- One night, over at Herod's palace, a group of soldiers are hanging out on a terrace. Looking over the balcony, they can see the banquet hall below.
- On the right there's a huge staircase, on the left a big cistern surrounded by a wall. The moon shines brightly over the whole scene.
- The young Syrian is too busy checking out Princess Salomé to notice the moon, however. She's a hottie with a body.
- The Page of Herodias, on the other hand, can't take his eyes off the moon. He thinks it looks strange, like "a woman rising from a tomb," like a dead woman looking for dead things" (3).
- The young Syrian continues talking about a "she" with a "strange look," but he's still talking about Salomé, not the moon. Now he's comparing her feet to silver and doves. The Page is still going on about the dead moon.
- These guys are definitely an odd couple.
- Meanwhile, two soldiers are having a conversation. The first can't believe the noise he hears coming from the banqueting hall; he wants to know what "wild beasts" are making it.
- It's the Jews, the second soldier tells him, arguing over their religion; for instance, he says, one group believes in the existence of angels, while another denies their existence. The first soldier doesn't believe they could argue over that stuff.
- The young Syrian is still totally staring Salomé. Herodias' Page tells him to stop. Otherwise, he warns, something bad is bound to happen. Still, he can't help but continue staring (and drooling?).
- The two soldiers notice that Herod's looking pretty somber tonight. They think he's looking at someone, but they can't tell who.
- The young Syrian's still looking at Salomé. She looks pale, he says, pale like the "shadow of a white rose in a mirror of silver" (20). The Page tells him to stop…or else.
- Now the soldiers see Herodias pouring Herod some wine. A Cappadocian (that is, a person from central Turkey; lots of the people who come in are defined by the region they're from and, well, this part of the play consists of people walking on stage and talking about things happening off-stage) comes in and says, "Hey, is that Queen Herodias down there, the one with the blue hair?"
- The first soldier says yeah.
- The second one starts talking about how much Herod loves wine. What follows is sort of a comedy routine between the soldier and the Cappadocian. Allow us to paraphrase:
- SOLDIER: Caesar's drinking three wines tonight. One is purple like the robe of Caesar.
- CAPPY: I've never seen Caesar!
- SOLDIER: The second one is yellow like gold.
- CAPPY: I love gold!
- SOLDIER: The third is red like blood.
- Before the Cappadocian can come in and say how he loves blood or has never seen it or whatever, the Nubian shows up and starts talking about how the "gods of his country" love blood, but that his people are never really making enough sacrifices to keep them happy.
- This gets the Cappadocian talking again.
- He says that there used to be gods in his country before the Romans came, and he even went looking for them in the mountains. He went looking three whole times, calling their names and everything, and still couldn't find them. So, he concludes, they're dead.
- The Jews, the first soldier says, believe in a God they can't see.
- The Cappadocian can't believe it.
- Yeah, the soldier continues. The Jews can't believe in anything unless they can't see it. The Cappadocian really can't believe it.
- From offstage, we hear the voice of Jokanaan. He's talking about a guy who's going to come after him, who's going to be much mightier than he is. I'm not, he says, even worthy to untie his sandals. This guy, he says, will make the flowers bloom and the blind see and the deaf hear.
- One of the soldiers tells the other to make him shut up. The other soldier tells the first soldier to stop himself.
- The yelling guy, he says, is a holy man and very gentle; he even thanks the soldier for every meal.
- Naturally, the Cappadocian wants to know all about him.
- So, the soldier gives him a brief biography. The guy's named Jokanaan. He's a prophet. He used to live in the desert, where he survived on locusts and wild honey and wore camel hair. Back then, he says, people used to follow him everywhere, and he "even had disciples" (44). Still, the soldier really can't understand a thing he says.
- The Cappadocian wants to see him, but the soldier tells him that the Tetrarch (Herod) has forbidden it.
- The Syrian is still staring at Salomé. She's hiding her face behind her fan now, and her hands are fluttering like doves, like white butterflies. The Page tells him to stop staring…or else.
- The Cappadocian points at the cistern and says "What a strange prison!" (53). It must be a poisonous place, he says.
- The second soldier tells him that it is not, in fact, poisonous. The Tetrarch's older brother, Herodias' first husband, lived there for twelve years and it didn't kill him.
- They had to call in Naaman, a "huge Negro," to strangle him to death. The soldier points out Naaman, the Executioner, who has apparently been hanging out on stage the whole time.
- Wasn't he afraid of killing him? asks the Cappadocian. Then there's another little comedy routine:
- CAPPY: Wasn't he afraid?
- SOLDIER 2: No, the Tetrarch sent him the ring.
- CAPPY: What ring?
- SOLDIER 2: Why, the death ring, of course!
- CAPPY: Still, isn't it weird killing the king?
- SOLDIER 1: Nah. Kings have one neck just like anybody else.
- The Syrian is still staring at Salomé. Now she's standing up. She looks troubled. She's coming toward them. She's looking pale, paler than ever.
- The Page tells him to stop staring…or else.
- She's like a dove, the Syrian says, like a "narcissus trembling in the wind…She is like a silver flower" (66).