26
With plenty, but these poor slaves have cried untoTheir God, then crept in want and sorrowTo their graves. Surely Mizraim's God is strongAnd Israel's is weak; then wherefore shouldI heed his voice, or at his bidding breakA single yoke?" Thus reasoned that proud king,And turned a deafened ear unto the wordsOf Moses and his brother, and yet he feltStrangely awed before their presence, becauseThey stood as men who felt the grandeurOf their mission, and thought not of themselves,But of their message.
Chapter V.
On the next day Pharaoh called a councilOf his mighty men, and before them laidThe message of the brethren: then Amorphel,Keeper of the palace and nearest lordUnto the king, arose, and bending lowBefore the throne, craved leave to speak a word.Amorphel was a crafty, treacherous man,With oily lips well versed in flatteryAnd courtly speech, a supple reed readyTo bend before his royal master's lightestBreath—Pharaoh's willing tool. He said"Gracious king, thou has been too lenientWith these slaves; light as their burdens are, they
