What hast thou decided? Will it come to pass?
HERODIAS
Thy countenance beams. Thy eyes betray a badly concealed desire.
HEROD
[Bewildered] Of what desire dost thou speak?
HERODIAS
Do not prevaricate. I know thee, my friend. The poisonous weed which thou cultivatest with little sighs, and coverest up with thy crooked smiles, I know it!
HEROD
I vow, love, that I ask this only for the sake of the Roman. And how should I ever have conceived the idea had it not been for thy half-promises and suggestion of its possibilities? Thou knowest as well as I that we must offer the Roman something immense, something that may not have faded from his tired memory when he enters Cæsar's presence.
HERODIAS