PAPHNUTIUS. Despise the world. Leave your dissolute lovers.
THAIS. And afterwards? What then?
PAPHNUTIUS. You must retire to some solitary place, where you may learn to know yourself and realize the enormity of your sins.
THAIS. If you think this will save me, I will not delay a moment.
PAPHNUTIUS. I have no doubt it will.
THAIS. Yet give me a little time. I must collect the wealth that I have gained through the sins of my body—all the treasures I have kept too long.
PAPHNUTIUS. Do not give them a moment's thought. There will be no lack of people to find them and make use of them.
THAIS. I have another idea in my mind. I did not think of keeping this wealth or of giving it to my friends. Nor would I distribute it among the poor. The wages of sin are no material for good works.
PAPHNUTIUS. You are right. What then do you propose to do with your possessions?
THAIS. Give them to the flames! Burn them to ashes!
PAPHNUTIUS. For what reason?
THAIS. That they may no longer exist in the world. Each one was acquired at the cost of an injury to the goodness and beauty of the Creator. Let them burn.
