How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
SECOND SOLDIER The Jews. They are always like that. They are disputing about their religion.
FIRST SOLDIER Why do they dispute about their religion?
SECOND SOLDIER I cannot tell. They are always doing it. The Pharisees, for instance, say that there are angels, and the Sadducees declare that angels do not exist.
FIRST SOLDIER I think it is ridiculous to dispute about such things. (7-10)
What the Jews see as key theological disputes, the soldiers consider annoying arguments about dumb subjects.
Quote #2
THE NUBIAN The gods of my country are very fond of blood. Twice in the year we sacrifice to them young men and maidens: fifty young men and a hundred maidens. But I am afraid that we never give them quite enough, for they are very harsh to us.
THE CAPPADOCIAN In my country there are no gods left. The Romans have driven them out. There are some who say that they have hidden themselves in the mountains, but I do not believe it. Three nights I have been on the mountains seeking them everywhere. I did not find them, and at last I called them by their names, and they did not come. I think they are dead.
FIRST SOLDIER The Jews worship a God that one cannot see.
THE CAPPADOCIAN I cannot understand that. (30-36)
Two thousand years later, we listen to the Cappadocian and Nubian and think, "I can't understand that." The situation is reversed.
Quote #3
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN Behold! the Lord hath come. The Son of Man is at hand. The centaurs have hidden themselves in the rivers, and the nymphs have left the rivers, and are lying beneath the leaves in the forests. (74)
The coming of Jokanaan's Lord represents a drastic change to the religious landscape: his Messiah will not simply coexist along with older religions—it will replace them. The "nymphs and centaurs" have fled like the gods of the Cappadocian's religion.
Quote #4
JOKANAAN Get thee behind me! I hear in the palace the beating of the wings of the angel of death.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN Princess, I beseech thee to go within.
JOKANAAN Angel of the Lord God, what dost thou here with thy sword? Whom seekest thou in this palace? The day of him who shall die in a robe of silver has not yet come. (140-142)
Jokanaan prophesies a time of judgment, and yet even he is surprised to be visited by the Angel of Death. The time he speaks of is not meant to come quite so soon.
Quote #5
SALOMÉ Suffer me to kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan.
JOKANAAN Art thou not afraid, daughter of Herodias? Did I not tell thee that I had heard in the palace the beating of the wings of the angel of death, and hath he not come, the angel of death?
SALOMÉ Suffer me to kiss thy mouth.
JOKANAAN Daughter of adultery, there is but one who can save thee. It is He of whom I spake. Go seek Him. He is in a boat on the sea of Galilee, and He talketh with His disciples. Kneel down on the shore of the sea, and call unto Him by His name. When He cometh to thee, and to all who call on Him He cometh, bow thyself at His feet and ask of Him the remission of thy sins. (156-160)
Jokanaan here is referring to Jesus, specifically the episode in the Gospels where he recruits a group of fishermen—including his future apostle Peter—and tells them they will be "fishers of men." Salomé is given the chance to repent along with them, but, even after the angel of death has visited Herod's palace, she chooses not to listen.
Quote #6
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN Behold the time is come! That which I foretold has come to pass. The day that I spake of is at hand.
HERODIAS Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man is forever hurling insults against me.
HEROD He has said nothing against you. Besides, he is a very great prophet.
HERODIAS I do not believe in prophets. Can a man tell what will come to pass? No man knows it. Also he is for ever insulting me. But I think you are afraid of him… I know well that you are afraid of him.
HEROD I am not afraid of him. I am afraid of no man. (211-215)
Herodias, in her rejection of all prophets, seems to deny any kind of religion. She simply wants to live in the here and now.
Quote #7
A THIRD JEW God is at no time hidden. He showeth Himself at all times and in all places. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.
A FOURTH JEW Thou shouldst not say that. It is a very dangerous doctrine. It is a doctrine that cometh from Alexandria, where men teach the philosophy of the Greeks. And the Greeks are Gentiles. They are not even circumcised.
FIFTH JEW No man can tell how God worketh. His ways are very dark. It may be that the things which we call evil are good, and that the things which we call good are evil. There is no knowledge of anything. We can but bow our heads to His will, for God is very strong. He breaketh in pieces the strong together with the weak, for He regardeth not any man.
FIRST JEW Thou speakest truly. Verily, God is terrible. He breaketh in pieces the strong and the weak as men break corn in a mortar. But as for this man, he hath never seen God. No man hath seen God since the prophet Elias. (221-224)
Though they cannot agree on any number of theological issues, the general consensus among the Jews is that God is a powerful and mysterious force.
Quote #8
FIRST NAZARENE He hath come, and everywhere He worketh miracles.
HERODIAS Ho! ho! miracles! I do not believe in miracles. I have seen too many. [To the Page.] My fan.
FIRST NAZARENE This Man worketh true miracles. Thus, at a marriage which took place in a little town of Galilee, a town of some importance, He changed water into wine. Certain persons who were present related it to me. Also He healed two lepers that were seated before the Gate of Capernaum simply by touching them.
SECOND NAZARENE Nay; it was two blind men that He healed at Capernaum.
FIRST NAZARENE Nay; they were lepers. But He hath healed blind people also, and He was seen on a mountain talking with angels. (244-250)
In contrast to the Jews, who seem to believe that God is mysterious and well nigh impossible to see, the Nazarenes' Messiah is not only walking the Earth—he is performing miracles which demonstrate his power.
Quote #9
HEROD Peace! you are always crying out. You cry out like a beast of prey. You must not cry in such fashion. Your voice wearies me. Peace, I tell you!... Salomé, think on what thou art doing. It may be that this man comes from God. He is a holy man. The finger of God has touched him. God has put terrible words into his mouth. In the palace, as in the desert, God is ever with him… It may be that He is, at least. One cannot tell, but it is possible that God is with him and for him. If he die also, peradventure some evil may befall me. Verily, he has said that evil will befall some one on the day whereon he dies. On whom should it fall if it fall not on me? Remember, I slipped in blood when I came hither. Also did I not hear a beating of wings in the air, a beating of vast wings? These are ill omens. And there were other things. I am sure that there were other things, though I saw them not. Thou wouldst not that some evil should befall me, Salomé? Listen to me again. (367)
Whether or not Herod believes that Jokanaan is a prophet and no matter what he thinks Jokanaan's God might be like, the prospect of angering that God instills fear in him. He's neither an atheist, nor a believer, nor an agnostic—he's more worried than anything else.
Quote #10
SALOME Ah! wherefore didst thou not look at me, Jokanaan? With the cloak of thine hands, and with the cloak of thy blasphemies thou didst hide thy face. Thou didst put upon thine eyes the covering of him who would see his God. Well, thou hast seen thy God, Jokanaan, but me, me, thou didst never see. If thou hadst seen me thou hadst loved me. I saw thee, and I loved thee. (375)
In Salomé's opinion, Jokanaan only has eyes for God, as it were, whether or not his beliefs or true or merely a "cloak of blasphemies." He sees God and only God.