Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (151 page)

JULIAN.
Thou hast hit it, Maximus?
[He pours forth a full goblet in front of the empty seat.
Bathe thee in the fumes of wine, my pallid guest! Refresh thee. Feel, feel — it mounts aloft like the smoke of sacrifice.

THE VOICE.
The smoke of sacrifice does not always mount. Julian. Why does that scar redden on thy brow? Nay, nay, — draw not the hair over it. What is it?

THE VOICE.
The mark.

JULIAN.
H’m; no more of that. And what fruit has thy sin borne?

THE VOICE.
The most glorious.

JULIAN.
What callest thou the most glorious?

THE VOICE.
Life.

JULIAN.
And the ground of life?

THE VOICE.
Death.

JULIAN.
And of death?

THE VOICE.
[Losing itself as in a sigh.]
Ah, that is the riddle!

JULIAN.
Gone!

MAXIMUS.
[Looking up
.] Gone?

JULIAN.
Yes.

MAXIMUS.
Didst thou know him?

JULIAN.
Yes.

MAXIMUS.
Who was it?

JULIAN.
Cain.

MAXIMUS.
By that way, then! Ask no more!

JULIAN.
[
With an impatient gesture
.] The second, Maximus!

MAXIMUS.
No, no, no; I will not!

JULIAN.
The second, I say! Thou hast sworn that I should fathom the meaning of certain things. The second, Maximus. I will see him; I will know my guests!

MAXIMUS.
Thou hast willed it, not I.
[He waves his wand.
Arise and come to light, thou willing slave, thou who didst help at the world’s next great turning point.

JULIAN.
[Gazes for a moment into the empty space; suddenly he makes a gesture of repulsion towards the seat at his side, and says in a low voice
:] No nearer!

MAXIMUS.
[Who has turned his back.]
Dost thou see him?

JULIAN.
Yes.

MAXIMUS.
How dost thou see him?

JULIAN.
I see him as a red-bearded man. His garments are rent, and he has a rope round his neck — Speak to him, Maximus!

MAXIMUS.
‘Tis thou must speak.

JULIAN.
What wast thou in life? A Voice.
[Close beside him
.] The twelfth wheel of the world-chariot.

JULIAN.
The twelfth? The fifth is reckoned useless.

THE VOICE.
But for me, whither had the chariot rolled?

JULIAN.
Whither did it roll by means of thee?

THE VOICE.
Into the glory of glories.

JULIAN.
Why didst thou help?

THE VOICE.
Because I willed.

JULIAN.
What didst thou will?

THE VOICE.
What I must.

JULIAN.
Who chose thee?

THE VOICE.
The master.

JULIAN.
Did the master foreknow when he chose thee? The Voice. — Ah, that is the riddle!
[A short silence.

MAXIMUS.
Thou art silent.

JULIAN.
He is no longer here.

MAXIMUS.
[Looking up.]
Didst thou know him?

JULIAN.
Yes.

MAXIMUS.
How was he called in life?

JULIAN.
Judas Iscariot.

MAXIMUS.
[Springing up!]
The abyss blossoms; the night betrays itself!

JULIAN.
[Shrieks to him
.] Forth with the third! Maximus. He shall come!
[He waves the wand.
Come forth, thou third corner-stone! Come forth, thou third great freed-man under necessity!
[He casts himself down again on the couch, and turns his face away.
What seest thou?

JULIAN.
I see nothing.

MAXIMUS.
And yet he is here.
[He waves the wand again.
By Solomon’s seal, by the eye in the triangle — I conjure thee — come to sight! — What seest thou now?

JULIAN.
Nothing, nothing!

MAXIMUS.
[
Waving his wand once more.]
Come forth,
thou — !
[He stops suddenly
,
utters a shriek, and springs up from the table.
Ah! lightning in the night! I see it; — all art is in vain.

JULIAN.
[Rising] Why? Speak, speak!

MAXIMUS.
The third is not yet among the shades.

JULIAN.
He lives?

MAXIMUS.
Yes, he lives.

JULIAN.
And here, sayest thou — !

MAXIMUS.
Here, or there, or among the unborn; — I know not —

JULIAN.
[Rushing at him.]
Thou liest! Thou art deceiving me! Here, here thou saidst — !

MAXIMUS.
Let go my cloak!

JULIAN.
Then it is thou, or I! But which of us?

MAXIMUS.
Let go my cloak, Julian!

JULIAN.
Which of us? Which? All hangs on that!

MAXIMUS.
Thou knowest more than I. What said the voice in the light?

JULIAN.
The voice in the light — !
[With a cry.]
The empire! The empire? To found the empire — !

MAXIMUS.
The third empire!

JULIAN.
No; a thousand times no! Away, corrupter! I renounce thee and all thy works —

MAXIMUS.
And necessity?

JULIAN.
I defy necessity! I will not serve it! I am free, free, free!
[A noise outside; the dancing girls and flute-players take to flight.

MAXIMUS.
Listening towards the right.]
What is this alarm and shrieking — ?

JULIAN.
Strange men are forcing their way into the house —

MAXIMUS.
They are maltreating your servants; they will murder us!

JULIAN.
Fear not; us no one can hurt.

THE CHAMBERLAIN EUTHERIUS.
[
Comes hastily across the court.
] My lord, my lord!

JULIAN.
What is that noise without?

EUTHERIUS.
Strange men have surrounded the house; they have set a watch at all the doors; they are making their way in — almost by force. Here they come, my lord! Here they are!
The
Quaestor Leontes, w
ith a large and richly attired retinue
,
enters from the right.

LEONTES.
Pardon, a thousand pardons, most gracious lord —

JULIAN.
[Recoiling a step.]
What do I see!

LEONTES.
Your servants would have hindered me from entering; and as my errand was of the utmost moment —

JULIAN.
You here, in Ephesus, my excellent Leontes!

LEONTES.
I have travelled night and day, as the Emperor’s envoy.

JULIAN.
[Turning pale.]
To me? What would the Emperor with me? I swear I am unwitting of any crime. I am sick, Leontes! This man — [
Pointing to
Maximus] — attends me as my physician.

LEONTES.
Permit me, my gracious lord — !

JULIAN.
Why do you force your way into my house? What is the Emperor’s will?

LEONTES.
His will is to gladden you, my lord, by a great and weighty announcement.

JULIAN.
I pray you, let me know what announcement you bring.

LEONTES.
[Kneels.]
My most noble lord, — with praise to your good fortune and my own, I hail you Caesar.

THE QUAESTOR’S FOLLOWERS. Long live Julian Caesar!

MAXIMUS.
Caesar!

JULIAN.
[Retreating, with an exclamation
. Caesar! Stand up, Leontes! What mad words are these!

LEONTES.
I do but deliver the Emperor’s commands. Julian. I — ! Caesar. — Ah, where is Gallus? Leontes Oh, do not ask me.

JULIAN.
Where is Gallus? Tell me, I conjure you, — where is Gallus?

LEONTES.
[Standing up.]
Gallus Caesar is with his beloved wife.

JULIAN.
Dead?

LEONTER.
In bliss, with his wife.

JULIAN.
Dead! dead! Gallus dead! Dead in the midst of his triumphal progress! But when, — and where?

LEONTES.
Oh, my dear lord, spare me —

GREGORY OK NAZIANZUS.
[Struggling with the guards at the door.]
I must go to him! Aside, I say! — Julian!

JULIAN.
Gregory, brother, — after all, you come again?

GREGORY.
IS it true, what rumour is scattering like a storm of arrows over the city?

JULIAN.
I am myself transfixed by one of its arrows. Dare I believe in this blending of good hap and of ill?

GREGORY.
For Christ’s sake, bid the tempter avaunt!

JULIAN.
The Emperor’s commands, Gregory!

GREGORY.
You will trample on your brother’s bloody corpse —

JULIAN.
Bloody — ?

GREGORY.
Know you it not? Gallus Caesar was murdered.

JULIAN.
[Clasping his hands
.] Murdered?

LEONTES.
Ah, who is this audacious — ?

JULIAN.
Murdered? Murdered?
[To
Leontes.] Tell me he lies!

LEONTES.
Gallus Caesar has fallen through his own misdeeds.

JULIAN.
Murdered! — Who murdered him?

LEONTES.
What has occurred was inevitable, my noble lord! Gallus Caesar madly misused his power here in the East. He was no longer content with his rank as Caesar. His conduct, both in Constantinople and elsewhere on his progress, showed clearly what was in his mind.

JULIAN.
‘Tis not his crime I would know, but the rest.

LEONTES.
Oh, let me spare a brother’s ears.

JULIAN.
A brother’s ears can bear w hat a son’s ears have borne. Who killed him?

LEONTES.
The tribune Scudilo, who escorted him, thought it advisable to have him executed.

JULIAN.
Where? Not in Rome?

LEONTES.
No, my lord; it happened on the journey thither, — in the city of Pola, in Illyria.

JULIAN.
[Boning himself.]
The Emperor is great and righteous. — The last of the race, Gregory! — The Emperor Constantius is great.

LEONTES.
[Taking a purple robe from one of his attendants
.] Noble Caesar, deign to array yourself —

JULIAN.
Red! Away with it! Was it this he wore at Pola — ?

LEONTES.
This comes fresh from Sidon.

JULIAN.
[With a look at
Maximus.] From Sidon! The purple robe — !

MAXIMUS.
Apollinaris’s vision!

GREGORY.
Julian! Julian!

LEONTES.
See, this is sent to you by your kinsman, the Emperor. He bids me tell you that, childless as he is, he looks to you to heal this the deepest wound of his life. He wishes to see you in Rome. Afterwards, it is his will that you should go, as Caesar, to Gaul. The border tribes of the Alemanni have passed the Rhine, and made a dangerous inroad into the empire. He builds securely on the success of your campaign against the barbarians. Certain things have been revealed to him in dreams, and his last word to me at my departure was that he was assured you would succeed in establishing the empire.