Satni. Never. I came hither not to perform miracles, but to prevent them.
Rheou. You will heal Mieris.
Satni. No one can heal her, nor I, nor any other.
Rheou. Give her a little hope.
Satni. How can I?
Rheou. Tell her you will invoke your God, and that some day perhaps—
Satni. I have no God. If there be a god, he is so great, so far from as, so utterly beyond our comprehension, that for us it is as though he did not exist. To believe that one of our actions, to believe that a prayer could act upon the will of God, is to belittle him, to deny him. He is himself incapable of a miracle; it would be to belie himself. Could he improve his work, he would not then have created it perfect from the first. He could not do it.
Rheou. Our ancient gods at least permitted hope.
Satni. Keep them.
Rheou. In the heart of Mieris, you have destroyed them.