THE PHARAOH. You tremble at sight of a sword, coward! HIGH PRIEST. Being a butcher, you know only how to kill. THE PHARAOH. Liar! HIGH PRIEST. Who made you Pharaoh? THE PHARAOH. Beware lest one day I have you thrown to my lions! HIGH PRIEST. Beware lest one day I strike the crown of the two Egypts from your head, telling the people the god has set his face against you! [_A pause_] Come, we must work together. We complete each other. To govern men, we have both the reality of the evils you inflict on them, and the hope of the good I promise them. Believe me, we must work together. The day that one of us disappears, the fate of the other will be in jeopardy--I perceive they make sign to me. They think our prayers are long and fervent. The hour is come for you to receive the acclamation of your people, and follow them to the shrine of Isis--when Satni will not prevent the miracle, I pledge my word to that. _The cortege comes on and goes out with Pharaoh. Satni is led before the High Priest._ HIGH PRIEST. You know me again! SATNI [_troubled_] Yes, you are the High Priest. HIGH PRIEST [_with sweet gentleness_] I, too, I know you again. Your father is a potter. You were brought up and taught by us. In the crowd of neophytes I singled you out by your gentleness, your great intelligence; and I saw you destined for the highest dignities. I esteemed you, I was fond of you. We took you from wretchedness. What you know, for the most part, you owe to us. This thing that you have done should anger me--I am only sad, my son. [_A pause_] You are troubled. SATNI. Yes, I looked for threats, for torture. The kindness of your voice unmans me. HIGH PRIEST. Be not distressed. Forget who I am. None hear us. Let us talk together as father and son. Or better, since your learning makes you worthy, as two men. You have proclaimed broadcast that the miracle will not come to pass. SATNI. The goddess is stone. Stone does not move itself. The image will not bow its head unless man intervene. HIGH PRIEST. That is evident. SATNI. You admit it? HIGH PRIEST. To you, yes. We give to each one the faith he deserves. Had you remained with us, at each step in the priesthood you would have beheld the gods rise with you, become more immaterial, more noble, as you became more learned. We give to the people the gods they can understand. Our god is different. He is the one who exists in essence. The one who lives in substance, the sole procreator who was not engendered, the father of the fathers, the mother of mothers. The one and only. And we crave his pardon for belittling him by miracles. But they are part of that faith which alone contents the simple-minded. You are above them--I admit freely that the miracle could be prevented. You declared it would not take place--you have found the means to make it impossible? SATNI [_suspecting the trap_] I said that, left to herself, the goddess would not move.