by Oscar Wilde
Thy mouth is redder than the feet of those who tread the wine in the wine-press. Thy mouth is redder than the feet of the doves that haunt the temples and are fed by the priests. It is redder than the feet of him who cometh from a forest where he hath slain a lion and seen gilded tigers. Thy mouth is like a branch of coral that the fishers have found in the twilight of the sea, the coral that they keep for kings! . . . It is like the vermilion that the Moabites find in the mines of Moab, the vermilion that the kings take from them. It is like the bow of the King of the Persians, that is painted with vermilion and is tipped with coral. There is nothing in the world so red as thy mouth. . . . Let me kiss thy mouth.
JOKANAAN. Never! daughter of Babylon! Daughter of Sodom! Never.
SALOMÉ. I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan. I will kiss thy mouth.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN. Princess, Princess, thou who art like a garden of myrrh, thou who art the dove of all doves, look not at this man, look not at him! Speak not such words to him. I cannot suffer them. . . . Princess, Princess, speak not these things.
SALOMÉ. I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN. Ah!
[He kills himself and falls between Salomé and Jokanaan.]
THE PAGE OF HERODIAS. The young Syrian has slain himself! The young captain has slain himself! He has slain himself who was my friend! I gave him a little box of perfumes and ear-rings wrought in silver, and now he has killed himself! Ah, did he not foretell that some misfortune would happen? I, too, foretold it, and it has happened. Well I knew that the moon was seeking a dead thing but I knew not that it was he whom she sought. Ah! why did I not hide him from the moon? If I had hidden him in a cavern she would not have seen him.
FIRST SOLDIER. Princess, the young captain has just killed himself.
SALOMÉ. Let me kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan.
JOKANAAN. Art thou not afraid, daughter of Herodias? Did I not tell thee that I had heard in the palace the beating of the wings of the angel of death, and hath he not come, the angel of death?
SALOMÉ. Let me kiss thy mouth.
JOKANAAN. Daughter of adultery, there is but one who can save thee. It is He of whom I spake. Go seek Him. He is in a boat on the sea of Galilee, and He talketh with His disciples. Kneel down on the shore of the sea, and call unto Him by His name. When He cometh to thee (and to all who call on Him He cometh), bow thyself at His feet and ask of Him the remission of thy sins.
SALOMÉ. Let me kiss thy mouth.
JOKANAAN. Cursed be thou! daughter of an incestuous mother, be thou accursed!
SALOMÉ. I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan.
JOKANAAN. I do not wish to look at thee. I will not look at thee, thou art accursed, Salomé, thou art accursed.
[He goes down into the cistern.]
SALOMÉ. I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan; I will kiss thy mouth.
FIRST SOLDIER. We must bear away the body to another place. The Tetrarch does not care to see dead bodies, save the bodies of those whom he himself has slain.
THE PAGE OF HERODIAS. He was my brother, and nearer to me than a brother. I gave him a little box full of perfumes, and a ring of agate that he wore always on his hand. In the evening we used to walk by the river, among the almond trees, and he would tell me of the things of his country. He spake ever very low. The sound of his voice was like the sound of the flute of a flute player. Also he much loved to gaze at himself in the river. I used to reproach him for that.
SECOND SOLDIER. You are right; we must hide the body. The Tetrarch must not see it.
FIRST SOLDIER. The Tetrarch will not come to this place. He never comes on the terrace. He is too much afraid of the prophet.
[Enter Herod, Herodias, and all the Court.]
HEROD. Where is Salomé? Where is the Princess? Why did she not return to the banquet as I commanded her? Ah! there she is!
HERODIAS. You must not look at her! You are always looking at her!
HEROD. The moon has a strange look tonight. Has she not a strange look? She is like a mad woman, a mad woman who is seeking everywhere for lovers. She is naked too. She is quite naked. The clouds are seeking to clothe her nakedness, but she will not let them. She reels through the clouds like a drunken woman. ... I am sure she is looking for lovers. . . . Does she not reel like a drunken woman? She is like a mad woman, is she not?
HERODIAS. No. The moon is like the moon, that is all. Let us go within. . . . You have nothing to do here.
HEROD. I will stay here! Manasseh, lay carpets there. Light torches. Bring forth the ivory tables, and the tables of jasper. The air here is delicious. I will drink more wine with my guests, We must show all honours to the ambassadors of Caesar.
HERODIAS. It is not because of them that you remain.
HEROD. Yes, the air is delicious. Come, Herodias, our guests await us. Ah! I have slipped! I have slipped in blood! It is an ill omen. It is a very evil omen. Wherefore is there blood here? . . . And this body, what does this body here? Think you I am like the King of Egypt who gives no feast to his guests but that he shows them a corpse? Whose is it? I will not look on it.
FIRST SOLDIER. It is our captain, sire. It is the young Syrian whom you made captain only three days ago.
HEROD. I gave no order that he should be slain.
SECOND SOLDIER. He killed himself, sire.
HEROD. For what reason? I had made him captain!
SECOND SOLDIER. We do not know, sire. But he killed himself.
HEROD. That seems strange to me. I thought it was only the Roman philosophers who killed themselves. Is it not true, Tigellinus, that the philosophers at Rome kill themselves?
TIGELLINUS. There are some who kill themselves, sire. They are the Stoics. The Stoics are coarse people. They are ridiculous people. I myself regard them as being perfectly ridiculous.
HEROD. I also. It is ridiculous to kill oneself.
TIGELLINUS. Everybody at Rome laughs at them. The Emperor has written a satire against them. It is recited everywhere.
HEROD. Ah! He has written a satire against them? Caesar is wonderful. He can do everything. . . . It is strange that the young Syrian has killed himself. I am sorry he has killed himself. I am very sorry, for he was fair to look upon. He was even very fair. He had very languorous eyes. I remember that I saw that he looked languorously at Salomé. Truly, I thought he looked too much at her.
HERODIAS. There are others who look at her too much.
HEROD. His father was a king. I drove him from his kingdom. And you made a slave of his mother, who was a queen, Herodias. So he was here as my guest, as it were, and for that reason I made him my captain. I am sorry he is dead. Ho! why have you left the body here? Take it away! I will not look at it—away with it! [They take away the body.] It is cold here. There is a wind blowing. Is there not a wind blowing?
HERODIAS. No, there is no wind.
HEROD. I tell you there is a wind that blows. . . . And I hear in the air something that is like the beating of wings, like the beating of vast wings. Do you not hear it?
HERODIAS. I hear nothing.
HEROD. I hear it no longer. But I heard it. It was the blowing of the wind, no doubt. It has passed away. But no, I hear it again. Do you not hear it? It is just like the beating of wings.
HERODIAS. I tell you there is nothing. You are ill. Let us go within.
HEROD. I am not ill. It is your daughter who is sick. She has the mien of a sick person. Never have I seen her so pale.
HERODIAS. I have told you not to look at her.
HEROD. Pour me forth wine. [wine is brought] Salomé, come drink a little wine with me. I have here a wine that is exquisite. Caesar himself sent it me, Dip into it thy little red lips and then I will drain the cup.
SALOMÉ. I am not thirsty, Tetrarch.
HEROD. You hear how she answers me, this daughter of yours?
HERODIAS. She does right. Why are you always gazing at her?
HEROD. Bring me ripe fruits. [fruits are brought] Salomé, come and eat fruit with me. I love to se
e in a fruit the mark of thy little teeth. Bite but a little of this fruit and then I will eat what is left.
SALOMÉ. I am not hungry, Tetrarch.
HEROD [to Herodias] You see how you have brought up this daughter of yours.
HERODIAS. My daughter and I come of a royal race. As for you, your father was a camel driver! He was also a robber!
HEROD. Thou liest!
HERODIAS. Thou knowest well that it is true.
HEROD. Salomé, come and sit next to me. I will give thee the throne of thy mother.
SALOMÉ. I am not tired, Tetrarch.
HERODIAS. You see what she thinks of you.
HEROD. Bring me—what is it that I desire? I forget. Ah! ah! I remember.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN. Lo! the time is come! That which I foretold hath come to pass, saith the Lord God. Lo! the day of which I spake.
HERODIAS. Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man is for ever vomiting 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. Moreover, he is for ever insulling 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 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. In these days God doth not show Himself. He hideth Himself. Therefore great evils have come upon the land.
ANOTHER JEW. Verily, no man knoweth if the prophet Elias 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 everything. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.
A FOURTH JEW. That must not be said. It is a very dangerous doctrine. It is a doctrine that cometh from the schools at Alexandria where men teach the philosophy of the Greeks. And the Greeks are Gentiles; they are not even circumcised.
A FIFTH JEW. No one can tell how God worketh. His ways are very mysterious. 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 must needs submit to everything, 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. God is terrible; He breaketh the strong and the weak as a man brays corn in a mortar. But this man 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 Jokanaan himself is your prophet Elias.
THE JEW. That cannot be. It is more than three hundred years since the days of the prophet Elias.
HEROD. There are some who say that this man is the prophet Elias.
A NAZARENE. I am sure that he is the prophet Elias.
THE JEW. Nay, but he is not the prophet Elias.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN. So the day is come, 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 Caesar takes.
HEROD. But Caesar is not coming into Judaea. 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 explaining the title. It is one of Caesar's titles.
HEROD. But Ctesar 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, Caesar is lord. He will come if he wishes. Nevertheless, I do not think he will come.
FIRST NAZARENE. It was not concerning Caesar that the prophet spake, sire.
HEROD. Not of Caesar?
FIRST NAZARENE. No, sire.
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 do 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.
A SADDUCEE. Not with angels.
HERODIAS. How these men weary me! They are 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. Yes, that is sure. No man can gainsay it.
HERODIAS. These 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 NAZARENE. The daughter of Jairus was dead. He raised her from the dead.
HEROD. He raises the dead?
FIRST NAZARENE. Yea, sire, He raiseth the dead.
HEROD. I do not wish Him to do that. I forbid Him to do that. I allow no man to raise the dead. This Man must be found and told that I forbid Him to raise the dead. Where is this Man at present?
SECOND NAZARENE. He is in every place, sire, but it is hard to find Him.
FIRST NAZARENE. It is said that He is now in Samaria.
A JEW. It is easy to see that this is not Messias, if He is in Samaria. It is not to the Samaritans that Messias shall come. The Samaritans are accursed. They bring no offerings to the Temple.
SECOND NAZARENE. He left Samaria a few days since. I think that at the present moment He is in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
FIRST NAZARENE. No, He is not there. I have just come from Jerusalem. For two months they have had no tidings of Him.
HEROD. No matter! But let them find Him, and tell Him from me I will not allow Him to raise the dead. To change water into wine, to heal the lepers and the blind . . . He may do these things if He will. I say nothing against these things. In truth, I hold it a good deed to heal a leper. But I allow no man to raise the dead. It would be terrible if the dead came back.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN. Ah! the wanton! the harlot! Ah! the daughter of Babylon with her golden eyes and her gilded eyelids! Thus saith the Lord God. Let there come up against her a multitude of men. Let the people take stones and stone her. . . .
HERODIAS. Command him to be silent
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN. Let the war captains pierce her with their swords, let them crush her beneath their shields.
HERODIAS. Nay, but it is infamous.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN. It is thus that I will wipe out all wickedness from the earth, and that all women
shall learn not to imitate her abominations.
HERODIAS. You hear what he says against me? You allow him to revile your wife?
HEROD. He did not speak your name.
HERODIAS. What does that matter? You know well that it is me he seeks to revile. And I am your wife, am I not?
HEROD. Of a truth, dear and noble Herodias, you are my wife, and before that you were the wife of my brother.
HERODIAS. It was you who tore me from his arms.
HEROD. Of a truth I was the stronger. . . . But let us not talk of that matter. I do not desire to talk of it. It is the cause of the terrible words that the prophet has spoken. Peradventure on account of it a misfortune will come. Let us not speak of this matter. Noble Herodias, we are not mindful of our guests. Fill thou my cup, my well-beloved. Fill with wine the great goblets of silver, and the great goblets of glass. I will drink to Caesar. There are Romans here. We must drink to Caesar.
ALL. Caesar! Caesar!
HEROD. Do you not see how pale your daughter is?
HERODIAS. What is it to you if she be pale or not?
HEROD. Never have I seen her so pale.
HERODIAS. You must not look at her.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN. In that day the sun shall become black like sackcloth of hair, and the moon shall become like blood, and the stars of the heaven shall fall upon the earth like ripe figs that fall from the fig-tree, and the kings of the earth shall be afraid.
HERODIAS. Ah! Ah! I should like to see that day of which he speaks, when the moon shall become like blood, and when the stars shall fall upon the earth like ripe figs. This prophet talks like a drunken man . . . But I cannot suffer the sound of his voice, I hate his voice. Command him to be silent.
HEROD. I will not. I cannot understand what it is that he saith, but it may be an omen.
HERODIAS. I do not believe in omens. He speaks like a drunken man.
HEROD. It may be he is drunk with the wine of God!