trust 'tis not so.
Gadias.
Yes, for every hour
The murmuring of the people louder grows.
58
A cloud of dust!
Second S.
At last!
First S.
See you—
Second S.
Ah, there.
Gadias.
Where is the queen?
Soh.
Returned from dropping blooms
Upon the grave of young Aristobulus.
Gadias.
These passings 'twixt the palace and the tomb
Madden the multitude! They crane their necks,
Remembering her brother in her face.
Last morn there followed her a hoarse uproar.
Soh.
When Herod shall—
Gadias.
If Herod shall—
Soh.
Return—
Gadias.
Here's his first task; in fear of mutiny,
Of mutiny by Mariamne roused,
To interdict these visits to the tomb.
And it shall be my business that he do so.
[Exit Gadias.
59
A solitary horseman—
Second S.
No—
First S.
Indeed
It is. A furious and a lonely rider.
Enter Mariamne, behind, clothed in black.
Mar.
[To Sohemus.]
Then Herod left direction that if death
O'ertook him, I too should that moment die.
Soh.
O queen, I have told unto your beauty what
No torture could have wrung, and have betrayed
My master's secrets.
First S.
Ah! A golden breastplate!
Second S.
It cannot be.
First S.
Yet look! O burning gold!
Soh.
This was the very madness of his love!
How could he face that fear lest you should walk
Behind Octavius's high-triumphing car?
60
I might
Have seen a grandeur in this thought,
Even magnificence of flattery,
Once, but not now. The dead boy makes him vile
In this thing as in all things. Was not this
The tiger's act, beast fury?
First S.
It is he!
Second S.
Impossible!
First S.
'Tis he! Herod—the king!
Enter Gadias and the Court, hastily.
Soh.
Said you the king?
First S.
The king, sir, all alone!
Second S.
Up on my shoulder there—see, see the king!
A Child.
Show me! Show me!
Another.
But where, O where?
Another.
O look!
First S.
Hark, how he thunders!
Second S.
White with foam the horse.
61
He leaps down, and his armour jangles loud.
Attend.
The king, the king, he is rushing in alone.
First S.
He clangs along the corridors—
Second S.
And burns
From pillar to pillar like fire before the wind.
Herod
[Without.]
Mariamne! Mariamne! Mariamne!
[Herod rushes in, while all present make obeisance. Mariamne alone remains standing. He makes his way to her and kisses her hand.
Gadias.
O king, what tidings?
Pher.
What success?
First C.
What news?
Herod.
O unimagined! I will pour it forth!
Mariamne, I pursued and came on Cæsar—
A face young and yet wary I came in
Amid the courtiers, and omitted nothing
62
Mariamne, do you hear?—I did not cringe,
But stood and looked on him as man on man,
As king on king. Then I spoke out—I mourned
Dead Anthony with frankness as my friend—
Mariamne, hear you?—you shall glow at this—
And unto Cæsar proffered the same aid
I gave to Antony. ‘Judge me,’ I cried,
‘By what I was to him—to you I'll be
No worse a friend—You'll say 'tis policy—
I'll not deny it; but 'tis durable;
I am your friend by sea, by land henceforth,
If you will have me so.’ Then, Mariamne,
He looked long on me—then without a word
[Takes her hand.
Gave me his hand, and bade me sit by him,
We sat together—do you listen?—and
He called for wine: ‘I drink to my friend Herod
And to his Mariamne.’
Mar.
[Groaning.]
Ah!
63
Mar.
I am come
From young Aristobulus that was murdered.
Herod.
Murdered!
Mar.
Or taken as we take a dog
And strangled in that pool whose reeds I hear
Sighing within my ears until I die.
You like a tiger purred about me: O!
Your part it was to soothe and hush me while
He gasped beneath their hands—your hands—O yes,
You were not near, 'twas yours to kiss and lie—
But none the less your hands were round his throat,
O liar!
64
Mariamne!
Mar.
You forest beast!
Herod.
Mariamne!
Mar.
Back, and in the jungle burn
Whence you did leap out at my brother's throat.
Can you deny your part in this? O subtle!
Half suitor and half strangler, with one arm
About the sister's neck, the other hand
About the brother's throat!
Herod.
I'll not endure—
Mar.
Can you deny you slew Aristobulus?
Look in my eyes; speak truth if still 'tis in you.
Herod.
I'll not deny my part in the boy's death.
Mar.
Will you weep now? Strive, and the tears will come.
Herod.
'Twas I—I, Herod—who commanded it.
Mar.
Commanded!
Herod.
Yes, and would again command.
65
You! You—a sudden thing sprung up in the night—
To dip your hands in our most ancient blood!
That he should perish by an Idumean!
Herod.
I stand where I have climbed, and by your side
I could not leave him—'twas not for myself
I struck, but for the State—'twas for Judæa!
And for the throne—your throne—your throne—
Mar.
O glib!
The assassin first, and now the orator!
Herod.
I'll burn this bitterness away!
Mar.
I am grown
Listless to all concerning you.
Herod.
[Groaning.]
Ah—ah!
Mar.
Herod, because I once did love you so—
How long since is it?—And because that love
With time had grown much greater, now I speak.
Even the red misery of my brother's murder,
66
This drying up within me of my soul.
Herod.
O madness!
Mar.
You have stopped my life, and ended
My very being in a moment. Here
[Rising slowly.
I stand and look on you who were my husband—
Herod.
[Fiercely embraces her.]
And still, in spite of all.
Mar.
No, never more!
Herod, that love I did conceive for you,
And from you, it was even as a child—
More dear, indeed, than any child of flesh,
For all its blood was as a colour of dreams,
And it was veined with visions delicate.
Then came a sudden labour ere my time—
Terrible travail—and I bring it forth,
Dead, dead. And here I lay it at your feet.
Herod.
I'll break this barrier down as I have others.
Mar.
Never—never!
67
When first I wooed, was I
Not blood-stained?
Mar.
Not with blood of his!
Herod.
O, still
You shall forget him. He is dead, and I
Live still, and glow, and sigh, and burn for you.
Mar.
Almost I am moved to laughter at that passion
Which once could sway and thrill me to the bone.
Terrible when we laugh at what we loved!
Herod.
My brain, my brain, I shall go mad!
One kiss!
Mar.
Never!
Herod.
One touch!
Mar.
No more!
Herod.
One word
Mar.
Farewell!
Herod.
You will go from me?
Mar.
No, I'll move about
The palace. You shall have no scorn from me;
68
Only, I must not be with you alone.
Herod.
Where's now the boast, the glory, O where now?
What was this triumph but in the telling of it
To you! And what this victory but to pour it
Into your ears! I had imagined all
Meetings but this—this only I foresaw not.
Here I disband my legions; I arise,
And spill the wine of glory on the ground;
I turn my face into the night. And yet
Why am I bowed thus—I that am Herod? Come,
I'll take you in my arms. I'll have your lips
By force, and chain your body up to me;
I am denied your soul, but I will slake
This thirst of the flesh, and drink your beauty deep!
Mar.
[Repulsing him.]
I'll not endure your touch! Your hands are curved
69
What is between us? It is more than air.
[Wildly.]
I tell you, Herod, that your arm but then
Passed through the dead boy that now stands between us.
[Passes up steps with a long, shuddering cry of horror.
Herod.
Mariamne, leave me not thus, Mariamne!
[Exit Mariamne.
Aristobulus, art thou satisfied?
Oh! since my birth I have lived in fierce contrast,
For ever half in lightning, half in gloom:
The brighter still the public brilliance glows,
The deeper falls this darkness of the hearth.
Never the tranquil, uneventful warmth
Where other men like creatures bask and browse,
The metal of my mind attracts the tempest.
70
Gadias, is there any thirst like this?
Or any hunger like unto this hunger?
I am denied her lips, her touch.
Gadias.
I came
To speak on graver matters.
Herod.
Graver! Why?
Gadias.
The queen—
Herod.
'Tis her I speak of.
Gadias.
In your absence—
Herod.
What? What?
Gadias.
Hath visited continually
The tomb of young Aristobulus.
Herod.
Why,
What need of her to pace those yards of earth?
Her spirit standeth by his tomb for ever.
Gadias.
There's peril in this going to and fro.
Herod.
Think you if I forbade her that with time
The image of this boy might grow more dim?
71
O king, the matter is more grave. The people
Assemble now to see her pass. They whisper,
Then come to sullen threats. And yesterday
Rose up behind her a long, hoarse uproar.
Herod.
To have once possessed, and then to be debarred!
Gadias.
The Pharisees are fanning this chance flame.
Herod.
Now when I have returned in a fond glory—
Enter Cypros and Salome behind.
Gadias.
Pardon, O king, these goings to the tomb
Must be forbidden!
Herod.
Aching with great news.
Gadias.
Your pardon, but the people—
Herod.
Why, all this
Concerns me not.
Gadias.
O king!
72
To me the people,
My mother, sister, you—all these are nothing—
Gadias.
Well—
Herod.
Speak of Mariamne, how to win her back.
Gadias.
You will take some measure to suppress—
Herod.
Suppress? No, but to kindle what is quenched.
[Gadias motions to Cypros and Salome with despairing gesture.
Gadias.
I will return at some more prosperous moment.
[Exit Gadias. Cypros and Salome come down.
Cypros.
You waved us off. We with the crowd were banished,
But now that you have spoken with Mariamne
Your mother and your sister may perhaps
Have leave—
73
I will not have your kiss—or hers!
I am exiled from Mariamne's lips.
Salome.
Why, would she not—
Herod.
When I rushed in, she rose
Like a black pine out of the bending wheat.
Cypros.
Doth she deny you?
Herod.
Utterly!
Salome.
Yet why?
Herod.
Because I killed Aristobulus.
Salome.
Oh!
Cypros.
Is this the sole cause?
Herod.
Why, what other?
Cypros.
Herod,
Men I well know that you can trample down,
Or flatter or deceive—women you know not.
Herod.
Well—well—
Cypros.
And you suppose this the sole cause?
Herod.
What mean you?
Cypros.
At the least I'll fend and watch
Over you.
74
Unto whom did you confide
This murder? Unto all the court?
Herod.
No—no.
Cypros.
To whom, then?
Herod.
To Gadias.
Salome.
To Gadias?
Cypros.
And to no other?
Herod.
To Sohemus.
Salome.
To—
Sohemus?
Cypros.
To Sohemus?
[Herod, ascending staircase, turns, looks from Cypros to Salome, then exit, with gesture of disbelief.
Cypros.
He is now
Wrought to the very mood when we can use him
To strike at Mariamne. We must not
Suffer him now to cool.
Salome.
He is most silent.
75
And then most capable of dangerous act.
Salome.
How? How?
Cypros.
The queen is wont about this hour
To bring his posset to the king, which she
Prepares with her own hands. Now if a moment
I could distil this poison in the cup,
Then warn him not to drink!
Salome.
Still to and fro
He paces, making the vast room a cage.
[Pause, moves up steps, and listens, kneeling.
Still pacing up and down, and to and fro,
And now a sudden pause. And now again,
Like a stung creature, fitfully resumes.
Enter Cup-Bearer, with a cup of wine.
Cypros.
Ah, whither do you take that cup?
Cup-B.
I take it
In to the king.
Cypros.
But the queen takes the cup.
Cup-B.
To-day she will not take it.
76
Give it me.
[Cup-Bearer comes over and hands her the cup. Cypros smells it.
The queen prepared this cup with her own hands?
Cup-B.
The queen prepared the cup with her own hands.
[As he bows low, Cypros drops in the poison. As he looks up again, she again smells the wine.
Cypros.
Does it not seem the wine has a strange smell?
[Gives cup to Cup-Bearer.
Salome.
Most strange.
Cypros.
Or is it fancy?
Cup-B.
A strange smell!
Cypros.
Were it not better then to warn the king
Before he drinks it?
Cup-B.
I will warn the king.
[Exit up steps.
77
Now, Herod being warned, will instantly
Summon the queen and ask of her to drink;
This is his mood. If she refuse, he'll deem
She hath put poison in with her own hands.
Salome.
And if she drink it?
Cypros.
Then we see her fall—
For it is deadly—and die upon the instant.
So either way—
[Cry from Herod within.
Salome.
A cry!
Cypros.
He is stung to madness.
Salome.
Or wounded, by his voice.
Enter Herod, in grim silence, with the Cup-Bearer.
Herod.
[To Attendant.]
Summon the queen,
Pheroras, and Gadias, and Sohemus.
[A pause, during which enter Pheroras, Sohemus and Gadias.
[Herod and Cup-Bearer stand
78
Herod.
Did you prepare this cup with your own hands?
Mar.
With my own hands as is my custom.
Herod.
Yet
You did not bring it me as is your custom.
Mar.
I chose to send it.
Herod.
As it chanced, my mother
And sister intercepted the cup-bearer.
Cypros.
I had sworn to guard you, Herod.
Herod.
And they drew
A strange smell from the wine. Now drink it!
Drink.
Mar.
[Giving her the cup.]
Is this a second treachery? I know not.
[Looks towards Cypros and Salome, and from them back to Herod.
He who could drown can poison.
79
Drink it—or—
Mar.
I am so weary, I will drink it, and
If it is mortal, then I go at once
Down to Aristobulus.
Now farewell!
Jerusalem, city of God, farewell,
My cradle first, my home, and now my grave,
For I, the last of all the Maccabees,
I, the lone daughter of that holy line,
I perish without fear and without cry:
For a doom is come upon us, and an ending.
Brother, I drink and hasten down to you.
[As she puts the cup to her lips, Herod dashes it down.
Herod.
Ah, no! though you prepared this for my death,
I cannot see you drink it.
Mariamne,
Now, even now—
Mar.
[Pointing to the spilt wine.]
Between us a red stream.
80
Cypros.
What is that sound?
Gadias.
[Listening.]
It was an angry sound.
Enter an Officer of the Guard.
Officer.
Your pardon, but our captain, where is he?
Salome.
What is the danger, then?
[Exit Officer.
Cypros.
What does this mean?
Crash is heard at the gates. Pheroras enters.
Pher.
They have shattered down the outer gate.
Cypros.
They? Who?
Pher.
The mob, by Mariamne's public grief
To fury urged. They are beating at the palace.
Salome.
They are fighting.
Cypros.
There are groans and sudden falls.
Pher.
Sohemus falls—he is wounded—they'll break through.
81
[To Pheroras.]
Call reinforcements from the citadel,
So that they steal in and surround the mob.
Meanwhile, I will detain them in some speech.
When you are ready, let the trumpet sound.
[Exit Pheroras.
[Herod's guards are now forced back into the Hall, some falling. A Mob of political plotters, priests, and populace swarms in with stones, staves and chance weapons, blind Syllæus in front. Herod speaks from the stairs.
Stand out, the chief of you, and answer me.
[Several then stand out.
The cause why you have broke into the palace.
Syll.
Herod, these sightless eyes can yet behold
The blood on you of young Aristobulus.
[A murmur.
It is so bright, it dazzles even the blind.
82
Her wrongs, her injuries we will avenge.
Can you deny that you—you—struck him down?
Herod.
I struck him down! And did he live again,
Again I'd strike him down. And any other
That's in my path I'll set my foot upon.
[A murmur which swells into a roar.
Why, why, then? Because Herod is Judæa;
I am your bulwark and your bastion; I,
Herod alone.
A Man.
You have sold us to the Roman.
[Cries of ‘Yes, yes.’
A Man.
Antony's dead!
Another.
And Cæsar lives.
Another.
You chose
The wrong.
Herod.
'Tis true that Antony's dead.
'Tis true.
[Murmurs.
That Cæsar lives. And I this very day
83
I now have grappled to my side as once
I grappled Antony. I have sold you to the Roman?
Now hearken with what gifts I come from Rome.
Henceforward in all cities which Rome sways,
Freedom to each Jew by our ancient law,
[Movements and murmurs of satisfaction checked by a gesture from Herod.
So long as I reign o'er you and my heirs.
Then leave to adore the God of Israel—
[Renewed murmurs of gratitude, again checked by Herod.
So long as I reign o'er you and my heirs.
Last, in all cities under Roman rule,
The heavy hand of persecution
Upon our people shall be lifted up
And all our burdens lightened from henceforth,
[Applause.
So long as I reign o'er you and my heirs.
84
A Priest.
You would destroy the Temple.
Herod.
But to build
A vaster Temple and more glorious.
This task have I foreseen and have prepared;
And now I bid you on the instant choose
A thousand priests to work in metal and ore
Until this mightier Temple shall arise.
Till then no stone of the old sanctuary
Shall be removed. To priests and priests alone
I give the charge—I am not worthy of it.
I will enrol a thousand priests to-day.
[Murmurs of satisfaction renewed among priests and populace.
Now I come down among you.
[He descends.
Here's my breast.
Now strike who wills. Does any hesitate?
Why, such a blow as this none ever struck
That breathed since the beginning of the world;
85
Who stabs at this my heart, stabs at a kingdom,
These veins are rivers, and these arteries
Are very roads; this body is your country.
Strike—strike—strike! None of you?
[Trumpet. Armed men appear at the back, filling the corridors and colonnade.
Lo then my spears
That circle you about with no escape!
I lift my finger and all ye are dead!
Crowd.
[Fawningly.]
O Herod!
Herod.
But I will not. Go!
[To Politicians.]
And you!
Remember with what gifts I come from Rome.
[To Priests.]
You to the task of building gird yourselves.
[To Mob.]
And you, my people, now depart in peace,
86
That Herod is your shepherd and your king!
[They come round him, some kneeling, kissing his garments, and gradually disperse. Exeunt Mob.
Cypros.
[To Herod.]
Now 'tis our lives or hers.
Salome.
She hath denied you
Her lips, her love.
Cypros.
She hath prepared you poison.
Gadias.
These things are not important. That which was
A private trouble between you and her
Is now a public peril. 'Tis not you
That now are shaken, but the throne itself.
Pher.
Brother, that this will cost you a fierce pang
I know—but for the country she must die.
Gadias.
And quickly.
Cypros.
Kill her, Herod.
Salome.
Kill her! kill her!
87
Would you commit such beauty to the earth?
Those eyes that bring upon us endless thoughts!
That face that seems as it had come to pass
Like a thing prophesied! To kill her!
And I, if she were dead, I too would die,
Or linger in the sunlight without life;
O, terrible to live but in remembering!
To call her name down the long corridors;
To come on jewels that she wore, laid by;
Or open suddenly some chest, and see
Some favourite robe she wore on such a day!
I dare not bring upon myself such woe.
Gadias.
'Tis not yourself, O king, it is the State.
Pher.
It is our country that asks this of you.
Herod.
If it must be, then, here I sit in judgment!
[Moves to throne and sits.
I call upon you, Mariamne, here
To answer for yourself that you deny
88
Answer.
Cypros.
She will not.
Salome.
Cannot—rather say.
Herod.
Then for this poison of your own preparing.
Salome.
She cannot speak.
Cypros.
No answer still?
Salome.
You hear.
Herod.
Last, for this insurrection of your making,
You stir my people up against their king,
They break into the palace, and would have slain us.
Gadias.
This visiting so oft your brother's tomb
Has wrought the people up to mutiny.
Mar.
I'll not forbear my visits to his tomb:
No, not though all Jerusalem went mad,
And pulled these pillars down upon our heads.
89
Remember, I have power upon your life,
That I can sentence you to death.
Mar.
O, that!
Pher.
What further need of words?
Cypros.
Or witnesses.
Herod.
Then as a traitor not alone to me,
But to the State itself, you have incurred
The pains of death.
Mar.
I am ready.
Cypros.
Let her die.
Gadias.
King, she must die.
Herod.
Away from us a moment.
[Exeunt all but Mariamne and Herod. Herod beckons her down; she comes before him.
Mar.
Herod, I cannot change—my love is dead.
Herod.
Die then yourself—die, die upon the instant.
Such beauty should pass suddenly away,
90
Die—die—
But ere you go, witness at least
That never woman was so loved as thou,
That never man from the beginning loved
As I.
Mar.
[Moves down to him.]
And yet you left behind direction
That were you slain, that moment I should die.
Herod.
Here has imagination made me cruel,
So that one death should end what is one life,
And we two simultaneously cease:
If cease we do, let's perish the same instant.
Never could I decay while you still breathed,
Nor could I rot while you moved in the light;
What grave could hold me fast? What sepulchre
Could so press on me that I would not rend it?
Burn me in fire, and see me ashes, yet
No lighted fire hath force upon this fire:
Or did I live again, then should I float
91
About you still—mad to recover words—
A spirit groping for the trick of speech,
Mad for the ancient touches of the hand,
Yet wordless, handless, helpless, near yet dumb,
Close, yet unseen. This was the love I bore you.
Mar.
A tiger's fury—not the love of man!
[Turns to go.
Herod.
[Moves up to steps.]
O stay yet!
I forgive the love denied:
See—I forgive the poison. I but crawl
Here at your feet, and kiss your garments' hem,
And I forgive this mutiny—all—all—
But for one kiss from you, one touch, one word.
O like a creature, I implore some look,
Some syllable, some sign, ere I go mad.
Mariamne! Mariamne! Mariamne!
[Mariamne goes out without saying a word or looking round.
92
I am denied her soul, and that which was
A glow hath now become a wasting flame.
I am a barren, solitary pyre!
[Takes ashes from brazier and strews them over his head.
Enter Pheroras, Gadias, Cypros and Salome.
Pher.
I will give order for the execution.
Cypros.
Let her drink poison—die by that same death
Prepared for you.
[Pheroras is about to go up steps.
Herod.
Pheroras, and you others,
I'll not excuse her, but she had at least
Some provocation in that fierce command
I left behind that should I die, she too
Should perish.
[Salome exchanges look with Cypros.
Salome.
And to whom did you confide
So intimate, so secret a command?
Not to Gadias?
93
No.
Herod.
Why, to Sohemus.
Soh.
O, take me to the king.
Enter, dying of wounds received in attack on palace.
Forgive me, Herod.
[Dies.
Herod.
He was my friend!
Cypros.
Your friend! And yet from him
She learned the murder of Aristobulus?
Salome.
But this command, so dear, so perilous,
Would not be blurted out—'twas wrung from him.
Herod.
Impossible! By torture?
Salome.
No, perhaps
By loveliness more terrible than torture—
Slow sweetness with more exquisite a pang.
Cypros.
He was so true, no tortures could have shook him.
Salome.
Only in one way drew she this from him.
94
Know, son, that women the most delicate,
And most high-born, feed often on strange fancies;
They are so screened, they come to long for peril,
And we are secret, Herod—very secret.
Salome.
Thus only, Herod, lying on his breast,
And gazing in his eyes, one arm about him,
Could she have drawn him, swooning at her sweetness,
To such betrayal—
Herod.
Like a fiend you hold me
In an eternal torture.
Salome.
—Till he gave
His soul up in the incense of her hair.
Herod.
[Throwing Salome from him.]
Devil!
Cypros.
And, Herod, not for the first time
She hath languished for a soldier lowly born.
95
Incredible! Unthinkable! And yet,
O God! Sohemus' cry, ‘Forgive me, Herod!’
Cypros.
A dying cry!
Herod.
[Rushing to the body and kneeling.]
Sohemus, speak—speak—speak!
Thou art not dead so long—art but a little
The other side of the grave, and canst reveal—
If not, let God then thunder through your lips—
He is dumb—and God himself is silent! Kill her!
Gadias.
He has said it!
Cypros.
O, at last! Let her drink poison—
And on the instant.
Gadias.
Quickly, lest he change.
[Exit Servant, quickly.
Herod.
I have said it! And it was foretold of me
That I should slay the thing that most I loved.
Fate is upon me with the hour, the word.
A dreadful numbness all my spirit seals.
96
She shall not die—she shall not die—she shall not—
Trumpets. Enter Attendant.
Attend.
O king, the Roman eagles! See!
A Cry.
[Without.]
From Rome!
Enter Roman Envoy and Suite.
Envoy.
O king, great Cæsar sent us after you,
But, though we posted fast, you still outran us.
Thus then by word of mouth great Cæsar greets
Herod his friend. But he would not confine
That friendship to the easy spoken word,
And here I bear a proof of Cæsar's faith.
Herein is added to thy boundaries
Hippo, Samaria and Gadara,
And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon's shore,
And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers.
[Moves down.
Here is the scroll, with Cæsar's own hand signed.
97
[Taking the scroll—at foot of steps.]
Mariamne, hear you this? Mariamne, see you?
[Turns to look at scroll.
Servant enters and moves down to Gadias down L.
[He goes up the stairs.
Hippo, Samaria and Gadara,
And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon's shore,
And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers.
Serv.
[Aside to Gadias.]
O sir, the queen is dead!
Gadias.
[Aside to Pheroras, Cypros and Salome.]
The queen is dead!
Herod.
Mariamne, hear you this? Mariamne, see you?
[Repeating the words and going up steps.
Hippo, Samaria and Gadara,
And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon,
[As he moves up.
And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers!
| Herod | |