Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe Part 63

SATNI. It was I! And I ask your forgiveness.

A MAN. Why should you do it, if you despise our G.o.ds?

SATNI. I did it out of pity.

PEOPLE. We have no need of your pity.

SATNI. That is true. You have need only of my courage. And I failed you.

I was touched by your tears. I was weak, thinking to be kind.

A MAN. You are not kind. You would have handed us over to foreign G.o.ds.

PEOPLE. Yes! yes! that is true!

SATNI. I gave you the lie that you begged for. I wanted to lull your sorrows to sleep.

A MAN. You have brought down on us the anger of the G.o.ds.

ANOTHER. The evils that crush us, 'tis you have let them loose on us.

ALL. Yes, yes! Liar! Curse you! Let him be accursed!

SATNI. Curse me. You are right. I am guilty. I had not the strength to persevere; to lead you, in spite of your tears, to the summits I would lead you to. To still a few sobs, to give hope to some who were stricken, I worked the miracle; and, beholding that false miracle, you made submission. I have confirmed, I have strengthened the empire of the lie.

A MAN. 'Twas you who lied.

SATNI. I have given back your minds, for another age, to slavery and debas.e.m.e.nt. I have given back to the priests their power that was endangered. I have given them means to increase your burdens, to take your daughters, to send you to a war, covetous, murderous, and unjust.

A MAN. You are a spy from Ethiopia!

ANOTHER. You are a traitor to your country!

ALL. Yes! a traitor! Death to the traitor!

SATNI. And to defend your tyrants, you will kill men as wretched as yourselves, dupes like you, and like you enslaved.

A MAN. We know you are paid to betray Egypt!

ALL. Yes, we know it! We know the price of your treason!

ANOTHER. You would sell Egypt, and 'tis to weaken us you would overthrow our G.o.ds.

ALL. Traitor! Traitor!

SATNI. If I am a traitor, 'tis to my own cause! But a while ago I was proud of my deed, thinking I had sacrificed myself to you. Alas! I only sacrificed your future to my pity. I wept for you; to weep for misfortune--what is that but an easy escape from the duty of fighting its cause? I pitied you. Pity is but a weakness, a submission--To perpetuate the falsehood of the miracle, and the life of atonement to come is to drug misery to sleep.

A MAN. Misery!--can you give us anything to cure it?

_They laugh._

SATNI. They have implanted in you, the belief that misery is immortal, invincible. By my falsehood, I too have seemed to admit this; and thus I have helped those, in whose interest it is that misery should last for ever.

A MAN. He insults the Pharaoh!

ANOTHER. Do not insult our priests!

SATNI. Had there been no miracle, you would have despaired--you would have sorrowed. I ought to have faced that. I ought to have faced the death of a few, to save the future of all. We go forward only by destroying. What matter blood and pain! Pain and blood--never a child is born without them! I would--

_An angry outburst._

A WOMAN. Kill him! Kill him! He says we must put our children to death!

SATNI. All are glorious who preach new efforts--

PEOPLE. Death! Death to the traitor!

SATNI. All are infamous who preach resignation--

PEOPLE. Enough! Kill him! Death!

SATNI. It is in this world that the wretched must find their paradise, it is here that every one's good must be sought with a zeal that knows no limit, save respect for the good of others.

_A burst of laughter._

PEOPLE. He is mad! He knows not what he says! He is mad!

_Yaouma is borne on right on a litter carried by young girls. She is decked out like an idol; she stands erect, half in ecstasy._

PEOPLE. Yaouma! The chosen of Ammon-Ra! Glory to her who goes to save Egypt!

_With jubilant cries the procession goes slowly towards the gates at the back, preceded and surrounded by musicians and dancers._

SATNI. Yaouma! Yaouma! One word! One look of farewell! Yaouma! 'Tis I, Satni! Look on me!

_The acclamations drown his voice. Yaouma is wrapped in her soul's dream. She pa.s.ses without hearing Satni's voice. The crowd follows her._

MIERIS [_to Delethi who supports her_] Lead me to Satni--go--[_To Satni_] Satni, your words have sunk deep in my heart--Yaouma, they tell me, did not hear your voice. She is lost in the joy of sacrifice. The need to make sacrifice is in us all. If the G.o.ds are not, to whom shall we sacrifice ourselves?

SATNI. To those who suffer.

MIERIS. To those who suffer.

_During this Bitiou has come slowly down behind Satni._

BITIOU. Look! He too, he will fall down!

_He plunges a dagger in Satni's back. Delethi draws Mieris away. Satni falls._