Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe Part 59

HIGH PRIEST. I think like you. Travellers learn too much. Yet am I hopeful. I shall bring him back to our G.o.ds.

THE PHARAOH. You will fail.

HIGH PRIEST. He who for long has breathed the air of temples can never wholly clear his breast of it. If he give way, he shall never leave the house of the G.o.ds again, if he be still rebellious, he shall leave to go to his death.

THE PHARAOH. I order you to give Satni up to me.

HIGH PRIEST. I would I might bow to your will. But he is a priest: his life is sacred. And I may not transgress the orders given me by the G.o.ds.

THE PHARAOH. Prate not of these follies to me--do you take me for one of your priests? Obey! I command you!

HIGH PRIEST. Do you take me for one of your soldiers?

THE PHARAOH. I command it.

HIGH PRIEST. The G.o.ds forbid.

THE PHARAOH. I laugh at your G.o.ds.

HIGH PRIEST. Beware lest your people hear.

THE PHARAOH. I would be master, in truth. And more, I refuse to submit to the humiliation that again you put on me a while ago.

HIGH PRIEST. How should that humiliate you? Before you, the highest bow down.

THE PHARAOH. Yes. And straightway, then, I must bow me down before you.

HIGH PRIEST. You salute, not me, but the G.o.d whom I represent.

THE PHARAOH. I pay homage to the G.o.d, it is the priest who receives it.

HIGH PRIEST [_faintly smiling_] Rest a.s.sured! I pa.s.s it on to him.

THE PHARAOH. And you mock me, besides! Oh! if I but dared to kill you, hypocrite!

HIGH PRIEST. Vain man!

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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.s.

SATNI. The G.o.ddess 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 G.o.ds rise with you, become more immaterial, more n.o.ble, as you became more learned. We give to the people the G.o.ds they can understand. Our G.o.d 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 G.o.ddess would not move.

HIGH PRIEST. To say only that, would not have served you. You intended to prevent the miracle. Come, admit it--it is so.

SATNI. Perhaps.

HIGH PRIEST. By seizing you, I prevent your committing the sacrilege.

Your purpose will not be realized. In an hour the festival of the Prodigy will take place, and you are my prisoner. It follows then, the miracle will be performed--you believe that, do you not?

SATNI [_after a pause_] Yes, I believe it.

HIGH PRIEST. And so your cause is lost. [_A pause_] Listen to me; the priests who have taken their final vows are as wise and as little credulous as you. I offer you a place among them. Return to us. A little wisdom banishes the G.o.ds--great wisdom brings them back.

SATNI. I refuse.

HIGH PRIEST. My son, my son, you will not cause me this sorrow. Think what you will drive me to, if you refuse--Satni, do not force me to send you before the tribunal, whose sentence must be death. Death, for you, so young, whose future is so bright!

SATNI. I do not fear death.

HIGH PRIEST. Besides--I mind me--you were betrothed to that little Yaouma whom the G.o.d has chosen as victim. You know she may be saved from the sacrifice, if she become the wife of a priest. They guarded her but ill at Rheou's house, she is here. I have seen her; she is kind and gentle, and you would lead a happy life with her.

SATNI. Yaouma! Yaouma! [_He hides his face_]

HIGH PRIEST [_laying a hand on his shoulder_] So that on one side is Yaouma's death and yours; on the other, happiness with her--and power.

Say nothing. I speak as a father might, you can see. I say besides, that you will better serve the crowd in leaving them their G.o.ds. I wish to convince you of it, and you will stay with us--weep no more. You will stay, will you not? Wait! Hear me, before you answer. You seek happiness for the lower orders? There is no happiness for them without religion.

Already you have seen what they become, when it is taken from them. The riots of yesterday cost your father his life. He suffered much, they tell me. Is it true? I do not know the details. You saw him die, did you not? Tell me how it happened.

SATNI. Ah! I was right. It was in truth torture that awaited me here.