Herodias | Page 6

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