Thinkest thou that I have been idle? Am I a woman who cometh to beg of you a nightly dole of caresses? Look at me.... Not thy beloved.... She exists no longer.... See in me thy ruling mistress!
HEROD
I am looking, and I see a woman who raves.
HERODIAS
As real as the ambition of thy mistress, as real as the secret resentment which gnaws beneath thy own; despite thy ever-ready smiles.
HEROD
[Horrified.] Who told thee ... whence ...?
HERODIAS
So real and positive is my hold over thee. Just now, when thou didst say I raved, thou wast reflecting how thou couldst best get rid of me.... Thou fool; then get rid of thy wakeful nights and all that which thou thinkest great in thyself, the inheritance of that greater than thou, whom thou wilt never equal....
HEROD