"And think'st thou then, oh, foolish son, that I should have undertaken such a dangerous game without due consideration?
Phanes may tell the Persians what he likes, he can never prove his point.

I, the father, Ladice the mother must know best whether Nitetis is our child or not.

We call her so, who dare aver the contrary?
If it please Phanes to betray our land to any other enemy beside the Persians, let him; I fear nothing! Thou wouldst have me ruin a man who has been my friend, to whom I owe much gratitude, who has served me long and faithfully; and this without offence from his side.

Rather will I shelter him from thy revenge, knowing as I do the impure source from which it springs." "My father!" "Thou desirest the ruin of this man, because he hindered thee from taking forcible possession of the granddaughter of Rhodopis, and because thine own incapacity moved me to place him in thy room as commander of the troops.

Ah! thou growest pale! Verily, I owe Phanes thanks for confiding to me your vile intentions, and so enabling me to bind my friends and supporters, to whom Rhodopis is precious, more firmly to my throne." "And is it thus thou speakest of these strangers, my father?
dost thou thus forget the ancient glory of Egypt?
Despise me, if thou wilt; I know thou lovest me not; but say not that to be great we need the help of strangers! Look back on our history! Were we not greatest when our gates were closed to the stranger, when we depended on ourselves and our own strength, and lived according to the ancient laws of our ancestors and our gods?
Those days beheld the most distant lands subjugated by Rameses, and heard Egypt celebrated in the whole world as its first and greatest nation.