"Today, the glory of ancient Egypt is ruins and dust." "And this greatest of the earth's earliest civilizations, are things of darkness and mystery." "These mighty monuments tell us of a people, who were rulers of the world." "Created a civilization never surpassed in beauty and splendor." "But the Egyptians were not only builders of monuments, they were human beings, no different from ourselves." "This is the story of a man who dwelled in the ancient land of the Nile." "Thirty-three centuries ago." "I, Sinuhe the Egyptian write this... in my place of exile, on the shores of the Red Sea." "There is no more desolate spot on earth." "Soon the jackals and the vultures, will make a poor meal of what is left of me." "No monument will mark my resting place." "I will leave only this." "The story of my life." "I have lived fully and deeply." "I have tasted passion, crime, and even murder." "It is for you to judge me." "You must weigh the good against the evil." "The passion against the tenderness." "The crime against the charity." "The pleasure against the pain." "I began life as I am ending it, alone." "I rode alone on the bosom of the Nile." "In a boat of reeds daubed with pitch and tied with fowler's knots." "Thus the city of Thebes was accustomed to dispose of its unwanted children." "I grew up on the waterfront of the city." "In the house of my foster parents." "Who had saved me from the river." "My foster father lived there by choice." "Because he was, also by choice, physician of the poor of the city." "From the rich he could have commanded princely fees." "For he alone in Thebes, was the Master of the ancient art of opening skulls." "Have more of the good wine ready." "Afraid, Sinuhe?" "Good." "You must never fear death." "In our craft death is a familiar companion." "This time we cheat him." "Look." "This tiny splinter of bone pressing on the brain." "When I remove it, he will speak again." "Will walk, and live." "Why father?" "Why?" "No one knows." "From the beginning I kept to myself." "I used to wander alone on the banks of the Nile." "Until the day came when I was ready to enter the School of Life." "In the School of Life, were trained the chosen young men of Egypt." "The future scientists and philosophers, statesmen and generals." "All learning of Egypt lay in the keeping of the Gods." "For ten years, I serve them in the school." "That I might earn the right to call myself a "Physician."" "I learned to bend my body to them." "But that was all." "My mind still asked the question:" ""Why?"" "Sinuhe... be careful, the priests!" "Free wine!" "To the health of our classmate, Horemheb!" "The best swordsman, the finest horseman, the fastest runner, and the strongest wrestler." "And the first one to tell you that!" "Well, if you don't speak well of yourself, no one will do it for you." "This I learned from the Gods." "You drunk to what I am, now drink to what I will be." "For the day will come, when I will carry the Golden Whip, and lead you all into battle." "Hey, you're not drinking, my friend." " Wine!" " He's had enough." "Never enough for a friend." "Finish the night in some gutter with his throat cut." "He's under my protection." "To your future!" "Look at our brilliant physician!" "The honor student!" "He's got the reeling sickness!" "Can I help you?" "Just a second." "Don't throw things at my friend!" "He's alive!" "Who is he?" "He's a stubborn arrogant fool, but he is my best friend." "Then take him home." "A tavern wench can't give orders to the son of a Falcon." "The son of a cheese-maker!" "Take him home!" "Good night physician." "Your friend is the fool, not you." "Why does no one ever answer me when I ask "why"?" "Come on, let's go." "How did she know your father was a cheese-maker?" "The Queen of Cities," "Thebes, of the hundred gates." "Capital of the world." "After my graduation from the School of Life." "I set myself up as physician on the waterfront." "Far from my father's house." "Lest I steal his patients from him." "But I found that not even the poorest of patients, would come to the door of so young a physician." "I had to go out into the streets in search of them." "Too late for that one." "Come over here, into the shade." "Here, sit down!" "I can help you." "Under certain conditions, blindness can be cured with a needle." "Alas, no physician can restore my eye." "My first Master put it out when I drank a jar of beer, and refilled in a manner which displeased him." "Then what is the matter with you?" "Nothing, I'm as healthy as the 40 sacred baboons." "My name is Kaptah, and I've decided to be your servant." "Even if I needed one, I couldn't afford it." "And if I could afford it, I wouldn't employ a ragged beggar." "I may be ragged, but I'm intelligent, and I am handsome, and I can read." "Well, you're quite right, Master, I am a poor servant." "But than you're a poor physician and deserve no better." "I shall obey your orders." "You may beat me, within reason." "And in return, I will steal from you ...also within reason." "Oh!" "Then you admit you're a thief?" "We are all thieves." "Only the dishonest ones deny it." "I will improve your reputation." "People will say:" ""He must be a good physician if he can afford a servant "" "With one eye?" "They will say:" ""He must be a poor physician not to have cured his own servant."" "Well, I shall say that when you first bought me I was totally blind, and that you restored half my sight." "Master!" "Master!" "Heave!" "..." "Heave!" "..." "Heave!" "..." "(The chant continues on)" "ARUGH!" "..." "ARRUGHH!" ".." "ARRUGHH!" ".." "ARRRUGHHH!" "ARUGH!" "..." "Heave!" "..." "Heave!" "..." "Heave!" "..." "(Continues)" "Master, Master!" "Master, come quickly!" "Come quickly!" "Look!" "This is your chance!" "I told you I would make your reputation." "Come here everybody!" "Come here and watch!" "You shall see such wonders as your eyes have never beheld." "The Gods themselves has instructed my master in his art." "Known to him are the ancient spells and potions of our ancestors." "Come here and watch!" "Someone bring water." "Here's water." "Moisten the cloth, and squeeze it between his lips." "I'll need fire to purify my instruments." "Fire, bring fire, for the worker of wonders!" "The fire won't be needed." "He's dead." "Wonders!" "Observe the wisdom and mercy of my master!" "Lest this poor soul be forced to hobble for the rest of his life on one foot." "My Master has granted him the boon of death." "No one could have saved him." "Saved him?" "For what?" "So the young physician is still asking "why"?" "Master... that's a dangerous woman." "Dangerous?" "The look in her eyes, the look of a carping call of a ewe for it's lamb." "Beware of such looks, Master, her mind is on breaking a jar with you... on marriage." "I don't even know her name." "Her name was Merit." "She was a tavern maid." "And she could neither read, nor write." "She loved me all her life." "But this I didn't learn, until it was too late." "People of Thebes!" "Ask pity of the Gods." "Pharaoh is dead." "They have been caterwauling all night!" "Do these fools think that they can bring Pharaoh back to life?" "Why don't you take him home?" "It's early morning." "What's wrong with him?" "He was refused an appointment in the palace guards because of his birth." "You don't have to lower your voice." "I know what you're saying!" "Yeah, I was refused refused because of my birth!" "Look at the ones they've excepted!" "Menacing perfumed idiots, who carry sunshades, and twitter like birds!" "How long until dawn?" "An hour, perhaps." "You ever hunt lions?" "No." "I saw a black mane male drinking from a pool at sunset." "But if he never hunted lions..." "He is under my protection, I told you once before." "I need no protection." "I'll bring you back the skin of a lion myself." "Suppose the lion brings back your skin?" "What happens to me?" "Find another master to rob, richer than I am." "Sinuhe please be careful." "To pay our score." "May it benefit you." "Let's go before she changes your mind!" "You know that's how I lost my eye lion hunting." "Son of a cheese-maker." "Why didn't you run, you fool?" "You were nearly killed!" "Be quiet." "The God is coming." "What's he talking about?" "He said "the God" is coming." "Which God?" "He is coming." "Aton!" "Aton?" "Look!" "He worships the face of the sun." "Thy dawning is beautiful, in the horizon of heaven." "Oh, living Aton, beginning of life..." "What's the matter with him?" "He has the holy sickness." "At least I can prevent him from biting his tongue." "Well, we can't leave him here." "Let's take him into the city." "Seize them!" "What's wrong?" "What have we done?" "You'll find out in good time." "Put them in chains." "For two days, we were held without knowledge of the reason for our arrest." "Then we were taken under guard to the Royal Palace." "Silence!" "On your faces!" "Our new Pharaoh comes!" "On your faces before the Living God." "The one we called fool, is Pharaoh." "We'll lose our heads for this." "Princess, come back!" "Mighty Pharaoh!" "King of Upper and Lower Egypt..." "Princess!" "Look, Father!" "Hush!" "Your father is busy." "But I want him to see my new monkey." "Not now, child." "Sit down, Princess." "Mighty Pharaoh!" "King of Upper and Lower Egypt." "Son of the Sun..." "You have feet." "Stand on them." "You will please me much better, if you will all rise." "My heart is heavy because of my father's death." "Let us finish our affairs as quickly as possible." "The Embassies of Hati and Kush." "Come to pay respects to our new Pharaoh." "There are gifts from..." " Later." "I wish to see the two prisoners you spoke of." "Are they here?" "Yes, Sire." "Come forward." "On your knees!" "On your feet!" "Why have these men have been held without trial?" "Their crime is sacrilege, Sire." "They laid hands on the sacred person of Pharaoh." "Sinuhe, a physician, the son of Semut." "Horemheb, the son of a cheese-maker." "Come forward." "For a cheese-maker he has bold eyes." "The other one, the physician... notice his features." "You are the son of Semut?" "I've heard of his work among the poor." "Come closer." "Sire!" "He must die!" "He laid hands on you!" "I know that." "It was to help me." "The law makes no such distinction, Sire!" "Have I the power to change the law?" "There is no limit to Pharaoh's power!" "The law is changed!" "I appoint you physician to my household." "I am deeply grateful, Sire." "But I can not accept this honor." "Why not?" "I've sworn an oath to serve the poor." "Because of your father?" "For that, and other reasons." "Semut is not my real father." "My parents must have been of the poor themselves." "For as a baby," "I was cast adrift on the Nile, in a reed boat." "And you never learned who your parents were?" "Perhaps they were fowlers." "The boat was tied with fowler's knots." ""Fowler's knots"?" "Did you say... "fowler's knots"?" "Yes!" "Why do you ask, Mother?" "Curiosity, my son." "You may honor your vows Sinuhe, and serve the poor." "But on the condition you bind yourself to come to the palace, whenever I or my family, have need of you." "Thank you, Sire!" "This other one is no healer, this cheese-maker's son." "Yet, he too, profane Pharaoh with his touch." "Sire, may I speak?" "Speak!" "Horemheb saved your life by slaying the lion." "What is Horemhed's desire?" "To let my sword drink the blood of Pharaoh's enemies as my arrows drank the lion's blood." "This has been foretold is my... destiny." "And is the destiny of Egypt to be written in blood?" "It has always been, Sire." "As long as there's war, blood must flow." "What is your request?" "An appointment, Sire." "As an officer in your guards." "You request is granted!" "I wish he asked to be our cheese-maker." "Princess!" "I wish he would!" "The sun is setting." "Forgive me all." "I will return to my meditations." "Come, my children." "My Lord, the Princess Baketamon commands your presence." "Follow me." "Not you." "This way, my lord." "Come in physician." "My mother wishes a word with you." "He won't hurt you." "Some more beer." "Come closer." "So, you never learned who your parents were?" "Surely you tried to find out?" "Speak up!" "I'm content with the parents I have, your Majesty." "In what year were you cast adrift?" "In the same year that Pharaoh was born." "So I've been told." "Why does your Majesty?" "..." "You're not here to ask questions." "My mother wishes for you to examine her." "I know that I'm dying." "I want to know how long it will take." "Don't be shy." "Once, I enjoyed the touch of a man's hand." "How long ago!" "Why do you stop, physician?" "To admire the way that a Queen can weave a mat of reeds?" "Those are fowler's knots!" "Didn't you know that my family were bird catchers in the Lower Kingdom?" "And I caught an eagle in my net..." "Pharaoh himself." "He loved me, Sinuhe." "Because I was strong and musty." "Because I was vulgar and unlearned, and told him the truth." "His other wives, the high born delicate ones, with their narrow heads." "How they hated me." "So I swore I would give him a son to wear the Double Crown." "And I did." "But the Gods were perverts." "They gave me a son as soft as a woman, and a daughter as hard as a man." "Baketamon here, should be Pharaoh." "Not her brother." "Well, what do you find?" "If your Majesty will forgive me..." "Tell her the truth." "If you want to live much longer." "You must give up the strong brew." "What impenitence." "I was drinking beer before you were born." "Her Majesty asked me for the truth." "Now I'll give you some advice, young man." "Never tell the truth to a old woman." "Especially if she ask for it." "Go now, you weary me." "What did she want?" "I'm not sure." "Did she speak of me?" "No." "Some day, when I command the armies, I..." "You know, when I think of her, my blood boils." "Tell me, my friend." "Do you have a potion of something to cool my fever?" "The wise men say that: "One evil spirit can only be driven out by another."" "You mean, another woman?" "Of course." "A noble medicine." "I know just the place." "A woman from Babylon." "She gives a banquet every night." "She won't mind two additional guests." " No, I..." " Look," "We've got to celebrate our good fortune." "Don't worry, my friend." "You're always under my protection." "Let's go outside." "We'll show you the garden." "Sinuhe, my friend." "Let's go out in the garden, and pick a few flowers." "No, I'll wait for you here." "Alright, I'll pick a few for you." "Have you never looked at a woman before?" "Hundreds." "And in the state the Gods created them." "I'm a physician." "Your name?" "I'm called Sinuhe." ""He who is alone."" "Is this is your house?" "This is my house." "And I have guest in the evening." "I dislike being alone." "Baraka!" "The inscription of the new Pharaoh!" "His gift." "I must leave now." "Why?" "Because men bring you rich presents... for as little as a smile." "This is all I have." "I have never asked a man for anything." "But I ask you to stay!" "I can't..." "Is it because we women of Babylon have such a bad reputation?" "Or do you find me so ugly?" "Do you?" "You're beautiful." "Beyond all dreams." "Such flattery must come easily... to a man whose known "hundreds of women."" "No one before has ever seemed to me so beautiful." "So strange." "When I look in your eyes, I..." "I feel..." "What do you feel, Sinuhe?" "I feel the fever of Thebes, in my blood." "And I know I was born to live in sunset of the world." "Nothing matters... nothing..." "But what I see in your eyes." "It's late, I..." "I must be leaving." "If you go for fun with wine, and wild songs, you will surely get into trouble, with some designing woman." "Would you care?" "No, I brought you here only to show you the gate in my garden wall." "Later, when all my guests are gone..." "I'll be here by my lotus pond." "Why do you tell me this?" "Perhaps because I'm fond of gifts, and the greatest gift any man can bring to a woman... is his innocence." "Which he can give only once." "Wait." "Before you touch me, I must give you a warning." "Warning?" "There is a reason why the Goddess of Love takes the form of a cat." "When I look at you, I care nothing of cats or Gods." "Look, Sinuhe." "A cat's paws are soft, but they hide claws." "A cat takes pleasure in tormenting his victim." "Not until the creature is nearly dead... will it show pity, and put an end to it." "What does this to do with you and me?" "You hadn't any experience... and I must be, what I am." "Leave now... and do not return to the gate in my wall," "or you may regret it all your life." "I don't even know your name." "In their foolishness, men gave me a name which means "beautiful."" "Nefer!" "..." "Nefer!" "..." "Nefer!" "..." "It's no business of mine, where he spends his time." "If you don't consider it your business, why are you so angry with me?" "Get out." "For a whole week now, he's telling me to send his patients to other physicians." "Even had to return the coppers I've excepted for appointments with him." "This woman stole his mind." "He's as mad as a jackal, that prowls round about the grave in a time of drought." "And I'm as mad as he is!" "It was you I warn him against!" "Then why come to me now?" "There are worse things than marriage." "How could I be such a fool to even dream of it?" "He is a physician to Pharaoh, and I'm ..." "Kapta, what can I do?" "Offer him more then she can." "Get out, you one-eyed son of a baboon!" "Out!" "GET OUT!" "Why do you wait, Sinuhe?" "I told you that tonight that I'm engaged." "I'm entertaining a merchant from Syria." "If he touches you, I'll kill him." "Only foolish boys speak in such terms." "I must confess, Sinuhe." "I find that appealing." "Very appealing." "You're not like the others." "You're young, and strong, and innocent." "But unfortunately, I must protect myself." "Women like me who live alone, can not afford to give in to their weaknesses." "Or they end their days begging in the streets." "I offer my protection for as long as you live." "Men have said that to me so many times, in so many tongues." "Listen, Sinuhe." "I live in Egypt." "Because I can never return to Babylon." "When I was 12 years old, I was sold as a slave." "And passed from one Master, to another." "Is there any difference in your life now?" "A very great difference." "For now, no man is my Master." "The Syrian merchant who dines with me tonight brings me a ruby that once belonged to a queen." "But to give away a present from Pharaoh is sacrilege." "I ask for nothing." "I only want you to understand." "You must go now." "My guest will be here at any moment." "Send him away." "I told you why I can't." "Send him away!" "You're hurting me!" "I've given you the only thing of value that I had." "Isn't that what you wanted?" "What deceivers men are." "And you're the same as all the rest." "You're not so poor as you pretend, Sinuhe." "You have a house and many fine instruments of copper." "If I give them to you, will you promise me?" "I promise nothing." "If you wish to give me a present, do so." "But ask nothing from me." "As I ask nothing from you." "I'm a evil woman, Sinuhe." "From the very beginning, I warned you." "Keep your house and your instruments, and go!" "Your Highness shoots well, for a woman." "A child's games." "I see you won a promotion." "Why not?" "A real soldier here is like a falcon among sparrows." "I wish a word with you, over here!" "May I say, I long dreamed of a word with you?" "We won't discuss your dreams." "I wish to speak of your friend, the physician." "Why are you so interested in him?" "My brother has been asking for him." "He hasn't yet presented himself at Court." "Sinuhe has a..." "left the city." "He's gone to Memphis..." "I think." "If you hope for farther promotions, don't lie to me." "I love my friend enough to lie for him." "Even to a Royal Princess." "What do you want?" "I want him saved from the creature who stole his wits." "That's easy." "She's a Babylonian." "Have her banished, or killed." "He'll follow her into exile, or moan over a grave the rest of his life." "No." "He must be made to see that she is worthless." "And how do you expect to accomplish that?" "By letting him find out that she has betrayed him with his best friend." "You shouldn't find that to difficult." "Such a woman likes to be assaulted as if they were fortresses." "Your Highness, flatters me." "I value you in the same way you value yourself." "Give me that bracelet." "You want a reward for helping a friend you love so much?" "I want it for the Babylonian." "Oh?" "..." "Then you're afraid that your manly charms won't be enough?" "Not for her!" "My friends are watching us." "They think you're rewarding me an honor." "Let them think what they will." "Some day you'll strip your arms of honors for me... your ankles, and your neck." "Save your passions for the Babylonian." "She will appreciate them more than I do." "Open up, let me in." "The hour is late." "I have orders to admit no one." "Your mistress is expecting me." "I have a message from her." "Those are my orders." "Horemheb." "Horemhed!" "NEFER, LET ME IN!" "HOREMHEB!" "NEFER, LET ME IN!" "HOREMHEB!" "You must go." "He knows you're here." "I don't care, do you?" "I sent him no message to come tonight." "I took the liberty of sending one in your name." "Do you mind?" "So, that's it." "GO NOW!" "Stupid fool!" "I'LL KILL YOU!" "You're crazy!" "Listen, you fool!" "It was our friendship that brought me here." "Can't you see what she is?" "The only reason I have come here was to prove it to you." "Never call me friend again." "Get Out!" "Very well." "You'll deserve everything you'll get from her." "You may go too." "This is my house, and it is not a tavern." "Nefer, wait." "Look here." "I brought you what you asked." "The deed to my house." "My instruments." "I never asked you for this trash!" "It's all I have... and not entirely trash." "The house is small, but it is fitted up for a physician's use." "The instruments are the finest." "They're worth as much as precious jewels." "There..." "Now, you own everything that was mine." "Sinuhe, please!" "I'm tired." "You always have some excuse." "Nefer, I..." "Wait." "Since you won't listen to my warnings." "You force me to treat you like my other friends." "What more do you want from me?" "For you I've disobeyed Pharaoh, disgraced my family, beggared myself." "And still you lie to me." "Lie?" "How...?" "Why have you chosen not to tell me that your father has a fine house on the waterfront?" "I can't give you what isn't my own." "Or that he has built and furnished for his wife and himself, a scenic tomb in the City of the Dead?" "You're asking me to rob my parents of immortality." "And let their bodies, rot into nothingness, like the carcasses of slaves and animals?" "I ask for nothing." "But if you do this one thing for me." "I'll show you the finer perfection of love." "What are you doing here?" "You haven't been to the tavern for many days." "I had to see you." "The man you know, is dead." "Forget him!" "I could never forget you." "Sinuhe, please listen to me." "I want to help you." "I am not without experience." "You learn a great deal about life in a tavern." "Every night, I see the hunger in men's eyes." "With a tavern maid they don't trouble to hide it." "There are some who will approach you arrogantly, demanding." "Like your friend Horemheb." "That kind can never be hurt by a woman." "Then there are those to shy to ask." "But the hunger is in their eyes too." "They are the one's who are unarmed." "Because they are afraid to approach a woman who might make them happy." "They fall a easy victim of the other kind." "They think they are in love, because they have no way of knowing what love is." "What are you trying to say?" "What I shouldn't have to say." "When you come home at this hour, and find me waiting for you." "If you wish to help me, you can." "Here are the deeds to my parents house, and to the tomb, which they thought would give them immortality." "Here is her name, the new owner." "Read it, Merit: "Nefer, Nefer, NEFER!"`" "Sinuhe, you can't!" "The deeds have to be witnessed." "Be the first to sign." "GO ON!" "SIGN!" "IF YOU CAN'T WRITE, MAKE YOUR MARK!" "Gods have pity on you!" "The house and tomb are yours." "From this hour, I am accused and disgraced." "Before Gods and men." "It's a high price to pay." "Now prove to me it's not too high." "How shall I prove it, Sinuhe?" "By keeping your promise." "Promise?" "What did I promise?" "The perfection of love." "I did?" "Sinuhe, as I have already told you," "I find you very appealing." "Are you quite sure that it's "perfection" you want?" "Yes." "Then you shall have it." "I will end your misery." "Secum!" "Show this man to the door." "Never admit him to my house again." "Every philosopher knows that we spend our lives seeking perfection." "And find it only in a ending." "Ending?" "Sooner or later, even a cat tires of it's game." "Sinuhe!" "SINUHE!" "NO!" "Baraka!" "Secum!" "Sinuhe!" "..." "Sinuhe...!" "Once again I came alone, and in darkness, to the house of my parents." "The house that was no longer theirs." "How did they die?" "As you should know, Master." "A physician can turn his skill to taking life, as well as to saving it." "Your father left this for you." "Read it." "I can't." "Then listen." ""To Sinuhe, our son." "We are grieved for your sake, because you have met with ill fortune." "Do not regret that you were required to sell our tomb." "For all existence is vanity." "We desire no life in the hereafter." "Remember always that we blessed you before we left." "For you who came to us, from the river when we were already old." "And was the greatest joy of our lives." "May your heart be shielded from sorrow." "Such is the desire of your father and your mother."" "What do you want here in the House of Death?" "I've brought you the bodies of a man and a woman." "To be preserved by your art." "So that they may enjoy eternal life." "As you say, we are artists here." "What can you pay for our services?" "I have nothing." "Nothing?" "Throw this carrion in the river." "Wait!" "I am willing to work here." "To pay for the embalming." "For as long as you say I must." "Work here?" "Only condemned criminals, and the accursed of the Gods, seek work in the House of Dead." "There is no man here who is not better than I am." "Put him to work!" "For 90 days, I labored among the accursed in the House of Death." "It was as if I died myself." "And only my servant, Kapta, knew what I had done, or where I was." "What are you doing here?" "Speak, or I'll bash your head in!" "Are you a God?" "God?" "No God would dare show his face here after dark." "You're a grave robber?" "I don't come here to steal." "What do you want then?" "I brought my parents here to bury them." "In the Valley of the Kings?" "I had hoped that if I buried them here, they might share the wealth of the Pharaohs, in the other world!" "Other world, hmph!" "It is true that many Pharaohs are planted here." "I have yet to see anyone of them here putting out any shoots." "And they certainly don't see the gifts." "Cause we get them first." "You don't believe in another life." "They believed." "You're a strange one." "I'll help you dig." "I wish somehow I could mark their graves." "Mark or unmarked, is all the same." "20 years to build a pyramid." "Or 10 minutes to scrap a hole in the sand." "Dead are dead, no matter where we put them." "In the end, the sand conquers all." "Every grain of sand, will outlive every man alive, and every man that ever will be born." "Immortality?" "I hold it in my hand." "Only the little grains of sand will never die." "Listen!" "A jackal." "A jackal with two legs." "One of my friends warning us there is a stranger coming." "Here in the shadow." "Sinuhe?" "That you?" "Yes." "This is as good a place as any to meet a woman." "Sinuhe?" "How did you find me?" "Kapta told me." "He told me what you've done." "Hard at labor 90 days in the House of Death." "Keep away!" "The smell of death is still on me." "How long since you've eaten?" "I don't know." "I brought you some bread and wine." "Go back, Merit, Go back." "Leave me alone." "Not until you've eaten." "Sit here, Sinuhe." "To please me if nothing else." "Bread?" "Some wine?" "Thebes, city of lust and evil." "Men deserve injustice." "They deserve their cruel priests, and evil gods." "For we are vile!" "No more than a crawling disease on the face of the earth." "The grave is the only cure for our vileness." "That is what I've learned." "I'll take you back to the city." "You can't go back." "Pharaoh's daughter died because you could not be found to save her." "He's frantic with grief." "Sinuhe, he... he's sentenced you to death." "It means nothing." "Death never comes to him that asks for it." "I know this too in my new wisdom." "Do you call that wisdom?" "To despise yourself because of what one woman did to you?" "Do you really think that all women are like that?" "Can't you believe in a love that asks for nothing?" "Oh!" "My love!" "Everything is arranged, Master." "I was able to buy passage for us!" "Buy it?" "Took everything I had... everything I've stolen from you." "Come!" "We must hide below decks before the other passengers arrive." "Merit..." "I don't know how to say this..." "Take this with you." "It isn't real gold." "I want you to have it." "It's the symbol of the Sun God, Aton." "Perhaps someday..." "No." "We only fool ourselves to think so." "This is goodbye forever." "Forever?" "You're young, Merit." "Your whole life is before you." "Mine will end somewhere in the darkness of a foreign land." "I love you, Sinuhe." "Always remember that." "Hurry, Master!" "And so I left behind me the land of my fathers." "And with it, I left my youth which had promised so much, and whose only fruit has been despair." "As the years passed," "Kapta and I, traveled to the ends of the earth." "In the beginning, we lived as we could." "Friendless wanders that we were." "We cheated and stole, in order to live." "We knew heat, hunger, and cold." "And slept under the stars." "Then, as time softened my sorrows." "I began to put to use, the skills I have learned in School of Life, and in my father's house." "As we moved on, my fame went before me." "To distant lands, which had never seen an Egyptian before." "Nor a trained physician." "The simplest cures were thought to be miracles." "And I became known as a worker of magic." "As we traveled on to new lands, our wealth increased." "Everywhere we saw injustice and misery." "But I hardened my heart." "I reserved my skills for the rich and powerful." "Who could pay." "For the children of poverty, there was no cure." "Cry out when the pain is greatest." "No Hittite warrior cries out in pain." "There...?" "Yes." "As I feared, Lord Commander, your skull must be opened." "And the evil removed with a knife." "Is this an Egyptian plot?" "To murder our Commander at a time..." "At a time when you're planning war with Egypt?" "It was you who brought me here from Babylon, my Lord." "I take no interest in your plans." "I have no country." "Egypt, least of all." "Shall I undertake your cure?" "What chances have I to survive?" "One chance in five." "If I die, my officers will kill you." "I know that." "If I live..." "What will you demand?" "Your sword of black metal." "Nothing more." "Then you are a spy!" " Doesn't matter." "After the first skirmish, our secret, will no longer be secret." "After the second," "Egypt, will no longer be Egypt." "Proceed, Egyptian." "Shave his head and wash it." "Tie him to this chair securely." "I'll prepare a drug to dull his pain." "Master, Master." "Did you not hear that Commander, or do you have a hole bored into your head?" "Why do you ask for a sword?" "You could have demanded a fortune." "Because I think the new metal of the Hittites, may change history of the world!" "And because Horemheb now commands the army in Egypt." "Oh, so you lied." "There is a key to your heart after all." "Still love your native land." "Least you know that back there." "No Pharaoh ever forgives his enemies." "Leave my instruments in the flame." "Kapta, we're going home." "Home." "Egypt." "Egypt... was a stricken land." "Torn by hatred and civil strife." "I fear the Hittites, Master." "But I fear this more." "Better if we had never come!" "Your name, Syrian?" "I am Egyptian." "My name is Sinuhe." "Once physician to the Pharaoh." "You must have been bitten by a rabid ape when you were small." "You know, that if your name is on that list of prescribed criminals..." "Well, you know the Egyptians." "Seize them." "Take them to headquarters." "There must be some mistake!" "Could we go over the list again?" "What do you expect me to do?" "Bring soldiers here from the Delta?" "The Cataracts?" "Your duty is to keep order in the city." "You should be able to do it with the men you have." "You were told to never return to Egypt." "Why did you come back?" "It's said "He who have drunk of the Nile water... can never quench his thirst in other lands."" "I know why you're here." "The priests of the old Gods hope to rid themselves of Pharaoh." "They whisper that he is mad and his skull should be opened." "It would be a simple matter to let the knife slip." "So they brought back to Egypt, the one man who is the master of the operation." "You." "Give me the sword you took from my servant." "Give it to him." "This why I came back to Egypt!" "Draw your sword." "Stand back." "And now?" "Strike at me, hard." "Do you know what you're asking, my friend?" "Strike!" "Again, harder!" "Where did you get this?" "In the land of the Hittites." "Hundreds of forgers are at work there night and day, making weapons of this new metal." "It is called "iron."" "Come with me." "Worshippers singing:" ""How beautiful our God"... (repeats)" "The new temple where the Pharaoh worships his one God." "Look!" "I've seen the sorrow this one God has brought upon Egypt." "It was the priests, not Pharaoh, who brought this sorrow on us." "It is they who blamed the misfortunes of Egypt on Pharaoh." "And made the people believe thus the old Gods show their anger." "If I had my way, I would hang every priest, by his heels." "But our Pharaoh believes in repaying treachery with kindness." "Come." "Stay on your feet." "I apologize, Sire, for interrupting your prayers." "I have urgent news." "Our Lord Commander owes me no explanation." "I bring you someone you'll remember." "Sinuhe, the physician." "Sinuhe..." "Yes." "He asks you grant him pardon, Sire." "And I, as Commander of the army, also urge you to be merciful." "It's is I who should ask your pardon, Sinuhe." "Once I raised my hand against you." "I would have killed you." "It delights me to see you." "Sinuhe just returned from the land of the Hittites." "They're preparing for war against us." "They succeeded in making a new metal." "He brought this sword as proof." "It cuts through our Egyptian copper, like a knife through straw." "How could all this be true?" "I sent the Cross of Life to the Hittite Princess." "I promised them my friendship." "Akhnaton, my mad friend," "You think they care for your "Cross of Life?"" "They want loot, slaves, power!" "And with this..." "They'll get them." "Unless you let me strike first." "Destroy their cities, their mines, and forgers." "Are you asking me to condone slaughter?" "I am asking you to show our enemies, the same mercy, they'd show us." "No more, no less." "There's mercy in every man's heart." "If we can only reach it." "A man who's lived in darkness all his life, doesn't understand the light isn't evil, because it hurts his eyes." "Should we then, extinguish our lights and crawl into darkness, with him?" "Such wisdom has already filled the Nile with corpses." "Sire, again this morning rioting broke out on the waterfront." "I had to send soldiers in to stop it." "Don't you see, Sire?" "That a war now would unite our country?" "Once again Egyptians will stand together, brothers against a common foe." "He is right, my husband." "Even you?" "So near to me then is the darkness?" "You should listen to Horemheb." "I can listen only to Aton." "I will write to the Hittite Princess." "Asking to make their intentions clear." "Thank you for coming." "Now, do you see what I have to contend with?" "Could he prevent you from doing what you want with the army?" "No, the men follow me, not him." "But he is Pharaoh, and I have sworn him a oath of loyalty." "He'll write to the Hittites!" "He might as well invite them to come take his throne." "Will it matter?" "I have seen rulers, great and small, old and young, warlike and effeminate." "The people suffer and die." "Whatever the ruler calls himself." "Hittite, Egyptian, Cretan." "It's bad to believe, to much like Pharaoh." "But it's worse to believe in too little, my friend." "I believe in nothing." "While Egypt tore herself in civil strife." "I doubled my fortune, as physician to the wealthy." "Send away the other patients." "I'm tired." "I will see no more today." "I think you will see this one, Master." "You might find it rewarding." "Oh?" "Are the fees so high?" "Not high, interesting." "Send them in." "He'll see you." "Come again tomorrow." "Sorry, there is nothing I can do." "Can you help me?" "Tell me what ails you." "Give me your hand." "Open your robe." "I can save your life." "But I can't restore your beauty." "The trouble has eaten too far for that." "Do you want to live, Nefer?" "Yes.. yes, I want to live." "Come back tomorrow morning." "I will undertake your cure." "I can not pay you." "Your collar was all I had left." "There will be no fee for my services." "Here." "For 10 years, I dreamed of this, of meeting her again." "When I would be the Master." "Of taking my revenge, slowly... savoring it." "What do you feel, now that you've had your chance?" "Only pity." "Sorrow." "Because once, she was so beautiful." "A cat can't help being what it is." "It's strange, Kapta." "Revenge, leaves you as empty as fame and fortune." "Eat your fill of all of them." "And you're still just as hungry." "Master, what is it you want?" "I don't know." "But whatever it is, I been searching for it in the wrong places." "Master, it is dangerous to walk in this quarter, unescorted." "Sights, and sounds, and smells, can make the past live again." "This is where I use to draw water for my father." "It was a long time ago." "Look, Kaptah!" "This is the tree I learned to climb when I could barely walk." " Leave me alone!" "Come back here!" " Leave me alone!" " Don't let him get away!" " Get his Cross!" " It's my Cross!" " I got him!" " What are you doing?" "Let him alone!" "Stop that!" "Go on!" "Go on!" "Are you hurt?" "No." "Where do you live?" "Over there." "Toth, my poor darling!" "I'm alright." "You're bleeding!" "It's nothing." "Some those other boys didn't like my Cross." "I'll take you to a physician." "May I help?" "Sinuhe!" "Yes, my Lord, you can." "This is the Lord Sinuhe, Toth." "A very famous physician." "I must get linen for a bandage." "I'll get it." "Merit." "After all these years..." "You've been in my in my prayers, Sinuhe." "I'm grateful to your God." "If it was he who brought us together." "Won't you come in?" "You knew this was my father's house?" "The house was cheap." "I needed a place of my own." "You, and your husband?" "I am not married." "I found the bandages, Mother." "Mother?" "He's the child of a friend, an orphan." "But he does not know that." "He thinks I'm his mother..." "Sinuhe, please..." " I understand." "Your secret is safe with this orphan." "Please come in." "Here are the bandages, and instruments, if you have to use them." "When I grow up, I'm going to be a physician too." "Hope you use these with more credit than I did." "I bought them at the same time as I bought the house." "I see." "Sit down over there." "Hold the bandage." "This isn't gonna hurt." " I'm not afraid." "Have I been in your prayers too?" "Yes." "I prayed that Aton would teach you humility, and manners." "Now I know that we've come home." "Only in Egypt, does a woman tongue takes so sharp an edge." "In two days you can take off the bandage." "But not before, you understand?" "Why?" "I mean, what will happen, if I do?" "Probably nothing." "I spoke sternly with you, because physicians should always be firm with their patients." "You'll find out, it increases their respect for you." "And also the size of your fees." "But I will be physician to the poor." "But the rich have more interesting ailments, and can better afford them." "No." "I would work for the poor." "I'm hungry." "Are you?" "I could eat a hippopotamus." "Well, we're having fish." "Hurry up, Mother!" "Yes, hurry!" "Be quiet, both of you." "Come here!" "Clean your instruments Thoth, and put them away." "Did you see so much with your one eye?" "More than my Master does with two." "Did you dare to tell him..." "Why should I tell him?" "I like my life as it is, without a woman to pour hot water on my feet, because I displeased her." "Questioning my accounts, rationing my beer..." "HUSH!" "Merit." "I didn't ask you to come here, to pry into my life." "I didn't expect..." "Smoke!" "Perhaps, you think the smoke, has blinded me too." "What does the Lord Sinuhe, the great, rich, and cynical Lord" "Sinuhe, want with a tavern maid?" "You call me great and rich, but I have nothing." "I am the poorest of men." "Because I wasted my life." "Everything I've touched, I've destroyed." "My birthright, my parents." "Your life too, Merit." "But you've given me something." "Perhaps an answer to the question, I've asked myself, ever since I was a boy." "Not your God, because I don't believe in gods." "The one thing I created, which wasn't a waste." "If it is too late to live for ourselves." "Perhaps we can begin to live for our son." "Toth, my boy." "Let me offer you a priceless jewel of wisdom." "Never peer through windows, on matters that don't concern you." "That's how I happen to have only one eye." "Did you intend to pass without speaking to me?" "I beg your highness pardon." "But Pharaoh has sent for me." "I know." "It's been many years, Physician." "The look of innocence is gone." "If your Highness will excuse me..." "You've heard the news?" "The Hittites invaded Syria." "Their carriages are approaching the Delta of the Nile." "Then the war has begun." "No!" "My brother refuses to give Horemheb permission to fight." "Then he must be mad." "I've known that for a long time." "Physician!" "After you see my brother, come to my chambers." "Your Majesty..." " Thank you for coming." "Sire." "My friend!" "Sire, you must give Horemhed permission to defend Egypt." "No!" "NO!" "Right or wrong, I will not order death." "I can not plunge Egypt into a bath of blood." "They say I'm mad." "Horemheb, the priests." "Even my own sister." "Are they right, Sinuhe?" "Am I mad?" "You are mad, Sire." "But your madness is more beautiful then the wisdom of other men." "Beautiful..." "Yes, my vision of Aton, was beautiful." "I thought it would give peace and happiness to all men." "I thought I could be his voice." "And bring his message to my people." "But I was wrong." "The vision has faded." "My voice was no more than the whisper of wind in the desert." "Aton has abandoned me to war," "...to madness, ...to death." "If you love me, Sinuhe." "Lift the burden from my soul." "Give me peace." "A physician's task is to prolong life, Sire." "Not to shorten it." "He should rest now." "Can you do anything for him?" "I'm sorry, but his illness is not of the body, your Majesty." "What is it you want?" "What Pharaoh himself asked you for: "to give him peace."" "You have more courage than I thought." "If Horemheb were to learn of this..." "My men are ready!" "The loyal Lord Commander!" "You too?" "Look, Sinuhe." "I love Akhnaton, as I love my own right arm." "But if my arm were gangrene, I'd cut it off." "Just as Akhnaton must be cut off from Egypt!" "All Egypt knows I'm right." "And you know it." "Yes." "Yes, in your place, I'd tell myself the same thing." "Have you a potion that will give him sleep, without pain?" "I'm to kill him." "When all around me there is such a talent for violence?" "Do this, and the Gods will bless you forever." "I see, you speak for the Gods." "And Horemheb for Egypt." "Tell me one thing, who succeeds to the throne?" "Who else but the Commander of the army that will save Egypt, and make it once more, the greatest power in the world?" "Yes." "Horemheb!" "You, Pharaoh?" "So that's the price for your treason." "Call it treason if you like." "But there's only one thing that can save Egypt now, and that's courage." "Courage to act, courage to conquer our enemies, and put the leaders in chains." "Akhnaton is in his chamber." "He is helpless." "Now is your chance to strike." "But you won't, will you?" "Because no hand has ever been raised openly against a Pharaoh." "Yet if you strike him down, then the way will be clear, a precedent established, for someone to strike down the next Pharaoh." "Whose name you hope, will be Horemheb." "So, this dirty thing must be done by indirection." "As it has always been done in the past." "By a physician pretending to heal him." "By a physician, whose known to be his friend." "I'm sorry, but I'm not that man." "Wait outside." "Don't go far away." "Your Highness wished to see me?" "Are you going to do what they want?" "No." "You should agree." "Akhnaton must die." "For his own sake." "Now it's for his own sake." "Makkurie, wants to kill him for the Gods." "Horemheb for Egypt." "And his sister for his own sake." "Any hunter would show mercy to a wounded animal." "Did they tell you how they plan to dirty the throne?" "They told me that Horemheb was to be Pharaoh." "And I'm to be his Queen." "He is to come to my chamber tonight." "And tomorrow our marriage will be proclaimed, in the temple of the old Gods." "I see." "A good plan." "This marriage will make him acceptable to the people." "But not to me, Physician." "When I marry, it will be to no cheese-maker's son." "Leave!" "We haven't much time." "Horemheb's men are in control of the city." "Tonight the priests will open and restore the old Gods, and make a sacrifice of blood." "But together, we can beat them." "Horemheb and all the the evil priests." "Sinuhe, come here." "This is what you'll do, pretend to fall in with their plan." "Kill my brother, and kill Horemheb too." "Two murders." "So, come to my chamber tonight, and I'll gladly open the doors, with my own hands." "Willingly share the throne with you, as Pharaoh." "Why should people accept a nameless physician, as their Pharaoh?" "Because you are Pharaoh." "You're my half brother." "The only man in Egypt fit to be my husband, and rule by my side." "Why do you think my mother and I sent for you the day you first came to Pharaoh?" "Before she died, she told me everything." "And left it to my judgment, if you should ever hear the truth." "She was not the first to bare my father, the Pharaoh, a son." "A few weeks before, one of his other wives delivered a boy child..." "You!" "You were taken away from your mother, and cast adrift on the river." "In a boat tied with fowler's knots." "Tied by my mother, herself." "Who was a fowler's daughter." "And the mother failed to notice that her newborn disappeared?" "She was shown a dead girl later, and told it was hers." "Hundreds of babies are cast adrift, every year." "And the boats are often tied with fowler's knots." "In the Lower Kingdom; not at Thebes." "There is stronger evidence than that." "Get my chariot!" "Come with me to the Valley of the Kings, to my father's tomb." "And see for yourself." "The Third Amenhotep." "The great Pharaoh." "My father." "And yours." "Look!" "The finest artists in Thebes made this." "You're his exact copy." "The nose, cheek bones, the forehead, the line of the jaw." "You wanted further proof." "Look!" "That is what my mother saw, when you stood before us in the throne room." "What no one else, but she, could recognize." "The face of her husband, when he was a young man." "The great Pharaoh comes alive again..." "IN YOU!" "Now, have you any doubts?" "Leave me alone here." "You know, I showed you the truth." "Yes, now I'm sure that it is true." "But would Horemheb ever accept such proof?" "Of course not." "He's eaten up with his own ambition." "He's gone much too far." "He couldn't turn back now, even if he wanted too." "That's why he must be killed, along with Akhnaton." "You hold Egypt in your hand, my brother." "The power of a God is yours." "If you only have the courage to seize it." "What's that?" "What is it?" "Horemheb has began his holy war." "Every follower of of Pharaoh's God has been marked for death." "A massacre!" "Why should we care?" "Let Horemheb prepare the ground for us." "With my brother dead, and we rule, we'll be better off without these fanatics." "Let them go!" "(People screaming in all directions)" "Merit!" "Merit!" "Master, Master!" "Where's your mother?" "We were separated." "Kapta listen, get the boy down to the docks." "Here, take this money and these jewels." "Find a boat, buy one, steal it, if you have too." "And you?" "I'll find Merit." "I'll come to you when we can." "But don't wait for us." "Get the boy out of the city." "I want to go with you." "No." "You must go with Kapta, my son." "Now run." "Hurry!" "Stop them!" "Is this yours?" "I've never saw it before in my life." "Your lying!" "I saw you throw it away!" "Be sensible, Captain." "Do I look like a follower of the accursed Aton?" "They're simple people, honest people." "And I am the biggest rouge in all Egypt." "Is this your Cross?" "Captain, you have a honest and intelligent face." "I always collaborate with the soldiers." "I'm a soldier myself." "In fact, I gave my eye to my country." "Well if that's all..." " Kill him!" "Kill me for a thousand crimes." "But not for one I've never committed." "I hate the Gods!" "And the Gods hate me." "Oh, take everything then." "Take that, jewelry,silver, everything I have." "You've made a beggar out of me." "I will starve to death, for as long as I live." "Let him go!" "Come on!" "What can you pay?" "What can you pay?" "Give me your jewels!" "Go aboard." "Only those who can pay, can go aboard." "Give me your jewels!" "Give me your gold!" "Only those who can pay, can come aboard!" "Come on, step up!" "Kapta, how can we pay?" "You gave those soldiers everything." "Not quite everything." "Savings of a dishonest life, gone." "Come on, come on!" "Please, please." "What can you pay?" "Take this ruby." "The child won't take up much room." "All right, let him go." "Only those who can pay, can go aboard." "Come along!" " Sit there." "Well..." "I fear that at my age, and all innocence." "I'm becoming a father." "Toth!" "Toth!" "Kneel!" "Aim!" "Shoot!" "Merit!" "Merit!" "Sinuhe!" "NO!" "Merit!" "..." "Merit!" "Toth?" "He's with Kaptah." "With Kapta he'll be safe." "Hold me, my love!" "Merit!" "Take the ones who are still alive to the dungeon!" "I want this temple torn down!" "Every stone of it!" "Yes, Commander!" "Archers, follow me." "Sorry, my friend." "It had to be done." "It wasn't you who killed her." "But that madman in the palace." "Him, and his one God." "She believed in his God, and she's dead." "Is he still alive?" "Yes, he's at the palace." "Then, go to the palace, and I'll meet you there before dawn." "How will you give it to him?" "In a cup of wine, when you and I drink with him." "I?" "We're bound together in this business, Horemheb." "As we were always been bound, since we were boys together." "Since what we do is for the good of Egypt." "You should feel honored to have a direct part in it." "Go make sure he is awake." "Arranged for our audience." "Don't worry." "What's needed, will be in Pharaoh's cup." "You finally came to your senses." "Why did you leave me there in the street?" "Where did you go?" "To bury a dream." "It's dead now and forgotten." "For Pharaoh." "For Horemheb." "For me." "What do you mean?" "Horemheb's no fool." "How can I persuade him to drink, unless I drink as well?" "But you'll die!" "I'm a physician." "This oil will smother the poison, until I can come back here, and swallow this emetic." "And if something goes wrong?" "I'll die in any case." "Be careful my brother." "I'll be waiting for you." "Let's not pretend, my sister, that our bargain is for anything but power." "Perhaps you can't be blamed for the evil in you." "It's not your fault you're wrapped and twisted, like a tree forced to flower forever, and never bear fruit." "What you are, you were made to be by others." "But I made the evil in myself." "And I know it for evil." "(Knocking)" "You must go." "Sinuhe, open the door." "Sinuhe!" "Why did you bar the door?" " I couldn't be sure if it would be you who came." "Is everything ready?" "He's in great hall praying to his one God." "Which cup is his?" "The one he will take." "Well welcome, my friends." "We come to you as friends, Sire." "For we both love you." "I know." "We were just speaking of the time the three of us met in the desert." "Yes, it was at sunrise." "I'd hoped that day would be a sunrise for the world." "But you killed a lion, his blood spilled out in the sand." "Violence must be met with violence." "Drink, Sire!" "To our memories." "Does Sinuhe invite me to drink?" "Yes." "Have I drunk... death, Sinuhe?" "Yes, Sire." "So be it." "The fault is mine." "You gave me what I asked for." "But" "I was wrong to ask it." "I was weak." "I thought my God had forsaken me." "But he hadn't, Sinuhe." "Nor have you killed him, as you believe." "Horemheb seeks to kill him by tearing down his temples." "But the house of God is all creation." "Tear down the mountains, empty the seas, strip the sky of stars." "And still you haven't touched God." "I see it clearly now." "I thought God was the face of the Sun." "And thus I made his image." "But God is more." "Much more." "The sun is just a symbol of his warmth, of his creative power." "He is no idol, no tangible thing." "But the creator of all things." "The loving spirit that lives in all our hearts." "I'm fortunate beyond other men, that He permitted me to recognize him." "Stay close to me, Sinuhe friend." "I can not see you well." "But there is no pain." "I gave you no pain, Sire." "Nor does my death matter." "I was no more than a shadow of things to come." "One voice that spoke for Him." "But there will be other voices." "Clearer than mine." "For the hearts of men will not be denied forever." "God is in us all." "And one day, in his own good time, he will speak out." "In words that can not be misunderstood." "The others lied to me, Sinuhe." "But I think you really loved me." "God forgives everything, Sinuhe." "He forgives you." "Poor soul." "He was mad till the end." "I'll make sacrifices to the Gods on his behalf." "They won't refuse me now." "For I am one of them." "I am Egypt!" "Your cup, Sinuhe!" "Drink with me." "Drink to the beginning of a new Egypt!" "Horemheb, don't drink it." "Or you won't be Egypt, or anything." "You dared!" "Put on the crown and go to the Princess." "She will be greatly surprised, for it isn't you, she expects." "But you can prevail, and make yourself divine." "You really dared!" "You're the Pharaoh that Egypt wants." "But that wasn't why I spared you." "Don't thank me for your life." "Thank this poor sick fool here." "For it was he who saved us both." "Saved me?" "Are you mad too?" "I am Pharaoh." "Silence!" "Pharaoh comes." "On your faces." "On your faces before the Living God!" "Sire!" "The Commanders of the defeated armies beg mercy of Pharaoh." "I will deal with them later." "Let the physician come forward!" "On your Knees!" " Let him stand." "What are the charges against this man?" "He has publicly spoken against Pharaoh." "He has belittled Pharaoh's victories in Syria, and the land of the Hittites." "He has blasphemed against the Gods, and has committed other acts of treason, without number." "Once we stood together before this throne." "And you spoke up for my life." "Is there anyone here who will speak up for this man?" "You?" "My devoted wife?" "No." "You will have to speak for yourself, Physician." "Not for myself, Sire." "But for one whose memory, you're trying to wipe out." "Whose very name you sought to destroy." "For Akhneton!" "Do you flaunt your treason in my face?" "That name is forbidden!" "Take care, physician." "Or I will..." "Will?" "Will, what you will." "You will go to war, and win a battle?" "You will conquer, and not know that it is defeat?" "You will raise Egypt to glory, and watch her die?" "We live in the twilight of our world, Horemheb." "And you will be it's sunset." "Nations rise, only to fall." "Kings build mighty monuments." "Only to have them crumble into dust." "Glory flees like a shadow." "All these things have the seeds of death in them." "Only a thought can live." "Only a great truth can grow and flourish." "And a truth can not be killed." "It passes in secret, from one man's heart to another." "It is given in a mother's milk to her child." "Are you trying to tell me, that you'll fight against me?" "Oh!" "You'll win that too." "For if you fails to silence me, you'll know what I'll do." "What will you do, physician?" "I will go among the people." "And try to answer the questions that burden their hearts." "The questions that I have asked myself, all my life." "Where ever I wondered in the world." "And which were answered for me, by a dying man." "I will wear the clothes of a slave." "And kick the sandals from my feet." "And speak to the wives, while they fry their fish before their mud huts by the river." "To the porters on the docks." "The smiths by their bellows." "To the slaves under their yokes." "And I will say:" ""A man can not be judged by the color of his skin, by his clothes, his jewels, or his triumphs." "But only by his heart." "A good man is better than a bad man." "Justice is better than injustice." "He who uses mercy is superior, to him who uses violence." "Though the latter call himself Pharaoh." "And make himself Master of the Earth." "We have but one Master." "The God who made us all." "Only His truth is immortal." "And in His truth, all men are equal." "No man is alone."" "The Sentence:" "Exile for life!" "I have spent my life in seeking knowledge." "This is all I know." "I have written this for you, my son." "Wherever you are." "And for your children, and your children's children." "It's a poor legacy." "But it's all I have."