Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/113

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act ii.]
caesar's apostasy.
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  • and cast his crime in his teeth; smite him to the

earth in terror and remorse——

Julian.

[Recoiling.] Madman, of what are you thinking?

Gregory.

Is your brother dear to you? Would you save him?

Julian.

I once loved Gallus above all others.

Gregory.

<g>Once</g>——?

Julian.

So long as he was only my brother. But now——; is he not Caesar? Gregory,—Basil,—oh, my beloved friends,—I tremble for my life, I draw every breath in fear, because of Gallus Caesar. And you ask me to defy him to his face, me, whose very existence is a danger to him?

Gregory.

Why came you to Athens? You gave out loudly in all quarters that Prince Julian was setting forth from Constantinople to do battle with philosophy, falsely so called—to champion Christian truth against heathen falsehood. What have you done of all this?

Julian.

Ah, 'twas not here that the battle was to be.

Gregory.

No, it was not here,—not with phrase against phrase, not with book against book, not with the