FTATATEETA (savagely). Touch me, dog; and the Nile will not rise
on your fields for seven times seven years of famine.

BELZANOR (frightened, but desperate). I will sacrifice: I will
pay. Or stay. (To the Persian) You, O subtle one: your father's
lands lie far from the Nile. Slay her.

PERSIAN (threatening her with his knife). Persia has but one god;
yet he loves the blood of old women. Where is Cleopatra?

FTATATEETA. Persian: as Osiris lives, I do not know. I chide her
for bringing evil days upon us by talking to the sacred cats of
the priests, and carrying them in her arms. I told her she would
be left alone here when the Romans came as a punishment for her
disobedience. And now she is gone--run away--hidden. I speak the
truth. I call Osiris to witness.

THE WOMEN (protesting officiously). She speaks the truth,
Belzanor.

BELZANOR. You have frightened the child: she is hiding. Search--
quick--into the palace--search every corner.

The guards, led by Belzanor, shoulder their way into the palace
through the flying crowd of women, who escape through the
courtyard gate.

FTATATEETA (screaming). Sacrilege! Men in the Queen's chambers!
Sa-- (Her voice dies away as the Persian puts his knife to her