HEROD
[Bows his head, smiling.] Allow me, Princess ... to present these friends.... I will not call them servants, for such they are not.
MEROKLES
Oh, mistress, they are servants whom thou mayest safely make thy friends.
JABAD
And they are friends in order that they may serve thee.
GABALOS
And are amply rewarded for both, great mistress.
HEROD
[Smiling.] This rascal, whose Syrian dialect thou art now acquainted with for the first time, is Gabalos from Antioch. Thou seest, I tolerate his jesting.