"I do not dispute with him; I remove him."
"Egypt is thine," repeated the queen, "but I fear a struggle with the priests. It is true that thy father, who was mild beyond measure, has made those men insolent, but it is not wise to bring them to despair through severity. Besides, think of this: Who will replace them in counsel? They know everything that has been, that is, and that will be on earth and in heaven; they know the most secret thoughts of mankind, and they direct hearts as the wind directs tree leaves. Without them Thou wilt be ignorant not only of what is happening in Tyre and Nineveh, but even in Thebes and Memphis."
"I do not reject their wisdom, but I want service," answered the pharaoh. "I know that their understanding is great, but it must be controlled so that it may not deceive, and it must be directed lest it ruin the State. Tell me thyself, mother, what they have done with Egypt in the course of thirty years? The people suffer want, or are in rebellion; the army is small, the treasury is empty, and meanwhile two months' distance from us Assyria is increasing like dough containing leaven, and today is forcing on us treaties."
"Do as may please thee, but remember that the device of a pharaoh is a serpent, and a serpent is silence and discretion."
"Thou speakest truth, mother, but believe me, at certain times daring is better than prudence. The priests planned, as I know today, that the Libyan war should last entire years. I finished it in the course of a few days, and only because every day I took some mad but decisive step If I had not rushed to the desert against them, which by the way was a great indiscretion, we should have the Libyans outside Memphis at this moment."
"I know that Thou didst hunt down Tehenna, and that Typhon caught thee," said the queen. "O hasty child, Thou didst not think of me."
He smiled.
"Be of good heart," replied Ramses. "When the pharaoh is in battle, at his left and his right hand stands Amon. Who then can touch him?"
He embraced the queen once more and departed.