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Herodias-Part6_Gustave Flaubert(1821-1880)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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But this beautiful thing before him was no vision. The dancer was

Salome, the daughter of Herodias, who for many months her mother had



caused to be instructed in dancing, and other arts of pleasing, with

the sole idea of bringing her to Machaerus and presenting her to the



tetrarch, so that he should fall in love with her fresh young beauty

and feminine wiles. The plan had proved successful, it seemed; he was



evidently fascinated, and Herodias felt that at last she was sure of

retaining her power over him!



And now the gracefuldancer appeared transported with the very

delirium of love and passion. She danced like the priestesses of



India, like the Nubians of the cataracts, or like the Bacchantes of

Lydia. She whirled about like a flower blown by the tempest. The



jewels in her ears sparkled, her swift movements made the colours of

her draperies appear to run into one another. Her arms, her feet, her



clothing even, seemed to emit streams of magnetism, that set the

spectators' blood on fire.



Suddenly the thrilling chords of a harp rang through the hall, and the

throng burst into loud acclamations. All eyes were fixed on Salome,



who paused in her rhythmic dance, placed her feet wide apart, and

without bending the knees, suddenly swayed her lithe body downward, so



that her chin touched the floor; and her whole audience,--the nomads,

accustomed to a life of privation and abstinence, the Roman soldiers,



expert in debaucheries, the avaricious publicans, and even the

crabbed, elderly priests--gazed upon her with dilated nostrils.



Next she began to whirl frantically around the table where Antipas the

tetrarch was seated. He leaned towards the flying figure, and in a



voice half choked with the voluptuous sighs of a mad desire, he

sighed: "Come to me! Come!" But she whirled on, while the music of



dulcimers swelled louder and the excited spectators roared their

applause.



The tetrarch called again, louder than before: "Come to me! Come! Thou

shalt have Capernaum, the plains of Tiberias! my citadels! yea, the



half of my kingdom!"

Again the dancer paused; then, like a flash, she threw herself upon



the palms of her hands, while her feet rose straight up into the air.

In this bizarre pose she moved about upon the floor like a gigantic



beetle; then stood motionless.

The nape of her neck formed a right angle with her vertebrae. The full



silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood

erect, now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a



rainbow. Her lips were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were

black as jet, her glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and



the tiny drops of perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon

white marble.



She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was

concentrated upon her.



A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the

pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,



Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of

steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned



over, smiled upon the tetrarch, and, with an air of almost childlike

naivete, pronounced these words:



"I ask my lord to give me, placed upon a charger, the head of--" She

hesitated, as if not certain of the name; then said: "The head of



Iaokanann!"

The tetrarch sank back in his chair as if stunned.



He had bound himself by his promise to her; and the people awaited his

next movement. But the death that night of some conspicuous man that



had been predicted to him by Phanuel,--what if, by bringing it upon

another, he could avert it from himself, thought Antipas. If Iaokanann



was in very truth the Elias so much talked of, he would have power to

protect himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was



of no importance.

Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master's thoughts.



Vitellius beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the

execution, to be transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the



dungeon. This execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few




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