erve to increase thy stature; thy glittering
diamonds, the scent of thy hair, the tint of thy nails,--all the
artifices of thy coquetry shall disappear, and missiles shall be found
wherewith to stone the adulteress!"

Herodias looked around for some one to defend her. The Pharisees lowered
their eyes hypocritically. The Sadducees turned away their heads,
fearing to offend the proconsul should they appear to sympathise with
her. Antipas was almost in a swoon.

Louder still rose the voice from the dungeon; the neighbouring hills
gave back an echo with startling effect, and Machaerus seemed actually
surrounded and showered with curses.

"Prostrate thyself in the dust, daughter of Babylon, and scourge
thyself! Remove thy girdle and thy shoes, gather up thy garments and
walk through the flowing stream; thy shame shall follow thee, thy
disgrace shall be known to all men, thy bosom shall be rent with sobs.
God execrates the stench of thy crimes! Accursed one! die like a dog!"

At that instant the trap-door was suddenly shut down and secured by
Mannaeus, who would have liked to strangle Iaokanann then and there.

Herodias glided away and disappeared within the palace. The Pharisees
were scandalised at what they had heard. Antipas, standing among
them, attempted to justify his past conduct and to excuse his present
situation.

"Without doubt," said Eleazar, "it was necessary for him to marry his
brother's wife; but Herodias was not a widow, and besides, she had a
child, which she abandoned; and that was an abomination."

"You are wrong," objected Jonathas the Sadducee; "the law condemns such
marriages but does not actually forbid them."

"What matters it? All the world shows me injustice," said Antipas,
bitterly; "and why? Did not Absalom lie with his father's wives, Judah
with his daughter-in-law, Ammon with his sister, and Lot with his
daughters?"

Aulus, who had been reposing within the palace, now reappeared in the
court. After he had heard how matters stood, he approved of the attitude
of the tetrarch. "A man should never allow himself to be annoyed," said
he, "by such foolish criticism." And he laughed at the censure of the
priests and the fury of Iaokanann, saying that his words were of little
importance.

Herodias, who also had reappeared, and now stood at the top of a flight
of steps, called loudly:

"You are wrong, my lord! He ordered the people to refuse to pay the
tax!"

"Is that true?" he demanded. T