And ye will not forget my darkness in His radiance? MANASSA Master, why makest thou us ashamed? JOHN Then, farewell. MANASSA, AMARJA Farewell, Rabbi. [_They turn to go._] JOHN Go not thus; not yet. Let me clasp your hands, then ye are the least among my disciples, and [_in great emotion_] methinks I--I--love you. [_The Curtain falls._] FIFTH ACT FIFTH ACT _Hall in Herod's Palace. A row of pillars, raised by two steps, in the background, which lead to an open balcony with balustrade. This can be shut off by curtains, which at first are thrown back. A street is supposed to run at the foot of the next storey. In the middle of the stage, raised on a dais, is a table, with couches ranged round it; flowers and ornaments. Doors to right and left._ SCENE I _Servants moving about arranging pictures and flowers, Gabalos superintending them; afterwards, Herod._ A SERVANT [_Announces from door on left._] Our governor! HEROD [_Following him._] Now, Gabalos, thou who hast washed in many waters, what has thy art provided? Thou knowest our guests are spoiled children. GABALOS Sire, thou needest have no anxiety about food and drink. Something customary is best for jaded palates. Therefore I chartered the cook of Vitellius. But for the other part of the entertainment the prospect is bad. HEROD [_Smiling._] Is that thy opinion? GABALOS Noble Merokles will declaim a new ode, I warrant. Our Libyan flute-players will have washed their brown legs in honour of the occasion. Sire, mistrust those legs even when washed. As I tell thee every day, we are sick of Judean morality. Judean morality is devouring us like the plague. HEROD Say, Gabalos, dost thou think that our Legate from Syria, before whom all the gaiety and colour of life doth shimmer, hath ever seen a young daughter of Princes dance at table? GABALOS That would be grand, because it is something new. SCENE II _The same. Herodias_ [_from right_]. HEROD [_Noticing her._] Get thee gone! [_Gabalos and the servants withdraw to the background, where they let down the curtains which now shut in the hall._] HEROD What hast thou decided? Will it come to pass? HERODIAS Thy countenance beams. Thy eyes betray a badly concealed desire. HEROD [_Bewildered_] Of what desire dost thou speak? HERODIAS Do not prevaricate. I know thee, my friend. The poisonous weed which thou cultivatest with little sighs, and coverest up with thy crooked smiles, I know it! HEROD I vow, love, that I ask this only for the sake of the Roman. And how should I ever have conceived the idea had it not been for thy half-promises and suggestion of its possibilities? Thou knowest as well as I that we must offer the Roman something immense, something that may not have faded from his tired memory when he enters Cæsar's presence. HERODIAS