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it happens. All sing of her drama, but the baptist is the cause of the tragedy, having leapt before all, he set the tongue in motion. This man put forth the trumpet against us; he first, not fearing, began to publicly denounce the queen for adultery. Moses sleeps, and through him he speaks; the law is asleep, but John awakens it against us; he calls the queen an adulteress, and he urged many to follow and become bold.”

25 “Give me, then, the head of John the Baptist.” “Give”; for if you do not give it, we do not need to take it; for the executioner, having been instructed by us, will readily go to the murder. All know you to be a slave of the adulteress, a captive of the dancer. The couch bears witness to these things, the banquet bears witness, the wine, the drunkenness, the pact of the oaths, the unbridled promise of the king. “Give me, then, here on a platter the head of John the Baptist”; for I thirst to drink his blood and to chew his limbs, to see with the royal dishes the head of the one who reviles the royal palace. I must bring it twitching to my mother as a gift from the royal table, since Herodias expects this portion of the feast from your birthday celebration.” And so said the girl.

26 “But the king, being grieved on account of his oaths and those reclining with him, ordered it to be given.” Do not accept Herod's grief. Nor deem the tyrant worthy of forgiveness. For it was possible, if he wished, to put the dancer to flight. It was possible, if he wanted, to refuse the oath. For what? If Herodias happened to demand the tyrant's eyes, was the king going to sit blind upon the throne? And what? If she wanted to mutilate his ear and cut off his nose, would the tyrant suddenly have become a monster? And what again? If she commanded to cut off his hands, would the scepter have fallen from his fingers? By no means.

27 But it was fitting to say to the girl: “I swore to provide whatever you might ask that is mine; for I thought to receive a request for bridal pearls, or that you would ask for a field of ten thousand plants, or you would desire a city which I hold as exceptional in my kingdom. But now you ask for nothing of mine, but you seek what I cannot provide, you seek a prophet's head. And how can the king provide for you the things of the creator? If you had asked for heaven, is the king responsible by his oaths, or for the earth or the sea? By no means; for it is not in my power to give things that are beyond me, which do not belong to my authority and are beyond my hands.” Herod utters none of these things, but is grieved indeed; for his conscience pricked him. The natural law within disturbed him. In addition to these things, he was distressed and feared the crowd and the multitude; for they held the baptist in wonder for many reasons. But nevertheless, since he was in travail with the murder and thirsted for the slaughter and considered the prophet's death his own freedom, he pretends to be constrained by the oaths and sends the executioner to minister to the girl's command.

28 And thus the baptist's head is brought on a platter, the beauty of the prophets, the boldness of the word, the grace of repentance, the many-parted flute, the God-voiced trumpet, the tongue that moves the clouds, the eyes that see the unseen, the ears that purely hear the mysteries of God, the head that touched the head of all; and which, when it was given to the girl, a leopardess carried the sacrifice of a lamb, a she-wolf carried about the head of a royal lion. And she brought to her mother the accuser who did not cease from his reproofs even after death, nor after the slaughter did he forsake his boldness. But the prophet has fallen asleep, and the word has spread everywhere; the trumpet has ceased, and the theaters of the world are full of its sounds; the tongue is in the earth, but its utterances have filled the tribes; it thundered upon the nations, echoing stronger than thunder in every generation; for from that time

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γίνεται. Πάντες αὐτῆς τραγῳ δοῦσι τὸ δρᾶμα, ὁ βαπτιστὴς δὲ τῆς τραγῳδίας αἴτιος τὴν γλῶσ σαν πάντων προπηδήσας ἐκίνησεν. Οὗτος τὴν σάλπιγγα καθ' ἡμῶν προεβάλετο· πρῶτος τὴν μοιχείαν οὐκ εὐλαβηθεὶς στηλι τεύειν τὴν βασιλίδα ἤρξατο. Μωυσῆς κοιμᾶται, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ φθέγγεται· ὁ νόμος καθεύδει, Ἰωάννης δὲ αὐτὸν καθ' ἡμῶν ἐξ υπνίζει· τὴν βασιλίδα μοιχαλίδα καλεῖ, ἀκολουθεῖν δὲ πολλοὺς καὶ γενέσθαι τολμηροὺς προετρέψατο.»

25 «∆ός μοι τοίνυν τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ.» «∆ός»· εἰ γὰρ σὺ μὴ δώσεις, ἡμεῖς λαβεῖν οὐ χρῄζομεν· αὐ τομολήσει δὲ πρὸς τὸν φόνον ὁ δήμιος παρ' ἡμῶν ἐπιτραπείς. ∆οῦλόν σε πάντες τῆς μοιχαλίδος, αἰχμάλωτον τῆς ὀρχηστρίδος ἴσασιν. Μαρτυρεῖ τούτοις ἡ στιβάς, μαρτυρεῖ τὸ συμπόσιον, ὁ οἶνος, ἡ μέθη, τῶν ὅρκων ἡ συνθήκη, ἡ ἀχαλίνωτος τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπόσχεσις. «∆ός μοι τοίνυν ὧδε ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάν νου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ»· διψῶ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸ αἷμα πιεῖν καὶ τὰ μέλη μασήσασθαι, ἰδεῖν μετὰ τῶν βασιλικῶν ὄψων τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ λοιδοροῦντος τὰ βασίλεια. Σπαίρουσαν ταύτην χρή με τῇ μητρὶ προσαγαγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῆς βασιλικῆς ξένιον, ἐπειδὴ ταύτην τοῦ δείπνου μερίδα ἀπὸ τῶν σῶν γενεσίων Ἡρῳδιὰς ἐκδέχεται.» Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἡ κόρη.

26 «Λυπηθεὶς δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τοὺς συνανακειμένους, ἐκέλευσε δοθῆναι.» Μὴ ἀποδέξει τοῦ Ἡρῴδου τὴν λύπην; Μηδὲ συγγνώμης ἀξιώσεις τὸν τύραννον; Ἐξῆν γὰρ εἴπερ ἐβούλετο τὴν ὀρχηστρίδα τροπώσασθαι. Ἐξῆν εἰ ἠθέλει τὸν ὅρκον παραιτήσασθαι. Τί γάρ; Εἰ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔτυχεν Ἡρῳδιὰς ἀπαιτοῦσα τὸν τύραννον, ἆρα τυφλὸς ἔμελλεν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὸν θρόνον καθέζεσθαι; Τί δέ; Εἰ κολοβῶσαι τὸ οὖς καὶ τὰς ῥῖνας ἀποτεμεῖν ἐβούλετο, ἆρα ἐγένετο τέρας ἐξαπίνης ὁ τύραννος; Καὶ τί πάλιν; Εἰ τὰς χεῖρας ἀποτεμεῖν ἐπέταττεν, ἆρα τῶν δακτύλων καὶ τὸ σκῆπτρον ἐξέπιπτεν; Οὐδαμῶς.

27 Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν κόρην ὥσπερ ἦν εἰκὸς λέγειν· «Ὤμοσα παρασχεῖν ὅπερ αἰτήσεις ἐμόν· ᾤμην γὰρ νυμφικοὺς μαργαρίτας ἐκδέχεσθαι, ἢ ὡς ὅτι ἀγρὸν αἰτήσεις μυριόφυτον, ἢ ποθήσεις πόλιν ἥνπερ ἔχω τῆς βασιλείας μου ἐξαίρετον. Νῦν δὲ ἐμὸν οὐδὲν αἰτεῖς, ἐπιζητεῖς δὲ ὃ παρασχεῖν οὐ δύναμαι, προφήτου κεφαλὴν ἐπιζητεῖς. Καὶ πῶς σοι παρασχεῖν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰ τοῦ ποιητοῦ δύναται; Εἰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ᾔτησας, μὴ τοῖς ὅρκοις ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑπεύθυνος, ἢ τὴν γῆν ἢ τὴν θάλασσαν; Οὐδαμῶς· οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἐμοὶ δοῦναι τὰ ὑπὲρ ἐμέ, ἃ τῆς ἐμῆς ἐξουσίας οὐχ ὑπάρχει καὶ ταῖς ἐμαῖς χερσὶν ὑπέρκειται». Τούτων οὐδὲν ὁ Ἡρῴδης φθέγγεται, ἀλλὰ λυπεῖται μέν· τὸ συνειδὸς γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐκέντα. Ὁ νόμος δὲ ἔνδοθεν ὁ φυσικὸς ἐτάραττεν. Ἠγωνία πρὸς τούτοις τὸν ὄχλον καὶ τὸ πλῆθος πεφόβητο· πολλῶν γὰρ ἕνεκεν ἔχοντες ὑπῆρχον τὸν βαπτιστὴν ἐν θαύματι. Ἀλλ' ὅμως, ἐπειδὴ τὸν φόνον ὤδινε καὶ τὴν σφαγὴν ἐδίψη καὶ τὸν τοῦ προφήτου θάνατον οἰκείαν ἐλευθερίαν ἐνόμιζεν, δυσωπηθεὶς τοὺς ὅρκους ὑποκρίνεται καὶ τὸν δήμιον διακονῆσαι πέμπει τῷ τῆς κόρης προστάγματι.

28 Καὶ οὕτως ἡ τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ κεφαλὴ ἐπὶ πίνακι φέρεται, τῶν προφητῶν τὸ κάλλος, ἡ παρρησία τοῦ λόγου, τῆς μετανοίας ἡ χάρις, ὁ πολυμερὴς αὐλός, ἡ σάλπιγξ ἡ θεόφθογγος, γλῶττα ἡ τὰς νεφέλας κινοῦσα, ὀφθαλμοὶ οἱ τὰ ἀθεώρητα βλέποντες, ὦτα καθαρῶς ἀκροώμενα τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ μυστήρια, κεφαλὴ τὴν πάντων κεφαλὴν ψηλαφήσασα· καὶ ἥν, ὡς ἐδόθη τῷ κορασίῳ, ἀμνοῦ θυσίαν ἐβάστασε πάρδαλις, βασιλικοῦ λέοντος κεφαλὴν περιέφερε λύκαινα. Καὶ ἤνεγκε τῇ μητρὶ τὸν κατήγορον τὸν οὐδὲ μετὰ θάνατον τῶν ἐλέγχων παυσάμενον, οὐδὲ μετὰ τὴν σφαγὴν τῆς παρρησίας ἀφέμενον. Ἀλλ' ὁ προφήτης κεκοίμηται, καὶ ὁ λόγος πανταχοῦ διαδέδοται· ἡ σάλπιγξ ἐπαύσατο, καὶ γέμει τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἤχων τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ θέατρα· ἡ γλῶττα εἰς γῆν, οἱ δὲ ἐξ αὐτῆς φθόγγοι τὰς φυλὰς ἐπλήρωσαν· τὰ ἔθνη κατεκτύπησε, βροντῶν ἰσχυροτέρα καθ' ἑκάστην ἠχοῦσα γενεάν· ἀπ' ἐκείνης γὰρ