ACT FIVE.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Is it not inconceivable that this council of war can last so long?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Yes, in truth, one would think there were here but two things to choose between: to advance or to retreat.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

This is not to be made sense of. –

Tell me, good Anatolus, why in the gods' name do we not advance?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Yes, why do they keep us in dread and make halt here in the midst of the wilderness?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

See you the quivering air down on the horizon, both in north, east and south?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Ay indeed, ay indeed; it is the heat –

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

It is the plain, that burns.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

What say you! Does the plain burn?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Jest not so gruesomely, good Anatolus! Tell us – what is it?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

The plain burns, I say. Out yonder, where the wilderness ends, the Persians have set fire to the grass. We can get nowhere before the ground is cooled.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

O, is this not dreadful? What barbarians! To resort to such means –!

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

But then there is no choice. Without provisions, without water –; why do we not go back?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Over the Tigris and Euphrates?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

And the fleet burned! How is this war conducted, then? O, that the emperor thinks no more of his friends! How shall I get home again?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

You, like the rest of us, friend!

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Like the rest of you? Like the rest of you! Yes, that is a fine speech. With you it is another matter. You are warriors. It is your calling to endure certain hardships that I am not at all accustomed to. I have not followed the emperor in order to suffer so much ill. Here I am tormented by gnats and poison-flies; – see how my hands look!

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Certainly we have not come here for this. We undertook to follow the army in order to compose panegyrics over the victories the emperor meant to win. Where have these victories gone? What has been achieved in the six toilsome weeks since the fleet's burning? One has destroyed some abandoned towns of the meanest sort. One has displayed in the camp some prisoners the vanguard is said to have taken. I know not, indeed, in what battles that should have happened! And I think too that those prisoners looked more like waylaid shepherds and peasants –

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

And then that one could burn the fleet! Did I not say at once that this would become a source of misfortunes?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

That I did not hear, though.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

What? Did I not say it? Did you not hear, O Priscus, that I said it?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

I know truly not, friend; but I know that I myself to no avail inveighed against this ill-fated undertaking. Yes, I can say that I have been against the whole campaign at this season. What rashness! Where has the emperor had his eyes? Is this the same hero who fought with such surpassing success by the Rhine-stream? Should one not think that he was struck with blindness or with a spiritual sickness?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Hush, hush; – what talk is that?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Yes, it was surely little seemly said by our Priscus. But neither can I deny that I trace a sorrowful lack of wisdom in several of the crowned wisdom-lover's later actions. How rash, to set up his image in the camp and let himself be worshipped, as though he were a god! How unwise, so openly to mock that strange teacher from Nazareth, who yet must be said to command a singular power, which otherwise might perhaps have come to the good of us all under these perilous circumstances.

Ah, there comes Nevita himself. Now we shall hear –

Nevita the general (draws the physician aside).

Tell me honestly, Oribases, – is there anything amiss with the emperor's mind?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

How come you to that, lord?

Nevita the general.

How else shall I interpret his conduct?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

O, my beloved emperor –!

Nevita the general.

Oribases, you must conceal nothing from me.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom (approaches).

O, valiant general, if it is not urgent –

Nevita the general.

Later, later!

Oribases the Royal Physician (to Nevita).

Be at ease, lord! No mishap shall happen. Eutherius and I have promised each other to keep an eye on him.

Nevita the general.

Ah, you would surely not thereby say that –?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Last night he was near to cutting short his life. Happily Eutherius came upon the scene –; o, speak of it to no one!

Nevita the general.

Let him not out of sight.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom (approaches).

It would be a great comfort to us to learn what the council of war –?

Nevita the general.

Forgive me; I have important things to attend to.

Jovian the Commander (inward).

It shall be done, my gracious emperor!

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Ah, most excellent Jovian! Now? Is the retreat resolved on?

Jovian the Commander.

I would advise none to call it a retreat.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

O, these warriors! A wisdom-lover's peace of mind counts for nothing with them. Ah!

Emperor Julian (to the teachers of wisdom).

Rejoice now, my friends! Now soon all will be well.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Alas, blessed lord, have you found a way out?

Emperor Julian.

We have ways out enough, Cytron; it is only a matter of choosing the best. Now we will change something in the army's advance –

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

O, praised be your sagacity!

Emperor Julian.

This march toward the east, – it leads to nothing.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

No, no, that is certain!

Emperor Julian.

Now we go toward the north, Cytron!

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

What, lord, – toward the north?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Then not westward?

Emperor Julian.

Not westward. Far from westward. It would have its difficulty for the rivers' sake. And Ctesiphon we must leave for later. Without the ships we cannot think of taking the city. It was the Galileans who caused this with the ship-burning; I have noted one thing and another.

Who dares call it a retreat, that I go northward? What know you of my purposes? The Persian army stands somewhere in the north; of that we are now fairly certain. Have I first beaten Sapor –; it shall be done in one battle –; in the Persians' camp we shall find immense stores –

When I lead the Persian king as prisoner through Antioch and the other places, then I should like to see whether the citizens do not fall at my feet.

Christian soldiers (pass singing over the plain).

Emperor Julian (follows them with his eyes).

The Galileans sing always. Songs of death and wounds and pain. Those women I brought along as sick-nurses, – they have done us more harm than good. They have taught the soldiers strange songs, which I have not heard before.

Yet I will henceforth punish no one for such things. It leads only to the greater delusion. Know you, Priscus, what happened with the mutinous ones who lately refused to show the imperial images the due reverence?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Lately, lord?

Emperor Julian.

When I, in order to instill in the like-minded a wholesome terror, would have some of these men put to death, then the eldest stepped forward and begged, amid loud cries of joy, to be allowed to die first. – See you, Priscus, – when I yesterday learned this –

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Yesterday? O lord, you err. This happened forty days ago.

Emperor Julian.

So long? Yes, yes, yes! The Hebrews had to wander forty years in the wilderness. All the old ones had to die out. There had to grow up a new race; but that – mark you it – that was let into the land which was promised to them all.

Eutherius the steward.

The day is far advanced, lord; – will you not think of the meal?

Emperor Julian.

Not yet, my Eutherius! The mortification of the flesh may well be of profit to all men.

Yes, I tell you, we must take pains to become a new race. I can do nothing with you, such as you now are. Would you out of the wilderness, then must you walk in a pure life. Look to the Galileans. We could learn certain things from those men. There are no needy and helpless among them; they live as brothers and sisters together, – and most now, when their stubbornness has forced me to chastise them. These Galileans, you shall know, have something in the heart that I could highly wish you would apply yourselves to. You call yourselves followers of Socrates, of Plato, of Diogenes. Is there any of you who would go glad to death for Plato's sake? Would our Priscus offer his left hand for Socrates? Would Cytron for Diogenes let his ear be hewn off? You would in truth not! I know you, you whited sepulchres! Go from my eyes; – I can make no use of you!

Emperor Julian.

How strange! How is it not in its deepest ground inconceivable? Oribases, – can you explain me this riddle?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

My emperor, – what riddle do you mean?

Emperor Julian.

With twelve lowly men, fishermen, ignorant people, he founded this.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

O lord, these thoughts weaken you.

Emperor Julian.

And who is it that has held it together to this day? Women and the untutored for the greatest part –

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Yes, yes, lord; but now soon a happy turn of the campaign –

Emperor Julian.

Very true, Oribases; as soon as fortune has turned, then all will be well. The carpenter's son's kingdom falls before long; that we know well. As many years as the year has days, so long shall he reign; and now we have surely –

Eutherius the steward.

My beloved lord, would not a bath do you good?

Emperor Julian.

Do you think so? – You may go, Eutherius! Go, go! I have something to speak of with Oribases.

Emperor Julian.

Has Eutherius told you anything this morning?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

No, lord!

Emperor Julian.

Has he not told you of something from last night –?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

No, my emperor, – nothing at all. Eutherius is very silent.

Emperor Julian.

Should he tell you anything, then you must not believe it. It has in no way come about as he says. It is he himself who seeks my life.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

He, – your old faithful servant!

Emperor Julian.

I will keep an eye on him.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

So will I.

Emperor Julian.

We will both keep an eye on him.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Lord, I think you have enjoyed little sleep this night.

Emperor Julian.

Yes.

Oribases the Royal Physician (would speak but checks himself).

Emperor Julian.

Know you whence it came that I could not sleep?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

No, my emperor!

Emperor Julian.

The victor of the Mulvian bridge was with me.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

The great Constantine?

Emperor Julian.

Yes. In the last nights I have had no rest for this shade. He comes a little after midnight and goes not away until toward the morning hour.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Lord, it is the full moon; it has always worked a strange effect on your mind.

Emperor Julian.

According to the opinion of the ancients, such visions are wont – – What keeps Maximus so long? But their opinion is in no way to be built upon. We see, after all, that they have gone astray in so many things. Even what they tell of the gods we dare not believe unconditionally. Nor either about the shades and the powers otherwise that rule over men's welfare. What do we know of these powers? We know nothing, Oribases, – excepting their caprice and inconstancy, for which qualities we have fairly sure testimony.

I could wish Maximus would come. – –

Here? It is surely not here that the threatening tempest gathers. It should surely be in the Phrygian regions –

Oribases the Royal Physician.

What regions, lord, – and what tempest?

Emperor Julian.

O, nothing – nothing.

Nevita the general (comes from the right side of the plain).

Now, my emperor, the army is set in motion –

Emperor Julian.

Northward?

Nevita the general (starts).

Of course, lord!

Emperor Julian.

Yes, we should yet have waited for Maximus –

Nevita the general.

What does that mean, my emperor? Here is nothing to wait for. We stand without provisions; scattered hostile bands of horsemen already show themselves both in the east and in the south –

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes, we must forward, – northward. Now Maximus comes at once. I have had the Etruscan soothsayers fetched from the rearguard; they shall yet once try – – Some Magi too I have got hold of, and they say themselves to be well versed in the Chaldean mysteries. Our own priests take auguries in nine different places –

Nevita the general.

Lord, however the auguries fall out, I tell you, we must forward. The soldiers are no longer to be relied on; they understand well, our only rescue is to reach the Armenian mountains.

Emperor Julian.

Thither we will, Nevita, – however the auguries fall out. But it is yet a great security to know that one acts as it were after consultation with those unfathomable powers which, when they will, can grip so exceedingly deep into a man's fate.

Nevita the general (goes from him and says shortly and commandingly).

Anatolus, take down the emperor's tent!

Emperor Julian.

All auguries in these forty days have been boding of misfortune; and that just shows that one dares put trust in them; for in all this time our cause has been but little advanced. But see you well, my Oribases, – now, when I have a new undertaking in view –

Ah, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic (comes from within the plain).

The army is already under way, lord; mount your horse!

Emperor Julian.

The auguries – the auguries?

Maximus the mystic.

Why, what – the auguries! Ask not about the auguries.

Emperor Julian.

Speak! I will know what they have answered.

Maximus the mystic.

All auguries are silent.

Emperor Julian.

They are silent?

Maximus the mystic.

I was with the priests; the sacrificial beasts' entrails gave no sign. I was with the Etruscan jugglers; the bird's flight and cry told them nothing. With the Magi I was too; their writings had no answer to give. And I myself –

Emperor Julian.

You yourself, my Maximus?

Maximus the mystic.

Now I can tell you it. I have this night searched the position of the stars. They proclaimed me nothing, Julian!

Emperor Julian.

Nothing. – Silence – silence, as though the sun's disc were about to be darkened. Alone! No bridge any more between me and the spirits.

Where are you now, you white, sail-gleaming fleet, that came and went in daylight's radiance and that bore tidings between earth and heaven?

The fleet is burned. This fleet too is burned. O, all my shining ships.

Or what, Maximus, – what think you of this?

Maximus the mystic.

I believe in you.

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes, – do that!

Maximus the mystic.

The world-will has laid down its might in your hand; therefore it is silent.

Emperor Julian.

So will we interpret it. And we must act accordingly, – though we would rather have wished that – – This silence! To stand so wholly alone.

Yet there are others who also may be said to stand almost alone. The Galileans. They have but the one god; and one god is, after all, almost no god.

How comes it then that we daily see these men – –?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard (who has meanwhile had the tent taken down).

My emperor, now you must mount your horse; I dare no longer leave you behind here.

Emperor Julian.

Yes, now I will mount my horse. Where have you my good Babylonios? So then; with the sword in hand –

Come, you precious friends!

Macrina and the women (sing outside to the left).

One of the soldiers (listening).

Hush! Hear you? Over there the Galilean women are singing.

Another soldier.

They sing like owls and night-ravens.

A third soldier.

Then I would gladly be with them. It is safer among the Galileans than among us. The Galileans' god is stronger than ours.

The first soldier.

The emperor has angered the gods, that is the matter. How could he take it into his head to set himself in the gods' place?

The third soldier.

It is worse that he has angered the Galileans' god. Know you not, it is said for quite certain that he and his sorcery-master, one of the last nights, cut open the belly of a pregnant woman to take auguries from her entrails?

The first soldier.

Yes, but I do not believe it. In any case it has been no Greek woman; it must have been a barbarian woman.

The third soldier.

It is said that the Galileans' god takes care of the barbarians too; and if so it be, then it will come to fall upon us.

The second soldier.

Oh what, – the emperor is a great warrior.

The first soldier.

King Sapor is said to be a great warrior too.

The second soldier.

Do you think it is the whole Persian army we have before us?

The first soldier.

Some say it is but the vanguard; none knows it so exactly.

The third soldier.

I wish I were over among the Galileans.

The first soldier.

Will you also fall away?

The third soldier.

So many fall away, after all. In the last days there have –

The first soldier (cries out into the darkness).

Halt – halt! Who comes there?

A voice.

Friends from the outposts!

The second soldier.

Ho-ho; one who has wanted to run away.

One of the newcomers.

No, he is out of his wits.

Agathon the soldier.

I am not out of my wits. O, for God's great mercy's sake, – let me loose!

The soldier from the outposts.

He says he will kill a beast with seven heads.

Agathon the soldier.

Yes, yes, yes, that I will. O, let me loose, then! See you this spear? Know you what kind of spear it is? With this spear I will kill the beast with the seven heads, and then I get my soul again. Christ himself has promised me it. He was with me this night.

The first soldier.

It is hunger and weariness that have made him deranged.

One of the newcomers.

To the camp with him; there he can sleep his fill.

Agathon the soldier.

Let me loose! O, you should know what kind of spear this is!

The third soldier.

What could he mean by that beast?

The first soldier.

It is Galilean mysteries. They have so much of such among them.

Eutherius the steward.

See you him not?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

No. – Ah, soldiers! – Tell me, good friends, did anyone pass by here?

The first soldier.

Yes, a troop of spear-throwers.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Good, good! But no others? None of the high lords? None of the generals?

The soldiers.

No, none.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Then not here! O, Eutherius, how could you –?

Eutherius the steward.

Yes, what could I –? What could I –? My old eyes had not closed for three nights –

Oribases the Royal Physician (to the soldiers).

You must help us to search. I demand it in the commander-in-chief's own name. Spread yourselves among the trees; and if you find any of the noble lords, then report it by the watch-fire over there.

The soldiers.

It shall be done, lord!

Emperor Julian.

Hush! Come forward, Maximus! They saw us not.

Maximus the mystic (from the same side).

Oribases was one of them.

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes; both he and Eutherius keep an eye on me. They imagine no doubt that – – Has none of them told you anything?

Maximus the mystic.

No, my Julian! But why do you wake me? And what would you here in the dark night?

Emperor Julian.

I will be alone with you for the last time, my beloved teacher!

Maximus the mystic.

Not for the last time, Julian!

Emperor Julian.

See this black water. Do you believe – if I vanished without trace from the earth, and my body was never found, and none got to know where I had gone – do you believe that the legend would then spread that Hermes had come to me and led me away, and that I was taken up into the communion of the gods?

Maximus the mystic.

The time is near when men will not need to die in order to live as gods on the earth.

Emperor Julian.

I am consumed by homesickness, Maximus, – by homesickness for the light and the sun and all the stars.

Maximus the mystic.

O, I conjure you, – think not of sorrowful things. The Persian army stands right over against you. Tomorrow it will come to a battle. You will conquer –

Emperor Julian.

I – conquer? You know not who was with me an hour ago.

Maximus the mystic.

Who was with you?

Emperor Julian.

I had fallen asleep on my couch in the tent. Then I was awakened by a strong reddish glow that as it were cut through my closed eyelids. I looked up and glimpsed a figure standing in the tent. It had over its crown a long cloth that fell down to both sides, so the face was free.

Maximus the mystic.

Knew you this figure?

Emperor Julian.

It was the same face I saw in the light that night in Ephesus many years ago, – that night when we held symposium with the two others.

Maximus the mystic.

The spirit of the realm.

Emperor Julian.

Since then it has shown itself to me once in Gaul, – on an occasion I do not care to think of.

Maximus the mystic.

Did it speak?

Emperor Julian.

No. It seemed as though it would speak; but it spoke not. It stood motionless and looked at me. Its face was pale and distorted. All at once it struck with both arms the cloth together about its head, veiled its face and went out straight through the tent-wall.

Maximus the mystic.

The decisive hour is at the door.

Emperor Julian.

Yes, it is surely at the door.

Maximus the mystic.

Not fainthearted, Julian! He that wills, conquers.

Emperor Julian.

And what does the conqueror win? Is it worth the toil to conquer? What has the Macedonian Alexander, what has Julius Caesar won? Greeks and Romans speak of their renown with cool admiration, – while the other, the Galilean, the carpenter's son, sits as the king of love in warm, believing human hearts.

Where is he now? – Is he active elsewhere since that time when that took place on Golgotha?

I dreamed of him lately. I dreamed that I had laid the whole earth under me. I bade that the Galilean's memory should be effaced from the earth; and so it was effaced. – Then the spirits came and served me, and bound wings to my shoulders, and I swung myself out into the endless space, until I set my foot on another earth.

It was another earth than mine. Its round was greater, it had a yellower light-sheen, and several moon-discs turned about it.

Then I looked down on my own earth, the emperor's earth, which I had made Galilean-free, – and I found that all I had done was exceeding good.

But see, my Maximus, – then a procession came past me on the strange earth where I stood. There were warriors and judges and executioners at the head, and weeping women followed the procession. And see – in the midst of the slowly striding throng walked the Galilean, large as life and bore a cross on his back. Then I called to him and said: whither, Galilean? But he turned his face toward me, smiled, nodded slowly and said: to the place of the skull!

Where is he now? What if that on Golgotha by Jerusalem was but a village-deed, performed, as it were in passing through, in an idle hour? What if he goes and goes, and suffers and dies and conquers over again from the one earth to the other?

O, if I could lay the world waste! Maximus, – is there no poison, no devouring fire, that can lay the created waste, as it was on that day when the lonely spirit hovered over the waters?

Maximus the mystic.

I hear a din from the sentry-posts. Come, Julian –

Emperor Julian.

To think that century shall follow upon century, and that in them all men shall live, knowing that it was I who succumbed, and he who conquered!

I will not succumb! I am young; I am invulnerable; – the third kingdom is near –

There he stands!

Maximus the mystic.

Who? Where?

Emperor Julian.

See you him? Yonder between the tree-trunks, – in crown and purple mantle –

Maximus the mystic.

It is the moon that plays in the water. Come – come, my Julian!

Emperor Julian (goes threateningly toward the vision).

Give way before me! You are dead. Your kingdom is at an end. Off with the juggler's cloak, carpenter's son!

What do you there? What is it you timber? – Ah!

Eutherius the steward (from the left).

All gods be praised! – Oribases, – hither, hither!

Emperor Julian.

Where did he go?

Oribases the Royal Physician (from the left).

Is he there?

Eutherius the steward.

Yes. – O, my highly beloved emperor!

Emperor Julian.

Who was it that said: I timber the emperor's coffin?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

What do you mean, lord?

Emperor Julian.

Who spoke, I ask! Who was it that said: I timber the emperor's coffin?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Come with me to the tent, I conjure you!

Maximus the mystic.

War-cries! The Persians fall upon us –

Eutherius the steward.

The outposts are already in full battle!

Oribases the Royal Physician.

The enemy is in the camp! Ah, lord, you are weaponless –

Emperor Julian.

I will sacrifice to the gods.

Maximus the mystic.

What gods, you fool? Where are they, – and what are they?

Emperor Julian.

I will sacrifice to this one or that. I will sacrifice to many. Some one or other must yet hear me. I will call upon something outside me and above me –

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Here is not a moment to lose –!

Emperor Julian.

Ah, – saw you the burning torch behind the cloud? It kindled and went out in the same moment. A message from the spirits! A shining ship between heaven and earth! – My shield; my sword!

Maximus the mystic. (cries).

Emperor, emperor, – fight not in this night!

Ammian the captain.

Just so! In upon them! Stab them down! Give them no time to shoot!

Nevita the general (with retinue from the right).

Well fought, Ammian!

Ammian the captain.

O, lord, why come not the horsemen to help?

Nevita the general.

It is impossible. The Persians have elephants in the front of the line. The mere smell makes the horses shy. Stab – stab! From below, friends, – under the breastplates!

Cytron the teacher of wisdom (in night-clothes, laden with books and paper-rolls, from the right).

O, that I should come into the midst of these horrors!

Nevita the general.

Have you seen the emperor, friend?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Yes, but he heeds me not. O, I beg most humbly for a detachment of soldiers to protect me!

Nevita the general (to his companions).

They give way. The shield-bearers shall push forward.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

You do not hear me, lord! It is most important that I come to no harm; my treatise "On Peace of Mind under Difficult Circumstances" is not finished –

Nevita the general (as before).

The Persians have got reinforcement on the right hand. They press forward again.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Do they press forward? O, this bloody lust for murder! An arrow! It nearly struck me! How recklessly they shoot; no heed for life and limb!

Nevita the general.

The battle stands. It goes neither forward nor back.

Ho there, captain, – have you seen the emperor?

Fromentinus the captain.

Yes, lord; he fights at the head of the white-clad horsemen.

Nevita the general.

Not wounded?

Fromentinus the captain.

He seems invulnerable. Arrows and javelins turn aside wherever he shows himself.

Ammian the captain (cries back from the press of battle.)

Help; we can hold it no longer!

Nevita the general.

Forward, my brave Fromentinus!

Fromentinus the captain (to the soldiers).

Close together, and in upon them, Greeks!

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard (with some men from the right).

Is the emperor not here?

Nevita the general.

The emperor! Are you not to answer for the emperor?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

His horse was shot under him – there arose an immense press; it was impossible to reach through to him –

Nevita the general.

Ah, do you think he has come to harm?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

No, I do not think it. It was cried that he was unhurt, but –

Several of the general's retinue.

There he is! There he is!

Emperor Julian.

Good, that I found you, Nevita!

Nevita the general.

Ah, lord, – without armour; how imprudent –!

Emperor Julian.

In these regions no weapon bites me. But go, Nevita; take the whole command; the horse was shot under me and –

Nevita the general.

My emperor, so you have come to harm after all?

Emperor Julian.

No; only a blow on the head; a little dizzy. Go, go – – What is that? There press so many strange throngs right in among us.

Nevita the general (subdued).

Anatolus, you answer for the emperor.

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Be at ease, lord!

Emperor Julian.

How many of ours do you think have fallen, Anatolus?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

It is surely no small number, lord; but I am sure that more of the Persians have fallen.

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes; but yet many have fallen, both Greeks and Romans. Do you not think?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

My emperor, you are surely not well. Your face is quite pale –

Emperor Julian.

See you these who lie there, – some on their backs, others forward with outstretched arms? They are surely all dead?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Yes, lord, there is no doubting it.

Emperor Julian.

They are dead, yes! They know then nothing, neither of the defeat in Jerusalem nor of the other defeats. – Do you not think, Anatolus, that many more Greeks will fall in this battle?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Lord, we will hope the bloodiest work is over.

Emperor Julian.

Many, many more will fall, I say! But it avails not. What does it help that many fall? It comes yet down to posterity – –

Tell me, Anatolus, how do you think the emperor Caligula conceived of that sword?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

What sword, lord?

Emperor Julian.

You know, he wished for a sword wherewith in a single stroke he could –

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Hear the war-cry, lord! Now am I sure that the Persians give way.

Emperor Julian (listens).

What is that song in the air?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Lord, allow me to fetch Oribases; or still better, – come, come; you are sick!

Emperor Julian.

There is song in the air. Can you not hear it?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

If so it be, then it is the Galileans –

Emperor Julian.

Yes, surely it is the Galileans. Ha-ha-ha, they fight in our ranks and see not who stands on the other side. O, you fools all together! Where is Nevita? Why does he go against the Persians? Sees he not that the Persians are not the most dangerous? – You all betray me.

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard (softly to one of the soldiers).

Hasten to the camp; fetch the emperor's physician!

Emperor Julian.

What swarming throngs! Do you think they have caught sight of us, Anatolus?

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

Whom, lord? Where?

Emperor Julian.

See you them not, – yonder – high up and far off! You lie! You see them well.

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

By the eternal gods, it is only the morning clouds; it is the day breaking forth.

Emperor Julian.

It is the Galilean's hosts, I tell you! See, – those in the red-bordered garments, they are those who suffered death by blood. Singing women surround them and spin bow-strings from their long, torn-off hair. Children are in their following and twist stone-slings from their unwound entrails. Burning torches –! How thousandfold, – how countless! They make straight hither! All of them look at me; all of them go straight at me!

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

It is the Persians, lord! Our ranks give way –

Emperor Julian.

They shall not give way. – You shall not! Stand fast, Greeks! Stand, stand, Romans! Today shall we free the world!

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard (cries out to the right).

Help! The emperor is in the utmost danger!

Emperor Julian (among the combatants).

I see him; I see him! A longer sword! Who has a longer sword to lend me?

Soldiers storming forward (from the right).

With Christ for the emperor!

Agathon the soldier (among the newcomers).

With Christ for Christ!

Emperor Julian.

Ah!

Agathon the soldier (cries in the press).

The Roman lance from Golgotha!

Confused cries.

The emperor! Is the emperor wounded?

Emperor Julian (tries to rise, but falls back and cries):

You have conquered, Galilean!

Many voices.

The emperor is fallen!

Anatolus the captain of the body-guard.

The emperor is wounded! Guard him – guard him, in the gods' name!

Jovian the Commander.

Forward – forward, believing brothers; give the emperor what is the emperor's!

Retreating soldiers (cry out to greet him).

He is fallen! The emperor is fallen!

Jovian the Commander.

Fallen! O, mighty God of vengeance! Forward, forward; the Lord wills that his people shall live! I see heaven open; I see the angels with flaming swords –!

Soldiers (storming forward).

Christ is among us!

Ammian's troops.

The Galileans' god is among us! Close about him! He is the strongest!

Macrina.

He bleeds again. I must lay the bandage tighter.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Thanks be to you, you gentle woman; your careful hands stood us in good stead.

Eutherius the steward.

Does he really still live?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Surely he lives.

Eutherius the steward.

But he does not breathe.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

He breathes yet.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Alas, good captain, how stand things out there?

Ammian the captain.

Better than here. Is he already –?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

No, no, – not yet. But is it certain that we have driven the Persians back?

Ammian the captain.

Yes, completely. It was Jovian the Commander who put them to flight. Just now three noble envoys came from King Sapor to the camp to beg for an armistice.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

And do you think Nevita will agree to it?

Ammian the captain.

Nevita has given over the command to Jovian. All flock about Jovian. All see in him the only rescuer –

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Speak softly; he stirs.

Ammian the captain.

Stirs? Wakes perhaps to consciousness? O, if he should come to experience this!

Eutherius the steward.

What, Ammian?

Ammian the captain.

Both soldiers and officers take counsel about the choice of the new emperor.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

What say you!

Eutherius the steward.

O, what shameless impatience!

Ammian the captain.

The army's perilous situation excuses it in part; and yet –

Macrina.

He wakes; – he opens his eyes –

Emperor Julian (lies a while still and looks mildly on the bystanders).

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Lord, do you know me?

Emperor Julian.

Yes, perfectly, my Oribases.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Only lie still.

Emperor Julian.

Lie still? What do you remind me of? I must up!

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Impossible, lord; I beseech you –

Emperor Julian.

I must up, I say. How can I lie still now? I must beat Sapor completely.

Eutherius the steward.

Sapor is beaten, lord! He has sent envoys to the camp to beg for an armistice.

Emperor Julian.

Has he really? This is exceeding dear to me. – Him then I conquered after all.

But no armistice. I will beat him wholly to the ground. – Ah, where have I my shield? Could I have lost the shield?

Ammian the captain.

No, my emperor, – here is both your shield and your sword.

Emperor Julian.

It is in truth exceeding dear to me. My good shield. I would be loath to know it in the barbarians' hands. Give it me on the arm –

Macrina.

O, lord, it is too heavy for you now!

Emperor Julian.

Ah, – you? You are right, pious Macrina; it is a little too heavy. – Lay it before me, so I can see it. What? Is it you, Ammian? Do you keep watch by me? Where is Anatolus?

Ammian the captain.

Lord, he is now blessed.

Emperor Julian.

Fallen? The faithful Anatolus fallen for me! – Blessed, you say? Hm! –

One friend the less. Alas, my Maximus! – I will not receive the Persian king's envoys today. They plot only to make me waste time. But I will agree to no settlement. I will pursue the victory with the utmost vigour. The army shall again turn toward Ctesiphon.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Unfeasible now, lord; think of your wounds.

Emperor Julian.

My wounds will soon be healed. Is it not so, Oribases, – do you not promise me –?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Above all things, rest, lord!

Emperor Julian.

What a most unfortunate occurrence! And that just now, when so many important matters stream in upon me. I cannot lay these matters in Nevita's hands. In such things I have no trust either in him or in the others; all this I must myself – I feel indeed somewhat faint. Most vexatious! – Tell me, Ammian, what is the name of that ill-boding place?

Ammian the captain.

What place, my gracious emperor?

Emperor Julian.

That place where the Persian javelin struck me.

Ammian the captain.

It is called after the village of Phrygia –

Maximus the mystic.

Ah!

Emperor Julian.

What is it called –? What did you say the region was called?

Ammian the captain.

Lord, it is called, after the village down there, the Phrygian region.

Emperor Julian.

Ah, Maximus – Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

Deceived!

Oribases the Royal Physician.

My emperor, what causes you this anguish?

Emperor Julian.

Nothing, – nothing. –

Phrygia? Ay so? – Nevita and the others must after all take the matters into their hands. Go, and tell them –

Ammian the captain.

Lord, they have doubtless already, on your behalf –

Emperor Julian.

Have they? Yes, yes, then it is well. –

The world-will has lain in ambush for me, Maximus!

Macrina.

Your wound breaks open, lord!

Emperor Julian.

O, Oribases, why would you conceal it from me?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

What should I want to conceal, my emperor?

Emperor Julian.

I must depart. Why have you not told me it before?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

O, my emperor!

Basil of Caesarea.

Julian – Julian!

Emperor Julian.

Basil, – friend, brother, – we two have lived fair days together. – –

You shall not weep because I go from you at so young an age. It is not always a sign of the fate-powers' displeasure that they snatch a man away in his early years. What is it, then, to die? Is it other than to pay one's debt to the ever-changing realm of dust? No lamentations! Do we not all love wisdom? And does not wisdom teach us that the highest blessedness is bound to the soul's life and not to the body's? So far the Galileans are right, even though –; yet, of that we will not speak. Had the powers of life and death granted me to get a certain writing finished, then I think I should well have succeeded in –

Oribases the Royal Physician.

O, my emperor, does it not weary you to speak so long?

Emperor Julian.

No, no, no. I feel exceeding light and free.

Basil of Caesarea.

Julian, beloved brother, – have you nothing to retract?

Emperor Julian.

I know in truth not what that should be.

Basil of Caesarea.

Do you repent nothing, Julian?

Emperor Julian.

I have nothing to repent. The power that circumstances laid in my hand, and which is an emanation of the divine, that I know within myself that I have used to the best of my ability. I have never wished to wrong anyone. This campaign had good and valid grounds for it; and if some should think that I have not fulfilled all expectations, then they ought in fairness to consider that there is a mysterious power outside us, and that this in essential measure rules over the outcome of human undertakings.

Macrina (softly to Oribases).

O, hear – hear, he draws his breath so heavily.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

The voice fails him soon.

Emperor Julian.

Concerning the choice of a successor I do not venture to give any counsel. – You, Eutherius, shall divide my possessions among those who stood nearest me. I leave not much; for I have always held that a true lover of wisdom – –

What is that? Does the sun already go down?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Surely not, my emperor; it is still broad day.

Emperor Julian.

Strange. I think it grew so dark before my eyes. – –

Yes, wisdom – wisdom. Hold fast to wisdom, good Priscus! But be ever armed against something unfathomable outside, that – –

Is Maximus gone away?

Maximus the mystic.

No, my brother!

Emperor Julian.

My throat burns. Could you not refresh me?

Macrina.

A drink of water, lord!

Oribases the Royal Physician (whispers to Macrina).

His wound bleeds inwardly.

Emperor Julian.

Weep not. No Greeks shall weep for me; I ascend to the stars. – –

Fair temples. – Images. – But so far away.

Macrina.

What does he speak of?

Oribases the Royal Physician.

I know not; I do not think he is in his senses.

Emperor Julian (with closed eyes).

Alexander was allowed to make his entry – into Babylon. – I too will – – Fair leaf-garlanded youths – dancing maidens – – but so far away.

Fair earth – fair earthly life –

O, sun, sun, – why did you deceive me?

Oribases the Royal Physician (after a silence).

That was death.

The bystanders.

Dead – dead!

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Yes, now he is dead.

Cries from the camp.

Long live Emperor Jovian!

Oribases the Royal Physician.

O, heard you this cry?

Ammian the captain.

Jovian the Commander is proclaimed emperor.

Maximus the mystic (laughs).

The Galilean Jovian! Yes – yes – yes!

Oribases the Royal Physician.

Shameful haste! Even before they knew that –

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Jovian, – this victorious hero who has saved us all! Emperor Jovian is surely worth a panegyric. Yet I would not hope that that crafty Cytron already –

Basil of Caesarea.

Forgotten, before your hand is grown cold. And for this frail glory you sold your immortal soul!

Maximus the mystic (rises).

The world-will shall answer for Julian's soul.

Macrina.

Blaspheme not; though you surely have loved this dead one –

Maximus the mystic (nearer to the corpse).

Loved and beguiled him. – No, not I!

Beguiled like Cain. Beguiled like Judas. – – Your god is a prodigal god, Galileans! He uses many souls.

Were you not the right one this time either, – you sacrificial victim of necessity?

What is it worth to live? All is play and sport. – To will is to have to will.

O, my beloved, – all signs deceived me, all auguries spoke with two tongues, so that in you I glimpsed the reconciler between the two kingdoms.

The third kingdom shall come! The human spirit shall take its inheritance again, – and then shall incense-offerings be kindled for you and for your two guests at the symposium.

Macrina (rises pale).

Basil, – did you grasp the heathen's speech?

Basil of Caesarea.

No, – but great and radiant it dawns on me that here lies a glorious, shattered instrument of the Lord.

Macrina.

Yes, in truth, a costly and precious instrument.

Basil of Caesarea.

Christ, Christ, – where was your people, that it saw not your manifest counsel? Emperor Julian was to us a rod of chastisement – not unto death but unto our raising up.

Macrina.

The mystery of election is dreadful. What do we know –?

Basil of Caesarea.

Stands it not written: vessels are kneaded unto dishonour and vessels unto glory?

Macrina.

O, brother, let us not think this abyss to the bottom.

Erring human soul, – if you had to go astray, then it shall surely be reckoned to you for good on that great day when the mighty one comes in the cloud to speak the judgment over the living dead and over the dead living! – –