Henrik Ibsen

“ 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 grow evil here. ”

“ Are you that Achilles, whom your mother dreamed that she should give to the world? A tender heel alone makes no man an Achilles. Arise, my lord! Confident of victory, like a knight on his fiery steed, you must trample on the Galilean, if you would reach the imperial throne——
Julian. Maximus!
Maximus. My beloved Julian, look at the world around you! Those death-desiring Christians you speak of are fewest of the few. And how is it with all the others? Are not their minds falling away from the Master, one by one? ”

“ Julian. Yes, your gods are far away; they hamper no one; they are a burden to no one; they leave a man elbow-room for action. Oh, that Greek happiness, that sense of freedom——!
You said that the Emperor, vengeful as he is, will pour out the blood of my friends. Yes, who can doubt that? Was Knodomar spared? Did not that harmless captive pay with his life for an error of language? For—I know it, Sallust—they killed him; that tale about the barbarian’s home-sickness was a lie. Then what may not we expect? In what a hateful light must not Decentius have represented matters in Rome? ”

“ In the light of the fire you there kindle, oh, great Emperor, shall research and learning shine forth, ay, and rise rejuvenated, like that miraculous bird——
Nevita. That fire will temper the weapons of Greece. I know little of the Galilean figments; but this I have noted, that all who believe in them are spiritless and unfit for greater things.
Themistius. In this fire, oh incomparable one, I see wisdom purged of all scandal and reproach. The wine of your libation is like purple, wherewith you deck the truth, and set her on a royal throne. Now, as you lift up your hands——
Mamertinus. ”

“ Julian. The Alemanni will not bow.
Helena. Then they shall die! Like sweet incense shall their blood rise up to Him, the blessed One. We will magnify His glory; His praise shall be made manifest in us. I myself will do my part. The women of the Alemanni shall be my care. If they will not bow, they shall be sacrificed! And then, my Julian—when next you see me——; young, young once more! Give me the women of the Alemanni, my beloved! Blood—’twould be no murder, and the remedy is a sovereign one—a bath of young virgins’ blood——
Julian. ”

“ The Sun, whom I invoke, and the great thunder-wielding God, know that I never desired Constantius’s death. That was far indeed from being my wish. I have offered up prayers for his life.—Tell me, Caesarius,—you must know best,—have they shown all due honour, on the journey, to the imperial corpse?
Caesarius. The funeral procession was like a conqueror’s triumph through the whole of Asia Minor. In every town we traversed, believers thronged the streets; through whole nights the churches echoed with prayers and hymns; thousands of burning tapers transformed the darkness into high noon——
Julian. ”

“ Julian. H’m! How read you this omen, Maximus?
Maximus. I read it thus: the omen counsels you to subdue all the regions you traverse; thus you will never pass the frontier of your empire.
Julian. So is it. We must look closely into such supernatural signs; for there is wont to be a double meaning in them. It even seems at times as if mysterious powers took a delight in leading men astray, especially in great undertakings. Were there not some who held it an evil omen that the colonnade in Hierapolis fell in and buried half a hundred soldiers, just as we marched through the city? ”

“ How can you envy Maximus his palace?
Libanius. I envy no man. I do not even envy my colleagues Themistius and Mamertinus, although you have conferred on them such signal proofs of your favour. Nor do I envy Hekebolius, whose wealth you have increased by such princely presents. I even rejoice to be the only man to whom you have given nothing. For I well know the reason of the exception. You wish the cities of your empire to abound in everything, and most of all in oratory, knowing that it is that distinction which marks us off from the barbarians. ”

“ Julian. Of what are you speaking?
37The Philosopher. It is too late now. Farewell, my lord!
[Going.
Julian. [Seizes his hand.] Friend and brother, who are you?
The Philosopher. One who sorrows to see the God-born go to ruin.
Julian. What do you call the God-born?
The Philosopher. The Uncreated in the Ever-changing.
Julian. Still I am in the dark.
The Philosopher. There is a whole glorious world to which you Galileans are blind. In it our life is one long festival, amid statues and choral songs, foaming goblets in our hands, and our locks entwined with roses. ”

“ The Emperor or the Galilean?
Maximus. Both the Emperor and the Galilean shall succumb.
Julian. Succumb——? Both——?
Maximus. Both. Whether in our times or in hundreds of years, I know not; but so it shall be when the right man comes.
Julian. And who is the right man?
Maximus. He who shall swallow up both Emperor and Galilean.
Julian. You solve the riddle by a still darker riddle.
Maximus. Hear me, brother and friend of truth! I say you shall both succumb—but not that you shall perish.
Does not the child succumb in the youth, and the youth in the man? Yet neither child nor youth perishes. ”

“ Jovian. That I cannot lend my aid to anything that is against the truth.—Oh, hear me, my august Emperor and master! Is there a single one of your soldiers who doubts that he is safe in your hands? Have you not, on the Gallic frontier, in spite of overwhelming numbers and difficulties of all kinds, gained greater victories than any other living commander can boast of?
Julian. Well, well! What startling news!
Jovian. All know how marvellously fortune has hitherto followed you. In learning you excel all other mortals, and in the glorious art of eloquence you bear the palm among the greatest. ”

“ Would dust rise up against the spirit? Would the lord of earth cast down the Lord of heaven? See you not that the day of wrath is upon us by reason of your sins? The fountains are parched like eyes that have wept themselves dry. The clouds, which ought to pour the manna of fruitfulness upon us, sweep over our heads, and shed no moisture. This earth, which has been cursed since the morning of time, quakes and trembles under the Emperor’s blood-guiltiness.
Julian. What favour do you expect of your God for such excess of zeal, foolish old man? ”

“ Praise be to the Emperor, who makes justice his guide!
Another Courtier. Praise be to him, whose very name strikes terror to the barbarians!
Themistius. Praise be to all the exalted gods, who have united in casting their enamoured eyes on one single man, so that when the day comes—distant may it be!—when he shall for the first time inflict pain on us by departing hence, this one man may be said to have cast Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, and Alexander into the shade!
Julian. There you touch the kernel of the matter, my Themistius! ’Tis to the gods that we must uplift our hands and hearts. ”

“ It is in this that your Jesus of Nazareth bars my way and contests my power.
Think not that I will punish you, Jovian! You Galileans covet punishment as a benefaction. And after it you are called martyrs. Have they not thus exalted those whom I have been obliged to chastise for their obduracy?
Go to the vanguard! I will not willingly see your face again.—Oh, this treachery to me, which you veil in phrases about double duty and a double empire! This shall be altered. Other kings besides the Persian shall feel my foot on their necks.
To the vanguard, Jovian!
Jovian. I shall do my duty, sire! ”

“ Maximus. Behold, Julian,—when Chaos seethed in the fearful void abyss, and Jehovah was alone,—that day when he, according to the old Jewish scriptures, stretched forth his hand and divided light from darkness, sea from land,—that day the great creating God stood on the summit of his power.
But with man arose will upon the earth. And men, and beasts, and trees, and herbs re-created themselves, each in its own image, according to eternal laws; and by eternal laws the stars roll through the heavenly spaces. ”

“ Maximus. You know I have never approved the course you have taken as Emperor. You have striven to make the youth a child again. The empire of the flesh is swallowed up in the empire of the spirit. But the empire of the spirit is not final, any more than the youth is. You have striven to hinder the growth of the youth,—to hinder him from becoming a man. Oh fool, who have drawn your sword against that which is to be—against the third empire, in which the twin-natured shall reign!
Julian. ”

“ Julian. My heart is wounded to the quick by this and many other things. You, my Hekebolius, shall accompany me. The ground burns beneath my feet in this poisoned Galilean city! I will write to those philosophers, Kytron and Priscus, who have won so great fame of late years. Maximus I expect every day; he shall go with us.—I tell you there are joyful days of victory awaiting us, Hekebolius! In Antioch, my friend,—there we shall meet the incomparable Libanius,—and there we are nearer Helios at his rising. Oh, this irresistible yearning towards the Sun-King——! ”

“ Apollinaris. Sire, you have robbed us of what is more precious than gold and silver. You have robbed us of God’s own word. You have robbed us of our sacred scriptures.
Julian. I know you, hollow-eyed psalm-singer! Are not you Apollinaris? I believe if I take away your senseless books, you are capable of making up others, just as senseless, in their stead. But you are a pitiful bungler, let me tell you, both in prose and verse! By Apollo! no true Greek would suffer a line of yours to pass his lips. ”