FALSE GODS

The workmen go out. Thérèse has come in a moment before and is standing on the threshold.

Féliat[to Thérèse] How much did you hear?

Thérèse.Oh, please, please, don't give in. Don't abandon these women. It's dreadful in the workroom. They're in despair. I've just been with them, talking to them. They get desperate when they think of their children.

Féliat.The men are not asking me now to get rid of them. What they're asking for is the break-up of your Union, and that you yourself should go.

Thérèse.Oh, they say that now. But if you give in, they'll see that they can get anything they like from your weakness, and they'll make you turn out all these wretched women.

Féliat.But I can't help myself! You didn't hear the brutal threats of these men. If I don't give in, I shall be blacklisted, and they'll set the place on fire; they said so. Where will your women's work be then? And I shall be ruined.

Thérèse.Then you mean to give in without a struggle?

Féliat.Wouldyoulike to take the responsibility for what will happen if I resist? There'll be violence. Just think what it'll mean. In the state the men are in anything may happen. There's a wounded man already. How many would there be to-morrow?

Thérèse.You think only of being beaten. But suppose you win? Suppose you act energetically and get the best of it.

Féliat.My energy would be my ruin.

Thérèse[with a change of tone] Then you wish me to go?

Féliat.I have only made up my mind to it to prevent something worse.

Thérèse[very much moved] It's impossible you can sacrifice me in this way at the first threat. Look here, Monsieur Féliat; perhaps it doesn't come very well from me, but I can't help reminding you that you've said repeatedly yourself that I've been extremely useful to you. Don't throw me overboard without making one try to save me.

Féliat.It would be no use.

Thérèse.How can you tell? It's your own interest to keep me. The delegate said that if I go they'll break up the Women's Union and make the women take the same wages as the men.

Féliat.They won't do that because they know I wouldn't keep them.

Thérèse.You see! If you give in, it means thebreak-up of the whole thing and the loss to you of the saving I've made for you. And you have obligations to these women who have been working for you for years.

Féliat.If I have to part with them, I will see they are provided for.

Thérèse.Yes, for a day—a week, perhaps. But afterwards? What then? Little children will be holding out their hands for food to mothers who have none to give them.

Féliat.But, good God, what haveIto do with that? Is it my fault? Don't you see that I'm quite powerless in the matter?

Thérèse.No, you're not quite powerless. You can choose which you will sacrifice, the women who have been perfectly loyal to you, or the men who want to wring from your weakness freedom from competition which frightens them.

Féliat.They're fighting for their daily bread.

Thérèse.Yes, fighting the woman because she works for lower wages. She can do that because she is sober and self-controlled. Is it because of her virtues that you condemn her?

Féliat.I know all that as well as you do, and I tell you again the women can go on working just as they were working before you came.

Thérèse.You'll be made to part with them.

Féliat.We shall see. But at present that's not the question. The present thing is about you. One of us has to be sacrificed, you or me. I can see only one thing. If I stick to you, my machinery will be smashed and my works will be burned. I'm deeply sorry this has happened, and I don't deny for a moment the great value of your services; but, after all, I can't ruin myself for your sake.

Thérèse[urgently] But youwouldn'tbe ruined.Defend yourself, take measures. Ask for assistance from the Government.

Féliat.The Government can't prevent the strike.

Thérèse.But the women will do the work.

Féliat.You think of nothing but your women. And the men? They'll be starving, won't they? And their women and their children will starve with them.

Thérèse[almost in tears] And me, you have no pity for me. What's to become of me? If you abandon me, I'm done for. I'd made a career for myself. I had realized my dreams. I was doing a little good. And I was so deeply grateful to you for giving me my chance. I'm all alone in the world, you know that very well. Before I came here I tried every possible way to earn my living. Oh, please don't send me away. Don't drive me back into that. Try once again, do something. Let me speak to the men. It's all my life that's at stake. If you drive me out, I don't know where to go to.

Monsieur Guéret comes in.

Guéret[greatly excited] Féliat, we mustn't wait a moment; we must give in at once. They're exciting themselves; they're mad; they're getting worse; they may do anything. They've gone to the women's workroom and they're driving them out.

From the adjoining workshop there comes a crash of glass and the sound of women screaming.

Thérèse[desperately] Go, Monsieur! Go quickly! Don't let anything dreadful happen. You're right. I'll leave at once. Go!

Monsieur Guéret and Monsieur Féliat rush into the women's workshop. The noise increases; there is a sound of furniture overthrown and the loud screams of women.

Thérèse[alone, clasping her hands] Oh, God! Oh, God!

Thérèse stands as if hypnotized by terror, her eyes wide open and fixed upon the door of the workshop. The noise still increases; there is a revolver shot, then a silence. Finally the voice of Monsieur Féliat is heard speaking, though the words are not intelligible, and a shout of men's voices. Then Monsieur Guéret comes in very pale.

Guéret.Don't be frightened, it's all over. The shot was fired in the air. The men have gone out; there are only the women now—crying in the workshop.

Thérèse.Are you sure nobody is killed? Is it true, oh, tell me, is it really true?

Monsieur Féliat comes in.

Féliat.Poor Thérèse! Don't be frightened.

Thérèse.Oh, those screams! Those dreadful screams! Is it true, really, nobody was hurt?

Féliat.Nobody, I assure you.

Thérèse.The shot?

Féliat.Fired in the air, to frighten the women. The men broke in the door, and upset a bench, and made a great row. I got there just in time. As soon as they were promised what they want they were quiet.

Thérèse[after a pause, slowly] They were promised what they want. So it's done. [A silence] Then there's nothing left for me but to go.

Guéret.Where are you going to?

Féliat.You needn't go at once.

Thérèse.Yes, I'm going at once. [A silence] I'm going where I'm forced to go.

Féliat.You can leave to-morrow or the day after.

Thérèse.No, I leave by train, this evening, for Paris.

The PharaohThe High PriestRheouSatniPakhSokitiBitiou, the dwarfNourmThe StewardThe ExorcistA PriestThe Paralyzed YouthThe Man with the Bandaged HeadThe Two Sons of the Mad WomanMierisYaoumaKirjipaZayaDelethiNagaouHanouNahasiSitsinitMoueneNazitThe Young WomanThe MotherThe Blind GirlFive Mourners

Scene:—The first inner court of the house of Rheou. At the back between two lofty pylons the entrance leading up from below. Through the columns supporting the hanging garden which stretches across the back can be seen the Nile. A high terrace occupies the left of the scene. Steps lead up to it, and from there to the hanging garden. Along the side of the terrace a small delicately carved wooden statue of Isis stands on a sacrificial table. On the right is the peristyle leading to the inner dwelling of Akhounti. The bases of the columns are in the form of lotus buds, the shafts like lotus stems, the capitals full blown flowers. In the spaces between the columns are wooden statues of the gods.

Delethi is playing a harp. Nagaou dances before her. Nahasi is juggling with oranges, while Mouene sits watching a little bird in a cage. Yaouma reclines on the terrace supporting her head on her elbows and gazing out at the Nile. Zaya is beside her. On a carpet Sitsinit, lying flat upon her stomach with a writing box by her side, is busy painting an ibis on the left hand of Hanou, who lies in a similar attitude.

Sitsi.Did you not know? She, on whose left hand a black ibis has been painted, is certain of a happy day.

Hanou.A happy day! Why then, 'tis I, perhaps, who will be chosen to-night!

Delethi[playing the harp while Nagaou dances before her] More slowly!—more slowly!... you must make them think of the swaying of a lotus flower, thatthe Nile's slow-moving current would bear away, and that raises itself to kiss again the waters of the stream.

Nagaou.Yes, yes.... Begin again!

Nahasi[juggling with oranges] Nagaou would let herself be borne away without a struggle. [She laughs].

Mouene[hopping on one foot] We know that she goes to the bank of the Nile, at the hour when the palm-trees grow black against the evening sky, to listen to a basket maker's songs.

Hanou[to Sitsinit] And this morning I anointed my whole body with Kyphli, mixed with cinnamon and terrabine and myrrh.

Delethi[to Nagaou] 'Tis well ... you may dance the great prayer to Isis with the rest.

Nagaou[to Mouene] Yes! I do go to listen to songs at dark. You are still too little for anyone, basket maker or any other, to take notice of you.

Mouene.You think so!... who gave me this little bird? [She draws the bird from the cage by a string attached to its leg] Who caught thee, flower-of-the-air, who gave thee to me? [Holding up a finger] Do not tell! Do not tell....

Hanou[looking at herself in a metal mirror] Sitsinit ... the black line that lengthens this eye is too short ... make it longer with your reed. I think the more beautiful I am, the more chance I shall have to be chosen for the sacrifice.... Is it not so, Zaya?... What are you doing there without a word?

Zaya.I was watching the flight of a crane with hanging feet, that melted away in the distant blue of heaven.... Do not hope to be chosen by the gods, Hanou.

Hanou.Wherefore should I not be chosen?

Zaya.Neither you nor any who are here. The gods never demand the sacrifice two years together from the same village.

Hanou.Never?

Zaya.Rarely.

Hanou.'Tis a pity. Is it not, Nagaou?

Nagaou.I know not.

Sitsi.Would it not make you proud?

Nagaou.Yes. But it makes me proud, too, to lean on the breast of him whose words still the beating of my heart.

Delethi.To be taken by a god! By the Nile!

Hanou.Preferred to all the others!

Mouene[the youngest] For my part I should prefer to live....

Sitsi.Still, if the God desired you....

Zaya.Oh! one can refuse....

Delethi.Yes, but one must leave the country, then.... None of the daughters of Haka-Phtah could bring themselves to that.

A pause.

Yaouma[to herself] Perhaps!

Nahasi.What do you say, Yaouma?

Yaouma.Nothing. I was speaking to my soul.

Mouene.Yaouma's eyes weep for weariness because they watch far off for him, who comes not.

Yaouma.Peace, child.

Zaya[to Delethi] One thing is certain, someone must go upon the sacred barge?

Delethi.Without the sacrifice the Nile would not overflow, and all the land would remain barren.

Hanou.And the corn would not sprout, nor the beans, nor the maize, nor the lotus.

Delethi.And all the people would perish miserably.

Hanou.So that she who dies, sacrificed to the Nile, saves the lives of a whole people. That is a better thing, Nagaou, than to make one man's happiness.

A pause.

Yaouma[to herself] Perhaps.

Hanou.And on the appointed day one is borne from the house of the god to the Nile, surrounded by all the dwellers in the town.... The Pharaoh—health and strength be unto him!...

Delethi.You do not know, Hanou, you tell us what you do not know.

Hanou.But it is so, is it not, Zaya? Zaya knows about the ceremony, because last year it was her sister who was chosen.

Mouene.Tell us, Zaya.

Nahasi.Yes, tell us the manner of it.

Zaya.On the fifth day of the month of Paophi....

Mouene.To-day—that is to-day?

Nahasi.Yes. What will happen.... The prayer of Isis.... But afterwards? Before?

They gather round Zaya.

Zaya.Before the sun has ended his day's journey, the people, summoned to the terraces by a call from the Temple, will intone the great hymn to Isis, which is sung but once a year. Within the house of the god the assembled priests will await the sign that shall reveal the virgin to be offered to the Nile to obtain its yearly flood. The name of the chosen will be cried from the doorway on high, caught up by those who hear it first, cried out to others, who in turn will cry it running towards the house that Ammon has favored with his choice. Then shall the happy victim of the year stand forth alone, amid her kinsfolk bowed before her, and to her ears shall rise the shoutings of the multitude.

All.Oh!

Delethi.And after a month of purification she will be borne to the house of the god!

Zaya.And on the day of Prodigies....

Nahasi.Oh, the day of Prodigies!

Zaya.She will be the foremost nearer to the Sanctuarythan all the rest. She will pray with the praying crowd, she will behold the lowering of the stone that hides the face of Isis....

Delethi.She will behold Isis—face to face....

All.Oh!

Zaya.She will beg the goddess graciously to incline her head, in sign that, yet another year, Egypt shall be protected. And when the fervor of the crowd's united prayer is great enough, the head of the Goddess of Stone will bow. That will be the first prodigy.

Delethi.The head of the Goddess of Stone will bow—that will be the first prodigy.

Zaya.And in the crowd there will be blind who shall see, and deaf who shall hear, and dumb who shall speak.

Delethi.Perhaps Mieris, our good mistress, will be cured of her blindness at last.

Hanou.And when she who is chosen goes forth from the house of the God.... Tell us, Zaya, tell us the manner of her going forth.

Zaya.Three days before the appointed day, in the town and throughout the land, they will begin the preparations for the festival. When the moment comes, the crowd will surge before the temple, guarded by Lybian soldiers. And she, she, the elect, the saviour, will come forth, ringed by the high priests of Ammon in purple and in gold, and aloft on a chariot where perfumes burn, deafened by sound of trumpet and cries of joy, she will behold the people stretch unnumbered arms to her....

All.Oh!

Delethi.And she will be borne to the Nile....

Zaya.And she will be borne to the Nile. She will board the barge of Ammon....

Delethi.And the barge will glide from the bank....

Zaya.And the barge will glide from the bank where all the crowd will bow their faces to the dust. [Shestops, greatly moved] And when the barge returns she will be gone.

All[in low tones] And when the barge returns she will be gone.

Zaya.And after two days the waters of the Nile will rise.

All.The waters of the Nile will rise....

Delethi.And as far as the waters flow they will speak her name, who made the sacrifice, with blessings and with tears.

Hanou.If it were I!...

All[save Yaouma] If it were I!...

Yaouma rises to a sitting posture.

Zaya.If it were you, Yaouma?

Yaouma.Perhaps I should refuse.

All.Oh!

Mouene[mischievously] I know why! I know why!

Delethi.We know why.

Zaya.Tell us....

Yaouma.Tell them....

Delethi.'Tis the same reason that has held you there this many a day.

Yaouma.Yes.

Mouene.She watches for the coming of the galley with twenty oars, bearing the travellers from the North. There is a young priest among them, the potter's son.

Delethi.A young priest, the potter's son, who went away two years ago.

Yaouma.He is my betrothed.

Nahasi.But you know what they say?

Zaya.They say that on the same boat there comes a scribe who preaches of new gods....

Yaouma.I know.

Delethi.Of false gods.

Mouene.The priests will stop the boat, and eightdays hence, perhaps, Yaouma will still be awaiting her betrothed.

Yaouma.I shall wait.

The Steward enters and whispers to Delethi.

Delethi.The mistress sends word the hour is come to go indoors.

They go out L, Sitsinit picking up the writing box, Nahasi juggling with oranges, Mouene carrying her cage and dancing about, Delethi plays her harp singing with Hanou and Nagaou.

Black is the hair of my love,More black than the brows of the night,Than the fruit of the plum tree.

The Steward, who had gone out, returns at once, whip in hand, followed by a poor old man, half naked, and covered with mud, who carries a hod.

Steward[stopping before the statue of Thoueris] There. Draw near, potter, and look. By some mischance, the horn and the plume of Goddess Thoueris have been broken. The master must not see them when he comes back for the feast of the Nomination. There is the horn—there is the plume. Replace them.

Pakh[with terror] I—must I ... to-day when my son is coming home?

Steward.Are you not our servant?

Pakh.I am.

Steward.And a potter?

Pakh.I am.

Steward.Did you not say you knew how to do what I ask?

Pakh.I did not know that I must lay hands on the Goddess Thoueris.

Steward.Obey.

Pakh[throwing himself on his knees] I pray you!I pray you ... I should never dare. And then ... my son ... my son who is coming back from a long, long journey....

Steward.You shall have twenty blows of the stick for having tired my tongue. If you refuse to obey me you shall have two hundred.

Pakh.I pray you.

Steward.Bid Sokiti help you.

He goes out at the back; as he passes he gives Sokiti a blow with his whip, making a sign to him to go and join Pakh.Sokiti obeys without manifesting sorrow or surprise.

He goes out at the back; as he passes he gives Sokiti a blow with his whip, making a sign to him to go and join Pakh.

Sokiti obeys without manifesting sorrow or surprise.

Pakh.He says we must lift down the Goddess.

Sokiti.I?

Pakh.You and I.

Sokiti[beginning to tremble. After a pause] I am afraid.

Pakh.I too—I am afraid.

Sokiti.If you touch her you die.

Pakh.You will die of the stick if you do not obey.

Sokiti.Why cannot they leave me at my work. I was happy.

Pakh.We must—we must tell her that it is in order to repair her crown.

Sokiti.Yes. We must let her know.

They prostrate themselves before the goddess.

Pakh.Oh, Mighty One!—thou who hast given birth to the gods, pardon if our miserable hands dare to touch thee! Thy horn and thy right plume have fallen off. 'Tis to replace them.

Sokiti.We are forced to obey—O breath divine—creator of the universe.... It is to mend thee.

Pakh[rising, to Sokiti] Come!

Bitiou, the dwarf, enters; he is a poor deformed creature. When he sees Pakh and Sokiti touching the statue, he tries to run away. He falls, picks himself up, and hides in a corner. By degrees he watches and drawsnear during what follows. Pakh and Sokiti take the statue from its pedestal and set it upright on the ground.

Sokiti.She has not said anything.

Pakh.She must be laid on her belly.

Sokiti.Gently....

They lay her flat.

Pakh[giving him the horn] Hold that. [He goes to his hod, takes a handful of cement, and proceeds to mend the statue] Here ... the plume ... so ... there ... we must let her dry. In the meantime let us go look upon the Nile; we may see the boat that brings my son.

Sokiti.You will not see him.

Pakh.I shall not see him?

Sokiti.He is a priest.

Pakh.Not yet.

Sokiti.But he was brought up in the temple ... 'tis to the temple he will go.

Pakh.He will come here ... because he would see his father and mother once more.

Sokiti.And Yaouma his betrothed.

Pakh.And Yaouma his betrothed.

He goes R. Bitiou approaches the statue timidly, and stops some way off.

Sokiti.There is nothing in sight.

Pakh.No.... [suddenly] You saw the crocodile?

Sokiti.Yes.... There is a woman going to the Nile with her pitcher on her head.

Pakh.That is my wife, that is Kirjipa, that is mine. She seeks with her eyes the boat that bears her son—Satni.

Sokiti.She is going into the stream.

Pakh.How else can she draw clear water?

Sokiti.But at the very spot where the crocodile plunged.

Pakh.What matter? She wears the feather of anibis ... and I know a magic spell. [He begins to chant] Back, son of Sitou! Dare not! Seize not! Open not thy jaws! Let the water become a sheet of flame before thee! The spell of thirty-seven gods is in thine eye. Thou art bound, thou art bound! Stay, son of Sitou! Ammon, spouse of thy mother, protect her!

Sokiti[without surprise] It is gone.

Pakh[without surprise] It could not do otherwise.

Bitiou, now close to the statue, touches it furtively with a finger tip, then runs, falls, and picks himself up. He comes up to Pakh and Sokiti.

Sokiti[pointing to the statue] She is dry now, perhaps?

Pakh.Yes, come.

Sokiti.I am afraid still.

Pakh.So am I, but come and help me.

They replace the statue on its pedestal, then step back to look at it.

Sokiti.She has done us no harm.

Pakh.No.

Sokiti.Ha! ha!

Pakh.Ha! ha! ha! ha! [Bitiou laughs with them. A distant sound of trumpets is heard. Sokiti and Pakh go to the terrace to look] It is the chief of the Nome. They are bearing him to the city of the dead. At this moment his soul is before the tribunal, where Osiris sits with the two and forty judges.

Sokiti.May they render unto him all the evil he has done!...

Pakh.The evil he has done will be rendered unto him a thousand fold.... He will pass first into the lake of fire.

Sokiti[laughing] Pakh! Pakh! picture him in Amenti—in the hidden place—

Pakh.I see him ... the pivot of the gate of Amenti set upon his eye, turns upon his right eye, and turns on that eye whether in opening or in shutting, and his mouth utters loud cries.

Sokiti[doubling up with delight] And he who ate so much!... He who ate so much! He will have his food, bread and water, hung above his head, and he will leap to get it down, whilst others will dig holes beneath his feet to prevent his touching it.

Pakh.Because his crimes are found to outnumber his merits....

Sokiti.And we—we—say—what will happen to us?

Pakh.We shall be found innocent by the two and forty judges.

Sokiti.And after?—after?

Pakh.We shall go to the island of the souls—in Amenti—

Sokiti.Yes, where there will be.... Speak. What shall we have in the island of the souls?

Pakh.Baths of clear water....

Sokiti[with loud laughter] What else ... what else?

Pakh.Ears of corn of two arms' length.... [Laughing].

Sokiti[laughing] Yes, ears of corn, of two arms' length.

Pakh.And bread of maize, and beans....

Sokiti.And blows of the stick—say, will there be blows of the stick?

Pakh.Never again.

Sokiti.Never again....

Pakh.I shall forget all I have endured.

Sokiti.I shall be famished; and I shall be able to eat until my hunger is gone ... every day!

Bitiou.And I—I shall be tall, with straight strong legs, like the rest of the world.

Pakh.That will be better than having been prince on the earth.

They laugh. The Steward appears.

Steward.What are you doing there? [Striking them with the whip] Your mistress comes! Begone!

They go out.

The Steward bows low before Mieris who is blind, and who enters with her arms full of flowers and led by Yaouma.

The Steward retires.

Mieris[gently] Leave me, Yaouma—I shall be able to find my way to her, alone.

Yaouma.Yes mistress.... [Nevertheless, she goes with her noiselessly].

Mieris[smiling] I can feel you do not obey. Be not afraid. [She has come as far as the little statue of Isis] You see, I do not lose my way. I have come every day to bring her flowers, a long, long time.... Leave me.

Yaouma.Yes, mistress.

She withdraws.

Mieris[touching the statue in the manner of the blind] Yes, thou art Isis. I know thy face, and I can guess thy smile. [She takes some of the flowers which she has laid beside her and lays them one by one on the pedestal of the statue] Behold my daily offering! I know this for a white lotus flower. It is for thee. I am not wrong, this one, longer, and with the heavier scent, is the pink lotus. It is for thee. And here are yet two more of these sacred flowers. At dawn, they come from out the water, little by little. At midday they open wide. And when the sun sinks they, too, hide themselves, letting the waters of the Nile cover them like a veil. Men say they are fair to see. Alas, I know not the beauty of the gifts I bring! Here is a typha ... here an alisma; and by the overpowering perfume,this, I know, is the acacia flower. I have had them tell me how the light, playing through the filmy petals, tints them with color sweet unto the eyes. May the sight gladden thine! I know not the beauty of the gifts I bring! But all the days of my life, a suppliant I shall come, and weary not to ply thee with my prayers, until in the end thou absolve me, until thou grant me the boon that all save I enjoy, to behold the rays of the shining God, of Ammon-Ra, the Sun divine. O Isis, remember the cruel blow that did befall me! I had a little child. Unto him sight was given, and when he first could speak, it was life's sweetest joy, to hear him tell the color and the form of things. He is dead, Isis! And I have never seen him—Take thou my tears and my prayer, bid this perpetual night, wherein I scarce can breathe, to cease—And if thou wilt not, deliver me to death—She-who-loves-the-silence, and after the judgment I may go to Amenti, and find my well-beloved child—find him, and there at last behold his face. Isis, I give thee all these flowers. [She rises] Come, Yaouma. [As she is about to go, she stops, suddenly radiant] Stay—I hear—yes! Go, bring the ewer and the lustral water. It is the master—He is here.

Yaouma goes out, but returns quickly. Enter Rheou.

Mieris.Be welcome unto your house, master!

Yaouma pours water over the hands of Rheou and gives him a towel.

Rheou.Gladly I greet you once more in your house, mistress! [Pakh appears, returning to look for his hod] [To Pakh] Well! potter, do you not go to meet your son?

Pakh.I would fain go, master, but I looked upon the Nile a while ago; there is nothing in sight.

Rheou.The galley came last night at dusk, and, by order of the priests, was kept at the bend of the river till now. Go!

Pakh.I thank you, master.

He goes out.

Rheou.Is all made ready for the solemn prayer to Isis? The Sun is nearing the horizon.

Mieris.Yaouma, go and warn them all.

Yaouma[kneeling in supplication] Mistress—

Mieris[laying her hand on Yaouma's head] What is it?

Yaouma.The galley.

Mieris.Well?—Ah, yes! you were betrothed to the potter's son—But to-day you must not go forth. Who shall say you are not she whom the God Ammon will choose?

Yaouma.The God Ammon knows not me.

Mieris.Did he choose you, he must know you.

Yaouma.Me! Me! A poor handmaiden—Is it then possible—truly?

Mieris.Truly—Yaouma, go.

Yaouma[to herself as she goes] The God Ammon—the God of Gods—

Mieris.Rheou, what ails you?

Rheou[angered] It was a fresh insult that awaited me—

Mieris.Insult?

Rheou.When I came into the audience chamber I prostrated myself before the Pharaoh. "What would you?" he cried in that hard voice of his. You know 'tis the custom to make no reply, that one may seem half dead with fear before his majesty—

Mieris.Did you not so?

Rheou.I did, but he—

Mieris.Have a care! Is no one there who might overhear you?

Rheou.No one—but he, in place of ordering them to raise me up, in place of bidding me speak—Oh, the dog of an Ethiopian!—he feigned not to see me—fora long while, a long, long while—At length, when he remembered I was there, anger was choking me; he saw it; he declared an evil spirit was in me, and having ridiculed me with his pity, he bade me then withdraw. He forgets that if I wished—

Mieris.Be still! Be still! Know you not that there, beside you, are the Gods who hear you!

Rheou[derisively] Oh! the Gods!

Mieris.What mean you?

Rheou[derisively] I am the son of a high priest; I know the Gods—The Pharaoh forgets that were I to remind the people of my father's services, were I to arm all those who work for me, and let them loose against him—

Mieris.Rheou! Rheou!

Rheou.Think you they would not obey me? I am son of that high priest, the Pharaoh's friend who wished to replace the Gods of Egypt, by one only God. The court cannot forgive me for that. Little they dream, that were I to declare my father had appeared to me, all those who know me, all the poor folk whose backs are blistered by the tax-gatherer's whip, all who are terrorized by schemes of foreign war—all, all would take my orders as inspired, divine.

Mieris.The fear of the Gods would hold them back.

Rheou.How long—I wonder!

Mieris.I hear them coming for the prayer.

Rheou.Yes. Let us pray—that they may have nothing to reproach me with before I choose my hour.

Mieris.What hour?

Rheou.Could I but realize the work my father dreamed of—and at the same stroke be avenged—avenged for all the humiliations—

Mieris.Be silent—I hear—

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