But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’ Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ (Mark 6: 21-25)

Josephus, a Jewish historian, gives the name Salome to the daughter of Herodias. Oscar Wilde's play and Richard Strauss' opera based on the play have confirmed Salome as an ancient Lolita, a young seductress who creates havoc.

I am more inclined to see Salome as Flaubert describes her in his Trois Contes. "Her poses were the embodiment of sighs, and there was such a languor in all her being that one could not tell whether she were weeping for a god or swooning in his arms. The eyes were half-shut, and her body writhed; she swayed her stomach like an undulating wave, made her breasts quiver. And yet her face remained motionless and her feet never stopped."

At the close of the dance she is summoned by her mother, "A snap of fingers was heard in the balcony. She went up there, came down again, and then brought out these words with a childish air, lisping a little: "I want you to give me, in a dish, the head..." She had forgotten the name, but began again smiling: "The head of of Iaokanan!"

Is our power corrupted by pride, like Herod? Are we consumed with resentment, like Herodias? As sin goes, these are well-known and easily recognized.

But thoughtless innocence is the alchemist's element that allows pride and resentment to murder John.