Salome. Right glad am I to be here, and more so to speak of him; for he hath come indeed to deliver us from bondage,—a worse, however, than Roman bondage.
John. Are we to have a harder taskmaster than the Romans, before we are delivered?
Salome. No harder master than we now have. The Roman is not our only or worst bondage.
Rebecca. What talk you of so earnestly?
Salome. Jesus of Nazareth.
Rebecca. He has come, it is said, to set up a new kingdom.
Salome. Rather to enlarge the kingdom already flourishing in heaven.
Rebecca. Call it what you may, he is slow in gathering his armies.
Salome. He needs no army for his conquests, but an army of loving hearts and pure spirits.
Rebecca. Then the nation's hope is again blasted, and we are to remain yet longer subjects of a foreign king.