Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/247

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act v.]
caesar's apostasy.
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Julian.

Did not Libanius remain the man he was, whether he took the affirmative in a disputation, or the negative? This lies deeper. Here it is action that must be faced. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." In Athens I once made a game of that;—but it is no game. You cannot grasp it, you, who have never been under the power of the god-man. It is more than a doctrine he has spread over the world; it is an enchantment, that binds the soul in chains. He who has once been under it,—I believe he can never quite shake it off.

Maximus.

Because you do not wholly <g>will</g>.

Julian.

How can I <g>will</g> the impossible?

Maximus.

Is it worth while to <g>will</g> what is possible?

Julian.

Word-froth from the lecture-halls! You can no longer cram my mind with that. And yet——oh no, no, Maximus! But you cannot understand how it is with us. We are like vines transplanted into a new, strange soil; transplant us back again, and we die; yet in the new soil we cannot thrive.

Maximus.

We? Whom do you call we?

Julian.

All who are under the terror of the revelation.