HEROD
No, no, I will not give it thee.
SALOMÉ
You have sworn an oath, Herod.
HERODIAS
Yes, you have sworn an oath. Everybody heard you. You swore it before everybody.
HEROD
Peace, woman! It is not to you I speak.
HERODIAS
My daughter has done well to ask the head of Jokanaan. He has covered me with insults. He has said unspeakable things against me. One can see that she loves her mother well. Do not yield, my daughter. He has sworn an oath, he has sworn an oath.
HEROD
Peace! Speak not to me! . . . Salomé, I pray thee be not stubborn. I have ever been kind toward thee. I have ever loved thee. . . . It may be that I have loved thee too much. Therefore ask not this thing of me. This is a terrible thing, an awful thing to ask of me. Surely, I think thou art jesting. The head of a man that is cut from his body is ill to look upon, is it not? It is not meet that the eyes of a virgin should look
upon such a thing. What pleasure couldst thou
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