Act II. Scene 1. In this scene, which takes place in a hall in the

apartments of _Amneris_, the Princess adopts strategy to discover if _Aïda_ returns the passion which she suspects in _Rhadames_. Messengers have arrived from the front with news that _Rhadames_ has put the Ethiopians to utter rout and is returning with many trophies and captives. Naturally _Aïda_ is distraught. Is her lover safe? Was her father slain? It is while _Aïda's_ mind and heart are agitated by these questions that _Amneris_ chooses the moment to test her feelings and wrest from her the secret she longs yet dreads to fathom. The Princess is reclining on a couch in her apartment in the palace at Thebes, whither the court has repaired to welcome the triumphant Egyptian army. Slaves are adorning her for the festival or agitating the air with large feather fans. Moorish slave boys dance for her delectation and her attendants sing:

While on thy tresses rain Laurels and flowers interwoven, Let songs of glory mingle With strains of tender love.

In the midst of these festive preparations _Aïda_ enters, and _Amneris_, craftily feigning sympathy for her lest she be grieving over the defeat of her people and the possible loss in battle of someone dear to her, affects to console her by telling her that _Rhadames_, the leader of the Egyptians, has been slain.

It is not necessary for the Princess to watch the girl intently in order to note the effect upon her of the sudden and cruelly contrived announcement. Almost as suddenly, having feasted her eyes on the slave girl's grief, the Princess exclaims: "I have deceived you; _Rhadames_ lives!"

"He lives!" Tears of gratitude instead of despair now moisten _Aïda's_ eyes as she raises them to Heaven.

"You love him; you cannot deny it!" cries _Amneris_, forgetting in her furious jealousy her dignity as a Princess. "But know, you have a rival. Yes--in me. You, my slave, have a rival in your mistress, a daughter of the Pharaohs!"

Having fathomed her slave's secret, she vents the refined cruelty of her jealous nature upon the unfortunate girl by commanding her to be present at the approaching triumphant entry of _Rhadames_ and the Egyptian army:

"Come, follow me, and you shall learn if you can contend with me--you, prostrate in the dust, I on the throne beside the king!"

What has just been described is formulated by Verdi in a duet for _Amneris_ and _Aïda_, "Amore! gaudio tormento" (Oh, love! Oh, joy and sorrow!), which expresses the craftiness and subtlety of the Egyptian Princess, the conflicting emotions of _Aïda_, and the dramatic stress of the whole episode.

This phrase especially seems to express the combined haughtiness and jealousy in the attitude of _Amneris_ toward _Aïda_:

[Music]