THE VOICE OF IOKANAAN
Behold the time is come! That which I foretold has come to pass. The day that I spake of is at hand.
HERODIAS
Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man is for ever hurling insults against me.
HEROD
He has said nothing against you. Besides, he is a very great prophet.
HERODIAS
I do not believe in prophets. Can a man tell what will come to pass? No man knows it. Also he is for ever insulting me. But I think you are afraid of him … . I know well that you are afraid of him.
HEROD
I am not afraid of him. I am afraid of no man.
HERODIAS
I tell you you are afraid of him. If you are not afraid of him why do you not deliver him to the Jews who for these six months past have been clamouring for him?
A JEW
Truly, my lord, it were better to deliver him into our hands.
HEROD
Enough on this subject. I have already given you my answer. I will not deliver him into your hands. He is a holy man. He is a man who has seen God.
A JEW
That cannot be. There is no man who hath seen God since the prophet Elias. He is the last man who saw God face to face. In these days God doth not show Himself. God hideth Himself. Therefore great evils have come upon the land.
ANOTHER JEW
Verily, no man knoweth if Elias the prophet did indeed see God. Peradventure it was but the shadow of God that he saw.
A THIRD JEW
God is at no time hidden. He showeth Himself at all times and in all places. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.
A FOURTH JEW
Thou shouldst not say that. It is a very dangerous doctrine. It is a doctrine that cometh from Alexandria, where men teach the philosophy of the Greeks. And the Greeks are Gentiles. They are not even circumcised.
FIFTH JEW
No man can tell how God worketh. His ways are very dark. It may be that the things which we call evil are good, and that the things which we call good are evil. There is no knowledge of anything. We can but bow our heads to His will, for God is very strong. He breaketh in pieces the strong together with the weak, for He regardeth not any man.
FIRST JEW
Thou speakest truly. Verily, God is terrible. He breaketh in pieces the strong and the weak as men break corn in a mortar. But as for this man, he hath never seen God. No man hath seen God since the prophet Elias.
HERODIAS
Make them be silent. They weary me.
HEROD
But I have heard it said that Iokanaan is in very truth your prophet Elias.
THE JEW
That cannot be. It is more than three hundred years since the days of the prophet Elias.
HEROD
There be some who say that this man is Elias the prophet.
A NAZARENE
I am sure that he is Elias the prophet.
THE JEW
Nay, but he is not Elias the prophet.
THE VOICE OF IOKANAAN
Behold the day is at hand, the day of the Lord, and I hear upon the mountains the feet of Him who shall be the Saviour of the world.
HEROD
What does that mean? The Saviour of the world?
TIGELLINUS
It is a title that Cæsar adopts.
HEROD
But Cæsar is not coming into Judæa. Only yesterday I received letters from Rome. They contained nothing concerning this matter. And you, Tigellinus, who were at Rome during the winter, you heard nothing concerning this matter, did you?
TIGELLINUS
Sire, I heard nothing concerning the matter. I was but explaining the title. It is one of Cæsar’s titles.
HEROD
But Cæsar cannot come. He is too gouty. They say that his feet are like the feet of an elephant. Also there are reasons of state. He who leaves Rome loses Rome. He will not come. Howbeit, Cæsar is lord, he will come if such be his pleasure. Nevertheless, I think he will not come.
FIRST NAZARENE
It was not concerning Cæsar that the prophet spake these words, sire.
HEROD
How? — it was not concerning Cæsar?
FIRST NAZARENE
No, my lord.
HEROD
Concerning whom then did he speak?
FIRST NAZARENE
Concerning Messias, who hath come.
A JEW
Messias hath not come.
FIRST NAZARENE
He hath come, and everywhere He worketh miracles!
HERODIAS
Ho! ho! miracles! I do not believe in miracles. I have seen too many. (To the Page.)
My fan.
FIRST NAZARENE
This Man worketh true miracles. Thus, at a marriage which took place in a little town of Galilee, a town of some importance, He changed water into wine. Certain persons who were present related it to me. Also He healed two lepers that were seated before the Gate of Capernaum simply by touching them.
SECOND NAZARENE
Nay; it was two blind men that He healed at Capernaum.
FIRST NAZARENE
Nay; they were lepers. But He hath healed blind people also, and He was seen on a mountain talking with angels.
A SADDUCEE
Angels do not exist.
A PHARISEE
Angels exist, but I do not believe that this Man has talked with them.
FIRST NAZARENE
He was seen by a great multitude of people talking with angels.
HERODIAS
How these men weary me! They are ridiculous! They are altogether ridiculous! (To the Page.)
Well! my fan? (The Page gives her the fan.)
You have a dreamer’s look. You must not dream. It is only sick people who dream. (She strikes the Page with her fan.)
SECOND NAZARENE
There is also the miracle of the daughter of Jairus.
FIRST NAZARENE
Yea, that is sure. No man can gainsay it.
HERODIAS
Those men are mad. They have looked too long on the moon. Command them to be silent.
HEROD
What is this miracle of the daughter of Jairus?
FIRST