Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (146 page)

JULIAN.
[Recoiling.]
Ah!

THE PHILOSOPHER.
Look at those joyous youths yonder. There are Galileans among them. Errors in things divine cause no discord among us. Farewell! You Galileans have sent truth into exile. See, now, how we bear the buffets of fate. See, we hold high our wreath-crowned heads. So we depart — shortening the night with song, and awaiting Helios.
[He descends the steps where his disciples have waited for him; then the boat is heard rowing away with them.]

JULIAN.
[Gazes long over the water.]
Who was he, that mysterious man?

AGATHON.
[Approaching.]
Listen to me, Julian — ?

JULIAN.
[In lively excitement
.] He understood me! And Libanius himself, the great, incomparable Libanius — ! Only think, Agathon, Libanius has said —— Oh, how keen must the heathen eye not be!

AGATHON.
Trust me, this meeting was a work of the Tempter!

JULIAN.
[Not
heeding him.
I can no longer endure to live among these people. It was they, then, who wrote those abominable lampoons! They make a mockery of me here; they laugh behind my back; not one of them believes in the power that dwells in me. They ape my gait; they distort my manners and my speech; Hekebolius himself — ! Oh, I feel it — Christ is deserting me; I glow evil here.

AGATHON.
Oh, though you know it not — you, even you, stand under special grace.

JULIAN.
[Walks up and down beside the balustrade.]
I am he with whom Libanius longs to measure swords. How strange a wish! Libanius accounts me his peer. It is me he awaits — AGATHON. Hear and obey: Christ awaits you!

JULIAN.
What mean you, friend?

AGATHON.
The vision that sent me to Constantinople —

JULIAN.
Yes, yes, the vision; I had almost forgotten it. A revelation, you said? Oh, speak, speak!

AGATHON.
It was at home in Cappadocia, a month ago or a little more. There went a rumour abroad that the heathens had again begun to hold secret meetings by night in the temple of Cybele —

JULIAN.
How foolhardy! Are they not strictly forbidden —

AGATHON.
Therefore all we believers arose in wrath. The magistrates ordered the temple to be pulled down, and we broke in pieces the abominable idols. The more zealous among us were impelled by the Spirit of the Lord to go still further. With singing of psalms, and with sacred banners at our head, we marched through the town and fell upon the godless like messengers of wrath; we took from them their treasures; many houses were set on fire and heathens not a few perished in the flames; still more we slew in the streets as they fled. Oh, it was a marvellous time for the glory of God!

JULIAN.
And then? The vision, my Agathon!

AGATHON.
For three whole nights and days the Lord of Vengeance was strong in us. But at last the weak flesh could no longer keep pace with the willing spirit, and we desisted from the pursuit ——
 
— I lay upon my bed; I could neither wake nor sleep. I felt, as it were, an inward hollowness, as though the spirit had departed out of me. I lay in burning heat; I tore my hair, I wept, I prayed, I sang; — I cannot tell what came over me ——
 
— Then, on a sudden, I saw before me by the wall a white and shining light, and in the radiance stood a man in a long cloak. A glory encircled his head; he held a reed in his hand, and fixed his gaze mildly upon me.

JULIAN.
You saw that!

AGATHON.
I saw it. And then he spoke and said:
“
Agathon; arise, seek him out who shall inherit the empire; bid him enter the lion’s den and do battle with the lions.”

JULIAN.
Do battle with the lions! Oh, strange, strange! — Ah, if it were — ! The meeting with that philosopher — A revelation; a message to me — ; am
I
the chosen one?

AGATHON.
Assuredly you are!

JULIAN.
Do battle with the lions! — Yes, I see it; — so it must be, my Agathon! It is God’s will that I should seek out Libanius —

AGATHON.
No, no; hear me out!

JULIAN.
 
— worm from him all his arts and his learning — smite the unbelievers with their own weapons — fight, fight like Paul — conquer like Paul, in the cause of the Lord!

AGATHON.
No, no! that was not the intent.

JULIAN. — Can you doubt it? Libanius — is he not strong as the mountain lion, and is not the lecture hall — ?

AGATHON.
I tell you it is not so; for the vision added:
“
Proclaim to the chosen one that he shall shake the dust of the imperial city from his feet, and never more enter its gates.”

JULIAN.
Are you sure of that, Agathon?

AGATHON.
Absolutely sure.

JULIAN.
Not here, then! Do battle with the lions? Where, where? Oh, where shall I find light? Prince Gallus,
a handsome, strongly-built man of five-and-twenty, with light curly hair, and fully armed, enters by the avenue on the left.

JULIAN.
[
Rushing up to him
.] Gallus.

GALLUS.
What now? [
Points to
Agathon.] Who is that man?

JULIAN.
Agathon.

GALLUS.
What Agathon? You have so many strange companions ——
 
—— Ah, by heaven, it is the Cappadocian Î You have grown quite a man —

JULIAN.
Do you know, Gallus — the Emperor has asked for you.

GALLUS.
[Anxiously.]
Just now? To-night?

JULIAN.
Yes, yes; he wanted to speak with you. H seemed greatly angered.

GALLUS.
How know you that? What did he say?

JULIAN.
I did not understand it. He asked what some oracle had answered.

GALLUS.
Ah!

JULIAN.
Hide nothing from me. What is the matter?

GALLUS.
Death or banishment is the matter.

AGATHON.
Gracious Saviour!

JULIAN.
I feared as much! But no, the Empress spoke hopefully. Oh, say on, say on!

GALLUS.
What shall I say? How should I know more than you? If the Emperor spoke of an oracle, a certain messenger must have been intercepted, or some one must have betrayed me —

JULIAN.
A messenger? — Gallus, what have you dared to do?

GALLUS.
How could I live any longer this life of doubt and dread? Let him do with me as he pleases; anything is better than this —

JULIAN.
[Softly, leading him some paces aside
.] Have a care, Gallus! What is this about a messenger?

GALLUS.
I have addressed a question to the priests of Osiris in Abydus —

JULIAN.
Ah, the oracle! The heathen oracle — !

GALLUS.
The heathenism might be forgiven me; but — well, why should you not know it? — I have inquired as to the issue of the Persian war —

JULIAN.
What madness! — Gallus — I see it in your face: you have asked other questions!

GALLUS.
No more; I have not asked —

JULIAN.
Yes, yes; you have inquired as to a mighty man’s life or death!

GALLUS.
And if I had? What can be of more moment to both of us?

JULIAN.
[Throwing his arms round him
.] Be silent, madman!

GALLUS.
Away from me! You may cringe before him like a cur; but I have no mind to endure it longer. I will cry it aloud in all the market-places —
[Calls to
Agathon.] Have you seen him, Cappadocian? Have you seen the murderer?

JULIAN.
Gallus! Brother!

AGATHON.
The murderer!

GALLUS.
The murderer in the purple robe; my father’s murderer, my step-mother’s, my eldest brother’s —

JULIAN.
Oh, you are calling down destruction upon us!

GALLUS.
Eleven heads in one single night; eleven bodies; our whole house. — Ah, but be sure conscience is torturing him; it shivers through the marrow of his bones like a swarm of serpents.

JULIAN.
Do not listen to him! Away, away!

GALLUS.
[Seizes
Julian
by the shoulder
.] Stay; — you look pale and disordered; is it you that have betrayed me?

JULIAN.
I! Your own brother —— !

GALLUS.
What matter for that! Brotherhood protects no one in our family. Confess that you have secretly spied upon my doings! Who else should it be? Think you I do not know what people are whispering? The Emperor designs to make you his successor.

JULIAN.
Never! I swear to you, my beloved Gallus, it shall never be! I will not. One mightier than he has chosen me. — Oh, trust me, Gallus: my path is marked out for me. I will not go thither, I tell you. Oh, God of Hosts — I on the imperial throne! No, no, no!

GALLUS.
Ha-ha; well acted, mummer!

JULIAN.
Ay, you may scoff, since you know not what has happened. Myself, I scarcely know. Oh, Agathon — if this head were to be anointed! Would it not be an apostasy — a deadly sin? Would not the Lord’s holy oil burn me like molten lead?

GALLUS.
Were that so, then were our august kinsman balder than Julius Caesar. —

JULIAN.
Beware how you speak! Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s —

GALLUS.
My father’s blood — your father’s and your mother’s — !

JULIAN.
Oh, what know we of those horrors? We were children then. The soldiers were chiefly to blame; it was the rebels — evil counsellors ——

GALLUS.
[Laughing.]
The Emperor’s successor rehearses his part!

JULIAN.
[Weeping.
| Oh, Gallus, would I might die or be banished in your stead! I am wrecking my soul here. I ought to forgive — and I cannot. Evil grows in me; hate and revenge whisper in my ear —

GALLUS.
[
Rapidly, looking towards the church
.] There he comes!

JULIAN.
Be prudent, my beloved brother — Ah, Hekebolius!
The church door has meanwhile been opened. The congregation streams forth; some pass away
,
others remain standing to see the Court pass. Among those who come out is
Hekebolius;
he wears priestly dress.

HEKEBOLIUS.
[On the point of passing out to the left.]
Is that you, my Julian? Ah, I have again passed a heavy hour for your sake.

JULIAN.
Alas! I fear that happens too often.

HEKEBOLIUS.
Christ is wroth against you, my son! It is your froward spirit that angers him; it is your unloving thoughts, and all this worldly vanity —

JULIAN.
I know it my Hekebolius! You so often tell me so.

HEKEBOLIUS.
Even now I lifted up my soul in prayer for your amendment. Oh, it seemed as though our otherwise so gracious Saviour repulsed my prayer, — as though he would not listen to me; he suffered my thoughts to wander upon trifling things.

JULIAN.
You prayed for me? Oh, loving Hekebolius, you pray even for us dumb animals — at least when we wear court dress!

HEKEBOLIUS.
What mean you, my son?

JULIAN.
Hekebolius, how could you write those shameful verses?

HEKEBOLIUS.
I? I swear by all that is high and holy —

JULIAN.
I see in your eyes that you are lying! I have full assurance that you wrote them. How could you do it, I ask — and under the name of Libanius, too?

HEKEBOLIUS.
Well, well, my dearly beloved, since you know it, I —

JULIAN.
Ah, Hekebolius! Deceit, and lies, and treachery —

HEKEBOLIUS.
Behold, my precious friend, how deep is my love for you! I dare all to save the soul of that man who shall one day be the Lord’s anointed. If, in my zeal for you, I have had recourse to deceit and lies, I know that a gracious God has found my course well pleasing in his sight, and has stretched forth his hand to sanction it.