That I wax dull and clean dry.
Have done!—and fill the wine in high,
I die but I have drink.
Fill fast and let the cups fly
And go we hither hastily;
For I must ordain curiously
Against these Kings coming.
Such is the play of The Three Kings, and there can be no doubt whatever of its fine dramatic effect. We cannot wonder that this character of Herod is mentioned by old writers more than other characters of the plays. Imperious and proud, firmly believing in his own kingly right, but, like most ignorant people, profoundly impressed by prophecies and vaticinations which he did not understand, Herod is now impelled forward by swaggering pride and now dragged back by craven fear and subtle influences.
The part gives the actor every opportunity to show forth his art, and the calm, clear tones of the doctor quietly reading the scriptures give the required dramatic contrast. The speeches show the traces of late literary labour, and that we had got within measurable distance of blank verse when the play received its last polish, though the original play was probably founded on an early Latin one called Herodes, sive magorum adoratio.[45]
“Postea Herodes interroget Scribas, dicens: