ACT FOUR.

Emperor Julian (pointing downward).

See, see, – the legions wind like an armoured serpent through the ravine.

Nevita the general.

Those, just below us, in sheepskin jerkins, are the Scythians.

Emperor Julian.

What piercing howls –!

Nevita the general.

That is the Scythians' wonted song, lord!

Emperor Julian.

More howl than song.

Nevita the general.

Now come the Armenians. Arsaces leads them himself.

Emperor Julian.

The Roman legions must already be out on the plains. All the neighbouring peoples hasten up and submit.

On the Euphrates lie assembled the twelve hundred ships that hold all our stores and necessities. I have now got full certainty that the fleet, through that old artificially dug channel, can pass up into the Tigris. The whole army shall go over onto the ships. Thereafter we push forward along the eastern bank, as swiftly as the counter-current allows the fleet to follow us.

Tell me, Hormisdas, what faith have you in these measures?

Prince Hormisdas.

Unconquerable commander, I know that it shall be granted me, under your victorious protection, to better my fatherland again.

Emperor Julian.

What a relieving feeling to be out of those narrow-chested citizens' company! With what terror in their eyes did they not run about my chariot when I left the city? "Come back soon, and be then more gracious to us than now," they cried. I return never again to Antioch. I will see this ungrateful city no more. When I have conquered, I shall lay my homeward way over Tarsus.

Numa, – what auguries for our march do you read this morning?

Numa the soothsayer.

The augury counsels you this year not to overstep the borders of your realm.

Emperor Julian.

Hm! How do you interpret this augury, Maximus?

Maximus the mystic.

I interpret it thus: the augury counsels you to subdue all the land you pass through; then you do not overstep the borders of your realm.

Emperor Julian.

So it is. We must give close heed to such wondrous signs; for there lies most often a double meaning in them. Yes, it seems at times as though mysterious powers set a joy in leading men astray, especially in great undertakings. Were there not also some who would interpret it to our hurt that the colonnade in Hierapolis fell together and buried half a hundred soldiers, just as we passed through the city? But I say that this proclaims a double fortune. For first it augurs that the Persian realm shall crash together, and next it heralds to us the doom of the wretched Galileans. For those soldiers who were killed, – who were they, then? They were Galilean penal soldiers, who went most unwillingly to the war and therefore were dealt by fate an end at once so sudden and so dishonourable.

Jovian the Commander.

Most gracious emperor, yonder comes a captain from the vanguard.

Ammian the captain (comes from the right).

Lord, you have commanded me to report if anything strange should happen at the march-out.

Emperor Julian.

Well then! Has anything of the kind happened this morning?

Ammian the captain.

Yes, lord, a double augury.

Emperor Julian.

Why, Ammian, – tell it, then!

Ammian the captain.

First, lord, it came to pass, when we had come some way past the village of Zaita, that a lion of enormous bodily size broke out of the thicket and went straight at our soldiers, who killed it with many arrow-shots.

Emperor Julian.

Ah!

The teachers of wisdom.

What a happy augury!

Prince Hormisdas.

King Sapor calls himself the lion of the lands.

Numa the soothsayer (busied at the altar).

Turn back; turn back, Emperor Julian!

Maximus the mystic.

Go boldly forward, you victory-chosen one!

Emperor Julian.

Turn back after this? As the lion yonder before Zaita, so shall the lion of the lands fall for our arrows. Or have I not earlier testimony to lean upon when I interpret this to our advantage? Need I remind such enlightened men that when Emperor Maximian conquered the Persian king Narseus, then likewise a lion – and therewith a mighty boar – was laid low before the Roman ranks?

But now the other –? I thought you spoke of two signs.

Ammian the captain.

The other is more doubtful, lord! Your war-horse Babylonios was, as you had commanded, led forth fully saddled to await you at the descent beyond the mountain. But see, at that same moment a detachment of the Galilean penal soldiers was driven past. Heavily laden as they were, and not particularly willing, it became needful to use whip-strokes against them. None the less they raised their arms, as if in joy, and struck up a loud song in honour of their deity. At this sudden clamour Babylonios shied, reared in terror, fell backward, and as it rolled on the ground, the gold-adorned harness was bespattered and befouled with the mire of the road.

Numa the soothsayer (at the altar).

Emperor Julian, – turn back, turn back!

Emperor Julian.

This the Galileans have done out of malice, – and yet they have thereby, against their will, brought about an augury that I hail with high joy.

Yes, even as Babylonios fell, so shall Babylon also fall, bereft of the splendour and glory of its jewels.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

What wisdom in the exposition!

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

By the gods, so it is!

The other teachers of wisdom.

So, and not otherwise!

Emperor Julian (to Nevita).

The army shall continue to push forward. Yet this evening, for a still greater surety's sake, I will hold sacrifices and see what the signs may confirm.

But as concerns you, you Etruscan jugglers, whom at such great cost I have let come hither, then you shall know that I no longer tolerate you in the camp, where you only serve to make the soldiers downcast. I say, you understand nothing of the difficult craft you have taken upon yourselves. What impudence! What excess of foolhardiness! Away with them! I will not see them again.

Emperor Julian.

Babylonios fell. The lion lay low before my soldiers. Yet we do not therefore know what unseen help we dare rely on. The gods, whose nature is far from sufficiently explored, seem at times – if I may so say – to slumber or to intervene but little in human things. We, my dear friends, find ourselves, alas, in such a time. Yes, we have even been witness that certain gods have neglected to support well-meant endeavours aimed at their own advantage and honour.

Yet we dare not judge further of this. It might be conceived that the immortals, who govern and uphold the world, at certain times lay their power in human hands, – whereby the gods are surely in no way diminished; for it is due to them, after all, that one so especially favoured – if such be found – has been able to arise on earth.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

O, matchless emperor, do not your own deeds bear witness to this?

Emperor Julian.

I know not, O Priscus, whether I dare value my deeds so highly. That the Galileans ascribe such an election to the Jew Jesus of Nazareth, I will not speak of; for these men err, – which I shall show in detail in my writing against them. But I will name Prometheus in olden days, which excellent hero procured for men even greater goods than the immortals seemed to grant them, – wherefore he also had to suffer much, both pain and scornful usage, until at last he is taken up into the communion of the gods, – to which he in truth had belonged the whole time.

And can not the same be said both of Heracles and of Achilles, and finally of the Macedonian Alexander, with whose deeds some have compared, partly what I have accomplished in Gaul, and partly and chiefly what I have in view on this march?

Nevita the general.

My emperor, – the rearguard is now just below us; – perhaps it were time –

Emperor Julian.

At once, Nevita! Yet I will first tell you a strange dream I had this night.

I dreamed that I saw before my eyes a child, pursued by a rich man who owned countless herds, but who despised the worship of the gods.

This evil man rooted out all the child's kinsmen. But over the child itself Zeus had pity, and he held his hand over it.

Thereupon I saw this child grow up to youth under Minerva's and Apollo's keeping.

Moreover I dreamed that the youth fell asleep on a stone under the open sky.

Then Hermes descended to the field in the shape of a young man and said: come; I will show you the way that leads to the highest god's dwelling! – So he led the youth to the foot of an exceeding steep mountain. There he left him.

Then the youth broke out in weeping and lament and called with a loud voice on Zeus. See, then Minerva and the sun-king, who rules over the earth, descended near to him, lifted him up to the mountain's summit, pointed out for him and showed him the whole inheritance of his race.

But this inheritance was the round of the earth from sea to sea, and beyond the sea.

Then they proclaimed to the youth that all this should belong to him. And three admonitions they gave him therewith: he should not sleep, as his kinsmen had done; he should not listen to hypocrites' counsel; and finally he should honour as gods those who resemble the gods. Forget not, said they as they left him, that you have an immortal soul and that this your soul is of divine origin. And if you follow our counsel, you shall see our father and become a god even as we.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

What are signs and auguries to weigh against this!

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

I do not think it too much said when I expect that the goddesses of fate bethink themselves twice, in case their counsels should not accord with yours.

Emperor Julian.

We dare not with certainty build on such an exception. But surely I continue to find this dream striking, though my brother Maximus, by his silence – against all fair expectation – seems to find pleasure neither in the dream nor in the garb I have given it. – This, however, we must bear!

See here, Jovian; here have I early this morning on my couch noted down what I dreamed. Take this, and have it read aloud in numerous copies to the various parts of the army. I hold it important on so hazardous a march that the soldiers, in the midst of all dangers and hardships, with confidence lay their fate in the leader's hands, holding him for infallible in the things that decide the war's outcome.

Jovian the Commander.

I beg you, my emperor, to excuse me from this.

Emperor Julian.

What would you mean by that?

Jovian the Commander.

That I dare not lend my hand to anything that is against the truth. – O, hear me, my exalted emperor and lord! Is there a single one of your soldiers who doubts that he is safe in your hands? Have you not on Gaul's borders, despite hostile superior force and difficulties of various kinds, won for yourself greater victories than any other commander in our days can boast of?

Emperor Julian.

Why, – see, see, what news!

Jovian the Commander.

All know that fortune in wondrous measure has followed you until this time. In learning you stand above all other mortals, and in the fair art of eloquence you bear the prize among the foremost.

Emperor Julian.

And so –? Despite this –?

Jovian the Commander.

Despite this, my emperor, you are but a man. But in imparting to the army that dream, you would spread the opinion that you are a god, – and herein I dare not make myself your helper.

Emperor Julian.

What say you, my friends, to this speech?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

It is surely as bold as it bears witness to ignorance.

Emperor Julian.

It seems as though you, O truth-loving Jovian, forget that that Emperor Antoninus, with the surname the Pious, has in a special temple on Rome's forum been worshipped as an immortal god. Yes, not he alone, but also his wife Faustina and other emperors both before and after that time.

Jovian the Commander.

I know it, lord; – but to our forefathers it was not given to walk in the light of truth.

Emperor Julian (with a long look at him).

Ah, Jovian! –

Tell me, – yesterday evening, when I took auguries for the coming night, you stepped up and brought me a message just as I with cleansing water rinsed the blood from my hands.

Jovian the Commander.

Yes, my emperor!

Emperor Julian.

Hasty as I was, I chanced to sprinkle some drops of water on your cloak. Then you sharply took a step backward and shook the water off, as though the cloak had been defiled.

Jovian the Commander.

My emperor, – it escaped you not, then?

Emperor Julian.

Was it your thought that it should have escaped me?

Jovian the Commander.

Yes, lord; for it was a matter between me and the one true God.

Emperor Julian.

Galilean!

Jovian the Commander.

Lord, you yourself sent me to Jerusalem, and I was witness to all that there went on. Much have I pondered since that time; I have read in the Christians' writings, have spoken with many of them, – and now am I come to know that in this doctrine lies the divine truth.

Emperor Julian.

Is it possible! Is this really possible? So then that infectious madness spreads its grip! My nearest surroundings, – my own commanders fall away from me –

Jovian the Commander.

Set me foremost against your foes, lord, – and you shall see that I gladly give the emperor what is the emperor's.

Emperor Julian.

How much –?

Jovian the Commander.

Life and blood.

Emperor Julian.

Life and blood are not enough. He who shall rule must be able to rule over the wills, over the minds of men. In this it is that that Jesus of Nazareth stands against me and disputes the power with me.

Imagine not that I will punish you, Jovian! Those you belong to yearn after such things as after a happiness. And then one calls you martyrs afterward. Or what? Has one not thus exalted those I was forced to chastise for their stubbornness' sake?

Go to the vanguard! I would rather not see you again. – O, this deceit against me, which you veil with phrases about a double duty and a double kingdom! This shall become otherwise. There are other kings than the Persian king who shall come to feel my foot on their necks.

To the vanguard, Jovian!

Jovian the Commander.

I shall do my duty, lord!

Emperor Julian.

We will not that this morning, which is risen under so many fortune-boding auguries, shall be darkened for us. We will take this, and more besides, with an even mind. My dream shall yet be made known to the army. You, Cytron, and you, my Priscus, and you other friends, will see to it that it is done in a worthy manner.

The teachers of wisdom.

With joy, with unspeakable joy, lord!

Emperor Julian.

I beg you, O Hormisdas, not to doubt my power, though it might seem as though contending wills ruled here. Go; and you likewise, Nevita, and all you others, each to his own; – I come after, when the army is gathered out on the plains.

Maximus the mystic (after a while, rises from the stone where he has sat, and goes over to the emperor).

My sick brother!

Emperor Julian.

More wounded than sick. The hart that is struck by a marksman's arrow seeks into the thicket, where the beasts cannot see it. It was unbearable to me to show myself longer on Antioch's streets; – now it seems to me I cannot show myself to the army.

Maximus the mystic.

None sees you, friend; for they grope in blindness. But you shall become a healer for their eyes, and then shall they see you in your glory.

Emperor Julian (stares down into the mountain-cleft).

How deep below us! How vanishingly small they wind their way forward among brushwood and thorns along the stony stream.

When we stood before this narrows, the leaders, one and all, made straight into the strait. It was an hour's road to shorten, a little toil to spare – on the wandering toward death.

And the flocks followed them so willingly. No thought of taking the way up above; no longing for the free air up here, that widens the breast and makes the breath roomy. There they go, and go and go, and see not that they have a narrow heaven over them – and know not that there are heights where it is greater. – Is it not, Maximus, as though men lived in order to come to die? The Galilean's spirit is in this. If it is true, as is said, that his father created the world, then the son despises the father's work. And just for this presumptuous madness it is that he is praised so highly!

What was Socrates, then, against him! Did not Socrates love enjoyment and happiness and beauty? And yet he renounced. – But what a bottomless gulf between this – on the one side not to desire, – and on the other side to desire and yet renounce.

O, this lost treasure of wisdom would I bring men back. Like Dionysus of old, I came to meet them glad and young, with foliage about my brow, with the fullness of grapes in my arms. But they refuse my gift, and I am scorned and hated and blasphemed by friends and by foes.

Maximus the mystic.

Why? I shall tell you why.

In the neighbourhood of a certain city where I once lived, there was a vineyard, widely famed for its grapes; and when the city's citizens wished right sweet fruits on their table, they sent their servants out to that vineyard and had grapes fetched there.

Many years after, I came to the same city; but then none knew any longer of the once so highly prized grapes. Then I sought out the vine-dresser and asked him: tell me, O friend, are your vines died out, so that none any more knows your grapes? No, answered the vine-dresser, but you know that young vines give good grapes but poor wine; old vines, on the other hand, bad grapes but good wine. Therefore, O stranger, he added, I still gladden my fellow-citizens' hearts with this vineyard's abundance, only in another shape, – as wine, and not as grapes.

Emperor Julian (thoughtful).

Yes, yes, yes!

Maximus the mystic.

It is this that you have not taken heed of. The world's vine has grown old, and yet you think, as of old, to be able to offer the grapes raw to those who thirst after the new wine.

Emperor Julian.

Alas, my Maximus, who thirsts? Name me a single one, outside our brotherhood, who is drawn by a spiritual need. – Unhappy am I, that I was born in such an iron age.

Maximus the mystic.

Blame not the age. Had the age been greater, then you had become less. The world-soul is like a rich man who has innumerable sons. Does he divide his wealth equally among all the sons, then they all become well-to-do, but none of them rich. Does he, on the other hand, make them all disinherited save one, and bestow all on this one, then this one stands as a rich man in a circle of the poor.

Emperor Julian.

No likeness fits less than this. – Or do I stand so? Is there not precisely, divided among many hands, that which the world's ruler should possess in richer measure than all others; yes, I dare well say – which he alone should possess! O, how is the power not divided! Has not Libanius the power of eloquence in so full a measure that one has called him the king of orators? Have not you, my Maximus, the power of enigmatic wisdom? Has not that raging Apollinaris in Antioch the power of song and rapture in such a fullness as I might well envy him! And now the Cappadocian Gregory! Has not he the unbending power of will in such excess that manifold men give him the surname – unbecoming for a subject –: the great! Yes, – what is stranger still, – the same surname is given to Gregory's friend, Basil, the man with the soft mind and the maidenlike eye. And yet he steps not forth into the world; here he lives, this Basil, – just in this remote region, clad in a hermit's garb, in communion only with his disciples, and with his sister Macrina and other women who are called pious and holy. And how do not both he and the sister work through the letters that at times go forth from them? All, even renunciation and withdrawnness, becomes power against my power. But worst of them all is yet the crucified Jew.

Maximus the mystic.

Then break with all this scattered authority! But think not that you can crush the rebels if you come upon them as a general, sent out by a ruler whom they do not know. In your own name must you come, Julian! Came Jesus of Nazareth as envoy from another? Said he not himself to be the one who sent him? Truly, in you is the fulfilment of the time, and you see it not. Do not all signs and auguries point with an unerring finger straight to you? Shall I remind you of your mother's dream –?

Emperor Julian.

She dreamed that she gave birth to Achilles.

Maximus the mystic.

Shall I remind you that fortune has borne you, as on strong wings, through a stirred and perilous life? Who are you, lord? Are you the Alexander come again, at that time unfinished, now full-born and armed to complete the work?

Emperor Julian.

Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

There is one who always, at certain intervals, comes again in the life of the human race. He is like a rider who on the riding-ground shall tame a wild horse. Each time the horse throws him off. A while, then the rider is in the saddle again, always surer, always more practised; but off he had to go in his changing shapes each time until this day. Off he had to go as the god-sprung man in Eden's grove; off he had to go as the world-empire's founder; – off he must go as the god-kingdom's prince. Who knows how many times he has wandered among us without any knowing him?

Know you, Julian, whether you were not in him whom you now persecute?

Emperor Julian (looks before him).

O, bottomless riddle –!

Maximus the mystic.

Shall I remind you of that old prophecy that is now set in circulation again? It has been proclaimed that as many years as the year has days – so many years shall the Galilean's kingdom stand in power. In two years it will be three hundred and sixty-five years since this man was born in Bethlehem.

Emperor Julian.

Do you believe in this prophecy?

Maximus the mystic.

I believe in the one that is coming.

Emperor Julian.

Always riddles!

Maximus the mystic.

I believe in the free necessity.

Emperor Julian.

Still more enigmatic.

Maximus the mystic.

See, Julian, – when Chaos rolled in the empty, dreadful void, and Jehovah was alone, – the day when he, according to the old Jewish writings, struck out with his hand and divided between light and darkness, between sea and land, – that day the great creating god stood on the summit of his power.

But with men arose wills upon the earth. And men and beasts and trees and herbs created their like after eternal laws; and after eternal laws go all the stars in the space of heaven.

Has Jehovah repented? All peoples' old legends know how to tell of a repentant creator.

The law of maintenance he has laid in the creation. Too late to repent! The created will maintain itself – and so it is maintained.

But the two kingdoms of one-sidedness wage war with each other. Where is he, where is he, the king of peace, the double-sided one, he who shall reconcile them?

Emperor Julian (to himself).

Two years? All gods inactive. No capricious power behind, that cares to cross my purposes – –

Two years? In two years I can lay the earth under my dominion.

Maximus the mystic.

You spoke, my Julian; – what said you?

Emperor Julian.

I am young and strong and sound. Maximus, – it is my will to live long.

Macrina.

O, Basil, see, – the one paler, the one more wasted than the other!

Basil of Caesarea.

And so countless many Christian brothers among them! Woe over Emperor Julian! This is more cruelly devised than all the rack's torments. Against whom is it that he leads his hosts? Less against the Persian king than against Christ.

Macrina.

Believe you this dreadful thing of him?

Basil of Caesarea.

Yes, Macrina, it dawns on me more and more that it is us the blow shall strike. All the defeats he has suffered in Antioch, all the resistance he has met, all the humiliations and disappointments he has had to endure for his ungodly conduct, all this he thinks to cover over with forgetfulness by a victorious campaign. And it will succeed for him. A great victory will efface all that. Men are not otherwise; they see the right in fortune, and under power the most bow down.

Macrina (points out to the left).

New throngs! Uncountable, without end –

An under-officer (strikes him with his staff).

Up with you, you lazy dog!

Macrina (hastens up).

O, strike him not!

The soldier.

Let them strike; – I suffer so gladly.

Ammian the captain (comes).

Again a stoppage! – Now, it is he. Can he really no more?

The under-officer.

I know not what to say, lord; he falls every moment.

Macrina.

O, be patient! Who is this unhappy one? – See here; suck the juice of these fruits. – Who is he, lord?

Ammian the captain.

A Cappadocian, – one of the erring ones, who was among those who profaned the Venus-temple in Antioch.

Macrina.

O, one of those martyrs –!

Ammian the captain.

Try to raise yourself, Agathon! I pity this man. They chastised him more violently than he could bear. He has not been in his right mind since.

Agathon (raises himself).

I can well bear it. And I am fully in my right mind, lord! Strike, strike, strike; – I suffer so gladly.

Ammian the captain (to the under-officer).

Forward; here is no time to lose.

The under-officer (to the soldiers).

Forward; forward!

Agathon.

Babylonios fell; – soon shall the Babylonian whoremonger fall. Zaita's lion was felled; – felled shall the world's crowned lion be!

Ammian the captain (to Basil and Macrina.)

You strange people; – you go astray and yet do the good. Thanks, that you have refreshed the exhausted; and would that the emperor's interest allowed me to deal as mildly with your brothers as I would gladly do.

Basil of Caesarea.

God be with you, you noble heathen!

Macrina.

Who might this man have been?

Basil of Caesarea.

I knew him not.

O, see, see, – there is he himself!

Macrina.

The emperor? Is that the emperor?

Basil of Caesarea.

Yes, it is he.

Emperor Julian (to his companions).

What – weary? Should a horse's fall bring me to halt? Or should it be less seemly to go on foot than to bestride a meaner beast? Weary! My forefather has declared that it befits an emperor to die standing. I say that it befits an emperor, in his whole life – not only in the hour of death – to show a perseverance worthy of imitation; I say – – Ah, by heaven's great light, do I not see there before my eyes the Caesarean Basil!

Basil of Caesarea (bows deeply).

Your humble servant, O most mighty lord!

Emperor Julian.

Yes, that I well believe! You serve me in truth well, Basil!

So this, then, is the country house that has come into such great renown by the letters that go forth from here. One speaks round about in all lands more of this house than one speaks of the lecture-halls, though I have shunned neither diligence nor toil to bring them on their feet again.

Is it not so, – this woman is surely your sister Macrina?

Basil of Caesarea.

So it is, lord!

Emperor Julian.

You are a fair woman, and young still. And yet you have, as I hear, renounced life.

Macrina.

Lord, I have renounced life in order to come to live rightly.

Emperor Julian.

Alas, I know exceeding well your errors. You sigh after that which lies beyond and whereof you know nothing with certainty; you mortify your flesh; you suppress all human desires. And yet I tell you that this may be a vanity, as good as any other.

Basil of Caesarea.

Think not, lord, that I am blind to the danger that lies in renunciation. I know well that my friend Gregory is right when he writes that he trusts himself to be a hermit with the heart without being one with the body. And I know also that this coarse garb little profits my soul, in case I reckon it to me for a merit to wear it.

But so I feel it not. This withdrawn life fills me with an unspeakable happiness; that is all. Those wild convulsions that the world undergoes in this time appear not here before my eyes in their unbeauty. Here I feel my body uplifted in prayer, and my soul cleansed by a frugal way of life.

Emperor Julian.

O, my frugal Basil, I think yet you strive after something more. If one has spoken truly, then your sister here has gathered about her a host of young women, whom she trains after her example. And you yourself have, even like your Galilean master, chosen for yourself twelve disciples. What is your intent with them?

Basil of Caesarea.

To send them out to all lands to strengthen our brothers in the strife.

Emperor Julian.

Ay so! Equipped with all eloquence's weapons you send your army against me. And where have you this eloquence, this fair Greek art from? You have it from our lecture-halls. And with what right do you possess it? You have stolen yourself as a spy into our camp to find out where we can most surely be struck. And now you use this knowledge to our greatest hurt!

Know you well, Basil, that I am not minded to tolerate this unseemliness longer? I will strike this weapon out of your hands. Hold you to Matthew and Luke and other such uncouth book-writers. But you shall not henceforth be allowed to interpret our old poets, nor yet our old teachers of wisdom; for I hold it unfair that you suck knowledge and profit from these sources, in whose truth you have no faith at all. Likewise it shall be forbidden to all Galilean disciples to come into our lecture-halls; for what will they there? To steal from us our art in order to use it against ourselves.

Basil of Caesarea.

Lord, I have already before heard this strange purpose spoken of. And I must give Gregory my assent when he writes that you have no exclusive right to the Greek learning, nor yet to the Greek art of speech. I must give him my assent when he says that you indeed use alphabetic script, which was after all invented among the Egyptians, and that you clothe yourself in the purple, though it first came into use among the peoples of Tyre.

Yes, lord, – more than that. You subdue lands and make yourself ruler over peoples whose tongue you understand not and whose customs you know not. And to that you have a right. But the same right you have in the visible world, the same right has he whom you call the Galilean, in the invisible –

Emperor Julian.

Enough of this! I will not hear such again. You speak as though there were two rulers of the world, and with that objection you try to stop me on all my ways. O, you laughable ones! You set a dead one against a living. But you shall soon come to know how it hangs together. That writing against you, on which I have long laboured, you must not think that I have laid it aside amid the war's business. Think you perhaps that I pass my nights in sleep? Ah, you reckon amiss! For the "Beard-hater" I reaped only mockery, – and that even among those who might have had singular profit from laying certain truths to heart. But that shall in no wise deter me. Or should it befit a man with a staff in his hand to draw back before a pack of barking dogs? – Why smiled you, woman? What was it you laughed at?

Macrina.

Why, O lord, do you rage so strongly against one whom you call dead?

Emperor Julian.

Ah, I understand! You would thereby say that he lives.

Macrina.

I would thereby say that you, O mighty lord, in your heart feel that he surely lives.

Emperor Julian.

I? What now! I should feel –?

Macrina.

What is it you hate and persecute? Not him but your faith in him. And lives he not in your hatred and in your persecution, as he lives in our love?

Emperor Julian.

I know your twisted phrases. You Galileans say one thing and mean thereby another. And such you call the art of speech! O, you mediocre spirits! What folly! I should feel that the crucified Jew lives? O, what a sunken time, that can content itself with such! But men are no better nowadays. Madness is counted for wisdom. How have I not in unspeakably many nights waked and searched to find the true ground of things? But where are they who follow after me? Many praise my speech; but few or none let themselves be convinced.

Yet, truly, the end is not yet. There shall come something over you like a surprise. You shall feel whither all the scattered strives, in order to unite itself in one. You shall learn that all that which you now despise, that has the glory in it, – and that cross whereon you hang your trust, that will I fashion over into a ladder for him whom you do not know.

Macrina.

And I tell you, emperor, that you are nothing other than a scourge in God's hand, – a scourge that must strike us for our sins' sake. Woe to us, that this should come! Woe to us, that we, discordant and loveless, turned aside from the right way!

There was no king any more in Israel. Therefore the Lord struck you with madness, that you should chastise us.

What spirit has he not darkened, that it should rage against us! What blossoming tree has he not lopped of branches for a rod to our guilt-burdened shoulders!

Auguries warned you, and you heeded them not. Voices called you, and you heard them not. Hands wrote their fiery writing on the wall for you, and you struck the writing out without interpreting it.

Emperor Julian.

Basil, – I could gladly have known this woman before this day.

Basil of Caesarea.

Come, Macrina!

Macrina.

Woe to me that I got to see these shining eyes! Angel and serpent, united into one; the apostate's longing and the tempter's cunning at once! O, how have our brothers and sisters been able to bear the hope of victory high in this envoy's nearness? In him is a greater. See you it not, Basil, – in him will God the Lord strike us to death.

Emperor Julian.

You have said it!

Macrina.

Not I!

Emperor Julian.

First won soul!

Macrina.

Depart from me!

Basil of Caesarea.

Come, – come!

Emperor Julian.

Stay here! – Anatolus, set a guard about them! – It is my will that you shall follow the army, – both you and your disciples, – youths and women.

Basil of Caesarea.

Lord, that you cannot will.

Emperor Julian.

It is not wise to leave fortresses in one's rear. See, I strike out with my hand and quell this burning rain of arrows that you have poured out from that little country house.

Basil of Caesarea.

No, no, lord, – this deed of violence –

Macrina.

Alas, Basil, – here or there – all is over!

Emperor Julian.

Stands it not written that you shall give the emperor what is the emperor's? I use all hands on this march. You can tend my sick and wounded. Thereby you serve the Galilean at the same time; and if you hold this still for a duty, then I counsel you to use the time. He has not long left.

Macrina.

Sinking sun over the home; sinking hope and sinking light of the world! O, Basil, that we should live to see the night.

Basil of Caesarea.

The light is.

Emperor Julian.

The light shall be. Your backs to the sunset-glow, Galileans! The eye toward the east, toward the east, where Helios dreams. Truly, I say to you, you shall see the earth's sun-king.

Nevita the general.

See now whether the emperor did not choose the right. Here we stand without sword-stroke on the enemy's ground; none has disputed the crossing of the rivers with us; not so much as a single Persian horseman is to be spied.

Jovian the Commander.

No, lord, by this way the enemy has surely not expected us.

Nevita the general.

You say this as though you still held fast that the choice of this way was unwise.

Jovian the Commander.

Yes, lord, it is still my opinion that we should rather have struck into a more northerly direction. There we could have supported our left wing on Armenia, which is friendly disposed to us, and fetched all needful sustenance from that abundant region. But here? Hampered in our advance by the heavy freight-ships. Round about us a desolate plain, almost a wilderness – – Ah, the emperor comes. I will go; he is not gracious to me in this time.

Emperor Julian.

Thus we see the empire grow. Every step I tread toward the east moves the empire's border.

This earth is mine! I am within the realm, not outside it. – Now, Priscus –?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Incomparable emperor, your bidding is carried out. What you so wondrously dreamed, we have had read aloud to all the army's detachments.

Emperor Julian.

Well, well. And what effect did my dream seem to work on the soldiers?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Some praised you with glad voice and called you the divine one; others, on the other hand –

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

These others were Galileans, O Cytron!

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Yes, yes, the most of the others were Galileans; and these beat upon their breast and uttered loud cries of lament.

Emperor Julian.

I will not stop at this. Those bust-images of me, which I have had wrought in order to set them up in the cities I shall come to subdue, they shall be raised round about in the camp by all the tables where the treasurers deal out the war-folk's pay. Lamps shall be lit beside the images, a brazier with sweet-smelling incense shall burn before them, and each soldier shall, as he steps forth to receive his pay, cast some incense-grains on the fire.

Oribases the Royal Physician.

My most gracious emperor, forgive me, but – is that advisable?

Emperor Julian.

Why not advisable? I am astonished at my Oribases.

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

Alas, lord, you may well be astonished! Should it not be advisable to –?

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Should not a Julian dare venture what less divine men have ventured?

Emperor Julian.

I also find that the most venturesome thing here would be to lay concealment on the enigmatic powers' counsels. Is it come so far that the divine ones lay their power in earthly hands, – which from many signs we dare conclude to be the case, – then it would in truth be most ungrateful to conceal such a thing. It is, under such perilous circumstances as these, in no way indifferent whether the soldiers render their worship to the wrong one, when they should rather call upon a wholly other.

I tell you, Oribases, and I tell you others, – if there otherwise be any other here who thus will stake out borders for the imperial power, – that just this would be the real ungodliness, and that I therefore am forced to strive against it.

Has not already Plato proclaimed the truth that only a god can rule over men? What meant he by this utterance? Answer me on it, – what meant he? Far be it from me to want to assert that Plato – this otherwise matchless sage, – thereby, as in a prophecy, should have aimed at any single man, not even the foremost. But I think, we all have been witness to the disorders that flow from the highest power being as it were cloven and divided among several hands.

Enough of this. I have already ordered that the imperial images shall be put on show in the camp.

Ah, what seek you so hastily, Eutherius?

Eutherius the steward.

Exalted emperor, this Antiochene is sent out from the governor Alexandros and brings you a letter which he says is important.

Emperor Julian.

Ah, let me see, then! Light hither!

Emperor Julian.

Can this be possible! More light! Yes, it stands there; – and here –; what now? – This goes in truth beyond all I could have imagined!

Nevita the general.

Bad news from the western lands, lord?

Emperor Julian.

Nevita, tell me, how long a time do we need to reach Ctesiphon?

Nevita the general.

It cannot possibly be done in less time than thirty days.

Emperor Julian.

It must be done in less time! Thirty days! A whole month! And while we creep forward here, should I let these raging –

Nevita the general.

You know yourself, lord, we must for the ships' sake follow all the river's windings. The stream is swift, and moreover both shallow and stony. I hold it unfeasible to reach forward more swiftly.

Emperor Julian.

Thirty days! And thereafter the city shall be taken, – the Persian army shall be put to flight, – the peace shall be concluded. How long a time will not all this require? And still there were some among you who, worse still, counselled me to make a yet longer roundabout way. Ha-ha, one plots my downfall!

Nevita the general.

Lord, be secure; the march shall be furthered with all might.

Emperor Julian.

It is indeed needful. Can you imagine what Alexandros reports? The Galileans' madness surpasses all bounds since my departure. And this mischief grows day by day. They perceive that my victory in Persia will draw their extermination after it; and with that shameless Gregory as ringleader they now stand, like a hostile army, at my back; in the Phrygian regions secret things are being prepared, which none can rightly get to the bottom of –

Nevita the general.

What does that mean, lord? What are they about?

Emperor Julian.

What are they about? Pray, preach, sing, proclaim the world's last day. O, if only that were all; – but they sweep our adherents with them and draw them into their rebellious league. In Caesarea the congregation has chosen the judge Eusebius for bishop, – Eusebius, an unbaptized man, – and this deluded one has accepted such a call, which is even invalid after their own church-laws.

Yet, this is far from the worst. Worse, worse, tenfold worse is it that Athanasius is come back to Alexandria.

Nevita the general.

Athanasius?

Priscus the teacher of wisdom.

That enigmatic bishop who vanished into the wilderness six years ago?

Emperor Julian.

A church-council drove him out for his unseemly zeal's sake. The Galileans were compliant under my predecessor.

Yes, will you imagine, – now this raging fanatic is come back to Alexandria. His entry was like a king's; the highroad was laid with carpets and green palm-branches. And what happened thereafter? What think you, then? That same night a revolt broke out among the Galileans. Georgius, their lawful bishop, this upright and benevolent man, whom they accused of lukewarmness in the faith, has been murdered, torn asunder alive in the city's streets.

Nevita the general.

But, lord, how could it come so far? Where then was the governor Artemius?

Emperor Julian.

You may well ask where Artemius was. I shall tell you it. Artemius is gone over to the Galileans! Artemius has himself with armed hand forced his way into the Serapeion, that most glorious temple in the world, – has shattered the statues, – has plundered the altars and destroyed those immeasurable book-treasures, which we just in this erring and ignorant time had such high use for, and which I would bewail, like a friend snatched away by death, if my wrath allowed me to pour out tears.

Cytron the teacher of wisdom.

Truly, this goes beyond all conception!

Emperor Julian.

And not to be able to reach these wretches in order to chastise them! To have to be witness that such excesses spread further and further! – Thirty days, you say! Why does one tarry? Why does one pitch camp? Why does one sleep? Do my commanders not know what is here at stake? We must hold counsel. When I think what the Macedonian Alexander achieved in thirty days –

Jovian the Commander.

Be not wroth, lord, that I step before your eyes; but this stranger –

Emperor Julian.

A Persian warrior!

The Persian (throws himself down on the ground).

No warrior, you mighty one!

Jovian the Commander.

He came weaponless galloping on horseback over the plain and reported himself at the outposts –

Emperor Julian.

So your countrymen are near?

The Persian.

No, no!

Emperor Julian.

But whence come you, then?

The Persian (throws his clothes aside).

See these arms, you ruler of the earth, – bloody from rusty chain-rings. Feel this flayed back, – wound upon wound. I come from the rack, lord!

Emperor Julian.

Ah, – you have fled from King Sapor?

The Persian.

Yes, you mighty one, you who know all! I stood high in favour with King Sapor until I, driven by dread at your approach, dared to foretell him that this war would cause his downfall. Know you, lord, how he has rewarded me? My wife he gave over to his archers from the mountains; my children he had sold as slaves; all my possessions he let his servants divide among themselves; myself he had tortured for nine days. Thereupon he bade me ride out and die like a beast on the plains.

Emperor Julian.

And what would you of me?

The Persian.

What I would of you after this usage? I will help you to destroy my persecutor.

Emperor Julian.

Ah, you tortured man, – what can you help?

The Persian.

I can fasten wings to your war-folk's ankles.

Emperor Julian.

What mean you by that? Rise, and tell me what you mean.

The Persian (rises).

There was none in Ctesiphon who thought you would choose this way –

Emperor Julian.

That I know.

The Persian.

Now it is no secret any longer.

Emperor Julian.

You lie, man! You Persians know nothing of my purposes.

The Persian.

Lord, you whose wisdom stems from the fire and the sun, you know well that my countrymen now know your purposes. You have crossed over the rivers on your ships; these ships, more than a thousand in number, and laden with all the army's necessities, shall be drawn up the Tigris, and the army shall push forward abreast of the ships.

Emperor Julian.

Incredible –!

The Persian.

When the ships have come as near to Ctesiphon as possible, – which is to say two days' journey from the city, – then you will go straight at it, surround it and force King Sapor to surrender.

Emperor Julian (looks about him).

Who has betrayed us?

The Persian.

This undertaking now stands no longer to be carried out. My countrymen have in all haste built stone dams in the river-bed, and on them your ships will run aground.

Emperor Julian.

Man, know you what it costs you, in case you speak not the truth?

The Persian.

My body is in your power, you mighty one! Speak I not the truth, then it stands free to you to have me burned alive.

Emperor Julian (to Nevita).

The river closed! There will be needed weeks to make it passable again.

Nevita the general.

In case it can be done, lord! Such implements are lacking –

Emperor Julian.

And this should meet us now, – now, when it is a matter of conquering with all haste!

The Persian.

You ruler of the world, I have told you that I can bestow wings on your army.

Emperor Julian.

Speak! Know you some shorter way?

The Persian.

If you promise me, after the victory, to procure me my plundered property back and therewith a new wife of high birth, then can I –

Emperor Julian.

I promise you all; only speak – speak!

The Persian.

Lay you the way straight across the plains, then can you in four days stand before Ctesiphon's walls.

Emperor Julian.

Forget you the mountain-ridge beyond the plains?

The Persian.

Lord, have you never heard tell of that strange narrows between the mountains?

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes, a cleft; "Ahriman's gate" it is called. Is it true that such a one exists?

The Persian.

I rode through Ahriman's gate two days ago.

Emperor Julian.

Nevita!

Nevita the general.

In truth, lord, if so it be –

Emperor Julian.

Wondrous help in need –!

The Persian.

But will you forth by that way, you mighty one, then is there no time to lose. The Persian army, which was drawn together in the northern regions, is now called back to close the mountain-clefts.

Emperor Julian.

Know you that with certainty?

The Persian.

If you tarry, you will yourself learn it.

Emperor Julian.

How many days do your countrymen need to reach thither?

The Persian.

Four days, lord!

Emperor Julian.

Nevita, we must stand beyond the clefts within three days!

Nevita the general (to the Persian.)

Is it feasible for us to reach the clefts in three days?

The Persian.

Yes, great warrior, it is feasible, if you take this night to your aid.

Emperor Julian.

The camp shall be broken up! No sleep; no rest now. Within four days – at most five – must I stand before Ctesiphon. – What think you on? Ah, I know it.

Nevita the general.

The fleet, lord!

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes, yes, the fleet.

Nevita the general.

Comes the Persian army a day later to the clefts than we, then will it – though it can do you no other harm – turn westward against your ships –

Emperor Julian.

– make an immense booty to prolong the war with –

Nevita the general.

Could we leave twenty thousand men at the ships, then would they be secured –

Emperor Julian.

What think you on! Twenty thousand? Almost the third part of all the men fit to bear arms. Where then were the fighting force wherewith I should conquer? Split, scattered, divided. Not a single man can I spare to such a purpose.

No, no, Nevita; but there might well be a third means –

Nevita the general (draws back).

My great emperor –!

Emperor Julian.

The fleet must neither fall into the Persians' hands nor cause us loss of men. There is a third choice, I say! Why tarry you? Why utter you it not?

Nevita the general (to the Persian).

Know you whether the citizens in Ctesiphon have stores of corn and oil?

The Persian.

In Ctesiphon are abundant stores of all kinds.

Emperor Julian.

And once we have the city, then lies the whole rich region open for us.

The Persian.

The citizens will open their gates for you, lord! I am not the only one who hates King Sapor. They will rise against him and fall at your feet, if you come unexpectedly upon them, in the might of terror, and with all your gathered force.

Emperor Julian.

Just that; just that.

The Persian.

Burn the ships, lord!

Nevita the general.

Ah!

Emperor Julian.

His hatred sees, while your loyalty gropes, Nevita!

Nevita the general.

My loyalty saw, lord; but it writhed at what it saw.

Emperor Julian.

Are not these ships like a chain about our foot? We have provisions for four full days in the camp. It is good that the soldiers be not weighed down too much. And what then do the ships serve for? We have no more rivers to cross –

Nevita the general.

Lord, if it really is your will –

Emperor Julian.

My will, – my will? O, on an evening like this – storm-full and tempestuous –; why could not a lightning-bolt strike down and –

Maximus the mystic (comes hastily from the left).

You chosen son of the sun, – hear, hear!

Emperor Julian.

Not now, my Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

Nothing is more important than this. You must hear me!

Emperor Julian.

In fortune's and wisdom's name, then speak, my brother!

Maximus the mystic (draws him aside and says in a subdued voice).

You know, I have searched and pored, both in books and through auguries, to come at the outcome of this campaign.

Emperor Julian.

I know that you have been able to foretell me nothing.

Maximus the mystic.

The auguries spoke and the writings agreed with them. But the answer that always came again was so strange that I had to believe I had reckoned amiss.

Emperor Julian.

But now –?

Maximus the mystic.

When we set out from Antioch I wrote to Rome to consult the Sibylline books –

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes –!

Maximus the mystic.

In this hour the answer is come; a letter-carrier from the governor in Antioch has brought it.

Emperor Julian.

Ah, Maximus, – and it runs –?

Maximus the mystic.

It runs like all that auguries and writings have told me; and now I dare interpret it. Rejoice, my brother, – you are invulnerable in this strife.

Emperor Julian.

The utterance, – the utterance?

Maximus the mystic.

The Sibylline books say: "Julian shall beware of the Phrygian regions."

Emperor Julian (draws back).

The Phrygian –? Ah, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

Why grew you pale, my brother?

Emperor Julian.

Tell me, precious teacher, – how interpret you this answer?

Maximus the mystic.

Is more than one interpretation thinkable? The Phrygian regions? What have you in Phrygia to do? In Phrygia, – a region that lies aside, far behind you, and where you never need set your foot? No danger threatens you, you happy one, – that is the meaning.

Emperor Julian.

This riddle-answer has a twofold meaning. No danger threatens me in the strife – but from that far region. –

Nevita; Nevita!

Nevita the general.

Lord –?

Emperor Julian.

In Phrygia, then? Alexandros writes of mysterious things being prepared in Phrygia. It has once been foretold that the Galilean shall come again –

Burn the ships, Nevita!

Nevita the general.

Lord, is that your firm, irrevocable will –?

Emperor Julian.

Burn them! Tarry not. There threaten us hidden dangers behind.

(to one of the captains.)

Give close heed to this stranger. He shall serve us as guide. Refresh him with food and drink, and let him rest his fill.

Jovian the Commander.

My emperor, I beseech you, – build not too surely on such a deserter's utterance.

Emperor Julian.

Aha, – you seem shaken, my Galilean counsellor! All this is surely not to your mind. Perhaps you know more than you care to say.

Go, Nevita, – and burn the ships!

Emperor Julian.

Traitors in my own camp! Wait, wait, – I shall well come to the bottom of these subtleties.

The army shall break up! Go, Jovian, and see that the vanguard marches out within an hour. The Persian knows the way. Go!

Jovian the Commander.

As you bid, my high emperor!

Maximus the mystic.

You burn the fleet? Surely you have great things in mind.

Emperor Julian.

I should like to know whether the Macedonian Alexander had ventured this?

Maximus the mystic.

Knew Alexander where the danger threatened?

Emperor Julian.

True; true! I know it. All victory-bringing powers are in league with me. Auguries and signs unfold their mysterious knowledge to the profit of my realm.

Is it not said of the Galilean that the spirits came and served him? – Whom do the spirits serve now?

What would the Galilean say, if he were invisibly present among us?

Maximus the mystic.

He would say: the third kingdom is near.

Emperor Julian.

The third kingdom is come, Maximus! I feel that the world's Messiah is living in me. The spirit is become flesh, and the flesh spirit. All created lies within my will and my might.

See, see, – yonder the first sparks fly into the air. The flames lick at the rigging and in the dense mast-clusters.

Kindle; kindle!

Maximus the mystic.

The wind divines your will. It grows and serves you.

Emperor Julian (bids with clenched hand).

Become storm! More westerly! I will it!

Fromentinus the captain (comes from the right).

Most gracious lord, – allow me to warn you. There has broken out a perilous unrest in the camp.

Emperor Julian.

I tolerate no more unrest. The army shall push forward.

Fromentinus the captain.

Yes, my emperor, – but the stubborn Galileans –

Emperor Julian.

The Galileans? What of them?

Fromentinus the captain.

When the treasurers lately were to deal out pay to the soldiers, they had set up your high image before the pay-tables –

Emperor Julian.

So shall it ever be henceforth.

Fromentinus the captain.

It was laid upon each man, as he stepped forth, to cast some incense into the braziers –

Emperor Julian.

Well, yes, yes?

Fromentinus the captain.

Many of the Galilean soldiers did it without thinking further of it; but others refused –

Emperor Julian.

What! They refused?

Fromentinus the captain.

At first, lord; but when the treasurers represented to them that it was an old custom which should again be introduced and which had nothing to do with the divine –

Emperor Julian.

Aha; what then?

Fromentinus the captain.

– then they gave way and did as they were bidden.

Emperor Julian.

See you well; they gave way!

Fromentinus the captain.

But afterward, lord, our own men smiled at them and mocked and said thoughtlessly that now they did best to efface the sign of the cross and the fish, which they are wont to inscribe on their arms; for now they had worshipped the divine emperor.

Emperor Julian.

Yes, yes! And the Galileans?

Fromentinus the captain.

They broke out in loud lamentations – –; hear, hear, lord; it is impossible to reason with them.

Emperor Julian.

These raging ones! Rebelliousness to the last. They know not that their master's power is broken.

A soldier.

Christ died for me, and I betrayed him!

Another soldier.

O, you punishing Lord in heaven, strike me; I have worshipped false gods!

Agathon the soldier.

The devil on the emperor's seat has slain my soul! Woe, woe, woe!

Other soldiers (tear off the lead-tokens they wear about their necks).

We will not serve idols!

Yet others.

The god-denier is not our ruler! We will home! Home!

Emperor Julian.

Fromentinus, seize these madmen! Cut them down!

Leaders and soldiers (terror-struck).

The fleet burns!

Emperor Julian.

Yes, the fleet burns! And more than the fleet burns. On this red, rolling bonfire the crucified Galilean burns to ashes; and the earthly emperor burns with the Galilean. But up out of the ashes rises – like that wondrous bird – the earth's god and the spirit's emperor in one, in one, in one!

Several voices.

Madness has struck him!

Nevita the general (comes from the left).

It is accomplished.

Jovian the Commander (hastily from the camp).

Quench, quench, quench!

Emperor Julian.

Burn, burn!

Ammian the captain (from the camp.)

Lord, you are betrayed! That Persian deserter was a deceiver –

Emperor Julian.

You lie, man! Where is he?

Ammian the captain.

Fled!

Jovian the Commander.

Vanished, like a shadow –

Nevita the general.

Fled!

Jovian the Commander.

Those who accompanied him declare that he became as it were lost between their hands.

Ammian the captain.

His horse is also gone from the enclosure where it stood; the stranger must have fled off across the plains.

Emperor Julian.

Quench the fire, Nevita!

Nevita the general.

Impossible, my emperor!

Emperor Julian.

Quench, quench! It shall be possible!

Nevita the general.

Nothing is more impossible. All the mooring-ropes are cut through; all the ships drift down upon the burning wrecks.

Prince Hormisdas (comes forth among the tents).

Curse upon my countrymen! O, lord, that you could listen to this intriguer.

Cries from the camp.

The fleet burns! Cut off from home! Death before us!

Agathon the soldier.

Idol, idol, – bid the storm be silent; bid the flames die!

Jovian the Commander.

The storm grows. The fire is like a rolling sea –

Maximus the mystic (whispers).

Beware of the Phrygian regions.

Emperor Julian (cries to the army).

Let the fleet burn! Within seven days you shall burn Ctesiphon.