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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1291 ***
+
+HERODIAS
+
+By Gustave Flaubert
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+In the eastern side of the Dead Sea rose the citadel of Machaerus. It
+was built upon a conical peak of basalt, and was surrounded by four deep
+valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth in the rear.
+At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a group of
+houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines undulated with
+the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting through the rocks,
+joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which were about one
+hundred and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles and ornamental
+towers that stood out like jewels in this crown of stone overhanging an
+abyss.
+
+Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
+arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
+spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
+poles had been erected to support an awning.
+
+One morning, just before sunrise, the tetrarch, Herod-Antipas, came out
+alone upon the balcony. He leaned against one of the columns and looked
+about him.
+
+The crests of the hill-tops in the valley below the palace were just
+discernible in the light of the false dawn, although their bases,
+extending to the abyss, were still plunged in darkness. A light mist
+floated in the air; presently it lifted, and the shores of the Dead Sea
+became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy flush
+over the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the desert,
+and illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey in the
+early dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a deep black
+shadow; Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a dome; Eschol
+had her pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her fields of sesame;
+and the tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube, dominated Jerusalem.
+The tetrarch turned his gaze from it to contemplate the palms of Jericho
+on his right; and his thoughts dwelt upon other cities of his beloved
+Galilee,--Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth, Tiberias--whither it might be he
+would never return.
+
+The Jordan wound its way through the arid plains that met his gaze;
+white and glittering under the clear sky, it dazzled the eye like snow
+in the rays of the sun.
+
+The Dead Sea now looked like a sheet of lapis-lazuli; and at its
+southern extremity, on the coast of Yemen, Antipas recognised clearly
+what at first he had been able only dimly to perceive. Several tents
+could now be plainly seen; men carrying spears were moving about among a
+group of horses; and dying camp-fires shone faintly in the beams of the
+rising sun.
+
+This was a troop belonging to the sheikh of the Arabs, the daughter
+of whom the tetrarch had repudiated in order to wed Herodias, already
+married to one of his brothers, who lived in Italy but who had no
+pretensions to power.
+
+Antipas was waiting for assistance and reinforcements from the Romans,
+but as Vitellius, the Governor of Syria, had not yet arrived, he was
+consumed with impatience and anxiety. Perhaps Agrippa had ruined his
+cause with the Emperor, he thought. Philip, his third brother, sovereign
+of Batania, was arming himself clandestinely. The Jews were becoming
+intolerant of the tetrarch’s idolatries; he knew that many were weary of
+his rule; and he hesitated now between adopting one of two projects: to
+conciliate the Arabs and win back their allegiance, or to conclude
+an alliance with the Parthians. Under the pretext of celebrating his
+birthday, he had planned to bring together, at a grand banquet,
+the chiefs of his troops, the stewards of his domains, and the most
+important men from the region about Galilee.
+
+Antipas threw a keen glance along all the roads leading to Machaerus.
+They were deserted. Eagles were sweeping through the air high above his
+head; the soldiers of the guard, placed at intervals along the ramparts,
+slept or dozed, leaning against the walls; all was silent within the
+castle.
+
+Suddenly he heard the sound of a distant voice, seeming to come from
+the very depths of the earth. His cheek paled. After an instant’s
+hesitation, he leaned far over the balcony railing, listening intently,
+but the voice had died away. Presently it rose again upon the quiet air;
+Antipas clapped his hands together loudly, crying: “Mannaeus! Mannaeus!”
+
+Instantly a man appeared, naked to the waist, after the fashion of a
+masseur at the bath. Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in years,
+he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in a bronze
+scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a kind of
+comb, exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His eyes were
+heavy with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was light on the
+flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape, although his
+countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
+
+“Where is he?” demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
+
+Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
+
+“Over there--still there!”
+
+“I thought I heard him cry out.”
+
+And Antipas, after drawing a deep breath, asked for news of Iaokanann,
+afterwards known as St. John the Baptist. Had he been allowed to see the
+two men who had asked permission to visit his dungeon a few days before,
+and since that time, had any one discovered for what purpose the men
+desired to see him?
+
+“They exchanged some strange words with him,” Mannaeus replied, “with
+the mysterious air of robbers conspiring at the cross-roads. Then they
+departed towards Upper Galilee, saying that they were the bearers of
+great tidings.”
+
+Antipas bent his head for a moment; then raising it quickly, said in a
+tone full of alarm:
+
+“Guard him! watch him well! Do not allow any one else to see him. Keep
+the gates shut and the entrance to the dungeon closed fast. It must not
+even be suspected that he still lives!”
+
+Mannaeus had already attended to all these details, because Iaokanann
+was a Jew, and, like all the Samaritans, Mannaeus hated the Jews.
+
+Their temple on the Mount of Gerizim, which Moses had designed to be the
+centre of Israel, had been destroyed since the reign of King Hyrcanus;
+and the temple at Jerusalem made the Samaritans furious; they regarded
+its presence as an outrage against themselves, and a permanent
+injustice. Mannaeus, indeed, had forcibly entered it, for the purpose of
+defiling its altar with the bones of corpses. Several of his companions,
+less agile than he, had been caught and beheaded.
+
+From the tetrarch’s balcony, the temple was visible through an opening
+between two hills. The sun, now fully risen, shed a dazzling splendour
+on its walls of snowy marble and the plates of purest gold that formed
+its roof. The structure shone like a luminous mountain, and its radiant
+purity indicated something almost superhuman, eclipsing even its
+suggestion of opulence and pride.
+
+Mannaeus stretched out his powerful arm towards Zion, and, with clenched
+fist and his great body drawn to its full height, he launched a bitter
+anathema at the city, with perfect faith that eventually his curse must
+be effective.
+
+Antipas listened, without appearing to be shocked at the strength of the
+invectives.
+
+When the Samaritan had become somewhat calmer, he returned to the
+subject of the prisoner.
+
+“Sometimes he grows excited,” said he, “then he longs to escape or talks
+about a speedy deliverance. At other times he is as quiet as a sick
+animal, although I often find him pacing to and fro in his gloomy
+dungeon, murmuring, ‘In order that His glory may increase, mine must
+diminish.’”
+
+Antipas and Mannaeus looked at each other a moment in silence. But the
+tetrarch was weary of pondering on this troublesome matter.
+
+The mountain peaks surrounding the palace, looking like great petrified
+waves, the black depths among the cliffs, the immensity of the blue sky,
+the rising sun, and the gloomy valley of the abyss, filled the soul of
+Antipas with a vague unrest; he felt an overwhelming sense of oppression
+at the sight of the desert, whose uneven piles of sand suggested
+crumbling amphitheaters or ruined palaces. The hot wind brought an odour
+of sulphur, as if it had rolled up from cities accursed and buried
+deeper than the river-bed of the slow-running Jordan.
+
+These aspects of nature, which seemed to his troubled fancy signs of
+the wrath of the gods, terrified him, and he leaned heavily against the
+balcony railing, his eyes fixed, his head resting upon his hands.
+
+Presently he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. He turned, and saw
+Herodias standing beside him. A purple robe enveloped her, falling to
+her sandaled feet. Having left her chamber hurriedly, she wore no jewels
+nor other ornaments. A thick tress of rippling black hair hung over her
+shoulder and hid itself in her bosom; her nostrils, a little too large
+for beauty, quivered with triumph, and her face was alight with joy. She
+gently shook the tetrarch’s shoulder, and exclaimed exultantly:
+
+“Caesar is our friend! Agrippa has been imprisoned!”
+
+“Who told thee that?”
+
+“I know it!” she replied, adding: “It was because he coveted the crown
+of Caligula.”
+
+While living upon the charity of Antipas and Herodias, Agrippa had
+intrigued to become king, a title for which the tetrarch was as eager as
+he. But if this news were true, no more was to be feared from Agrippa’s
+scheming.
+
+“The dungeons of Tiberias are hard to open, and sometimes life itself is
+uncertain within their depths,” said Herodias, with grim significance.
+
+Antipas understood her; and, although she was Agrippa’s sister, her
+atrocious insinuation seemed entirely justifiable to the tetrarch.
+Murder and outrage were to be expected in the management of political
+intrigues; they were a part of the fatal inheritance of royal houses;
+and in the family of Herodias nothing was more common.
+
+Then she rapidly unfolded to the tetrarch the secrets of her recent
+undertakings, telling him how many men had been bribed, what letters had
+been intercepted, and the number of spies stationed at the city gates.
+She did not hesitate even to tell him of her success in an attempt to
+befool and seduce Eutyches the denunciator.
+
+“And why should I not?” she said; “it cost me nothing. For thee, my
+lord, have I not done more than that? Did I not even abandon my child?”
+
+After her divorce from Philip, she had indeed left her daughter in Rome,
+hoping that, as the wife of the tetrarch, she might bear other children.
+Until that moment she had never spoken to Antipas of her daughter. He
+asked himself the reason for this sudden display of tenderness.
+
+During their brief conversation several attendants had come out upon
+the balcony; one slave brought a quantity of large, soft cushions, and
+arranged them in a kind of temporary couch upon the floor behind his
+mistress. Herodias sank upon them, and turning her face away from
+Antipas, seemed to be weeping silently. After a few moments she dried
+her eyes, declared that she would dream no more, and that she was, in
+reality, perfectly happy. She reminded Antipas of their former long
+delightful interviews in the atrium; their meetings at the baths; their
+walks along the Sacred Way, and the sweet evening rendezvous at the
+villa, among the flowery groves, listening to the murmur of splashing
+fountains, within sight of the Roman Campagna. Her glances were as
+tender as in former days; she drew near to him, leaned against his
+breast and caressed him fondly.
+
+But he repelled her soft advances. The love she sought to rekindle had
+died long ago. He thought instead of all his misfortunes, and of the
+twelve long years during which the war had continued. Protracted anxiety
+had visibly aged the tetrarch. His shoulders were bent beneath his
+violet-bordered toga; his whitening locks were long and mingled with his
+beard, and the sunlight revealed many lines upon his brow, as well as
+upon that of Herodias. After the tetrarch’s repulse of his wife’s tender
+overtures, the pair gazed morosely at each other.
+
+The mountain paths began to show signs of life. Shepherds were driving
+their flocks to pasture; children urged heavy-laden donkeys along the
+roads; while grooms belonging to the palace led the horses to the river
+to drink. The wayfarers descending from the heights on the farther side
+of Machaerus disappeared behind the castle; others ascended from the
+valleys, and after arriving at the palace deposited their burdens in the
+courtyard. Many of these were purveyors to the tetrarch; others were the
+servants of his expected guests, arriving in advance of their masters.
+
+Suddenly, at the foot of the terrace on the left, an Essene appeared; he
+wore a white robe, his feet were bare, and his demeanour indicated that
+he was a follower of the Stoics. Mannaeus instantly rushed towards the
+stranger, drawing the cutlass that he wore upon his hip.
+
+“Kill him!” cried Herodias.
+
+“Do not touch him!” the tetrarch commanded.
+
+The two men stood motionless for an instant, then they descended the
+terrace, both taking a different direction, although they kept their
+eyes fixed upon each other.
+
+“I know that man,” said Herodias, after they had disappeared. “His name
+is Phanuel, and he will try to seek out Iaokanann, since thou wert so
+foolish as to allow him to live.”
+
+Antipas said that the man might some day be useful to them. His attacks
+upon Jerusalem would gain them the allegiance of the rest of the Jews.
+
+“No,” said Herodias, “the Jews will accept any master, and are incapable
+of feeling any true patriotism.” She added that, as for the man who was
+trying to influence the people with hopes cherished since the days of
+Nehemiah, the best policy was to suppress him.
+
+The tetrarch replied that there was no haste about the matter, and
+expressed his doubt that any real danger was to be feared from Iaokanann
+even affecting to laugh at the idea.
+
+“Do not deceive thyself!” exclaimed Herodias. And she retold the story
+of her humiliation one day when she was travelling towards Gilead, in
+order to purchase some of the balm for which that region was famous.
+
+“A multitude was standing on the banks of the stream, my lord; many
+of the people were putting on their raiment. Standing on a hillock, a
+strange man was speaking to the gathering. A camel’s-skin was wrapped
+about his loins, and his head was like that of a lion. As soon as he saw
+me, he launched in my direction all the maledictions of the prophets.
+His eyes flamed, his voice shook, he raised his arms as if he would draw
+down lightning upon my head. I could not fly from him; the wheels of my
+chariot sank in the sand up to the middle; and I could only crawl along,
+hiding my head with my mantle, and frozen with terror at the curses that
+poured upon me like a storm from heaven!”
+
+Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man
+still existed poisoned her very life. When he had been seized and bound
+with cords, the soldiers were prepared to stab him if he resisted, but
+he had been quite gentle and obedient. After he had been thrown into
+prison some one had put venomous serpents into his dungeon, but strange
+to say, after a time they had died, leaving him uninjured. The inanity
+of such tricks exasperated Herodias. Besides, she inquired, why did
+this man make war upon her? What interest moved him to such actions? His
+injurious words to her, uttered before a throng of listeners, had been
+repeated and widely circulated; she heard them whispered everywhere.
+Against a legion of soldiers she would have been brave; but this
+mysterious influence, more pernicious and powerful than the sword, but
+impossible to grasp, was maddening! Herodias strode to and fro upon the
+terrace, white with rage, unable to find words to express the emotions
+that choked her.
+
+She had a haunting fear that the tetrarch might listen to public opinion
+after a time, and persuade himself it was his duty to repudiate her.
+Then, indeed, all would be lost! Since early youth she had cherished a
+dream that some day she would rule over a great empire. As an important
+step towards attaining this ambition, she had deserted Philip, her first
+husband, and married the tetrarch, who now she thought had duped her.
+
+“Ah! I found a powerful support, indeed, when I entered thy family!” she
+sneered.
+
+“It is at least the equal of thine,” Antipas replied.
+
+Herodias felt the blood of the kings and priests, her ancestors, boiling
+in her veins.
+
+“Thy grandfather was a servile attendant upon the temple of Ascalon!”
+ she went on, with fury. “Thy other ancestors were shepherds, bandits,
+conductors of caravans, a horde of slaves offered as tribute to King
+David! My forefathers were the conquerors of thine! The first of the
+Maccabees drove thy people out of Hebron; Hyrcanus forced them to be
+circumcised!” Then, with all the contempt of the patrician for the
+plebeian, the hatred of Jacob for Esau, she reproached him for his
+indifference towards palpable outrages to his dignity, his weakness
+regarding the Phoenicians, who had been false to him, and his cowardly
+attitude towards the people who detested and insulted herself.
+
+“But thou art like them!” she cried; “Dost regret the loss of the Arab
+girl who danced upon these very pavements? Take her back! Go and live
+with her--in her tent! Eat her bread, baked in the ashes! Drink curdled
+sheep’s-milk! Kiss her dark cheeks--and forget me!”
+
+The tetrarch had already forgotten her presence, it appeared. He paid no
+further heed to her anger, but looked intently at a young girl who had
+just stepped out upon the balcony of a house not far away. At her side
+stood an elderly female slave, who held over the girl’s head a kind of
+parasol with a handle made of long, slender reeds. In the middle of
+the rug spread upon the floor of the balcony stood a large open
+travelling-hamper or basket, and girdles, veils, head-dresses, and gold
+and silver ornaments were scattered about in confusion. At intervals
+the young girl took one object or another in her hands, and held it up
+admiringly. She was dressed in the costume of the Roman ladies, with a
+flowing tunic and a peplum ornamented with tassels of emeralds; and blue
+silken bands confined her hair, which seemed almost too luxuriant, since
+from time to time she raised a small hand to push back the heavy masses.
+The parasol half hid the maiden from the gaze of Antipas, but now and
+then he caught a glimpse of her delicate neck, her large eyes, or a
+fleeting smile upon her small mouth. He noted that her figure swayed
+about with a singularly elastic grace and elegance. He leaned forward,
+his eyes kindled, his breath quickened. All this was not lost upon
+Herodias, who watched him narrowly.
+
+“Who is that maiden?” the tetrarch asked at last.
+
+Herodias replied that she did not know, and her fierce demeanour
+suddenly changed to one of gentleness and amiability.
+
+At the entrance to the castle the tetrarch was awaited by several
+Galileans, the master of the scribes, the chief of the land stewards,
+the manager of the salt mines, and a Jew from Babylon, commanding his
+troops of horse. As the tetrarch approached the group, he was greeted
+with respectful enthusiasm. Acknowledging the acclamations with a grave
+salute, he entered the castle.
+
+As he proceeded along one of the corridors, Phanuel suddenly sprang from
+a corner and intercepted him.
+
+“What! Art thou still here?” said the tetrarch in displeasure. “Thou
+seekest Iaokanann, no doubt.”
+
+“And thyself, my lord. I have something of great importance to tell
+thee.”
+
+At a sign from Antipas, the Essene followed him into a somewhat dark and
+gloomy room.
+
+The daylight came faintly through a grated window. The walls were of a
+deep shade of crimson, so dark as to look almost black. At one end of
+the room stood an ebony bed, ornamented with bands of leather. A
+shield of gold, hanging at the head of the bed, shone like a sun in the
+obscurity of the apartment. Antipas crossed over to the couch and threw
+himself upon it in a half-reclining attitude, while Phanuel remained
+standing before him. Suddenly he raised one hand, and striking a
+commanding attitude said:
+
+“At times, my lord, the Most High sends a message to the people through
+one of His sons. Iaokanann is one of these. If thou oppress him, thou
+shalt be punished!”
+
+“But it is he that persecutes me!” exclaimed Antipas. “He asked me to do
+a thing that was impossible. Since then he has done nothing but revile
+me. And I was not severe with him when he began his abuse of me. But
+he had the hardihood to send various men from Machaerus to spread
+dissension and discontent throughout my domain. A curse upon him! Since
+he attacks me, I shall defend myself.”
+
+“Without doubt, he has expressed his anger with too much violence,”
+ Phanuel replied calmly. “But do not heed that further. He must be set
+free.”
+
+“One does not let loose a furious animal,” said the tetrarch.
+
+“Have no fear of him now,” was the quick reply. “He will go straight to
+the Arabs, the Gauls, and the Scythians. His work must be extended to
+the uttermost ends of the earth.”
+
+For a moment Antipas appeared lost in thought, as one who sees a vision.
+Then he said:
+
+“His power over men is indeed great. In spite of myself, I admire him!”
+
+“Then set him free!”
+
+But the tetrarch shook his head. He feared Herodias, Mannaeus, and
+unknown dangers.
+
+Phanuel tried to persuade him, promising, as a guaranty of the honesty
+of his projects, the submission of the Essenians to the King. These poor
+people, clad only in linen, untameable in spite of severe treatment,
+endowed with the power to divine the future by reading the stars, had
+succeeded in commanding a certain degree of respect.
+
+“What is the important matter thou wouldst communicate to me?” Antipas
+inquired, with sudden recollection.
+
+Before Phanuel could reply, a Negro entered the room in great haste. He
+was covered with dust, and panted so violently that he could scarcely
+utter the single word:
+
+“Vitellus!”
+
+“Has he arrived?” asked the tetrarch.
+
+“I have seen him, my lord. Within three hours he will be here.”
+
+Throughout the palace, doors were opening and closing and portieres were
+swaying as if in a high wind, with the coming and going of many persons;
+there was a murmur of voices; sounds of the moving of heavy furniture
+could be heard, and the rattle of silver plates and dishes. From the
+highest tower a loud blast upon a conch summoned from far and near all
+the slaves belonging to the castle.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The ramparts were thronged with people when at last Vitellius entered
+the castle gates, leaning on the arm of his interpreter. Behind them
+came an imposing red litter, decorated with plumes and mirrors. The
+proconsul wore a toga ornamented with the laticlave, a broad purple band
+extending down the front of the garment, indicating his rank; and his
+feet were encased in the kind of buskins worn by consuls. A guard
+of lictors surrounded him. Against the wall they placed their twelve
+fasces--a bundle of sticks with an axe in the centre. And the populace
+trembled before the insignia of Roman majesty.
+
+The gorgeous litter, borne by eight men, came to a halt. From it
+descended a youth. He wore many pearls upon his fingers, but he had
+a protruding abdomen and his face was covered with pimples. A cup of
+aromatic wine was offered to him. He drank it, and asked for a second
+draught.
+
+The tetrarch had fallen upon his knees before the proconsul, saying that
+he was grieved beyond words not to have known sooner of the favour of
+his presence within those domains; had he been aware of the approach
+of his distinguished guest, he would have issued a command that every
+person along the route should place himself at the proconsul’s orders.
+Of a surety, the proconsul’s family was descended direct from the
+goddess Vitellia. A highway, leading from the Janiculum to the sea,
+still bore their name. Questors and consuls were innumerable in that
+great family; and as for the noble Lucius, now his honoured guest, it
+was the duty of the whole people to thank him, as the conqueror of
+the Cliti and the father of the young Aulus, now returning to his own
+domain, since the East was the country of the gods. These hyperboles
+were expressed in Latin, and Vitellius accepted them impassively.
+
+He replied that the great Herod was the honour and glory of the nation;
+that the Athenians had chosen him to direct the Olympian games; that
+he had built temples in the honour of Augustus; had been patient,
+ingenious, terrible; and was faithful to all the Caesars.
+
+Between the two marble columns, with bronze capitals, Herodias could now
+be seen advancing with the air of an empress, in the midst of a group
+of women and eunuchs carrying perfumed torches set in sockets of
+silver-gilt.
+
+The proconsul advanced three steps to meet her. She saluted him with an
+inclination of her head.
+
+“How fortunate,” she exclaimed, “that henceforth Agrippa, the enemy of
+Tiberius, can work harm no longer!”
+
+Vitellius did not understand her allusion, but he thought her a
+dangerous woman. Antipas immediately declared that he was ready to do
+anything for the emperor.
+
+“Even to the injury of others?” Vitellius asked, significantly.
+
+He had taken hostages from the king of the Parthians, but the emperor
+had given no further thought to the matter, because Antipas, who had
+been present at the conference, had, in order to gain favour, sent off
+despatches bearing the news. From that time he had borne a profound
+hatred towards the emperor and had delayed in sending assistance to him.
+
+The tetrarch stammered in attempting to reply to the query of the
+proconsul. But Aulus laughed and said: “Do not be disturbed. I will
+protect thee!”
+
+The proconsul feigned not to hear this remark. The fortune of the father
+depended, in a way, on the corrupt influence of the son; and through him
+it was possible that Antipas might be able to procure for the proconsul
+very substantial benefits, although the glances that he cast about him
+were defiant, and even venomous.
+
+But now a new tumult arose just within the gates. A file of white mules
+entered the courtyard, mounted by men in priestly garb. These were the
+Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were drawn to Machaerus by the same
+ambition: the one party hoping to be appointed public sacrificers,
+the other determined to retain those offices. Their faces were dark,
+particularly those of the Pharisees, who were enemies of Rome and of the
+tetrarch. The flowing skirts of their tunics embarrassed their movements
+as they attempted to pass through the throng; and their tiaras sat
+unsteadily upon their brows, around which were bound small bands of
+parchment, showing lines of writing.
+
+Almost at the same moment, the soldiers of the advance guard arrived.
+Cloth coverings had been drawn over their glittering shields to
+protect them from the dust. Behind them came Marcellus, the proconsul’s
+lieutenant, followed by the publicans, carrying their tablets of wood
+under their arms.
+
+Antipas named to Vitellius the principle personages surrounding them:
+Tolmai, Kanthera, Schon, Ammonius of Alexandria, who brought asphalt for
+Antipas; Naaman, captain of his troops of skirmishers, and Jacim, the
+Babylonian.
+
+Vitellius had noticed Mannaeus.
+
+“Who is that man?” he inquired.
+
+The tetrarch by a significant gesture indicated that Mannaeus was the
+executioner. He then presented the Sadducees to the proconsul’s notice.
+
+Jonathas, a man of low stature, who spoke Greek, advanced with a firm
+step and begged that the great lord would honour Jerusalem with a visit.
+Vitellius replied that he should probably go to Jerusalem soon.
+
+Eleazar, who had a crooked nose and a long beard, put forth a claim, in
+behalf of the Pharisees, for the mantle of the high priest, held in the
+tower of Antonia by the civil authorities.
+
+Then the Galileans came forward and denounced Pontius Pilate. On one
+occasion, they said, a mad-man went seeking in a cave near Samaria for
+the golden vases that had belonged to King David, and Pontius Pilate
+had caused several inhabitants of that region to be executed. In their
+excitement all the Galileans spoke at once, Mannaeus’s voice being heard
+above all others. Vitellius promised that the guilty ones should be
+punished.
+
+Fresh vociferations now broke out in front of the great gates, where
+the soldiers had hung their shields. Their coverings having now been
+removed, on each shield a carving of the head of Caesar could be seen
+on the umbo, or central knob. To the Jews, this seemed an evidence of
+nothing short of idolatry. Antipas harangued them, while Vitellius,
+who occupied a raised seat within the shadow of the colonnade, was
+astonished at their fury. Tiberius had done well, he thought, to exile
+four hundred of these people to Sardinia. Presently the Jews became so
+violent that he ordered the shields to be removed.
+
+Then the multitude surrounded the proconsul, imploring him to abolish
+certain unjust laws, asking for privileges, or begging for alms. They
+rent their clothing and jostled one another; and at last, in order to
+drive them back, several slaves, armed with long staves, charged upon
+them, striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their escape
+and descended to the road; others rushed in to take their place, so that
+two streams of human beings flowed in and out, compressed within the
+limits of the gateway.
+
+Vitellius demanded the reason for the assembling of so great a throng.
+Antipas explained that they had been invited to come to a feast in
+celebration of his birthday; and he pointed to several men who, leaning
+against the battlements, were hauling up immense basket-loads of food,
+fruits, vegetables, antelopes, and storks; large fish, of a brilliant
+shade of blue; grapes, melons, and pyramids of pomegranates. At this
+sight, Aulus left the courtyard and hastened to the kitchens, led by his
+taste for gormandizing, which later became the amazement of the world.
+
+As they passed the opening to a small cellar, Vitellius perceived some
+objects resembling breast-plates hanging on a wall. He looked at them
+with interest, and then demanded that the subterranean chambers of the
+fortress be thrown open for his inspection. These chambers were cut into
+the rocky foundation of the castle, and had been formed into vaults,
+with pillars set at regular distances. The first vault opened contained
+old armour; the second was full of pikes, with long points emerging from
+tufts of feathers. The walls of the third chamber were hung with a kind
+of tapestry made of slender reeds, laid in perpendicular rows. Those of
+the fourth were covered with scimitars. In the middle of the fifth cell,
+rows of helmets were seen, the crests of which looked like a battalion
+of fiery serpents. The sixth cell contained nothing but empty quivers;
+the seventh, greaves for protecting the legs in battle; the eighth
+vault was filled with bracelets and armlets; and an examination of the
+remaining vaults disclosed forks, grappling-irons, ladders, cords, even
+catapults, and bells for the necks of camels; and as they descended
+deeper into the rocky foundation, it became evident that the whole mass
+was a veritable honeycomb of cells, and that below those already seen
+were many others.
+
+Vitellius, Phineas, his interpreter, and Sisenna, chief of the
+publicans, walked among these gloomy cells, attended by three eunuchs
+bearing torches.
+
+In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could
+be seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers
+resembling the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in
+his castle munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
+
+He had accumulated these weapons in anticipation of an alliance against
+him among his enemies. But he bethought him that the proconsul might
+believe, or assert, that he had collected this armoury in order to
+attack the Romans; so he hastened to offer explanations of all that
+Vitellius had observed.
+
+Some of these things did not belong to him at all, he said: many of
+them were necessary to defend the place against brigands and marauders,
+especially the Arabs. Many of the objects in the vault had been the
+property of his father, and he had allowed them to remain untouched. As
+he spoke, he managed to get in advance of the proconsul and preceded
+him along the corridors with rapid steps. Presently he halted and stood
+close against the wall as the party came up; he spoke quickly, standing
+with his hands on his hips, so that his voluminous mantle covered a wide
+space of the wall behind him. But just above his head the top of a door
+was visible. Vitellius remarked it instantly, and demanded to know what
+it concealed.
+
+The tetrarch explained that the door was fastened, and that none could
+open it save the Babylonian, Jacim.
+
+“Summon him, then!” was the command.
+
+A slave was sent to find Jacim, while the group awaited his coming.
+
+The father of Jacim had come from the banks of the Euphrates to offer
+his services, as well as those of five hundred horsemen, in the defence
+of the eastern frontier. After the division of the kingdom, Jacim had
+lived for a time with Philip, and was now in the service of Antipas.
+
+Presently he appeared among the vaults, carrying an archer’s bow on
+his shoulder and a whip in his hand. Cords of many colours were lashed
+tightly about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a
+sleeveless tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered
+with a heavy, curling beard.
+
+He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at first.
+But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly made the
+Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim immediately
+laid both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful shove;
+whereupon it quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
+
+A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
+descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived
+at the threshold of a kind of grotto, somewhat larger than the other
+subterranean cells.
+
+An arched window at the back of this chamber gave directly upon
+a precipice, which formed a defence for one side of the castle. A
+honeysuckle vine, cramped by the low-studded ceiling, blossomed bravely.
+The sound of a running stream could be heard distinctly. In this place
+was a great number of beautiful white horses, perhaps a hundred. They
+were eating barley from a plank placed on a level with their mouths.
+Their manes had been coloured a deep blue; their hoofs were wrapped in
+coverings of woven grass, and the hair between their ears was puffed out
+like a peruke. As they stood quietly eating, they switched their tails
+gently to and fro. The proconsul regarded them in silent admiration.
+
+They were indeed wonderful animals; supple as serpents, light as birds.
+They were trained to gallop rapidly, following the arrow of the rider,
+and dash into the midst of a group of the enemy, overturning men and
+biting them savagely as they fell. They were sure-footed among rocky
+passes, and would jump fearlessly over yawning chasms; and, while ready
+to gallop across the plains a whole day without tiring, they would stop
+instantly at the command of the rider.
+
+As soon as Jacim entered their quarters, they trotted up to him, as
+sheep crowd around the shepherd; and, thrusting forward their sleek
+necks, they looked at him with a gaze like that of inquiring children.
+From force of habit, he emitted a raucous cry, which excited them; they
+pranced about, impatient at their confinement and longing to run.
+
+Antipas, fearing that if Vitellius knew of the existence of these
+creatures, he would take them away, had shut them up in this place, made
+especially to accommodate animals in case of siege.
+
+“This close confinement cannot be good for them,” said Vitellius, “and
+there is a risk of losing them by keeping them here. Make an inventory
+of their number, Sisenna.”
+
+The publican drew a writing-tablet from the folds of his robe, counted
+the horses, and recorded the number carefully.
+
+It was the habit of the agents of the fiscal companies to corrupt the
+governors in order to pillage the provinces. Sisenna was among the most
+flourishing of these agents, and was seen everywhere with his claw-like
+fingers and his eyelids continually blinking.
+
+After a time the party returned to the court. Heavy, round bronze lids,
+sunk in the stones of the pavement, covered the cisterns of the palace.
+Vitellius noticed that one of these was larger than the others, and that
+when struck by his foot it had not their sonority. He struck them all,
+one after another; then stamped upon the ground and shouted:
+
+“I have found it! I have found the buried treasure of Herod!”
+
+Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
+
+The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
+
+“What is concealed there, then?” the proconsul demanded.
+
+“Nothing--that is, only a man--a prisoner.”
+
+“Show him to me!”
+
+The tetrarch hesitated to obey, fearing that the Jews would discover his
+secret. His reluctance to lift the cover made Vitellius impatient.
+
+“Break it in!” he cried to his lictors. Mannaeus heard the command, and,
+seeing a lictor step forward armed with a hatchet, he feared that the
+man intended to behead Iaokanann. He stayed the hand of the lictor after
+the first blow, and then slipped between the heavy lid and the pavement
+a kind of hook. He braced his long, lean arms, raised the cover slowly,
+and in a moment it lay flat upon the stones. The bystanders admired the
+strength of the old man.
+
+Under the bronze lid was a wooden trap-door of the same size. At a blow
+of the fist it folded back, allowing a wide hole to be seen, the mouth
+of an immense pit, with a flight of winding steps leading down into the
+darkness. Those that bent over to peer into the cavern beheld a vague
+and terrifying shape in its depths.
+
+This proved to be a human being, lying on the ground. His long locks
+hung over a camel’s-hair robe that covered his shoulders. Slowly he rose
+to his feet. His head touched a grating embedded in the wall; and as
+he moved about he disappeared, from time to time, in the shadows of his
+dungeon.
+
+The rich tiaras of the Romans sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight, and
+their glittering sword-hilts threw out glancing golden rays. The doves,
+flying from their cotes, circled above the heads of the multitude.
+It was the hour when Mannaeus was accustomed to feed them. But now he
+crouched beside the tetrarch, who stood near Vitellius. The Galileans,
+the priests, and the soldiers formed a group behind them; all were
+silent, waiting with painful anticipation for what might happen.
+
+A deep groan, hollow and startling, rose from the pit.
+
+Herodias heard it from the farther end of the palace. Drawn by an
+irresistible though terrible fascination, she made her way through the
+throng, and, reaching Mannaeus, she leant one hand on his shoulder and
+bent over to listen.
+
+The hollow voice rose again from the depths of the earth.
+
+“Woe to thee, Sadducees and Pharisees! Thy voices are like the tinkling
+of cymbals! O race of vipers, bursting with pride!”
+
+The voice of Iaokanann was recognised. His name was whispered about.
+Spectators from a distance pressed closer to the open pit.
+
+“Woe to thee, O people! Woe to the traitors of Judah, and to the
+drunkards of Ephraim, who dwelt in the fertile valleys and stagger with
+the fumes of wine!
+
+“May they disappear like running water; like the slug that sinks into
+the sand as it moves; like an abortion that never sees the light!
+
+“And thou too, Moab! hide thyself in the midst of the cypress, like the
+sparrow; in caverns, like the wild hare! The gates of the fortress shall
+be crushed more easily than nut-shells; the walls shall crumble; cities
+shall burn; and the scourge of God shall not cease! He shall cause your
+bodies to be bathed in your own blood, like wool in the dyer’s vat. He
+shall rend you, as with a harrow; He shall scatter the remains of your
+bodies from the tops of the mountains!”
+
+Of which conqueror was he speaking? Was it Vitellius? Only the Romans
+could bring about such an extermination. The people began to cry out:
+“Enough! enough! let him speak no more!”
+
+But the prisoner continued in louder tones:
+
+“Beside the corpses of their mothers, thy little ones shall drag
+themselves over the ashes of the burned cities. At night men will creep
+from their hiding-places to seek a bit of food among the ruins, even at
+the risk of being cut down with the sword. Jackals shall pick thy bones
+in the public places, where at eventide the fathers were wont to gather.
+At the bidding of Gentiles, thy maidens shall be forced to cease their
+lamentations and to make music upon the zither, and the bravest of thy
+sons shall learn to bend their backs, chafed with heavy burdens.”
+
+The listeners remembered the days of exile, and all the misfortunes and
+catastrophes of the past. These words were like the anathemas of the
+ancient prophets. The captive thundered them forth like bolts from
+heaven.
+
+Presently his voice became almost as sweet and harmonious as if he
+were uttering a chant. He spoke of the world’s redemption from sin
+and sorrow; of the glories of heaven; of gold in place of clay; of the
+desert blossoming like the rose. “That which is now worth sixty pieces
+of silver will not cost a single obol. Fountains of milk shall spring
+from the rocks; men shall sleep, well satisfied, among the wine-presses.
+The people shall prostrate themselves before Thee, and Thy reign shall
+be eternal, O Son of David!”
+
+The tetrarch suddenly recoiled from the opening of the pit; the mention
+of the existence of a son of David seemed to him like a menace to
+himself.
+
+Iaokanann then poured forth invectives against him for presuming to
+aspire to royalty.
+
+“There is no other king than the Eternal God!” he cried; and he cursed
+Antipas for his luxurious gardens, his statues, his furniture of carved
+ivory and precious woods, comparing him to the impious Ahab.
+
+Antipas broke the slender cord attached to the royal seal that he wore
+around his neck, and throwing the seal into the pit, he commanded his
+prisoner to be silent.
+
+But Iaokanann replied: “I shall cry aloud like a savage bear, like the
+wild ass, like a woman in travail! The punishment of heaven has already
+visited itself upon thy incest! May God inflict thee with the sterility
+of mules!”
+
+At these words, a sound of suppressed laughter arose here and there
+among the listeners.
+
+Vitellius had remained close to the opening of the dungeon while
+Iaokanann was speaking. His interpreter, in impassive tones, translated
+into the Roman tongue all the threats and invectives that rolled up
+from the depths of the gloomy prison. The tetrarch and Herodias felt
+compelled to remain near at hand. Antipas listened, breathing heavily;
+while the woman, with parted lips, gazed into the darkness of the pit,
+her face drawn with an expression of fear and hatred.
+
+The terrible man now turned towards her. He grasped the bars of his
+prison, pressed against them his bearded face, in which his eyes glowed
+like burning coals, and cried:
+
+“Ah! Is it thou, Jezebel? Thou hast captured thy lord’s heart with the
+tinkling of thy feet. Thou didst neigh to him like a mare. Thou
+didst prepare thy bed on the mountain top, in order to accomplish thy
+sacrifices!
+
+“The Lord shall take from thee thy sparkling jewels, thy purple robes
+and fine linen; the bracelets from thine arms, the anklets from thy
+feet; the golden ornaments that dangle upon thy brow, thy mirrors of
+polished silver, thy fans of ostrich plumes, thy shoes with their heels
+of mother-of-pearl, that serve to increase thy stature; thy glittering
+diamonds, the scent of thy hair, the tint of thy nails,--all the
+artifices of thy coquetry shall disappear, and missiles shall be found
+wherewith to stone the adulteress!”
+
+Herodias looked around for some one to defend her. The Pharisees lowered
+their eyes hypocritically. The Sadducees turned away their heads,
+fearing to offend the proconsul should they appear to sympathise with
+her. Antipas was almost in a swoon.
+
+Louder still rose the voice from the dungeon; the neighbouring hills
+gave back an echo with startling effect, and Machaerus seemed actually
+surrounded and showered with curses.
+
+“Prostrate thyself in the dust, daughter of Babylon, and scourge
+thyself! Remove thy girdle and thy shoes, gather up thy garments and
+walk through the flowing stream; thy shame shall follow thee, thy
+disgrace shall be known to all men, thy bosom shall be rent with sobs.
+God execrates the stench of thy crimes! Accursed one! die like a dog!”
+
+At that instant the trap-door was suddenly shut down and secured by
+Mannaeus, who would have liked to strangle Iaokanann then and there.
+
+Herodias glided away and disappeared within the palace. The Pharisees
+were scandalised at what they had heard. Antipas, standing among
+them, attempted to justify his past conduct and to excuse his present
+situation.
+
+“Without doubt,” said Eleazar, “it was necessary for him to marry his
+brother’s wife; but Herodias was not a widow, and besides, she had a
+child, which she abandoned; and that was an abomination.”
+
+“You are wrong,” objected Jonathas the Sadducee; “the law condemns such
+marriages but does not actually forbid them.”
+
+“What matters it? All the world shows me injustice,” said Antipas,
+bitterly; “and why? Did not Absalom lie with his father’s wives, Judah
+with his daughter-in-law, Ammon with his sister, and Lot with his
+daughters?”
+
+Aulus, who had been reposing within the palace, now reappeared in the
+court. After he had heard how matters stood, he approved of the attitude
+of the tetrarch. “A man should never allow himself to be annoyed,” said
+he, “by such foolish criticism.” And he laughed at the censure of the
+priests and the fury of Iaokanann, saying that his words were of little
+importance.
+
+Herodias, who also had reappeared, and now stood at the top of a flight
+of steps, called loudly:
+
+“You are wrong, my lord! He ordered the people to refuse to pay the
+tax!”
+
+“Is that true?” he demanded. The general response was affirmative,
+Antipas adding his word to the declaration of the others.
+
+Vitellius had a misgiving that the prisoner might be able to escape;
+and as the conduct of Antipas appeared to him rather suspicious, he
+established his own sentinels at the gates, at intervals along the
+walls, and in the courtyard itself.
+
+At last he retired to the apartments assigned to him, accompanied by
+the priests. Without touching directly upon the question of the coveted
+offices of public sacrificers, each one laid his own grievances before
+the proconsul. They fairly beset him with complaints and requests, but
+he soon dismissed them from his presence.
+
+As Jonathas left the proconsul’s apartments he perceived Antipas
+standing under an arch, talking to an Essene, who wore a long white robe
+and flowing locks. Jonathas regretted that he had raised his voice in
+defence of the tetrarch.
+
+One thought now consoled Herod-Antipas. He was no longer personally
+responsible for the fate of Iaokanann. The Romans had assumed that
+charge. What a relief! He had noticed Phanuel pacing slowly through
+the court, and calling him to his side, he pointed put the guards
+established by Vitellius, saying:
+
+“They are stronger than I! I cannot now set the prisoner free! It is not
+my fault if he remains in his dungeon.”
+
+The courtyard was empty. The slaves were sleeping. The day was drawing
+to a close, and the sunset spread a deep rosy glow over the horizon,
+against which the smallest objects stood out like silhouettes. Antipas
+was able to distinguish the excavations of the salt-mines at the farther
+end of the Dead Sea, but the tents of the Arabs were no longer visible.
+As the moon rose, the effect of the day’s excitement passed away, and a
+feeling of peace entered his heart.
+
+Phanuel, also wearied by the recent agitating scenes, remained beside
+the tetrarch. He sat in silence for some time, his chin resting on his
+breast. At last he spoke in confidence to Antipas, and revealed what he
+had wished to say.
+
+From the beginning of the month, he said, he had been studying the
+heavens every morning before daybreak, when the constellation of Perseus
+was at the zenith; Agalah was scarcely visible; Algol was even less
+bright; Mira-Cetus had disappeared entirely; from all of which he
+augured the death of some man of great importance, to occur that very
+night in Machaerus.
+
+Who was the man? Vitellius was too closely guarded to be reached. No one
+would kill Iaokanann.
+
+“It is I!” thought the tetrarch.
+
+It might be that the Arabs would return and make a successful attack
+upon him. Perhaps the proconsul would discover his relations with the
+Parthians. Several men whom Antipas had recognised as hired assassins
+from Jerusalem, had escorted the priests in the train of the proconsul;
+they all carried daggers concealed beneath their robes. The tetrarch had
+no doubt whatever of the exactness of Phanuel’s skill in astrology.
+
+Suddenly he bethought him of Herodias. He would consult her. He hated
+her, certainly, but she might give him courage; and besides, in spite
+of his dislike, not all the bonds were yet broken of that sorcery which
+once she had woven about him.
+
+When he entered her chamber, he was met by the pungent odour of cinnamon
+burning in a porphyry vase and the perfume of powders, unguents,
+cloud-like gauzes and embroideries light as feathers, filled the air
+with fragrance.
+
+He did not speak of Phanuel’s prophecy, nor of his own fear of the Jews
+and the Arabs. Herodias had already accused him of cowardice. He spoke
+only of the Romans, and complained that Vitellius had not confided to
+him any of his military projects. He said he supposed the proconsul
+was the friend of Caligula, who often visited Agrippa; and expressed
+a surmise that he himself might be exiled, or that perhaps his throat
+would be cut.
+
+Herodias, who now treated him with a kind of disdainful indulgence,
+tried to reassure him. At last she took from a small casket a curious
+medallion, ornamented with a profile of Tiberius. The sight of it, she
+said, as she gave it to Antipas, would make the lictors turn pale and
+silence all accusing voices.
+
+Antipas, filled with gratitude, asked her how the medallion had come
+into her possession.
+
+“It was given to me,” was her only answer.
+
+At that moment Antipas beheld a bare arm slipping through a portiere
+hanging in front of him. It was the arm of a youthful woman, as graceful
+in outline as if carved from ivory by Polyclitus. With a movement a
+little awkward and at the same time charming, it felt about the wall an
+instant, as if seeking something, then took down a tunic hanging upon a
+hook near the doorway, and disappeared.
+
+An elderly female attendant passed quietly through the room, lifted the
+portiere, and went out. A sudden recollection pierced the memory of the
+tetrarch.
+
+“Is that woman one of thy slaves?” he asked.
+
+“What matters that to thee?” was the disdainful reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The great banqueting-hall was filled with guests. This apartment
+had three naves, like a basilica, which were separated by columns of
+sandalwood, whose capitals were of sculptured bonze. On each side of the
+apartment was a gallery for spectators, and a third, with a facade of
+gold filigree, was at one end, opposite an immense arch at the other.
+
+The candelabra burning on the tables, which were spread the whole length
+of the banqueting-hall, glowed like clusters of flaming flowers among
+the painted cups, the plates of shining copper, the cubes of snow and
+heaps of luscious grapes. Through the large windows the guests could
+see lighted torches on the terraces of the neighbouring houses; for this
+night Antipas was giving a feast to his friends, his own people, and to
+anyone that presented himself at the castle.
+
+The slaves, alert as dogs, glided about noiselessly in felt sandals,
+carrying dishes to and fro.
+
+The table of the proconsul was placed beneath the gilded balcony upon a
+platform of sycamore wood. Rich tapestries from Babylon were hung about
+the pavilion, giving a certain effect of seclusion.
+
+Upon three ivory couches, one facing the great hall, and the other two
+placed one on either side of the pavilion, reclined Vitellius, his son
+Aulus, and Antipas; the proconsul being near the door, at the left,
+Aulus on the right, the tetrarch occupying the middle couch.
+
+Antipas wore a heavy black mantle, the texture of which was almost
+hidden by coloured embroideries and glittering decorations; his beard
+was spread out like a fan; blue powder had been scattered over his hair,
+and on his head rested a diadem covered with precious stones. Vitellius
+still wore the purple band, the emblem of his rank, crossed diagonally
+over a linen toga.
+
+Aulus had tied behind his back the sleeves of his violet robe,
+embroidered with silver. His clustering curls were laid in carefully
+arranged rows; a necklace of sapphires gleamed against his throat, plump
+and white as that of a woman. Crouched upon a rug near him, with legs
+crossed was a pretty white boy, upon whose face shone a perpetual smile.
+Aulus had found him somewhere among the kitchens and had taken a violent
+fancy to him. He had made the child one of his suite, but as he never
+could remember his protege’s Chaldean name, called him simply “the
+Asiatic.” From time to time the little fellow sprang up and played about
+the dining-table, and his antics appeared to amuse the guests.
+
+At one side of the tetrarch’s pavilion were the tables at which
+were seated his priests and officers; also a number of persons from
+Jerusalem, and the more important men from the Grecian cities. At the
+table on the left of the proconsul sat Marcellus with the publicans,
+several friends of the tetrarch, and various representatives from Cana,
+Ptolemais, and Jericho. Seated at other tables were mountaineers from
+Liban and many of the old soldiers of Herod’s army; a dozen Thracians,
+a Greek and two Germans; besides huntsmen and herdsmen, the Sultan of
+Palmyra, and sailors from Eziongaber. Before each guest was placed a
+roll of soft bread, upon which to wipe the fingers. As soon as they
+were seated, hands were stretched out with the eagerness of a vulture’s
+claws, seizing upon olives, pistachios, and almonds. Every face was
+joyous, every head was crowned with flowers, except those of the
+Pharisees, who refused to wear the wreaths, regarding them as a symbol
+of Roman voluptuousness and vice. They shuddered when the attendants
+sprinkled them with galburnum and incense, the use of which the
+Pharisees reserved strictly for services in the Temple.
+
+Antipas observed that Aulus rubbed himself under the arms, as if annoyed
+by heat or chafing; and promised to give him three flasks of the same
+kind of precious balm that had been used by Cleopatra.
+
+A captain from the garrison of Tiberias who had just arrived, placed
+himself behind the tetrarch as protection in case any unexpected trouble
+should arise. But his attention was divided between observing the
+movements of the proconsul and listening to the conversation of his
+neighbours.
+
+There was, naturally, much talk of Iaokanann, and other men of his
+stamp.
+
+“It is said,” remarked one of the guests, “that Simon of Gitta washed
+away his sins in fire. And a certain man called Jesus--”
+
+“He is the worst of them all!” interrupted Eleazar. “A miserable
+imposter!”
+
+At this a man sprang up from a table near the tetrarch’s pavilion, and
+made his way towards the place where Eleazar sat. His face was almost as
+pale as his linen robe, but he addressed the Pharisees boldly, saying:
+“That is a lie! Jesus has performed miracles!”
+
+Antipas expressed a long-cherished desire to see the man Jesus perform
+some of his so-called miracles. “You should have brought him with you,”
+ he said to the last speaker, who was still standing. “Tell us what you
+know about him,” he commanded.
+
+Then the stranger said that he himself, whose name was Jacob, having a
+daughter who was very ill, had gone to Capernaum to implore the Master
+to heal his child. The Master had answered him, saying: “Return to thy
+home: she is healed!” And he had found his daughter standing at the
+threshold of his house, having risen from her couch when the gnomon had
+marked the third hour, the same moment when he had made his supplication
+to Jesus.
+
+The Pharisees admitted that certain mysterious arts and powerful herbs
+existed that would heal the sick. It was said that the marvellous plant
+known as “baaras” grew even in Machaerus, the power of which rendered
+its consumer invulnerable against all attacks; but to cure disease
+without seeing or touching the afflicted person was clearly impossible,
+unless, indeed, the man Jesus called in the assistance of evil spirits.
+
+The friends of Antipas and the men from Galilee nodded wisely, saying:
+“It is evident that he is aided by demons of some sort!”
+
+Jacob, standing between their table and that of the priests, maintained
+a silence at once lofty and respectful.
+
+Several voices exclaimed: “Prove his power to us!”
+
+Jacob leaned over the priests’ table, and said slowly, in a
+half-suppressed tone, as if awe-struck by his own words:
+
+“Know ye not, then, that He is the Messiah?”
+
+The priests stared at one another, and Vitellius demanded the meaning of
+the word. His interpreter paused a moment before translating it. Then
+he said that Messiah was the name to be given to one who was to come,
+bringing the enjoyment of all blessings, and giving them domination over
+all the peoples of the earth. Certain persons believed that there were
+to be two Messiahs; one would be vanquished by Gog and Magog, the demons
+of the North; but the other would exterminate the Prince of Evil; and
+for centuries the coming of this Saviour of mankind had been expected at
+any moment.
+
+At this, the priests began to talk in low tones among themselves.
+Eleazar addressed Jacob, saying that it had always been understood that
+the Messiah would be a son of David, not of a carpenter; and that he
+would confirm the law, whereas this Nazarene attacked it. Furthermore,
+as a still stronger argument against the pretender, it had been promised
+that the Messiah should be preceded by Elias.
+
+“But Elias has come!” Jacob answered.
+
+“Elias! Elias!” was repeated from one end of the banqueting-hall to the
+other.
+
+In imagination, all fancied that they could see an old man, a flight
+of ravens above his head, standing before an altar, which a flash of
+lightning illumined, revealing the idolatrous priests that were thrown
+into the torrent; and the women, sitting in the galleries, thought of
+the widow of Sarepta.
+
+Jacob then declared that he knew Elias; that he had seen him, and that
+many of the guests there assembled had seen him!
+
+“His name!” was the cry from all lips.
+
+“Iaokanann!”
+
+Antipas fell back in his chair as if a heavy blow had struck him on the
+breast. The Sadducees rose from their seats and rushed towards Jacob.
+Eleazar raised his voice to a shout in order to make himself heard. When
+order was finally restored, he draped his mantle about his shoulders,
+and, with the air of a judge, proceeded to put questions to Jacob.
+
+“Since the prophet is dead--” he began.
+
+Murmurs interrupted him. Many persons believed that Elias was not dead,
+but had only disappeared.
+
+Eleazar rebuked those who had interrupted him; and continuing, asked:
+
+“And dost thou believe that he has indeed come to life again?”
+
+“Why should I not believe it?” Jacob replied.
+
+The Sadducees shrugged their shoulders. Jonathas, opening wide his
+little eyes, gave a forced, buffoon-like laugh. Nothing could be more
+absurd, said he, than the idea that a human body could have eternal
+life; and he declaimed, for the benefit of the proconsul, this line from
+a contemporaneous poet:
+
+Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.
+
+By this time Aulus was leaning over the side of the pavilion, with pale
+face, a perspiring brow, and both hands outspread on his stomach.
+
+The Sadducees pretended to be deeply moved at the sight of his
+suffering, thinking that perhaps the next day the offices of sacrificers
+would be theirs. Antipas appeared to be in despair at his guest’s agony.
+Vitellius preserved a calm demeanour, although he felt some anxiety, for
+the loss of his son would mean the loss of his fortune.
+
+But Aulus, quickly recovering after he had relieved his over-burdened
+stomach, was as eager to eat as before.
+
+“Let some one bring me marble-dust,” he commanded, “or clay of Naxos,
+sea-water--anything! Perhaps it would do me good to bathe.”
+
+He swallowed a quantity of snow; then hesitated between a ragout and a
+dish of blackbirds; and finally decided in favour of gourds served
+in honey. The little Asiatic gazed at his master in astonishment and
+admiration; to him this exhibition of gluttony denoted a wonderful being
+belonging to a superior race.
+
+The feast went on. Slaves served the guests with kidneys, dormice,
+nightingales, mince-meat dressed with vine-leaves. The priests
+discoursed among themselves regarding the supposed resurrection.
+Ammonius, pupil of Philon, the Platonist, pronounced them stupid, and
+told the Greeks that he laughed at their oracles.
+
+Marcellus and Jacob were seated side by side. Marcellus described the
+happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithra, and Jacob made him
+promise to become a follower of Jesus.
+
+The wines of the palm and the tamarisk, those of Safed and of Byblos,
+ran from the amphoras into the crateras, from the crateras into the
+cups, and from the cups down the guests’ throats. Every one talked, all
+hearts expanding under the good cheer. Jacim, although a Jew, did not
+hesitate to express his admiration of the planets. A merchant from
+Aphaka amazed the nomads with his description of the marvels in the
+temple of Hierapolis; and they wished to know the cost of a pilgrimage
+to that place. Others held fast to the principles of their native
+religion. A German, who was nearly blind, sang a hymn celebrating that
+promontory in Scandinavia where the gods were wont to appear with halos
+around their heads. The people from Sichem declined to eat turtles, out
+of deference to the dove Azima.
+
+Several groups stood talking near the middle of the banqueting-hall,
+and the vapour of their breath, mingled with the smoke from the candles,
+formed a light mist. Presently Phanuel slipped quietly into the room,
+keeping close to the wall. He had been out in the open courtyard, to
+make another survey of the heavens. He stopped when he reached the
+pavilion of the tetrarch, fearing he would be splashed with drops of oil
+if he approached the other tables, which, to an Essene, would be a great
+defilement.
+
+Suddenly violent blows resounded upon the castle gates. The news of the
+imprisonment of Iaokanann had spread rapidly, and now it appeared that
+the whole surrounding population was flocking to the castle. Men with
+torches were hastening along the roads in all directions; a black mass
+of people swarmed in the ravine; and from all throats came the cry:
+“Iaokanann! Iaokanann!”
+
+“That man will ruin everything,” said Jonathas.
+
+“We shall have no more money if this continues,” said the Pharisees.
+
+Accusations, recriminations, and pleadings were heard on all sides.
+
+“Protect us!”
+
+“Compel them to cease!”
+
+“Thou didst abandon thy religion!”
+
+“Impious as all the Herods!”
+
+“Less impious than thou!” Antipas retorted. “Was it not my father that
+erected thy Temple?”
+
+Then the Pharisees, children of the proscribed tribes, partisans of
+Mattathias, accused the tetrarch of all the crimes committed by his
+family.
+
+The Pharisees had pointed skulls, bristling beards, feeble hands, snub
+noses, great round eyes, and their countenances bore a resemblance to
+that of a bull-dog. A dozen of these people, scribes and attendants upon
+the priests, who picked up their living from the refuse of holocausts,
+rushed to the foot of the pavilion and threatened Antipas with their
+knives. He attempted to speak to them, being only slightly protected by
+some of the Sadducees. Suddenly he perceived Mannaeus at a distance and
+made him a sign to approach. The expression on the face of Vitellius
+indicated that he regarded all this turmoil as no concern of his.
+
+The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside themselves
+with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon the floor.
+The attendants had served them with a ragout composed of the flesh of
+the wild ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no bounds. Aulus
+rallied them jeeringly apropos of the ass’s head, which he declared they
+honoured. He flung other sarcasms at them, regarding their antipathy to
+the flesh of swine, intimating that no doubt their hatred arose from the
+fact that that beast had killed their beloved Bacchus, and saying it was
+to be feared they were too fond of wine, since a golden vine had been
+discovered in the Temple.
+
+The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
+origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the
+more so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had
+disappeared. The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes
+were vulgar, and not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings.
+After a time his displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of
+Syrian lambs’ tails, dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
+
+To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
+like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and
+he recalled the stories he had heard of the mysterious Jew who fattened
+small children and offered them as a sacrifice. His Latin nature was
+filled with disgust at their intolerance, their iconoclastic rage, their
+brutal, stumbling bearing. The proconsul wished to depart, but Aulus
+refused to accompany him.
+
+The exaltation of the people increased. They abandoned themselves to
+dreams of independence. They recalled the glory of Israel, and a Syrian
+spoke of all the great conquerors they had vanquished,--Antigone,
+Crassus, Varus.
+
+“Miserable creatures!” cried the enraged proconsul, who had overheard
+the Syrian’s words.
+
+In the midst of the uproar Antipas remembered the medallion of the
+emperor that Herodias had given to him; he drew it forth and looked at
+it a moment, trembling, then held it up with its face turned towards the
+throng.
+
+At the same moment, the panels of the gold-railed balcony were folded
+back, and, accompanied by slaves bearing wax tapers, Herodias appeared,
+her coiffure crowned with an Assyrian mitre, which was held in place
+by a band passing under the chin. Her dark hair fell in ringlets over a
+scarlet peplum with slashed sleeves. On either side of the door through
+which one stepped into the gallery, stood a huge stone monster, like
+those of Atrides; and as Herodias appeared between them, she looked
+like Cybele supported by her lions. In her hands she carried a patera,
+a shallow vessel of silver used by the Romans in pouring libations;
+and, advancing to the front of the balcony and pausing just above the
+tetrarch’s chair, she cried:
+
+“Long live Caesar!”
+
+This homage was repeated by Vitellius, Antipas, and the priests.
+
+But now, beginning at the farthest end of the banqueting-hall, a murmur
+of surprise and admiration swept through the multitude. A beautiful
+young girl had just entered the apartment, and stood motionless for an
+instant, while all eyes were turned upon her.
+
+Through a drapery of filmy blue gauze that veiled her head and
+throat, her arched eyebrows, tiny ears, and ivory-white skin could be
+distinguished. A scarf of shot-silk fell from her shoulders, and was
+caught up at the waist by a girdle of fretted silver. Her full trousers,
+of black silk, were embroidered in a pattern of silver mandragoras, and
+as she moved forward with indolent grace, her little feet were seen to
+be shod with slippers made of the feathers of humming-birds.
+
+When she arrived in front of the pavilion she removed her veil. Behold!
+she seemed to be Herodias herself, as she had appeared in the days of
+her blooming youth.
+
+Immediately the damsel began to dance before the tetrarch. Her slender
+feet took dainty steps to the rhythm of a flute and a pair of Indian
+bells. Her round white arms seemed ever beckoning and striving to
+entice to her side some youth who was fleeing from her allurements. She
+appeared to pursue him, with movements light as a butterfly; her whole
+mien was like that of an inquisitive Psyche, or a floating spirit that
+might at any moment dissolve and disappear.
+
+Presently the plaintive notes of the gingras, a small flute of
+Phoenician origin, replaced the tinkling bells. The attitudes of the
+dancing nymph now denoted overpowering lassitude. Her bosom heaved with
+sighs, and her whole being expressed profound languor, although it was
+not clear whether she sighed for an absent swain or was expiring of love
+in his embrace. With half-closed eyes and quivering form, she caused
+mysterious undulations to flow downward over her whole body, like
+rippling waves, while her face remained impassive and her twinkling feet
+still moved in their intricate steps.
+
+Vitellius compared her to Mnester, the famous pantomimist. Aulus was
+overcome with faintness. The tetrarch watched her, lost in a voluptuous
+reverie, and thought no more of the real Herodias. In fancy he saw her
+again as she appeared when she had dwelt among the Sadducees. Then the
+vision faded.
+
+But this beautiful thing before him was no vision. The dancer was
+Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who for many months her mother had
+caused to be instructed in dancing, and other arts of pleasing, with
+the sole idea of bringing her to Machaerus and presenting her to the
+tetrarch, so that he should fall in love with her fresh young beauty
+and feminine wiles. The plan had proved successful, it seemed; he was
+evidently fascinated, and Herodias felt that at last she was sure of
+retaining her power over him!
+
+And now the graceful dancer appeared transported with the very delirium
+of love and passion. She danced like the priestesses of India, like the
+Nubians of the cataracts, or like the Bacchantes of Lydia. She whirled
+about like a flower blown by the tempest. The jewels in her ears
+sparkled, her swift movements made the colours of her draperies appear
+to run into one another. Her arms, her feet, her clothing even, seemed
+to emit streams of magnetism, that set the spectators’ blood on fire.
+
+Suddenly the thrilling chords of a harp rang through the hall, and the
+throng burst into loud acclamations. All eyes were fixed on Salome, who
+paused in her rhythmic dance, placed her feet wide apart, and without
+bending the knees, suddenly swayed her lithe body downward, so that her
+chin touched the floor; and her whole audience,--the nomads, accustomed
+to a life of privation and abstinence, the Roman soldiers, expert in
+debaucheries, the avaricious publicans, and even the crabbed, elderly
+priests--gazed upon her with dilated nostrils.
+
+Next she began to whirl frantically around the table where Antipas the
+tetrarch was seated. He leaned towards the flying figure, and in a voice
+half choked with the voluptuous sighs of a mad desire, he sighed: “Come
+to me! Come!” But she whirled on, while the music of dulcimers swelled
+louder and the excited spectators roared their applause.
+
+The tetrarch called again, louder than before: “Come to me! Come! Thou
+shalt have Capernaum, the plains of Tiberias! my citadels! yea, the half
+of my kingdom!”
+
+Again the dancer paused; then, like a flash, she threw herself upon the
+palms of her hands, while her feet rose straight up into the air. In
+this bizarre pose she moved about upon the floor like a gigantic beetle;
+then stood motionless.
+
+The nape of her neck formed a right angle with her vertebrae. The full
+silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood
+erect, now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a rainbow.
+Her lips were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were black
+as jet, her glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and the tiny
+drops of perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon white marble.
+
+She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
+concentrated upon her.
+
+A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
+pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
+Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
+steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned
+over, smiled upon the tetrarch, and, with an air of almost childlike
+naivete, pronounced these words:
+
+“I ask my lord to give me, placed upon a charger, the head of--” She
+hesitated, as if not certain of the name; then said: “The head of
+Iaokanann!”
+
+The tetrarch sank back in his chair as if stunned.
+
+He had bound himself by his promise to her; and the people awaited his
+next movement. But the death that night of some conspicuous man that had
+been predicted to him by Phanuel,--what if, by bringing it upon another,
+he could avert it from himself, thought Antipas. If Iaokanann was in
+very truth the Elias so much talked of, he would have power to protect
+himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was of no
+importance.
+
+Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master’s thoughts.
+Vitellius beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the
+execution, to be transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the
+dungeon. This execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few moments
+all would be over!
+
+But for once Mannaeus did not perform a commission satisfactorily. He
+left the hall but soon returned, in a state of great perturbation.
+
+During forty years he had exercised the functions of the public
+executioner. It was he that had drowned Aristobulus, strangled
+Alexander, burned Mattathias alive, beheaded Zozimus, Pappus, Josephus,
+and Antipater; but he dared not kill Iaokanann! His teeth chattered and
+his whole body trembled.
+
+He declared that he had seen, standing before the dungeon, the Angel of
+the Samaritans, covered with eyes and brandishing a great sword, glowing
+and quivering like a flame. He appealed to two of the guards, who had
+entered the hall with him, to corroborate his words. But they said they
+had seen nothing except a Jewish captain who had attacked them, and whom
+they had killed.
+
+The fury of Herodias poured forth in a torrent of invective against
+the populace. She clenched the railing of the balcony so fiercely as
+to break her nails; the two stone lions at her back seemed to bite her
+shoulders and join their voices to hers.
+
+Antipas followed her example; and priests, soldiers, and Pharisees cried
+aloud together for vengeance, echoed by the rest of the gathering, who
+were indignant that a mere slave should dare to delay their pleasures.
+
+Again Mannaeus left the hall, covering his face with his hands.
+
+The guests found the second delay longer than the first. It seemed
+tedious to every one.
+
+Presently a sound of footsteps was heard in the corridor without; then
+silence fell again. The suspense was becoming intolerable.
+
+Suddenly the door was flung open and Mannaeus entered, holding at arm’s
+length, grasping it by the hair, the head of Iaokanann. His appearance
+was greeted with a burst of applause, which filled him with pride and
+revived his courage.
+
+He placed the head upon a charger and offered it to Salome, who had
+descended the steps to receive it. She remounted to the balcony, with a
+light step; and in another moment the charger was carried about from
+one table to another by the elderly female slave whom the tetrarch had
+observed in the morning on the balcony of a neighbouring house, and
+later in the chamber of Herodias.
+
+When she approached him with her ghastly burden, he turned away his head
+to avoid looking at it. Vitellius threw upon it an indifferent glance.
+
+Mannaeus descended from the pavilion, took the charger from the woman,
+and exhibited the head to the Roman captains, then to all the guests on
+that side of the hall.
+
+They looked at it curiously.
+
+The sharp blade of the sword had cut into the jaw with a swift downward
+stroke. The corners of the mouth were drawn, as if by a convulsion.
+Clots of blood besprinkled the beard. The closed eyelids had a
+shell-like transparency, and the candelabra on every side lighted up the
+gruesome object with terrible distinctness.
+
+Mannaeus arrived at the table where the priests were seated. One of them
+turned the charger about curiously, to look at the head from all sides.
+Then Mannaeus, having entirely regained his courage, placed the charger
+before Aulus, who had just awakened from a short doze; and finally he
+brought it again to Antipas and set it down upon the table beside him.
+Tears were running down the cheeks of the tetrarch.
+
+The lights began to flicker and die out. The guests departed, and at
+last no one remained in the great hall save Antipas, who sat leaning his
+head upon his hands, gazing at the head of Iaokanann; and Phanuel, who
+stood in the centre of the largest nave and prayed aloud, with uplifted
+arms.
+
+
+At sunrise the two men who had been sent on a mission by Iaokanann some
+time before, returned to the castle, bringing the answer so long awaited
+and hoped for.
+
+They whispered the message to Phanuel, who received it with rapture.
+
+Then he showed them the lugubrious object, still resting on the charger
+amid the ruins of the feast. One of the men said:
+
+“Be comforted! He has descended among the dead in order to announce the
+coming of the Christ!”
+
+And in that moment the Essene comprehended the words of Iaokanann: “In
+order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish!”
+
+Then the three, taking with them the head of John the Baptist, set out
+upon the road to Galilee; and as the burden was heavy, each man bore it
+awhile in turn.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1291 ***
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+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+    </title>
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+
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1291 ***</div>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      HERODIAS
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      <br /> By Gustave Flaubert
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In the eastern side of the Dead Sea rose the citadel of Machaerus. It was
+      built upon a conical peak of basalt, and was surrounded by four deep
+      valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth in the rear.
+      At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a group of
+      houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines undulated with
+      the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting through the rocks,
+      joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which were about one hundred
+      and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles and ornamental towers that
+      stood out like jewels in this crown of stone overhanging an abyss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
+      arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
+      spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
+      poles had been erected to support an awning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning, just before sunrise, the tetrarch, Herod-Antipas, came out
+      alone upon the balcony. He leaned against one of the columns and looked
+      about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crests of the hill-tops in the valley below the palace were just
+      discernible in the light of the false dawn, although their bases,
+      extending to the abyss, were still plunged in darkness. A light mist
+      floated in the air; presently it lifted, and the shores of the Dead Sea
+      became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy flush over
+      the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the desert, and
+      illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey in the early
+      dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a deep black shadow;
+      Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a dome; Eschol had her
+      pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her fields of sesame; and the
+      tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube, dominated Jerusalem. The
+      tetrarch turned his gaze from it to contemplate the palms of Jericho on
+      his right; and his thoughts dwelt upon other cities of his beloved
+      Galilee,&mdash;Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth, Tiberias&mdash;whither it might
+      be he would never return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Jordan wound its way through the arid plains that met his gaze; white
+      and glittering under the clear sky, it dazzled the eye like snow in the
+      rays of the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Dead Sea now looked like a sheet of lapis-lazuli; and at its southern
+      extremity, on the coast of Yemen, Antipas recognised clearly what at first
+      he had been able only dimly to perceive. Several tents could now be
+      plainly seen; men carrying spears were moving about among a group of
+      horses; and dying camp-fires shone faintly in the beams of the rising sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was a troop belonging to the sheikh of the Arabs, the daughter of
+      whom the tetrarch had repudiated in order to wed Herodias, already married
+      to one of his brothers, who lived in Italy but who had no pretensions to
+      power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas was waiting for assistance and reinforcements from the Romans, but
+      as Vitellius, the Governor of Syria, had not yet arrived, he was consumed
+      with impatience and anxiety. Perhaps Agrippa had ruined his cause with the
+      Emperor, he thought. Philip, his third brother, sovereign of Batania, was
+      arming himself clandestinely. The Jews were becoming intolerant of the
+      tetrarch&rsquo;s idolatries; he knew that many were weary of his rule; and he
+      hesitated now between adopting one of two projects: to conciliate the
+      Arabs and win back their allegiance, or to conclude an alliance with the
+      Parthians. Under the pretext of celebrating his birthday, he had planned
+      to bring together, at a grand banquet, the chiefs of his troops, the
+      stewards of his domains, and the most important men from the region about
+      Galilee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas threw a keen glance along all the roads leading to Machaerus. They
+      were deserted. Eagles were sweeping through the air high above his head;
+      the soldiers of the guard, placed at intervals along the ramparts, slept
+      or dozed, leaning against the walls; all was silent within the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly he heard the sound of a distant voice, seeming to come from the
+      very depths of the earth. His cheek paled. After an instant&rsquo;s hesitation,
+      he leaned far over the balcony railing, listening intently, but the voice
+      had died away. Presently it rose again upon the quiet air; Antipas clapped
+      his hands together loudly, crying: &ldquo;Mannaeus! Mannaeus!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly a man appeared, naked to the waist, after the fashion of a
+      masseur at the bath. Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in years,
+      he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in a bronze
+      scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a kind of comb,
+      exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His eyes were heavy
+      with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was light on the
+      flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape, although his
+      countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he?&rdquo; demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Over there&mdash;still there!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought I heard him cry out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And Antipas, after drawing a deep breath, asked for news of Iaokanann,
+      afterwards known as St. John the Baptist. Had he been allowed to see the
+      two men who had asked permission to visit his dungeon a few days before,
+      and since that time, had any one discovered for what purpose the men
+      desired to see him?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They exchanged some strange words with him,&rdquo; Mannaeus replied, &ldquo;with the
+      mysterious air of robbers conspiring at the cross-roads. Then they
+      departed towards Upper Galilee, saying that they were the bearers of great
+      tidings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas bent his head for a moment; then raising it quickly, said in a
+      tone full of alarm:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guard him! watch him well! Do not allow any one else to see him. Keep the
+      gates shut and the entrance to the dungeon closed fast. It must not even
+      be suspected that he still lives!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus had already attended to all these details, because Iaokanann was
+      a Jew, and, like all the Samaritans, Mannaeus hated the Jews.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their temple on the Mount of Gerizim, which Moses had designed to be the
+      centre of Israel, had been destroyed since the reign of King Hyrcanus; and
+      the temple at Jerusalem made the Samaritans furious; they regarded its
+      presence as an outrage against themselves, and a permanent injustice.
+      Mannaeus, indeed, had forcibly entered it, for the purpose of defiling its
+      altar with the bones of corpses. Several of his companions, less agile
+      than he, had been caught and beheaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the tetrarch&rsquo;s balcony, the temple was visible through an opening
+      between two hills. The sun, now fully risen, shed a dazzling splendour on
+      its walls of snowy marble and the plates of purest gold that formed its
+      roof. The structure shone like a luminous mountain, and its radiant purity
+      indicated something almost superhuman, eclipsing even its suggestion of
+      opulence and pride.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus stretched out his powerful arm towards Zion, and, with clenched
+      fist and his great body drawn to its full height, he launched a bitter
+      anathema at the city, with perfect faith that eventually his curse must be
+      effective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas listened, without appearing to be shocked at the strength of the
+      invectives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Samaritan had become somewhat calmer, he returned to the subject
+      of the prisoner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes he grows excited,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;then he longs to escape or talks
+      about a speedy deliverance. At other times he is as quiet as a sick
+      animal, although I often find him pacing to and fro in his gloomy dungeon,
+      murmuring, &lsquo;In order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas and Mannaeus looked at each other a moment in silence. But the
+      tetrarch was weary of pondering on this troublesome matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mountain peaks surrounding the palace, looking like great petrified
+      waves, the black depths among the cliffs, the immensity of the blue sky,
+      the rising sun, and the gloomy valley of the abyss, filled the soul of
+      Antipas with a vague unrest; he felt an overwhelming sense of oppression
+      at the sight of the desert, whose uneven piles of sand suggested crumbling
+      amphitheaters or ruined palaces. The hot wind brought an odour of sulphur,
+      as if it had rolled up from cities accursed and buried deeper than the
+      river-bed of the slow-running Jordan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These aspects of nature, which seemed to his troubled fancy signs of the
+      wrath of the gods, terrified him, and he leaned heavily against the
+      balcony railing, his eyes fixed, his head resting upon his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. He turned, and saw
+      Herodias standing beside him. A purple robe enveloped her, falling to her
+      sandaled feet. Having left her chamber hurriedly, she wore no jewels nor
+      other ornaments. A thick tress of rippling black hair hung over her
+      shoulder and hid itself in her bosom; her nostrils, a little too large for
+      beauty, quivered with triumph, and her face was alight with joy. She
+      gently shook the tetrarch&rsquo;s shoulder, and exclaimed exultantly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Caesar is our friend! Agrippa has been imprisoned!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who told thee that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it!&rdquo; she replied, adding: &ldquo;It was because he coveted the crown of
+      Caligula.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While living upon the charity of Antipas and Herodias, Agrippa had
+      intrigued to become king, a title for which the tetrarch was as eager as
+      he. But if this news were true, no more was to be feared from Agrippa&rsquo;s
+      scheming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dungeons of Tiberias are hard to open, and sometimes life itself is
+      uncertain within their depths,&rdquo; said Herodias, with grim significance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas understood her; and, although she was Agrippa&rsquo;s sister, her
+      atrocious insinuation seemed entirely justifiable to the tetrarch. Murder
+      and outrage were to be expected in the management of political intrigues;
+      they were a part of the fatal inheritance of royal houses; and in the
+      family of Herodias nothing was more common.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she rapidly unfolded to the tetrarch the secrets of her recent
+      undertakings, telling him how many men had been bribed, what letters had
+      been intercepted, and the number of spies stationed at the city gates. She
+      did not hesitate even to tell him of her success in an attempt to befool
+      and seduce Eutyches the denunciator.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why should I not?&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it cost me nothing. For thee, my lord,
+      have I not done more than that? Did I not even abandon my child?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After her divorce from Philip, she had indeed left her daughter in Rome,
+      hoping that, as the wife of the tetrarch, she might bear other children.
+      Until that moment she had never spoken to Antipas of her daughter. He
+      asked himself the reason for this sudden display of tenderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During their brief conversation several attendants had come out upon the
+      balcony; one slave brought a quantity of large, soft cushions, and
+      arranged them in a kind of temporary couch upon the floor behind his
+      mistress. Herodias sank upon them, and turning her face away from Antipas,
+      seemed to be weeping silently. After a few moments she dried her eyes,
+      declared that she would dream no more, and that she was, in reality,
+      perfectly happy. She reminded Antipas of their former long delightful
+      interviews in the atrium; their meetings at the baths; their walks along
+      the Sacred Way, and the sweet evening rendezvous at the villa, among the
+      flowery groves, listening to the murmur of splashing fountains, within
+      sight of the Roman Campagna. Her glances were as tender as in former days;
+      she drew near to him, leaned against his breast and caressed him fondly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he repelled her soft advances. The love she sought to rekindle had
+      died long ago. He thought instead of all his misfortunes, and of the
+      twelve long years during which the war had continued. Protracted anxiety
+      had visibly aged the tetrarch. His shoulders were bent beneath his
+      violet-bordered toga; his whitening locks were long and mingled with his
+      beard, and the sunlight revealed many lines upon his brow, as well as upon
+      that of Herodias. After the tetrarch&rsquo;s repulse of his wife&rsquo;s tender
+      overtures, the pair gazed morosely at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mountain paths began to show signs of life. Shepherds were driving
+      their flocks to pasture; children urged heavy-laden donkeys along the
+      roads; while grooms belonging to the palace led the horses to the river to
+      drink. The wayfarers descending from the heights on the farther side of
+      Machaerus disappeared behind the castle; others ascended from the valleys,
+      and after arriving at the palace deposited their burdens in the courtyard.
+      Many of these were purveyors to the tetrarch; others were the servants of
+      his expected guests, arriving in advance of their masters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly, at the foot of the terrace on the left, an Essene appeared; he
+      wore a white robe, his feet were bare, and his demeanour indicated that he
+      was a follower of the Stoics. Mannaeus instantly rushed towards the
+      stranger, drawing the cutlass that he wore upon his hip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kill him!&rdquo; cried Herodias.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not touch him!&rdquo; the tetrarch commanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two men stood motionless for an instant, then they descended the
+      terrace, both taking a different direction, although they kept their eyes
+      fixed upon each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that man,&rdquo; said Herodias, after they had disappeared. &ldquo;His name is
+      Phanuel, and he will try to seek out Iaokanann, since thou wert so foolish
+      as to allow him to live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas said that the man might some day be useful to them. His attacks
+      upon Jerusalem would gain them the allegiance of the rest of the Jews.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Herodias, &ldquo;the Jews will accept any master, and are incapable
+      of feeling any true patriotism.&rdquo; She added that, as for the man who was
+      trying to influence the people with hopes cherished since the days of
+      Nehemiah, the best policy was to suppress him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch replied that there was no haste about the matter, and
+      expressed his doubt that any real danger was to be feared from Iaokanann
+      even affecting to laugh at the idea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not deceive thyself!&rdquo; exclaimed Herodias. And she retold the story of
+      her humiliation one day when she was travelling towards Gilead, in order
+      to purchase some of the balm for which that region was famous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A multitude was standing on the banks of the stream, my lord; many of the
+      people were putting on their raiment. Standing on a hillock, a strange man
+      was speaking to the gathering. A camel&rsquo;s-skin was wrapped about his loins,
+      and his head was like that of a lion. As soon as he saw me, he launched in
+      my direction all the maledictions of the prophets. His eyes flamed, his
+      voice shook, he raised his arms as if he would draw down lightning upon my
+      head. I could not fly from him; the wheels of my chariot sank in the sand
+      up to the middle; and I could only crawl along, hiding my head with my
+      mantle, and frozen with terror at the curses that poured upon me like a
+      storm from heaven!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man
+      still existed poisoned her very life. When he had been seized and bound
+      with cords, the soldiers were prepared to stab him if he resisted, but he
+      had been quite gentle and obedient. After he had been thrown into prison
+      some one had put venomous serpents into his dungeon, but strange to say,
+      after a time they had died, leaving him uninjured. The inanity of such
+      tricks exasperated Herodias. Besides, she inquired, why did this man make
+      war upon her? What interest moved him to such actions? His injurious words
+      to her, uttered before a throng of listeners, had been repeated and widely
+      circulated; she heard them whispered everywhere. Against a legion of
+      soldiers she would have been brave; but this mysterious influence, more
+      pernicious and powerful than the sword, but impossible to grasp, was
+      maddening! Herodias strode to and fro upon the terrace, white with rage,
+      unable to find words to express the emotions that choked her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had a haunting fear that the tetrarch might listen to public opinion
+      after a time, and persuade himself it was his duty to repudiate her. Then,
+      indeed, all would be lost! Since early youth she had cherished a dream
+      that some day she would rule over a great empire. As an important step
+      towards attaining this ambition, she had deserted Philip, her first
+      husband, and married the tetrarch, who now she thought had duped her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I found a powerful support, indeed, when I entered thy family!&rdquo; she
+      sneered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is at least the equal of thine,&rdquo; Antipas replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias felt the blood of the kings and priests, her ancestors, boiling
+      in her veins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thy grandfather was a servile attendant upon the temple of Ascalon!&rdquo; she
+      went on, with fury. &ldquo;Thy other ancestors were shepherds, bandits,
+      conductors of caravans, a horde of slaves offered as tribute to King
+      David! My forefathers were the conquerors of thine! The first of the
+      Maccabees drove thy people out of Hebron; Hyrcanus forced them to be
+      circumcised!&rdquo; Then, with all the contempt of the patrician for the
+      plebeian, the hatred of Jacob for Esau, she reproached him for his
+      indifference towards palpable outrages to his dignity, his weakness
+      regarding the Phoenicians, who had been false to him, and his cowardly
+      attitude towards the people who detested and insulted herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But thou art like them!&rdquo; she cried; &ldquo;Dost regret the loss of the Arab
+      girl who danced upon these very pavements? Take her back! Go and live with
+      her&mdash;in her tent! Eat her bread, baked in the ashes! Drink curdled
+      sheep&rsquo;s-milk! Kiss her dark cheeks&mdash;and forget me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch had already forgotten her presence, it appeared. He paid no
+      further heed to her anger, but looked intently at a young girl who had
+      just stepped out upon the balcony of a house not far away. At her side
+      stood an elderly female slave, who held over the girl&rsquo;s head a kind of
+      parasol with a handle made of long, slender reeds. In the middle of the
+      rug spread upon the floor of the balcony stood a large open
+      travelling-hamper or basket, and girdles, veils, head-dresses, and gold
+      and silver ornaments were scattered about in confusion. At intervals the
+      young girl took one object or another in her hands, and held it up
+      admiringly. She was dressed in the costume of the Roman ladies, with a
+      flowing tunic and a peplum ornamented with tassels of emeralds; and blue
+      silken bands confined her hair, which seemed almost too luxuriant, since
+      from time to time she raised a small hand to push back the heavy masses.
+      The parasol half hid the maiden from the gaze of Antipas, but now and then
+      he caught a glimpse of her delicate neck, her large eyes, or a fleeting
+      smile upon her small mouth. He noted that her figure swayed about with a
+      singularly elastic grace and elegance. He leaned forward, his eyes
+      kindled, his breath quickened. All this was not lost upon Herodias, who
+      watched him narrowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that maiden?&rdquo; the tetrarch asked at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias replied that she did not know, and her fierce demeanour suddenly
+      changed to one of gentleness and amiability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance to the castle the tetrarch was awaited by several
+      Galileans, the master of the scribes, the chief of the land stewards, the
+      manager of the salt mines, and a Jew from Babylon, commanding his troops
+      of horse. As the tetrarch approached the group, he was greeted with
+      respectful enthusiasm. Acknowledging the acclamations with a grave salute,
+      he entered the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he proceeded along one of the corridors, Phanuel suddenly sprang from a
+      corner and intercepted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Art thou still here?&rdquo; said the tetrarch in displeasure. &ldquo;Thou
+      seekest Iaokanann, no doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And thyself, my lord. I have something of great importance to tell thee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At a sign from Antipas, the Essene followed him into a somewhat dark and
+      gloomy room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The daylight came faintly through a grated window. The walls were of a
+      deep shade of crimson, so dark as to look almost black. At one end of the
+      room stood an ebony bed, ornamented with bands of leather. A shield of
+      gold, hanging at the head of the bed, shone like a sun in the obscurity of
+      the apartment. Antipas crossed over to the couch and threw himself upon it
+      in a half-reclining attitude, while Phanuel remained standing before him.
+      Suddenly he raised one hand, and striking a commanding attitude said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At times, my lord, the Most High sends a message to the people through
+      one of His sons. Iaokanann is one of these. If thou oppress him, thou
+      shalt be punished!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is he that persecutes me!&rdquo; exclaimed Antipas. &ldquo;He asked me to do a
+      thing that was impossible. Since then he has done nothing but revile me.
+      And I was not severe with him when he began his abuse of me. But he had
+      the hardihood to send various men from Machaerus to spread dissension and
+      discontent throughout my domain. A curse upon him! Since he attacks me, I
+      shall defend myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without doubt, he has expressed his anger with too much violence,&rdquo;
+       Phanuel replied calmly. &ldquo;But do not heed that further. He must be set
+      free.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One does not let loose a furious animal,&rdquo; said the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have no fear of him now,&rdquo; was the quick reply. &ldquo;He will go straight to
+      the Arabs, the Gauls, and the Scythians. His work must be extended to the
+      uttermost ends of the earth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment Antipas appeared lost in thought, as one who sees a vision.
+      Then he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His power over men is indeed great. In spite of myself, I admire him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then set him free!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the tetrarch shook his head. He feared Herodias, Mannaeus, and unknown
+      dangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Phanuel tried to persuade him, promising, as a guaranty of the honesty of
+      his projects, the submission of the Essenians to the King. These poor
+      people, clad only in linen, untameable in spite of severe treatment,
+      endowed with the power to divine the future by reading the stars, had
+      succeeded in commanding a certain degree of respect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the important matter thou wouldst communicate to me?&rdquo; Antipas
+      inquired, with sudden recollection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Phanuel could reply, a Negro entered the room in great haste. He
+      was covered with dust, and panted so violently that he could scarcely
+      utter the single word:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vitellus!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has he arrived?&rdquo; asked the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have seen him, my lord. Within three hours he will be here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the palace, doors were opening and closing and portieres were
+      swaying as if in a high wind, with the coming and going of many persons;
+      there was a murmur of voices; sounds of the moving of heavy furniture
+      could be heard, and the rattle of silver plates and dishes. From the
+      highest tower a loud blast upon a conch summoned from far and near all the
+      slaves belonging to the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The ramparts were thronged with people when at last Vitellius entered the
+      castle gates, leaning on the arm of his interpreter. Behind them came an
+      imposing red litter, decorated with plumes and mirrors. The proconsul wore
+      a toga ornamented with the laticlave, a broad purple band extending down
+      the front of the garment, indicating his rank; and his feet were encased
+      in the kind of buskins worn by consuls. A guard of lictors surrounded him.
+      Against the wall they placed their twelve fasces&mdash;a bundle of sticks
+      with an axe in the centre. And the populace trembled before the insignia
+      of Roman majesty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gorgeous litter, borne by eight men, came to a halt. From it descended
+      a youth. He wore many pearls upon his fingers, but he had a protruding
+      abdomen and his face was covered with pimples. A cup of aromatic wine was
+      offered to him. He drank it, and asked for a second draught.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch had fallen upon his knees before the proconsul, saying that
+      he was grieved beyond words not to have known sooner of the favour of his
+      presence within those domains; had he been aware of the approach of his
+      distinguished guest, he would have issued a command that every person
+      along the route should place himself at the proconsul&rsquo;s orders. Of a
+      surety, the proconsul&rsquo;s family was descended direct from the goddess
+      Vitellia. A highway, leading from the Janiculum to the sea, still bore
+      their name. Questors and consuls were innumerable in that great family;
+      and as for the noble Lucius, now his honoured guest, it was the duty of
+      the whole people to thank him, as the conqueror of the Cliti and the
+      father of the young Aulus, now returning to his own domain, since the East
+      was the country of the gods. These hyperboles were expressed in Latin, and
+      Vitellius accepted them impassively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He replied that the great Herod was the honour and glory of the nation;
+      that the Athenians had chosen him to direct the Olympian games; that he
+      had built temples in the honour of Augustus; had been patient, ingenious,
+      terrible; and was faithful to all the Caesars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between the two marble columns, with bronze capitals, Herodias could now
+      be seen advancing with the air of an empress, in the midst of a group of
+      women and eunuchs carrying perfumed torches set in sockets of silver-gilt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The proconsul advanced three steps to meet her. She saluted him with an
+      inclination of her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How fortunate,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;that henceforth Agrippa, the enemy of
+      Tiberius, can work harm no longer!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius did not understand her allusion, but he thought her a dangerous
+      woman. Antipas immediately declared that he was ready to do anything for
+      the emperor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even to the injury of others?&rdquo; Vitellius asked, significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had taken hostages from the king of the Parthians, but the emperor had
+      given no further thought to the matter, because Antipas, who had been
+      present at the conference, had, in order to gain favour, sent off
+      despatches bearing the news. From that time he had borne a profound hatred
+      towards the emperor and had delayed in sending assistance to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch stammered in attempting to reply to the query of the
+      proconsul. But Aulus laughed and said: &ldquo;Do not be disturbed. I will
+      protect thee!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The proconsul feigned not to hear this remark. The fortune of the father
+      depended, in a way, on the corrupt influence of the son; and through him
+      it was possible that Antipas might be able to procure for the proconsul
+      very substantial benefits, although the glances that he cast about him
+      were defiant, and even venomous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But now a new tumult arose just within the gates. A file of white mules
+      entered the courtyard, mounted by men in priestly garb. These were the
+      Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were drawn to Machaerus by the same
+      ambition: the one party hoping to be appointed public sacrificers, the
+      other determined to retain those offices. Their faces were dark,
+      particularly those of the Pharisees, who were enemies of Rome and of the
+      tetrarch. The flowing skirts of their tunics embarrassed their movements
+      as they attempted to pass through the throng; and their tiaras sat
+      unsteadily upon their brows, around which were bound small bands of
+      parchment, showing lines of writing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Almost at the same moment, the soldiers of the advance guard arrived.
+      Cloth coverings had been drawn over their glittering shields to protect
+      them from the dust. Behind them came Marcellus, the proconsul&rsquo;s
+      lieutenant, followed by the publicans, carrying their tablets of wood
+      under their arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas named to Vitellius the principle personages surrounding them:
+      Tolmai, Kanthera, Schon, Ammonius of Alexandria, who brought asphalt for
+      Antipas; Naaman, captain of his troops of skirmishers, and Jacim, the
+      Babylonian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius had noticed Mannaeus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that man?&rdquo; he inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch by a significant gesture indicated that Mannaeus was the
+      executioner. He then presented the Sadducees to the proconsul&rsquo;s notice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jonathas, a man of low stature, who spoke Greek, advanced with a firm step
+      and begged that the great lord would honour Jerusalem with a visit.
+      Vitellius replied that he should probably go to Jerusalem soon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eleazar, who had a crooked nose and a long beard, put forth a claim, in
+      behalf of the Pharisees, for the mantle of the high priest, held in the
+      tower of Antonia by the civil authorities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Galileans came forward and denounced Pontius Pilate. On one
+      occasion, they said, a mad-man went seeking in a cave near Samaria for the
+      golden vases that had belonged to King David, and Pontius Pilate had
+      caused several inhabitants of that region to be executed. In their
+      excitement all the Galileans spoke at once, Mannaeus&rsquo;s voice being heard
+      above all others. Vitellius promised that the guilty ones should be
+      punished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fresh vociferations now broke out in front of the great gates, where the
+      soldiers had hung their shields. Their coverings having now been removed,
+      on each shield a carving of the head of Caesar could be seen on the umbo,
+      or central knob. To the Jews, this seemed an evidence of nothing short of
+      idolatry. Antipas harangued them, while Vitellius, who occupied a raised
+      seat within the shadow of the colonnade, was astonished at their fury.
+      Tiberius had done well, he thought, to exile four hundred of these people
+      to Sardinia. Presently the Jews became so violent that he ordered the
+      shields to be removed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the multitude surrounded the proconsul, imploring him to abolish
+      certain unjust laws, asking for privileges, or begging for alms. They rent
+      their clothing and jostled one another; and at last, in order to drive
+      them back, several slaves, armed with long staves, charged upon them,
+      striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their escape and
+      descended to the road; others rushed in to take their place, so that two
+      streams of human beings flowed in and out, compressed within the limits of
+      the gateway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius demanded the reason for the assembling of so great a throng.
+      Antipas explained that they had been invited to come to a feast in
+      celebration of his birthday; and he pointed to several men who, leaning
+      against the battlements, were hauling up immense basket-loads of food,
+      fruits, vegetables, antelopes, and storks; large fish, of a brilliant
+      shade of blue; grapes, melons, and pyramids of pomegranates. At this
+      sight, Aulus left the courtyard and hastened to the kitchens, led by his
+      taste for gormandizing, which later became the amazement of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they passed the opening to a small cellar, Vitellius perceived some
+      objects resembling breast-plates hanging on a wall. He looked at them with
+      interest, and then demanded that the subterranean chambers of the fortress
+      be thrown open for his inspection. These chambers were cut into the rocky
+      foundation of the castle, and had been formed into vaults, with pillars
+      set at regular distances. The first vault opened contained old armour; the
+      second was full of pikes, with long points emerging from tufts of
+      feathers. The walls of the third chamber were hung with a kind of tapestry
+      made of slender reeds, laid in perpendicular rows. Those of the fourth
+      were covered with scimitars. In the middle of the fifth cell, rows of
+      helmets were seen, the crests of which looked like a battalion of fiery
+      serpents. The sixth cell contained nothing but empty quivers; the seventh,
+      greaves for protecting the legs in battle; the eighth vault was filled
+      with bracelets and armlets; and an examination of the remaining vaults
+      disclosed forks, grappling-irons, ladders, cords, even catapults, and
+      bells for the necks of camels; and as they descended deeper into the rocky
+      foundation, it became evident that the whole mass was a veritable
+      honeycomb of cells, and that below those already seen were many others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius, Phineas, his interpreter, and Sisenna, chief of the publicans,
+      walked among these gloomy cells, attended by three eunuchs bearing
+      torches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could be
+      seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers resembling
+      the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in his castle
+      munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had accumulated these weapons in anticipation of an alliance against
+      him among his enemies. But he bethought him that the proconsul might
+      believe, or assert, that he had collected this armoury in order to attack
+      the Romans; so he hastened to offer explanations of all that Vitellius had
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of these things did not belong to him at all, he said: many of them
+      were necessary to defend the place against brigands and marauders,
+      especially the Arabs. Many of the objects in the vault had been the
+      property of his father, and he had allowed them to remain untouched. As he
+      spoke, he managed to get in advance of the proconsul and preceded him
+      along the corridors with rapid steps. Presently he halted and stood close
+      against the wall as the party came up; he spoke quickly, standing with his
+      hands on his hips, so that his voluminous mantle covered a wide space of
+      the wall behind him. But just above his head the top of a door was
+      visible. Vitellius remarked it instantly, and demanded to know what it
+      concealed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch explained that the door was fastened, and that none could
+      open it save the Babylonian, Jacim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Summon him, then!&rdquo; was the command.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A slave was sent to find Jacim, while the group awaited his coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The father of Jacim had come from the banks of the Euphrates to offer his
+      services, as well as those of five hundred horsemen, in the defence of the
+      eastern frontier. After the division of the kingdom, Jacim had lived for a
+      time with Philip, and was now in the service of Antipas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he appeared among the vaults, carrying an archer&rsquo;s bow on his
+      shoulder and a whip in his hand. Cords of many colours were lashed tightly
+      about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a sleeveless
+      tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered with a heavy,
+      curling beard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at first.
+      But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly made the
+      Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim immediately laid
+      both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful shove; whereupon it
+      quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
+      descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived at
+      the threshold of a kind of grotto, somewhat larger than the other
+      subterranean cells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An arched window at the back of this chamber gave directly upon a
+      precipice, which formed a defence for one side of the castle. A
+      honeysuckle vine, cramped by the low-studded ceiling, blossomed bravely.
+      The sound of a running stream could be heard distinctly. In this place was
+      a great number of beautiful white horses, perhaps a hundred. They were
+      eating barley from a plank placed on a level with their mouths. Their
+      manes had been coloured a deep blue; their hoofs were wrapped in coverings
+      of woven grass, and the hair between their ears was puffed out like a
+      peruke. As they stood quietly eating, they switched their tails gently to
+      and fro. The proconsul regarded them in silent admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were indeed wonderful animals; supple as serpents, light as birds.
+      They were trained to gallop rapidly, following the arrow of the rider, and
+      dash into the midst of a group of the enemy, overturning men and biting
+      them savagely as they fell. They were sure-footed among rocky passes, and
+      would jump fearlessly over yawning chasms; and, while ready to gallop
+      across the plains a whole day without tiring, they would stop instantly at
+      the command of the rider.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as Jacim entered their quarters, they trotted up to him, as sheep
+      crowd around the shepherd; and, thrusting forward their sleek necks, they
+      looked at him with a gaze like that of inquiring children. From force of
+      habit, he emitted a raucous cry, which excited them; they pranced about,
+      impatient at their confinement and longing to run.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas, fearing that if Vitellius knew of the existence of these
+      creatures, he would take them away, had shut them up in this place, made
+      especially to accommodate animals in case of siege.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This close confinement cannot be good for them,&rdquo; said Vitellius, &ldquo;and
+      there is a risk of losing them by keeping them here. Make an inventory of
+      their number, Sisenna.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The publican drew a writing-tablet from the folds of his robe, counted the
+      horses, and recorded the number carefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the habit of the agents of the fiscal companies to corrupt the
+      governors in order to pillage the provinces. Sisenna was among the most
+      flourishing of these agents, and was seen everywhere with his claw-like
+      fingers and his eyelids continually blinking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a time the party returned to the court. Heavy, round bronze lids,
+      sunk in the stones of the pavement, covered the cisterns of the palace.
+      Vitellius noticed that one of these was larger than the others, and that
+      when struck by his foot it had not their sonority. He struck them all, one
+      after another; then stamped upon the ground and shouted:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have found it! I have found the buried treasure of Herod!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is concealed there, then?&rdquo; the proconsul demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing&mdash;that is, only a man&mdash;a prisoner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show him to me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch hesitated to obey, fearing that the Jews would discover his
+      secret. His reluctance to lift the cover made Vitellius impatient.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Break it in!&rdquo; he cried to his lictors. Mannaeus heard the command, and,
+      seeing a lictor step forward armed with a hatchet, he feared that the man
+      intended to behead Iaokanann. He stayed the hand of the lictor after the
+      first blow, and then slipped between the heavy lid and the pavement a kind
+      of hook. He braced his long, lean arms, raised the cover slowly, and in a
+      moment it lay flat upon the stones. The bystanders admired the strength of
+      the old man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Under the bronze lid was a wooden trap-door of the same size. At a blow of
+      the fist it folded back, allowing a wide hole to be seen, the mouth of an
+      immense pit, with a flight of winding steps leading down into the
+      darkness. Those that bent over to peer into the cavern beheld a vague and
+      terrifying shape in its depths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This proved to be a human being, lying on the ground. His long locks hung
+      over a camel&rsquo;s-hair robe that covered his shoulders. Slowly he rose to his
+      feet. His head touched a grating embedded in the wall; and as he moved
+      about he disappeared, from time to time, in the shadows of his dungeon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rich tiaras of the Romans sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight, and
+      their glittering sword-hilts threw out glancing golden rays. The doves,
+      flying from their cotes, circled above the heads of the multitude. It was
+      the hour when Mannaeus was accustomed to feed them. But now he crouched
+      beside the tetrarch, who stood near Vitellius. The Galileans, the priests,
+      and the soldiers formed a group behind them; all were silent, waiting with
+      painful anticipation for what might happen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep groan, hollow and startling, rose from the pit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias heard it from the farther end of the palace. Drawn by an
+      irresistible though terrible fascination, she made her way through the
+      throng, and, reaching Mannaeus, she leant one hand on his shoulder and
+      bent over to listen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hollow voice rose again from the depths of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Woe to thee, Sadducees and Pharisees! Thy voices are like the tinkling of
+      cymbals! O race of vipers, bursting with pride!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice of Iaokanann was recognised. His name was whispered about.
+      Spectators from a distance pressed closer to the open pit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Woe to thee, O people! Woe to the traitors of Judah, and to the drunkards
+      of Ephraim, who dwelt in the fertile valleys and stagger with the fumes of
+      wine!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May they disappear like running water; like the slug that sinks into the
+      sand as it moves; like an abortion that never sees the light!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And thou too, Moab! hide thyself in the midst of the cypress, like the
+      sparrow; in caverns, like the wild hare! The gates of the fortress shall
+      be crushed more easily than nut-shells; the walls shall crumble; cities
+      shall burn; and the scourge of God shall not cease! He shall cause your
+      bodies to be bathed in your own blood, like wool in the dyer&rsquo;s vat. He
+      shall rend you, as with a harrow; He shall scatter the remains of your
+      bodies from the tops of the mountains!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Of which conqueror was he speaking? Was it Vitellius? Only the Romans
+      could bring about such an extermination. The people began to cry out:
+      &ldquo;Enough! enough! let him speak no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the prisoner continued in louder tones:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beside the corpses of their mothers, thy little ones shall drag
+      themselves over the ashes of the burned cities. At night men will creep
+      from their hiding-places to seek a bit of food among the ruins, even at
+      the risk of being cut down with the sword. Jackals shall pick thy bones in
+      the public places, where at eventide the fathers were wont to gather. At
+      the bidding of Gentiles, thy maidens shall be forced to cease their
+      lamentations and to make music upon the zither, and the bravest of thy
+      sons shall learn to bend their backs, chafed with heavy burdens.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The listeners remembered the days of exile, and all the misfortunes and
+      catastrophes of the past. These words were like the anathemas of the
+      ancient prophets. The captive thundered them forth like bolts from heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently his voice became almost as sweet and harmonious as if he were
+      uttering a chant. He spoke of the world&rsquo;s redemption from sin and sorrow;
+      of the glories of heaven; of gold in place of clay; of the desert
+      blossoming like the rose. &ldquo;That which is now worth sixty pieces of silver
+      will not cost a single obol. Fountains of milk shall spring from the
+      rocks; men shall sleep, well satisfied, among the wine-presses. The people
+      shall prostrate themselves before Thee, and Thy reign shall be eternal, O
+      Son of David!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch suddenly recoiled from the opening of the pit; the mention of
+      the existence of a son of David seemed to him like a menace to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Iaokanann then poured forth invectives against him for presuming to aspire
+      to royalty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no other king than the Eternal God!&rdquo; he cried; and he cursed
+      Antipas for his luxurious gardens, his statues, his furniture of carved
+      ivory and precious woods, comparing him to the impious Ahab.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas broke the slender cord attached to the royal seal that he wore
+      around his neck, and throwing the seal into the pit, he commanded his
+      prisoner to be silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Iaokanann replied: &ldquo;I shall cry aloud like a savage bear, like the
+      wild ass, like a woman in travail! The punishment of heaven has already
+      visited itself upon thy incest! May God inflict thee with the sterility of
+      mules!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words, a sound of suppressed laughter arose here and there among
+      the listeners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius had remained close to the opening of the dungeon while Iaokanann
+      was speaking. His interpreter, in impassive tones, translated into the
+      Roman tongue all the threats and invectives that rolled up from the depths
+      of the gloomy prison. The tetrarch and Herodias felt compelled to remain
+      near at hand. Antipas listened, breathing heavily; while the woman, with
+      parted lips, gazed into the darkness of the pit, her face drawn with an
+      expression of fear and hatred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The terrible man now turned towards her. He grasped the bars of his
+      prison, pressed against them his bearded face, in which his eyes glowed
+      like burning coals, and cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! Is it thou, Jezebel? Thou hast captured thy lord&rsquo;s heart with the
+      tinkling of thy feet. Thou didst neigh to him like a mare. Thou didst
+      prepare thy bed on the mountain top, in order to accomplish thy
+      sacrifices!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Lord shall take from thee thy sparkling jewels, thy purple robes and
+      fine linen; the bracelets from thine arms, the anklets from thy feet; the
+      golden ornaments that dangle upon thy brow, thy mirrors of polished
+      silver, thy fans of ostrich plumes, thy shoes with their heels of
+      mother-of-pearl, that serve to increase thy stature; thy glittering
+      diamonds, the scent of thy hair, the tint of thy nails,&mdash;all the
+      artifices of thy coquetry shall disappear, and missiles shall be found
+      wherewith to stone the adulteress!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias looked around for some one to defend her. The Pharisees lowered
+      their eyes hypocritically. The Sadducees turned away their heads, fearing
+      to offend the proconsul should they appear to sympathise with her. Antipas
+      was almost in a swoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louder still rose the voice from the dungeon; the neighbouring hills gave
+      back an echo with startling effect, and Machaerus seemed actually
+      surrounded and showered with curses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prostrate thyself in the dust, daughter of Babylon, and scourge thyself!
+      Remove thy girdle and thy shoes, gather up thy garments and walk through
+      the flowing stream; thy shame shall follow thee, thy disgrace shall be
+      known to all men, thy bosom shall be rent with sobs. God execrates the
+      stench of thy crimes! Accursed one! die like a dog!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that instant the trap-door was suddenly shut down and secured by
+      Mannaeus, who would have liked to strangle Iaokanann then and there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias glided away and disappeared within the palace. The Pharisees were
+      scandalised at what they had heard. Antipas, standing among them,
+      attempted to justify his past conduct and to excuse his present situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without doubt,&rdquo; said Eleazar, &ldquo;it was necessary for him to marry his
+      brother&rsquo;s wife; but Herodias was not a widow, and besides, she had a
+      child, which she abandoned; and that was an abomination.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wrong,&rdquo; objected Jonathas the Sadducee; &ldquo;the law condemns such
+      marriages but does not actually forbid them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What matters it? All the world shows me injustice,&rdquo; said Antipas,
+      bitterly; &ldquo;and why? Did not Absalom lie with his father&rsquo;s wives, Judah
+      with his daughter-in-law, Ammon with his sister, and Lot with his
+      daughters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Aulus, who had been reposing within the palace, now reappeared in the
+      court. After he had heard how matters stood, he approved of the attitude
+      of the tetrarch. &ldquo;A man should never allow himself to be annoyed,&rdquo; said
+      he, &ldquo;by such foolish criticism.&rdquo; And he laughed at the censure of the
+      priests and the fury of Iaokanann, saying that his words were of little
+      importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias, who also had reappeared, and now stood at the top of a flight of
+      steps, called loudly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wrong, my lord! He ordered the people to refuse to pay the tax!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that true?&rdquo; he demanded. The general response was affirmative, Antipas
+      adding his word to the declaration of the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius had a misgiving that the prisoner might be able to escape; and
+      as the conduct of Antipas appeared to him rather suspicious, he
+      established his own sentinels at the gates, at intervals along the walls,
+      and in the courtyard itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last he retired to the apartments assigned to him, accompanied by the
+      priests. Without touching directly upon the question of the coveted
+      offices of public sacrificers, each one laid his own grievances before the
+      proconsul. They fairly beset him with complaints and requests, but he soon
+      dismissed them from his presence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Jonathas left the proconsul&rsquo;s apartments he perceived Antipas standing
+      under an arch, talking to an Essene, who wore a long white robe and
+      flowing locks. Jonathas regretted that he had raised his voice in defence
+      of the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One thought now consoled Herod-Antipas. He was no longer personally
+      responsible for the fate of Iaokanann. The Romans had assumed that charge.
+      What a relief! He had noticed Phanuel pacing slowly through the court, and
+      calling him to his side, he pointed put the guards established by
+      Vitellius, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are stronger than I! I cannot now set the prisoner free! It is not
+      my fault if he remains in his dungeon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The courtyard was empty. The slaves were sleeping. The day was drawing to
+      a close, and the sunset spread a deep rosy glow over the horizon, against
+      which the smallest objects stood out like silhouettes. Antipas was able to
+      distinguish the excavations of the salt-mines at the farther end of the
+      Dead Sea, but the tents of the Arabs were no longer visible. As the moon
+      rose, the effect of the day&rsquo;s excitement passed away, and a feeling of
+      peace entered his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Phanuel, also wearied by the recent agitating scenes, remained beside the
+      tetrarch. He sat in silence for some time, his chin resting on his breast.
+      At last he spoke in confidence to Antipas, and revealed what he had wished
+      to say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the beginning of the month, he said, he had been studying the heavens
+      every morning before daybreak, when the constellation of Perseus was at
+      the zenith; Agalah was scarcely visible; Algol was even less bright;
+      Mira-Cetus had disappeared entirely; from all of which he augured the
+      death of some man of great importance, to occur that very night in
+      Machaerus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Who was the man? Vitellius was too closely guarded to be reached. No one
+      would kill Iaokanann.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is I!&rdquo; thought the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It might be that the Arabs would return and make a successful attack upon
+      him. Perhaps the proconsul would discover his relations with the
+      Parthians. Several men whom Antipas had recognised as hired assassins from
+      Jerusalem, had escorted the priests in the train of the proconsul; they
+      all carried daggers concealed beneath their robes. The tetrarch had no
+      doubt whatever of the exactness of Phanuel&rsquo;s skill in astrology.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly he bethought him of Herodias. He would consult her. He hated her,
+      certainly, but she might give him courage; and besides, in spite of his
+      dislike, not all the bonds were yet broken of that sorcery which once she
+      had woven about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he entered her chamber, he was met by the pungent odour of cinnamon
+      burning in a porphyry vase and the perfume of powders, unguents,
+      cloud-like gauzes and embroideries light as feathers, filled the air with
+      fragrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not speak of Phanuel&rsquo;s prophecy, nor of his own fear of the Jews
+      and the Arabs. Herodias had already accused him of cowardice. He spoke
+      only of the Romans, and complained that Vitellius had not confided to him
+      any of his military projects. He said he supposed the proconsul was the
+      friend of Caligula, who often visited Agrippa; and expressed a surmise
+      that he himself might be exiled, or that perhaps his throat would be cut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias, who now treated him with a kind of disdainful indulgence, tried
+      to reassure him. At last she took from a small casket a curious medallion,
+      ornamented with a profile of Tiberius. The sight of it, she said, as she
+      gave it to Antipas, would make the lictors turn pale and silence all
+      accusing voices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas, filled with gratitude, asked her how the medallion had come into
+      her possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was given to me,&rdquo; was her only answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment Antipas beheld a bare arm slipping through a portiere
+      hanging in front of him. It was the arm of a youthful woman, as graceful
+      in outline as if carved from ivory by Polyclitus. With a movement a little
+      awkward and at the same time charming, it felt about the wall an instant,
+      as if seeking something, then took down a tunic hanging upon a hook near
+      the doorway, and disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An elderly female attendant passed quietly through the room, lifted the
+      portiere, and went out. A sudden recollection pierced the memory of the
+      tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that woman one of thy slaves?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What matters that to thee?&rdquo; was the disdainful reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The great banqueting-hall was filled with guests. This apartment had three
+      naves, like a basilica, which were separated by columns of sandalwood,
+      whose capitals were of sculptured bonze. On each side of the apartment was
+      a gallery for spectators, and a third, with a facade of gold filigree, was
+      at one end, opposite an immense arch at the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The candelabra burning on the tables, which were spread the whole length
+      of the banqueting-hall, glowed like clusters of flaming flowers among the
+      painted cups, the plates of shining copper, the cubes of snow and heaps of
+      luscious grapes. Through the large windows the guests could see lighted
+      torches on the terraces of the neighbouring houses; for this night Antipas
+      was giving a feast to his friends, his own people, and to anyone that
+      presented himself at the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The slaves, alert as dogs, glided about noiselessly in felt sandals,
+      carrying dishes to and fro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The table of the proconsul was placed beneath the gilded balcony upon a
+      platform of sycamore wood. Rich tapestries from Babylon were hung about
+      the pavilion, giving a certain effect of seclusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon three ivory couches, one facing the great hall, and the other two
+      placed one on either side of the pavilion, reclined Vitellius, his son
+      Aulus, and Antipas; the proconsul being near the door, at the left, Aulus
+      on the right, the tetrarch occupying the middle couch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas wore a heavy black mantle, the texture of which was almost hidden
+      by coloured embroideries and glittering decorations; his beard was spread
+      out like a fan; blue powder had been scattered over his hair, and on his
+      head rested a diadem covered with precious stones. Vitellius still wore
+      the purple band, the emblem of his rank, crossed diagonally over a linen
+      toga.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aulus had tied behind his back the sleeves of his violet robe, embroidered
+      with silver. His clustering curls were laid in carefully arranged rows; a
+      necklace of sapphires gleamed against his throat, plump and white as that
+      of a woman. Crouched upon a rug near him, with legs crossed was a pretty
+      white boy, upon whose face shone a perpetual smile. Aulus had found him
+      somewhere among the kitchens and had taken a violent fancy to him. He had
+      made the child one of his suite, but as he never could remember his
+      protege&rsquo;s Chaldean name, called him simply &ldquo;the Asiatic.&rdquo; From time to
+      time the little fellow sprang up and played about the dining-table, and
+      his antics appeared to amuse the guests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At one side of the tetrarch&rsquo;s pavilion were the tables at which were
+      seated his priests and officers; also a number of persons from Jerusalem,
+      and the more important men from the Grecian cities. At the table on the
+      left of the proconsul sat Marcellus with the publicans, several friends of
+      the tetrarch, and various representatives from Cana, Ptolemais, and
+      Jericho. Seated at other tables were mountaineers from Liban and many of
+      the old soldiers of Herod&rsquo;s army; a dozen Thracians, a Greek and two
+      Germans; besides huntsmen and herdsmen, the Sultan of Palmyra, and sailors
+      from Eziongaber. Before each guest was placed a roll of soft bread, upon
+      which to wipe the fingers. As soon as they were seated, hands were
+      stretched out with the eagerness of a vulture&rsquo;s claws, seizing upon
+      olives, pistachios, and almonds. Every face was joyous, every head was
+      crowned with flowers, except those of the Pharisees, who refused to wear
+      the wreaths, regarding them as a symbol of Roman voluptuousness and vice.
+      They shuddered when the attendants sprinkled them with galburnum and
+      incense, the use of which the Pharisees reserved strictly for services in
+      the Temple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas observed that Aulus rubbed himself under the arms, as if annoyed
+      by heat or chafing; and promised to give him three flasks of the same kind
+      of precious balm that had been used by Cleopatra.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A captain from the garrison of Tiberias who had just arrived, placed
+      himself behind the tetrarch as protection in case any unexpected trouble
+      should arise. But his attention was divided between observing the
+      movements of the proconsul and listening to the conversation of his
+      neighbours.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was, naturally, much talk of Iaokanann, and other men of his stamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is said,&rdquo; remarked one of the guests, &ldquo;that Simon of Gitta washed away
+      his sins in fire. And a certain man called Jesus&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is the worst of them all!&rdquo; interrupted Eleazar. &ldquo;A miserable
+      imposter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this a man sprang up from a table near the tetrarch&rsquo;s pavilion, and
+      made his way towards the place where Eleazar sat. His face was almost as
+      pale as his linen robe, but he addressed the Pharisees boldly, saying:
+      &ldquo;That is a lie! Jesus has performed miracles!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas expressed a long-cherished desire to see the man Jesus perform
+      some of his so-called miracles. &ldquo;You should have brought him with you,&rdquo; he
+      said to the last speaker, who was still standing. &ldquo;Tell us what you know
+      about him,&rdquo; he commanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the stranger said that he himself, whose name was Jacob, having a
+      daughter who was very ill, had gone to Capernaum to implore the Master to
+      heal his child. The Master had answered him, saying: &ldquo;Return to thy home:
+      she is healed!&rdquo; And he had found his daughter standing at the threshold of
+      his house, having risen from her couch when the gnomon had marked the
+      third hour, the same moment when he had made his supplication to Jesus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Pharisees admitted that certain mysterious arts and powerful herbs
+      existed that would heal the sick. It was said that the marvellous plant
+      known as &ldquo;baaras&rdquo; grew even in Machaerus, the power of which rendered its
+      consumer invulnerable against all attacks; but to cure disease without
+      seeing or touching the afflicted person was clearly impossible, unless,
+      indeed, the man Jesus called in the assistance of evil spirits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The friends of Antipas and the men from Galilee nodded wisely, saying: &ldquo;It
+      is evident that he is aided by demons of some sort!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob, standing between their table and that of the priests, maintained a
+      silence at once lofty and respectful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several voices exclaimed: &ldquo;Prove his power to us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob leaned over the priests&rsquo; table, and said slowly, in a
+      half-suppressed tone, as if awe-struck by his own words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Know ye not, then, that He is the Messiah?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The priests stared at one another, and Vitellius demanded the meaning of
+      the word. His interpreter paused a moment before translating it. Then he
+      said that Messiah was the name to be given to one who was to come,
+      bringing the enjoyment of all blessings, and giving them domination over
+      all the peoples of the earth. Certain persons believed that there were to
+      be two Messiahs; one would be vanquished by Gog and Magog, the demons of
+      the North; but the other would exterminate the Prince of Evil; and for
+      centuries the coming of this Saviour of mankind had been expected at any
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this, the priests began to talk in low tones among themselves. Eleazar
+      addressed Jacob, saying that it had always been understood that the
+      Messiah would be a son of David, not of a carpenter; and that he would
+      confirm the law, whereas this Nazarene attacked it. Furthermore, as a
+      still stronger argument against the pretender, it had been promised that
+      the Messiah should be preceded by Elias.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Elias has come!&rdquo; Jacob answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Elias! Elias!&rdquo; was repeated from one end of the banqueting-hall to the
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In imagination, all fancied that they could see an old man, a flight of
+      ravens above his head, standing before an altar, which a flash of
+      lightning illumined, revealing the idolatrous priests that were thrown
+      into the torrent; and the women, sitting in the galleries, thought of the
+      widow of Sarepta.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob then declared that he knew Elias; that he had seen him, and that
+      many of the guests there assembled had seen him!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His name!&rdquo; was the cry from all lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Iaokanann!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas fell back in his chair as if a heavy blow had struck him on the
+      breast. The Sadducees rose from their seats and rushed towards Jacob.
+      Eleazar raised his voice to a shout in order to make himself heard. When
+      order was finally restored, he draped his mantle about his shoulders, and,
+      with the air of a judge, proceeded to put questions to Jacob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since the prophet is dead&mdash;&rdquo; he began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Murmurs interrupted him. Many persons believed that Elias was not dead,
+      but had only disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eleazar rebuked those who had interrupted him; and continuing, asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And dost thou believe that he has indeed come to life again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I not believe it?&rdquo; Jacob replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Sadducees shrugged their shoulders. Jonathas, opening wide his little
+      eyes, gave a forced, buffoon-like laugh. Nothing could be more absurd,
+      said he, than the idea that a human body could have eternal life; and he
+      declaimed, for the benefit of the proconsul, this line from a
+      contemporaneous poet:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time Aulus was leaning over the side of the pavilion, with pale
+      face, a perspiring brow, and both hands outspread on his stomach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Sadducees pretended to be deeply moved at the sight of his suffering,
+      thinking that perhaps the next day the offices of sacrificers would be
+      theirs. Antipas appeared to be in despair at his guest&rsquo;s agony. Vitellius
+      preserved a calm demeanour, although he felt some anxiety, for the loss of
+      his son would mean the loss of his fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Aulus, quickly recovering after he had relieved his over-burdened
+      stomach, was as eager to eat as before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let some one bring me marble-dust,&rdquo; he commanded, &ldquo;or clay of Naxos,
+      sea-water&mdash;anything! Perhaps it would do me good to bathe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He swallowed a quantity of snow; then hesitated between a ragout and a
+      dish of blackbirds; and finally decided in favour of gourds served in
+      honey. The little Asiatic gazed at his master in astonishment and
+      admiration; to him this exhibition of gluttony denoted a wonderful being
+      belonging to a superior race.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The feast went on. Slaves served the guests with kidneys, dormice,
+      nightingales, mince-meat dressed with vine-leaves. The priests discoursed
+      among themselves regarding the supposed resurrection. Ammonius, pupil of
+      Philon, the Platonist, pronounced them stupid, and told the Greeks that he
+      laughed at their oracles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marcellus and Jacob were seated side by side. Marcellus described the
+      happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithra, and Jacob made him
+      promise to become a follower of Jesus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wines of the palm and the tamarisk, those of Safed and of Byblos, ran
+      from the amphoras into the crateras, from the crateras into the cups, and
+      from the cups down the guests&rsquo; throats. Every one talked, all hearts
+      expanding under the good cheer. Jacim, although a Jew, did not hesitate to
+      express his admiration of the planets. A merchant from Aphaka amazed the
+      nomads with his description of the marvels in the temple of Hierapolis;
+      and they wished to know the cost of a pilgrimage to that place. Others
+      held fast to the principles of their native religion. A German, who was
+      nearly blind, sang a hymn celebrating that promontory in Scandinavia where
+      the gods were wont to appear with halos around their heads. The people
+      from Sichem declined to eat turtles, out of deference to the dove Azima.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several groups stood talking near the middle of the banqueting-hall, and
+      the vapour of their breath, mingled with the smoke from the candles,
+      formed a light mist. Presently Phanuel slipped quietly into the room,
+      keeping close to the wall. He had been out in the open courtyard, to make
+      another survey of the heavens. He stopped when he reached the pavilion of
+      the tetrarch, fearing he would be splashed with drops of oil if he
+      approached the other tables, which, to an Essene, would be a great
+      defilement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly violent blows resounded upon the castle gates. The news of the
+      imprisonment of Iaokanann had spread rapidly, and now it appeared that the
+      whole surrounding population was flocking to the castle. Men with torches
+      were hastening along the roads in all directions; a black mass of people
+      swarmed in the ravine; and from all throats came the cry: &ldquo;Iaokanann!
+      Iaokanann!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That man will ruin everything,&rdquo; said Jonathas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall have no more money if this continues,&rdquo; said the Pharisees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Accusations, recriminations, and pleadings were heard on all sides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Protect us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Compel them to cease!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou didst abandon thy religion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impious as all the Herods!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Less impious than thou!&rdquo; Antipas retorted. &ldquo;Was it not my father that
+      erected thy Temple?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Pharisees, children of the proscribed tribes, partisans of
+      Mattathias, accused the tetrarch of all the crimes committed by his
+      family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Pharisees had pointed skulls, bristling beards, feeble hands, snub
+      noses, great round eyes, and their countenances bore a resemblance to that
+      of a bull-dog. A dozen of these people, scribes and attendants upon the
+      priests, who picked up their living from the refuse of holocausts, rushed
+      to the foot of the pavilion and threatened Antipas with their knives. He
+      attempted to speak to them, being only slightly protected by some of the
+      Sadducees. Suddenly he perceived Mannaeus at a distance and made him a
+      sign to approach. The expression on the face of Vitellius indicated that
+      he regarded all this turmoil as no concern of his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside themselves
+      with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon the floor. The
+      attendants had served them with a ragout composed of the flesh of the wild
+      ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no bounds. Aulus rallied them
+      jeeringly apropos of the ass&rsquo;s head, which he declared they honoured. He
+      flung other sarcasms at them, regarding their antipathy to the flesh of
+      swine, intimating that no doubt their hatred arose from the fact that that
+      beast had killed their beloved Bacchus, and saying it was to be feared
+      they were too fond of wine, since a golden vine had been discovered in the
+      Temple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
+      origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the more
+      so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had disappeared.
+      The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes were vulgar, and
+      not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings. After a time his
+      displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of Syrian lambs&rsquo; tails,
+      dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
+      like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and he
+      recalled the stories he had heard of the mysterious Jew who fattened small
+      children and offered them as a sacrifice. His Latin nature was filled with
+      disgust at their intolerance, their iconoclastic rage, their brutal,
+      stumbling bearing. The proconsul wished to depart, but Aulus refused to
+      accompany him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The exaltation of the people increased. They abandoned themselves to
+      dreams of independence. They recalled the glory of Israel, and a Syrian
+      spoke of all the great conquerors they had vanquished,&mdash;Antigone,
+      Crassus, Varus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miserable creatures!&rdquo; cried the enraged proconsul, who had overheard the
+      Syrian&rsquo;s words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of the uproar Antipas remembered the medallion of the emperor
+      that Herodias had given to him; he drew it forth and looked at it a
+      moment, trembling, then held it up with its face turned towards the
+      throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same moment, the panels of the gold-railed balcony were folded
+      back, and, accompanied by slaves bearing wax tapers, Herodias appeared,
+      her coiffure crowned with an Assyrian mitre, which was held in place by a
+      band passing under the chin. Her dark hair fell in ringlets over a scarlet
+      peplum with slashed sleeves. On either side of the door through which one
+      stepped into the gallery, stood a huge stone monster, like those of
+      Atrides; and as Herodias appeared between them, she looked like Cybele
+      supported by her lions. In her hands she carried a patera, a shallow
+      vessel of silver used by the Romans in pouring libations; and, advancing
+      to the front of the balcony and pausing just above the tetrarch&rsquo;s chair,
+      she cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Long live Caesar!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This homage was repeated by Vitellius, Antipas, and the priests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But now, beginning at the farthest end of the banqueting-hall, a murmur of
+      surprise and admiration swept through the multitude. A beautiful young
+      girl had just entered the apartment, and stood motionless for an instant,
+      while all eyes were turned upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through a drapery of filmy blue gauze that veiled her head and throat, her
+      arched eyebrows, tiny ears, and ivory-white skin could be distinguished. A
+      scarf of shot-silk fell from her shoulders, and was caught up at the waist
+      by a girdle of fretted silver. Her full trousers, of black silk, were
+      embroidered in a pattern of silver mandragoras, and as she moved forward
+      with indolent grace, her little feet were seen to be shod with slippers
+      made of the feathers of humming-birds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she arrived in front of the pavilion she removed her veil. Behold!
+      she seemed to be Herodias herself, as she had appeared in the days of her
+      blooming youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately the damsel began to dance before the tetrarch. Her slender
+      feet took dainty steps to the rhythm of a flute and a pair of Indian
+      bells. Her round white arms seemed ever beckoning and striving to entice
+      to her side some youth who was fleeing from her allurements. She appeared
+      to pursue him, with movements light as a butterfly; her whole mien was
+      like that of an inquisitive Psyche, or a floating spirit that might at any
+      moment dissolve and disappear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the plaintive notes of the gingras, a small flute of Phoenician
+      origin, replaced the tinkling bells. The attitudes of the dancing nymph
+      now denoted overpowering lassitude. Her bosom heaved with sighs, and her
+      whole being expressed profound languor, although it was not clear whether
+      she sighed for an absent swain or was expiring of love in his embrace.
+      With half-closed eyes and quivering form, she caused mysterious
+      undulations to flow downward over her whole body, like rippling waves,
+      while her face remained impassive and her twinkling feet still moved in
+      their intricate steps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius compared her to Mnester, the famous pantomimist. Aulus was
+      overcome with faintness. The tetrarch watched her, lost in a voluptuous
+      reverie, and thought no more of the real Herodias. In fancy he saw her
+      again as she appeared when she had dwelt among the Sadducees. Then the
+      vision faded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But this beautiful thing before him was no vision. The dancer was Salome,
+      the daughter of Herodias, who for many months her mother had caused to be
+      instructed in dancing, and other arts of pleasing, with the sole idea of
+      bringing her to Machaerus and presenting her to the tetrarch, so that he
+      should fall in love with her fresh young beauty and feminine wiles. The
+      plan had proved successful, it seemed; he was evidently fascinated, and
+      Herodias felt that at last she was sure of retaining her power over him!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now the graceful dancer appeared transported with the very delirium of
+      love and passion. She danced like the priestesses of India, like the
+      Nubians of the cataracts, or like the Bacchantes of Lydia. She whirled
+      about like a flower blown by the tempest. The jewels in her ears sparkled,
+      her swift movements made the colours of her draperies appear to run into
+      one another. Her arms, her feet, her clothing even, seemed to emit streams
+      of magnetism, that set the spectators&rsquo; blood on fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the thrilling chords of a harp rang through the hall, and the
+      throng burst into loud acclamations. All eyes were fixed on Salome, who
+      paused in her rhythmic dance, placed her feet wide apart, and without
+      bending the knees, suddenly swayed her lithe body downward, so that her
+      chin touched the floor; and her whole audience,&mdash;the nomads,
+      accustomed to a life of privation and abstinence, the Roman soldiers,
+      expert in debaucheries, the avaricious publicans, and even the crabbed,
+      elderly priests&mdash;gazed upon her with dilated nostrils.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next she began to whirl frantically around the table where Antipas the
+      tetrarch was seated. He leaned towards the flying figure, and in a voice
+      half choked with the voluptuous sighs of a mad desire, he sighed: &ldquo;Come to
+      me! Come!&rdquo; But she whirled on, while the music of dulcimers swelled louder
+      and the excited spectators roared their applause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch called again, louder than before: &ldquo;Come to me! Come! Thou
+      shalt have Capernaum, the plains of Tiberias! my citadels! yea, the half
+      of my kingdom!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again the dancer paused; then, like a flash, she threw herself upon the
+      palms of her hands, while her feet rose straight up into the air. In this
+      bizarre pose she moved about upon the floor like a gigantic beetle; then
+      stood motionless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nape of her neck formed a right angle with her vertebrae. The full
+      silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood erect,
+      now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a rainbow. Her lips
+      were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were black as jet, her
+      glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and the tiny drops of
+      perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon white marble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
+      concentrated upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
+      pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
+      Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
+      steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned
+      over, smiled upon the tetrarch, and, with an air of almost childlike
+      naivete, pronounced these words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask my lord to give me, placed upon a charger, the head of&mdash;&rdquo; She
+      hesitated, as if not certain of the name; then said: &ldquo;The head of
+      Iaokanann!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch sank back in his chair as if stunned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had bound himself by his promise to her; and the people awaited his
+      next movement. But the death that night of some conspicuous man that had
+      been predicted to him by Phanuel,&mdash;what if, by bringing it upon
+      another, he could avert it from himself, thought Antipas. If Iaokanann was
+      in very truth the Elias so much talked of, he would have power to protect
+      himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was of no
+      importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master&rsquo;s thoughts. Vitellius
+      beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the execution, to be
+      transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the dungeon. This
+      execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few moments all would be
+      over!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for once Mannaeus did not perform a commission satisfactorily. He left
+      the hall but soon returned, in a state of great perturbation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During forty years he had exercised the functions of the public
+      executioner. It was he that had drowned Aristobulus, strangled Alexander,
+      burned Mattathias alive, beheaded Zozimus, Pappus, Josephus, and
+      Antipater; but he dared not kill Iaokanann! His teeth chattered and his
+      whole body trembled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He declared that he had seen, standing before the dungeon, the Angel of
+      the Samaritans, covered with eyes and brandishing a great sword, glowing
+      and quivering like a flame. He appealed to two of the guards, who had
+      entered the hall with him, to corroborate his words. But they said they
+      had seen nothing except a Jewish captain who had attacked them, and whom
+      they had killed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fury of Herodias poured forth in a torrent of invective against the
+      populace. She clenched the railing of the balcony so fiercely as to break
+      her nails; the two stone lions at her back seemed to bite her shoulders
+      and join their voices to hers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas followed her example; and priests, soldiers, and Pharisees cried
+      aloud together for vengeance, echoed by the rest of the gathering, who
+      were indignant that a mere slave should dare to delay their pleasures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Mannaeus left the hall, covering his face with his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The guests found the second delay longer than the first. It seemed tedious
+      to every one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a sound of footsteps was heard in the corridor without; then
+      silence fell again. The suspense was becoming intolerable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the door was flung open and Mannaeus entered, holding at arm&rsquo;s
+      length, grasping it by the hair, the head of Iaokanann. His appearance was
+      greeted with a burst of applause, which filled him with pride and revived
+      his courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed the head upon a charger and offered it to Salome, who had
+      descended the steps to receive it. She remounted to the balcony, with a
+      light step; and in another moment the charger was carried about from one
+      table to another by the elderly female slave whom the tetrarch had
+      observed in the morning on the balcony of a neighbouring house, and later
+      in the chamber of Herodias.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she approached him with her ghastly burden, he turned away his head
+      to avoid looking at it. Vitellius threw upon it an indifferent glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus descended from the pavilion, took the charger from the woman, and
+      exhibited the head to the Roman captains, then to all the guests on that
+      side of the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They looked at it curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sharp blade of the sword had cut into the jaw with a swift downward
+      stroke. The corners of the mouth were drawn, as if by a convulsion. Clots
+      of blood besprinkled the beard. The closed eyelids had a shell-like
+      transparency, and the candelabra on every side lighted up the gruesome
+      object with terrible distinctness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus arrived at the table where the priests were seated. One of them
+      turned the charger about curiously, to look at the head from all sides.
+      Then Mannaeus, having entirely regained his courage, placed the charger
+      before Aulus, who had just awakened from a short doze; and finally he
+      brought it again to Antipas and set it down upon the table beside him.
+      Tears were running down the cheeks of the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lights began to flicker and die out. The guests departed, and at last
+      no one remained in the great hall save Antipas, who sat leaning his head
+      upon his hands, gazing at the head of Iaokanann; and Phanuel, who stood in
+      the centre of the largest nave and prayed aloud, with uplifted arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At sunrise the two men who had been sent on a mission by Iaokanann some
+      time before, returned to the castle, bringing the answer so long awaited
+      and hoped for.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They whispered the message to Phanuel, who received it with rapture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he showed them the lugubrious object, still resting on the charger
+      amid the ruins of the feast. One of the men said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be comforted! He has descended among the dead in order to announce the
+      coming of the Christ!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And in that moment the Essene comprehended the words of Iaokanann: &ldquo;In
+      order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the three, taking with them the head of John the Baptist, set out
+      upon the road to Galilee; and as the burden was heavy, each man bore it
+      awhile in turn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+  <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1291 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #1291 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1291)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Herodias
+
+Author: Gustave Flaubert
+
+Release Date: February 11, 2006 [EBook #1291]
+Last Updated: September 13, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HERODIAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+HERODIAS
+
+By Gustave Flaubert
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+In the eastern side of the Dead Sea rose the citadel of Machaerus. It
+was built upon a conical peak of basalt, and was surrounded by four deep
+valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth in the rear.
+At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a group of
+houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines undulated with
+the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting through the rocks,
+joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which were about one
+hundred and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles and ornamental
+towers that stood out like jewels in this crown of stone overhanging an
+abyss.
+
+Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
+arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
+spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
+poles had been erected to support an awning.
+
+One morning, just before sunrise, the tetrarch, Herod-Antipas, came out
+alone upon the balcony. He leaned against one of the columns and looked
+about him.
+
+The crests of the hill-tops in the valley below the palace were just
+discernible in the light of the false dawn, although their bases,
+extending to the abyss, were still plunged in darkness. A light mist
+floated in the air; presently it lifted, and the shores of the Dead Sea
+became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy flush
+over the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the desert,
+and illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey in the
+early dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a deep black
+shadow; Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a dome; Eschol
+had her pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her fields of sesame;
+and the tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube, dominated Jerusalem.
+The tetrarch turned his gaze from it to contemplate the palms of Jericho
+on his right; and his thoughts dwelt upon other cities of his beloved
+Galilee,--Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth, Tiberias--whither it might be he
+would never return.
+
+The Jordan wound its way through the arid plains that met his gaze;
+white and glittering under the clear sky, it dazzled the eye like snow
+in the rays of the sun.
+
+The Dead Sea now looked like a sheet of lapis-lazuli; and at its
+southern extremity, on the coast of Yemen, Antipas recognised clearly
+what at first he had been able only dimly to perceive. Several tents
+could now be plainly seen; men carrying spears were moving about among a
+group of horses; and dying camp-fires shone faintly in the beams of the
+rising sun.
+
+This was a troop belonging to the sheikh of the Arabs, the daughter
+of whom the tetrarch had repudiated in order to wed Herodias, already
+married to one of his brothers, who lived in Italy but who had no
+pretensions to power.
+
+Antipas was waiting for assistance and reinforcements from the Romans,
+but as Vitellius, the Governor of Syria, had not yet arrived, he was
+consumed with impatience and anxiety. Perhaps Agrippa had ruined his
+cause with the Emperor, he thought. Philip, his third brother, sovereign
+of Batania, was arming himself clandestinely. The Jews were becoming
+intolerant of the tetrarch’s idolatries; he knew that many were weary of
+his rule; and he hesitated now between adopting one of two projects: to
+conciliate the Arabs and win back their allegiance, or to conclude
+an alliance with the Parthians. Under the pretext of celebrating his
+birthday, he had planned to bring together, at a grand banquet,
+the chiefs of his troops, the stewards of his domains, and the most
+important men from the region about Galilee.
+
+Antipas threw a keen glance along all the roads leading to Machaerus.
+They were deserted. Eagles were sweeping through the air high above his
+head; the soldiers of the guard, placed at intervals along the ramparts,
+slept or dozed, leaning against the walls; all was silent within the
+castle.
+
+Suddenly he heard the sound of a distant voice, seeming to come from
+the very depths of the earth. His cheek paled. After an instant’s
+hesitation, he leaned far over the balcony railing, listening intently,
+but the voice had died away. Presently it rose again upon the quiet air;
+Antipas clapped his hands together loudly, crying: “Mannaeus! Mannaeus!”
+
+Instantly a man appeared, naked to the waist, after the fashion of a
+masseur at the bath. Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in years,
+he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in a bronze
+scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a kind of
+comb, exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His eyes were
+heavy with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was light on the
+flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape, although his
+countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
+
+“Where is he?” demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
+
+Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
+
+“Over there--still there!”
+
+“I thought I heard him cry out.”
+
+And Antipas, after drawing a deep breath, asked for news of Iaokanann,
+afterwards known as St. John the Baptist. Had he been allowed to see the
+two men who had asked permission to visit his dungeon a few days before,
+and since that time, had any one discovered for what purpose the men
+desired to see him?
+
+“They exchanged some strange words with him,” Mannaeus replied, “with
+the mysterious air of robbers conspiring at the cross-roads. Then they
+departed towards Upper Galilee, saying that they were the bearers of
+great tidings.”
+
+Antipas bent his head for a moment; then raising it quickly, said in a
+tone full of alarm:
+
+“Guard him! watch him well! Do not allow any one else to see him. Keep
+the gates shut and the entrance to the dungeon closed fast. It must not
+even be suspected that he still lives!”
+
+Mannaeus had already attended to all these details, because Iaokanann
+was a Jew, and, like all the Samaritans, Mannaeus hated the Jews.
+
+Their temple on the Mount of Gerizim, which Moses had designed to be the
+centre of Israel, had been destroyed since the reign of King Hyrcanus;
+and the temple at Jerusalem made the Samaritans furious; they regarded
+its presence as an outrage against themselves, and a permanent
+injustice. Mannaeus, indeed, had forcibly entered it, for the purpose of
+defiling its altar with the bones of corpses. Several of his companions,
+less agile than he, had been caught and beheaded.
+
+From the tetrarch’s balcony, the temple was visible through an opening
+between two hills. The sun, now fully risen, shed a dazzling splendour
+on its walls of snowy marble and the plates of purest gold that formed
+its roof. The structure shone like a luminous mountain, and its radiant
+purity indicated something almost superhuman, eclipsing even its
+suggestion of opulence and pride.
+
+Mannaeus stretched out his powerful arm towards Zion, and, with clenched
+fist and his great body drawn to its full height, he launched a bitter
+anathema at the city, with perfect faith that eventually his curse must
+be effective.
+
+Antipas listened, without appearing to be shocked at the strength of the
+invectives.
+
+When the Samaritan had become somewhat calmer, he returned to the
+subject of the prisoner.
+
+“Sometimes he grows excited,” said he, “then he longs to escape or talks
+about a speedy deliverance. At other times he is as quiet as a sick
+animal, although I often find him pacing to and fro in his gloomy
+dungeon, murmuring, ‘In order that His glory may increase, mine must
+diminish.’”
+
+Antipas and Mannaeus looked at each other a moment in silence. But the
+tetrarch was weary of pondering on this troublesome matter.
+
+The mountain peaks surrounding the palace, looking like great petrified
+waves, the black depths among the cliffs, the immensity of the blue sky,
+the rising sun, and the gloomy valley of the abyss, filled the soul of
+Antipas with a vague unrest; he felt an overwhelming sense of oppression
+at the sight of the desert, whose uneven piles of sand suggested
+crumbling amphitheaters or ruined palaces. The hot wind brought an odour
+of sulphur, as if it had rolled up from cities accursed and buried
+deeper than the river-bed of the slow-running Jordan.
+
+These aspects of nature, which seemed to his troubled fancy signs of
+the wrath of the gods, terrified him, and he leaned heavily against the
+balcony railing, his eyes fixed, his head resting upon his hands.
+
+Presently he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. He turned, and saw
+Herodias standing beside him. A purple robe enveloped her, falling to
+her sandaled feet. Having left her chamber hurriedly, she wore no jewels
+nor other ornaments. A thick tress of rippling black hair hung over her
+shoulder and hid itself in her bosom; her nostrils, a little too large
+for beauty, quivered with triumph, and her face was alight with joy. She
+gently shook the tetrarch’s shoulder, and exclaimed exultantly:
+
+“Caesar is our friend! Agrippa has been imprisoned!”
+
+“Who told thee that?”
+
+“I know it!” she replied, adding: “It was because he coveted the crown
+of Caligula.”
+
+While living upon the charity of Antipas and Herodias, Agrippa had
+intrigued to become king, a title for which the tetrarch was as eager as
+he. But if this news were true, no more was to be feared from Agrippa’s
+scheming.
+
+“The dungeons of Tiberias are hard to open, and sometimes life itself is
+uncertain within their depths,” said Herodias, with grim significance.
+
+Antipas understood her; and, although she was Agrippa’s sister, her
+atrocious insinuation seemed entirely justifiable to the tetrarch.
+Murder and outrage were to be expected in the management of political
+intrigues; they were a part of the fatal inheritance of royal houses;
+and in the family of Herodias nothing was more common.
+
+Then she rapidly unfolded to the tetrarch the secrets of her recent
+undertakings, telling him how many men had been bribed, what letters had
+been intercepted, and the number of spies stationed at the city gates.
+She did not hesitate even to tell him of her success in an attempt to
+befool and seduce Eutyches the denunciator.
+
+“And why should I not?” she said; “it cost me nothing. For thee, my
+lord, have I not done more than that? Did I not even abandon my child?”
+
+After her divorce from Philip, she had indeed left her daughter in Rome,
+hoping that, as the wife of the tetrarch, she might bear other children.
+Until that moment she had never spoken to Antipas of her daughter. He
+asked himself the reason for this sudden display of tenderness.
+
+During their brief conversation several attendants had come out upon
+the balcony; one slave brought a quantity of large, soft cushions, and
+arranged them in a kind of temporary couch upon the floor behind his
+mistress. Herodias sank upon them, and turning her face away from
+Antipas, seemed to be weeping silently. After a few moments she dried
+her eyes, declared that she would dream no more, and that she was, in
+reality, perfectly happy. She reminded Antipas of their former long
+delightful interviews in the atrium; their meetings at the baths; their
+walks along the Sacred Way, and the sweet evening rendezvous at the
+villa, among the flowery groves, listening to the murmur of splashing
+fountains, within sight of the Roman Campagna. Her glances were as
+tender as in former days; she drew near to him, leaned against his
+breast and caressed him fondly.
+
+But he repelled her soft advances. The love she sought to rekindle had
+died long ago. He thought instead of all his misfortunes, and of the
+twelve long years during which the war had continued. Protracted anxiety
+had visibly aged the tetrarch. His shoulders were bent beneath his
+violet-bordered toga; his whitening locks were long and mingled with his
+beard, and the sunlight revealed many lines upon his brow, as well as
+upon that of Herodias. After the tetrarch’s repulse of his wife’s tender
+overtures, the pair gazed morosely at each other.
+
+The mountain paths began to show signs of life. Shepherds were driving
+their flocks to pasture; children urged heavy-laden donkeys along the
+roads; while grooms belonging to the palace led the horses to the river
+to drink. The wayfarers descending from the heights on the farther side
+of Machaerus disappeared behind the castle; others ascended from the
+valleys, and after arriving at the palace deposited their burdens in the
+courtyard. Many of these were purveyors to the tetrarch; others were the
+servants of his expected guests, arriving in advance of their masters.
+
+Suddenly, at the foot of the terrace on the left, an Essene appeared; he
+wore a white robe, his feet were bare, and his demeanour indicated that
+he was a follower of the Stoics. Mannaeus instantly rushed towards the
+stranger, drawing the cutlass that he wore upon his hip.
+
+“Kill him!” cried Herodias.
+
+“Do not touch him!” the tetrarch commanded.
+
+The two men stood motionless for an instant, then they descended the
+terrace, both taking a different direction, although they kept their
+eyes fixed upon each other.
+
+“I know that man,” said Herodias, after they had disappeared. “His name
+is Phanuel, and he will try to seek out Iaokanann, since thou wert so
+foolish as to allow him to live.”
+
+Antipas said that the man might some day be useful to them. His attacks
+upon Jerusalem would gain them the allegiance of the rest of the Jews.
+
+“No,” said Herodias, “the Jews will accept any master, and are incapable
+of feeling any true patriotism.” She added that, as for the man who was
+trying to influence the people with hopes cherished since the days of
+Nehemiah, the best policy was to suppress him.
+
+The tetrarch replied that there was no haste about the matter, and
+expressed his doubt that any real danger was to be feared from Iaokanann
+even affecting to laugh at the idea.
+
+“Do not deceive thyself!” exclaimed Herodias. And she retold the story
+of her humiliation one day when she was travelling towards Gilead, in
+order to purchase some of the balm for which that region was famous.
+
+“A multitude was standing on the banks of the stream, my lord; many
+of the people were putting on their raiment. Standing on a hillock, a
+strange man was speaking to the gathering. A camel’s-skin was wrapped
+about his loins, and his head was like that of a lion. As soon as he saw
+me, he launched in my direction all the maledictions of the prophets.
+His eyes flamed, his voice shook, he raised his arms as if he would draw
+down lightning upon my head. I could not fly from him; the wheels of my
+chariot sank in the sand up to the middle; and I could only crawl along,
+hiding my head with my mantle, and frozen with terror at the curses that
+poured upon me like a storm from heaven!”
+
+Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man
+still existed poisoned her very life. When he had been seized and bound
+with cords, the soldiers were prepared to stab him if he resisted, but
+he had been quite gentle and obedient. After he had been thrown into
+prison some one had put venomous serpents into his dungeon, but strange
+to say, after a time they had died, leaving him uninjured. The inanity
+of such tricks exasperated Herodias. Besides, she inquired, why did
+this man make war upon her? What interest moved him to such actions? His
+injurious words to her, uttered before a throng of listeners, had been
+repeated and widely circulated; she heard them whispered everywhere.
+Against a legion of soldiers she would have been brave; but this
+mysterious influence, more pernicious and powerful than the sword, but
+impossible to grasp, was maddening! Herodias strode to and fro upon the
+terrace, white with rage, unable to find words to express the emotions
+that choked her.
+
+She had a haunting fear that the tetrarch might listen to public opinion
+after a time, and persuade himself it was his duty to repudiate her.
+Then, indeed, all would be lost! Since early youth she had cherished a
+dream that some day she would rule over a great empire. As an important
+step towards attaining this ambition, she had deserted Philip, her first
+husband, and married the tetrarch, who now she thought had duped her.
+
+“Ah! I found a powerful support, indeed, when I entered thy family!” she
+sneered.
+
+“It is at least the equal of thine,” Antipas replied.
+
+Herodias felt the blood of the kings and priests, her ancestors, boiling
+in her veins.
+
+“Thy grandfather was a servile attendant upon the temple of Ascalon!”
+ she went on, with fury. “Thy other ancestors were shepherds, bandits,
+conductors of caravans, a horde of slaves offered as tribute to King
+David! My forefathers were the conquerors of thine! The first of the
+Maccabees drove thy people out of Hebron; Hyrcanus forced them to be
+circumcised!” Then, with all the contempt of the patrician for the
+plebeian, the hatred of Jacob for Esau, she reproached him for his
+indifference towards palpable outrages to his dignity, his weakness
+regarding the Phoenicians, who had been false to him, and his cowardly
+attitude towards the people who detested and insulted herself.
+
+“But thou art like them!” she cried; “Dost regret the loss of the Arab
+girl who danced upon these very pavements? Take her back! Go and live
+with her--in her tent! Eat her bread, baked in the ashes! Drink curdled
+sheep’s-milk! Kiss her dark cheeks--and forget me!”
+
+The tetrarch had already forgotten her presence, it appeared. He paid no
+further heed to her anger, but looked intently at a young girl who had
+just stepped out upon the balcony of a house not far away. At her side
+stood an elderly female slave, who held over the girl’s head a kind of
+parasol with a handle made of long, slender reeds. In the middle of
+the rug spread upon the floor of the balcony stood a large open
+travelling-hamper or basket, and girdles, veils, head-dresses, and gold
+and silver ornaments were scattered about in confusion. At intervals
+the young girl took one object or another in her hands, and held it up
+admiringly. She was dressed in the costume of the Roman ladies, with a
+flowing tunic and a peplum ornamented with tassels of emeralds; and blue
+silken bands confined her hair, which seemed almost too luxuriant, since
+from time to time she raised a small hand to push back the heavy masses.
+The parasol half hid the maiden from the gaze of Antipas, but now and
+then he caught a glimpse of her delicate neck, her large eyes, or a
+fleeting smile upon her small mouth. He noted that her figure swayed
+about with a singularly elastic grace and elegance. He leaned forward,
+his eyes kindled, his breath quickened. All this was not lost upon
+Herodias, who watched him narrowly.
+
+“Who is that maiden?” the tetrarch asked at last.
+
+Herodias replied that she did not know, and her fierce demeanour
+suddenly changed to one of gentleness and amiability.
+
+At the entrance to the castle the tetrarch was awaited by several
+Galileans, the master of the scribes, the chief of the land stewards,
+the manager of the salt mines, and a Jew from Babylon, commanding his
+troops of horse. As the tetrarch approached the group, he was greeted
+with respectful enthusiasm. Acknowledging the acclamations with a grave
+salute, he entered the castle.
+
+As he proceeded along one of the corridors, Phanuel suddenly sprang from
+a corner and intercepted him.
+
+“What! Art thou still here?” said the tetrarch in displeasure. “Thou
+seekest Iaokanann, no doubt.”
+
+“And thyself, my lord. I have something of great importance to tell
+thee.”
+
+At a sign from Antipas, the Essene followed him into a somewhat dark and
+gloomy room.
+
+The daylight came faintly through a grated window. The walls were of a
+deep shade of crimson, so dark as to look almost black. At one end of
+the room stood an ebony bed, ornamented with bands of leather. A
+shield of gold, hanging at the head of the bed, shone like a sun in the
+obscurity of the apartment. Antipas crossed over to the couch and threw
+himself upon it in a half-reclining attitude, while Phanuel remained
+standing before him. Suddenly he raised one hand, and striking a
+commanding attitude said:
+
+“At times, my lord, the Most High sends a message to the people through
+one of His sons. Iaokanann is one of these. If thou oppress him, thou
+shalt be punished!”
+
+“But it is he that persecutes me!” exclaimed Antipas. “He asked me to do
+a thing that was impossible. Since then he has done nothing but revile
+me. And I was not severe with him when he began his abuse of me. But
+he had the hardihood to send various men from Machaerus to spread
+dissension and discontent throughout my domain. A curse upon him! Since
+he attacks me, I shall defend myself.”
+
+“Without doubt, he has expressed his anger with too much violence,”
+ Phanuel replied calmly. “But do not heed that further. He must be set
+free.”
+
+“One does not let loose a furious animal,” said the tetrarch.
+
+“Have no fear of him now,” was the quick reply. “He will go straight to
+the Arabs, the Gauls, and the Scythians. His work must be extended to
+the uttermost ends of the earth.”
+
+For a moment Antipas appeared lost in thought, as one who sees a vision.
+Then he said:
+
+“His power over men is indeed great. In spite of myself, I admire him!”
+
+“Then set him free!”
+
+But the tetrarch shook his head. He feared Herodias, Mannaeus, and
+unknown dangers.
+
+Phanuel tried to persuade him, promising, as a guaranty of the honesty
+of his projects, the submission of the Essenians to the King. These poor
+people, clad only in linen, untameable in spite of severe treatment,
+endowed with the power to divine the future by reading the stars, had
+succeeded in commanding a certain degree of respect.
+
+“What is the important matter thou wouldst communicate to me?” Antipas
+inquired, with sudden recollection.
+
+Before Phanuel could reply, a Negro entered the room in great haste. He
+was covered with dust, and panted so violently that he could scarcely
+utter the single word:
+
+“Vitellus!”
+
+“Has he arrived?” asked the tetrarch.
+
+“I have seen him, my lord. Within three hours he will be here.”
+
+Throughout the palace, doors were opening and closing and portieres were
+swaying as if in a high wind, with the coming and going of many persons;
+there was a murmur of voices; sounds of the moving of heavy furniture
+could be heard, and the rattle of silver plates and dishes. From the
+highest tower a loud blast upon a conch summoned from far and near all
+the slaves belonging to the castle.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The ramparts were thronged with people when at last Vitellius entered
+the castle gates, leaning on the arm of his interpreter. Behind them
+came an imposing red litter, decorated with plumes and mirrors. The
+proconsul wore a toga ornamented with the laticlave, a broad purple band
+extending down the front of the garment, indicating his rank; and his
+feet were encased in the kind of buskins worn by consuls. A guard
+of lictors surrounded him. Against the wall they placed their twelve
+fasces--a bundle of sticks with an axe in the centre. And the populace
+trembled before the insignia of Roman majesty.
+
+The gorgeous litter, borne by eight men, came to a halt. From it
+descended a youth. He wore many pearls upon his fingers, but he had
+a protruding abdomen and his face was covered with pimples. A cup of
+aromatic wine was offered to him. He drank it, and asked for a second
+draught.
+
+The tetrarch had fallen upon his knees before the proconsul, saying that
+he was grieved beyond words not to have known sooner of the favour of
+his presence within those domains; had he been aware of the approach
+of his distinguished guest, he would have issued a command that every
+person along the route should place himself at the proconsul’s orders.
+Of a surety, the proconsul’s family was descended direct from the
+goddess Vitellia. A highway, leading from the Janiculum to the sea,
+still bore their name. Questors and consuls were innumerable in that
+great family; and as for the noble Lucius, now his honoured guest, it
+was the duty of the whole people to thank him, as the conqueror of
+the Cliti and the father of the young Aulus, now returning to his own
+domain, since the East was the country of the gods. These hyperboles
+were expressed in Latin, and Vitellius accepted them impassively.
+
+He replied that the great Herod was the honour and glory of the nation;
+that the Athenians had chosen him to direct the Olympian games; that
+he had built temples in the honour of Augustus; had been patient,
+ingenious, terrible; and was faithful to all the Caesars.
+
+Between the two marble columns, with bronze capitals, Herodias could now
+be seen advancing with the air of an empress, in the midst of a group
+of women and eunuchs carrying perfumed torches set in sockets of
+silver-gilt.
+
+The proconsul advanced three steps to meet her. She saluted him with an
+inclination of her head.
+
+“How fortunate,” she exclaimed, “that henceforth Agrippa, the enemy of
+Tiberius, can work harm no longer!”
+
+Vitellius did not understand her allusion, but he thought her a
+dangerous woman. Antipas immediately declared that he was ready to do
+anything for the emperor.
+
+“Even to the injury of others?” Vitellius asked, significantly.
+
+He had taken hostages from the king of the Parthians, but the emperor
+had given no further thought to the matter, because Antipas, who had
+been present at the conference, had, in order to gain favour, sent off
+despatches bearing the news. From that time he had borne a profound
+hatred towards the emperor and had delayed in sending assistance to him.
+
+The tetrarch stammered in attempting to reply to the query of the
+proconsul. But Aulus laughed and said: “Do not be disturbed. I will
+protect thee!”
+
+The proconsul feigned not to hear this remark. The fortune of the father
+depended, in a way, on the corrupt influence of the son; and through him
+it was possible that Antipas might be able to procure for the proconsul
+very substantial benefits, although the glances that he cast about him
+were defiant, and even venomous.
+
+But now a new tumult arose just within the gates. A file of white mules
+entered the courtyard, mounted by men in priestly garb. These were the
+Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were drawn to Machaerus by the same
+ambition: the one party hoping to be appointed public sacrificers,
+the other determined to retain those offices. Their faces were dark,
+particularly those of the Pharisees, who were enemies of Rome and of the
+tetrarch. The flowing skirts of their tunics embarrassed their movements
+as they attempted to pass through the throng; and their tiaras sat
+unsteadily upon their brows, around which were bound small bands of
+parchment, showing lines of writing.
+
+Almost at the same moment, the soldiers of the advance guard arrived.
+Cloth coverings had been drawn over their glittering shields to
+protect them from the dust. Behind them came Marcellus, the proconsul’s
+lieutenant, followed by the publicans, carrying their tablets of wood
+under their arms.
+
+Antipas named to Vitellius the principle personages surrounding them:
+Tolmai, Kanthera, Schon, Ammonius of Alexandria, who brought asphalt for
+Antipas; Naaman, captain of his troops of skirmishers, and Jacim, the
+Babylonian.
+
+Vitellius had noticed Mannaeus.
+
+“Who is that man?” he inquired.
+
+The tetrarch by a significant gesture indicated that Mannaeus was the
+executioner. He then presented the Sadducees to the proconsul’s notice.
+
+Jonathas, a man of low stature, who spoke Greek, advanced with a firm
+step and begged that the great lord would honour Jerusalem with a visit.
+Vitellius replied that he should probably go to Jerusalem soon.
+
+Eleazar, who had a crooked nose and a long beard, put forth a claim, in
+behalf of the Pharisees, for the mantle of the high priest, held in the
+tower of Antonia by the civil authorities.
+
+Then the Galileans came forward and denounced Pontius Pilate. On one
+occasion, they said, a mad-man went seeking in a cave near Samaria for
+the golden vases that had belonged to King David, and Pontius Pilate
+had caused several inhabitants of that region to be executed. In their
+excitement all the Galileans spoke at once, Mannaeus’s voice being heard
+above all others. Vitellius promised that the guilty ones should be
+punished.
+
+Fresh vociferations now broke out in front of the great gates, where
+the soldiers had hung their shields. Their coverings having now been
+removed, on each shield a carving of the head of Caesar could be seen
+on the umbo, or central knob. To the Jews, this seemed an evidence of
+nothing short of idolatry. Antipas harangued them, while Vitellius,
+who occupied a raised seat within the shadow of the colonnade, was
+astonished at their fury. Tiberius had done well, he thought, to exile
+four hundred of these people to Sardinia. Presently the Jews became so
+violent that he ordered the shields to be removed.
+
+Then the multitude surrounded the proconsul, imploring him to abolish
+certain unjust laws, asking for privileges, or begging for alms. They
+rent their clothing and jostled one another; and at last, in order to
+drive them back, several slaves, armed with long staves, charged upon
+them, striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their escape
+and descended to the road; others rushed in to take their place, so that
+two streams of human beings flowed in and out, compressed within the
+limits of the gateway.
+
+Vitellius demanded the reason for the assembling of so great a throng.
+Antipas explained that they had been invited to come to a feast in
+celebration of his birthday; and he pointed to several men who, leaning
+against the battlements, were hauling up immense basket-loads of food,
+fruits, vegetables, antelopes, and storks; large fish, of a brilliant
+shade of blue; grapes, melons, and pyramids of pomegranates. At this
+sight, Aulus left the courtyard and hastened to the kitchens, led by his
+taste for gormandizing, which later became the amazement of the world.
+
+As they passed the opening to a small cellar, Vitellius perceived some
+objects resembling breast-plates hanging on a wall. He looked at them
+with interest, and then demanded that the subterranean chambers of the
+fortress be thrown open for his inspection. These chambers were cut into
+the rocky foundation of the castle, and had been formed into vaults,
+with pillars set at regular distances. The first vault opened contained
+old armour; the second was full of pikes, with long points emerging from
+tufts of feathers. The walls of the third chamber were hung with a kind
+of tapestry made of slender reeds, laid in perpendicular rows. Those of
+the fourth were covered with scimitars. In the middle of the fifth cell,
+rows of helmets were seen, the crests of which looked like a battalion
+of fiery serpents. The sixth cell contained nothing but empty quivers;
+the seventh, greaves for protecting the legs in battle; the eighth
+vault was filled with bracelets and armlets; and an examination of the
+remaining vaults disclosed forks, grappling-irons, ladders, cords, even
+catapults, and bells for the necks of camels; and as they descended
+deeper into the rocky foundation, it became evident that the whole mass
+was a veritable honeycomb of cells, and that below those already seen
+were many others.
+
+Vitellius, Phineas, his interpreter, and Sisenna, chief of the
+publicans, walked among these gloomy cells, attended by three eunuchs
+bearing torches.
+
+In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could
+be seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers
+resembling the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in
+his castle munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
+
+He had accumulated these weapons in anticipation of an alliance against
+him among his enemies. But he bethought him that the proconsul might
+believe, or assert, that he had collected this armoury in order to
+attack the Romans; so he hastened to offer explanations of all that
+Vitellius had observed.
+
+Some of these things did not belong to him at all, he said: many of
+them were necessary to defend the place against brigands and marauders,
+especially the Arabs. Many of the objects in the vault had been the
+property of his father, and he had allowed them to remain untouched. As
+he spoke, he managed to get in advance of the proconsul and preceded
+him along the corridors with rapid steps. Presently he halted and stood
+close against the wall as the party came up; he spoke quickly, standing
+with his hands on his hips, so that his voluminous mantle covered a wide
+space of the wall behind him. But just above his head the top of a door
+was visible. Vitellius remarked it instantly, and demanded to know what
+it concealed.
+
+The tetrarch explained that the door was fastened, and that none could
+open it save the Babylonian, Jacim.
+
+“Summon him, then!” was the command.
+
+A slave was sent to find Jacim, while the group awaited his coming.
+
+The father of Jacim had come from the banks of the Euphrates to offer
+his services, as well as those of five hundred horsemen, in the defence
+of the eastern frontier. After the division of the kingdom, Jacim had
+lived for a time with Philip, and was now in the service of Antipas.
+
+Presently he appeared among the vaults, carrying an archer’s bow on
+his shoulder and a whip in his hand. Cords of many colours were lashed
+tightly about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a
+sleeveless tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered
+with a heavy, curling beard.
+
+He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at first.
+But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly made the
+Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim immediately
+laid both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful shove;
+whereupon it quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
+
+A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
+descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived
+at the threshold of a kind of grotto, somewhat larger than the other
+subterranean cells.
+
+An arched window at the back of this chamber gave directly upon
+a precipice, which formed a defence for one side of the castle. A
+honeysuckle vine, cramped by the low-studded ceiling, blossomed bravely.
+The sound of a running stream could be heard distinctly. In this place
+was a great number of beautiful white horses, perhaps a hundred. They
+were eating barley from a plank placed on a level with their mouths.
+Their manes had been coloured a deep blue; their hoofs were wrapped in
+coverings of woven grass, and the hair between their ears was puffed out
+like a peruke. As they stood quietly eating, they switched their tails
+gently to and fro. The proconsul regarded them in silent admiration.
+
+They were indeed wonderful animals; supple as serpents, light as birds.
+They were trained to gallop rapidly, following the arrow of the rider,
+and dash into the midst of a group of the enemy, overturning men and
+biting them savagely as they fell. They were sure-footed among rocky
+passes, and would jump fearlessly over yawning chasms; and, while ready
+to gallop across the plains a whole day without tiring, they would stop
+instantly at the command of the rider.
+
+As soon as Jacim entered their quarters, they trotted up to him, as
+sheep crowd around the shepherd; and, thrusting forward their sleek
+necks, they looked at him with a gaze like that of inquiring children.
+From force of habit, he emitted a raucous cry, which excited them; they
+pranced about, impatient at their confinement and longing to run.
+
+Antipas, fearing that if Vitellius knew of the existence of these
+creatures, he would take them away, had shut them up in this place, made
+especially to accommodate animals in case of siege.
+
+“This close confinement cannot be good for them,” said Vitellius, “and
+there is a risk of losing them by keeping them here. Make an inventory
+of their number, Sisenna.”
+
+The publican drew a writing-tablet from the folds of his robe, counted
+the horses, and recorded the number carefully.
+
+It was the habit of the agents of the fiscal companies to corrupt the
+governors in order to pillage the provinces. Sisenna was among the most
+flourishing of these agents, and was seen everywhere with his claw-like
+fingers and his eyelids continually blinking.
+
+After a time the party returned to the court. Heavy, round bronze lids,
+sunk in the stones of the pavement, covered the cisterns of the palace.
+Vitellius noticed that one of these was larger than the others, and that
+when struck by his foot it had not their sonority. He struck them all,
+one after another; then stamped upon the ground and shouted:
+
+“I have found it! I have found the buried treasure of Herod!”
+
+Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
+
+The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
+
+“What is concealed there, then?” the proconsul demanded.
+
+“Nothing--that is, only a man--a prisoner.”
+
+“Show him to me!”
+
+The tetrarch hesitated to obey, fearing that the Jews would discover his
+secret. His reluctance to lift the cover made Vitellius impatient.
+
+“Break it in!” he cried to his lictors. Mannaeus heard the command, and,
+seeing a lictor step forward armed with a hatchet, he feared that the
+man intended to behead Iaokanann. He stayed the hand of the lictor after
+the first blow, and then slipped between the heavy lid and the pavement
+a kind of hook. He braced his long, lean arms, raised the cover slowly,
+and in a moment it lay flat upon the stones. The bystanders admired the
+strength of the old man.
+
+Under the bronze lid was a wooden trap-door of the same size. At a blow
+of the fist it folded back, allowing a wide hole to be seen, the mouth
+of an immense pit, with a flight of winding steps leading down into the
+darkness. Those that bent over to peer into the cavern beheld a vague
+and terrifying shape in its depths.
+
+This proved to be a human being, lying on the ground. His long locks
+hung over a camel’s-hair robe that covered his shoulders. Slowly he rose
+to his feet. His head touched a grating embedded in the wall; and as
+he moved about he disappeared, from time to time, in the shadows of his
+dungeon.
+
+The rich tiaras of the Romans sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight, and
+their glittering sword-hilts threw out glancing golden rays. The doves,
+flying from their cotes, circled above the heads of the multitude.
+It was the hour when Mannaeus was accustomed to feed them. But now he
+crouched beside the tetrarch, who stood near Vitellius. The Galileans,
+the priests, and the soldiers formed a group behind them; all were
+silent, waiting with painful anticipation for what might happen.
+
+A deep groan, hollow and startling, rose from the pit.
+
+Herodias heard it from the farther end of the palace. Drawn by an
+irresistible though terrible fascination, she made her way through the
+throng, and, reaching Mannaeus, she leant one hand on his shoulder and
+bent over to listen.
+
+The hollow voice rose again from the depths of the earth.
+
+“Woe to thee, Sadducees and Pharisees! Thy voices are like the tinkling
+of cymbals! O race of vipers, bursting with pride!”
+
+The voice of Iaokanann was recognised. His name was whispered about.
+Spectators from a distance pressed closer to the open pit.
+
+“Woe to thee, O people! Woe to the traitors of Judah, and to the
+drunkards of Ephraim, who dwelt in the fertile valleys and stagger with
+the fumes of wine!
+
+“May they disappear like running water; like the slug that sinks into
+the sand as it moves; like an abortion that never sees the light!
+
+“And thou too, Moab! hide thyself in the midst of the cypress, like the
+sparrow; in caverns, like the wild hare! The gates of the fortress shall
+be crushed more easily than nut-shells; the walls shall crumble; cities
+shall burn; and the scourge of God shall not cease! He shall cause your
+bodies to be bathed in your own blood, like wool in the dyer’s vat. He
+shall rend you, as with a harrow; He shall scatter the remains of your
+bodies from the tops of the mountains!”
+
+Of which conqueror was he speaking? Was it Vitellius? Only the Romans
+could bring about such an extermination. The people began to cry out:
+“Enough! enough! let him speak no more!”
+
+But the prisoner continued in louder tones:
+
+“Beside the corpses of their mothers, thy little ones shall drag
+themselves over the ashes of the burned cities. At night men will creep
+from their hiding-places to seek a bit of food among the ruins, even at
+the risk of being cut down with the sword. Jackals shall pick thy bones
+in the public places, where at eventide the fathers were wont to gather.
+At the bidding of Gentiles, thy maidens shall be forced to cease their
+lamentations and to make music upon the zither, and the bravest of thy
+sons shall learn to bend their backs, chafed with heavy burdens.”
+
+The listeners remembered the days of exile, and all the misfortunes and
+catastrophes of the past. These words were like the anathemas of the
+ancient prophets. The captive thundered them forth like bolts from
+heaven.
+
+Presently his voice became almost as sweet and harmonious as if he
+were uttering a chant. He spoke of the world’s redemption from sin
+and sorrow; of the glories of heaven; of gold in place of clay; of the
+desert blossoming like the rose. “That which is now worth sixty pieces
+of silver will not cost a single obol. Fountains of milk shall spring
+from the rocks; men shall sleep, well satisfied, among the wine-presses.
+The people shall prostrate themselves before Thee, and Thy reign shall
+be eternal, O Son of David!”
+
+The tetrarch suddenly recoiled from the opening of the pit; the mention
+of the existence of a son of David seemed to him like a menace to
+himself.
+
+Iaokanann then poured forth invectives against him for presuming to
+aspire to royalty.
+
+“There is no other king than the Eternal God!” he cried; and he cursed
+Antipas for his luxurious gardens, his statues, his furniture of carved
+ivory and precious woods, comparing him to the impious Ahab.
+
+Antipas broke the slender cord attached to the royal seal that he wore
+around his neck, and throwing the seal into the pit, he commanded his
+prisoner to be silent.
+
+But Iaokanann replied: “I shall cry aloud like a savage bear, like the
+wild ass, like a woman in travail! The punishment of heaven has already
+visited itself upon thy incest! May God inflict thee with the sterility
+of mules!”
+
+At these words, a sound of suppressed laughter arose here and there
+among the listeners.
+
+Vitellius had remained close to the opening of the dungeon while
+Iaokanann was speaking. His interpreter, in impassive tones, translated
+into the Roman tongue all the threats and invectives that rolled up
+from the depths of the gloomy prison. The tetrarch and Herodias felt
+compelled to remain near at hand. Antipas listened, breathing heavily;
+while the woman, with parted lips, gazed into the darkness of the pit,
+her face drawn with an expression of fear and hatred.
+
+The terrible man now turned towards her. He grasped the bars of his
+prison, pressed against them his bearded face, in which his eyes glowed
+like burning coals, and cried:
+
+“Ah! Is it thou, Jezebel? Thou hast captured thy lord’s heart with the
+tinkling of thy feet. Thou didst neigh to him like a mare. Thou
+didst prepare thy bed on the mountain top, in order to accomplish thy
+sacrifices!
+
+“The Lord shall take from thee thy sparkling jewels, thy purple robes
+and fine linen; the bracelets from thine arms, the anklets from thy
+feet; the golden ornaments that dangle upon thy brow, thy mirrors of
+polished silver, thy fans of ostrich plumes, thy shoes with their heels
+of mother-of-pearl, that serve to increase thy stature; thy glittering
+diamonds, the scent of thy hair, the tint of thy nails,--all the
+artifices of thy coquetry shall disappear, and missiles shall be found
+wherewith to stone the adulteress!”
+
+Herodias looked around for some one to defend her. The Pharisees lowered
+their eyes hypocritically. The Sadducees turned away their heads,
+fearing to offend the proconsul should they appear to sympathise with
+her. Antipas was almost in a swoon.
+
+Louder still rose the voice from the dungeon; the neighbouring hills
+gave back an echo with startling effect, and Machaerus seemed actually
+surrounded and showered with curses.
+
+“Prostrate thyself in the dust, daughter of Babylon, and scourge
+thyself! Remove thy girdle and thy shoes, gather up thy garments and
+walk through the flowing stream; thy shame shall follow thee, thy
+disgrace shall be known to all men, thy bosom shall be rent with sobs.
+God execrates the stench of thy crimes! Accursed one! die like a dog!”
+
+At that instant the trap-door was suddenly shut down and secured by
+Mannaeus, who would have liked to strangle Iaokanann then and there.
+
+Herodias glided away and disappeared within the palace. The Pharisees
+were scandalised at what they had heard. Antipas, standing among
+them, attempted to justify his past conduct and to excuse his present
+situation.
+
+“Without doubt,” said Eleazar, “it was necessary for him to marry his
+brother’s wife; but Herodias was not a widow, and besides, she had a
+child, which she abandoned; and that was an abomination.”
+
+“You are wrong,” objected Jonathas the Sadducee; “the law condemns such
+marriages but does not actually forbid them.”
+
+“What matters it? All the world shows me injustice,” said Antipas,
+bitterly; “and why? Did not Absalom lie with his father’s wives, Judah
+with his daughter-in-law, Ammon with his sister, and Lot with his
+daughters?”
+
+Aulus, who had been reposing within the palace, now reappeared in the
+court. After he had heard how matters stood, he approved of the attitude
+of the tetrarch. “A man should never allow himself to be annoyed,” said
+he, “by such foolish criticism.” And he laughed at the censure of the
+priests and the fury of Iaokanann, saying that his words were of little
+importance.
+
+Herodias, who also had reappeared, and now stood at the top of a flight
+of steps, called loudly:
+
+“You are wrong, my lord! He ordered the people to refuse to pay the
+tax!”
+
+“Is that true?” he demanded. The general response was affirmative,
+Antipas adding his word to the declaration of the others.
+
+Vitellius had a misgiving that the prisoner might be able to escape;
+and as the conduct of Antipas appeared to him rather suspicious, he
+established his own sentinels at the gates, at intervals along the
+walls, and in the courtyard itself.
+
+At last he retired to the apartments assigned to him, accompanied by
+the priests. Without touching directly upon the question of the coveted
+offices of public sacrificers, each one laid his own grievances before
+the proconsul. They fairly beset him with complaints and requests, but
+he soon dismissed them from his presence.
+
+As Jonathas left the proconsul’s apartments he perceived Antipas
+standing under an arch, talking to an Essene, who wore a long white robe
+and flowing locks. Jonathas regretted that he had raised his voice in
+defence of the tetrarch.
+
+One thought now consoled Herod-Antipas. He was no longer personally
+responsible for the fate of Iaokanann. The Romans had assumed that
+charge. What a relief! He had noticed Phanuel pacing slowly through
+the court, and calling him to his side, he pointed put the guards
+established by Vitellius, saying:
+
+“They are stronger than I! I cannot now set the prisoner free! It is not
+my fault if he remains in his dungeon.”
+
+The courtyard was empty. The slaves were sleeping. The day was drawing
+to a close, and the sunset spread a deep rosy glow over the horizon,
+against which the smallest objects stood out like silhouettes. Antipas
+was able to distinguish the excavations of the salt-mines at the farther
+end of the Dead Sea, but the tents of the Arabs were no longer visible.
+As the moon rose, the effect of the day’s excitement passed away, and a
+feeling of peace entered his heart.
+
+Phanuel, also wearied by the recent agitating scenes, remained beside
+the tetrarch. He sat in silence for some time, his chin resting on his
+breast. At last he spoke in confidence to Antipas, and revealed what he
+had wished to say.
+
+From the beginning of the month, he said, he had been studying the
+heavens every morning before daybreak, when the constellation of Perseus
+was at the zenith; Agalah was scarcely visible; Algol was even less
+bright; Mira-Cetus had disappeared entirely; from all of which he
+augured the death of some man of great importance, to occur that very
+night in Machaerus.
+
+Who was the man? Vitellius was too closely guarded to be reached. No one
+would kill Iaokanann.
+
+“It is I!” thought the tetrarch.
+
+It might be that the Arabs would return and make a successful attack
+upon him. Perhaps the proconsul would discover his relations with the
+Parthians. Several men whom Antipas had recognised as hired assassins
+from Jerusalem, had escorted the priests in the train of the proconsul;
+they all carried daggers concealed beneath their robes. The tetrarch had
+no doubt whatever of the exactness of Phanuel’s skill in astrology.
+
+Suddenly he bethought him of Herodias. He would consult her. He hated
+her, certainly, but she might give him courage; and besides, in spite
+of his dislike, not all the bonds were yet broken of that sorcery which
+once she had woven about him.
+
+When he entered her chamber, he was met by the pungent odour of cinnamon
+burning in a porphyry vase and the perfume of powders, unguents,
+cloud-like gauzes and embroideries light as feathers, filled the air
+with fragrance.
+
+He did not speak of Phanuel’s prophecy, nor of his own fear of the Jews
+and the Arabs. Herodias had already accused him of cowardice. He spoke
+only of the Romans, and complained that Vitellius had not confided to
+him any of his military projects. He said he supposed the proconsul
+was the friend of Caligula, who often visited Agrippa; and expressed
+a surmise that he himself might be exiled, or that perhaps his throat
+would be cut.
+
+Herodias, who now treated him with a kind of disdainful indulgence,
+tried to reassure him. At last she took from a small casket a curious
+medallion, ornamented with a profile of Tiberius. The sight of it, she
+said, as she gave it to Antipas, would make the lictors turn pale and
+silence all accusing voices.
+
+Antipas, filled with gratitude, asked her how the medallion had come
+into her possession.
+
+“It was given to me,” was her only answer.
+
+At that moment Antipas beheld a bare arm slipping through a portiere
+hanging in front of him. It was the arm of a youthful woman, as graceful
+in outline as if carved from ivory by Polyclitus. With a movement a
+little awkward and at the same time charming, it felt about the wall an
+instant, as if seeking something, then took down a tunic hanging upon a
+hook near the doorway, and disappeared.
+
+An elderly female attendant passed quietly through the room, lifted the
+portiere, and went out. A sudden recollection pierced the memory of the
+tetrarch.
+
+“Is that woman one of thy slaves?” he asked.
+
+“What matters that to thee?” was the disdainful reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The great banqueting-hall was filled with guests. This apartment
+had three naves, like a basilica, which were separated by columns of
+sandalwood, whose capitals were of sculptured bonze. On each side of the
+apartment was a gallery for spectators, and a third, with a facade of
+gold filigree, was at one end, opposite an immense arch at the other.
+
+The candelabra burning on the tables, which were spread the whole length
+of the banqueting-hall, glowed like clusters of flaming flowers among
+the painted cups, the plates of shining copper, the cubes of snow and
+heaps of luscious grapes. Through the large windows the guests could
+see lighted torches on the terraces of the neighbouring houses; for this
+night Antipas was giving a feast to his friends, his own people, and to
+anyone that presented himself at the castle.
+
+The slaves, alert as dogs, glided about noiselessly in felt sandals,
+carrying dishes to and fro.
+
+The table of the proconsul was placed beneath the gilded balcony upon a
+platform of sycamore wood. Rich tapestries from Babylon were hung about
+the pavilion, giving a certain effect of seclusion.
+
+Upon three ivory couches, one facing the great hall, and the other two
+placed one on either side of the pavilion, reclined Vitellius, his son
+Aulus, and Antipas; the proconsul being near the door, at the left,
+Aulus on the right, the tetrarch occupying the middle couch.
+
+Antipas wore a heavy black mantle, the texture of which was almost
+hidden by coloured embroideries and glittering decorations; his beard
+was spread out like a fan; blue powder had been scattered over his hair,
+and on his head rested a diadem covered with precious stones. Vitellius
+still wore the purple band, the emblem of his rank, crossed diagonally
+over a linen toga.
+
+Aulus had tied behind his back the sleeves of his violet robe,
+embroidered with silver. His clustering curls were laid in carefully
+arranged rows; a necklace of sapphires gleamed against his throat, plump
+and white as that of a woman. Crouched upon a rug near him, with legs
+crossed was a pretty white boy, upon whose face shone a perpetual smile.
+Aulus had found him somewhere among the kitchens and had taken a violent
+fancy to him. He had made the child one of his suite, but as he never
+could remember his protege’s Chaldean name, called him simply “the
+Asiatic.” From time to time the little fellow sprang up and played about
+the dining-table, and his antics appeared to amuse the guests.
+
+At one side of the tetrarch’s pavilion were the tables at which
+were seated his priests and officers; also a number of persons from
+Jerusalem, and the more important men from the Grecian cities. At the
+table on the left of the proconsul sat Marcellus with the publicans,
+several friends of the tetrarch, and various representatives from Cana,
+Ptolemais, and Jericho. Seated at other tables were mountaineers from
+Liban and many of the old soldiers of Herod’s army; a dozen Thracians,
+a Greek and two Germans; besides huntsmen and herdsmen, the Sultan of
+Palmyra, and sailors from Eziongaber. Before each guest was placed a
+roll of soft bread, upon which to wipe the fingers. As soon as they
+were seated, hands were stretched out with the eagerness of a vulture’s
+claws, seizing upon olives, pistachios, and almonds. Every face was
+joyous, every head was crowned with flowers, except those of the
+Pharisees, who refused to wear the wreaths, regarding them as a symbol
+of Roman voluptuousness and vice. They shuddered when the attendants
+sprinkled them with galburnum and incense, the use of which the
+Pharisees reserved strictly for services in the Temple.
+
+Antipas observed that Aulus rubbed himself under the arms, as if annoyed
+by heat or chafing; and promised to give him three flasks of the same
+kind of precious balm that had been used by Cleopatra.
+
+A captain from the garrison of Tiberias who had just arrived, placed
+himself behind the tetrarch as protection in case any unexpected trouble
+should arise. But his attention was divided between observing the
+movements of the proconsul and listening to the conversation of his
+neighbours.
+
+There was, naturally, much talk of Iaokanann, and other men of his
+stamp.
+
+“It is said,” remarked one of the guests, “that Simon of Gitta washed
+away his sins in fire. And a certain man called Jesus--”
+
+“He is the worst of them all!” interrupted Eleazar. “A miserable
+imposter!”
+
+At this a man sprang up from a table near the tetrarch’s pavilion, and
+made his way towards the place where Eleazar sat. His face was almost as
+pale as his linen robe, but he addressed the Pharisees boldly, saying:
+“That is a lie! Jesus has performed miracles!”
+
+Antipas expressed a long-cherished desire to see the man Jesus perform
+some of his so-called miracles. “You should have brought him with you,”
+ he said to the last speaker, who was still standing. “Tell us what you
+know about him,” he commanded.
+
+Then the stranger said that he himself, whose name was Jacob, having a
+daughter who was very ill, had gone to Capernaum to implore the Master
+to heal his child. The Master had answered him, saying: “Return to thy
+home: she is healed!” And he had found his daughter standing at the
+threshold of his house, having risen from her couch when the gnomon had
+marked the third hour, the same moment when he had made his supplication
+to Jesus.
+
+The Pharisees admitted that certain mysterious arts and powerful herbs
+existed that would heal the sick. It was said that the marvellous plant
+known as “baaras” grew even in Machaerus, the power of which rendered
+its consumer invulnerable against all attacks; but to cure disease
+without seeing or touching the afflicted person was clearly impossible,
+unless, indeed, the man Jesus called in the assistance of evil spirits.
+
+The friends of Antipas and the men from Galilee nodded wisely, saying:
+“It is evident that he is aided by demons of some sort!”
+
+Jacob, standing between their table and that of the priests, maintained
+a silence at once lofty and respectful.
+
+Several voices exclaimed: “Prove his power to us!”
+
+Jacob leaned over the priests’ table, and said slowly, in a
+half-suppressed tone, as if awe-struck by his own words:
+
+“Know ye not, then, that He is the Messiah?”
+
+The priests stared at one another, and Vitellius demanded the meaning of
+the word. His interpreter paused a moment before translating it. Then
+he said that Messiah was the name to be given to one who was to come,
+bringing the enjoyment of all blessings, and giving them domination over
+all the peoples of the earth. Certain persons believed that there were
+to be two Messiahs; one would be vanquished by Gog and Magog, the demons
+of the North; but the other would exterminate the Prince of Evil; and
+for centuries the coming of this Saviour of mankind had been expected at
+any moment.
+
+At this, the priests began to talk in low tones among themselves.
+Eleazar addressed Jacob, saying that it had always been understood that
+the Messiah would be a son of David, not of a carpenter; and that he
+would confirm the law, whereas this Nazarene attacked it. Furthermore,
+as a still stronger argument against the pretender, it had been promised
+that the Messiah should be preceded by Elias.
+
+“But Elias has come!” Jacob answered.
+
+“Elias! Elias!” was repeated from one end of the banqueting-hall to the
+other.
+
+In imagination, all fancied that they could see an old man, a flight
+of ravens above his head, standing before an altar, which a flash of
+lightning illumined, revealing the idolatrous priests that were thrown
+into the torrent; and the women, sitting in the galleries, thought of
+the widow of Sarepta.
+
+Jacob then declared that he knew Elias; that he had seen him, and that
+many of the guests there assembled had seen him!
+
+“His name!” was the cry from all lips.
+
+“Iaokanann!”
+
+Antipas fell back in his chair as if a heavy blow had struck him on the
+breast. The Sadducees rose from their seats and rushed towards Jacob.
+Eleazar raised his voice to a shout in order to make himself heard. When
+order was finally restored, he draped his mantle about his shoulders,
+and, with the air of a judge, proceeded to put questions to Jacob.
+
+“Since the prophet is dead--” he began.
+
+Murmurs interrupted him. Many persons believed that Elias was not dead,
+but had only disappeared.
+
+Eleazar rebuked those who had interrupted him; and continuing, asked:
+
+“And dost thou believe that he has indeed come to life again?”
+
+“Why should I not believe it?” Jacob replied.
+
+The Sadducees shrugged their shoulders. Jonathas, opening wide his
+little eyes, gave a forced, buffoon-like laugh. Nothing could be more
+absurd, said he, than the idea that a human body could have eternal
+life; and he declaimed, for the benefit of the proconsul, this line from
+a contemporaneous poet:
+
+Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.
+
+By this time Aulus was leaning over the side of the pavilion, with pale
+face, a perspiring brow, and both hands outspread on his stomach.
+
+The Sadducees pretended to be deeply moved at the sight of his
+suffering, thinking that perhaps the next day the offices of sacrificers
+would be theirs. Antipas appeared to be in despair at his guest’s agony.
+Vitellius preserved a calm demeanour, although he felt some anxiety, for
+the loss of his son would mean the loss of his fortune.
+
+But Aulus, quickly recovering after he had relieved his over-burdened
+stomach, was as eager to eat as before.
+
+“Let some one bring me marble-dust,” he commanded, “or clay of Naxos,
+sea-water--anything! Perhaps it would do me good to bathe.”
+
+He swallowed a quantity of snow; then hesitated between a ragout and a
+dish of blackbirds; and finally decided in favour of gourds served
+in honey. The little Asiatic gazed at his master in astonishment and
+admiration; to him this exhibition of gluttony denoted a wonderful being
+belonging to a superior race.
+
+The feast went on. Slaves served the guests with kidneys, dormice,
+nightingales, mince-meat dressed with vine-leaves. The priests
+discoursed among themselves regarding the supposed resurrection.
+Ammonius, pupil of Philon, the Platonist, pronounced them stupid, and
+told the Greeks that he laughed at their oracles.
+
+Marcellus and Jacob were seated side by side. Marcellus described the
+happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithra, and Jacob made him
+promise to become a follower of Jesus.
+
+The wines of the palm and the tamarisk, those of Safed and of Byblos,
+ran from the amphoras into the crateras, from the crateras into the
+cups, and from the cups down the guests’ throats. Every one talked, all
+hearts expanding under the good cheer. Jacim, although a Jew, did not
+hesitate to express his admiration of the planets. A merchant from
+Aphaka amazed the nomads with his description of the marvels in the
+temple of Hierapolis; and they wished to know the cost of a pilgrimage
+to that place. Others held fast to the principles of their native
+religion. A German, who was nearly blind, sang a hymn celebrating that
+promontory in Scandinavia where the gods were wont to appear with halos
+around their heads. The people from Sichem declined to eat turtles, out
+of deference to the dove Azima.
+
+Several groups stood talking near the middle of the banqueting-hall,
+and the vapour of their breath, mingled with the smoke from the candles,
+formed a light mist. Presently Phanuel slipped quietly into the room,
+keeping close to the wall. He had been out in the open courtyard, to
+make another survey of the heavens. He stopped when he reached the
+pavilion of the tetrarch, fearing he would be splashed with drops of oil
+if he approached the other tables, which, to an Essene, would be a great
+defilement.
+
+Suddenly violent blows resounded upon the castle gates. The news of the
+imprisonment of Iaokanann had spread rapidly, and now it appeared that
+the whole surrounding population was flocking to the castle. Men with
+torches were hastening along the roads in all directions; a black mass
+of people swarmed in the ravine; and from all throats came the cry:
+“Iaokanann! Iaokanann!”
+
+“That man will ruin everything,” said Jonathas.
+
+“We shall have no more money if this continues,” said the Pharisees.
+
+Accusations, recriminations, and pleadings were heard on all sides.
+
+“Protect us!”
+
+“Compel them to cease!”
+
+“Thou didst abandon thy religion!”
+
+“Impious as all the Herods!”
+
+“Less impious than thou!” Antipas retorted. “Was it not my father that
+erected thy Temple?”
+
+Then the Pharisees, children of the proscribed tribes, partisans of
+Mattathias, accused the tetrarch of all the crimes committed by his
+family.
+
+The Pharisees had pointed skulls, bristling beards, feeble hands, snub
+noses, great round eyes, and their countenances bore a resemblance to
+that of a bull-dog. A dozen of these people, scribes and attendants upon
+the priests, who picked up their living from the refuse of holocausts,
+rushed to the foot of the pavilion and threatened Antipas with their
+knives. He attempted to speak to them, being only slightly protected by
+some of the Sadducees. Suddenly he perceived Mannaeus at a distance and
+made him a sign to approach. The expression on the face of Vitellius
+indicated that he regarded all this turmoil as no concern of his.
+
+The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside themselves
+with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon the floor.
+The attendants had served them with a ragout composed of the flesh of
+the wild ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no bounds. Aulus
+rallied them jeeringly apropos of the ass’s head, which he declared they
+honoured. He flung other sarcasms at them, regarding their antipathy to
+the flesh of swine, intimating that no doubt their hatred arose from the
+fact that that beast had killed their beloved Bacchus, and saying it was
+to be feared they were too fond of wine, since a golden vine had been
+discovered in the Temple.
+
+The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
+origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the
+more so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had
+disappeared. The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes
+were vulgar, and not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings.
+After a time his displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of
+Syrian lambs’ tails, dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
+
+To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
+like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and
+he recalled the stories he had heard of the mysterious Jew who fattened
+small children and offered them as a sacrifice. His Latin nature was
+filled with disgust at their intolerance, their iconoclastic rage, their
+brutal, stumbling bearing. The proconsul wished to depart, but Aulus
+refused to accompany him.
+
+The exaltation of the people increased. They abandoned themselves to
+dreams of independence. They recalled the glory of Israel, and a Syrian
+spoke of all the great conquerors they had vanquished,--Antigone,
+Crassus, Varus.
+
+“Miserable creatures!” cried the enraged proconsul, who had overheard
+the Syrian’s words.
+
+In the midst of the uproar Antipas remembered the medallion of the
+emperor that Herodias had given to him; he drew it forth and looked at
+it a moment, trembling, then held it up with its face turned towards the
+throng.
+
+At the same moment, the panels of the gold-railed balcony were folded
+back, and, accompanied by slaves bearing wax tapers, Herodias appeared,
+her coiffure crowned with an Assyrian mitre, which was held in place
+by a band passing under the chin. Her dark hair fell in ringlets over a
+scarlet peplum with slashed sleeves. On either side of the door through
+which one stepped into the gallery, stood a huge stone monster, like
+those of Atrides; and as Herodias appeared between them, she looked
+like Cybele supported by her lions. In her hands she carried a patera,
+a shallow vessel of silver used by the Romans in pouring libations;
+and, advancing to the front of the balcony and pausing just above the
+tetrarch’s chair, she cried:
+
+“Long live Caesar!”
+
+This homage was repeated by Vitellius, Antipas, and the priests.
+
+But now, beginning at the farthest end of the banqueting-hall, a murmur
+of surprise and admiration swept through the multitude. A beautiful
+young girl had just entered the apartment, and stood motionless for an
+instant, while all eyes were turned upon her.
+
+Through a drapery of filmy blue gauze that veiled her head and
+throat, her arched eyebrows, tiny ears, and ivory-white skin could be
+distinguished. A scarf of shot-silk fell from her shoulders, and was
+caught up at the waist by a girdle of fretted silver. Her full trousers,
+of black silk, were embroidered in a pattern of silver mandragoras, and
+as she moved forward with indolent grace, her little feet were seen to
+be shod with slippers made of the feathers of humming-birds.
+
+When she arrived in front of the pavilion she removed her veil. Behold!
+she seemed to be Herodias herself, as she had appeared in the days of
+her blooming youth.
+
+Immediately the damsel began to dance before the tetrarch. Her slender
+feet took dainty steps to the rhythm of a flute and a pair of Indian
+bells. Her round white arms seemed ever beckoning and striving to
+entice to her side some youth who was fleeing from her allurements. She
+appeared to pursue him, with movements light as a butterfly; her whole
+mien was like that of an inquisitive Psyche, or a floating spirit that
+might at any moment dissolve and disappear.
+
+Presently the plaintive notes of the gingras, a small flute of
+Phoenician origin, replaced the tinkling bells. The attitudes of the
+dancing nymph now denoted overpowering lassitude. Her bosom heaved with
+sighs, and her whole being expressed profound languor, although it was
+not clear whether she sighed for an absent swain or was expiring of love
+in his embrace. With half-closed eyes and quivering form, she caused
+mysterious undulations to flow downward over her whole body, like
+rippling waves, while her face remained impassive and her twinkling feet
+still moved in their intricate steps.
+
+Vitellius compared her to Mnester, the famous pantomimist. Aulus was
+overcome with faintness. The tetrarch watched her, lost in a voluptuous
+reverie, and thought no more of the real Herodias. In fancy he saw her
+again as she appeared when she had dwelt among the Sadducees. Then the
+vision faded.
+
+But this beautiful thing before him was no vision. The dancer was
+Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who for many months her mother had
+caused to be instructed in dancing, and other arts of pleasing, with
+the sole idea of bringing her to Machaerus and presenting her to the
+tetrarch, so that he should fall in love with her fresh young beauty
+and feminine wiles. The plan had proved successful, it seemed; he was
+evidently fascinated, and Herodias felt that at last she was sure of
+retaining her power over him!
+
+And now the graceful dancer appeared transported with the very delirium
+of love and passion. She danced like the priestesses of India, like the
+Nubians of the cataracts, or like the Bacchantes of Lydia. She whirled
+about like a flower blown by the tempest. The jewels in her ears
+sparkled, her swift movements made the colours of her draperies appear
+to run into one another. Her arms, her feet, her clothing even, seemed
+to emit streams of magnetism, that set the spectators’ blood on fire.
+
+Suddenly the thrilling chords of a harp rang through the hall, and the
+throng burst into loud acclamations. All eyes were fixed on Salome, who
+paused in her rhythmic dance, placed her feet wide apart, and without
+bending the knees, suddenly swayed her lithe body downward, so that her
+chin touched the floor; and her whole audience,--the nomads, accustomed
+to a life of privation and abstinence, the Roman soldiers, expert in
+debaucheries, the avaricious publicans, and even the crabbed, elderly
+priests--gazed upon her with dilated nostrils.
+
+Next she began to whirl frantically around the table where Antipas the
+tetrarch was seated. He leaned towards the flying figure, and in a voice
+half choked with the voluptuous sighs of a mad desire, he sighed: “Come
+to me! Come!” But she whirled on, while the music of dulcimers swelled
+louder and the excited spectators roared their applause.
+
+The tetrarch called again, louder than before: “Come to me! Come! Thou
+shalt have Capernaum, the plains of Tiberias! my citadels! yea, the half
+of my kingdom!”
+
+Again the dancer paused; then, like a flash, she threw herself upon the
+palms of her hands, while her feet rose straight up into the air. In
+this bizarre pose she moved about upon the floor like a gigantic beetle;
+then stood motionless.
+
+The nape of her neck formed a right angle with her vertebrae. The full
+silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood
+erect, now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a rainbow.
+Her lips were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were black
+as jet, her glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and the tiny
+drops of perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon white marble.
+
+She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
+concentrated upon her.
+
+A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
+pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
+Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
+steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned
+over, smiled upon the tetrarch, and, with an air of almost childlike
+naivete, pronounced these words:
+
+“I ask my lord to give me, placed upon a charger, the head of--” She
+hesitated, as if not certain of the name; then said: “The head of
+Iaokanann!”
+
+The tetrarch sank back in his chair as if stunned.
+
+He had bound himself by his promise to her; and the people awaited his
+next movement. But the death that night of some conspicuous man that had
+been predicted to him by Phanuel,--what if, by bringing it upon another,
+he could avert it from himself, thought Antipas. If Iaokanann was in
+very truth the Elias so much talked of, he would have power to protect
+himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was of no
+importance.
+
+Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master’s thoughts.
+Vitellius beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the
+execution, to be transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the
+dungeon. This execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few moments
+all would be over!
+
+But for once Mannaeus did not perform a commission satisfactorily. He
+left the hall but soon returned, in a state of great perturbation.
+
+During forty years he had exercised the functions of the public
+executioner. It was he that had drowned Aristobulus, strangled
+Alexander, burned Mattathias alive, beheaded Zozimus, Pappus, Josephus,
+and Antipater; but he dared not kill Iaokanann! His teeth chattered and
+his whole body trembled.
+
+He declared that he had seen, standing before the dungeon, the Angel of
+the Samaritans, covered with eyes and brandishing a great sword, glowing
+and quivering like a flame. He appealed to two of the guards, who had
+entered the hall with him, to corroborate his words. But they said they
+had seen nothing except a Jewish captain who had attacked them, and whom
+they had killed.
+
+The fury of Herodias poured forth in a torrent of invective against
+the populace. She clenched the railing of the balcony so fiercely as
+to break her nails; the two stone lions at her back seemed to bite her
+shoulders and join their voices to hers.
+
+Antipas followed her example; and priests, soldiers, and Pharisees cried
+aloud together for vengeance, echoed by the rest of the gathering, who
+were indignant that a mere slave should dare to delay their pleasures.
+
+Again Mannaeus left the hall, covering his face with his hands.
+
+The guests found the second delay longer than the first. It seemed
+tedious to every one.
+
+Presently a sound of footsteps was heard in the corridor without; then
+silence fell again. The suspense was becoming intolerable.
+
+Suddenly the door was flung open and Mannaeus entered, holding at arm’s
+length, grasping it by the hair, the head of Iaokanann. His appearance
+was greeted with a burst of applause, which filled him with pride and
+revived his courage.
+
+He placed the head upon a charger and offered it to Salome, who had
+descended the steps to receive it. She remounted to the balcony, with a
+light step; and in another moment the charger was carried about from
+one table to another by the elderly female slave whom the tetrarch had
+observed in the morning on the balcony of a neighbouring house, and
+later in the chamber of Herodias.
+
+When she approached him with her ghastly burden, he turned away his head
+to avoid looking at it. Vitellius threw upon it an indifferent glance.
+
+Mannaeus descended from the pavilion, took the charger from the woman,
+and exhibited the head to the Roman captains, then to all the guests on
+that side of the hall.
+
+They looked at it curiously.
+
+The sharp blade of the sword had cut into the jaw with a swift downward
+stroke. The corners of the mouth were drawn, as if by a convulsion.
+Clots of blood besprinkled the beard. The closed eyelids had a
+shell-like transparency, and the candelabra on every side lighted up the
+gruesome object with terrible distinctness.
+
+Mannaeus arrived at the table where the priests were seated. One of them
+turned the charger about curiously, to look at the head from all sides.
+Then Mannaeus, having entirely regained his courage, placed the charger
+before Aulus, who had just awakened from a short doze; and finally he
+brought it again to Antipas and set it down upon the table beside him.
+Tears were running down the cheeks of the tetrarch.
+
+The lights began to flicker and die out. The guests departed, and at
+last no one remained in the great hall save Antipas, who sat leaning his
+head upon his hands, gazing at the head of Iaokanann; and Phanuel, who
+stood in the centre of the largest nave and prayed aloud, with uplifted
+arms.
+
+
+At sunrise the two men who had been sent on a mission by Iaokanann some
+time before, returned to the castle, bringing the answer so long awaited
+and hoped for.
+
+They whispered the message to Phanuel, who received it with rapture.
+
+Then he showed them the lugubrious object, still resting on the charger
+amid the ruins of the feast. One of the men said:
+
+“Be comforted! He has descended among the dead in order to announce the
+coming of the Christ!”
+
+And in that moment the Essene comprehended the words of Iaokanann: “In
+order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish!”
+
+Then the three, taking with them the head of John the Baptist, set out
+upon the road to Galilee; and as the burden was heavy, each man bore it
+awhile in turn.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
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+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Herodias
+
+Author: Gustave Flaubert
+
+Release Date: February 11, 2006 [EBook #1291]
+Last Updated: September 13, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HERODIAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      HERODIAS
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      <br /> By Gustave Flaubert
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In the eastern side of the Dead Sea rose the citadel of Machaerus. It was
+      built upon a conical peak of basalt, and was surrounded by four deep
+      valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth in the rear.
+      At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a group of
+      houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines undulated with
+      the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting through the rocks,
+      joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which were about one hundred
+      and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles and ornamental towers that
+      stood out like jewels in this crown of stone overhanging an abyss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
+      arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
+      spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
+      poles had been erected to support an awning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning, just before sunrise, the tetrarch, Herod-Antipas, came out
+      alone upon the balcony. He leaned against one of the columns and looked
+      about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crests of the hill-tops in the valley below the palace were just
+      discernible in the light of the false dawn, although their bases,
+      extending to the abyss, were still plunged in darkness. A light mist
+      floated in the air; presently it lifted, and the shores of the Dead Sea
+      became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy flush over
+      the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the desert, and
+      illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey in the early
+      dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a deep black shadow;
+      Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a dome; Eschol had her
+      pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her fields of sesame; and the
+      tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube, dominated Jerusalem. The
+      tetrarch turned his gaze from it to contemplate the palms of Jericho on
+      his right; and his thoughts dwelt upon other cities of his beloved
+      Galilee,&mdash;Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth, Tiberias&mdash;whither it might
+      be he would never return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Jordan wound its way through the arid plains that met his gaze; white
+      and glittering under the clear sky, it dazzled the eye like snow in the
+      rays of the sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Dead Sea now looked like a sheet of lapis-lazuli; and at its southern
+      extremity, on the coast of Yemen, Antipas recognised clearly what at first
+      he had been able only dimly to perceive. Several tents could now be
+      plainly seen; men carrying spears were moving about among a group of
+      horses; and dying camp-fires shone faintly in the beams of the rising sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was a troop belonging to the sheikh of the Arabs, the daughter of
+      whom the tetrarch had repudiated in order to wed Herodias, already married
+      to one of his brothers, who lived in Italy but who had no pretensions to
+      power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas was waiting for assistance and reinforcements from the Romans, but
+      as Vitellius, the Governor of Syria, had not yet arrived, he was consumed
+      with impatience and anxiety. Perhaps Agrippa had ruined his cause with the
+      Emperor, he thought. Philip, his third brother, sovereign of Batania, was
+      arming himself clandestinely. The Jews were becoming intolerant of the
+      tetrarch&rsquo;s idolatries; he knew that many were weary of his rule; and he
+      hesitated now between adopting one of two projects: to conciliate the
+      Arabs and win back their allegiance, or to conclude an alliance with the
+      Parthians. Under the pretext of celebrating his birthday, he had planned
+      to bring together, at a grand banquet, the chiefs of his troops, the
+      stewards of his domains, and the most important men from the region about
+      Galilee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas threw a keen glance along all the roads leading to Machaerus. They
+      were deserted. Eagles were sweeping through the air high above his head;
+      the soldiers of the guard, placed at intervals along the ramparts, slept
+      or dozed, leaning against the walls; all was silent within the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly he heard the sound of a distant voice, seeming to come from the
+      very depths of the earth. His cheek paled. After an instant&rsquo;s hesitation,
+      he leaned far over the balcony railing, listening intently, but the voice
+      had died away. Presently it rose again upon the quiet air; Antipas clapped
+      his hands together loudly, crying: &ldquo;Mannaeus! Mannaeus!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly a man appeared, naked to the waist, after the fashion of a
+      masseur at the bath. Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in years,
+      he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in a bronze
+      scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a kind of comb,
+      exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His eyes were heavy
+      with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was light on the
+      flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape, although his
+      countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he?&rdquo; demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Over there&mdash;still there!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought I heard him cry out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And Antipas, after drawing a deep breath, asked for news of Iaokanann,
+      afterwards known as St. John the Baptist. Had he been allowed to see the
+      two men who had asked permission to visit his dungeon a few days before,
+      and since that time, had any one discovered for what purpose the men
+      desired to see him?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They exchanged some strange words with him,&rdquo; Mannaeus replied, &ldquo;with the
+      mysterious air of robbers conspiring at the cross-roads. Then they
+      departed towards Upper Galilee, saying that they were the bearers of great
+      tidings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas bent his head for a moment; then raising it quickly, said in a
+      tone full of alarm:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guard him! watch him well! Do not allow any one else to see him. Keep the
+      gates shut and the entrance to the dungeon closed fast. It must not even
+      be suspected that he still lives!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus had already attended to all these details, because Iaokanann was
+      a Jew, and, like all the Samaritans, Mannaeus hated the Jews.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their temple on the Mount of Gerizim, which Moses had designed to be the
+      centre of Israel, had been destroyed since the reign of King Hyrcanus; and
+      the temple at Jerusalem made the Samaritans furious; they regarded its
+      presence as an outrage against themselves, and a permanent injustice.
+      Mannaeus, indeed, had forcibly entered it, for the purpose of defiling its
+      altar with the bones of corpses. Several of his companions, less agile
+      than he, had been caught and beheaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the tetrarch&rsquo;s balcony, the temple was visible through an opening
+      between two hills. The sun, now fully risen, shed a dazzling splendour on
+      its walls of snowy marble and the plates of purest gold that formed its
+      roof. The structure shone like a luminous mountain, and its radiant purity
+      indicated something almost superhuman, eclipsing even its suggestion of
+      opulence and pride.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus stretched out his powerful arm towards Zion, and, with clenched
+      fist and his great body drawn to its full height, he launched a bitter
+      anathema at the city, with perfect faith that eventually his curse must be
+      effective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas listened, without appearing to be shocked at the strength of the
+      invectives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Samaritan had become somewhat calmer, he returned to the subject
+      of the prisoner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes he grows excited,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;then he longs to escape or talks
+      about a speedy deliverance. At other times he is as quiet as a sick
+      animal, although I often find him pacing to and fro in his gloomy dungeon,
+      murmuring, &lsquo;In order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas and Mannaeus looked at each other a moment in silence. But the
+      tetrarch was weary of pondering on this troublesome matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mountain peaks surrounding the palace, looking like great petrified
+      waves, the black depths among the cliffs, the immensity of the blue sky,
+      the rising sun, and the gloomy valley of the abyss, filled the soul of
+      Antipas with a vague unrest; he felt an overwhelming sense of oppression
+      at the sight of the desert, whose uneven piles of sand suggested crumbling
+      amphitheaters or ruined palaces. The hot wind brought an odour of sulphur,
+      as if it had rolled up from cities accursed and buried deeper than the
+      river-bed of the slow-running Jordan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These aspects of nature, which seemed to his troubled fancy signs of the
+      wrath of the gods, terrified him, and he leaned heavily against the
+      balcony railing, his eyes fixed, his head resting upon his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. He turned, and saw
+      Herodias standing beside him. A purple robe enveloped her, falling to her
+      sandaled feet. Having left her chamber hurriedly, she wore no jewels nor
+      other ornaments. A thick tress of rippling black hair hung over her
+      shoulder and hid itself in her bosom; her nostrils, a little too large for
+      beauty, quivered with triumph, and her face was alight with joy. She
+      gently shook the tetrarch&rsquo;s shoulder, and exclaimed exultantly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Caesar is our friend! Agrippa has been imprisoned!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who told thee that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it!&rdquo; she replied, adding: &ldquo;It was because he coveted the crown of
+      Caligula.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      While living upon the charity of Antipas and Herodias, Agrippa had
+      intrigued to become king, a title for which the tetrarch was as eager as
+      he. But if this news were true, no more was to be feared from Agrippa&rsquo;s
+      scheming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dungeons of Tiberias are hard to open, and sometimes life itself is
+      uncertain within their depths,&rdquo; said Herodias, with grim significance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas understood her; and, although she was Agrippa&rsquo;s sister, her
+      atrocious insinuation seemed entirely justifiable to the tetrarch. Murder
+      and outrage were to be expected in the management of political intrigues;
+      they were a part of the fatal inheritance of royal houses; and in the
+      family of Herodias nothing was more common.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she rapidly unfolded to the tetrarch the secrets of her recent
+      undertakings, telling him how many men had been bribed, what letters had
+      been intercepted, and the number of spies stationed at the city gates. She
+      did not hesitate even to tell him of her success in an attempt to befool
+      and seduce Eutyches the denunciator.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why should I not?&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;it cost me nothing. For thee, my lord,
+      have I not done more than that? Did I not even abandon my child?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After her divorce from Philip, she had indeed left her daughter in Rome,
+      hoping that, as the wife of the tetrarch, she might bear other children.
+      Until that moment she had never spoken to Antipas of her daughter. He
+      asked himself the reason for this sudden display of tenderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During their brief conversation several attendants had come out upon the
+      balcony; one slave brought a quantity of large, soft cushions, and
+      arranged them in a kind of temporary couch upon the floor behind his
+      mistress. Herodias sank upon them, and turning her face away from Antipas,
+      seemed to be weeping silently. After a few moments she dried her eyes,
+      declared that she would dream no more, and that she was, in reality,
+      perfectly happy. She reminded Antipas of their former long delightful
+      interviews in the atrium; their meetings at the baths; their walks along
+      the Sacred Way, and the sweet evening rendezvous at the villa, among the
+      flowery groves, listening to the murmur of splashing fountains, within
+      sight of the Roman Campagna. Her glances were as tender as in former days;
+      she drew near to him, leaned against his breast and caressed him fondly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he repelled her soft advances. The love she sought to rekindle had
+      died long ago. He thought instead of all his misfortunes, and of the
+      twelve long years during which the war had continued. Protracted anxiety
+      had visibly aged the tetrarch. His shoulders were bent beneath his
+      violet-bordered toga; his whitening locks were long and mingled with his
+      beard, and the sunlight revealed many lines upon his brow, as well as upon
+      that of Herodias. After the tetrarch&rsquo;s repulse of his wife&rsquo;s tender
+      overtures, the pair gazed morosely at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mountain paths began to show signs of life. Shepherds were driving
+      their flocks to pasture; children urged heavy-laden donkeys along the
+      roads; while grooms belonging to the palace led the horses to the river to
+      drink. The wayfarers descending from the heights on the farther side of
+      Machaerus disappeared behind the castle; others ascended from the valleys,
+      and after arriving at the palace deposited their burdens in the courtyard.
+      Many of these were purveyors to the tetrarch; others were the servants of
+      his expected guests, arriving in advance of their masters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly, at the foot of the terrace on the left, an Essene appeared; he
+      wore a white robe, his feet were bare, and his demeanour indicated that he
+      was a follower of the Stoics. Mannaeus instantly rushed towards the
+      stranger, drawing the cutlass that he wore upon his hip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kill him!&rdquo; cried Herodias.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not touch him!&rdquo; the tetrarch commanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two men stood motionless for an instant, then they descended the
+      terrace, both taking a different direction, although they kept their eyes
+      fixed upon each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that man,&rdquo; said Herodias, after they had disappeared. &ldquo;His name is
+      Phanuel, and he will try to seek out Iaokanann, since thou wert so foolish
+      as to allow him to live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas said that the man might some day be useful to them. His attacks
+      upon Jerusalem would gain them the allegiance of the rest of the Jews.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Herodias, &ldquo;the Jews will accept any master, and are incapable
+      of feeling any true patriotism.&rdquo; She added that, as for the man who was
+      trying to influence the people with hopes cherished since the days of
+      Nehemiah, the best policy was to suppress him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch replied that there was no haste about the matter, and
+      expressed his doubt that any real danger was to be feared from Iaokanann
+      even affecting to laugh at the idea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not deceive thyself!&rdquo; exclaimed Herodias. And she retold the story of
+      her humiliation one day when she was travelling towards Gilead, in order
+      to purchase some of the balm for which that region was famous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A multitude was standing on the banks of the stream, my lord; many of the
+      people were putting on their raiment. Standing on a hillock, a strange man
+      was speaking to the gathering. A camel&rsquo;s-skin was wrapped about his loins,
+      and his head was like that of a lion. As soon as he saw me, he launched in
+      my direction all the maledictions of the prophets. His eyes flamed, his
+      voice shook, he raised his arms as if he would draw down lightning upon my
+      head. I could not fly from him; the wheels of my chariot sank in the sand
+      up to the middle; and I could only crawl along, hiding my head with my
+      mantle, and frozen with terror at the curses that poured upon me like a
+      storm from heaven!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man
+      still existed poisoned her very life. When he had been seized and bound
+      with cords, the soldiers were prepared to stab him if he resisted, but he
+      had been quite gentle and obedient. After he had been thrown into prison
+      some one had put venomous serpents into his dungeon, but strange to say,
+      after a time they had died, leaving him uninjured. The inanity of such
+      tricks exasperated Herodias. Besides, she inquired, why did this man make
+      war upon her? What interest moved him to such actions? His injurious words
+      to her, uttered before a throng of listeners, had been repeated and widely
+      circulated; she heard them whispered everywhere. Against a legion of
+      soldiers she would have been brave; but this mysterious influence, more
+      pernicious and powerful than the sword, but impossible to grasp, was
+      maddening! Herodias strode to and fro upon the terrace, white with rage,
+      unable to find words to express the emotions that choked her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had a haunting fear that the tetrarch might listen to public opinion
+      after a time, and persuade himself it was his duty to repudiate her. Then,
+      indeed, all would be lost! Since early youth she had cherished a dream
+      that some day she would rule over a great empire. As an important step
+      towards attaining this ambition, she had deserted Philip, her first
+      husband, and married the tetrarch, who now she thought had duped her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I found a powerful support, indeed, when I entered thy family!&rdquo; she
+      sneered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is at least the equal of thine,&rdquo; Antipas replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias felt the blood of the kings and priests, her ancestors, boiling
+      in her veins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thy grandfather was a servile attendant upon the temple of Ascalon!&rdquo; she
+      went on, with fury. &ldquo;Thy other ancestors were shepherds, bandits,
+      conductors of caravans, a horde of slaves offered as tribute to King
+      David! My forefathers were the conquerors of thine! The first of the
+      Maccabees drove thy people out of Hebron; Hyrcanus forced them to be
+      circumcised!&rdquo; Then, with all the contempt of the patrician for the
+      plebeian, the hatred of Jacob for Esau, she reproached him for his
+      indifference towards palpable outrages to his dignity, his weakness
+      regarding the Phoenicians, who had been false to him, and his cowardly
+      attitude towards the people who detested and insulted herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But thou art like them!&rdquo; she cried; &ldquo;Dost regret the loss of the Arab
+      girl who danced upon these very pavements? Take her back! Go and live with
+      her&mdash;in her tent! Eat her bread, baked in the ashes! Drink curdled
+      sheep&rsquo;s-milk! Kiss her dark cheeks&mdash;and forget me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch had already forgotten her presence, it appeared. He paid no
+      further heed to her anger, but looked intently at a young girl who had
+      just stepped out upon the balcony of a house not far away. At her side
+      stood an elderly female slave, who held over the girl&rsquo;s head a kind of
+      parasol with a handle made of long, slender reeds. In the middle of the
+      rug spread upon the floor of the balcony stood a large open
+      travelling-hamper or basket, and girdles, veils, head-dresses, and gold
+      and silver ornaments were scattered about in confusion. At intervals the
+      young girl took one object or another in her hands, and held it up
+      admiringly. She was dressed in the costume of the Roman ladies, with a
+      flowing tunic and a peplum ornamented with tassels of emeralds; and blue
+      silken bands confined her hair, which seemed almost too luxuriant, since
+      from time to time she raised a small hand to push back the heavy masses.
+      The parasol half hid the maiden from the gaze of Antipas, but now and then
+      he caught a glimpse of her delicate neck, her large eyes, or a fleeting
+      smile upon her small mouth. He noted that her figure swayed about with a
+      singularly elastic grace and elegance. He leaned forward, his eyes
+      kindled, his breath quickened. All this was not lost upon Herodias, who
+      watched him narrowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that maiden?&rdquo; the tetrarch asked at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias replied that she did not know, and her fierce demeanour suddenly
+      changed to one of gentleness and amiability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance to the castle the tetrarch was awaited by several
+      Galileans, the master of the scribes, the chief of the land stewards, the
+      manager of the salt mines, and a Jew from Babylon, commanding his troops
+      of horse. As the tetrarch approached the group, he was greeted with
+      respectful enthusiasm. Acknowledging the acclamations with a grave salute,
+      he entered the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he proceeded along one of the corridors, Phanuel suddenly sprang from a
+      corner and intercepted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Art thou still here?&rdquo; said the tetrarch in displeasure. &ldquo;Thou
+      seekest Iaokanann, no doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And thyself, my lord. I have something of great importance to tell thee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At a sign from Antipas, the Essene followed him into a somewhat dark and
+      gloomy room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The daylight came faintly through a grated window. The walls were of a
+      deep shade of crimson, so dark as to look almost black. At one end of the
+      room stood an ebony bed, ornamented with bands of leather. A shield of
+      gold, hanging at the head of the bed, shone like a sun in the obscurity of
+      the apartment. Antipas crossed over to the couch and threw himself upon it
+      in a half-reclining attitude, while Phanuel remained standing before him.
+      Suddenly he raised one hand, and striking a commanding attitude said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At times, my lord, the Most High sends a message to the people through
+      one of His sons. Iaokanann is one of these. If thou oppress him, thou
+      shalt be punished!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is he that persecutes me!&rdquo; exclaimed Antipas. &ldquo;He asked me to do a
+      thing that was impossible. Since then he has done nothing but revile me.
+      And I was not severe with him when he began his abuse of me. But he had
+      the hardihood to send various men from Machaerus to spread dissension and
+      discontent throughout my domain. A curse upon him! Since he attacks me, I
+      shall defend myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without doubt, he has expressed his anger with too much violence,&rdquo;
+       Phanuel replied calmly. &ldquo;But do not heed that further. He must be set
+      free.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One does not let loose a furious animal,&rdquo; said the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have no fear of him now,&rdquo; was the quick reply. &ldquo;He will go straight to
+      the Arabs, the Gauls, and the Scythians. His work must be extended to the
+      uttermost ends of the earth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment Antipas appeared lost in thought, as one who sees a vision.
+      Then he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His power over men is indeed great. In spite of myself, I admire him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then set him free!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the tetrarch shook his head. He feared Herodias, Mannaeus, and unknown
+      dangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Phanuel tried to persuade him, promising, as a guaranty of the honesty of
+      his projects, the submission of the Essenians to the King. These poor
+      people, clad only in linen, untameable in spite of severe treatment,
+      endowed with the power to divine the future by reading the stars, had
+      succeeded in commanding a certain degree of respect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the important matter thou wouldst communicate to me?&rdquo; Antipas
+      inquired, with sudden recollection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Phanuel could reply, a Negro entered the room in great haste. He
+      was covered with dust, and panted so violently that he could scarcely
+      utter the single word:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vitellus!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has he arrived?&rdquo; asked the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have seen him, my lord. Within three hours he will be here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the palace, doors were opening and closing and portieres were
+      swaying as if in a high wind, with the coming and going of many persons;
+      there was a murmur of voices; sounds of the moving of heavy furniture
+      could be heard, and the rattle of silver plates and dishes. From the
+      highest tower a loud blast upon a conch summoned from far and near all the
+      slaves belonging to the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The ramparts were thronged with people when at last Vitellius entered the
+      castle gates, leaning on the arm of his interpreter. Behind them came an
+      imposing red litter, decorated with plumes and mirrors. The proconsul wore
+      a toga ornamented with the laticlave, a broad purple band extending down
+      the front of the garment, indicating his rank; and his feet were encased
+      in the kind of buskins worn by consuls. A guard of lictors surrounded him.
+      Against the wall they placed their twelve fasces&mdash;a bundle of sticks
+      with an axe in the centre. And the populace trembled before the insignia
+      of Roman majesty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gorgeous litter, borne by eight men, came to a halt. From it descended
+      a youth. He wore many pearls upon his fingers, but he had a protruding
+      abdomen and his face was covered with pimples. A cup of aromatic wine was
+      offered to him. He drank it, and asked for a second draught.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch had fallen upon his knees before the proconsul, saying that
+      he was grieved beyond words not to have known sooner of the favour of his
+      presence within those domains; had he been aware of the approach of his
+      distinguished guest, he would have issued a command that every person
+      along the route should place himself at the proconsul&rsquo;s orders. Of a
+      surety, the proconsul&rsquo;s family was descended direct from the goddess
+      Vitellia. A highway, leading from the Janiculum to the sea, still bore
+      their name. Questors and consuls were innumerable in that great family;
+      and as for the noble Lucius, now his honoured guest, it was the duty of
+      the whole people to thank him, as the conqueror of the Cliti and the
+      father of the young Aulus, now returning to his own domain, since the East
+      was the country of the gods. These hyperboles were expressed in Latin, and
+      Vitellius accepted them impassively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He replied that the great Herod was the honour and glory of the nation;
+      that the Athenians had chosen him to direct the Olympian games; that he
+      had built temples in the honour of Augustus; had been patient, ingenious,
+      terrible; and was faithful to all the Caesars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between the two marble columns, with bronze capitals, Herodias could now
+      be seen advancing with the air of an empress, in the midst of a group of
+      women and eunuchs carrying perfumed torches set in sockets of silver-gilt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The proconsul advanced three steps to meet her. She saluted him with an
+      inclination of her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How fortunate,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;that henceforth Agrippa, the enemy of
+      Tiberius, can work harm no longer!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius did not understand her allusion, but he thought her a dangerous
+      woman. Antipas immediately declared that he was ready to do anything for
+      the emperor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even to the injury of others?&rdquo; Vitellius asked, significantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had taken hostages from the king of the Parthians, but the emperor had
+      given no further thought to the matter, because Antipas, who had been
+      present at the conference, had, in order to gain favour, sent off
+      despatches bearing the news. From that time he had borne a profound hatred
+      towards the emperor and had delayed in sending assistance to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch stammered in attempting to reply to the query of the
+      proconsul. But Aulus laughed and said: &ldquo;Do not be disturbed. I will
+      protect thee!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The proconsul feigned not to hear this remark. The fortune of the father
+      depended, in a way, on the corrupt influence of the son; and through him
+      it was possible that Antipas might be able to procure for the proconsul
+      very substantial benefits, although the glances that he cast about him
+      were defiant, and even venomous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But now a new tumult arose just within the gates. A file of white mules
+      entered the courtyard, mounted by men in priestly garb. These were the
+      Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were drawn to Machaerus by the same
+      ambition: the one party hoping to be appointed public sacrificers, the
+      other determined to retain those offices. Their faces were dark,
+      particularly those of the Pharisees, who were enemies of Rome and of the
+      tetrarch. The flowing skirts of their tunics embarrassed their movements
+      as they attempted to pass through the throng; and their tiaras sat
+      unsteadily upon their brows, around which were bound small bands of
+      parchment, showing lines of writing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Almost at the same moment, the soldiers of the advance guard arrived.
+      Cloth coverings had been drawn over their glittering shields to protect
+      them from the dust. Behind them came Marcellus, the proconsul&rsquo;s
+      lieutenant, followed by the publicans, carrying their tablets of wood
+      under their arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas named to Vitellius the principle personages surrounding them:
+      Tolmai, Kanthera, Schon, Ammonius of Alexandria, who brought asphalt for
+      Antipas; Naaman, captain of his troops of skirmishers, and Jacim, the
+      Babylonian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius had noticed Mannaeus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that man?&rdquo; he inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch by a significant gesture indicated that Mannaeus was the
+      executioner. He then presented the Sadducees to the proconsul&rsquo;s notice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jonathas, a man of low stature, who spoke Greek, advanced with a firm step
+      and begged that the great lord would honour Jerusalem with a visit.
+      Vitellius replied that he should probably go to Jerusalem soon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eleazar, who had a crooked nose and a long beard, put forth a claim, in
+      behalf of the Pharisees, for the mantle of the high priest, held in the
+      tower of Antonia by the civil authorities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Galileans came forward and denounced Pontius Pilate. On one
+      occasion, they said, a mad-man went seeking in a cave near Samaria for the
+      golden vases that had belonged to King David, and Pontius Pilate had
+      caused several inhabitants of that region to be executed. In their
+      excitement all the Galileans spoke at once, Mannaeus&rsquo;s voice being heard
+      above all others. Vitellius promised that the guilty ones should be
+      punished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fresh vociferations now broke out in front of the great gates, where the
+      soldiers had hung their shields. Their coverings having now been removed,
+      on each shield a carving of the head of Caesar could be seen on the umbo,
+      or central knob. To the Jews, this seemed an evidence of nothing short of
+      idolatry. Antipas harangued them, while Vitellius, who occupied a raised
+      seat within the shadow of the colonnade, was astonished at their fury.
+      Tiberius had done well, he thought, to exile four hundred of these people
+      to Sardinia. Presently the Jews became so violent that he ordered the
+      shields to be removed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the multitude surrounded the proconsul, imploring him to abolish
+      certain unjust laws, asking for privileges, or begging for alms. They rent
+      their clothing and jostled one another; and at last, in order to drive
+      them back, several slaves, armed with long staves, charged upon them,
+      striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their escape and
+      descended to the road; others rushed in to take their place, so that two
+      streams of human beings flowed in and out, compressed within the limits of
+      the gateway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius demanded the reason for the assembling of so great a throng.
+      Antipas explained that they had been invited to come to a feast in
+      celebration of his birthday; and he pointed to several men who, leaning
+      against the battlements, were hauling up immense basket-loads of food,
+      fruits, vegetables, antelopes, and storks; large fish, of a brilliant
+      shade of blue; grapes, melons, and pyramids of pomegranates. At this
+      sight, Aulus left the courtyard and hastened to the kitchens, led by his
+      taste for gormandizing, which later became the amazement of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they passed the opening to a small cellar, Vitellius perceived some
+      objects resembling breast-plates hanging on a wall. He looked at them with
+      interest, and then demanded that the subterranean chambers of the fortress
+      be thrown open for his inspection. These chambers were cut into the rocky
+      foundation of the castle, and had been formed into vaults, with pillars
+      set at regular distances. The first vault opened contained old armour; the
+      second was full of pikes, with long points emerging from tufts of
+      feathers. The walls of the third chamber were hung with a kind of tapestry
+      made of slender reeds, laid in perpendicular rows. Those of the fourth
+      were covered with scimitars. In the middle of the fifth cell, rows of
+      helmets were seen, the crests of which looked like a battalion of fiery
+      serpents. The sixth cell contained nothing but empty quivers; the seventh,
+      greaves for protecting the legs in battle; the eighth vault was filled
+      with bracelets and armlets; and an examination of the remaining vaults
+      disclosed forks, grappling-irons, ladders, cords, even catapults, and
+      bells for the necks of camels; and as they descended deeper into the rocky
+      foundation, it became evident that the whole mass was a veritable
+      honeycomb of cells, and that below those already seen were many others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius, Phineas, his interpreter, and Sisenna, chief of the publicans,
+      walked among these gloomy cells, attended by three eunuchs bearing
+      torches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could be
+      seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers resembling
+      the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in his castle
+      munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had accumulated these weapons in anticipation of an alliance against
+      him among his enemies. But he bethought him that the proconsul might
+      believe, or assert, that he had collected this armoury in order to attack
+      the Romans; so he hastened to offer explanations of all that Vitellius had
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of these things did not belong to him at all, he said: many of them
+      were necessary to defend the place against brigands and marauders,
+      especially the Arabs. Many of the objects in the vault had been the
+      property of his father, and he had allowed them to remain untouched. As he
+      spoke, he managed to get in advance of the proconsul and preceded him
+      along the corridors with rapid steps. Presently he halted and stood close
+      against the wall as the party came up; he spoke quickly, standing with his
+      hands on his hips, so that his voluminous mantle covered a wide space of
+      the wall behind him. But just above his head the top of a door was
+      visible. Vitellius remarked it instantly, and demanded to know what it
+      concealed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch explained that the door was fastened, and that none could
+      open it save the Babylonian, Jacim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Summon him, then!&rdquo; was the command.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A slave was sent to find Jacim, while the group awaited his coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The father of Jacim had come from the banks of the Euphrates to offer his
+      services, as well as those of five hundred horsemen, in the defence of the
+      eastern frontier. After the division of the kingdom, Jacim had lived for a
+      time with Philip, and was now in the service of Antipas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently he appeared among the vaults, carrying an archer&rsquo;s bow on his
+      shoulder and a whip in his hand. Cords of many colours were lashed tightly
+      about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a sleeveless
+      tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered with a heavy,
+      curling beard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at first.
+      But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly made the
+      Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim immediately laid
+      both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful shove; whereupon it
+      quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
+      descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived at
+      the threshold of a kind of grotto, somewhat larger than the other
+      subterranean cells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An arched window at the back of this chamber gave directly upon a
+      precipice, which formed a defence for one side of the castle. A
+      honeysuckle vine, cramped by the low-studded ceiling, blossomed bravely.
+      The sound of a running stream could be heard distinctly. In this place was
+      a great number of beautiful white horses, perhaps a hundred. They were
+      eating barley from a plank placed on a level with their mouths. Their
+      manes had been coloured a deep blue; their hoofs were wrapped in coverings
+      of woven grass, and the hair between their ears was puffed out like a
+      peruke. As they stood quietly eating, they switched their tails gently to
+      and fro. The proconsul regarded them in silent admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were indeed wonderful animals; supple as serpents, light as birds.
+      They were trained to gallop rapidly, following the arrow of the rider, and
+      dash into the midst of a group of the enemy, overturning men and biting
+      them savagely as they fell. They were sure-footed among rocky passes, and
+      would jump fearlessly over yawning chasms; and, while ready to gallop
+      across the plains a whole day without tiring, they would stop instantly at
+      the command of the rider.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as Jacim entered their quarters, they trotted up to him, as sheep
+      crowd around the shepherd; and, thrusting forward their sleek necks, they
+      looked at him with a gaze like that of inquiring children. From force of
+      habit, he emitted a raucous cry, which excited them; they pranced about,
+      impatient at their confinement and longing to run.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas, fearing that if Vitellius knew of the existence of these
+      creatures, he would take them away, had shut them up in this place, made
+      especially to accommodate animals in case of siege.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This close confinement cannot be good for them,&rdquo; said Vitellius, &ldquo;and
+      there is a risk of losing them by keeping them here. Make an inventory of
+      their number, Sisenna.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The publican drew a writing-tablet from the folds of his robe, counted the
+      horses, and recorded the number carefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the habit of the agents of the fiscal companies to corrupt the
+      governors in order to pillage the provinces. Sisenna was among the most
+      flourishing of these agents, and was seen everywhere with his claw-like
+      fingers and his eyelids continually blinking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a time the party returned to the court. Heavy, round bronze lids,
+      sunk in the stones of the pavement, covered the cisterns of the palace.
+      Vitellius noticed that one of these was larger than the others, and that
+      when struck by his foot it had not their sonority. He struck them all, one
+      after another; then stamped upon the ground and shouted:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have found it! I have found the buried treasure of Herod!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is concealed there, then?&rdquo; the proconsul demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing&mdash;that is, only a man&mdash;a prisoner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show him to me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch hesitated to obey, fearing that the Jews would discover his
+      secret. His reluctance to lift the cover made Vitellius impatient.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Break it in!&rdquo; he cried to his lictors. Mannaeus heard the command, and,
+      seeing a lictor step forward armed with a hatchet, he feared that the man
+      intended to behead Iaokanann. He stayed the hand of the lictor after the
+      first blow, and then slipped between the heavy lid and the pavement a kind
+      of hook. He braced his long, lean arms, raised the cover slowly, and in a
+      moment it lay flat upon the stones. The bystanders admired the strength of
+      the old man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Under the bronze lid was a wooden trap-door of the same size. At a blow of
+      the fist it folded back, allowing a wide hole to be seen, the mouth of an
+      immense pit, with a flight of winding steps leading down into the
+      darkness. Those that bent over to peer into the cavern beheld a vague and
+      terrifying shape in its depths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This proved to be a human being, lying on the ground. His long locks hung
+      over a camel&rsquo;s-hair robe that covered his shoulders. Slowly he rose to his
+      feet. His head touched a grating embedded in the wall; and as he moved
+      about he disappeared, from time to time, in the shadows of his dungeon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rich tiaras of the Romans sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight, and
+      their glittering sword-hilts threw out glancing golden rays. The doves,
+      flying from their cotes, circled above the heads of the multitude. It was
+      the hour when Mannaeus was accustomed to feed them. But now he crouched
+      beside the tetrarch, who stood near Vitellius. The Galileans, the priests,
+      and the soldiers formed a group behind them; all were silent, waiting with
+      painful anticipation for what might happen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep groan, hollow and startling, rose from the pit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias heard it from the farther end of the palace. Drawn by an
+      irresistible though terrible fascination, she made her way through the
+      throng, and, reaching Mannaeus, she leant one hand on his shoulder and
+      bent over to listen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hollow voice rose again from the depths of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Woe to thee, Sadducees and Pharisees! Thy voices are like the tinkling of
+      cymbals! O race of vipers, bursting with pride!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice of Iaokanann was recognised. His name was whispered about.
+      Spectators from a distance pressed closer to the open pit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Woe to thee, O people! Woe to the traitors of Judah, and to the drunkards
+      of Ephraim, who dwelt in the fertile valleys and stagger with the fumes of
+      wine!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May they disappear like running water; like the slug that sinks into the
+      sand as it moves; like an abortion that never sees the light!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And thou too, Moab! hide thyself in the midst of the cypress, like the
+      sparrow; in caverns, like the wild hare! The gates of the fortress shall
+      be crushed more easily than nut-shells; the walls shall crumble; cities
+      shall burn; and the scourge of God shall not cease! He shall cause your
+      bodies to be bathed in your own blood, like wool in the dyer&rsquo;s vat. He
+      shall rend you, as with a harrow; He shall scatter the remains of your
+      bodies from the tops of the mountains!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Of which conqueror was he speaking? Was it Vitellius? Only the Romans
+      could bring about such an extermination. The people began to cry out:
+      &ldquo;Enough! enough! let him speak no more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the prisoner continued in louder tones:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beside the corpses of their mothers, thy little ones shall drag
+      themselves over the ashes of the burned cities. At night men will creep
+      from their hiding-places to seek a bit of food among the ruins, even at
+      the risk of being cut down with the sword. Jackals shall pick thy bones in
+      the public places, where at eventide the fathers were wont to gather. At
+      the bidding of Gentiles, thy maidens shall be forced to cease their
+      lamentations and to make music upon the zither, and the bravest of thy
+      sons shall learn to bend their backs, chafed with heavy burdens.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The listeners remembered the days of exile, and all the misfortunes and
+      catastrophes of the past. These words were like the anathemas of the
+      ancient prophets. The captive thundered them forth like bolts from heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently his voice became almost as sweet and harmonious as if he were
+      uttering a chant. He spoke of the world&rsquo;s redemption from sin and sorrow;
+      of the glories of heaven; of gold in place of clay; of the desert
+      blossoming like the rose. &ldquo;That which is now worth sixty pieces of silver
+      will not cost a single obol. Fountains of milk shall spring from the
+      rocks; men shall sleep, well satisfied, among the wine-presses. The people
+      shall prostrate themselves before Thee, and Thy reign shall be eternal, O
+      Son of David!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch suddenly recoiled from the opening of the pit; the mention of
+      the existence of a son of David seemed to him like a menace to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Iaokanann then poured forth invectives against him for presuming to aspire
+      to royalty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no other king than the Eternal God!&rdquo; he cried; and he cursed
+      Antipas for his luxurious gardens, his statues, his furniture of carved
+      ivory and precious woods, comparing him to the impious Ahab.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas broke the slender cord attached to the royal seal that he wore
+      around his neck, and throwing the seal into the pit, he commanded his
+      prisoner to be silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Iaokanann replied: &ldquo;I shall cry aloud like a savage bear, like the
+      wild ass, like a woman in travail! The punishment of heaven has already
+      visited itself upon thy incest! May God inflict thee with the sterility of
+      mules!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words, a sound of suppressed laughter arose here and there among
+      the listeners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius had remained close to the opening of the dungeon while Iaokanann
+      was speaking. His interpreter, in impassive tones, translated into the
+      Roman tongue all the threats and invectives that rolled up from the depths
+      of the gloomy prison. The tetrarch and Herodias felt compelled to remain
+      near at hand. Antipas listened, breathing heavily; while the woman, with
+      parted lips, gazed into the darkness of the pit, her face drawn with an
+      expression of fear and hatred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The terrible man now turned towards her. He grasped the bars of his
+      prison, pressed against them his bearded face, in which his eyes glowed
+      like burning coals, and cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! Is it thou, Jezebel? Thou hast captured thy lord&rsquo;s heart with the
+      tinkling of thy feet. Thou didst neigh to him like a mare. Thou didst
+      prepare thy bed on the mountain top, in order to accomplish thy
+      sacrifices!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Lord shall take from thee thy sparkling jewels, thy purple robes and
+      fine linen; the bracelets from thine arms, the anklets from thy feet; the
+      golden ornaments that dangle upon thy brow, thy mirrors of polished
+      silver, thy fans of ostrich plumes, thy shoes with their heels of
+      mother-of-pearl, that serve to increase thy stature; thy glittering
+      diamonds, the scent of thy hair, the tint of thy nails,&mdash;all the
+      artifices of thy coquetry shall disappear, and missiles shall be found
+      wherewith to stone the adulteress!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias looked around for some one to defend her. The Pharisees lowered
+      their eyes hypocritically. The Sadducees turned away their heads, fearing
+      to offend the proconsul should they appear to sympathise with her. Antipas
+      was almost in a swoon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louder still rose the voice from the dungeon; the neighbouring hills gave
+      back an echo with startling effect, and Machaerus seemed actually
+      surrounded and showered with curses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prostrate thyself in the dust, daughter of Babylon, and scourge thyself!
+      Remove thy girdle and thy shoes, gather up thy garments and walk through
+      the flowing stream; thy shame shall follow thee, thy disgrace shall be
+      known to all men, thy bosom shall be rent with sobs. God execrates the
+      stench of thy crimes! Accursed one! die like a dog!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At that instant the trap-door was suddenly shut down and secured by
+      Mannaeus, who would have liked to strangle Iaokanann then and there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias glided away and disappeared within the palace. The Pharisees were
+      scandalised at what they had heard. Antipas, standing among them,
+      attempted to justify his past conduct and to excuse his present situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without doubt,&rdquo; said Eleazar, &ldquo;it was necessary for him to marry his
+      brother&rsquo;s wife; but Herodias was not a widow, and besides, she had a
+      child, which she abandoned; and that was an abomination.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wrong,&rdquo; objected Jonathas the Sadducee; &ldquo;the law condemns such
+      marriages but does not actually forbid them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What matters it? All the world shows me injustice,&rdquo; said Antipas,
+      bitterly; &ldquo;and why? Did not Absalom lie with his father&rsquo;s wives, Judah
+      with his daughter-in-law, Ammon with his sister, and Lot with his
+      daughters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Aulus, who had been reposing within the palace, now reappeared in the
+      court. After he had heard how matters stood, he approved of the attitude
+      of the tetrarch. &ldquo;A man should never allow himself to be annoyed,&rdquo; said
+      he, &ldquo;by such foolish criticism.&rdquo; And he laughed at the censure of the
+      priests and the fury of Iaokanann, saying that his words were of little
+      importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias, who also had reappeared, and now stood at the top of a flight of
+      steps, called loudly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wrong, my lord! He ordered the people to refuse to pay the tax!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that true?&rdquo; he demanded. The general response was affirmative, Antipas
+      adding his word to the declaration of the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius had a misgiving that the prisoner might be able to escape; and
+      as the conduct of Antipas appeared to him rather suspicious, he
+      established his own sentinels at the gates, at intervals along the walls,
+      and in the courtyard itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last he retired to the apartments assigned to him, accompanied by the
+      priests. Without touching directly upon the question of the coveted
+      offices of public sacrificers, each one laid his own grievances before the
+      proconsul. They fairly beset him with complaints and requests, but he soon
+      dismissed them from his presence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Jonathas left the proconsul&rsquo;s apartments he perceived Antipas standing
+      under an arch, talking to an Essene, who wore a long white robe and
+      flowing locks. Jonathas regretted that he had raised his voice in defence
+      of the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One thought now consoled Herod-Antipas. He was no longer personally
+      responsible for the fate of Iaokanann. The Romans had assumed that charge.
+      What a relief! He had noticed Phanuel pacing slowly through the court, and
+      calling him to his side, he pointed put the guards established by
+      Vitellius, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are stronger than I! I cannot now set the prisoner free! It is not
+      my fault if he remains in his dungeon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The courtyard was empty. The slaves were sleeping. The day was drawing to
+      a close, and the sunset spread a deep rosy glow over the horizon, against
+      which the smallest objects stood out like silhouettes. Antipas was able to
+      distinguish the excavations of the salt-mines at the farther end of the
+      Dead Sea, but the tents of the Arabs were no longer visible. As the moon
+      rose, the effect of the day&rsquo;s excitement passed away, and a feeling of
+      peace entered his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Phanuel, also wearied by the recent agitating scenes, remained beside the
+      tetrarch. He sat in silence for some time, his chin resting on his breast.
+      At last he spoke in confidence to Antipas, and revealed what he had wished
+      to say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the beginning of the month, he said, he had been studying the heavens
+      every morning before daybreak, when the constellation of Perseus was at
+      the zenith; Agalah was scarcely visible; Algol was even less bright;
+      Mira-Cetus had disappeared entirely; from all of which he augured the
+      death of some man of great importance, to occur that very night in
+      Machaerus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Who was the man? Vitellius was too closely guarded to be reached. No one
+      would kill Iaokanann.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is I!&rdquo; thought the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It might be that the Arabs would return and make a successful attack upon
+      him. Perhaps the proconsul would discover his relations with the
+      Parthians. Several men whom Antipas had recognised as hired assassins from
+      Jerusalem, had escorted the priests in the train of the proconsul; they
+      all carried daggers concealed beneath their robes. The tetrarch had no
+      doubt whatever of the exactness of Phanuel&rsquo;s skill in astrology.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly he bethought him of Herodias. He would consult her. He hated her,
+      certainly, but she might give him courage; and besides, in spite of his
+      dislike, not all the bonds were yet broken of that sorcery which once she
+      had woven about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he entered her chamber, he was met by the pungent odour of cinnamon
+      burning in a porphyry vase and the perfume of powders, unguents,
+      cloud-like gauzes and embroideries light as feathers, filled the air with
+      fragrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not speak of Phanuel&rsquo;s prophecy, nor of his own fear of the Jews
+      and the Arabs. Herodias had already accused him of cowardice. He spoke
+      only of the Romans, and complained that Vitellius had not confided to him
+      any of his military projects. He said he supposed the proconsul was the
+      friend of Caligula, who often visited Agrippa; and expressed a surmise
+      that he himself might be exiled, or that perhaps his throat would be cut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Herodias, who now treated him with a kind of disdainful indulgence, tried
+      to reassure him. At last she took from a small casket a curious medallion,
+      ornamented with a profile of Tiberius. The sight of it, she said, as she
+      gave it to Antipas, would make the lictors turn pale and silence all
+      accusing voices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas, filled with gratitude, asked her how the medallion had come into
+      her possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was given to me,&rdquo; was her only answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment Antipas beheld a bare arm slipping through a portiere
+      hanging in front of him. It was the arm of a youthful woman, as graceful
+      in outline as if carved from ivory by Polyclitus. With a movement a little
+      awkward and at the same time charming, it felt about the wall an instant,
+      as if seeking something, then took down a tunic hanging upon a hook near
+      the doorway, and disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An elderly female attendant passed quietly through the room, lifted the
+      portiere, and went out. A sudden recollection pierced the memory of the
+      tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that woman one of thy slaves?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What matters that to thee?&rdquo; was the disdainful reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The great banqueting-hall was filled with guests. This apartment had three
+      naves, like a basilica, which were separated by columns of sandalwood,
+      whose capitals were of sculptured bonze. On each side of the apartment was
+      a gallery for spectators, and a third, with a facade of gold filigree, was
+      at one end, opposite an immense arch at the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The candelabra burning on the tables, which were spread the whole length
+      of the banqueting-hall, glowed like clusters of flaming flowers among the
+      painted cups, the plates of shining copper, the cubes of snow and heaps of
+      luscious grapes. Through the large windows the guests could see lighted
+      torches on the terraces of the neighbouring houses; for this night Antipas
+      was giving a feast to his friends, his own people, and to anyone that
+      presented himself at the castle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The slaves, alert as dogs, glided about noiselessly in felt sandals,
+      carrying dishes to and fro.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The table of the proconsul was placed beneath the gilded balcony upon a
+      platform of sycamore wood. Rich tapestries from Babylon were hung about
+      the pavilion, giving a certain effect of seclusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon three ivory couches, one facing the great hall, and the other two
+      placed one on either side of the pavilion, reclined Vitellius, his son
+      Aulus, and Antipas; the proconsul being near the door, at the left, Aulus
+      on the right, the tetrarch occupying the middle couch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas wore a heavy black mantle, the texture of which was almost hidden
+      by coloured embroideries and glittering decorations; his beard was spread
+      out like a fan; blue powder had been scattered over his hair, and on his
+      head rested a diadem covered with precious stones. Vitellius still wore
+      the purple band, the emblem of his rank, crossed diagonally over a linen
+      toga.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aulus had tied behind his back the sleeves of his violet robe, embroidered
+      with silver. His clustering curls were laid in carefully arranged rows; a
+      necklace of sapphires gleamed against his throat, plump and white as that
+      of a woman. Crouched upon a rug near him, with legs crossed was a pretty
+      white boy, upon whose face shone a perpetual smile. Aulus had found him
+      somewhere among the kitchens and had taken a violent fancy to him. He had
+      made the child one of his suite, but as he never could remember his
+      protege&rsquo;s Chaldean name, called him simply &ldquo;the Asiatic.&rdquo; From time to
+      time the little fellow sprang up and played about the dining-table, and
+      his antics appeared to amuse the guests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At one side of the tetrarch&rsquo;s pavilion were the tables at which were
+      seated his priests and officers; also a number of persons from Jerusalem,
+      and the more important men from the Grecian cities. At the table on the
+      left of the proconsul sat Marcellus with the publicans, several friends of
+      the tetrarch, and various representatives from Cana, Ptolemais, and
+      Jericho. Seated at other tables were mountaineers from Liban and many of
+      the old soldiers of Herod&rsquo;s army; a dozen Thracians, a Greek and two
+      Germans; besides huntsmen and herdsmen, the Sultan of Palmyra, and sailors
+      from Eziongaber. Before each guest was placed a roll of soft bread, upon
+      which to wipe the fingers. As soon as they were seated, hands were
+      stretched out with the eagerness of a vulture&rsquo;s claws, seizing upon
+      olives, pistachios, and almonds. Every face was joyous, every head was
+      crowned with flowers, except those of the Pharisees, who refused to wear
+      the wreaths, regarding them as a symbol of Roman voluptuousness and vice.
+      They shuddered when the attendants sprinkled them with galburnum and
+      incense, the use of which the Pharisees reserved strictly for services in
+      the Temple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas observed that Aulus rubbed himself under the arms, as if annoyed
+      by heat or chafing; and promised to give him three flasks of the same kind
+      of precious balm that had been used by Cleopatra.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A captain from the garrison of Tiberias who had just arrived, placed
+      himself behind the tetrarch as protection in case any unexpected trouble
+      should arise. But his attention was divided between observing the
+      movements of the proconsul and listening to the conversation of his
+      neighbours.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was, naturally, much talk of Iaokanann, and other men of his stamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is said,&rdquo; remarked one of the guests, &ldquo;that Simon of Gitta washed away
+      his sins in fire. And a certain man called Jesus&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is the worst of them all!&rdquo; interrupted Eleazar. &ldquo;A miserable
+      imposter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this a man sprang up from a table near the tetrarch&rsquo;s pavilion, and
+      made his way towards the place where Eleazar sat. His face was almost as
+      pale as his linen robe, but he addressed the Pharisees boldly, saying:
+      &ldquo;That is a lie! Jesus has performed miracles!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas expressed a long-cherished desire to see the man Jesus perform
+      some of his so-called miracles. &ldquo;You should have brought him with you,&rdquo; he
+      said to the last speaker, who was still standing. &ldquo;Tell us what you know
+      about him,&rdquo; he commanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the stranger said that he himself, whose name was Jacob, having a
+      daughter who was very ill, had gone to Capernaum to implore the Master to
+      heal his child. The Master had answered him, saying: &ldquo;Return to thy home:
+      she is healed!&rdquo; And he had found his daughter standing at the threshold of
+      his house, having risen from her couch when the gnomon had marked the
+      third hour, the same moment when he had made his supplication to Jesus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Pharisees admitted that certain mysterious arts and powerful herbs
+      existed that would heal the sick. It was said that the marvellous plant
+      known as &ldquo;baaras&rdquo; grew even in Machaerus, the power of which rendered its
+      consumer invulnerable against all attacks; but to cure disease without
+      seeing or touching the afflicted person was clearly impossible, unless,
+      indeed, the man Jesus called in the assistance of evil spirits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The friends of Antipas and the men from Galilee nodded wisely, saying: &ldquo;It
+      is evident that he is aided by demons of some sort!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob, standing between their table and that of the priests, maintained a
+      silence at once lofty and respectful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several voices exclaimed: &ldquo;Prove his power to us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob leaned over the priests&rsquo; table, and said slowly, in a
+      half-suppressed tone, as if awe-struck by his own words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Know ye not, then, that He is the Messiah?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The priests stared at one another, and Vitellius demanded the meaning of
+      the word. His interpreter paused a moment before translating it. Then he
+      said that Messiah was the name to be given to one who was to come,
+      bringing the enjoyment of all blessings, and giving them domination over
+      all the peoples of the earth. Certain persons believed that there were to
+      be two Messiahs; one would be vanquished by Gog and Magog, the demons of
+      the North; but the other would exterminate the Prince of Evil; and for
+      centuries the coming of this Saviour of mankind had been expected at any
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this, the priests began to talk in low tones among themselves. Eleazar
+      addressed Jacob, saying that it had always been understood that the
+      Messiah would be a son of David, not of a carpenter; and that he would
+      confirm the law, whereas this Nazarene attacked it. Furthermore, as a
+      still stronger argument against the pretender, it had been promised that
+      the Messiah should be preceded by Elias.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Elias has come!&rdquo; Jacob answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Elias! Elias!&rdquo; was repeated from one end of the banqueting-hall to the
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In imagination, all fancied that they could see an old man, a flight of
+      ravens above his head, standing before an altar, which a flash of
+      lightning illumined, revealing the idolatrous priests that were thrown
+      into the torrent; and the women, sitting in the galleries, thought of the
+      widow of Sarepta.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacob then declared that he knew Elias; that he had seen him, and that
+      many of the guests there assembled had seen him!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His name!&rdquo; was the cry from all lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Iaokanann!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas fell back in his chair as if a heavy blow had struck him on the
+      breast. The Sadducees rose from their seats and rushed towards Jacob.
+      Eleazar raised his voice to a shout in order to make himself heard. When
+      order was finally restored, he draped his mantle about his shoulders, and,
+      with the air of a judge, proceeded to put questions to Jacob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since the prophet is dead&mdash;&rdquo; he began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Murmurs interrupted him. Many persons believed that Elias was not dead,
+      but had only disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eleazar rebuked those who had interrupted him; and continuing, asked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And dost thou believe that he has indeed come to life again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I not believe it?&rdquo; Jacob replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Sadducees shrugged their shoulders. Jonathas, opening wide his little
+      eyes, gave a forced, buffoon-like laugh. Nothing could be more absurd,
+      said he, than the idea that a human body could have eternal life; and he
+      declaimed, for the benefit of the proconsul, this line from a
+      contemporaneous poet:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time Aulus was leaning over the side of the pavilion, with pale
+      face, a perspiring brow, and both hands outspread on his stomach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Sadducees pretended to be deeply moved at the sight of his suffering,
+      thinking that perhaps the next day the offices of sacrificers would be
+      theirs. Antipas appeared to be in despair at his guest&rsquo;s agony. Vitellius
+      preserved a calm demeanour, although he felt some anxiety, for the loss of
+      his son would mean the loss of his fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Aulus, quickly recovering after he had relieved his over-burdened
+      stomach, was as eager to eat as before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let some one bring me marble-dust,&rdquo; he commanded, &ldquo;or clay of Naxos,
+      sea-water&mdash;anything! Perhaps it would do me good to bathe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He swallowed a quantity of snow; then hesitated between a ragout and a
+      dish of blackbirds; and finally decided in favour of gourds served in
+      honey. The little Asiatic gazed at his master in astonishment and
+      admiration; to him this exhibition of gluttony denoted a wonderful being
+      belonging to a superior race.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The feast went on. Slaves served the guests with kidneys, dormice,
+      nightingales, mince-meat dressed with vine-leaves. The priests discoursed
+      among themselves regarding the supposed resurrection. Ammonius, pupil of
+      Philon, the Platonist, pronounced them stupid, and told the Greeks that he
+      laughed at their oracles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marcellus and Jacob were seated side by side. Marcellus described the
+      happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithra, and Jacob made him
+      promise to become a follower of Jesus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wines of the palm and the tamarisk, those of Safed and of Byblos, ran
+      from the amphoras into the crateras, from the crateras into the cups, and
+      from the cups down the guests&rsquo; throats. Every one talked, all hearts
+      expanding under the good cheer. Jacim, although a Jew, did not hesitate to
+      express his admiration of the planets. A merchant from Aphaka amazed the
+      nomads with his description of the marvels in the temple of Hierapolis;
+      and they wished to know the cost of a pilgrimage to that place. Others
+      held fast to the principles of their native religion. A German, who was
+      nearly blind, sang a hymn celebrating that promontory in Scandinavia where
+      the gods were wont to appear with halos around their heads. The people
+      from Sichem declined to eat turtles, out of deference to the dove Azima.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several groups stood talking near the middle of the banqueting-hall, and
+      the vapour of their breath, mingled with the smoke from the candles,
+      formed a light mist. Presently Phanuel slipped quietly into the room,
+      keeping close to the wall. He had been out in the open courtyard, to make
+      another survey of the heavens. He stopped when he reached the pavilion of
+      the tetrarch, fearing he would be splashed with drops of oil if he
+      approached the other tables, which, to an Essene, would be a great
+      defilement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly violent blows resounded upon the castle gates. The news of the
+      imprisonment of Iaokanann had spread rapidly, and now it appeared that the
+      whole surrounding population was flocking to the castle. Men with torches
+      were hastening along the roads in all directions; a black mass of people
+      swarmed in the ravine; and from all throats came the cry: &ldquo;Iaokanann!
+      Iaokanann!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That man will ruin everything,&rdquo; said Jonathas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall have no more money if this continues,&rdquo; said the Pharisees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Accusations, recriminations, and pleadings were heard on all sides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Protect us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Compel them to cease!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou didst abandon thy religion!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impious as all the Herods!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Less impious than thou!&rdquo; Antipas retorted. &ldquo;Was it not my father that
+      erected thy Temple?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Pharisees, children of the proscribed tribes, partisans of
+      Mattathias, accused the tetrarch of all the crimes committed by his
+      family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Pharisees had pointed skulls, bristling beards, feeble hands, snub
+      noses, great round eyes, and their countenances bore a resemblance to that
+      of a bull-dog. A dozen of these people, scribes and attendants upon the
+      priests, who picked up their living from the refuse of holocausts, rushed
+      to the foot of the pavilion and threatened Antipas with their knives. He
+      attempted to speak to them, being only slightly protected by some of the
+      Sadducees. Suddenly he perceived Mannaeus at a distance and made him a
+      sign to approach. The expression on the face of Vitellius indicated that
+      he regarded all this turmoil as no concern of his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside themselves
+      with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon the floor. The
+      attendants had served them with a ragout composed of the flesh of the wild
+      ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no bounds. Aulus rallied them
+      jeeringly apropos of the ass&rsquo;s head, which he declared they honoured. He
+      flung other sarcasms at them, regarding their antipathy to the flesh of
+      swine, intimating that no doubt their hatred arose from the fact that that
+      beast had killed their beloved Bacchus, and saying it was to be feared
+      they were too fond of wine, since a golden vine had been discovered in the
+      Temple.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
+      origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the more
+      so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had disappeared.
+      The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes were vulgar, and
+      not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings. After a time his
+      displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of Syrian lambs&rsquo; tails,
+      dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
+      like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and he
+      recalled the stories he had heard of the mysterious Jew who fattened small
+      children and offered them as a sacrifice. His Latin nature was filled with
+      disgust at their intolerance, their iconoclastic rage, their brutal,
+      stumbling bearing. The proconsul wished to depart, but Aulus refused to
+      accompany him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The exaltation of the people increased. They abandoned themselves to
+      dreams of independence. They recalled the glory of Israel, and a Syrian
+      spoke of all the great conquerors they had vanquished,&mdash;Antigone,
+      Crassus, Varus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miserable creatures!&rdquo; cried the enraged proconsul, who had overheard the
+      Syrian&rsquo;s words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the midst of the uproar Antipas remembered the medallion of the emperor
+      that Herodias had given to him; he drew it forth and looked at it a
+      moment, trembling, then held it up with its face turned towards the
+      throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same moment, the panels of the gold-railed balcony were folded
+      back, and, accompanied by slaves bearing wax tapers, Herodias appeared,
+      her coiffure crowned with an Assyrian mitre, which was held in place by a
+      band passing under the chin. Her dark hair fell in ringlets over a scarlet
+      peplum with slashed sleeves. On either side of the door through which one
+      stepped into the gallery, stood a huge stone monster, like those of
+      Atrides; and as Herodias appeared between them, she looked like Cybele
+      supported by her lions. In her hands she carried a patera, a shallow
+      vessel of silver used by the Romans in pouring libations; and, advancing
+      to the front of the balcony and pausing just above the tetrarch&rsquo;s chair,
+      she cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Long live Caesar!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This homage was repeated by Vitellius, Antipas, and the priests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But now, beginning at the farthest end of the banqueting-hall, a murmur of
+      surprise and admiration swept through the multitude. A beautiful young
+      girl had just entered the apartment, and stood motionless for an instant,
+      while all eyes were turned upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through a drapery of filmy blue gauze that veiled her head and throat, her
+      arched eyebrows, tiny ears, and ivory-white skin could be distinguished. A
+      scarf of shot-silk fell from her shoulders, and was caught up at the waist
+      by a girdle of fretted silver. Her full trousers, of black silk, were
+      embroidered in a pattern of silver mandragoras, and as she moved forward
+      with indolent grace, her little feet were seen to be shod with slippers
+      made of the feathers of humming-birds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she arrived in front of the pavilion she removed her veil. Behold!
+      she seemed to be Herodias herself, as she had appeared in the days of her
+      blooming youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately the damsel began to dance before the tetrarch. Her slender
+      feet took dainty steps to the rhythm of a flute and a pair of Indian
+      bells. Her round white arms seemed ever beckoning and striving to entice
+      to her side some youth who was fleeing from her allurements. She appeared
+      to pursue him, with movements light as a butterfly; her whole mien was
+      like that of an inquisitive Psyche, or a floating spirit that might at any
+      moment dissolve and disappear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the plaintive notes of the gingras, a small flute of Phoenician
+      origin, replaced the tinkling bells. The attitudes of the dancing nymph
+      now denoted overpowering lassitude. Her bosom heaved with sighs, and her
+      whole being expressed profound languor, although it was not clear whether
+      she sighed for an absent swain or was expiring of love in his embrace.
+      With half-closed eyes and quivering form, she caused mysterious
+      undulations to flow downward over her whole body, like rippling waves,
+      while her face remained impassive and her twinkling feet still moved in
+      their intricate steps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vitellius compared her to Mnester, the famous pantomimist. Aulus was
+      overcome with faintness. The tetrarch watched her, lost in a voluptuous
+      reverie, and thought no more of the real Herodias. In fancy he saw her
+      again as she appeared when she had dwelt among the Sadducees. Then the
+      vision faded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But this beautiful thing before him was no vision. The dancer was Salome,
+      the daughter of Herodias, who for many months her mother had caused to be
+      instructed in dancing, and other arts of pleasing, with the sole idea of
+      bringing her to Machaerus and presenting her to the tetrarch, so that he
+      should fall in love with her fresh young beauty and feminine wiles. The
+      plan had proved successful, it seemed; he was evidently fascinated, and
+      Herodias felt that at last she was sure of retaining her power over him!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now the graceful dancer appeared transported with the very delirium of
+      love and passion. She danced like the priestesses of India, like the
+      Nubians of the cataracts, or like the Bacchantes of Lydia. She whirled
+      about like a flower blown by the tempest. The jewels in her ears sparkled,
+      her swift movements made the colours of her draperies appear to run into
+      one another. Her arms, her feet, her clothing even, seemed to emit streams
+      of magnetism, that set the spectators&rsquo; blood on fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the thrilling chords of a harp rang through the hall, and the
+      throng burst into loud acclamations. All eyes were fixed on Salome, who
+      paused in her rhythmic dance, placed her feet wide apart, and without
+      bending the knees, suddenly swayed her lithe body downward, so that her
+      chin touched the floor; and her whole audience,&mdash;the nomads,
+      accustomed to a life of privation and abstinence, the Roman soldiers,
+      expert in debaucheries, the avaricious publicans, and even the crabbed,
+      elderly priests&mdash;gazed upon her with dilated nostrils.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next she began to whirl frantically around the table where Antipas the
+      tetrarch was seated. He leaned towards the flying figure, and in a voice
+      half choked with the voluptuous sighs of a mad desire, he sighed: &ldquo;Come to
+      me! Come!&rdquo; But she whirled on, while the music of dulcimers swelled louder
+      and the excited spectators roared their applause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch called again, louder than before: &ldquo;Come to me! Come! Thou
+      shalt have Capernaum, the plains of Tiberias! my citadels! yea, the half
+      of my kingdom!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again the dancer paused; then, like a flash, she threw herself upon the
+      palms of her hands, while her feet rose straight up into the air. In this
+      bizarre pose she moved about upon the floor like a gigantic beetle; then
+      stood motionless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nape of her neck formed a right angle with her vertebrae. The full
+      silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood erect,
+      now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a rainbow. Her lips
+      were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were black as jet, her
+      glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and the tiny drops of
+      perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon white marble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
+      concentrated upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
+      pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
+      Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
+      steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned
+      over, smiled upon the tetrarch, and, with an air of almost childlike
+      naivete, pronounced these words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I ask my lord to give me, placed upon a charger, the head of&mdash;&rdquo; She
+      hesitated, as if not certain of the name; then said: &ldquo;The head of
+      Iaokanann!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tetrarch sank back in his chair as if stunned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had bound himself by his promise to her; and the people awaited his
+      next movement. But the death that night of some conspicuous man that had
+      been predicted to him by Phanuel,&mdash;what if, by bringing it upon
+      another, he could avert it from himself, thought Antipas. If Iaokanann was
+      in very truth the Elias so much talked of, he would have power to protect
+      himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was of no
+      importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master&rsquo;s thoughts. Vitellius
+      beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the execution, to be
+      transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the dungeon. This
+      execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few moments all would be
+      over!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But for once Mannaeus did not perform a commission satisfactorily. He left
+      the hall but soon returned, in a state of great perturbation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During forty years he had exercised the functions of the public
+      executioner. It was he that had drowned Aristobulus, strangled Alexander,
+      burned Mattathias alive, beheaded Zozimus, Pappus, Josephus, and
+      Antipater; but he dared not kill Iaokanann! His teeth chattered and his
+      whole body trembled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He declared that he had seen, standing before the dungeon, the Angel of
+      the Samaritans, covered with eyes and brandishing a great sword, glowing
+      and quivering like a flame. He appealed to two of the guards, who had
+      entered the hall with him, to corroborate his words. But they said they
+      had seen nothing except a Jewish captain who had attacked them, and whom
+      they had killed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fury of Herodias poured forth in a torrent of invective against the
+      populace. She clenched the railing of the balcony so fiercely as to break
+      her nails; the two stone lions at her back seemed to bite her shoulders
+      and join their voices to hers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antipas followed her example; and priests, soldiers, and Pharisees cried
+      aloud together for vengeance, echoed by the rest of the gathering, who
+      were indignant that a mere slave should dare to delay their pleasures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Mannaeus left the hall, covering his face with his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The guests found the second delay longer than the first. It seemed tedious
+      to every one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a sound of footsteps was heard in the corridor without; then
+      silence fell again. The suspense was becoming intolerable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the door was flung open and Mannaeus entered, holding at arm&rsquo;s
+      length, grasping it by the hair, the head of Iaokanann. His appearance was
+      greeted with a burst of applause, which filled him with pride and revived
+      his courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He placed the head upon a charger and offered it to Salome, who had
+      descended the steps to receive it. She remounted to the balcony, with a
+      light step; and in another moment the charger was carried about from one
+      table to another by the elderly female slave whom the tetrarch had
+      observed in the morning on the balcony of a neighbouring house, and later
+      in the chamber of Herodias.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When she approached him with her ghastly burden, he turned away his head
+      to avoid looking at it. Vitellius threw upon it an indifferent glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus descended from the pavilion, took the charger from the woman, and
+      exhibited the head to the Roman captains, then to all the guests on that
+      side of the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They looked at it curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sharp blade of the sword had cut into the jaw with a swift downward
+      stroke. The corners of the mouth were drawn, as if by a convulsion. Clots
+      of blood besprinkled the beard. The closed eyelids had a shell-like
+      transparency, and the candelabra on every side lighted up the gruesome
+      object with terrible distinctness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mannaeus arrived at the table where the priests were seated. One of them
+      turned the charger about curiously, to look at the head from all sides.
+      Then Mannaeus, having entirely regained his courage, placed the charger
+      before Aulus, who had just awakened from a short doze; and finally he
+      brought it again to Antipas and set it down upon the table beside him.
+      Tears were running down the cheeks of the tetrarch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lights began to flicker and die out. The guests departed, and at last
+      no one remained in the great hall save Antipas, who sat leaning his head
+      upon his hands, gazing at the head of Iaokanann; and Phanuel, who stood in
+      the centre of the largest nave and prayed aloud, with uplifted arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At sunrise the two men who had been sent on a mission by Iaokanann some
+      time before, returned to the castle, bringing the answer so long awaited
+      and hoped for.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They whispered the message to Phanuel, who received it with rapture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he showed them the lugubrious object, still resting on the charger
+      amid the ruins of the feast. One of the men said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be comforted! He has descended among the dead in order to announce the
+      coming of the Christ!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And in that moment the Essene comprehended the words of Iaokanann: &ldquo;In
+      order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the three, taking with them the head of John the Baptist, set out
+      upon the road to Galilee; and as the burden was heavy, each man bore it
+      awhile in turn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Herodias
+
+Author: Gustave Flaubert
+
+Release Date: February 11, 2006 [EBook #1291]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HERODIAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+HERODIAS
+
+By Gustave Flaubert
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+In the eastern side of the Dead Sea rose the citadel of Machaerus. It
+was built upon a conical peak of basalt, and was surrounded by four deep
+valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth in the rear.
+At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a group of
+houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines undulated with
+the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting through the rocks,
+joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which were about one
+hundred and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles and ornamental
+towers that stood out like jewels in this crown of stone overhanging an
+abyss.
+
+Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
+arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
+spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
+poles had been erected to support an awning.
+
+One morning, just before sunrise, the tetrarch, Herod-Antipas, came out
+alone upon the balcony. He leaned against one of the columns and looked
+about him.
+
+The crests of the hill-tops in the valley below the palace were just
+discernible in the light of the false dawn, although their bases,
+extending to the abyss, were still plunged in darkness. A light mist
+floated in the air; presently it lifted, and the shores of the Dead Sea
+became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy flush
+over the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the desert,
+and illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey in the
+early dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a deep black
+shadow; Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a dome; Eschol
+had her pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her fields of sesame;
+and the tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube, dominated Jerusalem.
+The tetrarch turned his gaze from it to contemplate the palms of Jericho
+on his right; and his thoughts dwelt upon other cities of his beloved
+Galilee,--Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth, Tiberias--whither it might be he
+would never return.
+
+The Jordan wound its way through the arid plains that met his gaze;
+white and glittering under the clear sky, it dazzled the eye like snow
+in the rays of the sun.
+
+The Dead Sea now looked like a sheet of lapis-lazuli; and at its
+southern extremity, on the coast of Yemen, Antipas recognised clearly
+what at first he had been able only dimly to perceive. Several tents
+could now be plainly seen; men carrying spears were moving about among a
+group of horses; and dying camp-fires shone faintly in the beams of the
+rising sun.
+
+This was a troop belonging to the sheikh of the Arabs, the daughter
+of whom the tetrarch had repudiated in order to wed Herodias, already
+married to one of his brothers, who lived in Italy but who had no
+pretensions to power.
+
+Antipas was waiting for assistance and reinforcements from the Romans,
+but as Vitellius, the Governor of Syria, had not yet arrived, he was
+consumed with impatience and anxiety. Perhaps Agrippa had ruined his
+cause with the Emperor, he thought. Philip, his third brother, sovereign
+of Batania, was arming himself clandestinely. The Jews were becoming
+intolerant of the tetrarch's idolatries; he knew that many were weary of
+his rule; and he hesitated now between adopting one of two projects: to
+conciliate the Arabs and win back their allegiance, or to conclude
+an alliance with the Parthians. Under the pretext of celebrating his
+birthday, he had planned to bring together, at a grand banquet,
+the chiefs of his troops, the stewards of his domains, and the most
+important men from the region about Galilee.
+
+Antipas threw a keen glance along all the roads leading to Machaerus.
+They were deserted. Eagles were sweeping through the air high above his
+head; the soldiers of the guard, placed at intervals along the ramparts,
+slept or dozed, leaning against the walls; all was silent within the
+castle.
+
+Suddenly he heard the sound of a distant voice, seeming to come from
+the very depths of the earth. His cheek paled. After an instant's
+hesitation, he leaned far over the balcony railing, listening intently,
+but the voice had died away. Presently it rose again upon the quiet air;
+Antipas clapped his hands together loudly, crying: "Mannaeus! Mannaeus!"
+
+Instantly a man appeared, naked to the waist, after the fashion of a
+masseur at the bath. Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in years,
+he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in a bronze
+scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a kind of
+comb, exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His eyes were
+heavy with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was light on the
+flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape, although his
+countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
+
+"Where is he?" demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
+
+Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
+
+"Over there--still there!"
+
+"I thought I heard him cry out."
+
+And Antipas, after drawing a deep breath, asked for news of Iaokanann,
+afterwards known as St. John the Baptist. Had he been allowed to see the
+two men who had asked permission to visit his dungeon a few days before,
+and since that time, had any one discovered for what purpose the men
+desired to see him?
+
+"They exchanged some strange words with him," Mannaeus replied, "with
+the mysterious air of robbers conspiring at the cross-roads. Then they
+departed towards Upper Galilee, saying that they were the bearers of
+great tidings."
+
+Antipas bent his head for a moment; then raising it quickly, said in a
+tone full of alarm:
+
+"Guard him! watch him well! Do not allow any one else to see him. Keep
+the gates shut and the entrance to the dungeon closed fast. It must not
+even be suspected that he still lives!"
+
+Mannaeus had already attended to all these details, because Iaokanann
+was a Jew, and, like all the Samaritans, Mannaeus hated the Jews.
+
+Their temple on the Mount of Gerizim, which Moses had designed to be the
+centre of Israel, had been destroyed since the reign of King Hyrcanus;
+and the temple at Jerusalem made the Samaritans furious; they regarded
+its presence as an outrage against themselves, and a permanent
+injustice. Mannaeus, indeed, had forcibly entered it, for the purpose of
+defiling its altar with the bones of corpses. Several of his companions,
+less agile than he, had been caught and beheaded.
+
+From the tetrarch's balcony, the temple was visible through an opening
+between two hills. The sun, now fully risen, shed a dazzling splendour
+on its walls of snowy marble and the plates of purest gold that formed
+its roof. The structure shone like a luminous mountain, and its radiant
+purity indicated something almost superhuman, eclipsing even its
+suggestion of opulence and pride.
+
+Mannaeus stretched out his powerful arm towards Zion, and, with clenched
+fist and his great body drawn to its full height, he launched a bitter
+anathema at the city, with perfect faith that eventually his curse must
+be effective.
+
+Antipas listened, without appearing to be shocked at the strength of the
+invectives.
+
+When the Samaritan had become somewhat calmer, he returned to the
+subject of the prisoner.
+
+"Sometimes he grows excited," said he, "then he longs to escape or talks
+about a speedy deliverance. At other times he is as quiet as a sick
+animal, although I often find him pacing to and fro in his gloomy
+dungeon, murmuring, 'In order that His glory may increase, mine must
+diminish.'"
+
+Antipas and Mannaeus looked at each other a moment in silence. But the
+tetrarch was weary of pondering on this troublesome matter.
+
+The mountain peaks surrounding the palace, looking like great petrified
+waves, the black depths among the cliffs, the immensity of the blue sky,
+the rising sun, and the gloomy valley of the abyss, filled the soul of
+Antipas with a vague unrest; he felt an overwhelming sense of oppression
+at the sight of the desert, whose uneven piles of sand suggested
+crumbling amphitheaters or ruined palaces. The hot wind brought an odour
+of sulphur, as if it had rolled up from cities accursed and buried
+deeper than the river-bed of the slow-running Jordan.
+
+These aspects of nature, which seemed to his troubled fancy signs of
+the wrath of the gods, terrified him, and he leaned heavily against the
+balcony railing, his eyes fixed, his head resting upon his hands.
+
+Presently he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. He turned, and saw
+Herodias standing beside him. A purple robe enveloped her, falling to
+her sandaled feet. Having left her chamber hurriedly, she wore no jewels
+nor other ornaments. A thick tress of rippling black hair hung over her
+shoulder and hid itself in her bosom; her nostrils, a little too large
+for beauty, quivered with triumph, and her face was alight with joy. She
+gently shook the tetrarch's shoulder, and exclaimed exultantly:
+
+"Caesar is our friend! Agrippa has been imprisoned!"
+
+"Who told thee that?"
+
+"I know it!" she replied, adding: "It was because he coveted the crown
+of Caligula."
+
+While living upon the charity of Antipas and Herodias, Agrippa had
+intrigued to become king, a title for which the tetrarch was as eager as
+he. But if this news were true, no more was to be feared from Agrippa's
+scheming.
+
+"The dungeons of Tiberias are hard to open, and sometimes life itself is
+uncertain within their depths," said Herodias, with grim significance.
+
+Antipas understood her; and, although she was Agrippa's sister, her
+atrocious insinuation seemed entirely justifiable to the tetrarch.
+Murder and outrage were to be expected in the management of political
+intrigues; they were a part of the fatal inheritance of royal houses;
+and in the family of Herodias nothing was more common.
+
+Then she rapidly unfolded to the tetrarch the secrets of her recent
+undertakings, telling him how many men had been bribed, what letters had
+been intercepted, and the number of spies stationed at the city gates.
+She did not hesitate even to tell him of her success in an attempt to
+befool and seduce Eutyches the denunciator.
+
+"And why should I not?" she said; "it cost me nothing. For thee, my
+lord, have I not done more than that? Did I not even abandon my child?"
+
+After her divorce from Philip, she had indeed left her daughter in Rome,
+hoping that, as the wife of the tetrarch, she might bear other children.
+Until that moment she had never spoken to Antipas of her daughter. He
+asked himself the reason for this sudden display of tenderness.
+
+During their brief conversation several attendants had come out upon
+the balcony; one slave brought a quantity of large, soft cushions, and
+arranged them in a kind of temporary couch upon the floor behind his
+mistress. Herodias sank upon them, and turning her face away from
+Antipas, seemed to be weeping silently. After a few moments she dried
+her eyes, declared that she would dream no more, and that she was, in
+reality, perfectly happy. She reminded Antipas of their former long
+delightful interviews in the atrium; their meetings at the baths; their
+walks along the Sacred Way, and the sweet evening rendezvous at the
+villa, among the flowery groves, listening to the murmur of splashing
+fountains, within sight of the Roman Campagna. Her glances were as
+tender as in former days; she drew near to him, leaned against his
+breast and caressed him fondly.
+
+But he repelled her soft advances. The love she sought to rekindle had
+died long ago. He thought instead of all his misfortunes, and of the
+twelve long years during which the war had continued. Protracted anxiety
+had visibly aged the tetrarch. His shoulders were bent beneath his
+violet-bordered toga; his whitening locks were long and mingled with his
+beard, and the sunlight revealed many lines upon his brow, as well as
+upon that of Herodias. After the tetrarch's repulse of his wife's tender
+overtures, the pair gazed morosely at each other.
+
+The mountain paths began to show signs of life. Shepherds were driving
+their flocks to pasture; children urged heavy-laden donkeys along the
+roads; while grooms belonging to the palace led the horses to the river
+to drink. The wayfarers descending from the heights on the farther side
+of Machaerus disappeared behind the castle; others ascended from the
+valleys, and after arriving at the palace deposited their burdens in the
+courtyard. Many of these were purveyors to the tetrarch; others were the
+servants of his expected guests, arriving in advance of their masters.
+
+Suddenly, at the foot of the terrace on the left, an Essene appeared; he
+wore a white robe, his feet were bare, and his demeanour indicated that
+he was a follower of the Stoics. Mannaeus instantly rushed towards the
+stranger, drawing the cutlass that he wore upon his hip.
+
+"Kill him!" cried Herodias.
+
+"Do not touch him!" the tetrarch commanded.
+
+The two men stood motionless for an instant, then they descended the
+terrace, both taking a different direction, although they kept their
+eyes fixed upon each other.
+
+"I know that man," said Herodias, after they had disappeared. "His name
+is Phanuel, and he will try to seek out Iaokanann, since thou wert so
+foolish as to allow him to live."
+
+Antipas said that the man might some day be useful to them. His attacks
+upon Jerusalem would gain them the allegiance of the rest of the Jews.
+
+"No," said Herodias, "the Jews will accept any master, and are incapable
+of feeling any true patriotism." She added that, as for the man who was
+trying to influence the people with hopes cherished since the days of
+Nehemiah, the best policy was to suppress him.
+
+The tetrarch replied that there was no haste about the matter, and
+expressed his doubt that any real danger was to be feared from Iaokanann
+even affecting to laugh at the idea.
+
+"Do not deceive thyself!" exclaimed Herodias. And she retold the story
+of her humiliation one day when she was travelling towards Gilead, in
+order to purchase some of the balm for which that region was famous.
+
+"A multitude was standing on the banks of the stream, my lord; many
+of the people were putting on their raiment. Standing on a hillock, a
+strange man was speaking to the gathering. A camel's-skin was wrapped
+about his loins, and his head was like that of a lion. As soon as he saw
+me, he launched in my direction all the maledictions of the prophets.
+His eyes flamed, his voice shook, he raised his arms as if he would draw
+down lightning upon my head. I could not fly from him; the wheels of my
+chariot sank in the sand up to the middle; and I could only crawl along,
+hiding my head with my mantle, and frozen with terror at the curses that
+poured upon me like a storm from heaven!"
+
+Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man
+still existed poisoned her very life. When he had been seized and bound
+with cords, the soldiers were prepared to stab him if he resisted, but
+he had been quite gentle and obedient. After he had been thrown into
+prison some one had put venomous serpents into his dungeon, but strange
+to say, after a time they had died, leaving him uninjured. The inanity
+of such tricks exasperated Herodias. Besides, she inquired, why did
+this man make war upon her? What interest moved him to such actions? His
+injurious words to her, uttered before a throng of listeners, had been
+repeated and widely circulated; she heard them whispered everywhere.
+Against a legion of soldiers she would have been brave; but this
+mysterious influence, more pernicious and powerful than the sword, but
+impossible to grasp, was maddening! Herodias strode to and fro upon the
+terrace, white with rage, unable to find words to express the emotions
+that choked her.
+
+She had a haunting fear that the tetrarch might listen to public opinion
+after a time, and persuade himself it was his duty to repudiate her.
+Then, indeed, all would be lost! Since early youth she had cherished a
+dream that some day she would rule over a great empire. As an important
+step towards attaining this ambition, she had deserted Philip, her first
+husband, and married the tetrarch, who now she thought had duped her.
+
+"Ah! I found a powerful support, indeed, when I entered thy family!" she
+sneered.
+
+"It is at least the equal of thine," Antipas replied.
+
+Herodias felt the blood of the kings and priests, her ancestors, boiling
+in her veins.
+
+"Thy grandfather was a servile attendant upon the temple of Ascalon!"
+she went on, with fury. "Thy other ancestors were shepherds, bandits,
+conductors of caravans, a horde of slaves offered as tribute to King
+David! My forefathers were the conquerors of thine! The first of the
+Maccabees drove thy people out of Hebron; Hyrcanus forced them to be
+circumcised!" Then, with all the contempt of the patrician for the
+plebeian, the hatred of Jacob for Esau, she reproached him for his
+indifference towards palpable outrages to his dignity, his weakness
+regarding the Phoenicians, who had been false to him, and his cowardly
+attitude towards the people who detested and insulted herself.
+
+"But thou art like them!" she cried; "Dost regret the loss of the Arab
+girl who danced upon these very pavements? Take her back! Go and live
+with her--in her tent! Eat her bread, baked in the ashes! Drink curdled
+sheep's-milk! Kiss her dark cheeks--and forget me!"
+
+The tetrarch had already forgotten her presence, it appeared. He paid no
+further heed to her anger, but looked intently at a young girl who had
+just stepped out upon the balcony of a house not far away. At her side
+stood an elderly female slave, who held over the girl's head a kind of
+parasol with a handle made of long, slender reeds. In the middle of
+the rug spread upon the floor of the balcony stood a large open
+travelling-hamper or basket, and girdles, veils, head-dresses, and gold
+and silver ornaments were scattered about in confusion. At intervals
+the young girl took one object or another in her hands, and held it up
+admiringly. She was dressed in the costume of the Roman ladies, with a
+flowing tunic and a peplum ornamented with tassels of emeralds; and blue
+silken bands confined her hair, which seemed almost too luxuriant, since
+from time to time she raised a small hand to push back the heavy masses.
+The parasol half hid the maiden from the gaze of Antipas, but now and
+then he caught a glimpse of her delicate neck, her large eyes, or a
+fleeting smile upon her small mouth. He noted that her figure swayed
+about with a singularly elastic grace and elegance. He leaned forward,
+his eyes kindled, his breath quickened. All this was not lost upon
+Herodias, who watched him narrowly.
+
+"Who is that maiden?" the tetrarch asked at last.
+
+Herodias replied that she did not know, and her fierce demeanour
+suddenly changed to one of gentleness and amiability.
+
+At the entrance to the castle the tetrarch was awaited by several
+Galileans, the master of the scribes, the chief of the land stewards,
+the manager of the salt mines, and a Jew from Babylon, commanding his
+troops of horse. As the tetrarch approached the group, he was greeted
+with respectful enthusiasm. Acknowledging the acclamations with a grave
+salute, he entered the castle.
+
+As he proceeded along one of the corridors, Phanuel suddenly sprang from
+a corner and intercepted him.
+
+"What! Art thou still here?" said the tetrarch in displeasure. "Thou
+seekest Iaokanann, no doubt."
+
+"And thyself, my lord. I have something of great importance to tell
+thee."
+
+At a sign from Antipas, the Essene followed him into a somewhat dark and
+gloomy room.
+
+The daylight came faintly through a grated window. The walls were of a
+deep shade of crimson, so dark as to look almost black. At one end of
+the room stood an ebony bed, ornamented with bands of leather. A
+shield of gold, hanging at the head of the bed, shone like a sun in the
+obscurity of the apartment. Antipas crossed over to the couch and threw
+himself upon it in a half-reclining attitude, while Phanuel remained
+standing before him. Suddenly he raised one hand, and striking a
+commanding attitude said:
+
+"At times, my lord, the Most High sends a message to the people through
+one of His sons. Iaokanann is one of these. If thou oppress him, thou
+shalt be punished!"
+
+"But it is he that persecutes me!" exclaimed Antipas. "He asked me to do
+a thing that was impossible. Since then he has done nothing but revile
+me. And I was not severe with him when he began his abuse of me. But
+he had the hardihood to send various men from Machaerus to spread
+dissension and discontent throughout my domain. A curse upon him! Since
+he attacks me, I shall defend myself."
+
+"Without doubt, he has expressed his anger with too much violence,"
+Phanuel replied calmly. "But do not heed that further. He must be set
+free."
+
+"One does not let loose a furious animal," said the tetrarch.
+
+"Have no fear of him now," was the quick reply. "He will go straight to
+the Arabs, the Gauls, and the Scythians. His work must be extended to
+the uttermost ends of the earth."
+
+For a moment Antipas appeared lost in thought, as one who sees a vision.
+Then he said:
+
+"His power over men is indeed great. In spite of myself, I admire him!"
+
+"Then set him free!"
+
+But the tetrarch shook his head. He feared Herodias, Mannaeus, and
+unknown dangers.
+
+Phanuel tried to persuade him, promising, as a guaranty of the honesty
+of his projects, the submission of the Essenians to the King. These poor
+people, clad only in linen, untameable in spite of severe treatment,
+endowed with the power to divine the future by reading the stars, had
+succeeded in commanding a certain degree of respect.
+
+"What is the important matter thou wouldst communicate to me?" Antipas
+inquired, with sudden recollection.
+
+Before Phanuel could reply, a Negro entered the room in great haste. He
+was covered with dust, and panted so violently that he could scarcely
+utter the single word:
+
+"Vitellus!"
+
+"Has he arrived?" asked the tetrarch.
+
+"I have seen him, my lord. Within three hours he will be here."
+
+Throughout the palace, doors were opening and closing and portieres were
+swaying as if in a high wind, with the coming and going of many persons;
+there was a murmur of voices; sounds of the moving of heavy furniture
+could be heard, and the rattle of silver plates and dishes. From the
+highest tower a loud blast upon a conch summoned from far and near all
+the slaves belonging to the castle.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The ramparts were thronged with people when at last Vitellius entered
+the castle gates, leaning on the arm of his interpreter. Behind them
+came an imposing red litter, decorated with plumes and mirrors. The
+proconsul wore a toga ornamented with the laticlave, a broad purple band
+extending down the front of the garment, indicating his rank; and his
+feet were encased in the kind of buskins worn by consuls. A guard
+of lictors surrounded him. Against the wall they placed their twelve
+fasces--a bundle of sticks with an axe in the centre. And the populace
+trembled before the insignia of Roman majesty.
+
+The gorgeous litter, borne by eight men, came to a halt. From it
+descended a youth. He wore many pearls upon his fingers, but he had
+a protruding abdomen and his face was covered with pimples. A cup of
+aromatic wine was offered to him. He drank it, and asked for a second
+draught.
+
+The tetrarch had fallen upon his knees before the proconsul, saying that
+he was grieved beyond words not to have known sooner of the favour of
+his presence within those domains; had he been aware of the approach
+of his distinguished guest, he would have issued a command that every
+person along the route should place himself at the proconsul's orders.
+Of a surety, the proconsul's family was descended direct from the
+goddess Vitellia. A highway, leading from the Janiculum to the sea,
+still bore their name. Questors and consuls were innumerable in that
+great family; and as for the noble Lucius, now his honoured guest, it
+was the duty of the whole people to thank him, as the conqueror of
+the Cliti and the father of the young Aulus, now returning to his own
+domain, since the East was the country of the gods. These hyperboles
+were expressed in Latin, and Vitellius accepted them impassively.
+
+He replied that the great Herod was the honour and glory of the nation;
+that the Athenians had chosen him to direct the Olympian games; that
+he had built temples in the honour of Augustus; had been patient,
+ingenious, terrible; and was faithful to all the Caesars.
+
+Between the two marble columns, with bronze capitals, Herodias could now
+be seen advancing with the air of an empress, in the midst of a group
+of women and eunuchs carrying perfumed torches set in sockets of
+silver-gilt.
+
+The proconsul advanced three steps to meet her. She saluted him with an
+inclination of her head.
+
+"How fortunate," she exclaimed, "that henceforth Agrippa, the enemy of
+Tiberius, can work harm no longer!"
+
+Vitellius did not understand her allusion, but he thought her a
+dangerous woman. Antipas immediately declared that he was ready to do
+anything for the emperor.
+
+"Even to the injury of others?" Vitellius asked, significantly.
+
+He had taken hostages from the king of the Parthians, but the emperor
+had given no further thought to the matter, because Antipas, who had
+been present at the conference, had, in order to gain favour, sent off
+despatches bearing the news. From that time he had borne a profound
+hatred towards the emperor and had delayed in sending assistance to him.
+
+The tetrarch stammered in attempting to reply to the query of the
+proconsul. But Aulus laughed and said: "Do not be disturbed. I will
+protect thee!"
+
+The proconsul feigned not to hear this remark. The fortune of the father
+depended, in a way, on the corrupt influence of the son; and through him
+it was possible that Antipas might be able to procure for the proconsul
+very substantial benefits, although the glances that he cast about him
+were defiant, and even venomous.
+
+But now a new tumult arose just within the gates. A file of white mules
+entered the courtyard, mounted by men in priestly garb. These were the
+Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were drawn to Machaerus by the same
+ambition: the one party hoping to be appointed public sacrificers,
+the other determined to retain those offices. Their faces were dark,
+particularly those of the Pharisees, who were enemies of Rome and of the
+tetrarch. The flowing skirts of their tunics embarrassed their movements
+as they attempted to pass through the throng; and their tiaras sat
+unsteadily upon their brows, around which were bound small bands of
+parchment, showing lines of writing.
+
+Almost at the same moment, the soldiers of the advance guard arrived.
+Cloth coverings had been drawn over their glittering shields to
+protect them from the dust. Behind them came Marcellus, the proconsul's
+lieutenant, followed by the publicans, carrying their tablets of wood
+under their arms.
+
+Antipas named to Vitellius the principle personages surrounding them:
+Tolmai, Kanthera, Schon, Ammonius of Alexandria, who brought asphalt for
+Antipas; Naaman, captain of his troops of skirmishers, and Jacim, the
+Babylonian.
+
+Vitellius had noticed Mannaeus.
+
+"Who is that man?" he inquired.
+
+The tetrarch by a significant gesture indicated that Mannaeus was the
+executioner. He then presented the Sadducees to the proconsul's notice.
+
+Jonathas, a man of low stature, who spoke Greek, advanced with a firm
+step and begged that the great lord would honour Jerusalem with a visit.
+Vitellius replied that he should probably go to Jerusalem soon.
+
+Eleazar, who had a crooked nose and a long beard, put forth a claim, in
+behalf of the Pharisees, for the mantle of the high priest, held in the
+tower of Antonia by the civil authorities.
+
+Then the Galileans came forward and denounced Pontius Pilate. On one
+occasion, they said, a mad-man went seeking in a cave near Samaria for
+the golden vases that had belonged to King David, and Pontius Pilate
+had caused several inhabitants of that region to be executed. In their
+excitement all the Galileans spoke at once, Mannaeus's voice being heard
+above all others. Vitellius promised that the guilty ones should be
+punished.
+
+Fresh vociferations now broke out in front of the great gates, where
+the soldiers had hung their shields. Their coverings having now been
+removed, on each shield a carving of the head of Caesar could be seen
+on the umbo, or central knob. To the Jews, this seemed an evidence of
+nothing short of idolatry. Antipas harangued them, while Vitellius,
+who occupied a raised seat within the shadow of the colonnade, was
+astonished at their fury. Tiberius had done well, he thought, to exile
+four hundred of these people to Sardinia. Presently the Jews became so
+violent that he ordered the shields to be removed.
+
+Then the multitude surrounded the proconsul, imploring him to abolish
+certain unjust laws, asking for privileges, or begging for alms. They
+rent their clothing and jostled one another; and at last, in order to
+drive them back, several slaves, armed with long staves, charged upon
+them, striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their escape
+and descended to the road; others rushed in to take their place, so that
+two streams of human beings flowed in and out, compressed within the
+limits of the gateway.
+
+Vitellius demanded the reason for the assembling of so great a throng.
+Antipas explained that they had been invited to come to a feast in
+celebration of his birthday; and he pointed to several men who, leaning
+against the battlements, were hauling up immense basket-loads of food,
+fruits, vegetables, antelopes, and storks; large fish, of a brilliant
+shade of blue; grapes, melons, and pyramids of pomegranates. At this
+sight, Aulus left the courtyard and hastened to the kitchens, led by his
+taste for gormandizing, which later became the amazement of the world.
+
+As they passed the opening to a small cellar, Vitellius perceived some
+objects resembling breast-plates hanging on a wall. He looked at them
+with interest, and then demanded that the subterranean chambers of the
+fortress be thrown open for his inspection. These chambers were cut into
+the rocky foundation of the castle, and had been formed into vaults,
+with pillars set at regular distances. The first vault opened contained
+old armour; the second was full of pikes, with long points emerging from
+tufts of feathers. The walls of the third chamber were hung with a kind
+of tapestry made of slender reeds, laid in perpendicular rows. Those of
+the fourth were covered with scimitars. In the middle of the fifth cell,
+rows of helmets were seen, the crests of which looked like a battalion
+of fiery serpents. The sixth cell contained nothing but empty quivers;
+the seventh, greaves for protecting the legs in battle; the eighth
+vault was filled with bracelets and armlets; and an examination of the
+remaining vaults disclosed forks, grappling-irons, ladders, cords, even
+catapults, and bells for the necks of camels; and as they descended
+deeper into the rocky foundation, it became evident that the whole mass
+was a veritable honeycomb of cells, and that below those already seen
+were many others.
+
+Vitellius, Phineas, his interpreter, and Sisenna, chief of the
+publicans, walked among these gloomy cells, attended by three eunuchs
+bearing torches.
+
+In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could
+be seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers
+resembling the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in
+his castle munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
+
+He had accumulated these weapons in anticipation of an alliance against
+him among his enemies. But he bethought him that the proconsul might
+believe, or assert, that he had collected this armoury in order to
+attack the Romans; so he hastened to offer explanations of all that
+Vitellius had observed.
+
+Some of these things did not belong to him at all, he said: many of
+them were necessary to defend the place against brigands and marauders,
+especially the Arabs. Many of the objects in the vault had been the
+property of his father, and he had allowed them to remain untouched. As
+he spoke, he managed to get in advance of the proconsul and preceded
+him along the corridors with rapid steps. Presently he halted and stood
+close against the wall as the party came up; he spoke quickly, standing
+with his hands on his hips, so that his voluminous mantle covered a wide
+space of the wall behind him. But just above his head the top of a door
+was visible. Vitellius remarked it instantly, and demanded to know what
+it concealed.
+
+The tetrarch explained that the door was fastened, and that none could
+open it save the Babylonian, Jacim.
+
+"Summon him, then!" was the command.
+
+A slave was sent to find Jacim, while the group awaited his coming.
+
+The father of Jacim had come from the banks of the Euphrates to offer
+his services, as well as those of five hundred horsemen, in the defence
+of the eastern frontier. After the division of the kingdom, Jacim had
+lived for a time with Philip, and was now in the service of Antipas.
+
+Presently he appeared among the vaults, carrying an archer's bow on
+his shoulder and a whip in his hand. Cords of many colours were lashed
+tightly about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a
+sleeveless tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered
+with a heavy, curling beard.
+
+He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at first.
+But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly made the
+Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim immediately
+laid both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful shove;
+whereupon it quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
+
+A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
+descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived
+at the threshold of a kind of grotto, somewhat larger than the other
+subterranean cells.
+
+An arched window at the back of this chamber gave directly upon
+a precipice, which formed a defence for one side of the castle. A
+honeysuckle vine, cramped by the low-studded ceiling, blossomed bravely.
+The sound of a running stream could be heard distinctly. In this place
+was a great number of beautiful white horses, perhaps a hundred. They
+were eating barley from a plank placed on a level with their mouths.
+Their manes had been coloured a deep blue; their hoofs were wrapped in
+coverings of woven grass, and the hair between their ears was puffed out
+like a peruke. As they stood quietly eating, they switched their tails
+gently to and fro. The proconsul regarded them in silent admiration.
+
+They were indeed wonderful animals; supple as serpents, light as birds.
+They were trained to gallop rapidly, following the arrow of the rider,
+and dash into the midst of a group of the enemy, overturning men and
+biting them savagely as they fell. They were sure-footed among rocky
+passes, and would jump fearlessly over yawning chasms; and, while ready
+to gallop across the plains a whole day without tiring, they would stop
+instantly at the command of the rider.
+
+As soon as Jacim entered their quarters, they trotted up to him, as
+sheep crowd around the shepherd; and, thrusting forward their sleek
+necks, they looked at him with a gaze like that of inquiring children.
+From force of habit, he emitted a raucous cry, which excited them; they
+pranced about, impatient at their confinement and longing to run.
+
+Antipas, fearing that if Vitellius knew of the existence of these
+creatures, he would take them away, had shut them up in this place, made
+especially to accommodate animals in case of siege.
+
+"This close confinement cannot be good for them," said Vitellius, "and
+there is a risk of losing them by keeping them here. Make an inventory
+of their number, Sisenna."
+
+The publican drew a writing-tablet from the folds of his robe, counted
+the horses, and recorded the number carefully.
+
+It was the habit of the agents of the fiscal companies to corrupt the
+governors in order to pillage the provinces. Sisenna was among the most
+flourishing of these agents, and was seen everywhere with his claw-like
+fingers and his eyelids continually blinking.
+
+After a time the party returned to the court. Heavy, round bronze lids,
+sunk in the stones of the pavement, covered the cisterns of the palace.
+Vitellius noticed that one of these was larger than the others, and that
+when struck by his foot it had not their sonority. He struck them all,
+one after another; then stamped upon the ground and shouted:
+
+"I have found it! I have found the buried treasure of Herod!"
+
+Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
+
+The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
+
+"What is concealed there, then?" the proconsul demanded.
+
+"Nothing--that is, only a man--a prisoner."
+
+"Show him to me!"
+
+The tetrarch hesitated to obey, fearing that the Jews would discover his
+secret. His reluctance to lift the cover made Vitellius impatient.
+
+"Break it in!" he cried to his lictors. Mannaeus heard the command, and,
+seeing a lictor step forward armed with a hatchet, he feared that the
+man intended to behead Iaokanann. He stayed the hand of the lictor after
+the first blow, and then slipped between the heavy lid and the pavement
+a kind of hook. He braced his long, lean arms, raised the cover slowly,
+and in a moment it lay flat upon the stones. The bystanders admired the
+strength of the old man.
+
+Under the bronze lid was a wooden trap-door of the same size. At a blow
+of the fist it folded back, allowing a wide hole to be seen, the mouth
+of an immense pit, with a flight of winding steps leading down into the
+darkness. Those that bent over to peer into the cavern beheld a vague
+and terrifying shape in its depths.
+
+This proved to be a human being, lying on the ground. His long locks
+hung over a camel's-hair robe that covered his shoulders. Slowly he rose
+to his feet. His head touched a grating embedded in the wall; and as
+he moved about he disappeared, from time to time, in the shadows of his
+dungeon.
+
+The rich tiaras of the Romans sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight, and
+their glittering sword-hilts threw out glancing golden rays. The doves,
+flying from their cotes, circled above the heads of the multitude.
+It was the hour when Mannaeus was accustomed to feed them. But now he
+crouched beside the tetrarch, who stood near Vitellius. The Galileans,
+the priests, and the soldiers formed a group behind them; all were
+silent, waiting with painful anticipation for what might happen.
+
+A deep groan, hollow and startling, rose from the pit.
+
+Herodias heard it from the farther end of the palace. Drawn by an
+irresistible though terrible fascination, she made her way through the
+throng, and, reaching Mannaeus, she leant one hand on his shoulder and
+bent over to listen.
+
+The hollow voice rose again from the depths of the earth.
+
+"Woe to thee, Sadducees and Pharisees! Thy voices are like the tinkling
+of cymbals! O race of vipers, bursting with pride!"
+
+The voice of Iaokanann was recognised. His name was whispered about.
+Spectators from a distance pressed closer to the open pit.
+
+"Woe to thee, O people! Woe to the traitors of Judah, and to the
+drunkards of Ephraim, who dwelt in the fertile valleys and stagger with
+the fumes of wine!
+
+"May they disappear like running water; like the slug that sinks into
+the sand as it moves; like an abortion that never sees the light!
+
+"And thou too, Moab! hide thyself in the midst of the cypress, like the
+sparrow; in caverns, like the wild hare! The gates of the fortress shall
+be crushed more easily than nut-shells; the walls shall crumble; cities
+shall burn; and the scourge of God shall not cease! He shall cause your
+bodies to be bathed in your own blood, like wool in the dyer's vat. He
+shall rend you, as with a harrow; He shall scatter the remains of your
+bodies from the tops of the mountains!"
+
+Of which conqueror was he speaking? Was it Vitellius? Only the Romans
+could bring about such an extermination. The people began to cry out:
+"Enough! enough! let him speak no more!"
+
+But the prisoner continued in louder tones:
+
+"Beside the corpses of their mothers, thy little ones shall drag
+themselves over the ashes of the burned cities. At night men will creep
+from their hiding-places to seek a bit of food among the ruins, even at
+the risk of being cut down with the sword. Jackals shall pick thy bones
+in the public places, where at eventide the fathers were wont to gather.
+At the bidding of Gentiles, thy maidens shall be forced to cease their
+lamentations and to make music upon the zither, and the bravest of thy
+sons shall learn to bend their backs, chafed with heavy burdens."
+
+The listeners remembered the days of exile, and all the misfortunes and
+catastrophes of the past. These words were like the anathemas of the
+ancient prophets. The captive thundered them forth like bolts from
+heaven.
+
+Presently his voice became almost as sweet and harmonious as if he
+were uttering a chant. He spoke of the world's redemption from sin
+and sorrow; of the glories of heaven; of gold in place of clay; of the
+desert blossoming like the rose. "That which is now worth sixty pieces
+of silver will not cost a single obol. Fountains of milk shall spring
+from the rocks; men shall sleep, well satisfied, among the wine-presses.
+The people shall prostrate themselves before Thee, and Thy reign shall
+be eternal, O Son of David!"
+
+The tetrarch suddenly recoiled from the opening of the pit; the mention
+of the existence of a son of David seemed to him like a menace to
+himself.
+
+Iaokanann then poured forth invectives against him for presuming to
+aspire to royalty.
+
+"There is no other king than the Eternal God!" he cried; and he cursed
+Antipas for his luxurious gardens, his statues, his furniture of carved
+ivory and precious woods, comparing him to the impious Ahab.
+
+Antipas broke the slender cord attached to the royal seal that he wore
+around his neck, and throwing the seal into the pit, he commanded his
+prisoner to be silent.
+
+But Iaokanann replied: "I shall cry aloud like a savage bear, like the
+wild ass, like a woman in travail! The punishment of heaven has already
+visited itself upon thy incest! May God inflict thee with the sterility
+of mules!"
+
+At these words, a sound of suppressed laughter arose here and there
+among the listeners.
+
+Vitellius had remained close to the opening of the dungeon while
+Iaokanann was speaking. His interpreter, in impassive tones, translated
+into the Roman tongue all the threats and invectives that rolled up
+from the depths of the gloomy prison. The tetrarch and Herodias felt
+compelled to remain near at hand. Antipas listened, breathing heavily;
+while the woman, with parted lips, gazed into the darkness of the pit,
+her face drawn with an expression of fear and hatred.
+
+The terrible man now turned towards her. He grasped the bars of his
+prison, pressed against them his bearded face, in which his eyes glowed
+like burning coals, and cried:
+
+"Ah! Is it thou, Jezebel? Thou hast captured thy lord's heart with the
+tinkling of thy feet. Thou didst neigh to him like a mare. Thou
+didst prepare thy bed on the mountain top, in order to accomplish thy
+sacrifices!
+
+"The Lord shall take from thee thy sparkling jewels, thy purple robes
+and fine linen; the bracelets from thine arms, the anklets from thy
+feet; the golden ornaments that dangle upon thy brow, thy mirrors of
+polished silver, thy fans of ostrich plumes, thy shoes with their heels
+of mother-of-pearl, that serve to increase thy stature; thy glittering
+diamonds, the scent of thy hair, the tint of thy nails,--all the
+artifices of thy coquetry shall disappear, and missiles shall be found
+wherewith to stone the adulteress!"
+
+Herodias looked around for some one to defend her. The Pharisees lowered
+their eyes hypocritically. The Sadducees turned away their heads,
+fearing to offend the proconsul should they appear to sympathise with
+her. Antipas was almost in a swoon.
+
+Louder still rose the voice from the dungeon; the neighbouring hills
+gave back an echo with startling effect, and Machaerus seemed actually
+surrounded and showered with curses.
+
+"Prostrate thyself in the dust, daughter of Babylon, and scourge
+thyself! Remove thy girdle and thy shoes, gather up thy garments and
+walk through the flowing stream; thy shame shall follow thee, thy
+disgrace shall be known to all men, thy bosom shall be rent with sobs.
+God execrates the stench of thy crimes! Accursed one! die like a dog!"
+
+At that instant the trap-door was suddenly shut down and secured by
+Mannaeus, who would have liked to strangle Iaokanann then and there.
+
+Herodias glided away and disappeared within the palace. The Pharisees
+were scandalised at what they had heard. Antipas, standing among
+them, attempted to justify his past conduct and to excuse his present
+situation.
+
+"Without doubt," said Eleazar, "it was necessary for him to marry his
+brother's wife; but Herodias was not a widow, and besides, she had a
+child, which she abandoned; and that was an abomination."
+
+"You are wrong," objected Jonathas the Sadducee; "the law condemns such
+marriages but does not actually forbid them."
+
+"What matters it? All the world shows me injustice," said Antipas,
+bitterly; "and why? Did not Absalom lie with his father's wives, Judah
+with his daughter-in-law, Ammon with his sister, and Lot with his
+daughters?"
+
+Aulus, who had been reposing within the palace, now reappeared in the
+court. After he had heard how matters stood, he approved of the attitude
+of the tetrarch. "A man should never allow himself to be annoyed," said
+he, "by such foolish criticism." And he laughed at the censure of the
+priests and the fury of Iaokanann, saying that his words were of little
+importance.
+
+Herodias, who also had reappeared, and now stood at the top of a flight
+of steps, called loudly:
+
+"You are wrong, my lord! He ordered the people to refuse to pay the
+tax!"
+
+"Is that true?" he demanded. The general response was affirmative,
+Antipas adding his word to the declaration of the others.
+
+Vitellius had a misgiving that the prisoner might be able to escape;
+and as the conduct of Antipas appeared to him rather suspicious, he
+established his own sentinels at the gates, at intervals along the
+walls, and in the courtyard itself.
+
+At last he retired to the apartments assigned to him, accompanied by
+the priests. Without touching directly upon the question of the coveted
+offices of public sacrificers, each one laid his own grievances before
+the proconsul. They fairly beset him with complaints and requests, but
+he soon dismissed them from his presence.
+
+As Jonathas left the proconsul's apartments he perceived Antipas
+standing under an arch, talking to an Essene, who wore a long white robe
+and flowing locks. Jonathas regretted that he had raised his voice in
+defence of the tetrarch.
+
+One thought now consoled Herod-Antipas. He was no longer personally
+responsible for the fate of Iaokanann. The Romans had assumed that
+charge. What a relief! He had noticed Phanuel pacing slowly through
+the court, and calling him to his side, he pointed put the guards
+established by Vitellius, saying:
+
+"They are stronger than I! I cannot now set the prisoner free! It is not
+my fault if he remains in his dungeon."
+
+The courtyard was empty. The slaves were sleeping. The day was drawing
+to a close, and the sunset spread a deep rosy glow over the horizon,
+against which the smallest objects stood out like silhouettes. Antipas
+was able to distinguish the excavations of the salt-mines at the farther
+end of the Dead Sea, but the tents of the Arabs were no longer visible.
+As the moon rose, the effect of the day's excitement passed away, and a
+feeling of peace entered his heart.
+
+Phanuel, also wearied by the recent agitating scenes, remained beside
+the tetrarch. He sat in silence for some time, his chin resting on his
+breast. At last he spoke in confidence to Antipas, and revealed what he
+had wished to say.
+
+From the beginning of the month, he said, he had been studying the
+heavens every morning before daybreak, when the constellation of Perseus
+was at the zenith; Agalah was scarcely visible; Algol was even less
+bright; Mira-Cetus had disappeared entirely; from all of which he
+augured the death of some man of great importance, to occur that very
+night in Machaerus.
+
+Who was the man? Vitellius was too closely guarded to be reached. No one
+would kill Iaokanann.
+
+"It is I!" thought the tetrarch.
+
+It might be that the Arabs would return and make a successful attack
+upon him. Perhaps the proconsul would discover his relations with the
+Parthians. Several men whom Antipas had recognised as hired assassins
+from Jerusalem, had escorted the priests in the train of the proconsul;
+they all carried daggers concealed beneath their robes. The tetrarch had
+no doubt whatever of the exactness of Phanuel's skill in astrology.
+
+Suddenly he bethought him of Herodias. He would consult her. He hated
+her, certainly, but she might give him courage; and besides, in spite
+of his dislike, not all the bonds were yet broken of that sorcery which
+once she had woven about him.
+
+When he entered her chamber, he was met by the pungent odour of cinnamon
+burning in a porphyry vase and the perfume of powders, unguents,
+cloud-like gauzes and embroideries light as feathers, filled the air
+with fragrance.
+
+He did not speak of Phanuel's prophecy, nor of his own fear of the Jews
+and the Arabs. Herodias had already accused him of cowardice. He spoke
+only of the Romans, and complained that Vitellius had not confided to
+him any of his military projects. He said he supposed the proconsul
+was the friend of Caligula, who often visited Agrippa; and expressed
+a surmise that he himself might be exiled, or that perhaps his throat
+would be cut.
+
+Herodias, who now treated him with a kind of disdainful indulgence,
+tried to reassure him. At last she took from a small casket a curious
+medallion, ornamented with a profile of Tiberius. The sight of it, she
+said, as she gave it to Antipas, would make the lictors turn pale and
+silence all accusing voices.
+
+Antipas, filled with gratitude, asked her how the medallion had come
+into her possession.
+
+"It was given to me," was her only answer.
+
+At that moment Antipas beheld a bare arm slipping through a portiere
+hanging in front of him. It was the arm of a youthful woman, as graceful
+in outline as if carved from ivory by Polyclitus. With a movement a
+little awkward and at the same time charming, it felt about the wall an
+instant, as if seeking something, then took down a tunic hanging upon a
+hook near the doorway, and disappeared.
+
+An elderly female attendant passed quietly through the room, lifted the
+portiere, and went out. A sudden recollection pierced the memory of the
+tetrarch.
+
+"Is that woman one of thy slaves?" he asked.
+
+"What matters that to thee?" was the disdainful reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The great banqueting-hall was filled with guests. This apartment
+had three naves, like a basilica, which were separated by columns of
+sandalwood, whose capitals were of sculptured bonze. On each side of the
+apartment was a gallery for spectators, and a third, with a facade of
+gold filigree, was at one end, opposite an immense arch at the other.
+
+The candelabra burning on the tables, which were spread the whole length
+of the banqueting-hall, glowed like clusters of flaming flowers among
+the painted cups, the plates of shining copper, the cubes of snow and
+heaps of luscious grapes. Through the large windows the guests could
+see lighted torches on the terraces of the neighbouring houses; for this
+night Antipas was giving a feast to his friends, his own people, and to
+anyone that presented himself at the castle.
+
+The slaves, alert as dogs, glided about noiselessly in felt sandals,
+carrying dishes to and fro.
+
+The table of the proconsul was placed beneath the gilded balcony upon a
+platform of sycamore wood. Rich tapestries from Babylon were hung about
+the pavilion, giving a certain effect of seclusion.
+
+Upon three ivory couches, one facing the great hall, and the other two
+placed one on either side of the pavilion, reclined Vitellius, his son
+Aulus, and Antipas; the proconsul being near the door, at the left,
+Aulus on the right, the tetrarch occupying the middle couch.
+
+Antipas wore a heavy black mantle, the texture of which was almost
+hidden by coloured embroideries and glittering decorations; his beard
+was spread out like a fan; blue powder had been scattered over his hair,
+and on his head rested a diadem covered with precious stones. Vitellius
+still wore the purple band, the emblem of his rank, crossed diagonally
+over a linen toga.
+
+Aulus had tied behind his back the sleeves of his violet robe,
+embroidered with silver. His clustering curls were laid in carefully
+arranged rows; a necklace of sapphires gleamed against his throat, plump
+and white as that of a woman. Crouched upon a rug near him, with legs
+crossed was a pretty white boy, upon whose face shone a perpetual smile.
+Aulus had found him somewhere among the kitchens and had taken a violent
+fancy to him. He had made the child one of his suite, but as he never
+could remember his protege's Chaldean name, called him simply "the
+Asiatic." From time to time the little fellow sprang up and played about
+the dining-table, and his antics appeared to amuse the guests.
+
+At one side of the tetrarch's pavilion were the tables at which
+were seated his priests and officers; also a number of persons from
+Jerusalem, and the more important men from the Grecian cities. At the
+table on the left of the proconsul sat Marcellus with the publicans,
+several friends of the tetrarch, and various representatives from Cana,
+Ptolemais, and Jericho. Seated at other tables were mountaineers from
+Liban and many of the old soldiers of Herod's army; a dozen Thracians,
+a Greek and two Germans; besides huntsmen and herdsmen, the Sultan of
+Palmyra, and sailors from Eziongaber. Before each guest was placed a
+roll of soft bread, upon which to wipe the fingers. As soon as they
+were seated, hands were stretched out with the eagerness of a vulture's
+claws, seizing upon olives, pistachios, and almonds. Every face was
+joyous, every head was crowned with flowers, except those of the
+Pharisees, who refused to wear the wreaths, regarding them as a symbol
+of Roman voluptuousness and vice. They shuddered when the attendants
+sprinkled them with galburnum and incense, the use of which the
+Pharisees reserved strictly for services in the Temple.
+
+Antipas observed that Aulus rubbed himself under the arms, as if annoyed
+by heat or chafing; and promised to give him three flasks of the same
+kind of precious balm that had been used by Cleopatra.
+
+A captain from the garrison of Tiberias who had just arrived, placed
+himself behind the tetrarch as protection in case any unexpected trouble
+should arise. But his attention was divided between observing the
+movements of the proconsul and listening to the conversation of his
+neighbours.
+
+There was, naturally, much talk of Iaokanann, and other men of his
+stamp.
+
+"It is said," remarked one of the guests, "that Simon of Gitta washed
+away his sins in fire. And a certain man called Jesus--"
+
+"He is the worst of them all!" interrupted Eleazar. "A miserable
+imposter!"
+
+At this a man sprang up from a table near the tetrarch's pavilion, and
+made his way towards the place where Eleazar sat. His face was almost as
+pale as his linen robe, but he addressed the Pharisees boldly, saying:
+"That is a lie! Jesus has performed miracles!"
+
+Antipas expressed a long-cherished desire to see the man Jesus perform
+some of his so-called miracles. "You should have brought him with you,"
+he said to the last speaker, who was still standing. "Tell us what you
+know about him," he commanded.
+
+Then the stranger said that he himself, whose name was Jacob, having a
+daughter who was very ill, had gone to Capernaum to implore the Master
+to heal his child. The Master had answered him, saying: "Return to thy
+home: she is healed!" And he had found his daughter standing at the
+threshold of his house, having risen from her couch when the gnomon had
+marked the third hour, the same moment when he had made his supplication
+to Jesus.
+
+The Pharisees admitted that certain mysterious arts and powerful herbs
+existed that would heal the sick. It was said that the marvellous plant
+known as "baaras" grew even in Machaerus, the power of which rendered
+its consumer invulnerable against all attacks; but to cure disease
+without seeing or touching the afflicted person was clearly impossible,
+unless, indeed, the man Jesus called in the assistance of evil spirits.
+
+The friends of Antipas and the men from Galilee nodded wisely, saying:
+"It is evident that he is aided by demons of some sort!"
+
+Jacob, standing between their table and that of the priests, maintained
+a silence at once lofty and respectful.
+
+Several voices exclaimed: "Prove his power to us!"
+
+Jacob leaned over the priests' table, and said slowly, in a
+half-suppressed tone, as if awe-struck by his own words:
+
+"Know ye not, then, that He is the Messiah?"
+
+The priests stared at one another, and Vitellius demanded the meaning of
+the word. His interpreter paused a moment before translating it. Then
+he said that Messiah was the name to be given to one who was to come,
+bringing the enjoyment of all blessings, and giving them domination over
+all the peoples of the earth. Certain persons believed that there were
+to be two Messiahs; one would be vanquished by Gog and Magog, the demons
+of the North; but the other would exterminate the Prince of Evil; and
+for centuries the coming of this Saviour of mankind had been expected at
+any moment.
+
+At this, the priests began to talk in low tones among themselves.
+Eleazar addressed Jacob, saying that it had always been understood that
+the Messiah would be a son of David, not of a carpenter; and that he
+would confirm the law, whereas this Nazarene attacked it. Furthermore,
+as a still stronger argument against the pretender, it had been promised
+that the Messiah should be preceded by Elias.
+
+"But Elias has come!" Jacob answered.
+
+"Elias! Elias!" was repeated from one end of the banqueting-hall to the
+other.
+
+In imagination, all fancied that they could see an old man, a flight
+of ravens above his head, standing before an altar, which a flash of
+lightning illumined, revealing the idolatrous priests that were thrown
+into the torrent; and the women, sitting in the galleries, thought of
+the widow of Sarepta.
+
+Jacob then declared that he knew Elias; that he had seen him, and that
+many of the guests there assembled had seen him!
+
+"His name!" was the cry from all lips.
+
+"Iaokanann!"
+
+Antipas fell back in his chair as if a heavy blow had struck him on the
+breast. The Sadducees rose from their seats and rushed towards Jacob.
+Eleazar raised his voice to a shout in order to make himself heard. When
+order was finally restored, he draped his mantle about his shoulders,
+and, with the air of a judge, proceeded to put questions to Jacob.
+
+"Since the prophet is dead--" he began.
+
+Murmurs interrupted him. Many persons believed that Elias was not dead,
+but had only disappeared.
+
+Eleazar rebuked those who had interrupted him; and continuing, asked:
+
+"And dost thou believe that he has indeed come to life again?"
+
+"Why should I not believe it?" Jacob replied.
+
+The Sadducees shrugged their shoulders. Jonathas, opening wide his
+little eyes, gave a forced, buffoon-like laugh. Nothing could be more
+absurd, said he, than the idea that a human body could have eternal
+life; and he declaimed, for the benefit of the proconsul, this line from
+a contemporaneous poet:
+
+Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.
+
+By this time Aulus was leaning over the side of the pavilion, with pale
+face, a perspiring brow, and both hands outspread on his stomach.
+
+The Sadducees pretended to be deeply moved at the sight of his
+suffering, thinking that perhaps the next day the offices of sacrificers
+would be theirs. Antipas appeared to be in despair at his guest's agony.
+Vitellius preserved a calm demeanour, although he felt some anxiety, for
+the loss of his son would mean the loss of his fortune.
+
+But Aulus, quickly recovering after he had relieved his over-burdened
+stomach, was as eager to eat as before.
+
+"Let some one bring me marble-dust," he commanded, "or clay of Naxos,
+sea-water--anything! Perhaps it would do me good to bathe."
+
+He swallowed a quantity of snow; then hesitated between a ragout and a
+dish of blackbirds; and finally decided in favour of gourds served
+in honey. The little Asiatic gazed at his master in astonishment and
+admiration; to him this exhibition of gluttony denoted a wonderful being
+belonging to a superior race.
+
+The feast went on. Slaves served the guests with kidneys, dormice,
+nightingales, mince-meat dressed with vine-leaves. The priests
+discoursed among themselves regarding the supposed resurrection.
+Ammonius, pupil of Philon, the Platonist, pronounced them stupid, and
+told the Greeks that he laughed at their oracles.
+
+Marcellus and Jacob were seated side by side. Marcellus described the
+happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithra, and Jacob made him
+promise to become a follower of Jesus.
+
+The wines of the palm and the tamarisk, those of Safed and of Byblos,
+ran from the amphoras into the crateras, from the crateras into the
+cups, and from the cups down the guests' throats. Every one talked, all
+hearts expanding under the good cheer. Jacim, although a Jew, did not
+hesitate to express his admiration of the planets. A merchant from
+Aphaka amazed the nomads with his description of the marvels in the
+temple of Hierapolis; and they wished to know the cost of a pilgrimage
+to that place. Others held fast to the principles of their native
+religion. A German, who was nearly blind, sang a hymn celebrating that
+promontory in Scandinavia where the gods were wont to appear with halos
+around their heads. The people from Sichem declined to eat turtles, out
+of deference to the dove Azima.
+
+Several groups stood talking near the middle of the banqueting-hall,
+and the vapour of their breath, mingled with the smoke from the candles,
+formed a light mist. Presently Phanuel slipped quietly into the room,
+keeping close to the wall. He had been out in the open courtyard, to
+make another survey of the heavens. He stopped when he reached the
+pavilion of the tetrarch, fearing he would be splashed with drops of oil
+if he approached the other tables, which, to an Essene, would be a great
+defilement.
+
+Suddenly violent blows resounded upon the castle gates. The news of the
+imprisonment of Iaokanann had spread rapidly, and now it appeared that
+the whole surrounding population was flocking to the castle. Men with
+torches were hastening along the roads in all directions; a black mass
+of people swarmed in the ravine; and from all throats came the cry:
+"Iaokanann! Iaokanann!"
+
+"That man will ruin everything," said Jonathas.
+
+"We shall have no more money if this continues," said the Pharisees.
+
+Accusations, recriminations, and pleadings were heard on all sides.
+
+"Protect us!"
+
+"Compel them to cease!"
+
+"Thou didst abandon thy religion!"
+
+"Impious as all the Herods!"
+
+"Less impious than thou!" Antipas retorted. "Was it not my father that
+erected thy Temple?"
+
+Then the Pharisees, children of the proscribed tribes, partisans of
+Mattathias, accused the tetrarch of all the crimes committed by his
+family.
+
+The Pharisees had pointed skulls, bristling beards, feeble hands, snub
+noses, great round eyes, and their countenances bore a resemblance to
+that of a bull-dog. A dozen of these people, scribes and attendants upon
+the priests, who picked up their living from the refuse of holocausts,
+rushed to the foot of the pavilion and threatened Antipas with their
+knives. He attempted to speak to them, being only slightly protected by
+some of the Sadducees. Suddenly he perceived Mannaeus at a distance and
+made him a sign to approach. The expression on the face of Vitellius
+indicated that he regarded all this turmoil as no concern of his.
+
+The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside themselves
+with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon the floor.
+The attendants had served them with a ragout composed of the flesh of
+the wild ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no bounds. Aulus
+rallied them jeeringly apropos of the ass's head, which he declared they
+honoured. He flung other sarcasms at them, regarding their antipathy to
+the flesh of swine, intimating that no doubt their hatred arose from the
+fact that that beast had killed their beloved Bacchus, and saying it was
+to be feared they were too fond of wine, since a golden vine had been
+discovered in the Temple.
+
+The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
+origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the
+more so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had
+disappeared. The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes
+were vulgar, and not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings.
+After a time his displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of
+Syrian lambs' tails, dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
+
+To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
+like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and
+he recalled the stories he had heard of the mysterious Jew who fattened
+small children and offered them as a sacrifice. His Latin nature was
+filled with disgust at their intolerance, their iconoclastic rage, their
+brutal, stumbling bearing. The proconsul wished to depart, but Aulus
+refused to accompany him.
+
+The exaltation of the people increased. They abandoned themselves to
+dreams of independence. They recalled the glory of Israel, and a Syrian
+spoke of all the great conquerors they had vanquished,--Antigone,
+Crassus, Varus.
+
+"Miserable creatures!" cried the enraged proconsul, who had overheard
+the Syrian's words.
+
+In the midst of the uproar Antipas remembered the medallion of the
+emperor that Herodias had given to him; he drew it forth and looked at
+it a moment, trembling, then held it up with its face turned towards the
+throng.
+
+At the same moment, the panels of the gold-railed balcony were folded
+back, and, accompanied by slaves bearing wax tapers, Herodias appeared,
+her coiffure crowned with an Assyrian mitre, which was held in place
+by a band passing under the chin. Her dark hair fell in ringlets over a
+scarlet peplum with slashed sleeves. On either side of the door through
+which one stepped into the gallery, stood a huge stone monster, like
+those of Atrides; and as Herodias appeared between them, she looked
+like Cybele supported by her lions. In her hands she carried a patera,
+a shallow vessel of silver used by the Romans in pouring libations;
+and, advancing to the front of the balcony and pausing just above the
+tetrarch's chair, she cried:
+
+"Long live Caesar!"
+
+This homage was repeated by Vitellius, Antipas, and the priests.
+
+But now, beginning at the farthest end of the banqueting-hall, a murmur
+of surprise and admiration swept through the multitude. A beautiful
+young girl had just entered the apartment, and stood motionless for an
+instant, while all eyes were turned upon her.
+
+Through a drapery of filmy blue gauze that veiled her head and
+throat, her arched eyebrows, tiny ears, and ivory-white skin could be
+distinguished. A scarf of shot-silk fell from her shoulders, and was
+caught up at the waist by a girdle of fretted silver. Her full trousers,
+of black silk, were embroidered in a pattern of silver mandragoras, and
+as she moved forward with indolent grace, her little feet were seen to
+be shod with slippers made of the feathers of humming-birds.
+
+When she arrived in front of the pavilion she removed her veil. Behold!
+she seemed to be Herodias herself, as she had appeared in the days of
+her blooming youth.
+
+Immediately the damsel began to dance before the tetrarch. Her slender
+feet took dainty steps to the rhythm of a flute and a pair of Indian
+bells. Her round white arms seemed ever beckoning and striving to
+entice to her side some youth who was fleeing from her allurements. She
+appeared to pursue him, with movements light as a butterfly; her whole
+mien was like that of an inquisitive Psyche, or a floating spirit that
+might at any moment dissolve and disappear.
+
+Presently the plaintive notes of the gingras, a small flute of
+Phoenician origin, replaced the tinkling bells. The attitudes of the
+dancing nymph now denoted overpowering lassitude. Her bosom heaved with
+sighs, and her whole being expressed profound languor, although it was
+not clear whether she sighed for an absent swain or was expiring of love
+in his embrace. With half-closed eyes and quivering form, she caused
+mysterious undulations to flow downward over her whole body, like
+rippling waves, while her face remained impassive and her twinkling feet
+still moved in their intricate steps.
+
+Vitellius compared her to Mnester, the famous pantomimist. Aulus was
+overcome with faintness. The tetrarch watched her, lost in a voluptuous
+reverie, and thought no more of the real Herodias. In fancy he saw her
+again as she appeared when she had dwelt among the Sadducees. Then the
+vision faded.
+
+But this beautiful thing before him was no vision. The dancer was
+Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who for many months her mother had
+caused to be instructed in dancing, and other arts of pleasing, with
+the sole idea of bringing her to Machaerus and presenting her to the
+tetrarch, so that he should fall in love with her fresh young beauty
+and feminine wiles. The plan had proved successful, it seemed; he was
+evidently fascinated, and Herodias felt that at last she was sure of
+retaining her power over him!
+
+And now the graceful dancer appeared transported with the very delirium
+of love and passion. She danced like the priestesses of India, like the
+Nubians of the cataracts, or like the Bacchantes of Lydia. She whirled
+about like a flower blown by the tempest. The jewels in her ears
+sparkled, her swift movements made the colours of her draperies appear
+to run into one another. Her arms, her feet, her clothing even, seemed
+to emit streams of magnetism, that set the spectators' blood on fire.
+
+Suddenly the thrilling chords of a harp rang through the hall, and the
+throng burst into loud acclamations. All eyes were fixed on Salome, who
+paused in her rhythmic dance, placed her feet wide apart, and without
+bending the knees, suddenly swayed her lithe body downward, so that her
+chin touched the floor; and her whole audience,--the nomads, accustomed
+to a life of privation and abstinence, the Roman soldiers, expert in
+debaucheries, the avaricious publicans, and even the crabbed, elderly
+priests--gazed upon her with dilated nostrils.
+
+Next she began to whirl frantically around the table where Antipas the
+tetrarch was seated. He leaned towards the flying figure, and in a voice
+half choked with the voluptuous sighs of a mad desire, he sighed: "Come
+to me! Come!" But she whirled on, while the music of dulcimers swelled
+louder and the excited spectators roared their applause.
+
+The tetrarch called again, louder than before: "Come to me! Come! Thou
+shalt have Capernaum, the plains of Tiberias! my citadels! yea, the half
+of my kingdom!"
+
+Again the dancer paused; then, like a flash, she threw herself upon the
+palms of her hands, while her feet rose straight up into the air. In
+this bizarre pose she moved about upon the floor like a gigantic beetle;
+then stood motionless.
+
+The nape of her neck formed a right angle with her vertebrae. The full
+silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood
+erect, now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a rainbow.
+Her lips were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were black
+as jet, her glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and the tiny
+drops of perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon white marble.
+
+She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
+concentrated upon her.
+
+A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
+pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
+Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
+steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned
+over, smiled upon the tetrarch, and, with an air of almost childlike
+naivete, pronounced these words:
+
+"I ask my lord to give me, placed upon a charger, the head of--" She
+hesitated, as if not certain of the name; then said: "The head of
+Iaokanann!"
+
+The tetrarch sank back in his chair as if stunned.
+
+He had bound himself by his promise to her; and the people awaited his
+next movement. But the death that night of some conspicuous man that had
+been predicted to him by Phanuel,--what if, by bringing it upon another,
+he could avert it from himself, thought Antipas. If Iaokanann was in
+very truth the Elias so much talked of, he would have power to protect
+himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was of no
+importance.
+
+Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master's thoughts.
+Vitellius beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the
+execution, to be transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the
+dungeon. This execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few moments
+all would be over!
+
+But for once Mannaeus did not perform a commission satisfactorily. He
+left the hall but soon returned, in a state of great perturbation.
+
+During forty years he had exercised the functions of the public
+executioner. It was he that had drowned Aristobulus, strangled
+Alexander, burned Mattathias alive, beheaded Zozimus, Pappus, Josephus,
+and Antipater; but he dared not kill Iaokanann! His teeth chattered and
+his whole body trembled.
+
+He declared that he had seen, standing before the dungeon, the Angel of
+the Samaritans, covered with eyes and brandishing a great sword, glowing
+and quivering like a flame. He appealed to two of the guards, who had
+entered the hall with him, to corroborate his words. But they said they
+had seen nothing except a Jewish captain who had attacked them, and whom
+they had killed.
+
+The fury of Herodias poured forth in a torrent of invective against
+the populace. She clenched the railing of the balcony so fiercely as
+to break her nails; the two stone lions at her back seemed to bite her
+shoulders and join their voices to hers.
+
+Antipas followed her example; and priests, soldiers, and Pharisees cried
+aloud together for vengeance, echoed by the rest of the gathering, who
+were indignant that a mere slave should dare to delay their pleasures.
+
+Again Mannaeus left the hall, covering his face with his hands.
+
+The guests found the second delay longer than the first. It seemed
+tedious to every one.
+
+Presently a sound of footsteps was heard in the corridor without; then
+silence fell again. The suspense was becoming intolerable.
+
+Suddenly the door was flung open and Mannaeus entered, holding at arm's
+length, grasping it by the hair, the head of Iaokanann. His appearance
+was greeted with a burst of applause, which filled him with pride and
+revived his courage.
+
+He placed the head upon a charger and offered it to Salome, who had
+descended the steps to receive it. She remounted to the balcony, with a
+light step; and in another moment the charger was carried about from
+one table to another by the elderly female slave whom the tetrarch had
+observed in the morning on the balcony of a neighbouring house, and
+later in the chamber of Herodias.
+
+When she approached him with her ghastly burden, he turned away his head
+to avoid looking at it. Vitellius threw upon it an indifferent glance.
+
+Mannaeus descended from the pavilion, took the charger from the woman,
+and exhibited the head to the Roman captains, then to all the guests on
+that side of the hall.
+
+They looked at it curiously.
+
+The sharp blade of the sword had cut into the jaw with a swift downward
+stroke. The corners of the mouth were drawn, as if by a convulsion.
+Clots of blood besprinkled the beard. The closed eyelids had a
+shell-like transparency, and the candelabra on every side lighted up the
+gruesome object with terrible distinctness.
+
+Mannaeus arrived at the table where the priests were seated. One of them
+turned the charger about curiously, to look at the head from all sides.
+Then Mannaeus, having entirely regained his courage, placed the charger
+before Aulus, who had just awakened from a short doze; and finally he
+brought it again to Antipas and set it down upon the table beside him.
+Tears were running down the cheeks of the tetrarch.
+
+The lights began to flicker and die out. The guests departed, and at
+last no one remained in the great hall save Antipas, who sat leaning his
+head upon his hands, gazing at the head of Iaokanann; and Phanuel, who
+stood in the centre of the largest nave and prayed aloud, with uplifted
+arms.
+
+
+At sunrise the two men who had been sent on a mission by Iaokanann some
+time before, returned to the castle, bringing the answer so long awaited
+and hoped for.
+
+They whispered the message to Phanuel, who received it with rapture.
+
+Then he showed them the lugubrious object, still resting on the charger
+amid the ruins of the feast. One of the men said:
+
+"Be comforted! He has descended among the dead in order to announce the
+coming of the Christ!"
+
+And in that moment the Essene comprehended the words of Iaokanann: "In
+order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish!"
+
+Then the three, taking with them the head of John the Baptist, set out
+upon the road to Galilee; and as the burden was heavy, each man bore it
+awhile in turn.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+
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+**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert**
+#3 in our series by Gustave Flaubert
+
+
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+Herodias
+
+by Gustave Flaubert
+
+April, 1998  [Etext #1291]
+
+
+**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert**
+******This file should be named hrods10.txt or hrods10.zip******
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+Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz
+
+
+
+
+
+HERODIAS
+By Gustave Flaubert
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+In the eastern side of the Dead Sea rose the citadel of Machaerus. It
+was built upon a conical peak of basalt, and was surrounded by four
+deep valleys, one on each side, another in front, and the fourth in
+the rear. At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a
+group of houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines
+undulated with the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting
+through the rocks, joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which
+were about one hundred and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles
+and ornamental towers that stood out like jewels in this crown of
+stone overhanging an abyss.
+
+Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
+arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
+spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
+poles had been erected to support an awning.
+
+One morning, just before sunrise, the tetrarch, Herod-Antipas, came
+out alone upon the balcony. He leaned against one of the columns and
+looked about him.
+
+The crests of the hill-tops in the valley below the palace were just
+discernible in the light of the false dawn, although their bases,
+extending to the abyss, were still plunged in darkness. A light mist
+floated in the air; presently it lifted, and the shores of the Dead
+Sea became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy
+flush over the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the
+desert, and illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey
+in the early dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a
+deep black shadow; Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a
+dome; Eschol had her pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her
+fields of sesame; and the tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube,
+dominated Jerusalem. The tetrarch turned his gaze from it to
+contemplate the palms of Jericho on his right; and his thoughts dwelt
+upon other cities of his beloved Galilee,--Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth,
+Tiberias--whither it might be he would never return.
+
+The Jordan wound its way through the arid plains that met his gaze;
+white and glittering under the clear sky, it dazzled the eye like snow
+in the rays of the sun.
+
+The Dead Sea now looked like a sheet of lapis-lazuli; and at its
+southern extremity, on the coast of Yemen, Antipas recognised clearly
+what at first he had been able only dimly to perceive. Several tents
+could now be plainly seen; men carrying spears were moving about among
+a group of horses; and dying camp-fires shone faintly in the beams of
+the rising sun.
+
+This was a troop belonging to the sheikh of the Arabs, the daughter of
+whom the tetrarch had repudiated in order to wed Herodias, already
+married to one of his brothers, who lived in Italy but who had no
+pretensions to power.
+
+Antipas was waiting for assistance and reinforcements from the Romans,
+but as Vitellius, the Governor of Syria, had not yet arrived, he was
+consumed with impatience and anxiety. Perhaps Agrippa had ruined his
+cause with the Emperor, he thought. Philip, his third brother,
+sovereign of Batania, was arming himself clandestinely. The Jews were
+becoming intolerant of the tetrarch's idolatries; he knew that many
+were weary of his rule; and he hesitated now between adopting one of
+two projects: to conciliate the Arabs and win back their allegiance,
+or to conclude an alliance with the Parthians. Under the pretext of
+celebrating his birthday, he had planned to bring together, at a grand
+banquet, the chiefs of his troops, the stewards of his domains, and
+the most important men from the region about Galilee.
+
+Antipas threw a keen glance along all the roads leading to Machaerus.
+They were deserted. Eagles were sweeping through the air high above
+his head; the soldiers of the guard, placed at intervals along the
+ramparts, slept or dozed, leaning against the walls; all was silent
+within the castle.
+
+Suddenly he heard the sound of a distant voice, seeming to come from
+the very depths of the earth. His cheek paled. After an instant's
+hesitation, he leaned far over the balcony railing, listening
+intently, but the voice had died away. Presently it rose again upon
+the quiet air; Antipas clapped his hands together loudly, crying:
+"Mannaeus! Mannaeus!"
+
+Instantly a man appeared, naked to the waist, after the fashion of a
+masseur at the bath. Although emaciated, and somewhat advanced in
+years, he was a giant in stature, and on his hip he wore a cutlass in
+a bronze scabbard. His bushy hair, gathered up and held in place by a
+kind of comb, exaggerated the apparent size of his massive head. His
+eyes were heavy with sleep, but his white teeth shone, his step was
+light on the flagstones, and his body had the suppleness of an ape,
+although his countenance was as impassive as that of a mummy.
+
+"Where is he?" demanded the tetrarch of this strange being.
+
+Mannaeus made a movement over his shoulder with his thumb, saying:
+
+"Over there--still there!"
+
+"I thought I heard him cry out."
+
+And Antipas, after drawing a deep breath, asked for news of Iaokanann,
+afterwards known as St. John the Baptist. Had he been allowed to see
+the two men who had asked permission to visit his dungeon a few days
+before, and since that time, had any one discovered for what purpose
+the men desired to see him?
+
+"They exchanged some strange words with him," Mannaeus replied, "with
+the mysterious air of robbers conspiring at the cross-roads. Then they
+departed towards Upper Galilee, saying that they were the bearers of
+great tidings."
+
+Antipas bent his head for a moment; then raising it quickly, said in a
+tone full of alarm:
+
+"Guard him! watch him well! Do not allow any one else to see him. Keep
+the gates shut and the entrance to the dungeon closed fast. It must
+not even be suspected that he still lives!"
+
+Mannaeus had already attended to all these details, because Iaokanann
+was a Jew, and, like all the Samaritans, Mannaeus hated the Jews.
+
+Their temple on the Mount of Gerizim, which Moses had designed to be
+the centre of Israel, had been destroyed since the reign of King
+Hyrcanus; and the temple at Jerusalem made the Samaritans furious;
+they regarded its presence as an outrage against themselves, and a
+permanent injustice. Mannaeus, indeed, had forcibly entered it, for
+the purpose of defiling its altar with the bones of corpses. Several
+of his companions, less agile than he, had been caught and beheaded.
+
+From the tetrarch's balcony, the temple was visible through an opening
+between two hills. The sun, now fully risen, shed a dazzling splendour
+on its walls of snowy marble and the plates of purest gold that formed
+its roof. The structure shone like a luminous mountain, and its
+radiant purity indicated something almost superhuman, eclipsing even
+its suggestion of opulence and pride.
+
+Mannaeus stretched out his powerful arm towards Zion, and, with
+clenched fist and his great body drawn to its full height, he launched
+a bitter anathema at the city, with perfect faith that eventually his
+curse must be effective.
+
+Antipas listened, without appearing to be shocked at the strength of
+the invectives.
+
+When the Samaritan had become somewhat calmer, he returned to the
+subject of the prisoner.
+
+"Sometimes he grows excited," said he, "then he longs to escape or
+talks about a speedy deliverance. At other times he is as quiet as a
+sick animal, although I often find him pacing to and fro in his gloomy
+dungeon, murmuring, 'In order that His glory may increase, mine must
+diminish.'"
+
+Antipas and Mannaeus looked at each other a moment in silence. But the
+tetrarch was weary of pondering on this troublesome matter.
+
+The mountain peaks surrounding the palace, looking like great
+petrified waves, the black depths among the cliffs, the immensity of
+the blue sky, the rising sun, and the gloomy valley of the abyss,
+filled the soul of Antipas with a vague unrest; he felt an
+overwhelming sense of oppression at the sight of the desert, whose
+uneven piles of sand suggested crumbling ampitheatres or ruined
+palaces. The hot wind brought an odour of sulphur, as if it had rolled
+up from cities accursed and buried deeper than the river-bed of the
+slow-running Jordan.
+
+These aspects of nature, which seemed to his troubled fancy signs of
+the wrath of the gods, terrified him, and he leaned heavily against
+the balcony railing, his eyes fixed, his head resting upon his hands.
+
+Presently he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. He turned, and saw
+Herodias standing beside him. A purple robe enveloped her, falling to
+her sandaled feet. Having left her chamber hurriedly, she wore no
+jewels nor other ornaments. A thick tress of rippling black hair hung
+over her shoulder and hid itself in her bosom; her nostrils, a little
+too large for beauty, quivered with triumph, and her face was alight
+with joy. She gently shook the tetrarch's shoulder, and exclaimed
+exultantly:
+
+"Caesar is our friend! Agrippa has been imprisoned!"
+
+"Who told thee that?"
+
+"I know it!" she replied, adding: "It was because he coveted the crown
+of Caligula."
+
+While living upon the charity of Antipas and Herodias, Agrippa had
+intrigued to become king, a title for which the tetrarch was as eager
+as he. But if this news were true, no more was to be feared from
+Agrippa's scheming.
+
+"The dungeons of Tiberias are hard to open, and sometimes life itself
+is uncertain within their depths," said Herodias, with grim
+significance.
+
+Antipas understood her; and, although she was Agrippa's sister, her
+atrocious insinuation seemed entirely justifiable to the tetrarch.
+Murder and outrage were to be expected in the management of political
+intrigues; they were a part of the fatal inheritance of royal houses;
+and in the family of Herodias nothing was more common.
+
+Then she rapidly unfolded to the tetrarch the secrets of her recent
+undertakings, telling him how many men had been bribed, what letters
+had been intercepted, and the number of spies stationed at the city
+gates. She did not hesitate even to tell him of her success in an
+attempt to befool and seduce Eutyches the denunciator.
+
+"And why should I not?" she said; "it cost me nothing. For thee, my
+lord, have I not done more than that? Did I not even abandon my
+child?"
+
+After her divorce from Philip, she had indeed left her daughter in
+Rome, hoping that, as the wife of the tetrarch, she might bear other
+children. Until that moment she had never spoken to Antipas of her
+daughter. He asked himself the reason for this sudden display of
+tenderness.
+
+During their brief conversation several attendants had come out upon
+the balcony; one slave brought a quantity of large, soft cushions, and
+arranged them in a kind of temporary couch upon the floor behind his
+mistress. Herodias sank upon them, and turning her face away from
+Antipas, seemed to be weeping silently. After a few moments she dried
+her eyes, declared that she would dream no more, and that she was, in
+reality, perfectly happy. She reminded Antipas of their former long
+delightful interviews in the atrium; their meetings at the baths;
+their walks along the Sacred Way, and the sweet evening rendezvous at
+the villa, among the flowery groves, listening to the murmur of
+splashing fountains, within sight of the Roman Campagna. Her glances
+were as tender as in former days; she drew near to him, leaned against
+his breast and caressed him fondly.
+
+But he repelled her soft advances. The love she sought to rekindle had
+died long ago. He thought instead of all his misfortunes, and of the
+twelve long years during which the war had continued. Protracted
+anxiety had visibly aged the tetrarch. His shoulders were bent beneath
+his violet-bordered toga; his whitening locks were long and mingled
+with his beard, and the sunlight revealed many lines upon his brow, as
+well as upon that of Herodias. After the tetrarch's repulse of his
+wife's tender overtures, the pair gazed morosely at each other.
+
+The mountain paths began to show signs of life. Shepherds were driving
+their flocks to pasture; children urged heavy-laden donkeys along the
+roads; while grooms belonging to the palace led the horses to the
+river to drink. The wayfarers descending from the heights on the
+farther side of Machaerus disappeared behind the castle; others
+ascended from the valleys, and after arriving at the palace deposited
+their burdens in the courtyard. Many of these were purveyors to the
+tetrarch; others were the servants of his expected guests, arriving in
+advance of their masters.
+
+Suddenly, at the foot of the terrace on the left, an Essene appeared;
+he wore a white robe, his feet were bare, and his demeanour indicated
+that he was a follower of the Stoics. Mannaeus instantly rushed
+towards the stranger, drawing the cutlass that he wore upon his hip.
+
+"Kill him!" cried Herodias.
+
+"Do not touch him!" the tetrarch commanded.
+
+The two men stood motionless for an instant, then they descended the
+terrace, both taking a different direction, although they kept their
+eyes fixed upon each other.
+
+"I know that man," said Herodias, after they had disappeared. "His
+name is Phanuel, and he will try to seek out Iaokanann, since thou
+wert so foolish as to allow him to live."
+
+Antipas said that the man might some day be useful to them. His
+attacks upon Jerusalem would gain them the allegiance of the rest of
+the Jews.
+
+"No," said Herodias, "the Jews will accept any master, and are
+incapable of feeling any true patriotism." She added that, as for the
+man who was trying to influence the people with hopes cherished since
+the days of Nehemiah, the best policy was to suppress him.
+
+The tetrarch replied that there was no haste about the matter, and
+expressed his doubt that any real danger was to be feared from
+Iaokanann even affecting to laugh at the idea.
+
+"Do not deceive thyself!" exclaimed Herodias. And she retold the story
+of her humiliation one day when she was travelling towards Gilead, in
+order to purchase some of the balm for which that region was famous.
+
+"A multitude was standing on the banks of the stream, my lord; many of
+the people were putting on their raiment. Standing on a hillock, a
+strange man was speaking to the gathering. A camel's-skin was wrapped
+about his loins, and his head was like that of a lion. As soon as he
+saw me, he launched in my direction all the maledictions of the
+prophets. His eyes flamed, his voice shook, he raised his arms as if
+he would draw down lightning upon my head. I could not fly from him;
+the wheels of my chariot sank in the sand up to the middle; and I
+could only crawl along, hiding my head with my mantle, and frozen with
+terror at the curses that poured upon me like a storm from heaven!"
+
+Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man
+still existed poisoned her very life. When he had been seized and
+bound with cords, the soldiers were prepared to stab him if he
+resisted, but he had been quite gentle and obedient. After he had been
+thrown into prison some one had put venomous serpents into his
+dungeon, but strange to say, after a time they had died, leaving him
+uninjured. The inanity of such tricks exasperated Herodias. Besides,
+she inquired, why did this man make war upon her? What interest moved
+him to such actions? His injurious words to her, uttered before a
+throng of listeners, had been repeated and widely circulated; she
+heard them whispered everywhere. Against a legion of soldiers she
+would have been brave; but this mysterious influence, more pernicious
+and powerful than the sword, but impossible to grasp, was maddening!
+Herodias strode to and fro upon the terrace, white with rage, unable
+to find words to express the emotions that choked her.
+
+She had a haunting fear that the tetrarch might listen to public
+opinion after a time, and persuade himself it was his duty to
+repudiate her. Then, indeed, all would be lost! Since early youth she
+had cherished a dream that some day she would rule over a great
+empire. As an important step towards attaining this ambition, she had
+deserted Philip, her first husband, and married the tetrarch, who now
+she thought had duped her.
+
+"Ah! I found a powerful support, indeed, when I entered thy family!"
+she sneered.
+
+"It is at least the equal of thine," Antipas replied.
+
+Herodias felt the blood of the kings and priests, her ancestors,
+boiling in her veins.
+
+"Thy grandfather was a servile attendant upon the temple of Ascalon!"
+she went on, with fury. "Thy other ancestors were shepherds, bandits,
+conductors of caravans, a horde of slaves offered as tribute to King
+David! My forefathers were the conquerors of thine! The first of the
+Maccabees drove thy people out of Hebron; Hyrcanus forced them to be
+circumcised!" Then, with all the contempt of the patrician for the
+plebeian, the hatred of Jacob for Esau, she reproached him for his
+indifference towards palpable outrages to his dignity, his weakness
+regarding the Phoenicians, who had been false to him, and his cowardly
+attitude towards the people who detested and insulted herself.
+
+"But thou art like them!" she cried; "Dost regret the loss of the Arab
+girl who danced upon these very pavements? Take her back! Go and live
+with her--in her tent! Eat her bread, baked in the ashes! Drink
+curdled sheep's-milk! Kiss her dark cheeks--and forget me!"
+
+The tetrarch had already forgotten her presence, it appeared. He paid
+no further heed to her anger, but looked intently at a young girl who
+had just stepped out upon the balcony of a house not far away. At her
+side stood an elderly female slave, who held over the girl's head a
+kind of parasol with a handle made of long, slender reeds. In the
+middle of the rug spread upon the floor of the balcony stood a large
+open travelling-hamper or basket, and girdles, veils, head-dresses,
+and gold and silver ornaments were scattered about in confusion. At
+intervals the young girl took one object or another in her hands, and
+held it up admiringly. She was dressed in the costume of the Roman
+ladies, with a flowing tunic and a peplum ornamented with tassels of
+emeralds; and blue silken bands confined her hair, which seemed almost
+too luxuriant, since from time to time she raised a small hand to push
+back the heavy masses. The parasol half hid the maiden from the gaze
+of Antipas, but now and then he caught a glimpse of her delicate neck,
+her large eyes, or a fleeting smile upon her small mouth. He noted
+that her figure swayed about with a singularly elastic grace and
+elegance. He leaned forward, his eyes kindled, his breath quickened.
+All this was not lost upon Herodias, who watched him narrowly.
+
+"Who is that maiden?" the tetrarch asked at last.
+
+Herodias replied that she did not know, and her fierce demeanour
+suddenly changed to one of gentleness and amiability.
+
+At the entrance to the castle the tetrarch was awaited by several
+Galileans, the master of the scribes, the chief of the land stewards,
+the manager of the salt mines, and a Jew from Babylon, commanding his
+troops of horse. As the tetrarch approached the group, he was greeted
+with respectful enthusiasm. Acknowledging the acclamations with a
+grave salute, he entered the castle.
+
+As he proceeded along one of the corridors, Phanuel suddenly sprang
+from a corner and intercepted him.
+
+"What! Art thou still here?" said the tetrarch in displeasure. "Thou
+seekest Iaokanann, no doubt."
+
+"And thyself, my lord. I have something of great importance to tell
+thee."
+
+At a sign from Antipas, the Essene followed him into a somewhat dark
+and gloomy room.
+
+The daylight came faintly through a grated window. The walls were of a
+deep shade of crimson, so dark as to look almost black. At one end of
+the room stood an ebony bed, ornamented with bands of leather. A
+shield of gold, hanging at the head of the bed, shone like a sun in
+the obscurity of the apartment. Antipas crossed over to the couch and
+threw himself upon it in a half-reclining attitude, while Phanuel
+remained standing before him. Suddenly he raised one hand, and
+striking a commanding attitude said:
+
+"At times, my lord, the Most High sends a message to the people
+through one of His sons. Iaokanann is one of these. If thou oppress
+him, thou shalt be punished!"
+
+"But it is he that persecutes me!" exclaimed Antipas. "He asked me to
+do a thing that was impossible. Since then he has done nothing but
+revile me. And I was not severe with him when he began his abuse of
+me. But he had the hardihood to send various men from Machaerus to
+spread dissension and discontent throughout my domain. A curse upon
+him! Since he attacks me, I shall defend myself."
+
+"Without doubt, he has expressed his anger with too much violence,"
+Phanuel replied calmly. "But do not heed that further. He must be set
+free."
+
+"One does not let loose a furious animal," said the tetrarch.
+
+"Have no fear of him now," was the quick reply. "He will go straight
+to the Arabs, the Gauls, and the Scythians. His work must be extended
+to the uttermost ends of the earth."
+
+For a moment Antipas appeared lost in thought, as one who sees a
+vision. Then he said:
+
+"His power over men is indeed great. In spite of myself, I admire
+him!"
+
+"Then set him free!"
+
+But the tetrarch shook his head. He feared Herodias, Mannaeus, and
+unknown dangers.
+
+Phanuel tried to persuade him, promising, as a guaranty of the honesty
+of his projects, the submission of the Essenians to the King. These
+poor people, clad only in linen, untameable in spite of severe
+treatment, endowed with the power to divine the future by reading the
+stars, had succeeded in commanding a certain degree of respect.
+
+"What is the important matter thou wouldst communicate to me?" Antipas
+inquired, with sudden recollection.
+
+Before Phanuel could reply, a Negro entered the room in great haste.
+He was covered with dust, and panted so violently that he could
+scarcely utter the single word:
+
+"Vitellus!"
+
+"Has he arrived?" asked the tetrarch.
+
+"I have seen him, my lord. Within three hours he will be here."
+
+Throughout the palace, doors were opening and closing and portieres
+were swaying as if in a high wind, with the coming and going of many
+persons; there was a murmur of voices; sounds of the moving of heavy
+furniture could be heard, and the rattle of silver plates and dishes.
+From the highest tower a loud blast upon a conch summoned from far and
+near all the slaves belonging to the castle.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The ramparts were thronged with people when at last Vitellius entered
+the castle gates, leaning on the arm of his interpreter. Behind them
+came an imposing red litter, decorated with plumes and mirrors. The
+proconsul wore a toga ornamented with the laticlave, a broad purple
+band extending down the front of the garment, indicating his rank; and
+his feet were encased in the kind of buskins worn by consuls. A guard
+of lictors surrounded him. Against the wall they placed their twelve
+fasces--a bundle of sticks with an axe in the centre. And the populace
+trembled before the insignia of Roman majesty.
+
+The gorgeous litter, borne by eight men, came to a halt. From it
+descended a youth. He wore many pearls upon his fingers, but he had a
+protruding abdomen and his face was covered with pimples. A cup of
+aromatic wine was offered to him. He drank it, and asked for a second
+draught.
+
+The tetrarch had fallen upon his knees before the proconsul, saying
+that he was grieved beyond words not to have known sooner of the
+favour of his presence within those domains; had he been aware of the
+approach of his distinguished guest, he would have issued a command
+that every person along the route should place himself at the
+proconsul's orders. Of a surety, the proconsul's family was descended
+direct from the goddess Vitellia. A highway, leading from the
+Janiculum to the sea, still bore their name. Questors and consuls were
+innumerable in that great family; and as for the noble Lucius, now his
+honoured guest, it was the duty of the whole people to thank him, as
+the conqueror of the Cliti and the father of the young Aulus, now
+returning to his own domain, since the East was the country of the
+gods. These hyperboles were expressed in Latin, and Vitellius accepted
+them impassively.
+
+He replied that the great Herod was the honour and glory of the
+nation; that the Athenians had chosen him to direct the Olympian
+games; that he had built temples in the honour of Augustus; had been
+patient, ingenious, terrible; and was faithful to all the Caesars.
+
+Between the two marble columns, with bronze capitals, Herodias could
+now be seen advancing with the air of an empress, in the midst of a
+group of women and eunuchs carrying perfumed torches set in sockets of
+silver-gilt.
+
+The proconsul advanced three steps to meet her. She saluted him with
+an inclination of her head.
+
+"How fortunate," she exclaimed, "that henceforth Agrippa, the enemy of
+Tiberius, can work harm no longer!"
+
+Vitellius did not understand her allusion, but he thought her a
+dangerous woman. Antipas immediately declared that he was ready to do
+anything for the emperor.
+
+"Even to the injury of others?" Vitellius asked, significantly.
+
+He had taken hostages from the king of the Parthians, but the emperor
+had given no further thought to the matter, because Antipas, who had
+been present at the conference, had, in order to gain favour, sent off
+despatches bearing the news. From that time he had borne a profound
+hatred towards the emperor and had delayed in sending assistance to
+him.
+
+The tetrarch stammered in attempting to reply to the query of the
+proconsul. But Aulus laughed and said: "Do not be disturbed. I will
+protect thee!"
+
+The proconsul feigned not to hear this remark. The fortune of the
+father depended, in a way, on the corrupt influence of the son; and
+through him it was possible that Antipas might be able to procure for
+the proconsul very substantial benefits, although the glances that he
+cast about him were defiant, and even venomous.
+
+But now a new tumult arose just within the gates. A file of white
+mules entered the courtyard, mounted by men in priestly garb. These
+were the Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were drawn to Machaerus by
+the same ambition: the one party hoping to be appointed public
+sacrificers, the other determined to retain those offices. Their faces
+were dark, particularly those of the Pharisees, who were enemies of
+Rome and of the tetrarch. The flowing skirts of their tunics
+embarrassed their movements as they attempted to pass through the
+throng; and their tiaras sat unsteadily upon their brows, around which
+were bound small bands of parchment, showing lines of writing.
+
+Almost at the same moment, the soldiers of the advance guard arrived.
+Cloth coverings had been drawn over their glittering shields to
+protect them from the dust. Behind them came Marcellus, the
+proconsul's lieutenant, followed by the publicans, carrying their
+tablets of wood under their arms.
+
+Antipas named to Vitellius the principle personages surrounding them:
+Tolmai, Kanthera, Schon, Ammonius of Alexandria, who brought asphalt
+for Antipas; Naaman, captain of his troops of skirmishers, and Jacim,
+the Babylonian.
+
+Vitellius had noticed Mannaeus.
+
+"Who is that man?" he inquired.
+
+The tetrarch by a significant gesture indicated that Mannaeus was the
+executioner. He then presented the Sadducees to the proconsul's
+notice.
+
+Jonathas, a man of low stature, who spoke Greek, advanced with a firm
+step and begged that the great lord would honour Jerusalem with a
+visit. Vitellius replied that he should probably go to Jerusalem soon.
+
+Eleazar, who had a crooked nose and a long beard, put forth a claim,
+in behalf of the Pharisees, for the mantle of the high priest, held in
+the tower of Antonia by the civil authorities.
+
+Then the Galileans came forward and denounced Pontius Pilate. On one
+occasion, they said, a mad-man went seeking in a cave near Samaria for
+the golden vases that had belonged to King David, and Pontius Pilate
+had caused several inhabitants of that region to be executed. In their
+excitement all the Galileans spoke at once, Mannaeus's voice being
+heard above all others. Vitellius promised that the guilty ones should
+be punished.
+
+Fresh vociferations now broke out in front of the great gates, where
+the soldiers had hung their shields. Their coverings having now been
+removed, on each shield a carving of the head of Caesar could be seen
+on the umbo, or central knob. To the Jews, this seemed an evidence of
+nothing short of idolatry. Antipas harangued them, while Vitellius,
+who occupied a raised seat within the shadow of the colonnade, was
+astonished at their fury. Tiberius had done well, he thought, to exile
+four hundred of these people to Sardinia. Presently the Jews became so
+violent that he ordered the shields to be removed.
+
+Then the multitude surrounded the proconsul, imploring him to abolish
+certain unjust laws, asking for privileges, or begging for alms. They
+rent their clothing and jostled one another; and at last, in order to
+drive them back, several slaves, armed with long staves, charged upon
+them, striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their
+escape and descended to the road; others rushed in to take their
+place, so that two streams of human beings flowed in and out,
+compressed within the limits of the gateway.
+
+Vitellius demanded the reason for the assembling of so great a throng.
+Antipas explained that they had been invited to come to a feast in
+celebration of his birthday; and he pointed to several men who,
+leaning against the battlements, were hauling up immense basket-loads
+of food, fruits, vegetables, antelopes, and storks; large fish, of a
+brilliant shade of blue; grapes, melons, and pyramids of pomegranates.
+At this sight, Aulus left the courtyard and hastened to the kitchens,
+led by his taste for gormandizing, which later became the amazement of
+the world.
+
+As they passed the opening to a small cellar, Vitellius perceived some
+objects resembling breast-plates hanging on a wall. He looked at them
+with interest, and then demanded that the subterranean chambers of the
+fortress be thrown open for his inspection. These chambers were cut
+into the rocky foundation of the castle, and had been formed into
+vaults, with pillars set at regular distances. The first vault opened
+contained old armour; the second was full of pikes, with long points
+emerging from tufts of feathers. The walls of the third chamber were
+hung with a kind of tapestry made of slender reeds, laid in
+perpendicular rows. Those of the fourth were covered with scimitars.
+In the middle of the fifth cell, rows of helmets were seen, the crests
+of which looked like a battalion of fiery serpents. The sixth cell
+contained nothing but empty quivers; the seventh, greaves for
+protecting the legs in battle; the eighth vault was filled with
+bracelets and armlets; and an examination of the remaining vaults
+disclosed forks, grappling-irons, ladders, cords, even catapults, and
+bells for the necks of camels; and as they descended deeper into the
+rocky foundation, it became evident that the whole mass was a
+veritable honeycomb of cells, and that below those already seen were
+many others.
+
+Vitellius, Phineas, his interpreter, and Sisenna, chief of the
+publicans, walked among these gloomy cells, attended by three eunuchs
+bearing torches.
+
+In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could
+be seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers
+resembling the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in
+his castle munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
+
+He had accumulated these weapons in anticipation of an alliance
+against him among his enemies. But he bethought him that the proconsul
+might believe, or assert, that he had collected this armoury in order
+to attack the Romans; so he hastened to offer explanations of all that
+Vitellius had observed.
+
+Some of these things did not belong to him at all, he said: many of
+them were necessary to defend the place against brigands and
+marauders, especially the Arabs. Many of the objects in the vault had
+been the property of his father, and he had allowed them to remain
+untouched. As he spoke, he managed to get in advance of the proconsul
+and preceded him along the corridors with rapid steps. Presently he
+halted and stood close against the wall as the party came up; he spoke
+quickly, standing with his hands on his hips, so that his voluminous
+mantle covered a wide space of the wall behind him. But just above his
+head the top of a door was visible. Vitellius remarked it instantly,
+and demanded to know what it concealed.
+
+The tetrarch explained that the door was fastened, and that none could
+open it save the Babylonian, Jacim.
+
+"Summon him, then!" was the command.
+
+A slave was sent to find Jacim, while the group awaited his coming.
+
+The father of Jacim had come from the banks of the Euphrates to offer
+his services, as well as those of five hundred horsemen, in the
+defence of the eastern frontier. After the division of the kingdom,
+Jacim had lived for a time with Philip, and was now in the service of
+Antipas.
+
+Presently he appeared among the vaults, carrying an archer's bow on
+his shoulder and a whip in his hand. Cords of many colours were lashed
+tightly about his knotted legs; his massive arms were thrust through a
+sleeveless tunic, and a fur cap shaded his face. His chin was covered
+with a heavy, curling beard.
+
+He appeared not to comprehend what the interpreter said to him at
+first. But Vitellius threw a meaning glance at Antipas, who quickly
+made the Babylonian understand the command of the proconsul. Jacim
+immediately laid both his hands against the door, giving it a powerful
+shove; whereupon it quietly slid out of sight into the wall.
+
+A wave of hot air surged from the depths of the cavern. A winding path
+descended and turned abruptly. The group followed it, and soon arrived
+at the threshold of a kind of grotto, somewhat larger than the other
+subterranean cells.
+
+An arched window at the back of this chamber gave directly upon a
+precipice, which formed a defence for one side of the castle. A
+honeysuckle vine, cramped by the low-studded ceiling, blossomed
+bravely. The sound of a running stream could be heard distinctly. In
+this place was a great number of beautiful white horses, perhaps a
+hundred. They were eating barley from a plank placed on a level with
+their mouths. Their manes had been coloured a deep blue; their hoofs
+were wrapped in coverings of woven grass, and the hair between their
+ears was puffed out like a peruke. As they stood quietly eating, they
+switched their tails gently to and fro. The proconsul regarded them in
+silent admiration.
+
+They were indeed wonderful animals; supple as serpents, light as
+birds. They were trained to gallop rapidly, following the arrow of the
+rider, and dash into the midst of a group of the enemy, overturning
+men and biting them savagely as they fell. They were sure-footed among
+rocky passes, and would jump fearlessly over yawning chasms; and,
+while ready to gallop across the plains a whole day without tiring,
+they would stop instantly at the command of the rider.
+
+As soon as Jacim entered their quarters, they trotted up to him, as
+sheep crowd around the shepherd; and, thrusting forward their sleek
+necks, they looked at him with a gaze like that of inquiring children.
+From force of habit, he emitted a raucous cry, which excited them;
+they pranced about, impatient at their confinement and longing to run.
+
+Antipas, fearing that if Vitellius knew of the existence of these
+creatures, he would take them away, had shut them up in this place,
+made especially to accommodate animals in case of siege.
+
+"This close confinement cannot be good for them," said Vitellius, "and
+there is a risk of losing them by keeping them here. Make an inventory
+of their number, Sisenna."
+
+The publican drew a writing-tablet from the folds of his robe, counted
+the horses, and recorded the number carefully.
+
+It was the habit of the agents of the fiscal companies to corrupt the
+governors in order to pillage the provinces. Sisenna was among the
+most flourishing of these agents, and was seen everywhere with his
+claw-like fingers and his eyelids continually blinking.
+
+After a time the party returned to the court. Heavy, round bronze
+lids, sunk in the stones of the pavement, covered the cisterns of the
+palace. Vitellius noticed that one of these was larger than the
+others, and that when struck by his foot it had not their sonority. He
+struck them all, one after another; then stamped upon the ground and
+shouted:
+
+"I have found it! I have found the buried treasure of Herod!"
+
+Searching for buried treasure was a veritable mania among the Romans.
+
+The tetrarch swore that no treasure was hidden in that spot.
+
+"What is concealed there, then?" the proconsul demanded.
+
+"Nothing--that is, only a man--a prisoner."
+
+"Show him to me!"
+
+The tetrarch hesitated to obey, fearing that the Jews would discover
+his secret. His reluctance to lift the cover made Vitellius impatient.
+
+"Break it in!" he cried to his lictors. Mannaeus heard the command,
+and, seeing a lictor step forward armed with a hatchet, he feared that
+the man intended to behead Iaokanann. He stayed the hand of the lictor
+after the first blow, and then slipped between the heavy lid and the
+pavement a kind of hook. He braced his long, lean arms, raised the
+cover slowly, and in a moment it lay flat upon the stones. The
+bystanders admired the strength of the old man.
+
+Under the bronze lid was a wooden trap-door of the same size. At a
+blow of the fist it folded back, allowing a wide hole to be seen, the
+mouth of an immense pit, with a flight of winding steps leading down
+into the darkness. Those that bent over to peer into the cavern beheld
+a vague and terrifying shape in its depths.
+
+This proved to be a human being, lying on the ground. His long locks
+hung over a camel's-hair robe that covered his shoulders. Slowly he
+rose to his feet. His head touched a grating embedded in the wall; and
+as he moved about he disappeared, from time to time, in the shadows of
+his dungeon.
+
+The rich tiaras of the Romans sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight,
+and their glittering sword-hilts threw out glancing golden rays. The
+doves, flying from their cotes, circled above the heads of the
+multitude. It was the hour when Mannaeus was accustomed to feed them.
+But now he crouched beside the tetrarch, who stood near Vitellius. The
+Galileans, the priests, and the soldiers formed a group behind them;
+all were silent, waiting with painful anticipation for what might
+happen.
+
+A deep groan, hollow and startling, rose from the pit.
+
+Herodias heard it from the farther end of the palace. Drawn by an
+irresistible though terrible fascination, she made her way through the
+throng, and, reaching Mannaeus, she leant one hand on his shoulder and
+bent over to listen.
+
+The hollow voice rose again from the depths of the earth.
+
+"Woe to thee, Sadducees and Pharisees! Thy voices are like the
+tinkling of cymbals! O race of vipers, bursting with pride!"
+
+The voice of Iaokanann was recognised. His name was whispered about.
+Spectators from a distance pressed closer to the open pit.
+
+"Woe to thee, O people! Woe to the traitors of Judah, and to the
+drunkards of Ephraim, who dwelt in the fertile valleys and stagger
+with the fumes of wine!
+
+"May they disappear like running water; like the slug that sinks into
+the sand as it moves; like an abortion that never sees the light!
+
+"And thou too, Moab! hide thyself in the midst of the cypress, like
+the sparrow; in caverns, like the wild hare! The gates of the fortress
+shall be crushed more easily than nut-shells; the walls shall crumble;
+cities shall burn; and the scourge of God shall not cease! He shall
+cause your bodies to be bathed in your own blood, like wool in the
+dyer's vat. He shall rend you, as with a harrow; He shall scatter the
+remains of your bodies from the tops of the mountains!"
+
+Of which conqueror was he speaking? Was it Vitellius? Only the Romans
+could bring about such an extermination. The people began to cry out:
+"Enough! enough! let him speak no more!"
+
+But the prisoner continued in louder tones:
+
+"Beside the corpses of their mothers, thy little ones shall drag
+themselves over the ashes of the burned cities. At night men will
+creep from their hiding-places to seek a bit of food among the ruins,
+even at the risk of being cut down with the sword. Jackals shall pick
+thy bones in the public places, where at eventide the fathers were
+wont to gather. At the bidding of Gentiles, thy maidens shall be
+forced to cease their lamentations and to make music upon the zither,
+and the bravest of thy sons shall learn to bend their backs, chafed
+with heavy burdens."
+
+The listeners remembered the days of exile, and all the misfortunes
+and catastrophes of the past. These words were like the anathemas of
+the ancient prophets. The captive thundered them forth like bolts from
+heaven.
+
+Presently his voice became almost as sweet and harmonious as if he
+were uttering a chant. He spoke of the world's redemption from sin and
+sorrow; of the glories of heaven; of gold in place of clay; of the
+desert blossoming like the rose. "That which is now worth sixty pieces
+of silver will not cost a single obol. Fountains of milk shall spring
+from the rocks; men shall sleep, well satisfied, among the wine-
+presses. The people shall prostrate themselves before Thee, and Thy
+reign shall be eternal, O Son of David!"
+
+The tetrarch suddenly recoiled from the opening of the pit; the
+mention of the existence of a son of David seemed to him like a menace
+to himself.
+
+Iaokanann then poured forth invectives against him for presuming to
+aspire to royalty.
+
+"There is no other king than the Eternal God!" he cried; and he cursed
+Antipas for his luxurious gardens, his statues, his furniture of
+carved ivory and precious woods, comparing him to the impious Ahab.
+
+Antipas broke the slender cord attached to the royal seal that he wore
+around his neck, and throwing the seal into the pit, he commanded his
+prisoner to be silent.
+
+But Iaokanann replied: "I shall cry aloud like a savage bear, like the
+wild ass, like a woman in travail! The punishment of heaven has
+already visited itself upon thy incest! May God inflict thee with the
+sterility of mules!"
+
+At these words, a sound of suppressed laughter arose here and there
+among the listeners.
+
+Vitellius had remained close to the opening of the dungeon while
+Iaokanann was speaking. His interpreter, in impassive tones,
+translated into the Roman tongue all the threats and invectives that
+rolled up from the depths of the gloomy prison. The tetrarch and
+Herodias felt compelled to remain near at hand. Antipas listened,
+breathing heavily; while the woman, with parted lips, gazed into the
+darkness of the pit, her face drawn with an expression of fear and
+hatred.
+
+The terrible man now turned towards her. He grasped the bars of his
+prison, pressed against them his bearded face, in which his eyes
+glowed like burning coals, and cried:
+
+"Ah! Is it thou, Jezebel? Thou hast captured thy lord's heart with the
+tinkling of thy feet. Thou didst neigh to him like a mare. Thou didst
+prepare thy bed on the mountain top, in order to accomplish thy
+sacrifices!
+
+"The Lord shall take from thee thy sparkling jewels, thy purple robes
+and fine linen; the bracelets from thine arms, the anklets from thy
+feet; the golden ornaments that dangle upon thy brow, thy mirrors of
+polished silver, thy fans of ostrich plumes, thy shoes with their
+heels of mother-of-pearl, that serve to increase thy stature; thy
+glittering diamonds, the scent of thy hair, the tint of thy nails,--
+all the artifices of thy coquetry shall disappear, and missiles shall
+be found wherewith to stone the adulteress!"
+
+Herodias looked around for some one to defend her. The Pharisees
+lowered their eyes hypocritically. The Sadducees turned away their
+heads, fearing to offend the proconsul should they appear to
+sympathise with her. Antipas was almost in a swoon.
+
+Louder still rose the voice from the dungeon; the neighbouring hills
+gave back an echo with startling effect, and Machaerus seemed actually
+surrounded and showered with curses.
+
+"Prostrate thyself in the dust, daughter of Babylon, and scourge
+thyself! Remove thy girdle and thy shoes, gather up thy garments and
+walk through the flowing stream; thy shame shall follow thee, thy
+disgrace shall be known to all men, thy bosom shall be rent with sobs.
+God execrates the stench of thy crimes! Accursed one! die like a dog!"
+
+At that instant the trap-door was suddenly shut down and secured by
+Mannaeus, who would have liked to strangle Iaokanann then and there.
+
+Herodias glided away and disappeared within the palace. The Pharisees
+were scandalised at what they had heard. Antipas, standing among them,
+attempted to justify his past conduct and to excuse his present
+situation.
+
+"Without doubt," said Eleazar, "it was necessary for him to marry his
+brother's wife; but Herodias was not a widow, and besides, she had a
+child, which she abandoned; and that was an abomination."
+
+"You are wrong," objected Jonathas the Sadducee; "the law condemns
+such marriages but does not actually forbid them."
+
+"What matters it? All the world shows me injustice," said Antipas,
+bitterly; "and why? Did not Absalom lie with his father's wives, Judah
+with his daughter-in-law, Ammon with his sister, and Lot with his
+daughters?"
+
+Aulus, who had been reposing within the palace, now reappeared in the
+court. After he had heard how matters stood, he approved of the
+attitude of the tetrarch. "A man should never allow himself to be
+annoyed," said he, "by such foolish criticism." And he laughed at the
+censure of the priests and the fury of Iaokanann, saying that his
+words were of little importance.
+
+Herodias, who also had reappeared, and now stood at the top of a
+flight of steps, called loudly:
+
+"You are wrong, my lord! He ordered the people to refuse to pay the
+tax!"
+
+"Is that true?" he demanded. The general response was affirmative,
+Antipas adding his word to the declaration of the others.
+
+Vitellius had a misgiving that the prisoner might be able to escape;
+and as the conduct of Antipas appeared to him rather suspicious, he
+established his own sentinels at the gates, at intervals along the
+walls, and in the courtyard itself.
+
+At last he retired to the apartments assigned to him, accompanied by
+the priests. Without touching directly upon the question of the
+coveted offices of public sacrificers, each one laid his own
+grievances before the proconsul. They fairly beset him with complaints
+and requests, but he soon dismissed them from his presence.
+
+As Jonathas left the proconsul's apartments he perceived Antipas
+standing under an arch, talking to an Essene, who wore a long white
+robe and flowing locks. Jonathas regretted that he had raised his
+voice in defence of the tetrarch.
+
+One thought now consoled Herod-Antipas. He was no longer personally
+responsible for the fate of Iaokanann. The Romans had assumed that
+charge. What a relief! He had noticed Phanuel pacing slowly through
+the court, and calling him to his side, he pointed put the guards
+established by Vitellius, saying:
+
+"They are stronger than I! I cannot now set the prisoner free! It is
+not my fault if he remains in his dungeon."
+
+The courtyard was empty. The slaves were sleeping. The day was drawing
+to a close, and the sunset spread a deep rosy glow over the horizon,
+against which the smallest objects stood out like silhouettes. Antipas
+was able to distinguish the excavations of the salt-mines at the
+farther end of the Dead Sea, but the tents of the Arabs were no longer
+visible. As the moon rose, the effect of the day's excitement passed
+away, and a feeling of peace entered his heart.
+
+Phanuel, also wearied by the recent agitating scenes, remained beside
+the tetrarch. He sat in silence for some time, his chin resting on his
+breast. At last he spoke in confidence to Antipas, and revealed what
+he had wished to say.
+
+From the beginning of the month, he said, he had been studying the
+heavens every morning before daybreak, when the constellation of
+Perseus was at the zenith; Agalah was scarcely visible; Algol was even
+less bright; Mira-Cetus had disappeared entirely; from all of which he
+augured the death of some man of great importance, to occur that very
+night in Machaerus.
+
+Who was the man? Vitellius was too closely guarded to be reached. No
+one would kill Iaokanann.
+
+"It is I!" thought the tetrarch.
+
+It might be that the Arabs would return and make a successful attack
+upon him. Perhaps the proconsul would discover his relations with the
+Parthians. Several men whom Antipas had recognised as hired assassins
+from Jerusalem, had escorted the priests in the train of the
+proconsul; they all carried daggers concealed beneath their robes. The
+tetrarch had no doubt whatever of the exactness of Phanuel's skill in
+astrology.
+
+Suddenly he bethought him of Herodias. He would consult her. He hated
+her, certainly, but she might give him courage; and besides, in spite
+of his dislike, not all the bonds were yet broken of that sorcery
+which once she had woven about him.
+
+When he entered her chamber, he was met by the pungent odour of
+cinnamon burning in a porphyry vase and the perfume of powders,
+unguents, cloud-like gauzes and embroideries light as feathers, filled
+the air with fragrance.
+
+He did not speak of Phanuel's prophecy, nor of his own fear of the
+Jews and the Arabs. Herodias had already accused him of cowardice. He
+spoke only of the Romans, and complained that Vitellius had not
+confided to him any of his military projects. He said he supposed the
+proconsul was the friend of Caligula, who often visited Agrippa; and
+expressed a surmise that he himself might be exiled, or that perhaps
+his throat would be cut.
+
+Herodias, who now treated him with a kind of disdainful indulgence,
+tried to reassure him. At last she took from a small casket a curious
+medallion, ornamented with a profile of Tiberius. The sight of it, she
+said, as she gave it to Antipas, would make the lictors turn pale and
+silence all accusing voices.
+
+Antipas, filled with gratitude, asked her how the medallion had come
+into her possession.
+
+"It was given to me," was her only answer.
+
+At that moment Antipas beheld a bare arm slipping through a portiere
+hanging in front of him. It was the arm of a youthful woman, as
+graceful in outline as if carved from ivory by Polyclitus. With a
+movement a little awkward and at the same time charming, it felt about
+the wall an instant, as if seeking something, then took down a tunic
+hanging upon a hook near the doorway, and disappeared.
+
+An elderly female attendant passed quietly through the room, lifted
+the portiere, and went out. A sudden recollection pierced the memory
+of the tetrarch.
+
+"Is that woman one of thy slaves?" he asked.
+
+"What matters that to thee?" was the disdainful reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The great banqueting-hall was filled with guests. This apartment had
+three naves, like a basilica, which were separated by columns of
+sandalwood, whose capitals were of sculptured bonze. On each side of
+the apartment was a gallery for spectators, and a third, with a facade
+of gold filigree, was at one end, opposite an immense arch at the
+other.
+
+The candelabra burning on the tables, which were spread the whole
+length of the banqueting-hall, glowed like clusters of flaming flowers
+among the painted cups, the plates of shining copper, the cubes of
+snow and heaps of luscious grapes. Through the large windows the
+guests could see lighted torches on the terraces of the neighbouring
+houses; for this night Antipas was giving a feast to his friends, his
+own people, and to anyone that presented himself at the castle.
+
+The slaves, alert as dogs, glided about noiselessly in felt sandals,
+carrying dishes to and fro.
+
+The table of the proconsul was placed beneath the gilded balcony upon
+a platform of sycamore wood. Rich tapestries from Babylon were hung
+about the pavilion, giving a certain effect of seclusion.
+
+Upon three ivory couches, one facing the great hall, and the other two
+placed one on either side of the pavilion, reclined Vitellius, his son
+Aulus, and Antipas; the proconsul being near the door, at the left,
+Aulus on the right, the tetrarch occupying the middle couch.
+
+Antipas wore a heavy black mantle, the texture of which was almost
+hidden by coloured embroideries and glittering decorations; his beard
+was spread out like a fan; blue powder had been scattered over his
+hair, and on his head rested a diadem covered with precious stones.
+Vitellius still wore the purple band, the emblem of his rank, crossed
+diagonally over a linen toga.
+
+Aulus had tied behind his back the sleeves of his violet robe,
+embroidered with silver. His clustering curls were laid in carefully
+arranged rows; a necklace of sapphires gleamed against his throat,
+plump and white as that of a woman. Crouched upon a rug near him, with
+legs crossed was a pretty white boy, upon whose face shone a perpetual
+smile. Aulus had found him somewhere among the kitchens and had taken
+a violent fancy to him. He had made the child one of his suite, but as
+he never could remember his protege's Chaldean name, called him simply
+"the Asiatic." From time to time the little fellow sprang up and
+played about the dining-table, and his antics appeared to amuse the
+guests.
+
+At one side of the tetrarch's pavilion were the tables at which were
+seated his priests and officers; also a number of persons from
+Jerusalem, and the more important men from the Grecian cities. At the
+table on the left of the proconsul sat Marcellus with the publicans,
+several friends of the tetrarch, and various representatives from
+Cana, Ptolemais, and Jericho. Seated at other tables were mountaineers
+from Liban and many of the old soldiers of Herod's army; a dozen
+Thracians, a Greek and two Germans; besides huntsmen and herdsmen, the
+Sultan of Palmyra, and sailors from Eziongaber. Before each guest was
+placed a roll of soft bread, upon which to wipe the fingers. As soon
+as they were seated, hands were stretched out with the eagerness of a
+vulture's claws, seizing upon olives, pistachios, and almonds. Every
+face was joyous, every head was crowned with flowers, except those of
+the Pharisees, who refused to wear the wreaths, regarding them as a
+symbol of Roman voluptuousness and vice. They shuddered when the
+attendants sprinkled them with galburnum and incense, the use of which
+the Pharisees reserved strictly for services in the Temple.
+
+Antipas observed that Aulus rubbed himself under the arms, as if
+annoyed by heat or chafing; and promised to give him three flasks of
+the same kind of precious balm that had been used by Cleopatra.
+
+A captain from the garrison of Tiberias who had just arrived, placed
+himself behind the tetrarch as protection in case any unexpected
+trouble should arise. But his attention was divided between observing
+the movements of the proconsul and listening to the conversation of
+his neighbours.
+
+There was, naturally, much talk of Iaokanann, and other men of his
+stamp.
+
+"It is said," remarked one of the guests, "that Simon of Gitta washed
+away his sins in fire. And a certain man called Jesus--"
+
+"He is the worst of them all!" interrupted Eleazar. "A miserable
+imposter!"
+
+At this a man sprang up from a table near the tetrarch's pavilion, and
+made his way towards the place where Eleazar sat. His face was almost
+as pale as his linen robe, but he addressed the Pharisees boldly,
+saying: "That is a lie! Jesus has performed miracles!"
+
+Antipas expressed a long-cherished desire to see the man Jesus perform
+some of his so-called miracles. "You should have brought him with
+you," he said to the last speaker, who was still standing. "Tell us
+what you know about him," he commanded.
+
+Then the stranger said that he himself, whose name was Jacob, having a
+daughter who was very ill, had gone to Capernaum to implore the Master
+to heal his child. The Master had answered him, saying: "Return to thy
+home: she is healed!" And he had found his daughter standing at the
+threshold of his house, having risen from her couch when the gnomon
+had marked the third hour, the same moment when he had made his
+supplication to Jesus.
+
+The Pharisees admitted that certain mysterious arts and powerful herbs
+existed that would heal the sick. It was said that the marvellous
+plant known as "baaras" grew even in Machaerus, the power of which
+rendered its consumer invulnerable against all attacks; but to cure
+disease without seeing or touching the afflicted person was clearly
+impossible, unless, indeed, the man Jesus called in the assistance of
+evil spirits.
+
+The friends of Antipas and the men from Galilee nodded wisely, saying:
+"It is evident that he is aided by demons of some sort!"
+
+Jacob, standing between their table and that of the priests,
+maintained a silence at once lofty and respectful.
+
+Several voices exclaimed: "Prove his power to us!"
+
+Jacob leaned over the priests' table, and said slowly, in a half-
+suppressed tone, as if awe-struck by his own words:
+
+"Know ye not, then, that He is the Messiah?"
+
+The priests stared at one another, and Vitellius demanded the meaning
+of the word. His interpreter paused a moment before translating it.
+Then he said that Messiah was the name to be given to one who was to
+come, bringing the enjoyment of all blessings, and giving them
+domination over all the peoples of the earth. Certain persons believed
+that there were to be two Messiahs; one would be vanquished by Gog and
+Magog, the demons of the North; but the other would exterminate the
+Prince of Evil; and for centuries the coming of this Saviour of
+mankind had been expected at any moment.
+
+At this, the priests began to talk in low tones among themselves.
+Eleazar addressed Jacob, saying that it had always been understood
+that the Messiah would be a son of David, not of a carpenter; and that
+he would confirm the law, whereas this Nazarene attacked it.
+Furthermore, as a still stronger argument against the pretender, it
+had been promised that the Messiah should be preceded by Elias.
+
+"But Elias has come!" Jacob answered.
+
+"Elias! Elias!" was repeated from one end of the banqueting-hall to
+the other.
+
+In imagination, all fancied that they could see an old man, a flight
+of ravens above his head, standing before an altar, which a flash of
+lightning illumined, revealing the idolatrous priests that were thrown
+into the torrent; and the women, sitting in the galleries, thought of
+the widow of Sarepta.
+
+Jacob then declared that he knew Elias; that he had seen him, and that
+many of the guests there assembled had seen him!
+
+"His name!" was the cry from all lips.
+
+"Iaokanann!"
+
+Antipas fell back in his chair as if a heavy blow had struck him on
+the breast. The Sadducees rose from their seats and rushed towards
+Jacob. Eleazar raised his voice to a shout in order to make himself
+heard. When order was finally restored, he draped his mantle about his
+shoulders, and, with the air of a judge, proceeded to put questions to
+Jacob.
+
+"Since the prophet is dead--" he began.
+
+Murmurs interrupted him. Many persons believed that Elias was not
+dead, but had only disappeared.
+
+Eleazar rebuked those who had interrupted him; and continuing, asked:
+
+"And dost thou believe that he has indeed come to life again?"
+
+"Why should I not believe it?" Jacob replied.
+
+The Sadducees shrugged their shoulders. Jonathas, opening wide his
+little eyes, gave a forced, buffoon-like laugh. Nothing could be more
+absurd, said he, than the idea that a human body could have eternal
+life; and he declaimed, for the benefit of the proconsul, this line
+from a contemporaneous poet:
+
+  Nec crescit, nec post mortem durare videtur.
+
+By this time Aulus was leaning over the side of the pavilion, with
+pale face, a perspiring brow, and both hands outspread on his stomach.
+
+The Sadducees pretended to be deeply moved at the sight of his
+suffering, thinking that perhaps the next day the offices of
+sacrificers would be theirs. Antipas appeared to be in despair at his
+guest's agony. Vitellius preserved a calm demeanour, although he felt
+some anxiety, for the loss of his son would mean the loss of his
+fortune.
+
+But Aulus, quickly recovering after he had relieved his over-burdened
+stomach, was as eager to eat as before.
+
+"Let some one bring me marble-dust," he commanded, "or clay of Naxos,
+sea-water--anything! Perhaps it would do me good to bathe."
+
+He swallowed a quantity of snow; then hesitated between a ragout and a
+dish of blackbirds; and finally decided in favour of gourds served in
+honey. The little Asiatic gazed at his master in astonishment and
+admiration; to him this exhibition of gluttony denoted a wonderful
+being belonging to a superior race.
+
+The feast went on. Slaves served the guests with kidneys, dormice,
+nightingales, mince-meat dressed with vine-leaves. The priests
+discoursed among themselves regarding the supposed resurrection.
+Ammonius, pupil of Philon, the Platonist, pronounced them stupid, and
+told the Greeks that he laughed at their oracles.
+
+Marcellus and Jacob were seated side by side. Marcellus described the
+happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithra, and Jacob made him
+promise to become a follower of Jesus.
+
+The wines of the palm and the tamarisk, those of Safed and of Byblos,
+ran from the amphoras into the crateras, from the crateras into the
+cups, and from the cups down the guests' throats. Every one talked,
+all hearts expanding under the good cheer. Jacim, although a Jew, did
+not hesitate to express his admiration of the planets. A merchant from
+Aphaka amazed the nomads with his description of the marvels in the
+temple of Hierapolis; and they wished to know the cost of a pilgrimage
+to that place. Others held fast to the principles of their native
+religion. A German, who was nearly blind, sang a hymn celebrating that
+promontory in Scandinavia where the gods were wont to appear with
+halos around their heads. The people from Sichem declined to eat
+turtles, out of deference to the dove Azima.
+
+Several groups stood talking near the middle of the banqueting-hall,
+and the vapour of their breath, mingled with the smoke from the
+candles, formed a light mist. Presently Phanuel slipped quietly into
+the room, keeping close to the wall. He had been out in the open
+courtyard, to make another survey of the heavens. He stopped when he
+reached the pavilion of the tetrarch, fearing he would be splashed
+with drops of oil if he approached the other tables, which, to an
+Essene, would be a great defilement.
+
+Suddenly violent blows resounded upon the castle gates. The news of
+the imprisonment of Iaokanann had spread rapidly, and now it appeared
+that the whole surrounding population was flocking to the castle. Men
+with torches were hastening along the roads in all directions; a black
+mass of people swarmed in the ravine; and from all throats came the
+cry: "Iaokanann! Iaokanann!"
+
+"That man will ruin everything," said Jonathas.
+
+"We shall have no more money if this continues," said the Pharisees.
+
+Accusations, recriminations, and pleadings were heard on all sides.
+
+"Protect us!"
+
+"Compel them to cease!"
+
+"Thou didst abandon thy religion!"
+
+"Impious as all the Herods!"
+
+"Less impious than thou!" Antipas retorted. "Was it not my father that
+erected thy Temple?"
+
+Then the Pharisees, children of the proscribed tribes, partisans of
+Mattathias, accused the tetrarch of all the crimes committed by his
+family.
+
+The Pharisees had pointed skulls, bristling beards, feeble hands, snub
+noses, great round eyes, and their countenances bore a resemblance to
+that of a bull-dog. A dozen of these people, scribes and attendants
+upon the priests, who picked up their living from the refuse of
+holocausts, rushed to the foot of the pavilion and threatened Antipas
+with their knives. He attempted to speak to them, being only slightly
+protected by some of the Sadducees. Suddenly he perceived Mannaeus at
+a distance and made him a sign to approach. The expression on the face
+of Vitellius indicated that he regarded all this turmoil as no concern
+of his.
+
+The Pharisees, leaning against the pavilion, were now beside
+themselves with demoniac fury. They broke plates and dashed them upon
+the floor. The attendants had served them with a ragout composed of
+the flesh of the wild ass, an unclean animal, and their anger knew no
+bounds. Aulus rallied them jeeringly apropos of the ass's head, which
+he declared they honoured. He flung other sarcasms at them, regarding
+their antipathy to the flesh of swine, intimating that no doubt their
+hatred arose from the fact that that beast had killed their beloved
+Bacchus, and saying it was to be feared they were too fond of wine,
+since a golden vine had been discovered in the Temple.
+
+The priests did not understand his sneers, and Phineas, of Galilean
+origin, refused to translate them. Aulus suddenly became angry, the
+more so because the little Asiatic, frightened at the tumult, had
+disappeared. The feast no longer pleased the noble glutton; the dishes
+were vulgar, and not sufficiently disguised with delicate flavourings.
+After a time his displeasure abated, as he caught sight of a dish of
+Syrian lambs' tails, dressed with spices, a favourite dainty.
+
+To Vitellius the character of the Jews seemed frightful. Their God was
+like Moloch, several altars to whom he had passed upon his route; and
+he recalled the stories he had heard of the mysterious Jew who
+fattened small children and offered them as a sacrifice. His Latin
+nature was filled with disgust at their intolerance, their
+iconoclastic rage, their brutal, stumbling bearing. The proconsul
+wished to depart, but Aulus refused to accompany him.
+
+The exaltation of the people increased. They abandoned themselves to
+dreams of independence. They recalled the glory of Israel, and a
+Syrian spoke of all the great conquerors they had vanquished,--
+Antigone, Crassus, Varus.
+
+"Miserable creatures!" cried the enraged proconsul, who had overheard
+the Syrian's words.
+
+In the midst of the uproar Antipas remembered the medallion of the
+emperor that Herodias had given to him; he drew it forth and looked at
+it a moment, trembling, then held it up with its face turned towards
+the throng.
+
+At the same moment, the panels of the gold-railed balcony were folded
+back, and, accompanied by slaves bearing wax tapers, Herodias
+appeared, her coiffure crowned with an Assyrian mitre, which was held
+in place by a band passing under the chin. Her dark hair fell in
+ringlets over a scarlet peplum with slashed sleeves. On either side of
+the door through which one stepped into the gallery, stood a huge
+stone monster, like those of Atrides; and as Herodias appeared between
+them, she looked like Cybele supported by her lions. In her hands she
+carried a patera, a shallow vessel of silver used by the Romans in
+pouring libations; and, advancing to the front of the balcony and
+pausing just above the tetrarch's chair, she cried:
+
+"Long live Caesar!"
+
+This homage was repeated by Vitellius, Antipas, and the priests.
+
+But now, beginning at the farthest end of the banqueting-hall, a
+murmur of surprise and admiration swept through the multitude. A
+beautiful young girl had just entered the apartment, and stood
+motionless for an instant, while all eyes were turned upon her.
+
+Through a drapery of filmy blue gauze that veiled her head and throat,
+her arched eyebrows, tiny ears, and ivory-white skin could be
+distinguished. A scarf of shot-silk fell from her shoulders, and was
+caught up at the waist by a girdle of fretted silver. Her full
+trousers, of black silk, were embroidered in a pattern of silver
+mandragoras, and as she moved forward with indolent grace, her little
+feet were seen to be shod with slippers made of the feathers of
+humming-birds.
+
+When she arrived in front of the pavilion she removed her veil.
+Behold! she seemed to be Herodias herself, as she had appeared in the
+days of her blooming youth.
+
+Immediately the damsel began to dance before the tetrarch. Her slender
+feet took dainty steps to the rhythm of a flute and a pair of Indian
+bells. Her round white arms seemed ever beckoning and striving to
+entice to her side some youth who was fleeing from her allurements.
+She appeared to pursue him, with movements light as a butterfly; her
+whole mien was like that of an inquisitive Psyche, or a floating
+spirit that might at any moment dissolve and disappear.
+
+Presently the plaintive notes of the gingras, a small flute of
+Phoenician origin, replaced the tinkling bells. The attitudes of the
+dancing nymph now denoted overpowering lassitude. Her bosom heaved
+with sighs, and her whole being expressed profound languor, although
+it was not clear whether she sighed for an absent swain or was
+expiring of love in his embrace. With half-closed eyes and quivering
+form, she caused mysterious undulations to flow downward over her
+whole body, like rippling waves, while her face remained impassive and
+her twinkling feet still moved in their intricate steps.
+
+Vitellius compared her to Mnester, the famous pantomimist. Aulus was
+overcome with faintness. The tetrarch watched her, lost in a
+voluptuous reverie, and thought no more of the real Herodias. In fancy
+he saw her again as she appeared when she had dwelt among the
+Sadducees. Then the vision faded.
+
+But this beautiful thing before him was no vision. The dancer was
+Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who for many months her mother had
+caused to be instructed in dancing, and other arts of pleasing, with
+the sole idea of bringing her to Machaerus and presenting her to the
+tetrarch, so that he should fall in love with her fresh young beauty
+and feminine wiles. The plan had proved successful, it seemed; he was
+evidently fascinated, and Herodias felt that at last she was sure of
+retaining her power over him!
+
+And now the graceful dancer appeared transported with the very
+delirium of love and passion. She danced like the priestesses of
+India, like the Nubians of the cataracts, or like the Bacchantes of
+Lydia. She whirled about like a flower blown by the tempest. The
+jewels in her ears sparkled, her swift movements made the colours of
+her draperies appear to run into one another. Her arms, her feet, her
+clothing even, seemed to emit streams of magnetism, that set the
+spectators' blood on fire.
+
+Suddenly the thrilling chords of a harp rang through the hall, and the
+throng burst into loud acclamations. All eyes were fixed on Salome,
+who paused in her rhythmic dance, placed her feet wide apart, and
+without bending the knees, suddenly swayed her lithe body downward, so
+that her chin touched the floor; and her whole audience,--the nomads,
+accustomed to a life of privation and abstinence, the Roman soldiers,
+expert in debaucheries, the avaricious publicans, and even the
+crabbed, elderly priests--gazed upon her with dilated nostrils.
+
+Next she began to whirl frantically around the table where Antipas the
+tetrarch was seated. He leaned towards the flying figure, and in a
+voice half choked with the voluptuous sighs of a mad desire, he
+sighed: "Come to me! Come!" But she whirled on, while the music of
+dulcimers swelled louder and the excited spectators roared their
+applause.
+
+The tetrarch called again, louder than before: "Come to me! Come! Thou
+shalt have Capernaum, the plains of Tiberias! my citadels! yea, the
+half of my kingdom!"
+
+Again the dancer paused; then, like a flash, she threw herself upon
+the palms of her hands, while her feet rose straight up into the air.
+In this bizarre pose she moved about upon the floor like a gigantic
+beetle; then stood motionless.
+
+The nape of her neck formed a right angle with her vertebrae. The full
+silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood
+erect, now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a
+rainbow. Her lips were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were
+black as jet, her glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and
+the tiny drops of perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon
+white marble.
+
+She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
+concentrated upon her.
+
+A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
+pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
+Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
+steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned
+over, smiled upon the tetrarch, and, with an air of almost childlike
+naivete, pronounced these words:
+
+"I ask my lord to give me, placed upon a charger, the head of--" She
+hesitated, as if not certain of the name; then said: "The head of
+Iaokanann!"
+
+The tetrarch sank back in his chair as if stunned.
+
+He had bound himself by his promise to her; and the people awaited his
+next movement. But the death that night of some conspicuous man that
+had been predicted to him by Phanuel,--what if, by bringing it upon
+another, he could avert it from himself, thought Antipas. If Iaokanann
+was in very truth the Elias so much talked of, he would have power to
+protect himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was
+of no importance.
+
+Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master's thoughts.
+Vitellius beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the
+execution, to be transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the
+dungeon. This execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few
+moments all would be over!
+
+But for once Mannaeus did not perform a commission satisfactorily. He
+left the hall but soon returned, in a state of great perturbation.
+
+During forty years he had exercised the functions of the public
+executioner. It was he that had drowned Aristobulus, strangled
+Alexander, burned Mattathias alive, beheaded Zozimus, Pappus,
+Josephus, and Antipater; but he dared not kill Iaokanann! His teeth
+chattered and his whole body trembled.
+
+He declared that he had seen, standing before the dungeon, the Angel
+of the Samaritans, covered with eyes and brandishing a great sword,
+glowing and quivering like a flame. He appealed to two of the guards,
+who had entered the hall with him, to corroborate his words. But they
+said they had seen nothing except a Jewish captain who had attacked
+them, and whom they had killed.
+
+The fury of Herodias poured forth in a torrent of invective against
+the populace. She clenched the railing of the balcony so fiercely as
+to break her nails; the two stone lions at her back seemed to bite her
+shoulders and join their voices to hers.
+
+Antipas followed her example; and priests, soldiers, and Pharisees
+cried aloud together for vengeance, echoed by the rest of the
+gathering, who were indignant that a mere slave should dare to delay
+their pleasures.
+
+Again Mannaeus left the hall, covering his face with his hands.
+
+The guests found the second delay longer than the first. It seemed
+tedious to every one.
+
+Presently a sound of footsteps was heard in the corridor without; then
+silence fell again. The suspense was becoming intolerable.
+
+Suddenly the door was flung open and Mannaeus entered, holding at
+arm's length, grasping it by the hair, the head of Iaokanann. His
+appearance was greeted with a burst of applause, which filled him with
+pride and revived his courage.
+
+He placed the head upon a charger and offered it to Salome, who had
+descended the steps to receive it. She remounted to the balcony, with
+a light step; and in another moment the charger was carried about from
+one table to another by the elderly female slave whom the tetrarch had
+observed in the morning on the balcony of a neighbouring house, and
+later in the chamber of Herodias.
+
+When she approached him with her ghastly burden, he turned away his
+head to avoid looking at it. Vitellius threw upon it an indifferent
+glance.
+
+Mannaeus descended from the pavilion, took the charger from the woman,
+and exhibited the head to the Roman captains, then to all the guests
+on that side of the hall.
+
+They looked at it curiously.
+
+The sharp blade of the sword had cut into the jaw with a swift
+downward stroke. The corners of the mouth were drawn, as if by a
+convulsion. Clots of blood besprinkled the beard. The closed eyelids
+had a shell-like transparency, and the candelabra on every side
+lighted up the gruesome object with terrible distinctness.
+
+Mannaeus arrived at the table where the priests were seated. One of
+them turned the charger about curiously, to look at the head from all
+sides. Then Mannaeus, having entirely regained his courage, placed the
+charger before Aulus, who had just awakened from a short doze; and
+finally he brought it again to Antipas and set it down upon the table
+beside him. Tears were running down the cheeks of the tetrarch.
+
+The lights began to flicker and die out. The guests departed, and at
+last no one remained in the great hall save Antipas, who sat leaning
+his head upon his hands, gazing at the head of Iaokanann; and Phanuel,
+who stood in the centre of the largest nave and prayed aloud, with
+uplifted arms.
+
+
+At sunrise the two men who had been sent on a mission by Iaokanann
+some time before, returned to the castle, bringing the answer so long
+awaited and hoped for.
+
+They whispered the message to Phanuel, who received it with rapture.
+
+Then he showed them the lugubrious object, still resting on the
+charger amid the ruins of the feast. One of the men said:
+
+"Be comforted! He has descended among the dead in order to announce
+the coming of the Christ!"
+
+And in that moment the Essene comprehended the words of Iaokanann: "In
+order that His glory may increase, mine must diminish!"
+
+Then the three, taking with them the head of John the Baptist, set out
+upon the road to Galilee; and as the burden was heavy, each man bore
+it awhile in turn.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Herodias, by Gustave Flaubert
+
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