Rheou. I did, but he—
Mieris. Have a care! Is no one there who might overhear you?
Rheou. No one—but he, in place of ordering them to raise me up, in place of bidding me speak—Oh, the dog of an Ethiopian!—he feigned not to see me—for a long while, a long, long while—At length, when he remembered I was there, anger was choking me; he saw it; he declared an evil spirit was in me, and having ridiculed me with his pity, he bade me then withdraw. He forgets that if I wished—
Mieris. Be still! Be still! Know you not that there, beside you, are the Gods who hear you!
Rheou [derisively] Oh! the Gods!
Mieris. What mean you?
Rheou [derisively] I am the son of a high priest; I know the Gods—The Pharaoh forgets that were I to remind the people of my father's services, were I to arm all those who work for me, and let them loose against him—
Mieris. Rheou! Rheou!
Rheou. Think you they would not obey me? I am son of that high priest, the Pharaoh's friend who wished to replace the Gods of Egypt, by one only God. The court cannot forgive me for that. Little they dream, that were I to declare my father had appeared to me, all those who know me, all the poor folk whose backs are blistered by the tax-gatherer's whip, all who are terrorized by schemes of foreign war—all, all would take my orders as inspired, divine.
Mieris. The fear of the Gods would hold them back.