Caesar's army is advancing on Alexandria, and he sets fire to it in order to stop the advance. Caesar orders the priests and works to be evacuated from the city, but in a part of the building where the fire is fiercest, the priests resist his orders. They try to find a way to get back into the city. They decide to use the "door of hermes" to return to the underworld, but they fear that it will be too dangerous for them to do so. They are afraid that if they try to leave, they will be captured by the Romans. They wonder why Caesar and the priests refused to leave the city during the fire, and they demand that Caesar return to burning everything