'Something exists,' he said, 'but they are not Priest-Kings.'
'That is an interesting thought,' I said.
'It is only that they possess the power of Priest-Kings!' he said.
'That is a second interesting thought,' I said. 'But if they possess the power of Priest-Kings, why not call them Priest-Kings?'
'Do you think they would mind, if I did not?' he asked, somewhat apprehensively. 'Probably not,' I said. Indeed, provided men kept their laws the Priest-Kings were content to let them do much what they wished. The major concerns of Priest-Kings with men, it seemed, was to have as little to do with them as possible. That had always seemed to me understandable.
'But what is the relation of the Initiates to the Priest-Kings, if there are such?' he asked.
'One which is rather remote, I suspect,' I said, 'if it exists at all.'
'You do not think the Priest-Kings are on intimate terms with the Initiates, do you?'
'Would you wish to be on intimate terms with an Initiate?' I asked.
'Certainly not,' he said.
'There you are,' I said.
'Look at that fellow,' said Marcus, indicating a baker striding by. The fellow fixed a fearless gaze upon us.
'He is only one man,' I said.
'There is something different in Ar these days,' he said.
'He is only one man,' I said.
'Who walks proudly,' said Marcus.
'He will not walk so proudly if he is beaten by a Cosian patrol,' I said. 'In any event,' said Marcus, ' the power of the Initiates is certainly less now than before in the city.'
'At least for the time,' I said.
'For the time?' he asked.
'If men should become again confused, and fearful, and lose confidence in themselves, if they should again begin to whine, and to beg for authority and reassurance,' I said, 'the white robes will again appear in the streets.'
'Initiates are not needed for such a purpose,' he said.
'True,' I said. It could be a caste, the state, a leader, many things.
'The Initiates might have provided a core of resistance to Cos,' he said. 'Cos saw to it, with offerings, and hetacombs, and such, that they would not do so.'
'So they preached their passivity, their resignation?'
'Of course,' I said. 'But to reduce their offerings, threaten their coffers, imperil their power, and it will not be long before they locate their patriotism.'
'Cos is very clever,' said Marcus.
'Clearly,' I said.
'I hate Initiates,' he said.
'I had gathered that,' I admitted.
'I despise them,' he said.
'Perhaps it is merely that you find yourself reluctant to rejoice in dishonesty, and to celebrate blatant fraud and hypocrisy,' I said.
'Do you think it could be so easily explained?' he asked.
'Possibly,' I said.
'I do have my limitations,' he said.
'We all do,' I said.
'And yet,' he said, 'the world is very mysterious.'
'True,' I said.
'What is its nature?' he asked.
'I am sure I do not know,' I said.
He suddenly struck his fist into the palm of his hand. It must of stung. A fellow turned about, looking at him, and then continued on his way. 'But it is here I am,' he exclaimed, looking about himself, at the street, the avenue, the buildings, the trees, the fountains, the sky. 'And it is here I will live!'
'That seems to me wise,' I said.
'I have enjoyed this conversation, Tarl,' he said. 'It has meant a great deal to me.'
'I haven't understood it in the least,' I said.
'Some folks are so shallow,' he said.
'But perhaps you are right, I said. 'Perhaps, things are different in Ar.'
'Certainly!' he said, observing her.
'Hold, female!' said I.
The slave stopped, apprehensively.
'And surely she is not the first such you have seen of late,' he said.
'No,' I said. 'Do not kneel,' I told her. I wished the better to consider her legs.
Marcus and I walked about her.
'Consider the brevity of her tunic,' he said, 'its cleavage, its sleevelessness, the slashes at the hem of her skirt.
'Yes,' I said.
The girl blushed crimson.
'This is a sign,' he said, 'that the virility of the men of Ar is reviving.'
'Yes,' I said.
'And surely you have not failed to notice that in the last few days many slaves, many, indeed, are scantier garmented than before,' he said.
'Yes,' I said.
'I think it is clear that the men of Ar are beginning to recollect their manhood,' he said. 'They are becoming more dangerous.'
'Yes,' I said.
Several weeks ago in Ar there had been some hints of an attempt on the part of the Ubarate, as a social- control procedure, to facilitate its goverance, a venture doubtless emanating from Cos, which had reason to fear an alert, healthy foe, to reduce the vitality and virility of the men of Ar, to further crush and depress them. This was to be done under the initial guise of sumptuary laws, ostensibly to limit the adornment and display of slaves, as though there could be much of that sort of thing in the defeated city. This was to be followed by legislation encouraging, and then apparently to later require, more modest garmenture for slaves. There were even suggestions of attempting to regulate the relationships obtaining between masters and slaves. There was some talk of greater «respect» for slaves, that they might be permitted to drink from the higher bowls at the public fountains, even the insanity that one might not be able to make use of them without their permission, thus turning the master into a slave's slave. Naturally the motivation of this, putting aside the standard camouflage of moralistic prose which may be conveniently invoked for any purpose whatsoever, even those most antithetical to nature, health, reason, truth and life, was no concern for slaves but rather a desire to diminish the men of Ar, to make them easier to manage and exploit. Naturally they were expected to accept their own castration, so to speak, as a cause for rejoicing, as a long overdue improvement of their condition. How glorious things were to be, once men had succeeded in achieving their own destruction. On the other hand the first straws testing the winds of Ar, cast in the streets, in the baths, in the taverns and markets, had been blown back with such fierceness that these castrative proposals had been almost immediately withdrawn. Indeed, a small announcement had even appeared on the boards, in the name of Ubara herself, that slave girls should obey their masters and try to be pleasing to them.
Revolution, I do not doubt, would have occurred in the city. The men of Ar would have died rather than give up at least the retained semblance of their manhood. They had experienced the dominance, the mastery. This, once tasted, is never relinquished. The mistake of the Central Cylinder in this case, of course, was in attempting to impose such reductionism on adult males, even defeated ones, who actually understood what was involved. The
