and for whose rights I will fight with every weapon of the spirit.
In this contest, as you know, all that otherwise would be falsehood,
treachery, and cunning, puts on the bright aspect of light and truth.
As the physician needs the knife and fire to heal the sick, we must do
fearful things to save the community when it is in danger. Now you will
see me fight with every weapon, for if we remain idle, we shall soon
cease to be the leaders of the state, and become the slaves of the king."

Gagabu nodded assent, but Ameni went on with increasing warmth, and in
that rhythmical accent in which, when he came out of the holy of holies,
he was accustomed to declare the will of the Divinity, "You were my
teacher, and I value you, and so you now shall be told everything that
stirred my soul, and made me first resolve upon this fearful struggle. I
was, as you know, brought up in this temple with Rameses--and it was very
wise of Seti to let his son grow up here with other boys. At work and at
play the heir to the throne and I won every prize. He was quite my
superior in swift apprehension--in keen perception--but I had greater
caution, and deeper purpose. Often he laughed at my laborious efforts,
but his brilliant powers appeared to me a vain delusion. I became one of
the initiated, he ruled the state in partnership with his father, and,
when Seti died, by himself. We both grew older, but the foundation of
our characters remained the same. He rushed to splendid victories,
overthrew nations, and raised the glory of the Egyptian name to a giddy
height, though stained with the blood of his people; I passed my life in
industry and labor, in teaching the young, and in guarding the laws which
regulate the intercourse of men and bind the people to the Divinity. I
compared the present with the past: What were the priests? How had they
come to be what they are? What would Egypt be without them? There is
not an art, not a science, not a faculty that is not thought out,
constructed, and practised by us. We crown the kings, we named the Gods,