Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/106

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caesar's apostasy.
[act ii.

Julian.

Oh, you do not know——! I hate this power without me, terrible in action, more terrible when at rest.

Gregory.

Be frank, my friend, and tell me whether it is this alone that has led you into all these strange ways?

Julian.

What mean you by strange ways?

Gregory.

Is the rumour true, that you pass your nights in searching out the heathen mysteries in Eleusis?

Julian.

Oh, pooh! I assure you there is little to be learnt from those riddle-mongering dreamers. Let us talk no more about them.

Gregory.

Then it is true! Oh, Julian, how could you seek such shameful intercourse?

Julian.

I must live, Gregory,—and this life at the university is no life at all. This Libanius! I shall never forgive him the great love I once bore him! At my first coming, how humbly and with what tremors of joy did I not enter the presence of this man, bowing myself before him, kissing him, and calling him my great brother