The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: 150+ Titles in One Edition. Oscar Wilde

where he fed on locusts and wild honey. He was clothed in camel’s hair, and round his loins he had a leathern belt. He was very terrible to look upon. A great multitude used to follow him. He even had disciples.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       What is he talking of?

      FIRST SOLDIER

       We can never tell. Sometimes he says things that affright one, but it is impossible to understand what he says.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       May one see him?

      FIRST SOLDIER

       No. The Tetrarch has forbidden it.

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       The Princess has hidden her face behind her fan! Her little white hands are fluttering like doves that fly to their dovecots. They are like white butterflies. They are just like white butterflies.

      THE PAGE OF HERODIAS

       What is that to you? Why do you look at her? You must not look at her … . Something terrible may happen.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       (Pointing to the cistern.)

       What a strange prison!

      SECOND SOLDIER

       It is an old cistern.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       An old cistern! That must be a poisonous place in which to dwell!

      SECOND SOLDIER

       Oh no! For instance, the Tetrarch’s brother, his elder brother, the first husband of Herodias the Queen, was imprisoned there for twelve years. It did not kill him. At the end of the twelve years he had to be strangled.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       Strangled? Who dared to do that?

      SECOND SOLDIER

       (Pointing to the Executioner, a huge negro.)

       That man yonder, Naaman.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       He was not afraid?

      SECOND SOLDIER

       Oh no! The Tetrarch sent him the ring.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       What ring?

      SECOND SOLDIER

       The death ring. So he was not afraid.

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       Yet it is a terrible thing to strangle a king.

      FIRST SOLDIER

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

      THE CAPPADOCIAN

       I think it terrible.

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       The Princess is getting up! She is leaving the table! She looks very troubled. Ah, she is coming this way. Yes, she is coming towards us. How pale she is! Never have I seen her so pale.

      THE PAGE OF HERODIAS

       Do not look at her. I pray you not to look at her.

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       She is like a dove that has strayed … . She is like a narcissus trembling in the wind … . She is like a silver flower.

       (Enter Salomé.)

      SALOMÉ

       I will not stay. I cannot stay. Why does the Tetrarch look at me all the while with his mole’s eyes under his shaking eyelids? It is strange that the husband of my mother looks at me like that. I know not what it means. Of a truth I know it too well.

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       You have left the feast, Princess?

      SALOMÉ

       How sweet is the air here! I can breathe here! Within there are Jews from Jerusalem who are tearing each other in pieces over their foolish ceremonies, and barbarians who drink and drink and spill their wine on the pavement, and Greeks from Smyrna with painted eyes and painted cheeks, and frizzed hair curled in columns, and Egyptians silent and subtle, with long nails of jade and russet cloaks, and Romans brutal and coarse, with their uncouth jargon. Ah! how I loathe the Romans! They are rough and common, and they give themselves the airs of noble lords.

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       Will you be seated, Princess.

      THE PAGE OF HERODIAS

       Why do you speak to her? Oh! something terrible will happen. Why do you look at her?

      SALOMÉ

       How good to see the moon! She is like a little piece of money, a little silver flower. She is cold and chaste. I am sure she is a virgin. She has the beauty of a virgin. Yes, she is a virgin. She has never defiled herself. She has never abandoned herself to men, like the other goddesses.

      THE VOICE OF IOKANAAN

       Behold! the Lord hath come. The Son of Man is at hand. The centaurs have hidden themselves in the rivers, and the nymphs have left the rivers, and are lying beneath the leaves in the forests.

      SALOMÉ

       Who was that who cried out?

      SECOND SOLDIER

       The prophet, Princess.

      SALOMÉ

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

      SECOND SOLDIER

       We know nothing of that, Princess. It was the prophet Iokanaan who cried out.

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       Is it your pleasure that I bid them bring your litter, Princess? The night is fair in the garden.

      SALOMÉ

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

      SECOND SOLDIER

       We never understand what he says, Princess.

      SALOMÉ

       Yes; he says terrible things about her.

       (Enter a Slave.)

      THE SLAVE

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

      SALOMÉ

       I will not return.

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       Pardon me, Princess, but if you return not some misfortune may happen.

      SALOMÉ

       Is he an old man, this prophet?

      THE YOUNG SYRIAN

       Princess, it were better to return. Suffer me to lead you in.

      SALOMÉ

       This prophet … is he an old man?

      FIRST SOLDIER

       No, Princess, he is quite young.

      SECOND SOLDIER

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

      SALOMÉ

       Who is Elias?

      SECOND SOLDIER

       A prophet of this country in bygone days, Princess.

      THE SLAVE

       What answer may I give the Tetrarch from the Princess?

      THE VOICE OF IOKANAAN

       Rejoice