Eugène Brieux

“ Satni. In spite of you, I will save you. [Yaouma goes up the stairway leading to the terrace. Satni stands on a bench and shouts to the crowd] Hear me, my brothers, I know of better Gods, of Gods who ask for no victims—
The People. They are false Gods!
Satni. They are better Gods—
Steward. Rheou! Rheou! bid him cease!
Rheou. No—let him speak.
Satni. I come to save you from error, to overthrow the idols, to teach you eternal truths—
An immense shout of acclamation drowns the rest of Satni's words, as Yaouma, who has appeared on the terrace above, stands with her arms raised to the setting sun. ”

“ When you've succeeded in giving the woman complete independence through hard work; when you have taken her children from her and handed them over to a crèche; when you've severed her from her domestic duties and also from all domestic happiness and joy, how d'you know she won't turn round and demand to have her old slavery back again? The quietness and peace of her own home? The right to care for her own husband and nurse her own child?
Thérèse. But can't you see that it's just that that the immense majority of women are demanding now? We want the women to stay at home just as much as you do. ”

“ The ugliest, the most deformed, the most unreal of our gods, I adore them, and I bow down before their impossibility. [She kneels] Oh, I stifle in their petty narrow world, sad as a forest without birds! Air! Air! Singing! The sound of wings! Things that fly!
Yaouma [kneeling] Let me be sacrificed!
Mieris. Let me have a reason for living!
Yaouma. I would give my life to the gods who gave me birth!
Mieris. I would believe that there is some one above men!
Yaouma. Some one who watches over us!
Mieris. Who will console as with his justice!
Yaouma. Some one to cry our sorrows to! ”

“ René. Well, Thérèse, they won't come to our wedding.
Thérèse. They still refuse their consent?
René. We can do without it.
Thérèse. But they refuse it?
René. Yes. Forgive me, my dearest, for asking you to take just my own self. Do you love me enough to marry me quite simply, without any relations, since I leave my relations for your sake?
Thérèse. My dear, we mustn't do that; we must wait.
René. No, I won't wait. I won't lose the best time of my life, and years of happiness, for the sake of prejudices I don't believe in. Do you remember what you said to me the night we played Barberine? ”

“ Yaouma. Then you would have died believing in a lie—if what they say be true.
Mieris. What matter, I had smiled as I died, thinking death but the journey to a land where my lost child was waiting for me. The death of a child! No mother ever can believe, at heart, in that. It is too unjust—too cruel to be possible. One says to oneself: it is but a separation! Oh! Satni, thy doctrines may be the truth. But they declare this separation eternal; they make the death of our loved ones final, irreparable, horrible, therefore I foretell thee this: Women will never believe them! ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thérèse. It won't, I assure you. Monsieur Féliat, believe me, you know nothing about it.
Lucienne. We're clever enough to be able to take care of ourselves.
Féliat. But there are certain things that take you by storm.
Lucienne. Not us. Flirting is an amusement, a distraction, a game.
Thérèse. Shall we say a safety valve?
Lucienne. There's not a single one of us who doesn't understand the importance of running straight. And, to do them justice, these boys have no idea of tempting us to do anything else. What they want, what we all really want, is a quite conventional, satisfactory marriage. ”

“ Believe me, Etchepare, the jury will be touched by your confession, by your repentance—you will escape the supreme penalty. You are still young—you have long years before you in which to expiate your crime. You may earn your pardon and perhaps you may once again see those children, who will have forgiven you. Believe me—believe me—in your own interests even, confess! [Mouzon has approached Etchepare during the foregoing; he places his hands on the latter's shoulders; he continues, with great gentleness] Come, isn't it true? If you can't speak, you've only to nod your head. ”

“ Isis, we adore thee!
High Priest. This year, once more, show to us by that miraculous sign of thy divine head, that still thou art our protectress. [The people repeat the incantation in a murmur] O goddess, if thou hast pity on those who suffer, thou wilt bend thy head. Pity! Pity! we suffer! The evil spirits torment us.
The People. We suffer! Drive forth the evil spirits!
High Priest. Neith! Mother of the Universe! The evil spirits torment us! Neith! Virgin genetrix! Isis, sacred earth of Egypt, bend thy head! ”

“ O Ammon!
The Pharaoh. Did you go to the house of his father, to Rheou?
The Officer. We searched them in vain.
The Pharaoh. He has taken flight, then?
The Officer. I know not.
The Pharaoh. You are a traitor! You shall die! Take him out! And you others, hear the commands of the High Priest and begone.
High Priest. Let each fulfil the mission he is charged with. Let the young priests mix with the crowd, the moment it enters the Temple. Let them excite the people's fervor, that as many prodigies as possible may be won from the goddess. ”

“ I will tell you. 'Tis because, in the name of the god Ammon-Ra, they have said to you: "Have patience, this injustice will last but a life-time." Fools! nothing but that! All the time you are on earth, suffer, produce for others. Content ye with hunger, you who produce food. Content ye with worse usage than the swine, you who have guard of them. Content ye to sleep in the open, you who build palaces and temples. ”

“ Satni. Yaouma! Yaouma! One word! One look of farewell! Yaouma! 'Tis I, Satni! Look on me!
The acclamations drown his voice. Yaouma is wrapped in her soul's dream. She passes without hearing Satni's voice. The crowd follows her.
Mieris [to Delethi who supports her] Lead me to Satni—go— [To Satni] Satni, your words have sunk deep in my heart—Yaouma, they tell me, did not hear your voice. She is lost in the joy of sacrifice. The need to make sacrifice is in us all. If the gods are not, to whom shall we sacrifice ourselves? ”

“ To govern men, we have both the reality of the evils you inflict on them, and the hope of the good I promise them. Believe me, we must work together. The day that one of us disappears, the fate of the other will be in jeopardy—I perceive they make sign to me. They think our prayers are long and fervent. The hour is come for you to receive the acclamation of your people, and follow them to the shrine of Isis—when Satni will not prevent the miracle, I pledge my word to that. ”

“ Mieris. Kitoui, the cripple, went this morning to draw water from the Nile, before all her neighbors who marvelled and cried with joy. And she had merely touched the hem of his garment, even without his knowing it. He has healed the child of Riti, too, he knows gods more powerful than ours—younger gods, perhaps, our gods are so old—If it were not so, how could he have walked unscathed the road where the scarabs lay, that day when he came home? Since then, men have seen him do a thousand forbidden things, have seen him defy our gods by disrespect. ”

“ Kirjipa [after bowing before the corpse] Go in peace towards Abydos! Go in peace towards Osiris!
All. Towards Abydos! Towards Osiris! To the West, thou who wast the best of men!
Kirjipa. If it please the gods, when the day of eternity comes, we shall see thee, for behold thou goest towards the earth that mixeth men.
All. Towards Abydos! Towards Osiris!
They make believe to bear away the corpse; ritual movements.
Kirjipa. O my husband! O my brother! O my beloved! Stay, live in thy place. Pass not away from the earthly spot where thou art! Leave him! Leave him! ”

“ Now have I lost the hope of a better life before death, and the hope of a better life beyond as well. If you took both crutches from a cripple, he would fall. Only this twofold hope sustained me. They have taken it from me. And so, it is the end, it is the end—'tis as though I were fallen from a height, I am broken, I have no strength left to bear with life: I tell you, it is the end, it is the end!
Yaouma [with intense fervor] Mistress, they speak not the truth!
Mieris. Our gods, did they exist, would already have taken vengeance. ”

“ Satni. Perhaps.
High Priest. By seizing you, I prevent your committing the sacrilege. Your purpose will not be realized. In an hour the festival of the Prodigy will take place, and you are my prisoner. It follows then, the miracle will be performed—you believe that, do you not?
Satni [after a pause] Yes, I believe it.
High Priest. And so your cause is lost. [A pause] Listen to me; the priests who have taken their final vows are as wise and as little credulous as you. I offer you a place among them. Return to us. A little wisdom banishes the gods—great wisdom brings them back.
Satni. I refuse. ”

“ Thérèse. You see our whole lives depend upon the man we marry.
Féliat. I seem to have heard that before.
Lucienne. Yes; so've I. But it's none the less true for that.
Thérèse. Isn't it funny that we seem to be saying the most shocking things when we're only repeating what our grandfathers and grandmothers preached to their children?
Lucienne. They were quite right. Love doesn't make happiness by itself. One has to consider the future. We do consider it; in fact we do nothing else but consider it. We want to get the best position for ourselves in the future that we possibly can. ”

“ Lucienne. Let's see.
Féliat. Oh, don't look! [Suddenly stopping, half to himself] Though I must say—
Thérèse [laughing] What must you say?
Féliat. Nothing.
Lucienne. I know. You mean that we're just as bad.
Féliat. No, no, not as bad.
Lucienne. Yes, yes; well—almost. [Féliat makes a sign of protest] I saw you watching us yesterday after the rehearsal! You saw I was flirting, and I know you imagined all sorts of horrid things. Our little flirtations are not what you think. When we flirt we play at love-making with our best boys, just as once upon a time we played at mothering with our dolls. ”

“ We would not die. Not death! not death! not death!
High Priest. Yes—I—I have pity on you. But your crime is so great! Have you considered well the enormity of your sin? None can remember to have seen the like. The Gods! To overthrow the Gods! And such Gods! Ammon and Thoueris! I would I might disarm their wrath. But what shall I offer them in your name that may equal your offence?
People. All! Take all we possess, but spare our lives.
High Priest. All you possess! 'Tis little enough. ”

“ They do not beat the cows nor the sheep. You, you sow and you reap; beneath the sun, tortured by flies, you gather abundant crops. You sleep in a hole. Others eat the corn you made grow, and sleep on precious stuffs. You, you are forever drawing water from the Nile; betwixt you and the ox they harness to another machine, there is no difference, and yet you are a man. You, you are one of those who drag great stones, to build the monuments of pride. You are a digger in the tombs, you live a month or more without sight of day. To glorify the death of others, you give your life. ”

“ Thérèse. No, you're not quite powerless. You can choose which you will sacrifice, the women who have been perfectly loyal to you, or the men who want to wring from your weakness freedom from competition which frightens them.
Féliat. They're fighting for their daily bread.
Thérèse. Yes, fighting the woman because she works for lower wages. She can do that because she is sober and self-controlled. ”

“ Yanetta. The law owes me nothing! Then what are you going to do—you, the judge?
Mouzon. A magistrate is not responsible.
Yanetta. Ah, you are not responsible! So you can arrest people just as you like, just when you fancy, on a suspicion or even without a suspicion; you can bring shame and dishonor on their families; you can torture the unhappy, ferret into their past lives, expose their misfortunes, dig up forgotten offences, offences which have been atoned for and which go back to ten years ago ”