By Bacchus, there lurks some truth in that. But it's not good walking on the mountain-tops. We wait to see you fall; then we shall not smile, but laugh.
JOHN
But I say unto thee, Sire, thou wilt not laugh. He Who cometh requireth me not. That is why He cast me down.... Gaze into His eyes when He comes, and thou wilt not laugh, even at me.
HEROD
It seems to me thy reasoning is poor, and revolves in a circle.... And yet there is something that attracts me to thee. Baptist, thou hast so long been my enemy, couldst thou not possibly be my friend?
JOHN
Sire, meseemeth that to be nobody's enemy and nobody's friend is the right of the lonely. It is their all. Let me keep it.
HEROD
Yet I do not give thee up as lost. If thou wert so minded we might pursue the same paths for a spell.
JOHN