“And I fail to comprehend,” exclaimed the old man, “how you—­you who so willingly condemn, can so weakly excuse this—­this—­call him what you will.”

“He is indispensable to us at this time,” said the haruspex.

“Granted,” said Gagabu, lowering his tone.  “And I think still to make use of him, as the high-priest has done in past years with the best effect when dangers have threatened us; and a dirty road serves when it makes for the goal.  The Gods themselves often permit safety to come from what is evil, but shall we therefore call evil good—­or say the hideous is beautiful?  Make use of the king’s pioneer as you will, but do not, because you are indebted to him for gifts, neglect to judge him according to his imaginings and deeds if you would deserve your title of the Initiated and the Enlightened.  Let him bring his cattle into our temple and pour his gold into our treasury, but do not defile your souls with the thought that the offerings of such a heart and such a hand are pleasing to the Divinity.  Above all,” and the voice of the old man had a heart-felt impressiveness, “Above all, do not flatter the erring man—­and this is what you do, with the idea that he is walking in the right way; for your, for our first duty, O my friends, is always this—­to guide the souls of those who trust in us to goodness and truth.”

“Oh, my master!” cried Pentaur, “how tender is thy severity.”

“I have shown the hideous sores of this man’s soul,” said the old man, as he rose to quit the hall.  “Your praise will aggravate them, your blame will tend to heal them.  Nay, if you are not content to do your duty, old Gagabu will come some day with his knife, and will throw the sick man down and cut out the canker.”

During this speech the haruspex had frequently shrugged his shoulders.  Now he said, turning to the priests from Chennu—­

“Gagabu is a foolish, hot-headed old man, and you have heard from his lips just such a sermon as the young scribes keep by them when they enter on the duties of the care of souls.  His sentiments are excellent, but he easily overlooks small things for the sake of great ones.  Ameni would tell you that ten souls, no, nor a hundred, do not matter when the safety of the whole is in question.”

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