"Defend thyself!" she heard voices from below command. There was no answer.
"Radames, Radames, Radames," the High Priest called again in a fearful voice, and again the Princess shuddered.
"Thou hast deserted the encampment the very day before the combat!—defend thyself." She listened, but still no answer.
"Radames, Radames, Radames," again the High Priest called, and for the third and last time. Still no answer.
"Oh, have mercy on him," Amneris then cried, her love becoming greater than her desire for revenge. Then listening again, she heard the judge say:
"Radames, thy fate is decided. It is to be the fate of a traitor. You shall be buried alive beneath the altar of the God of War, whom thou hast derided and betrayed."
"Oh, horror," Amneris shrieked.
"We have spoken," the priests replied, and then ascended.
"Ye priests of Isis, ye are tigers! demons!" and the Princess assailed them bitterly as they came into the hall. She was now mad with grief. Truly loving Radames, she cursed the priests and even the gods. Then the scene changed, revealing the interior of Vulcan's Temple and the crypt beneath the altar. There were spectral statues, and great marble columns which seemed to vanish in the gloom, and all was gloomy as the grave. Stairs led from the temple above into the vault, and Radames sat down upon the steps as the priests let down again the massive stone that covered the opening beneath the altar. Radames watched the closing of the opening, the descent of the great stone into place.
"I can bear my fate, since Aïda may never know. She could not survive such horror," he said, under his breath. The vault, the ghostly cold about him, the rows upon rows of senseless marble, supported by the expressionless stone faces of the gods, these things overwhelmed the great warrior. Then, from the gloom, he saw a white figure emerge. Is it a phantom? At first he thought it some fearful vision. But as he peered through the twilight he recognized—Aïda. Perhaps it was her ghost come to comfort him, he thought, and raised himself to stare at the figure.