"It is an unheard of thing that a handful of priests should use so much beer and bread, so many garlands and robes, while they have their own income, an immense income, which exceeds the wants of these holy men a hundred times."
"Thou hast been pleased, holiness, to forget that the priests support tens of thousands of poor; they cure an equal number of sick, and maintain a number of regiments at the expense of the temples."
"What do they want of regiments? Even the pharaohs use troops only in wartime. As to the sick, almost every man of them pays for himself, or works out what he owes the temple for curing him. And the poor? But they work for the temple: they carry water for the gods, take part in solemnities, and, above all, are connected with the working of miracles. It is they who at the gates of the temples recover reason, sight, hearing; their wounds are cured, their feet and hands regain strength, while the people looking at these miracles pray all the more eagerly and give offerings to gods the more bountiful.
"The poor are like the oxen and sheep of the temples: they bring in pure profit."
"But," the treasurer made bold to put in, "the priests do not expend all the offerings; they lay them up, and increase the capital."
"For what purpose?"
"For some sudden need of the state."
"Who has seen this capital?"
"I have seen it myself," said the dignitary. "The treasures accumulated in the labyrinth do not decrease; they increase from generation to generation, so that in case."
"So that the Assyrians might have something to take when they conquer Egypt, which is managed by priests so beautifully!" interrupted the pharaoh. "I thank thee, chief treasurer; I knew that the financial condition of Egypt was bad, but I did not suppose the state ruined. There are rebellions, there is no army, the pharaoh is in poverty; but the treasure in the labyrinth is increasing from generation to generation."