'Let the sacrifice be sacrificed,' he cried to the Queens.

'Has not sacrilege enough been done by these strangers, and would ye, as Queens, throw the cloak of your majesty over evildoers?
Are not the creatures sacred to the Sun dead?
And is not a priest of the Sun also dead, but now slain by the magic of these strangers, who come as the winds out of heaven, whence we know not, and who are what we know not?
Beware, oh Queens, how ye tamper with the great majesty of the God, even before His high altar! There is a Power that is more than your power; there is a Justice that is higher than your justice.

Beware how ye lift an impious hand against it! Let the sacrifice be sacrificed, oh Queens.' Then Sorais made answer in her deep quiet tones, that always seemed to me to have a suspicion of mockery about them, however serious the theme: 'Oh, Agon, thou hast spoken according to thy desire, and thou hast spoken truth.

But it is thou who wouldst lift an impious hand against the justice of thy God.

Bethink thee the midday sacrifice is accomplished; the Sun hath claimed his priest as a sacrifice.' This was a novel idea, and the people applauded it.
'Bethink thee what are these men?
They are strangers found floating on the bosom of a lake.