August Strindberg

“ Forgive me, Olof, if I talk childishly! I know that you are a man sent by the Lord, and I have felt the blessing with which your words are fraught. But you are more than that—you are a man, and you are my husband—or at least ought to be. You won't fall from your exalted place if you put aside your solemn speech now and then and let the clouds pass from your forehead. You are not too great, are you, to look at a flower or listen to a bird? I put the flowers on your table, Olof, in order that they might rest your eyes—and you ordered the maid to take them out because they gave you a headache. ”

“ We want a real mass, and not any new inventions of men.
Gert. It has to be in Latin, my dear Master Olof, or we can't understand what you say.
Townsman. It has to be in the sacred tongue—or anybody might say mass.
Olof. And so you shall! Everyone for himself, with God!
Crowd. A Luther! A Luther! Antichrist!
Townsman. Well, well, Master Olof, have you, too, so young and zealous, become tainted by the German devil? I am an old man, who has seen much of the world, and I mean well by you—Turn back while you are still young!—Do as we ask you and give us the old mass. ”

“ Olof. You are afraid of the plague, cowards that you are! Is your faith in the sacred bones no stronger?
(Gert whispers to Olof again. The procession has in the meantime scattered, so that only a part of it remains on the stage.)
Olof (to Mårten) . Now you should be satisfied, you hypocrite! Go and tell him whom you serve that a box of silver is about to be buried here, and he'll dig it out of the earth with his own nails. Tell him that the moon, which is usually made of silver, has turned into gold, merely to make your master raise his eyes toward heaven for once. ”

“ You are moved by good intentions, but they are such as must cause harm. Your blood is hot, and it blinds you because you exercise no self-control. You preach freedom, and you are plunging thousands into the slavery of license. Retrace your steps, young man, and make atonement for your errors! Restore what you have torn down, and your fellow-men will bless you!
Olof (agitated to a point of desperation) . It is the truth you speak; I hear it, but who taught you to speak like that?
Constable. Experience—that which you lack!
Olof. Can I have lived and fought for a lie? ”

“ Olof. Truth isn't sold by the yard.
Gustaf. 'Sdeath! (Changing tone.) Well, suit yourself!
Olof (kneeling) . Then I may say all that is in my mind?
Gustaf. You may.
Olof. Then, if I can only throw a single spark of doubt into the soul of this sleeping people, my life will not have been wasted.—It is to be a reformation, then?
Gustaf (after a pause) . Yes. (Pause.)
Olof (timidly) . And what is to become of the Anabaptists?
Gustaf. Need you ask? They must die.
Olof. Will Your Highness permit me one more question?
Gustaf. Tell me: what do those madmen want? ”

“ Nils. Unsaved?
Mårten. Yes!
Nils. Do you believe in that?
Mårten. It's hard to know what one is to believe nowadays. One dies happily in this faith, and another in that. All assert that they have found the truth.
Nils. And if you were to die now, Mårten?
Mårten. That's out of the question!
Nils. But if?
Mårten. Then I suppose I should go to heaven like the rest. But I should prefer to settle a small account with Master Olof first. You see, there is one pleasure that surpasses all the rest, and that's the pleasure of revenge. ”

“ Lars. You are tearing down and tearing down, Olof, so that soon there will be nothing left, and when people ask, "What do we get instead?" you always answer, "Not this," "Not that," but never once do you answer, "This."
Olof. Presumptuous man! Do you think faith can be given by one to another? Do you think that Luther has given us anything new? No! He has merely torn away the screens that had been placed around the light. The new that I want is doubt of the old, not because it is old, but because it is decaying. (Lars points toward their mother's body.) ”

“ Olof. Supposing Gert be right—what do you say, Lars?
Lars. I wasn't born to lead.
Olof. All are born to lead, but all are not willing to sacrifice the flesh.
Gert. Only he who has the courage to face scorn and ridicule can lead. For hatred is as nothing compared with the laughter that kills.
Olof. And if it should miscarry?
Gert. Dare to face that, too! You don't know that Thomas Münster has established a new spiritual kingdom at Muhlhausen. You don't know that all Europe is in revolt. ”

“ I don't understand you.—Tell me, who is Luther?
Olof. I mustn't tell you.
Christine. Always the same answer! From my father, from your mother, and from yourself. Are you timid about telling me the truth, or is the truth really dangerous?
Olof. Truth is dangerous. Can't you see? (He points to his forehead.)
Christine. So you want me to be shut up in a convent cell to live a lifeless life in ignorance? (Olof does not reply.) You want me to weep away my life and my youth, and to keep on saying those endlessly long prayers until my soul is put to sleep? ”

“ Mårten. As long as we are not suspended, we are doing our duty here by the King's authority, and not by the Pope's.
Olof. I shall cleanse the Church of the lord without regard to the will of King or Pope.
Mother. Will you plunge my soul into perdition, Olof? Will you let me die with a curse?
Olof. Calm yourself, mother! You are not going to die in a lie. Seek your God in prayer, He is not so far away as you believe.
Mårten. A man who won't save his own mother from the pangs of purgatory must be the Devil's prophet indeed. ”

“ Olof. Nothing can prevent me.
Mother. I have prayed to God that He would touch your heart—I'll tell you, but you mustn't speak of it to anybody. I am weak with age, and I couldn't trust my own knees, so I went to see a servant of the Lord and asked him, who is nearer to God, to say some prayers for your soul. He refused because you are under the ban. Oh, it's dreadful! May the Lord forgive me my sin! I bribed the pure conscience of that man with gold—with the Devil's own gold—just to save you! ”

“ The Pope throws his keys into the sea, and the Emperor sheathes his sword, for against that cry they avail nothing.—Oh, Olof, you wish to smite the Pope, but you forget the Emperor—the Emperor, who is killing his people without counting them because they dare to sigh when he tramples on their chests. You want to smite the Pope at Rome, but, like Luther, you want to give them a new pope in Holy Writ. ”

“ Amen!—Mårten, I am passing away—The godlessness of the King makes it impossible for me by earthly gifts to strengthen the Holy Church in her power of saving souls. You are a pious man—take my property and pray for me and for my children. Pray that the Almighty may turn their hearts away from all lies, so that some time we may meet again in heaven. ”

“ The name of every new martyr becomes the rallying-cry for a new host. Don't believe that a human soul was ever set on fire by a lie. Don't ever distrust those feelings that shake you to your inmost soul when you have seen some one suffer spiritual or physical oppression. If the whole world tell you that you are wrong, believe your own heart just the same—if you are brave enough to do so. The day when you deny your self—then you are dead, and eternal perdition will seem a mercy to one who, has been guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost.
Olof. ”

“ Gert. Take care! Say nothing evil of the priests; maybe they're not to blame.
Townsman. Who is to blame, then?
Gert. The Church! That invisible and omnipotent something! It is the Church, you see, that has closed the church. (The crowd gives evidence of disapproval.)
Olof (who in the meantime has come forward, seizes a rope hanging from the bell tower, and begins to ring vespers) . If your worship be seriously meant, I'll say mass for you.
Townsman. Many thanks, Master Olof, but are you aware of what that may lead to?
Olof. Let us fear the Lord more than men! (The crowd kneels.) ”

“ She has sold her body, you say—how many souls have you bought?—I am also a priest—Nay, I am a man, for I am not presumptuous enough to put a lock on God's own house, and as a sinful human creature I hold out my hand to my fellow-creature, who cannot be pure either. Let him who is without sin step forward and cast the first stone.—Step forward, Brother Mårten, you angel of light, who have donned the black garments of innocence and shaved your hair so that no one may see how you have grown gray in sin! ”

“ The headsman's cart!—No, it isn't that.
Christine. It is a hearse!
[Enter Lars and Gert.]
Lars. The plague!
All. The plague!
Gert. The plague is here! Christine, my child, leave this house! The angel of death has put his mark upon the gate.
Olof. Who sent the cart?
Gert. The man who put the black cross on the door. No dead body must be left a moment in the house.
Olof. Then Mårten was the angel of death—and all is nothing but a lie.
Gert. Look out of the window, and you'll see that the cart is loaded full. (Blows are heard at the street door again.) You hear! They're waiting! ”

“ What have the Dalecarlians meant by all their rebellions, if not to defend their freedom against him who broke his plighted faith? He does such things and goes unpunished, but when they want to defend themselves, then he raises the cry of revolt and treason.
Olof. So this is the point to which you wanted to lead me, Gert?
Gert. Have you not been led here by the current? You will, but do not dare! To-morrow, in the church, the mine will go off, and that will be a signal for the people to rise and choose a ruler after their own heart. ”

“ Do you believe that a million wills may conquer one? Do you believe that God has bestowed this land with all its human souls and all its property upon a single man, for him to deal with as it suits his pleasure? Or do you not rather believe that he should do the will of all?—You do not answer? You are awed, I see, by the thought that it may come to an end! Listen to my confession! Tomorrow the oppressor dies, and you shall all be free!
Olof and Lars. What are you saying?
Gert. ”

“ Olof is right in admitting that he had gone too far; the scholar, Vilhelm, is right when, in the name of youth, he demands the evolution of a new truth; and Gert is right in calling Olof a renegade. The individual must always become a renegade—forced by the necessity of natural laws; by fatigue; by inability to develop indefinitely, as the brain ceases to grow about the age of forty-five; and by the claims of actual life, which demand that even a reformer must live as man, mate, head of a family, and citizen. ”

“ If you let your eye survey the time we are living in—if you make some effort to follow the great currents of thought—then you will easily perceive the cause of that disturbed equilibrium which is now making itself felt in all the great civilized countries; I am not talking of Sweden, of course, which is not a civilized country. Can you name the centre of gravity—that centre which cannot be disturbed without everything going to pieces—the instability of which tends to upset everything? The name of it is—the nobility. The nobility is the thinking principle. ”

“ I see an angel coming towards me with a cup—she is walking across the evening sky—her path is blood-red, and in her hand she is carrying a cross—No, it is more than I avail! I will return to my peaceful valley. Let others fight; I will look on—No, I will follow in their wake and heal the wounded and whisper words of peace into the ears of the dying—Peace!—No, I want to fight with the rest, but in the last ranks—Why should I lead?
Lars. Because you are the boldest.
Olof. Not the strongest?
Lars. The strong will come after you: and the strongest of all is by your side ”

“ We are but reeds in the wind and can be bent—but when it comes to the faith, or the Church—never!
Gustaf (holding out his hand to the Bishop) . Maybe you are right! But let us be enemies rather than false friends, Bishop Hans!
Brask. Be it so! But do not do what you will regret. Every stone you tear out of the Church will be thrown at you by the people.
Gustaf. Don't force me to extremes, Your Grace, for then we shall have the same horrible spectacle here as in Germany. For the last time: are you willing to make concessions if the welfare of the country is at stake? ”

“ Why is France safe—la France? Because France is one with the nobility, and the nobility is one with France—because those two ideas are identical, inseparable. And why, I ask again, is Sweden at present shaken to its nethermost foundations? Because the nobility has been crushed. Christian the Second was a man of genius. He knew how to conquer a country. He didn't cut off a leg or an arm—nay, he cut off the head. Well, then! Sweden must be saved, and the King knows how. The nobility is to be restored, and the Church is to be crushed. What do you say to that?
Olof (rising) . ”

“ Olof. Give thanks for God alone for having saved your soul, and don't think that all your sins have been expiated to-day. Try to find strength to live a life that will always be cursed. God has forgiven you—your fellow-men will never do so! (He takes her by the hand and leads her to the street door.)
[Enter Mårten through the doorway in the rear, followed by Olof's Mother and Christine, the daughter of Gert.]
Mårten. We're in the wrong place, I fear.
Mother (outraged at seeing Olof and the Harlot together) . Olof, Olof!
Christine. Who is that woman? She looks so unhappy. ”