Ah, my brave Marcellus, see to it, is it fast on its neck?
MARCELLUS
Who? What?
GABALOS
The head! the head! Look at Herodias. That will cost some one his head! Only whose has not yet transpired.
MARCELLUS
[Pointing to Salome.] Silence!... See!...
SALOME
[Has extricated herself from the arms of Herodias and, accompanied by exclamations of admiration and delight, has begun to dance. Her dance becomes wilder and more abandoned; she gradually loosens her veil, then covers herself with it again in voluptuous playfulness, till at last, quite unveiled, she stands with the upper part of her body apparently unclothed. She sinks on her knees half exhausted, half in homage, before Herod, who stands on the right side of the table.]
[All break into ecstasies of applause.]