For had I not unearthed the portraiture Of Aristobulus which in secrecy For Antony was painted, and had I Not scented out her courier-despatch To Cleopatra: more than all, the coffin That with her son concealed her at the harbour-- Had I not blocked it and prevented flight That was begun already---- HEROD. Then had she No thanks to owe you, and with qualmless mind You’d bear to see her daughter on the throne, The throne that she, the dauntless Maccabean, Will surely mount if I return no more, And none before her edge his way thereto. JOSEPH. I mean it not that way; I mean that much Had lain in smother. HEROD. Much! Why, not a doubt But much that’s awkward had instead occurred. No matter now. You make your tally full; But there’s one item you’ve forgot---- JOSEPH. And that? HEROD. You were presumably attending him The time he went a-bathing when---- JOSEPH. I was. HEROD. Presumably you wrestled him? JOSEPH. At first, yes. HEROD. H’m, queerish! Well? JOSEPH. No dizziness attacked him When he was in my arms, and had it happened Either I would have rescued him or he Had dragged me under with him to the bottom. HEROD. No doubt. But as you cannot help but know, All who were there make just your protestation, And since a perverse chance will have it so, That you not only bore him company But wrestled him---- JOSEPH. What means that check of word? HEROD. My Joseph, you and I, we make a couple That stands stern charge. JOSEPH. I too? HEROD. I dare assert I have both kin and trusty friend in you? JOSEPH. ’Tis so I flatter me. HEROD. ’Twere better not so. Had I like Saul cast the dart after you And could you prove it through your deathly wound For you ’twere better: no back-biter’s word Had risen to find the credulous ear: and you, For a blood-deed of which your hands were guiltless, Would never lose your head. JOSEPH. I? lose my head? HEROD. That is your fate if I do not return, And Mariamne---- JOSEPH. But my hands _are_ guiltless: HEROD. What helps you there? the ugly look’s against you. And then again, suppose you were believed, Are not the many, many services You’ve rendered me, in Alexandra’s eyes As many crimes against herself? Will she Not have these thoughts--“Had he o’erwinked my flight There’d be one living who now lies i’ the grave?” JOSEPH. True, true! HEROD.