MR. STEPHEN PHILLIPS AS A WRITER OF TRAGEDY 1 25 



As to The Sin of David it is safe to assume that any reader will 

 repeat in large part whatever verdict he has passed upon the question 

 of plot in Paolo and Francesca, which it resembles in so many ways, 

 although there is one important weakness, which will be considered 

 in connection with the author's treatment of Lisle's character. 



When we come to the Herod, however, we find ourselves in a 

 position to decide definitely that Mr. Phillips can construct a plot. 

 It is true that he was once more using material from an open source 

 and that other plays had been written on the same subject; but 

 even so there was more room for stretching of the wings, and our 

 poet has achieved a notable flight. Early in the first act the author 

 sets before us the masterful passion of Herod for his bride, which is 

 the central theme; the critical position of Judaea before the all- 

 engulfing tide of Roman conquest; the menace of Aristobulus' 

 existence to Herod's supremacy over a discontented people, whom 

 he alone can save; the almost idolatrous devotion of Mariamne to 

 her brother; and the jealous intriguing of Cypros and Salome. Across 

 the scene .there flit the whispered prophecies of a coming king — 

 reminding us of "Christ in Hades" — who shall rule in gentleness and 

 take terror from the grave. For one clear if awful moment we are 

 allowed to pierce the veil of the future, when Cypros repeats the 

 astrologer's prediction : 



Herod shall famous be o'er all the world. 



But he shall kiU that thing which most he loves. 



Just before the fall of the curtain, when Mariamne discovers that 

 Herod has brought about her brother's death, we see a little more 

 clearly beyond the veil. 



In the second act Herod is led by a complex of motives, con- 

 vincing in the sum, to order the death of the wife whose murdered 

 love he cannot survive. "Fate is upon him with the hour, the 

 word." To make more deeply pathetic his helplessness before Fate 

 and Mariamne we are shown his mastery over the Judaean mob 

 and his promotion by Caesar to undreamed-of power. In the third 

 act, where some ambitious reviewers have complained of a lack of 



