!

RHEOU. Listen. I bring you the means to win the triumph of your ideas,
and at the same time serve my cause. I can arm all the dwellers on my
lands. We two must lead them. They will follow you, knowing you all
powerful. Nay, hear me--wait. The soldiers, who fear you, will not dare
resist us, we shall kill the high priest, the Pharaoh if need be--we
shall be masters of Egypt.

SATNI. I would not kill.

RHEOU. So be it. Enough that you declare yourself ready to repeat the
miracle of yesterday.

SATNI. I would not lie.

RHEOU. If you would neither kill nor lie, you will never succeed in
governing men.

SATNI. I would fight the priests of Ammon, not imitate them.

RHEOU. You will never triumph without doing so. Profit by events. Do not
deny the power they believe to be yours. Men will not follow you, if you
speak only to their reason. You are above the crowd by your learning;
that gives you rights. You would lead them to the summits; to get there,
one must blindfold those who suffer from dizziness.

SATNI. I refuse.

RHEOU. One would think you were afraid of victory!

SATNI. Rheou, 'tis not the victory of my ideas you seek, 'tis your own
vengeance, your own ambition.

RHEOU. They wish to rush the people of Egypt into an unjust and useless
war. They hesitate; they feel the people lacking zest, that is why they
have delayed the going of the army till the feast of Prodigies.
To-morrow they will make the goddess speak, and all those poor creatures
will be led away. You can save thousands of lives by sacrificing a few.

SATNI. I refuse. The truth will prevail without help from cruelty or
falsehood.

RHEOU. Never. The crowd is not a woman to be won by loud wooing, but one
who must be taken by force, whom you must dominate before you can
persuade.

SATNI. Say no more, Rheou, I refuse.

RHEOU. Blind! Fool! Coward!

_Mieris enters, led by Yaouma. A moment later some
men--Bitiou, Sokiti, Nourm._

MIERIS. Rheou!--where are you? where are you? [_Yaouma leads her toward
him_] It is true, this that I hear?--Exile--Misery?

RHEOU. It is true.

MIERIS. Courage--As for me, a palace or a cottage--I know not the one
from the other.

RHEOU. [_to Satni_] Satni, can you still refuse?

SATNI. You torture me! No, I will not be credited with power that is not
mine; to stir men up against their fellows--I would not kill, I tell
you.

MIERIS. I understand you, Satni--it is wrong to kill!--But look once
more