Caesar's Apostasy, Act Four — Emperor and Galilean

Act Four

Emperor and Galilean

ACT THREE.

(In Ephesus. A lighted hall in Prince Julian's dwelling. The entrance from the vestibule is on the right side; further back a smaller door, covered by a curtain. On the left side a door leading to the inner rooms of the house. The background of the hall is formed by an openwork wall, beyond which one sees a small enclosed courtyard, adorned with little statues.)

(Servants are preparing a festive evening meal and laying cushions about the table. Eutherius the steward stands at the entrance and, with many courtesies, presses Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea to step in.)

Eutherius the steward.

Yes, yes; I assure you, it is all true.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Impossible! Do not make mock of us.

Basil of Caesarea.

You jest, friend! How can your master be expecting us? No one knew of our departure from Athens; no halt delayed us on the way; we have sailed in a race with the clouds and the wild cranes.

Eutherius the steward.

Look about you; see the table there. On ordinary days he lives on herbs and bread.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Yes, undeniably; every sense bears you out; – the wine-jugs, twined about with flowers and greenery; lamps and fruits; the incense that fills the hall with its scent; the flute-players before the house-door –

Eutherius the steward.

Early this morning he had me called. He seemed to be unusually glad; for he walked up and down the floor and rubbed his hands. «Prepare an abundant meal», he said, «for before evening two friends will come from Athens –»

(he has meanwhile cast an eye toward the open door on the left, suddenly falls silent and withdraws respectfully.)

Basil of Caesarea.

Is he there?

Eutherius the steward (nods in answer; then he gives the servants a sign to withdraw; they go out through the larger door on the right; he himself follows after).

(Prince Julian comes in shortly after from the left. He is clad in a long Oriental robe; his whole behaviour is animated and betrays a strong inner tension.)

Prince Julian (goes toward them and greets them with great vehemence).

I see you! I have you! Thanks, thanks, that your spirit flew on ahead of your bodies!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Julian!

Basil of Caesarea.

My friend and brother!

Prince Julian.

I have been like a languishing lover for your handclasp. The court-vermin, coveting the approval of certain folk, called me an ape; – oh, had I but the ape's four hands, that I might press your four at once!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

But explain –; your servants meet us with flute-playing before the house-door, would lead us to the bath, would anoint our hair and adorn us with roses –

Prince Julian.

I saw you last night. It was full moon, you know, – and then the spirit is always so wondrously active in me. Within, at my table, I sat in the book-hall and had fallen asleep, weary, oh, you friends, so weary of searching and writing. Then the house was filled as if by a storm; the curtain lifted fluttering upward, and I looked out into the night, far over the sea. I heard sweet song; but those from whom the song came were two great birds with women's faces. They cut in slanting flight toward the coast; there they sank gently down; the bird-shapes dissolved like a whitish mist, and in a soft dawning gleam I saw you two.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Are you sure of all this?

Prince Julian.

Were you thinking of me; were you speaking of me last night?

Basil of Caesarea.

Yes, yes, – forward in the ship –

Prince Julian.

What time of night was it?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

What time of night did you have that vision?

Prince Julian.

An hour after midnight.

Gregory of Nazianzus (with a glance at Basil).

Wondrous.

Prince Julian (rubs his hands; up and down the floor).

You see! Ha-ha; you see, do you not?

Basil of Caesarea (follows him with his eyes).

Oh, then it is true after all –

Prince Julian.

Which? What is true?

Basil of Caesarea.

The rumour of the secret arts that you practise here.

Prince Julian.

Eh, what can rumour not exaggerate? – But what does rumour say of me, by the way? I have been told that many rumours are abroad about me. If I cared to put faith in the assurance of certain people, then I would have to believe there were few men in the realm of whom so much is spoken as of me.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

That you may safely believe.

Prince Julian.

And what then does Libanius say to all this? It was always unwelcome to him that the multitude should busy itself with anyone other than him. And what do the many unforgettable friends in Athens say besides? One knows well enough that I am in the disfavour of both the emperor and the whole court?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

You? I do regularly hear news from the court-camp; but of that my brother Caesarius writes nothing.

Prince Julian.

I cannot read it otherwise, good Gregory! On every side they think it advisable to keep an eye on me. Lately Caesar Gallus sent his house-priest Aëtius here to find out whether I hold fast to the unadulterated doctrine.

Basil of Caesarea.

And then –?

Prince Julian.

I do not lightly neglect any morning devotion in the church. I also reckon the martyrs among the most excellent of men; for it is in truth no small matter to suffer such great pains, yes, even death, for the sake of one's opinions. On the whole I do believe that Aëtius was well satisfied with me when he departed.

Basil of Caesarea (grasps his hand).

Julian, – for the sake of our heartfelt friendship, – speak openly of your position.

Prince Julian.

I am the happiest son of earth, you dear friends! And Maximus, – yes, he bears his name by right, – Maximus is the greatest who has ever lived.

Gregory of Nazianzus (prepares to go).

We only wished to see you, lord!

Prince Julian.

Can this make brother so strange toward brother? You shrink in dread from the enigmatic. Oh, yes, it does not surprise me. Thus I too shrank, before I became seeing and before I divined that which is the kernel of life.

Basil of Caesarea.

What do you call the kernel of life?

Prince Julian.

Maximus knows it. In him is the new revelation.

Basil of Caesarea.

And it has fallen to your lot?

Prince Julian.

Almost. I stand close beside it. This very night Maximus has promised me –

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Maximus is a visionary, or he deceives you –!

Prince Julian.

How dare you judge of the hidden things? This is not for your learning, my Gregory! The way into the great glory is terrible. Those dreamers in Eleusis were near the right track; Maximus found the track, and I after him – by his hand. I have wandered through dark ravines. A heavy swampy water was on my left side; – I believe it was a stream that had forgotten to flow. Sharp voices spoke confusedly, suddenly, and as if without any cause in the night. Now and then I saw a bluish light; terrible figures brushed past me; – I walked on and on in the terror of death; but I withstood the trial. –

Since, since, – oh, you precious ones – with this my body transformed into spirit I have been far within the regions of paradise; the angels have sung their hymns of praise for me; I have beheld the midmost light –

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Woe upon this ungodly Maximus! Woe upon this heathen mountebank forfeited to the devil!

Prince Julian.

Blindness, blindness! Maximus reveres his brother who went before; he reveres both those great brothers, both the lawgiver from Sinai and the seer from Nazareth. – –

Do you know how the spirit of knowledge filled me? – It happened one night during prayer and fasting. Then I perceived that I was caught up far – far out into space and out of time; for it was high sun-quivering day about me, and I stood alone upon a ship with slack sails in the midst of the bright radiant Greek sea. The islands towered, like thin, congealed layers of cloud, far away, and the ship lay heavy, as if it slept, upon the wine-blue plain. –

Behold, then this plain grew more and more transparent, lighter, thinner; at last it was there no more, and my ship hung over an empty terrible abyss. No green, no sun down there, – only the dead, slimy, black sea-bottom in all its loathsome nakedness. –

But above, in the infinite vault that before had seemed to me emptiness, – there was life; there the invisible took forms and the stillness took tones. – Then I grasped the great redeeming knowledge.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

What knowledge do you mean?

Prince Julian.

That which is, is not; and that which is not, is.

Basil of Caesarea.

Oh, you are squandered and lost in this web of light and mists!

Prince Julian.

I? Do not signs and wonders happen? Do not both omens and certain strange occurrences among the stars proclaim that the divine will has something yet undisclosed in mind concerning me?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Believe not such signs; you cannot know whose work they are.

Prince Julian.

Should I not believe in auspicious signs that have already confirmed themselves?

(he draws them nearer to himself and says softly:)

I may let you know, you friends, that a great upheaval is at the door. Caesar Gallus and I shall before long come to share the dominion over the world, – he as emperor, and I as –, yes, what shall I call it? The unborn cannot, after all, be named by name; for it has none. Therefore no more of this before the fullness of time. But of Caesar I may well speak. – Do you know anything of that vision for which the citizen Apollinaris in Sidon has been imprisoned and tortured?

Basil of Caesarea.

No, no; how can we know –?

Prince Julian.

Apollinaris has declared that he heard someone knock repeatedly on the door at night. He then rose and went outside the house; and behold, – out there he caught sight of a figure, – man or woman –, he did not know. And the figure spoke to him and bade him procure a purple robe, such as newly chosen rulers wear them. But when Apollinaris in terror would refuse so dangerous a thing, the figure was there no more, and only a voice cried: go, go, Apollinaris, and get the purple robe quickly ready!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Was it this sign you just said had confirmed itself?

Prince Julian (nods slowly).

Seven days later Caesar's wife died in Bithynia. Constantina has always been his evil angel; therefore she had now to depart, according to the change that has come about in the divine will. Three weeks after Constantina's death the emperor's envoy, the tribune Scudilo, came with a great retinue to Antioch, showed Caesar Gallus imperial honour and bade him, in the emperor's name, to be a guest at the court-camp in Rome. – Caesar's journey is now like a conqueror's procession through the lands. In Constantinople he has held races in the hippodrome, and the multitude cheered loudly when he, though as yet but Caesar in name, stepped forth in the manner of the emperors of old and handed the wreath to that Corax who won the race. So wondrously does God again exalt our race, which was sunk under sin and persecution.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Strange. In Athens other rumours were abroad.

Prince Julian.

I have sure knowledge. There is urgent need of the purple robe, Gregory! And should I then doubt the things Maximus has foretold as near at hand for me? Tonight the last veil falls. Here within, the great riddle shall be revealed. Oh, stay with me, my brothers, – stay with me in these night-hours of dread and expectation! When Maximus comes, you shall be witness to –

Basil of Caesarea.

Never!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

It cannot be; we are on our homeward journey to Cappadocia.

Prince Julian.

And what has so abruptly driven you from Hellas?

Basil of Caesarea.

My mother is a widow, Julian!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

My father is weak both in health and in mind; he surely needs a support.

Prince Julian.

Oh, but stay at the inn; only till tomorrow –!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Impossible; our travelling-party sets out at daybreak.

Prince Julian.

At daybreak? Before midnight the day might dawn for you.

Basil of Caesarea.

Julian, let me not go away in all too great dread. Tell me, – when Maximus has interpreted all riddles for you, – what then?

Prince Julian.

Do you recall that river Strabo writes of, – that river which has its sources on the Libyan mountain? It grows and grows in its course; but when it is at its greatest, it seeps out into the desert sand and buries itself in that mother-womb of earth from which it sprang.

Basil of Caesarea.

Surely you do not yearn toward death, Julian!

Prince Julian.

What you in bondage hope for beyond death, that is just what the great mystery aims to procure for all the initiated here in our earthly life. It is restoration that Maximus and his disciples seek, – it is the forfeited likeness to the godhead. Why so doubting, you brothers? Why do you stand there, as if before something insurmountable? I know what I know. In each of the changing generations there has been one soul in which the pure Adam was reborn; he was strong in the lawgiver Moses; he had the power to make the earth subject to him in Alexander the Macedonian; he was almost perfect in Jesus of Nazareth. But behold, Basil, (he grasps him by the arm) they all lacked what is promised to me, – the pure woman!

Basil of Caesarea (tears himself loose).

Julian, Julian!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

You blasphemer, – thither has your heart's pride drawn you!

Basil of Caesarea.

Oh, Gregory, he is sick and deluded!

Prince Julian.

Why all this scornful doubt? Is it my slender stature that bears witness against me? Ha-ha; I tell you, this coarse fleshly race shall pass away. That which is to come shall be conceived more of the spirit than of the body. In the first Adam there was equilibrium, as in those images of the god Apollo. Since then there has been no equilibrium. Had not Moses a stammering tongue? Did not his arms have to be supported when he was to hold them up in exhortation yonder by the Red Sea? Did not the Macedonian regularly need to be fired by means of certain strong drinks and other artificial aids? And now Jesus of Nazareth? Had he not a frail body? Did he not fall asleep on the ship, while the others yet kept awake? Did he not sink down under the cross, that cross which the Jew Simon bore with ease? The two robbers did not sink down. – You call yourselves believers, and yet have so little faith in the revealing power of the wondrous. Wait, wait, – you shall see; – the bride shall surely be granted me, and then –, hand in hand we will go toward the east, thither where some say that Helios is born, – into the solitude, hide ourselves, as the godhead hides itself, seek the grove by the banks of the Euphrates, find it, and there –, oh, glorification – from there a new race in beauty and equilibrium shall go out over the earth; there, you scripture-bound doubters, there shall the empire of the spirit be founded!

Basil of Caesarea.

Oh, I must indeed wring my hands in sorrow over you. Are you that same Julian who three years ago departed from Constantinople!

Prince Julian.

In that time I was blind, as you are now; I knew only the way that stops at doctrine.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Do you know where your way stops?

Prince Julian.

Where the way and the goal are one. – For the last time, Gregory, Basil, – I implore you, stay with me. The vision I had last night, – both it and much else, points to an enigmatic bond between us. To you, my Basil, I had so much to say. You are, after all, the head of your kindred; and who knows whether all that is alluring promised to me –; whether not through you and in your house –

Basil of Caesarea.

Never! With my will none shall be led into your madness and into your wild dreams.

Prince Julian.

Ah, what do you speak of will? I espy a writing hand on the wall; soon I shall interpret the writing.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Come, Basil!

Prince Julian (with outstretched arms).

Oh, you friends; you friends!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Between us there is a parting from this day.

(he draws Basil with him; both go out to the right.)

Prince Julian (looks after them a while).

Yes, go! Go, go! – What do you two learned men know! What do you bring with you from the city of wisdom? You, my strong defiant Gregory, – and you, Basil, more maiden than man, – you know only two streets in Athens, the street to the school and the street to the church; the third street, over Eleusis and beyond, that you do not know, and still less –. Ah!

(The curtain on the right side is drawn aside. Two servants in Oriental garments bring in a tall veiled object, which they set in the corner behind the table. A little after, Maximus the mystic comes through the same door. He is a lean, middle-sized man with a brown hawk-like face; his hair and beard are strongly streaked with grey, with the exception of the thick eyebrows and the beard over his mouth, which still has its pitch-black colour. He wears a pointed cap and a long black robe; in his hand he has a white staff.)

Maximus the mystic (goes, without heeding Julian, over to the veiled object, stops and gives the servants a sign; they withdraw soundlessly).

Prince Julian (softly).

At last!

Maximus the mystic (draws the cloth away; one sees a bronze lamp on a high tripod; then he brings out a little silver jar and pours oil into the lamp-bowl. The lamp lights itself of its own accord and burns with a strong reddish gleam).

Prince Julian (in tense expectation).

Is the time come?

Maximus the mystic (without looking at him).

Are your mind and your body pure?

Prince Julian.

I have fasted and anointed myself.

Maximus the mystic.

Then the night's festival may begin!

(he gives a sign; dancing-girls and flute-players show themselves in the forecourt. Music and dance during the following.)

Prince Julian.

Maximus, – what is this?

Maximus the mystic.

Roses in the hair! Sparkling wine! See, see yonder the fair limbs at play!

Prince Julian.

And in the very midst of this tumult of the senses you would –?

Maximus the mystic.

Sin is only in your view of the sinful.

Prince Julian.

Roses in the hair! Pearling wine!

(he throws himself down on one of the cushions by the table, empties a filled bowl, quickly sets it down and asks:)

Ah, what was in the wine?

Maximus the mystic.

A glow of the fire that Prometheus stole.

(he lies down on the other side of the table.)

Prince Julian.

My senses exchange their functions; I hear brightness and I see tones.

Maximus the mystic.

The wine is the soul of the grape. The freed, voluntary prisoner. Logos in Pan!

The dancing girls (sing in the forecourt).

Free yourself, draining Bacchus's blood; – rock yourself on the streaming flood of rhythms!

Prince Julian (drinks).

Yes, yes, there is liberation in the intoxication. Can you interpret this bliss?

Maximus the mystic.

The intoxication is your wedding with the soul of nature.

Prince Julian.

Sweet riddle; tempting, alluring –! What was that? Why did you laugh?

Maximus the mystic.

Prince Julian.

There is whispering at my left side! The silk cushion crackles –

(pale; springs half up:)

Maximus, we are not alone!

Maximus the mystic (calls).

We are five at table!

Prince Julian.

A symposium with the spirits!

Maximus the mystic.

With the shades.

Prince Julian.

Name my guests!

Maximus the mystic.

Not now. Hark, hark!

Prince Julian.

What is it? It roars like a storm through the house –

Maximus the mystic (shrieks).

Julian! Julian! Julian!

Prince Julian.

Speak, speak! What is happening to us?

Maximus the mystic.

The hour of annunciation is upon you!

Prince Julian (springs up and shrinks far back from the table).

Ah!

(The table-lamps seem near to going out; over the great bronze lamp there rises a bluish luminous circle.)

Maximus the mystic (throws himself wholly down).

The eye toward the light!

Prince Julian.

Yonder?

Maximus the mystic.

Yes, yes!

The girls' song (muted from the forecourt).

The night, the seeing one, spreads its web; desire, the laughing one, lures you in.

Prince Julian (stares toward the gleam of light).

Maximus! Maximus!

Maximus the mystic (softly).

Do you see anything?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

What do you see?

Prince Julian.

I see a shining face in the light.

Maximus the mystic.

Man or woman?

Prince Julian.

I do not know.

Maximus the mystic.

Speak to it.

Prince Julian.

Dare I?

Maximus the mystic.

Speak; speak!

Prince Julian (nearer).

Why did I come to be?

A voice in the light.

To serve the spirit.

Maximus the mystic.

Does it answer?

Prince Julian.

Yes, yes.

Maximus the mystic.

Ask more.

Prince Julian.

What is my work?

The voice in the light.

You shall establish the realm.

Prince Julian.

What realm?

The voice in the light.

The realm.

Prince Julian.

And by what way?

The voice in the light.

By the way of freedom.

Prince Julian.

Speak out fully! What is the way of freedom?

The voice in the light.

The way of necessity.

Prince Julian.

And by what power?

The voice in the light.

By willing.

Prince Julian.

What shall I will?

The voice in the light.

What you must.

Prince Julian.

It pales; it fades –!

(nearer.)

Speak, speak! What must I?

The voice in the light (lamenting).

Julian!

(The circle of light dissolves; the table-lamps burn as before.)

Maximus the mystic (looks up).

Gone?

Prince Julian.

Gone.

Maximus the mystic.

Do you now know?

Prince Julian.

Now least of all. I hang over the rampart of the engulfing abyss, – midway between light and darkness.

(he lies down again.)

What is the realm?

Maximus the mystic.

There are three realms.

Prince Julian.

Three?

Maximus the mystic.

First is that realm which was founded on the tree of knowledge; then that realm which was founded on the tree of the cross –

Prince Julian.

And the third?

Maximus the mystic.

The third is the realm of the great mystery, the realm which shall be founded on the tree of knowledge and the tree of the cross together, because it hates and loves them both, and because it has its living Springs under Adam's grove and under Golgotha.

Prince Julian.

And that realm shall come –?

Maximus the mystic.

It is at the door. I have reckoned and reckoned –

Prince Julian (breaks off sharply).

There is whispering again! Who are my guests?

Maximus the mystic.

The three cornerstones under the wrath of necessity.

Prince Julian.

Who, who?

Maximus the mystic.

The three great helpers in denial.

Prince Julian.

Name them!

Maximus the mystic.

That I cannot; I do not know them; – but I could show you them –

Prince Julian.

Then show me them! At once, Maximus –!

Maximus the mystic.

Beware –!

Prince Julian.

At once; at once! I will see them; I will speak with them, one by one.

Maximus the mystic.

Upon yourself be the guilt.

(he swings his staff and cries:)

Take shape and show yourself, you first sacrificial lamb of election!

Prince Julian.

Ah!

Maximus the mystic (with veiled face).

What do you see?

Prince Julian (muted).

There he lies; right before the corner. – He is great, like Heracles, and fair –, yet no, not – –

(hesitating.)

If you can, then speak to me!

A voice.

What would you know?

Prince Julian.

What was your task in life?

The voice.

My crime.

Prince Julian.

Why did you transgress?

The voice.

Why did I not become my brother?

Prince Julian.

No evasions. Why did you transgress?

The voice.

Why did I become myself?

Prince Julian.

And what did you will, as yourself?

The voice.

What I had to.

Prince Julian.

And why did you have to?

The voice.

I was myself.

Prince Julian.

You are sparing of words.

Maximus the mystic (without looking up).

In vino veritas.

Prince Julian.

You hit it, Maximus!

(he pours out a filled bowl before the empty seat.)

Bathe yourself in the wine-scent, my pale guest! Refresh yourself. Breathe it in, breathe it in, – it rises into the air like a sacrificial smoke.

The voice.

Sacrificial smoke does not always rise.

Prince Julian.

Why does that stripe on the brow redden? No, no, – do not stroke the hair over it. What is it?

The voice.

The sign.

Prince Julian.

Hm; no more of that. And what fruit has your crime borne?

The voice.

The most glorious.

Prince Julian.

What do you call the most glorious?

The voice.

Life.

Prince Julian.

And the ground of life?

The voice.

Death.

Prince Julian.

And death's?

The voice (fades away, as in a sigh).

Yes, that is the riddle!

Prince Julian.

Gone!

Maximus the mystic (looks up).

Gone?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

Did you know him?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

Who was it?

Prince Julian.

Cain.

Maximus the mystic.

That way, then! Search no more!

Prince Julian (throws out his hand).

The next, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

No, no, no; – I will not do it!

Prince Julian.

The next, I say! You have sworn to me to get to the bottom of certain things. The next, Maximus! I will see him; I will know my guests!

Maximus the mystic.

You have willed it, not I.

(he swings the staff.)

Come forth and show yourself, you willing slave, you who helped at the next great world-turning!

Prince Julian (stares a moment into the empty space; suddenly he stretches out his hand in a warding gesture toward the seat right beside him and says in a muted voice):

No nearer!

Maximus the mystic (turned away).

Do you see him?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

How do you see him?

Prince Julian.

I see him as a red-bearded man. He has torn clothes and a rope about his neck. – –

Speak to him, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

You must speak.

Prince Julian.

What were you in life?

A voice (right beside him).

The twelfth wheel of the world-chariot.

Prince Julian.

The twelfth? The fifth is already reckoned useless.

The voice.

Where would the chariot have rolled without me?

Prince Julian.

Where did it roll by you?

The voice.

Into the glorification.

Prince Julian.

Why did you help?

The voice.

Because I was willing.

Prince Julian.

What did you will?

The voice.

What I had to will.

Prince Julian.

Who chose you?

The voice.

The master.

Prince Julian.

Was the master foreknowing when he chose you?

The voice.

Yes, that is the riddle!

(short silence.)

Maximus the mystic.

You are silent?

Prince Julian.

He is here no more.

Maximus the mystic (looks up).

Did you know him?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

What was he called in life?

Prince Julian.

Judas Iscariot.

Maximus the mystic (springs up).

The abyss shoots forth blossoms; the night betrays itself!

Prince Julian (shrieks at him).

The third forth!

Maximus the mystic.

He shall come!

(swings the staff.)

Come forth, you third cornerstone! Come forth, you third great freedman under necessity!

(throws himself down again on the cushion and turns his face away.)

What do you see?

Prince Julian.

I see nothing.

Maximus the mystic.

And yet he is here.

(swings the staff again.)

By Solomon's seal, by the eye in the triangle, – I conjure you, – show yourself! – –

What do you see now?

Prince Julian.

Nothing; nothing!

Maximus the mystic (swings the staff again).

Come forth, you –! – –

(suddenly stops, utters a shriek and springs up from the table.)

Ah, lightning in the night! I see it; – all art is in vain.

Prince Julian (rises).

Why? Speak, speak!

Maximus the mystic.

The third is not yet among the shades.

Prince Julian.

He lives?

Maximus the mystic.

Yes, he lives.

Prince Julian.

And here, you said –!

Maximus the mystic.

Here, or yonder, or among the unborn; – I do not know –

Prince Julian (presses in upon him).

You lie! You deceive me! Here, here, you said –!

Maximus the mystic.

Let go of my cloak!

Prince Julian.

Then you or I! But which of us?

Maximus the mystic.

Let go of the cloak, Julian!

Prince Julian.

Which of us? Which? Everything hangs on this one thing!

Maximus the mystic.

You are more knowing than I. What did the voice in the light proclaim?

Prince Julian.

The voice in the light –?

(with a cry.)

The realm! The realm? Establish the realm –!

Maximus the mystic.

The third realm!

Prince Julian.

No; and a thousand times no! Begone, corrupter! I renounce you and all your work –

Maximus the mystic.

From necessity?

Prince Julian.

I defy necessity! I will not serve it. I am free, free, free!

(Noise outside; the dancing-girls and the flute-players flee.)

Maximus the mystic (listens toward the right).

What terror and cries –?

Prince Julian.

Strangers are pressing into the house –

Maximus the mystic.

Your servants are being maltreated; they mean to murder us!

Prince Julian.

Be calm; no one can strike us.

Eutherius the steward (comes hastily across the forecourt).

Lord, lord!

Prince Julian.

Who causes that noise outside?

Eutherius the steward.

Strangers have surrounded the house; they have set guards at all the exits; they are breaking in – almost by force. There they come, lord! There they are!

(Leontes the quaestor with a great and splendid retinue comes in from the right.)

Leontes the quaestor.

Forgive me, I implore you a hundred times, my most gracious lord –

Prince Julian (a step back).

What do I see!

Leontes the quaestor.

Your servants would forbid me to enter; and as it was so highly urgent for me –

Prince Julian.

You here in Ephesus, my excellent Leontes!

Leontes the quaestor.

I have travelled nights and days as the emperor's envoy.

Prince Julian (pale).

To me? What does the emperor want with me? I am truly conscious of no crime. I am sick, Leontes! This man (points toward Maximus) is with me as a physician.

Leontes the quaestor.

Permit me, gracious lord –!

Prince Julian.

Why does one force one's way violently in to me? What is it the emperor wants?

Leontes the quaestor.

He would gladden you, lord, with a great and important message.

Prince Julian.

I beg you, let me know what message you bring.

Leontes the quaestor (kneels).

My most exalted lord, – praising your fortune and my own, I greet you as Caesar.

The quaestor's retinue.

Long live Caesar Julian!

Maximus the mystic.

Caesar!

Prince Julian (shrinks back with an exclamation).

Caesar! Stand up, Leontes! What madness do you speak!

Leontes the quaestor.

I bring the emperor's command.

Prince Julian.

I – I Caesar! – Ah, where is Gallus?

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, do not ask.

Prince Julian.

Where is Gallus? I conjure you, – where is Gallus?

Leontes the quaestor (stands up).

Caesar Gallus is with his beloved wife.

Prince Julian.

Dead!

Leontes the quaestor.

In bliss with his wife.

Prince Julian.

Dead; dead! Gallus dead! Dead in the midst of his triumphal march! But when, – and where?

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, precious lord, spare me –

Gregory of Nazianzus (struggles with the guard at the entrance).

I must get in to him! Aside, I say. – Julian!

Prince Julian.

Gregory, brother, – so you came again after all!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Is it true, what rumour casts like a rain of arrows over the city?

Prince Julian.

I am myself as if struck by rumour's arrows. Dare I believe in this mingling of fortune and misfortune?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

For Christ's sake, drive the tempter from you!

Prince Julian.

The emperor's command, Gregory!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

You would tread upon your brother's bloody corpse –

Prince Julian.

Bloody –?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Do you not know it? Caesar Gallus has been murdered.

Prince Julian (with clasped hands).

Murdered!

Leontes the quaestor.

Ah, who is this audacious one –?

Prince Julian.

Murdered; murdered! (to Leontes.) He lies, surely?

Leontes the quaestor.

Caesar Gallus has fallen by his deeds.

Prince Julian.

Murdered; – who murdered him?

Leontes the quaestor.

What has happened was a necessity, high lord! Caesar Gallus has misused his power like a madman here in the Eastern lands. His position as Caesar was no longer enough for him. His conduct, both in Constantinople and elsewhere along the way, showed in full what he was plotting.

Prince Julian.

I do not ask about his crime; the other thing I will know.

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, let me spare your brotherly ears.

Prince Julian.

My brotherly ears can bear what my filial ears have borne. Who slew him?

Leontes the quaestor.

The tribune Scudilo, who accompanied him, found it advisable to have him executed.

Prince Julian.

Where? Surely not in Rome?

Leontes the quaestor.

No, lord, it happened on the journey there, – in the city of Pola in Illyria.

Prince Julian (bows).

The emperor is great and just. – The last of the kindred, Gregory! – Emperor Constantius is great.

Leontes the quaestor (takes a purple cloak from one of the retinue).

High Caesar, deign to clothe yourself –

Prince Julian.

Red! Away with it! Was it that one he wore in Pola –?

Leontes the quaestor.

It has come new from Sidon.

Prince Julian (with a glance at Maximus).

From Sidon! The purple robe –!

Maximus the mystic.

Apollinaris's vision!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Julian; Julian!

Leontes the quaestor.

Behold, it is sent to you by your kinsman, the emperor. He bids you be told that he, childless as he is, hopes that you will heal this deepest wound of his life. He wishes to see you in Rome. Thereafter it is his will that you go as Caesar to Gaul. The Alemannic border-peoples have crossed over the Rhine-stream and made a dangerous incursion into the realm. He builds securely upon your fortune and your success against the barbarians. In dreams certain things have revealed themselves to him, and his last words to me at my departure were that you would surely succeed in establishing the realm.

Prince Julian.

Establish the realm! The voice in the light, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

Sign against sign.

Leontes the quaestor.

How so, high Caesar?

Prince Julian.

To me too certain things have been foretold; but this –

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Say no, Julian! It is the wings of perdition that they would fasten to your shoulders.

Leontes the quaestor.

Who are you, who defy the emperor?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

My name is Gregory; I am the son of the bishop of Nazianzus; – do with me what you will.

Prince Julian.

He is my friend and brother; let no one touch him!

(A great swarm of people has meanwhile filled the forecourt.)

Basil of Caesarea (forces his way through the crowd).

Do not take the purple, Julian!

Prince Julian.

You too, my faithful Basil!

Basil of Caesarea.

Do not take it! For God the Lord's sake –

Prince Julian.

What terrifies you in this?

Basil of Caesarea.

The horrors that will come.

Prince Julian.

By me the realm shall be established.

Basil of Caesarea.

Christ's realm?

Prince Julian.

The emperor's great fair realm.

Basil of Caesarea.

Was it the emperor's realm that stood in light before your eyes, when as a child you proclaimed the doctrine from the graves of the Cappadocian martyrs? Was it the emperor's realm that you left Constantinople to establish on earth? Was it the emperor's realm –

Prince Julian.

Mists, mists; – all that lies behind me like a wild dream.

Basil of Caesarea.

Better were it for you that you yourself, with a millstone about your neck, lay on the bottom of the sea, than that this dream should lie behind you. – Do you not see the tempter's work? All the glory of the earth is laid at your feet.

Maximus the mystic.

Sign against sign, Caesar!

Prince Julian.

A word, Leontes!

(grasps his hand and draws him aside.)

Where are you leading me?

Leontes the quaestor.

To Rome, lord!

Prince Julian.

That I do not ask. Where are you leading me; to fortune and power, – or to the slaughter-bench?

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, lord, such a scornful mistrust –

Prince Julian.

Gallus's body is scarcely rotted yet.

Leontes the quaestor.

I can dispel all doubt. (takes out a paper.) This letter from the emperor, which I would rather have handed you in private –

Prince Julian.

A letter? What does he write? –

(he opens the paper and reads.)

Ah, Helena! – Oh, Leontes! Helena, – Helena to me!

Leontes the quaestor.

The emperor grants her to you, lord! He grants you this beloved sister, for whom Caesar Gallus asked in vain.

Prince Julian.

Helena to me! The unattainable won! – But she, Leontes –?

Leontes the quaestor.

At the parting he took the princess by the hand and led her over to me. A stream of maidenly blood shot up into her fair cheeks, she cast down her eyes and said: greet my dear kinsman, and let him know that he has always been the man who – –

Prince Julian.

Go on, Leontes!

Leontes the quaestor.

With those words she fell silent, the modest and pure woman.

Prince Julian.

The pure woman! – Wondrously is all fulfilled!

(he cries aloud.)

The purple cloak about me!

Maximus the mystic.

You have chosen?

Prince Julian.

Chosen, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

Chosen, despite sign against sign?

Prince Julian.

Here it is not sign against sign. Maximus, Maximus, you have been blind, you seeing one! – The purple cloak about me!

(Leontes the quaestor clothes him in the cloak.)

Basil of Caesarea.

It is done!

Maximus the mystic (mutters to himself, with uplifted hands).

Victory and light over the willing one!

Leontes the quaestor.

And now to the governor's dwelling; the people would greet Caesar.

Prince Julian.

Caesar remains in his exaltation what he was, – the poor lover of wisdom who took everything from the emperor's grace. – To the governor's dwelling, you kindly gentlemen!

Voices among the quaestor's retinue.

Make way, make way for Caesar Julian!

(All go out through the forecourt amid the crowd's shouts of acclamation; only Gregory and Basil remain standing.)

Basil of Caesarea.

Gregory! In whatever may come, – let us hold together.

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Here is my hand.

ACT FOUR.

(At Lutetia in Gaul. A hall in Caesar's palace «The Warm Baths» outside the city. Entrance door at the back; to the right another, smaller door; in front, on the left side, is a window with a curtain.)

(Princess Helena, richly adorned, with pearls in her hair, sits in an armchair and looks out through the window. Myrrha the slave-girl stands above her and holds the curtain aside.)

Princess Helena.

What a throng! The whole city streams out to meet them. – Hush! Myrrha, – do you not hear flutes and drums?

Myrrha the slave-girl.

Yes, I do think –

Princess Helena.

You are lying! The din is too loud; you can hear nothing. (springs up.) Oh, this tormenting uncertainty! Not to know whether he comes as victor or as fugitive.

Myrrha the slave-girl.

Do not be anxious, my mistress; Caesar has always come as victor, after all.

Princess Helena.

Yes, before; after all the smaller clashes. But this time, Myrrha! This great, terrible battle. All these conflicting rumours. If Caesar had come as victor, why should he then have sent that letter to the city magistrates and forbidden them to meet him with marks of honour outside the gates?

Myrrha the slave-girl.

Oh, you know, mistress, how little your exalted husband strives after such things.

Princess Helena.

Yes, yes, that is true enough. And if he had suffered some defeat – in Rome they would surely have to know it – would the emperor then have sent us this envoy, who may well be here this very day, and whose express courier has brought me all these rich jewels and gifts? Ah, Eutherius! Well, well?

Eutherius the steward (from the background).

My princess, it is quite impossible to learn anything reliable –

Princess Helena.

Impossible? You deceive me! The soldiers themselves must surely know –

Eutherius the steward.

They are only barbarian auxiliary troops that are marching in, – Batavians and others, – and they know nothing.

Princess Helena (wrings her hands).

Oh, have I deserved this anguish! Sweet, holy Christ, have I not called upon you night and day –

(listens and cries out.)

Ah, my Julian! I hear him! – Julian; my beloved!

Caesar Julian (in dusty armour, comes quickly from the background).

Helena!

Eutherius the steward.

My exalted Caesar!

Caesar Julian (embraces the princess with vehemence).

Helena! – Bar all the doors, Eutherius!

Princess Helena.

Beaten! Pursued!

Eutherius the steward.

My lord!

Caesar Julian.

Double guards at the doors; let no one in! Listen; has any envoy come from the emperor?

Eutherius the steward.

No, my lord; but an envoy is expected.

Caesar Julian.

Go, go! (to the slave-girl) Away with you.

(Eutherius and Myrrha go out at the back.)

Princess Helena (sinks down into the armchair).

So it is all over with us, then!

Caesar Julian (draws the curtain together)

Who knows. Only be wary, and the storm may yet –

Princess Helena.

After such a defeat –?

Caesar Julian.

Defeat? What are you talking about, my beloved?

Princess Helena.

Have the Alemanni not beaten you?

Caesar Julian.

Had they beaten me, you would not have seen me alive again.

Princess Helena (springs up).

But, Lord of heaven, what has happened, then?

Caesar Julian (softly).

The worst, Helena; – an immeasurable victory.

Princess Helena.

A victory, you say! An immeasurable victory? You have conquered, and yet –?

Caesar Julian.

You cannot grasp how I stand. You know only the golden outer side of all a Caesar's misery.

Princess Helena.

Julian!

Caesar Julian.

Can you blame me for having concealed such things from you? Did not both duty and shame bid me –? Ah, – what is that? What a change –!

Princess Helena.

What? What?

Caesar Julian.

What a change in you these months! Helena, have you been ill?

Princess Helena.

No, no; but tell me –?

Caesar Julian.

Yes, you have been ill! You must be ill still; – these fever-hot temples, these blue-brown rings about the eyes –

Princess Helena.

Oh, nothing, my beloved! Do not look at me, Julian! Only anguish and night-watches for your sake; burning prayers to the most highly blessed one upon the tree of the cross –

Caesar Julian.

Spare yourself, you precious one; it is, after all, quite uncertain whether this zeal bears so much fruit.

Princess Helena.

Fie; your mind is not pious. – But speak of your own affairs, Julian! I beg you, conceal nothing from me.

Caesar Julian.

There can be nothing concealed any longer. Since the empress's death I have not been able to take a single step here in Gaul without its being ill-interpreted at the court. If I went cautiously to work against the Alemanni, then it was said that I was timorous and inactive. They mocked at the lover of wisdom, who could not rightly accustom himself to bearing war-armour. If I won an advantage over the barbarians, then I had to hear that I ought to have been able to achieve more.

Princess Helena.

But all your friends in the army –

Caesar Julian.

Who do you think are my friends in the army? Not one, my beloved Helena! Yes, a single one, – that Perusian knight, Sallust, to whom, during our wedding festivities in Milan, I had to refuse a modest request. He has magnanimously come to me in the camp, has reminded me of our old friendship in Athens and begged to be allowed to follow me into all dangers. But what does Sallust count for at the imperial court? He is, after all, one of those whom they there call heathens. He can profit me nothing. – And then the others! The commander Arbetio, who left me in the lurch when I lay shut up in Sennones! Old Severus, who is weighed down under the feeling of his own incompetence, and who yet cannot reconcile himself to my new conduct of war! Or do you think I can lean upon Florentius, – the praetorian prefect? I tell you, this restless man strives after the highest things.

Princess Helena.

Ah, Julian!

Caesar Julian (walks up and down).

If only I could get on the track of their intrigues! Every week secret letters go from the camp to Rome. Everything I undertake is reported and distorted. No thrall in the realm is fettered like Caesar. Do you know, Helena, that the bill of fare my cook has to abide by, it has been sent to him from the emperor, and I am not permitted to alter anything in it, neither to add nor to take away!

Princess Helena.

And all this you have borne secretly –!

Caesar Julian.

Everyone knows it, except you. Everyone mocks at Caesar's impotence. I will bear it no longer! I will not bear it!

Princess Helena.

But the great battle –? Tell me, though, – has the rumour exaggerated –?

Caesar Julian.

The rumour has not been able to exaggerate. – Hush; what was that? (listens toward the door.) No, no; I only thought –.

I dare say that in these months I have accomplished all that stood within human power. Step by step, and in spite of all hindrances in my own camp, I drove the barbarians back toward the eastern frontier. Before Argentoratum, with the Rhine at his back, King Knodomar drew all his fighting forces together. Five kings and ten lesser princes joined him. But before he had managed to gather the boats needful for crossing in case of need, I let my army advance to the attack.

Princess Helena.

My hero, my Julian!

Caesar Julian.

Lupicinus with the javelin-throwers and the light-armed went round the enemy in the north; the old legions under Severus drove the barbarians more and more eastward toward the river; the Batavians, our confederates, under the faithful Bainabaudes, stood honourably by the legions, and when Knodomar perceived that all was in peril, he sought to escape toward the south to reach over to the islands. But before that could happen I let Florentius meet him with the praetorians and the horsemen. Helena, I do not care to say it aloud, but certain it is that treachery or envy had nearly robbed me of the fruits of victory. The Roman riders gave way time after time before the barbarians, who threw themselves to the ground and stabbed the horses in the belly. I saw our defeat before my eyes –

Princess Helena.

But the God of battles was with you!

Caesar Julian.

I seized a banner, fired the imperial household troops with my shouts, held in all haste a speech to them, a speech that perhaps would not have been quite unworthy even of a more enlightened circle of hearers, and thereupon, as soon as the soldiers' shouts of applause had rewarded me, I plunged straight into the thickest tumult of battle.

Princess Helena.

Julian! Oh, you do not love me!

Caesar Julian.

In that moment you were not in my thoughts. I wished to die; I knew no other way out. But it came, my beloved! It was as if a lightning-striking terror flashed out of our lance-points. I saw Knodomar, that terrible warrior – yes, you have indeed seen him yourself – I saw him flee on foot from the battle, and with him fled his brother Vestralp and the kings Hortar and Suomar and all who did not fall beneath our swords.

Princess Helena.

Oh, I see it; I see it! Blessed saviour; it was you who again sent forth the angels of murder from the Milvian bridge!

Caesar Julian.

Never have I heard such cries of woe; never have I seen such gaping wounds as those we trod in, as we waded over the fallen. The river did the rest; the drowning fought among themselves until they rolled over and went to the bottom. Most of the princes fell alive into our hands; Knodomar himself had sought refuge in a clump of reeds; one of his companions betrayed him, our men sent a rain of arrows in toward the hidden one, but without striking him. Then he came forward of his own free will and gave himself up.

Princess Helena.

And after such a victory you should not feel secure?

Caesar Julian (hesitating).

After the victory, that same evening, there occurred an incident, a trifle –

Princess Helena.

An incident?

Caesar Julian.

I would rather call it so. In Athens we brooded so much over Nemesis. – My victory was so overwhelmingly great, Helena; my position had, as it were, come out of equilibrium; I do not know –

Princess Helena.

Oh, speak then; you frighten me!

Caesar Julian.

It was a trifle, I tell you. I had the captive Knodomar led before me in the sight of the army. Before the battle he had threatened that I should be flayed alive when I fell into his hands. Now he came toward me with uncertain steps, trembling over his whole body; broken by misfortune, in such a way as is the manner of barbarians, he cast himself down before me, clasped my knees, poured out tears and begged for his life.

Princess Helena.

With a shudder of terror through his powerful limbs. I see the prostrate Knodomar. – Did you kill him, my beloved?

Caesar Julian.

I could not kill this man. I assured him of safety and promised to send him as a prisoner to Rome.

Princess Helena.

Without torturing him?

Caesar Julian.

Prudence bade me act mildly. But then, – I cannot grasp how it came about, – in overflowing joy, and with a howl upon his lips, the barbarian sprang up, stretched his bound hands into the air and, little versed as he was in our tongue, cried with a loud voice: praised be you, Julian, you mighty emperor!

Princess Helena.

Ah!

Caesar Julian.

My companions were about to laugh; but the barbarian king's cry struck down like a kindling lightning among the clusters of soldiers. «Long live emperor Julian», cried the bystanders; and the cry spread in wider and wider rings to the remotest distance; – it was as if a Titan had hurled a mountain out into the world-ocean; – oh, my beloved, forgive me this heathen simile, but –

Princess Helena.

Emperor Julian! He said: emperor Julian!

Caesar Julian.

What did the rude Aleman know of Constantius, whom he had never seen? I, his vanquisher, was to him the greatest –

Princess Helena.

Yes, yes; but the soldiers –?

Caesar Julian.

I rebuked them sharply; for I saw it well, – Florentius, Severus and certain others stood about in silence, white with terror and wrath.

Princess Helena.

Yes, yes, – they, but not the soldiers.

Caesar Julian.

Scarcely had a single night run to an end before my secret enemies had distorted the matter. Caesar has let Knodomar proclaim him emperor, it was said, and in return he has granted the barbarian king his life. – Thus, turned upside down, it has also been reported to Rome.

Princess Helena.

Are you sure of it? And by whom?

Caesar Julian.

Yes, by whom? By whom? I myself wrote in haste to the emperor and told him the whole of it, but –

Princess Helena.

Well, – and what has he answered?

Caesar Julian.

As usual. You know that ill-boding silence when he means to strike someone.

Princess Helena.

Yet I think you misinterpret all this. It cannot be otherwise. See now; the envoy will soon bring you assurance that –

Caesar Julian.

I have assurance, Helena! Here on my breast I keep intercepted letters, which –

Princess Helena.

Oh, Lord my God, let me see!

Caesar Julian.

Later, later.

(he walks up and down.)

And all this after the services I have shown him! Here I have cast the Alemanni's onslaught to the ground for long times to come, while he himself has suffered defeat upon defeat at the Danube and while the army in Asia does not seem to gain a single step's advance against the Persians. Shame and ill-luck on all sides, except here, where a reluctant friend of wisdom was set at the head of affairs. And yet I am mocked all the same at the court. Yes, even after the last great victory they have made a lampoon on me and called me Victorinus! This must have an end.

Princess Helena.

Yes, I think so too.

Caesar Julian.

What is a Caesar's dignity on such terms!

Princess Helena.

No, you are right, Julian; we cannot remain standing at this.

Caesar Julian (stops).

Helena, could you follow me?

Princess Helena (softly).

Fear not for me; I shall not draw back.

Caesar Julian.

Away, then, from all this thankless toil; away to the so long coveted solitude –!

Princess Helena.

What do you say? Solitude!

Caesar Julian.

With you, my beloved; and with my dear books, which here I have so seldom been able to open, and which I have only dared to devote my restless nights to.

Princess Helena (looks down at him).

Ah, so!

Caesar Julian.

What else?

Princess Helena.

Well yes; what else?

Caesar Julian.

Yes, yes, – I ask, what else?

Princess Helena (closer).

Julian, – how did the barbarian king greet you?

Caesar Julian (drawing back).

Helena!

Princess Helena (closer again).

What name was it that resounded in the soldiers' ranks?

Caesar Julian.

Imprudent one; here perhaps a listener stands outside every door!

Princess Helena.

What do you fear from listeners? Is not God's grace over you? Have you not been the fortunate one in all encounters? – I see the admonishing saviour; I see the angel with the flaming sword, who made a way for my father when he cast Maxentius into the Tiber!

Caesar Julian.

I should rise up against the ruler of the realm!

Princess Helena.

Only against those who stand between you two. Oh, go, go; smite them with the lightning of your wrath; make an end of this consuming, joyless life! Gaul is a wasteland. I freeze here, Julian! I want to go home again, to the sun's warmth, to Rome and Hellas.

Caesar Julian.

Home again to your brother?

Princess Helena (softly).

Constantius is decrepit.

Caesar Julian.

Helena!

Princess Helena.

I can endure it no longer, I tell you. Time passes. Eusebia is gone; her empty seat stands beckoning toward honour and glory while I grow old –

Caesar Julian.

You do not grow old; you are young and fair!

Princess Helena.

No, no, no! Time passes; I cannot bear this with patience; life is slipping from me!

Caesar Julian (looks at her).

How temptingly fair, how godlike you are!

Princess Helena (clings to him).

Am I that, Julian?

Caesar Julian (embraces her).

You are the only woman I have loved, – the only one who has loved me.

Princess Helena.

I am older than you. I will grow no older. When all is over, then –

Caesar Julian (tears himself loose).

Be still! I will hear no more.

Princess Helena (goes after him).

Constantius dies a little each day; he hangs by a hair over the grave. Oh, my beloved Julian, you have the soldiers on your side, after all –

Caesar Julian.

Hush, hush!

Princess Helena.

He can bear no agitations of the mind. What, then, is there to shrink back from? I mean nothing bloody, after all. Fie, how could you think it? The terror will be enough; it will take him into its arms and lovingly end his sufferings.

Caesar Julian.

Do you forget the invisible bodyguard about the anointed one?

Princess Helena.

Christ is good. Oh, be pious, Julian, and he will forgive much. I will help. Prayers shall be sent up for you. Praised be the holy men! Praised be the martyrs! Believe me, we shall atone for everything afterward. Grant me the Alemanni for conversion; I will send out priests among them; they shall bow down beneath the grace of the cross.

Caesar Julian.

The Alemanni do not bow down under it.

Princess Helena.

Then they shall die! Like a sweet smoke shall the blood rise up to him, the most highly blessed. We will increase his glory; his praise shall be proclaimed through us. I will be there myself. The Alemannic women for me! If they do not bow, then they shall be sacrificed! And then, my Julian, – when you see me again –; made young again, made young again! Grant me the Alemannic women, you beloved! Blood –, it is no murder, after all, and the means shall be unfailing –, a bath in young virgin-blood –

Caesar Julian.

Helena, you are sinning!

Princess Helena.

Is it a crime to sin for your sake?

Caesar Julian.

You fair one, you only one!

Princess Helena (bends down over his hands).

My lord before God and men! – Do not yield this time, Julian! My hero, my emperor! I see heaven open. The priests shall sing praises to Christ; my women shall gather in prayer. (with uplifted arms.) Oh, you blessed one! Oh, you God of hosts, – you who hold grace and victory in your hand –

Caesar Julian (with a glance toward the door, cries out):

Helena!

Princess Helena.

Ah!

Eutherius the steward (from the background).

My lord, the emperor's messenger –

Caesar Julian.

Has he come?

Eutherius the steward.

Yes, my lord!

Caesar Julian.

His name? Who is he?

Eutherius the steward.

Decentius the tribune.

Princess Helena.

Really? The pious Decentius!

Caesar Julian.

Whom has he spoken with?

Eutherius the steward.

With no one, my lord; he came this very moment.

Caesar Julian.

I will see him at once. And listen; one thing more. The generals and the commanders shall present themselves to me.

Eutherius the steward.

Good, most gracious sire!

(he goes out at the back.)

Caesar Julian.

Now, my Helena, now it will show itself –

Princess Helena (softly).

Whatever shows itself, do not forget that you can rely on the soldiers.

Caesar Julian.

Ah, rely, rely –; I do not know whether I can rely on anyone.

(Decentius the tribune comes from the background.)

Princess Helena (toward him).

Welcome, noble Decentius! A Roman face, – and above all, this face, – oh, it lays a living gleam of sunshine over our unkind Gaul.

Decentius the tribune.

The emperor meets your longing and your hope halfway, exalted princess! We may believe that Gaul shall not fetter you much longer.

Princess Helena.

Do you say so, you bringer of joy? The emperor thinks of me always with love, then? How is it with his health?

Caesar Julian.

Go, go, my beloved Helena!

Decentius the tribune.

The emperor's health has by no means worsened.

Princess Helena.

No, is it not so? That was what I knew. All these alarming rumours –; God be praised that it was only rumours! Thank him most lovingly, you pious Decentius! And be thanked yourself. With what rich gifts have you not heralded your arrival! Imperial gifts –; no, no, brotherly gifts in truth! Two shining black Nubians, – you should see them, my Julian! – and pearls! Those I am wearing already. And fruits, – sweet, swelling; ah; peaches from Damascus, peaches in golden bowls! How they will refresh me; – fruit, fruit; I languish here in Gaul.

Caesar Julian.

A feast of joy shall end the day; but business first. Go, my precious wife!

Princess Helena.

I go to the church, – to pray for my brother and for all hopes.

(she goes out to the right.)

Caesar Julian (after a moment's pause).

Message or dispatches?

Decentius the tribune.

Dispatches.

(he hands him a roll of paper.)

Caesar Julian (reads, suppresses a smile and stretches out his hand).

More!

Decentius the tribune.

Exalted Caesar, that is about all.

Caesar Julian.

Really? Has the emperor sent his friend the long way only to –?

(he bursts into a short laugh; then he walks up and down.)

Had the Aleman king Knodomar come to Rome before your departure?

Decentius the tribune.

Yes, exalted Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

And how does he manage in the foreign land, unversed in the language as he is? Yes, he is most unversed, Decentius! He was downright a laughing-stock for my soldiers. Just think, he confused such common words as emperor and Caesar.

Decentius the tribune (shrugs his shoulders).

A barbarian. What is there to say?

Caesar Julian.

No, what is there to say? But the emperor is gracious to him, though?

Decentius the tribune.

Knodomar is dead, my lord!

Caesar Julian (stops).

Knodomar is dead?

Decentius the tribune.

In the strangers' camp on the Caelian hill.

Caesar Julian.

Dead? So? – Yes, the air in Rome is unhealthy.

Decentius the tribune.

The Aleman king died of homesickness, my lord! The longing for kin and freedom –

Caesar Julian.

– it consumes, Decentius; yes, yes, I know it. – I should not have sent him living to Rome; I should have had him killed here.

Decentius the tribune.

Caesar's mind is mild.

Caesar Julian.

Hm –! Homesickness? Indeed!

(To Sintula the master of the horse, who comes from the background.)

Are you there, old faun? Tempt me no more. (to Decentius.) Ever since the battle of Argentoratum he is always talking to me of the victory-chariot and the white team. (to Sintula.) It became Phaethon's ride with the Libyan sun-horses. How did it end? Have you forgotten – have you forgotten your heathenism, I was about to say. – Forgive me, Decentius, that I wound your pious ear.

Decentius the tribune.

Caesar tickles his servant's ear; but he does not wound it.

Caesar Julian.

Yes, yes; bear with Caesar if he jests. I really do not know how to take it otherwise. – There we have them.

(Severus the general, Florentius the praetorian prefect, together with several commanders and gentlemen of Caesar's court come from the background).

Caesar Julian (goes to meet them).

Good morning, you brothers in arms and friends! Do not be too vexed that I call you straight here from the dirt and toil of the highroad; I should surely have granted you some hours' rest; but –

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

Has anything particular happened, my lord?

Caesar Julian.

Yes, in truth, there is. Can you tell me, – what was lacking in Caesar's fortune?

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

What should be lacking in Caesar's fortune?

Caesar Julian.

Now nothing. (to Decentius.) The army has demanded that I should hold a victory-entry into the city. At the head of the legions they wished that I should ride in through Lutetia's gates. Captive barbarian princes with bound hands were to walk by the wheels of the chariot; women and slaves from twenty conquered peoples were to follow after, closely crowded, head by head – (breaks off suddenly.) Rejoice, my brave fellow-fighters; here you see Decentius the tribune, the emperor's confidential friend and counsellor. He came this morning hour with gifts and greetings from Rome.

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

Ah, then surely nothing is lacking in Caesar's fortune.

Severus the general (softly to Florentius).

Inconceivable! So once more in the emperor's favour!

Florentius the praetorian prefect (softly).

Oh, this fickle emperor!

Caesar Julian.

It seems as if a wondering muteness had struck you all. – They find that the emperor has done too much, good Decentius!

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

How can such a thing come into Caesar's mind?

Severus the general.

Too much, exalted Caesar? By no means. Should the emperor not know how to choose the right bounds for his grace?

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

To be sure, this is a great and rare distinction –

Severus the general.

I would call it exceedingly great and rare.

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

And in particular it gives a shining testimony that our exalted emperor's mind is free of all envy –

Severus the general.

A testimony without precedent; that I may well say.

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

But what, then, has Caesar not also accomplished in these few years in Gaul?

Caesar Julian.

A year-long dream, you precious friends! I have accomplished nothing at all. Nothing, nothing!

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

And your modesty reckons that as nothing? What was the army when you took it over? A disordered rabble –

Severus the general.

– without cohesion, without obedience, without leadership –

Caesar Julian.

Exaggeration, Severus!

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

And was it not with this unbridled rabble that you went against the Alemanni; did you not beat them with these bands, which through victories you transformed into an army of victors; did you not take Colonia Agrippina back –?

Caesar Julian.

Ah, ah, you see with friendship's eye, my Florentius! – Or is it really true? Is it so, that I drove the barbarians away from the islands in the Rhine? That I set the decayed Tres Tabernae in a state of defence for the good of the realm's security? Is it really so?

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

How, my lord? Can you doubt such great things?

Caesar Julian.

No, in truth, I think –. And the battle of Argentoratum? Was I not there? It hovers before me so surely that I was victorious over Knodomar. And after the victory –; Florentius, have I dreamed; or did I not build Trajan's fort up again, when we marched into the Germanic regions?

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

Exalted Caesar, is there any man so insane that he would dispute you this honour?

Severus the general (to Decentius).

I praise fate, which granted me in my old age to follow so fortunate a leader.

Florentius the praetorian prefect (likewise to the tribune).

What turn the Alemannic assault might have taken without Caesar's valour and prudence, I scarcely dare to think of.

Several courtiers (press forward).

Yes, my lord, Caesar is great!

Other gentlemen (clap their hands).

Caesar is without equal!

Caesar Julian (looks for a while by turns at Decentius and the others; then he bursts out in a loud short laugh).

So blind is friendship, Decentius! So blind, blind!

(he turns to the others and strikes the roll of paper that he holds in his hand.)

Here stand quite other things! Listen, and drink it in like a refreshing dew of recognition. It is the emperor's announcement to all the governors round about in the realm; – our excellent Decentius has brought a copy with him. Here it stands: I have accomplished nothing in Gaul. It was a dream, as I just said. Here we have the emperor's own words: it was under the emperor's fortunate auspices that the peril overhanging the realm was averted.

Florentius the praetorian prefect.

All the affairs of the realm enjoy success under the emperor's auspices.

Caesar Julian.

More, more! Here it is reported that it is the emperor who has fought and conquered at the Rhine; it is the emperor who has raised up the humbly pleading Aleman king who cast himself down before him. My name I do not succeed in finding anywhere in this document, – nor yours, Florentius, nor yours either, Severus! And here, in the description of the battle of Argentoratum –; where was it I had it? yes here; here it stands; it was the emperor who ordained the order of battle; it was the emperor himself who, at peril of his life, hewed his sword blunt, fighting in the foremost ranks; it was the emperor who, by the terror of his presence, drove the barbarians into headlong flight –; read; read, I say!

Severus the general.

Exalted Caesar, your word is enough.

Caesar Julian.

And what, then, are you driving at with your deluding talk, you friends? Will you, out of excessive love for me, make me a parasite whom you feed with the abundance you pilfered from my kinsman's table? – What do you think, Decentius? What do you say to this? You see that in my own camp I must keep an eye on adherents who at times in their blindness are on the way to stray beyond the boundary-stakes of rebellion.

Florentius the praetorian prefect (quickly to the tribune).

In truth, my words have been grossly misinterpreted, if –

Severus the general (likewise to the tribune).

It could never come into my mind in that way to –

Caesar Julian.

So shall it be, you brothers in battle; let us all together swallow our pride. I asked before what was lacking in Caesar's fortune. Now you know it. It was the recognition of truth that was lacking in Caesar's fortune. Your silver helmet will not come to be covered by the dust of the triumphal procession, brave Florentius! The emperor has held a victory-entry for us in Rome. He finds, therefore, that all solemnities here are superfluous. Go, Sintula, and see to it that the intended processions are called off. The emperor wishes to grant his soldiers a beneficial rest. It is his will that they shall remain in the camp outside the walls.

(Sintula the master of the horse goes out at the back.)

Caesar Julian.

Was I not once a friend of wisdom? So they said, at least, both in Athens and in Ephesus. So weak is the human mind in prosperity. I was near becoming unfaithful to wisdom. The emperor has reminded me. Thank him most humbly, Decentius! Have you more to report?

Decentius the tribune.

One thing yet. After all that the emperor has learned, and according to the letter you wrote to him from Argentoratum, the great work of peace has been happily brought to an end here in Gaul.

Caesar Julian.

Surely; the emperor, partly by his valour and partly by his magnanimous mildness –

Decentius the tribune.

The realm's frontier is secured toward the Rhine.

Caesar Julian.

By the emperor, by the emperor.

Decentius the tribune.

In the provinces around the Danube, on the other hand, affairs stand badly, and still worse in Asia; King Sapor steadily gains ground.

Caesar Julian.

The audacious man! Rumour says that the emperor this summer also has not been pleased to let his generals crush him.

Decentius the tribune.

The emperor intends to crush him himself in the spring. (takes out a roll of paper.) Here is his will, exalted Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

Let me see, let me see! (reads.) Ah!

(he reads again for a long while under a strong inner emotion; then he looks up and says:)

So it is the emperor's will that –? Good, good, noble Decentius; the emperor's will shall be complied with.

Decentius the tribune.

It is necessary that it be complied with this very day.

Caesar Julian.

This very day; of course. Come here, Sintula! Now, where is he? Ah, so! – Fetch Sintula back!

(A courtier goes out at the back; Caesar Julian goes over to the window and reads the papers through anew.)

Florentius the praetorian prefect (in a subdued voice to the tribune).

I beg most earnestly, do not misinterpret what I said before. When I ascribed the honour to Caesar, it was of course not thereby meant that –

Severus the general (softly).

Never could it come into my thought that it was not the emperor's supreme wise leadership that –

A courtier (on the tribune's other side).

I beg you, noble sir, – put in a word for me in the court-camp, and release me from this painful post with a Caesar who –; yes, he is the emperor's exalted kinsman, but –

Another courtier.

I could unfortunately tell you things that bear witness as much to boundless vanity as to foolhardy hopes –

Caesar Julian.

This very day! Let a word be said, Decentius! It would be my highest wish, if I could lay down this responsible dignity.

Decentius the tribune.

That shall be reported to the emperor.

Caesar Julian.

I call heaven to witness that I never –; ah, there is Sintula; so then we can – (to the tribune.) You are going?

Decentius the tribune.

I have to confer with the generals, exalted Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

Without my intervention?

Decentius the tribune.

The emperor has charged me to spare his precious kinsman.

(He goes out at the back, followed by the others, except Sintula, who remains standing by the door.)

Caesar Julian (looks at him for a while).

Sintula!

Sintula the master of the horse.

Yes, exalted lord!

Caesar Julian.

Come nearer. – Yes, truly, you look honest. Forgive me; I have never thought that you could be so devoted to me.

Sintula the master of the horse.

Whence do you know that I am devoted to you, my lord?

Caesar Julian. (points at the roll of paper).

Here I can read it for myself; it says that you are to leave me.

Sintula the master of the horse.

I, my lord?

Caesar Julian.

The emperor is dissolving the Gallic army, Sintula!

Sintula the master of the horse.

Dissolving –?

Caesar Julian.

Yes, what else is it than a dissolution? The emperor needs to reinforce himself, both in the Danube region and against the Persians. Our Batavian and Herulian auxiliary troops are to depart in all haste, in order to be able to stand in Asia by the spring.

Sintula the master of the horse.

But these are impossible things, my lord! You have, after all, solemnly sworn to these very confederates of ours that they must on no account be used beyond the Alps.

Caesar Julian.

Just so, Sintula! The emperor writes that I gave that pledge in rashness and without his consent. That, to be sure, I have never known; but so it stands. I am to be forced to break my word, to dishonour myself in the eyes of the army, to turn the barbarians' unbridled wrath, perhaps their death-dealing weapons, against me.

Sintula the master of the horse.

It will fail, my lord! The Roman legions will offer you their breast for a shield.

Caesar Julian.

The Roman legions? Hm; – guileless friend! From each Roman legion three hundred men are to be drawn out, who likewise are to be sent to the emperor by the shortest roads.

Sintula the master of the horse.

Ah, this is –!

Caesar Julian.

It is well calculated; is it not? All the army-divisions are to be stirred up against me, so that with all the less danger they may make me weaponless.

Sintula the master of the horse.

And I tell you, my lord, that not a single one of your generals will let himself be used for this.

Caesar Julian.

My generals will not come into temptation either. You are the man.

Sintula the master of the horse.

I, my Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

Here it stands written. The emperor entrusts to you to arrange all that is needful and thereupon to lead the selected divisions to Rome.

Sintula the master of the horse.

And that is entrusted to me? Here, where men like Florentius and old Severus –

Caesar Julian.

You have no victories on your list of sins, Sintula!

Sintula the master of the horse.

No, that is surely true. Never here would anyone grant me the opportunity to show –

Caesar Julian.

I have been unjust toward you. Thank you for your faithfulness.

Sintula the master of the horse.

So great an imperial grace! My lord, may I see –

Caesar Julian.

What do you want to see? You will not let yourself be used for this, after all.

Sintula the master of the horse.

God forbid that I should refuse the emperor obedience!

Caesar Julian.

Sintula, – you could disarm your Caesar!

Sintula the master of the horse.

Caesar has all his days set little store by me. Caesar has never been able to forgive me that he had to endure about him a master of the horse who was chosen by the emperor.

Caesar Julian.

The emperor is great and wise; he knows how to choose.

Sintula the master of the horse.

My lord, – I burn to do my duty; may I ask for the emperor's command?

Caesar Julian (hands him one of the papers).

Here is the emperor's command. Go, and do your duty.

Myrrha the slave-girl (comes hurriedly from the right).

Oh, merciful saviour!

Caesar Julian.

Myrrha! What is it?

Myrrha the slave-girl.

Oh, gracious heaven, my mistress –

Caesar Julian.

Your mistress, – what of her?

Myrrha the slave-girl.

Sickness or madness –; help, help!

Caesar Julian.

Helena ill! The physician! Oribases shall come, Sintula! Fetch him!

(Sintula the master of the horse goes out at the back. Caesar Julian is about to hasten out to the right, but meets in the doorway Princess Helena surrounded by slave-girls. Her face is wild and distraught, her hair and clothes in disorder.)

Princess Helena.

Loosen the comb! Loosen the comb, I say! It is red-hot. Fire in my hair; I burn, I burn!

Caesar Julian.

Helena! For God's mercy's sake –!

Princess Helena.

Is there no one who will help? They are murdering me with needle-pricks!

Caesar Julian.

My Helena! What has happened to you?

Princess Helena.

Myrrha, Myrrha! Save me from the girls, Myrrha!

Oribases the physician (comes from the background).

What message of horror is being told –? Is it true? Ah!

Caesar Julian.

Helena! My love, light of my life –!

Princess Helena.

Away from me! Oh, sweet Jesus, help!

(she half sinks down among the slave-girls.)

Caesar Julian.

She is beside herself. What can it be, Oribases? Look, – look at the eyes, how large –!

Oribases the physician (to Myrrha).

What has the princess partaken of? What has she eaten or drunk?

Caesar Julian.

Ah, you think –?

Oribases the physician.

Answer, women; what have you given the princess?

Myrrha the slave-girl.

We? Oh, nothing, believe me; she herself has –

Oribases the physician.

Well, well!

Myrrha the slave-girl.

Some fruits; it was peaches, I think; – oh, I do not know –

Caesar Julian.

Fruits! Peaches? Of those that –?

Myrrha the slave-girl.

Yes – no – yes; I do not know, my lord; – there were two Nubians –

Caesar Julian.

Help, help, Oribases!

Oribases the physician.

Alas, I fear –

Caesar Julian.

No, no, no!

Oribases the physician.

Quiet, gracious sire; she is coming to herself.

Princess Helena (whispering).

Why did the sun go down? Oh, holy, mysterious darkness!

Caesar Julian.

Helena! Listen; collect your thoughts –

Oribases the physician.

My exalted princess –

Caesar Julian.

It is the physician, Helena! (takes her hand.) No, here, where I stand.

Princess Helena (tears herself loose).

Fie; there he was again!

Caesar Julian.

She does not see me. Here, here, Helena!

Princess Helena.

The loathsome one; – always he is about me.

Caesar Julian.

What does she mean?

Oribases the physician.

Step aside, gracious sire –!

Princess Helena.

Sweet stillness! He has no inkling –; oh, my Gallus!

Caesar Julian.

Gallus?

Oribases the physician.

Go, exalted Caesar; it is not fitting –

Princess Helena.

How your thick curly hair curves defiantly about the neck. Oh, this short, fleshy neck –

Caesar Julian.

Abyss of all abysses –!

Oribases the physician.

The delirium increases –

Caesar Julian.

I notice, I notice. We must investigate, Oribases!

Princess Helena (laughs softly).

Now he wants to investigate again. – Ink on the fingers; book-dust in the hair, – unwashed; fie, fie, how he stinks.

Myrrha the slave-girl.

My lord, do you not command that I shall –?

Caesar Julian.

Away with you, woman!

Princess Helena.

How could you let yourself be overcome by him, you brown, swelling barbarian? He cannot overcome women. How I am sickened by this virtue of impotence.

Caesar Julian.

Aside, all of you! Not so near, Oribases! I myself will watch over the princess.

Princess Helena.

Are you angry with me, you glorious one? Gallus is dead, after all. Beheaded. What a stroke it must have been! Not jealous, you my first and last. Burn Gallus in the fire of hell; – it was, after all, only you, you, you –!

Caesar Julian.

Not nearer, Oribases!

Princess Helena.

Kill the priest too! I will not see him after this, you know our sweet secret, after all. Oh, you longing of my days, rapture of my nights! It was you yourself, after all, – in the shape of your servant – in the prayer-chamber; yes, yes, you were there; it was you – in the darkness, in the air, in the veiling clouds of incense, that night when the Caesar-to-be beneath my heart –

Caesar Julian (recoils with a cry).

Ah!

Princess Helena (with outspread arms).

My lover and lord! Mine, mine –!

(she falls down on the floor; the slave-girls hasten up and gather about her.)

Caesar Julian (stands for a moment motionless; then he clenches his hand in the air and cries out):

Galilean!

(The slave-girls carry the princess out to the right; at the same moment Sallust the knight comes quickly in through the door at the back.)

Sallust the knight.

The princess in a swoon! Oh, so it was true after all!

Caesar Julian (seizes the physician by the arm and leads him aside).

Tell the truth! Have you before today known that –; well now, you understand me; have you before today known anything of – of the princess's condition?

Oribases the physician.

I, like all others, my lord!

Caesar Julian.

And you have said nothing to me, Oribases!

Oribases the physician.

How, my Caesar?

Caesar Julian.

How could you dare to keep silent about such a thing!

Oribases the physician.

My lord, there was one thing of which we were all ignorant.

Caesar Julian.

And that was?

Oribases the physician.

That Caesar knew nothing.

(he is about to go.)

Caesar Julian.

Where to?

Oribases the physician.

To try the remedies that my art –

Caesar Julian.

I believe that your art will prove useless.

Oribases the physician.

My lord, it might yet be possible that –

Caesar Julian.

Useless, I say!

Oribases the physician (a step back).

Exalted Caesar, it is my duty to be disobedient to you in this.

Caesar Julian.

How do you interpret my words? Go, go; try what your art –; save the emperor's sister; the emperor would feel inconsolable if his loving care should draw any misfortune after it. Yes, you know well that those fruits were a gift from the emperor?

Oribases the physician.

Ah!

Caesar Julian.

Go, go, man, – and try what your art –

Oribases the physician (bows reverently).

I believe my art is useless, my lord!

(he goes out to the right.)

Caesar Julian.

Ah, you, Sallust! What do you think? Now the waves of fate begin to roll in over the family again.

Sallust the knight.

Oh, but there is rescue. Oribases will –

Caesar Julian (curtly and dismissively).

The princess is dying.

Sallust the knight.

Oh, if I dared to speak! If I dared to trace the secret threads in this web of corruption!

Caesar Julian.

Be comforted, friend; all the threads shall come to light, and then –

Decentius the tribune (comes from the background).

How shall I approach Caesar's countenance! How inscrutable are the ways of God! Crushed to pieces –; would that you could read in my entrails! I, the messenger of sorrow and misfortune –!

Caesar Julian.

Yes, you may well say that twice, noble Decentius! And how shall I find words soft and veiling enough to bring this into a tolerable presentation for the emperor's brotherly ear!

Decentius the tribune.

Ill-fated, that such a thing should happen almost at the same time as my mission! And just now! Oh, this lightning-stroke from the cloudless heaven of hopes!

Caesar Julian.

Yes, this sea-storm of fate, rising up and engulfing, just as the ship seemed about to run into a long-wished-for harbour; this, this –; grief makes us eloquent, Decentius, – you as well as me. But business first. The two Nubians shall be imprisoned and interrogated.

Decentius the tribune.

The Nubians, my lord? Do you think my wrathful zeal could endure that those two careless servants a moment longer –?

Caesar Julian.

How? Surely you have never –?

Decentius the tribune.

Call me a hot-tempered man, exalted Caesar; but my love for the emperor and for his grief-stricken house would in truth have to be lesser than it is, if in such an hour it could give room for cool deliberation.

Caesar Julian.

You have had both slaves killed?

Decentius the tribune.

Had they not sevenfold deserved death, the negligent ones? They were two heathen savages, my lord! Their testimony would have served no purpose; it was impossible for me to press anything else out of them than that they had let those important things stand a rather long time in the antechamber without guard, accessible to each and all –

Caesar Julian.

Aha! Indeed, Decentius!

Decentius the tribune.

I accuse no one. Oh, but, precious Caesar, I warn you; for you are surrounded by faithless servants. Your court – what an ill-fated misunderstanding! – they have thought to glimpse a kind of disfavour, or whatever I shall call it, behind the measures that the emperor has been compelled to take here; in short –

Sintula the master of the horse (comes from the background).

My lord, you have given me a charge that I can in no way carry out.

Caesar Julian.

The emperor has given you the charge, good Sintula!

Sintula the master of the horse.

Take it from me, my lord; I am truly not equal to it.

Decentius the tribune.

What has happened?

Sintula the master of the horse.

The camp is in wild uproar. The legion troops and the confederates are banding together –

Decentius the tribune.

In defiance of the emperor's will!

Sintula the master of the horse.

The soldiers cry out that they will hold to Caesar's promises.

Caesar Julian.

Hear, hear; these roars outside –!

Sintula the master of the horse.

The swarm storms hither –

Decentius the tribune.

Let no one in!

Sallust the knight (at the window).

It is too late; the whole square is filled with threatening soldiers.

Decentius the tribune.

Caesar's precious life is in danger! Where is Florentius?

Sintula the master of the horse.

Fled.

Decentius the tribune.

The boastful wretch! But Severus, then?

Sintula the master of the horse.

Severus declares himself ill; he has had himself driven out to his country estate.

Caesar Julian.

I will myself speak with the raging men.

Decentius the tribune.

Not from the spot, exalted Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

What now?

Decentius the tribune.

It is my duty, most gracious sire; the emperor's command –; his precious kinsman's life –; Caesar is my prisoner.

Sallust the knight.

Ah!

Caesar Julian.

So it came after all!

Decentius the tribune.

The household troops, Sintula! You are to convey Caesar in safety to Rome.

Caesar Julian.

To Rome!

Sintula the master of the horse.

What do you say, my lord!

Decentius the tribune.

To Rome, I say!

Caesar Julian.

Like Gallus! (cries through the window.) Help, help!

Sallust the knight.

Flee, my Caesar! Flee, flee!

(Wild cries are heard outside. Roman legionaries, Batavian auxiliary troops and other confederates climb in through the window. At the same time another swarm presses in through the door at the back. Among the foremost is Maurus the standard-bearer; women, some with children in their arms, follow the intruders.)

Cries among the soldiers.

Caesar, Caesar!

Other voices.

Caesar, why have you betrayed us?

Yet others.

Down with the faithless Caesar!

Caesar Julian (throws himself with outspread arms right in among the soldiers and cries out):

Fellow-fighters, brothers in war, – save me from my enemies!

Decentius the tribune.

Ah, what is this –!

Wild cries.

Down with Caesar! Strike Caesar down!

Caesar Julian.

Close a ring about me; draw your swords!

Maurus the standard-bearer.

They are already drawn!

Women.

Cut him down; cut him down!

Caesar Julian.

Thank you for coming! Maurus! Honest Maurus! Yes, yes; on you I can rely.

Batavian soldiers.

How dare you send us to the ends of the earth? Was that what you swore to us?

Other confederates.

Not over the Alps! We are not bound to that!

Caesar Julian.

Not to Rome! I will not go; they will murder me, as they murdered my brother Gallus!

Maurus the standard-bearer.

What do you say, my lord?

Decentius the tribune.

Do not believe him!

Caesar Julian.

Do not touch the noble Decentius; he is without guilt.

Laipso the under-officer.

It is true; Caesar is the guilty one.

Caesar Julian.

Ah, is it you, Laipso! Brave friend, is it you? You struck well at Argentoratum.

Laipso the under-officer.

Caesar remembers that?

Varro the under-officer.

His promises he does not remember!

Caesar Julian.

Was it not the dauntless Varro's voice that I caught there? There we have him! Your wound is healed, I see. Oh, you well-deserving warrior, – that it should yet be denied me to make you a captain!

Varro the under-officer.

Have you really wished it?

Caesar Julian.

Do not lay it to the emperor's charge that he refused my request. The emperor knows none of you as I know you.

Decentius the tribune.

Soldiers, hear me –!

Many voices.

We have nothing to do with the emperor.

Others (press forward threateningly).

Caesar shall render us account!

Caesar Julian.

What power, then, has your unhappy Caesar, you friends? They mean to lead me to Rome. They refuse me the management of even my own affairs. They seize my share of the spoils of war. Five gold pieces and a pound of silver I had meant to grant each soldier, but –

The soldiers.

What does he say?

Caesar Julian.

It is not the emperor who forbids it; it is evil and envious counsellors. The emperor is good, you dear friends! Oh, but the emperor is ill; he can accomplish nothing –

Many soldiers.

Five gold pieces and a pound of silver!

Other soldiers.

And that is denied us!

Yet others.

Who dares deny Caesar anything!

Maurus the standard-bearer.

So they deal with Caesar, the father of the soldiers!

Laipso the under-officer.

With Caesar, who has been more a friend than a lord to us! Or has he perhaps not?

Many voices.

Yes, yes, he has!

Varro the under-officer.

Should not Caesar, the victor, be able to choose as captains whom he will?

Maurus the standard-bearer.

Should he not have free disposal over the booty that has fallen to him?

Loud shouts.

Yes, yes, yes!

Caesar Julian.

Alas, what would it profit you? What use can you make of earthly goods, you who are to be led away to the remotest lands to go to meet an uncertain fate –

The soldiers.

We will not go!

Caesar Julian.

Do not look at me; I am ashamed; for I am near to pouring out a stream of tears when I think that within a few months you are to be given up as a prey to diseases, to hunger and to the weapons of a bloodthirsty enemy.

Many soldiers (crowd about him).

Caesar! Good Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

And then your defenceless wives and children, whom you must leave behind in the scattered homes! Who shall shield these pitiable ones, these widows- and orphans-to-be, who will soon be exposed to the Alemanni's vengeful assault?

The women (weeping).

Caesar, Caesar, take care of us!

Caesar Julian (likewise in tears).

What is Caesar? What can the fallen Caesar do?

Laipso the under-officer.

Write to the emperor and let him know –

Caesar Julian.

Alas, what is the emperor? The emperor is sick in mind and body; he is broken down by care for the welfare of the realm. Is it not so, Decentius?

Decentius the tribune.

Yes, surely; but –

Caesar Julian.

How it cut me to the heart when I learned – –

(he presses the hands of the bystanders.)

Pray for his soul, you who worship the good Christ! Bring offerings for his health, you who have remained faithful to your fathers' gods! – – Do you know that the emperor has held a victory-entry in Rome?

Maurus the standard-bearer.

Has the emperor?

Varro the under-officer.

What? Beaten, as he came from the Danube?

Caesar Julian.

As he came from the Danube he has held a victory-entry for our victories –

Decentius the tribune (threateningly).

Exalted Caesar, consider –!

Caesar Julian.

Yes, it is true, what the tribune says; consider how the emperor's mind must be clouded, when such things can happen? Oh, my sorely afflicted kinsman! When in Rome he rode through Constantine's mighty arch, he thought himself so great that he bent his back and bowed his head down toward the saddle-bow.

Maurus the standard-bearer.

Like a cock in a gateway-arch!

(Laughter among the soldiers.)

A few voices.

Is that an emperor!

Varro the under-officer.

And him we are to obey!

Laipso the under-officer.

Away with him!

Maurus the standard-bearer.

Caesar, take the rule yourself!

Decentius the tribune.

Rebellion –!

Many voices.

Take the power; take the power, Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

Madmen! Is that to speak like Romans? Will you imitate the Alemannic barbarians? What was it Knodomar cried at Argentoratum? Answer me, good Maurus, – what did he cry?

Maurus the standard-bearer.

He cried: long live emperor Julian!

Caesar Julian.

Ah, hush, hush! What are you saying?

Maurus the standard-bearer.

Long live emperor Julian!

Those standing behind.

What is going on?

Varro the under-officer.

They proclaim Caesar Julian emperor!

Loud cries.

Long live the emperor! Long live emperor Julian!

(The cry spreads in wider and wider circles outside; all talk at once over one another; Caesar Julian for a long time cannot get a word in.)

Caesar Julian.

Oh, I implore you –! Soldiers, friends, comrades in battle, – see, I stretch out my trembling arms –! Be not anxious, my Decentius! – Oh, that I should have to live to see this! I lay nothing to your charge, you faithful ones; it is despair that has driven you. You will have it so. Good; I submit myself to the will of the army. – Sintula, let my commanders be assembled. – You, tribune, can bear witness for Constantius that I only of necessity – (turns to Varro.) Go, captain, and proclaim in the camp this unexpected change. I myself will without delay write to Rome –

Sallust the knight.

My lord, the soldiers want to see you.

Maurus the standard-bearer.

A golden ring about your head, emperor!

Caesar Julian.

Such an ornament I have never owned.

Maurus the standard-bearer.

This one can do it.

(he takes off his necklace and winds it in many coils about Caesar's brow.)

Shouts outside.

The emperor; the emperor! We want to see the emperor!

Soldiers.

Onto the shield with him! Up, up!

(The bystanders lift Julian high into the air upon a shield and show him to the multitude amid long-continued shouts of applause.)

Caesar Julian.

The will of the army be done! I bow to the inevitable and renew all my pledges –

Legionaries.

Five gold pieces and a pound of silver!

Batavians.

Not over the Alps!

Caesar Julian.

We will establish ourselves firmly in Vienna. That city is the strongest in Gaul and besides rich in all manner of stores. There it is my intention to wait until we see whether my downcast kinsman approves what we here, for the good of the realm, have resolved –

Sallust the knight.

That he will not do, my lord!

Caesar Julian (with uplifted hands).

Divine wisdom, shine into his darkened soul and lead him to the best! Be with me, you fortune, that have never failed me before!

Myrrha and the women (wailing outside to the right).

Dead, dead, dead!

ACT FIVE.

(At Vienna. A vaulted chamber in the catacombs. To the left a winding passage twists upward. Through the rock-face in the background a stair has been hewn, which ends above at a closed door. In front to the right, a number of steps lead down to the deeper-lying passages. The chamber is faintly lit by a burning hanging-lamp.)

(Caesar Julian, with unshaven beard and in soiled clothes, stands stooping over the opening to the right. Muffled hymn-singing sounds through the door from the adjoining church outside.)

Caesar Julian (speaks downward).

Still no sign?

A voice (deep below).

None.

Caesar Julian.

Neither yes nor no? Neither for nor against?

The voice.

Both.

Caesar Julian.

That is as good as nothing.

The voice.

Wait, wait.

Caesar Julian.

I have waited five days and nights; you asked for only three. I tell you, – I am not minded to – (he listens toward the exit and calls in a hushed voice downward.) Speak not!

Sallust the knight (comes in from above by the passage to the left).

My lord; my lord!

Caesar Julian.

Is it you, Sallust? What do you want down here?

Sallust the knight.

This brooding darkness –; ah, now I see you.

Caesar Julian.

What do you want?

Sallust the knight.

To serve you, if I could, – to lead you out to the living again.

Caesar Julian.

What news from up in the world?

Sallust the knight.

The soldiers are restless; we notice all manner of signs that their patience will soon fail them.

Caesar Julian.

Now the sun surely shines up there.

Sallust the knight.

Yes, my lord!

Caesar Julian.

The sky arches like a sea of glittering light. It is perhaps high noon. It is warm; the air quivers along the house-walls; the river ripples, half dried up, over white flintstones. – Lovely life; lovely world!

Sallust the knight.

Oh, come, come, my lord! This sojourn in the grave-passages is interpreted to your harm.

Caesar Julian.

How is it interpreted?

Sallust the knight.

Dare I say it?

Caesar Julian.

You dare and you shall. How is it interpreted?

Sallust the knight.

Many believe that it was less sorrow than remorse that so strangely drove you down beneath the earth.

Caesar Julian.

They believe I killed her?

Sallust the knight.

The mysteriousness of the matter must excuse them, if –

Caesar Julian.

No one killed her, Sallust! She was too pure for this realm of sin; therefore an angel came down from heaven every night into her secret chamber and called to her. Or what? Do you not know that the priests in Lutetia interpreted her death in this way? And the priests must surely know it. Has not her funeral procession hither been like a triumphal procession through the land? Did not all the women of Vienna stream out to meet her coffin outside the gates, greet her with green branches in their hands, spread carpets out on the road and strike up hymns of praise in honour of the heaven-bride, who was being borne home to the bridegroom's house? – What did you laugh at?

Sallust the knight.

I, my lord?

Caesar Julian.

Night and day I have heard the wedding-songs since. Hear, hear; in glorification she is lifted upward. Yes, she was assuredly a true Christian woman. She kept the commandment faithfully; – she gave to Caesar what was Caesar's, and to the other she gave –; well, it was not that we were to speak of; you are not initiated into the mysteries of the doctrine, Sallust! – What news, I asked?

Sallust the knight.

The most important thing I know is that the emperor, at the tidings of what took place in Lutetia, is said to have fled in haste over to Antioch.

Caesar Julian.

That news I know. Constantius doubtless already saw us in spirit before the gates of Rome.

Sallust the knight.

The friends who recklessly joined themselves to you in this dangerous matter saw the same in spirit.

Caesar Julian.

The time is not favourable to us, Sallust! Do you not know that during the war-games, before the departure from Lutetia, my shield broke to pieces, so that I kept only the handle? And do you not know that when I would mount my horse, that servant stumbled on whose folded hands I was to swing myself up?

Sallust the knight.

Yet you came into the saddle, my lord!

Caesar Julian.

But the man fell.

Sallust the knight.

Better men will fall, if Caesar hesitates.

Caesar Julian.

The emperor is decrepit.

Sallust the knight.

The emperor lives. The letters you have written to him about your proclamation –

Caesar Julian.

About my forced proclamation. They compelled me; there was no choice.

Sallust the knight.

The emperor does not let that explanation stand. It is his intent, when an army is gathered in the eastern provinces, to march into Gaul.

Caesar Julian.

How do you know –?

Sallust the knight.

By chance, my lord! I beseech you, believe me –!

Caesar Julian.

Good, good; when it happens, I will go to meet Constantius, – not with sword in hand –

Sallust the knight.

Not? How do you then think to meet him?

Caesar Julian.

I will give the emperor what is the emperor's.

Sallust the knight.

Do you mean by that, that you will step down?

Caesar Julian.

The emperor is decrepit.

Sallust the knight.

Oh, this vain hope! (throws himself on his knees.) Then take my life, my lord!

Caesar Julian.

What now!

Sallust the knight.

Caesar, take my life; I would rather die at your command than at the emperor's.

Caesar Julian.

Rise, friend!

Sallust the knight.

No; let me lie at my Caesar's feet and confess everything. Oh, precious lord, – that I must tell you this! – When I sought you out in the camp by the Rhine, – when I reminded you of our former friendship during the time together in Hellas, – when I begged to be allowed to share the dangers of war with you, – then, oh, Caesar, then I came as a secret spy in the emperor's service –

Caesar Julian.

You –!

Sallust the knight.

My mind had for some time been inflamed with resentment against you; you remember that petty quarrel in Milan, – yet not petty for me, who had hoped that Caesar would help my failing fortune back onto its feet. All this they turned to advantage in Rome; they held me to be the right man to spy out your ways.

Caesar Julian.

And to such a thing you could sell yourself? So black a deceit!

Sallust the knight.

I was ruined, my lord; and I felt that Caesar had cast me off. Yes, my Caesar, I betrayed you – in the first months; afterward not. Your kindness, your great soul, all the grace you showed me –; I became what I had given myself out to be, your faithful follower, and in my secret letters to Rome I deceived those who had sent me out.

Caesar Julian.

These letters were from you? Oh, Sallust!

Sallust the knight.

They contained nothing to your harm, my lord! What others may have written, I do not know; I know only that often enough I writhed in anguish under a forced and hateful silence. I ventured myself as far forward as I in any way dared. That writing, addressed to an unnamed man in your camp, in which is reported the emperor's triumphal entry into Rome, and which you one morning, on the way to Lutetia, found thrust in under your tent –; yes, you did find it, my lord?

Caesar Julian.

Yes, yes –?

Sallust the knight.

It was directed to me, and a lucky chance favoured me, so that it came into your hands. Speak I dared not, of course. I wanted to speak; but I could not; I put off from day to day betraying my disgrace. Oh, punish me, my lord; see, here I lie!

Caesar Julian.

Stand up; you are dearer to me thus, – won against my will and against your own. Stand up, you friend of my soul; no one shall harm a hair of your head.

Sallust the knight.

Take rather the life that you will not, after all, long have power to shield. You say the emperor is decrepit. (rises.) My Caesar, what I have sworn to keep silent, that I now reveal. The emperor's decrepitude holds no hope for you. The emperor is taking a new wife in marriage.

Caesar Julian.

Ah, what madness! How can you think –?

Sallust the knight.

The emperor is taking a new wife, my lord! (hands him some papers.) Read, read, exalted Caesar; these letters will leave no doubt in you.

Caesar Julian (seizes the papers and reads).

Yes, by the sun's light and power –!

Sallust the knight.

Oh, had I but dared to speak before!

Caesar Julian (still reading)

He is taking a woman in marriage. Constantius, – this dwindling shadow of a man –! Faustina –, what does it say? young – barely nineteen years old –, a daughter of – ah! a daughter of that overweening house. A zealous Christian woman, then (folds the papers together.) You are right, Sallust; his decrepitude holds no hope. Though he be decrepit, dying, – what does that signify? Is Faustina not pious? An angel of annunciation will reveal himself; or else –; ha-ha! in short, – in one way or another –, a young Caesar will be procured, and then –

Sallust the knight.

To hesitate is to perish.

Caesar Julian.

This has been prepared for long and in all silence, Sallust! Yes, if that is so, then all riddles are solved. Helena –, it was not, as I thought, her incautious tongue that felled her –

Sallust the knight.

No, my lord!

Caesar Julian.

– they have thought, – they have believed that –; oh, unfathomable, levelling justice! Therefore she had to be put out of the way.

Sallust the knight.

Yes, therefore; I was the one whom they in Rome first cast their eyes upon. Oh, my lord, you surely do not call into doubt that I refused it? I took refuge behind the impossibility of finding an opportunity; they assured me that the criminal undertaking had been given up, and then –!

Caesar Julian.

They do not stop at – at the double corpse in the stone coffin up there. Constantius is taking a wife. That is why I was to be disarmed in Lutetia.

Sallust the knight.

Only one thing can save you, my Caesar; you must act before the emperor regains his strength.

Caesar Julian.

What if I voluntarily withdrew into solitude, giving myself over to the wisdom that I have here been forced to neglect? Would the new rulers tolerate such an existence? Would not the mere fact that they knew me to be alive be like a hanging sword over their heads?

Sallust the knight.

The kinsmen of the future empress are the men who surrounded Caesar Gallus in his last hours.

Caesar Julian.

Scudilo the tribune. Believe me, friend, – I have not forgotten it. And for this bloody emperor I am to yield and fall! Him I am to spare, him who for long years has stumbled about among the corpses of my nearest kin!

Sallust the knight.

If you spare him, within three months he will stumble about among the corpses of your followers.

Caesar Julian.

Yes, yes; in that you are surely right. It is to me almost like a compelling command to rise up against him. If I do it, I do it not for my own sake. Is it not the weal and woe of thousands that is at stake here? Does it not concern the lives of thousands? Or did it lie within my power to avert this extremity? You are more guilty than I, Sallust! Why did you not speak before now?

Sallust the knight.

In Rome they made me swear a solemn oath to keep silent.

Caesar Julian.

An oath. So. By the gods of your forefathers?

Sallust the knight.

Yes, my lord, – by Zeus and by Apollo.

Caesar Julian.

And yet you break the oath?

Sallust the knight.

I wish to live.

Caesar Julian.

But the gods?

Sallust the knight.

The gods – they are far away.

Caesar Julian.

Yes, your gods are far away; they hinder no one; they weigh upon no one; they leave a man room about himself to act. Oh, this Greek happiness, to feel oneself free! – –

You said that the emperor, vengeful as he is, will shed the blood of my faithful ones. Yes, who can doubt that so it will be? Was Chnodomar spared? Did not that harmless captive have to pay with his life for a slip of speech? For – I know it, Sallust – they killed him; it was a lie, that rumour of the barbarian's homesickness. What then have we not to expect for ourselves? In what hateful light has the tribune Decentius not presented matters in Rome?

Sallust the knight.

That is best seen from the court's hasty flight to Antioch.

Caesar Julian.

And am I not the father of the army, Sallust?

Sallust the knight.

The soldiers' father; the shield and protector of their wives and children.

Caesar Julian.

And what would be the realm's lot, if I waver now? A decrepit emperor, and after him a minor child on the throne; discord and revolt; every man's hand against every other's to seize the power. – Not many nights ago I had a vision. There revealed itself to me a figure with a circle of light about its head; it looked wrathfully at me and said: choose! Then it dissolved, like a rising morning mist. Until now I have interpreted this vision as pointing to quite other things; but now, when I know of the emperor's impending marriage – –

Yes, it truly is a matter of choosing, before disaster pours in over the realm. I am not thinking of my own advantage; but dare I push the choice from me, Sallust? And is it not my duty toward the emperor to guard my life? Have I the right to stand with hanging arms and wait for the murderers whom he, in his mad dread, hires to strike me down? Have I the right to give the unhappy Constantius occasion to heap a new blood-guilt upon his sin-laden head? Is it not better for him, – as it stands in the scriptures, – that he suffer wrong than that he do wrong? If therefore that which I inflict upon my kinsman can be called a wrong, then I hold that this wrong of mine is balanced out by the fact that it prevents my kinsman from inflicting a wrong upon me. I believe that both Plato and Marcus Aurelius, that crowned bridegroom of Sophia, would side with me in this. It would in any case not be a wholly unworthy task for the friends of wisdom, my dear Sallust! – Oh, had I but Libanius here!

Sallust the knight.

My lord, you are yourself so far advanced in wisdom that you –

Caesar Julian.

True, true; but I should nonetheless gladly hear the opinion of certain others. Not because I waver. Do not believe that! Nor do I find that we have any reason to despair of a happy outcome. For those foreboding events ought by no means to deter us. That I kept the handle, when my shield broke during the war-games, seems to me with full justification capable of being interpreted thus: that I shall succeed in keeping what my hand has taken hold of. And when I, swinging myself up onto my horse, dragged to the ground the man who helped me into the saddle, then it seems as if this foretokens a steep fall for Constantius, to whom I owe my elevation. However all things may be, my Sallust, I intend to draw up a writing that shall quite clearly justify that –

Sallust the knight.

Very well, gracious lord; but the soldiers are impatient; they wish to see you and hear their fate from your own mouth.

Caesar Julian.

Go, go, and content them; – tell them that Caesar shall soon show himself.

Sallust the knight.

My lord, it is not Caesar, it is the emperor himself that they wish to see.

Caesar Julian.

The emperor comes.

Sallust the knight.

Then he comes – even empty-handed – with the lives of thousands in his hand!

Caesar Julian.

A barter, Sallust; the lives of thousands against the deaths of thousands.

Sallust the knight.

Have your enemies the right to life?

Caesar Julian.

Happy you, whose gods are far away. Oh, this fitness of the will to bear arms –!

A voice (calls deep below in the grave-passages).

Julian, Julian!

Sallust the knight.

Ah, what is that?

Caesar Julian.

Go away, you dear one; go away in haste!

The voice.

Deaden the church-song, Julian!

Sallust the knight.

It calls again. Oh, then it is true after all!

Caesar Julian.

What should be true?

Sallust the knight.

That you live down here with an enigmatic stranger, with a soothsayer or with a sorcerer, who has come to you in the night-time.

Caesar Julian.

Ha-ha; that is said? Go, go!

Sallust the knight.

I conjure you, my lord, – let these pernicious dreams go. Come with me; come up into the day!

The voice (nearer, below).

All effort is wasted.

Caesar Julian (at the descent to the right).

No sign, my brother?

The voice.

Desolation and emptiness.

Caesar Julian.

Oh, Maximus!

Sallust the knight.

Maximus!

Caesar Julian.

Go, I say! If I step out of this house of decay, I come as emperor.

Sallust the knight.

I beseech you –; what do you seek here in the darkness?

Caesar Julian.

Light. Go, go!

Sallust the knight.

If Caesar hesitates, then I fear he will find the way barred.

(He goes away through the passage to the left. A little after, Maximus the mystic climbs up the stair; he wears a white sacrificial band about his brow; in his hand he has a long bloody knife.)

Caesar Julian.

Speak, my Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

All effort is wasted, you hear it. Why could you not deaden the church-song? It has choked all the omens; they wanted to speak, but they were not allowed to get a word in.

Caesar Julian.

Silence, darkness; – and I can wait no longer! What do you counsel me to?

Maximus the mystic.

Go forward blindly, emperor Julian! The light seeks you.

Caesar Julian.

Yes, yes, yes; I believe it too. I would not have needed to have you fetched the long way. Do you know what I have just learned –?

Maximus the mystic.

I will not know what you have learned. Take your fate into your own hands.

Caesar Julian (walks restlessly up and down).

In truth, what is he, then, this Constantius, – this fury-scourged sinner, this crumbling remnant of a former human being?

Maximus the mystic.

The gravestone over him, emperor Julian!

Caesar Julian.

Has he not, in all his conduct toward me, been like a shipwreck without a rudder, – now drifting to the left on the stream of distrust, now flung to the right by the storm-gust of remorse? Did he not reel up onto the imperial throne, terror-stricken, with the purple robe dripping with my father's blood? Perhaps with my mother's too. – Did not all my kinsmen have to fall, so that he could sit secure? No, not all; Gallus was spared, and I; – a couple of lives had to be left over, on which he could buy himself a little forgiveness. Then he drifted before the current of distrust again. Remorse wrung from him a Caesar's name for Gallus; then fear wrung from him a death-sentence over Caesar. And I? Do I owe him thanks for the life he has hitherto granted me? One by one; first Gallus and then –; every night I have sweated under the dread that the day just gone should be my last.

Maximus the mystic.

Were Constantius and death your worst dread? Think again.

Caesar Julian.

Yes, you are probably right. The priests –! My whole youth has been one continuous terror of the emperor and of Christ. Oh, he is terrible, this enigmatic one, – this merciless god-man! Everywhere I wanted to press forward, he stepped great and stern into my path with his unconditional, inexorable demand.

Maximus the mystic.

And this demand, – was it within you?

Caesar Julian.

Always outside. I had to! When my soul crouched together in gnawing and consuming hatred toward my kindred's murderer, then sounded the commandment: love your enemy! When my beauty-enraptured mind thirsted toward the customs and images of the bygone Greek world, then the Christian demand struck down into me with its: seek the one thing needful! When I felt the body's sweet desire and longing toward this or that, then the prince of renunciation frightened me with his: die to the world here in order to live yonder! – The human has become unlawful since the day when the seer from Galilee took over the governance of the world. To live has, through him, become to die. To love and to hate, that is to sin. Has he then transformed man's flesh and blood? Or has the earthbound human not remained what it was? Our sound innermost soul rises up against this; – and yet we shall will contrary to our own will! We shall, shall, shall!

Maximus the mystic.

And no further than this have you come? Shame on you!

Caesar Julian.

Maximus the mystic.

Yes, you, the man from Athens and from Ephesus.

Caesar Julian.

Alas, those times, Maximus! Then it was easy to choose. What was it that we were occupied with, really? A wisdom-edifice; neither more nor less.

Maximus the mystic.

Does it not stand somewhere in your scriptures: either with us or against us?

Caesar Julian.

Did not Libanius remain what he was, whether in a war of words he stood on the side of the accusation or of the defence? This here lies deeper. Here it is a deed that I must get through. «Give to the emperor what is the emperor's». In Athens I once made play of it; – but it lies deeper. You cannot grasp it, you who have never been under the god-man's power. It is more than a doctrine that he has spread out over the world; it is a sorcery that takes the minds captive. He who has once been under him, – I do not believe he ever comes wholly free.

Maximus the mystic.

Because you do not will it wholly.

Caesar Julian.

How shall I be able to will the impossible.

Maximus the mystic.

Is it worth the effort to will the possible?

Caesar Julian.

Word-babble from the lecture-halls! You no longer sate me with such things. And yet –; oh, no, no, Maximus! But you cannot grasp how it is with us. We are like vines that have been transplanted into a strange, unaccustomed soil; – plant us back again, and we should die off; but in the new ground we languish.

Maximus the mystic.

We? Whom do you call we?

Caesar Julian.

All those who are under the terror of the revealed one.

Maximus the mystic.

Shadow-terror!

Caesar Julian.

Be that as it may. But do you not see that this paralysing terror has thickened and towered itself into a wall about the emperor? Oh, I understand well why the great Constantine led such a will-binding doctrine to victory and power in the realm. No bodyguard with spear and shield closes so about the imperial throne as this captivating faith that always points out beyond the earthly life. Have you looked rightly at them, these Christians? Hollow-eyed, pale-cheeked, flat-chested are they one and all; they resemble the linen-weavers in Byssos; no hope of honour is allowed to sprout in this brooding existence; the sun shines for them, and they do not see it; the earth offers them its fullness, and they do not desire it; – all that they desire is to renounce and to suffer in order to come to die.

Maximus the mystic.

Then use them as they are; but then you yourself must stand outside. Emperor or Galilean; – that is the choice. Be a thrall under the terror or a ruler in the land of day and light and gladness! You cannot will the contradictory; and yet it is that which you will. You want to unite the irreconcilable, – to reconcile the two that cannot be reconciled; that is why you lie here and rot in the darkness.

Caesar Julian.

If you can, then light my way!

Maximus the mystic.

Are you the Achilles whom your mother dreamed that she would give to the world? A tender-skinned heel makes no man an Achilles. Rise, lord! Victory-bold, like a rider on his spirited steed, you must leap over the Galilean, if you are to win your way to the imperial throne –

Caesar Julian.

Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

My beloved Julian, do look about you in the world! Those Christians with the death-longing whom you just named, they are the fewest. But how does it stand with all the others? Do the minds not fall away from the master, one by one? Yes, answer me, – what has become of this strange doctrine of love? Does not community rage against community among themselves? And now the bishops, those gold-bedizened lords who call themselves the chief shepherds of the church! Do they yield even to the magnates of the court at all in greed and lust for power and grovelling –?

Caesar Julian.

They are not all so; think of the mighty Athanasius in Alexandria –

Maximus the mystic.

Athanasius was also the only one. And where is Athanasius now? Did they not drive him out, because he was not for sale according to the emperor's will? Did he not have to take refuge in the Libyan desert, where he has been eaten up by lions? And can you then name me one more, like Athanasius? Think of bishop Maris of Chalcedon, who has now three times changed his mind in the Arian quarrels. Think of the old bishop Marcus in Arethusa; him you know, after all, from your youth. Has he not lately, contrary to law and equity, taken from the citizenry all their common property and laid it under the church? And then think of the decrepit, will-less bishop in Nazianzus, who becomes a mockery to his own congregation, because he answers yes and no to the same matter and because he wishes to please all the contending parties.

Caesar Julian.

True, true, true!

Maximus the mystic.

These are your brothers-in-arms, my Julian; better than these you will not find. Or perhaps you are counting on those two expected great Galilean lights from Cappadocia? Ha-ha; the bishop's son Gregory conducts lawsuits in his native town, and Basil studies the writings of worldly sages on his country estate in the eastern parts.

Caesar Julian.

Yes, I know it well. Apostasy on all sides! Hecebolius, my former teacher, has become a rich man on his zeal in the faith and on his scripture-exposition; and since that time –! Maximus, – it is well-nigh come to this, that I stand alone in earnestness.

Maximus the mystic.

You stand alone. Your whole army is in wild flight or lies beaten all around you. Sound the call to battle, – and no one will hear you; advance, – and no one will follow after you! Do not imagine that you can advance the cause that has given itself up. You are going under, I tell you! And where will you go then? Cast off by Constantius, you will be cast off by all powers on earth – and above the earth. Or will you take refuge in the Galilean's embrace? How does it stand between you and him? Have you not yourself said that you are under the terror? Have you his demand within you? Do you love your enemy, Constantius, merely because you do not strike him? Do you hate the flesh's lust and the earth's alluring ways, merely because you do not, like a hot swimmer, plunge yourself down into them? Do you renounce the world, merely because you have not the courage to possess it? And do you know so surely that – if you die to the world here – you shall then live yonder?

Caesar Julian (walks back and forth).

What has he done for me, this great demanding one? If he holds the reins of the world's chariot in his hand, then surely he must have been able to –

(The hymn-singing sounds more strongly from up in the church.)

Hear, hear! This they call serving him. And this he takes as a sweet sacrificial smoke. Praise-song over him, – and praise-song over her in the coffin! If he is the all-knowing one, how can he then –?

Eutherius the steward (comes quickly down through the passage to the left).

My Caesar! My lord, my lord; where are you?

Caesar Julian.

Here, Eutherius! What do you want of me?

Eutherius the steward.

You must come up, my lord; you must see it with your own eyes; – miracles are happening at the princess's corpse.

Caesar Julian.

You lie!

Eutherius the steward.

I do not lie, my lord! I do not cling to this foreign doctrine; but what I have seen, I cannot doubt.

Caesar Julian.

What did you see?

Eutherius the steward.

The whole city is in uproar. The sick and the crippled are carried in to the princess's coffin; the priests let them touch it, and they go away healed.

Caesar Julian.

And that you have seen yourself?

Eutherius the steward.

Yes, my lord; I have seen an epileptic woman go out of the church sound, praising the Galileans' god.

Caesar Julian.

Ah, Maximus, Maximus!

Eutherius the steward.

Hear how the Christians rejoice; – now a new miracle happens again.

Oribases the physician (calls up in the passage to the left).

Eutherius, – did you find him? Eutherius, Eutherius, where is Caesar?

Caesar Julian (toward him).

Here, here; – is it true, Oribases?

Oribases the physician (comes forward).

Incredible, inexplicable, – and yet true; they touch the coffin, the priests read and pray over them, and they are healed; a voice proclaims from time to time: holy, holy is the pure woman!

Caesar Julian.

A voice proclaims –?

Oribases the physician.

An invisible voice, my Caesar; a voice, high under the church's vault; – no one knows where it comes from.

Caesar Julian (stands a moment motionless, then he suddenly turns to Maximus and cries):

Life or the lie!

Maximus the mystic.

Choose!

Oribases the physician.

Come, come, my lord; the terror-stricken soldiers threaten you –

Caesar Julian.

Let them threaten.

Oribases the physician.

They lay the blame on you and me for the death of the miracle-working princess –

Caesar Julian.

I will come; I will content them –

Oribases the physician.

There is only one means; you must turn their thoughts in another direction, my lord; – they are wild with despair over the fate that awaits them, if you hesitate longer.

Maximus the mystic.

Ascend now to heaven, you fool; now you die for your lord and master!

Caesar Julian (seizes him by the arm).

The emperor's realm for me!

Maximus the mystic.

Achilles!

Caesar Julian.

What looses the covenant?

Maximus the mystic (hands him the sacrificial knife).

This.

Caesar Julian.

What does the water wash off?

Maximus the mystic.

The blood of the beast.

(he tears the sacrificial band from his brow and fastens it about Caesar's.)

Oribases the physician (approaches).

What do you intend, my lord?

Caesar Julian.

Do not inquire.

Eutherius the steward.

Hear the din! Up, up, my Caesar!

Caesar Julian.

First down, – then up. (to Maximus.) The sanctuary, my beloved brother –?

Maximus the mystic.

Just below, in the second vault.

Oribases the physician.

Caesar, Caesar, – where are you going?

Maximus the mystic.

To freedom.

Caesar Julian.

Through darkness to light. Ah –!

(he descends into the grave-passages.)

Maximus the mystic (softly, looks after him).

So it came after all.

Eutherius the steward.

Speak, speak; what do those secret arts mean?

Oribases the physician.

And that now, when every moment is precious –

Maximus the mystic (whispers uneasily as he changes place):

These gliding, moist shadows! Fie; this slimy vermin about my feet –!

Oribases the physician (listens).

The din rises, Eutherius! It is the soldiers; hear, hear!

Eutherius the steward.

It is the song from the church –

Oribases the physician.

No, it is the soldiers; – there they come!

(Sallust the knight shows himself up in the passage, surrounded by a great throng of agitated soldiers. Maurus the standard-bearer is among them.)

Sallust the knight.

Be calm; I conjure you –!

The soldiers.

Caesar has betrayed us! Caesar shall die!

Sallust the knight.

And what then, you raging ones?

Maurus the standard-bearer.

What then? With Caesar's head we buy forgiveness –

The soldiers.

Forth, forth, Caesar!

Sallust the knight.

Caesar, – my Caesar, where are you?

Caesar Julian (calls down in the burial-chamber).

Helios! Helios!

Maximus the mystic.

Set free!

Choral song up in the church.

Our Father, who art in heaven!

Sallust the knight.

Where is he? Eutherius, Oribases, – what is going on here?

The chorus (in the church).

Hallowed be thy name!

Caesar Julian (climbs up the stair; he has blood on his brow, on his breast and on his hands).

Accomplished!

The soldiers.

Caesar!

Sallust the knight.

Bloody –! What have you done?

Caesar Julian.

Cleft the mists of terror.

Maximus the mystic.

Creation is in your hand.

The chorus (in the church).

Thy will be done in heaven, as also on earth!

(the song continues during the following.)

Caesar Julian.

Now no bodyguard stands about Constantius any longer.

Maurus the standard-bearer.

What do you say, my lord!

Caesar Julian.

Ah, my faithful ones! Up into the day; to Rome and Hellas!

The soldiers.

Long live emperor Julian!

Caesar Julian.

We will not look back; all roads lie open to us. Up into the day. Through the church! The liars shall be struck dumb –!

(he hurries up the stair in the background.)

My army, my treasure, my imperial throne!

The chorus (in the church).

Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil!

(Caesar Julian throws the door wide open. One sees into the brightly lit church. The priests stand before the high altar; devout throngs kneel below around the princess's coffin.)

Caesar Julian.

Free, free! Mine is the kingdom!

Sallust the knight (calls to him).

And the power and the glory!

The chorus (in the church).

Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory –

Caesar Julian (blinded by the light).

Ah!

Maximus the mystic.

Victory!

The chorus (in the church).

– for ever and ever, amen!