After he had been thrown into
prison some one had put venomous serpents into his dungeon, but strange
to say, after a time they had died, leaving him uninjured. The inanity
of such tricks exasperated Herodias. Besides, she inquired, why did
this man make war upon her? What interest moved him to such actions? His
injurious words to her, uttered before a throng of listeners, had been
repeated and widely circulated; she heard them whispered everywhere.
Against a legion of soldiers she would have been brave; but this
mysterious influence, more pernicious and powerful than the sword, but
impossible to grasp, was maddening! Herodias strode to and fro upon the
terrace, white with rage, unable to find words to express the emotions
that choked her.
She had a haunting fear that the tetrarch might listen to public opinion
after a time, and persuade himself it was his duty to repudiate her.
Then, indeed, all would be lost! Since early youth she had cherished a
dream that some day she would rule over a great empire. As an important
step towards attaining this ambition, she had deserted Philip, her first
husband, and married the tetrarch, who now she thought had duped her.
"Ah! I found a powerful support, indeed, when I entered thy family!" she
sneered.
"It is at least the equal of thine," Antipas replied.
Herodias felt the blood of the kings and priests, her ancestors, boiling
in her veins.
"Thy grandfather was a servile attendant upon the temple of Ascalon!"
she went on, with fury.
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