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      ACT IV.

      SCENE I.

       Table of Contents

      salome, mazael.

      mazael.

       Never did fair appearance gild so well

       The specious covering of a happy falsehood:

       With what dexterity I played on him,

       And blended truth with artifice! But why

       Art thou dejected? art thou not restored

       To Herod’s favor? Mariamne lost,

       Beyond recovery lost? Thou art avenged;

       The king’s distracted. I am shocked myself

       When I behold the work of my own hands:

       Thou too hast seen the horrid spectacle,

       The trembling slaves all butchered by his hand.

       The queen half-dead, and fainting by their side,

       And Herod’s arm uplifted as in act

       To murder her: the children bathed in tears

       Fall at his feet, and offer their own lives

       To save their mother’s: canst thou wish for more,

       Or hast thou aught to fear?

      salome.

       I fear the king,

       I fear those fatal charms which he adores;

       That arm which oft uplifted falls as oft

       Inactive down; that anger which soon kindled

       Is soon extinct; which, doubtful still and blind,

       Exhausts its feeble powers in sudden transports:

       My triumphs, Mazael, are uncertain still;

       Twice has my fate been changed this day, and twice

       To hatred love succeeded: if he sees

       The queen again, we are undone.