Act Three
Emperor and Galilean

ACT THREE.

(In Ephesus. A lighted hall in Prince Julian's dwelling. The entrance from the vestibule is on the right side; further back a smaller door, covered by a curtain. On the left side a door leading to the inner rooms of the house. The background of the hall is formed by an openwork wall, beyond which one sees a small enclosed courtyard, adorned with little statues.)
(Servants are preparing a festive evening meal and laying cushions about the table. Eutherius the steward stands at the entrance and, with many courtesies, presses Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea to step in.)

Eutherius the steward.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Impossible! Do not make mock of us.

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Eutherius the steward.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Eutherius the steward.

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

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

Basil of Caesarea.

Is he there?

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

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

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

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Julian!

Basil of Caesarea.

My friend and brother!

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Are you sure of all this?

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

Yes, yes, – forward in the ship –

Prince Julian.

What time of night was it?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

What time of night did you have that vision?

Prince Julian.

An hour after midnight.

Gregory of Nazianzus (with a glance at Basil).

Wondrous.

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

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

Basil of Caesarea (follows him with his eyes).

Oh, then it is true after all –

Prince Julian.

Which? What is true?

Basil of Caesarea.

The rumour of the secret arts that you practise here.

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

That you may safely believe.

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

And then –?

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea (grasps his hand).

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus (prepares to go).

We only wished to see you, lord!

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

What do you call the kernel of life?

Prince Julian.

Maximus knows it. In him is the new revelation.

Basil of Caesarea.

And it has fallen to your lot?

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Maximus is a visionary, or he deceives you –!

Prince Julian.

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

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

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

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

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

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

What knowledge do you mean?

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

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

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

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

Basil of Caesarea.

No, no; how can we know –?

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Was it this sign you just said had confirmed itself?

Prince Julian (nods slowly).

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Strange. In Athens other rumours were abroad.

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

Never!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

And what has so abruptly driven you from Hellas?

Basil of Caesarea.

My mother is a widow, Julian!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Impossible; our travelling-party sets out at daybreak.

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

Surely you do not yearn toward death, Julian!

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea (tears himself loose).

Julian, Julian!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

Oh, Gregory, he is sick and deluded!

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Do you know where your way stops?

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Come, Basil!

Prince Julian (with outstretched arms).

Oh, you friends; you friends!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Between us there is a parting from this day.

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

Prince Julian (looks after them a while).

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

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

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

Prince Julian (softly).

At last!

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

Prince Julian (in tense expectation).

Is the time come?

Maximus the mystic (without looking at him).

Are your mind and your body pure?

Prince Julian.

I have fasted and anointed myself.

Maximus the mystic.

Then the night's festival may begin!

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

Prince Julian.

Maximus, – what is this?

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

Sin is only in your view of the sinful.

Prince Julian.

Roses in the hair! Pearling wine!

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

Ah, what was in the wine?

Maximus the mystic.

A glow of the fire that Prometheus stole.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

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

The dancing girls (sing in the forecourt).

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

Prince Julian (drinks).

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

Maximus the mystic.

The intoxication is your wedding with the soul of nature.

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

I?

Prince Julian.

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

(pale; springs half up:)

Maximus, we are not alone!

Maximus the mystic (calls).

We are five at table!

Prince Julian.

A symposium with the spirits!

Maximus the mystic.

With the shades.

Prince Julian.

Name my guests!

Maximus the mystic.

Not now. Hark, hark!

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic (shrieks).

Julian! Julian! Julian!

Prince Julian.

Speak, speak! What is happening to us?

Maximus the mystic.

The hour of annunciation is upon you!

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

Ah!

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

Maximus the mystic (throws himself wholly down).

The eye toward the light!

Prince Julian.

Yonder?

Maximus the mystic.

Yes, yes!

The girls' song (muted from the forecourt).

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

Prince Julian (stares toward the gleam of light).

Maximus! Maximus!

Maximus the mystic (softly).

Do you see anything?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

What do you see?

Prince Julian.

I see a shining face in the light.

Maximus the mystic.

Man or woman?

Prince Julian.

I do not know.

Maximus the mystic.

Speak to it.

Prince Julian.

Dare I?

Maximus the mystic.

Speak; speak!

Prince Julian (nearer).

Why did I come to be?

A voice in the light.

To serve the spirit.

Maximus the mystic.

Does it answer?

Prince Julian.

Yes, yes.

Maximus the mystic.

Ask more.

Prince Julian.

What is my work?

The voice in the light.

You shall establish the realm.

Prince Julian.

What realm?

The voice in the light.

The realm.

Prince Julian.

And by what way?

The voice in the light.

By the way of freedom.

Prince Julian.

Speak out fully! What is the way of freedom?

The voice in the light.

The way of necessity.

Prince Julian.

And by what power?

The voice in the light.

By willing.

Prince Julian.

What shall I will?

The voice in the light.

What you must.

Prince Julian.

It pales; it fades –!

(nearer.)

Speak, speak! What must I?

The voice in the light (lamenting).

Julian!

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

Maximus the mystic (looks up).

Gone?

Prince Julian.

Gone.

Maximus the mystic.

Do you now know?

Prince Julian.

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

(he lies down again.)

What is the realm?

Maximus the mystic.

There are three realms.

Prince Julian.

Three?

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian.

And the third?

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian.

And that realm shall come –?

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian (breaks off sharply).

There is whispering again! Who are my guests?

Maximus the mystic.

The three cornerstones under the wrath of necessity.

Prince Julian.

Who, who?

Maximus the mystic.

The three great helpers in denial.

Prince Julian.

Name them!

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian.

Then show me them! At once, Maximus –!

Maximus the mystic.

Beware –!

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

Upon yourself be the guilt.

(he swings his staff and cries:)

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

Prince Julian.

Ah!

Maximus the mystic (with veiled face).

What do you see?

Prince Julian (muted).

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

(hesitating.)

If you can, then speak to me!

A voice.

What would you know?

Prince Julian.

What was your task in life?

The voice.

My crime.

Prince Julian.

Why did you transgress?

The voice.

Why did I not become my brother?

Prince Julian.

No evasions. Why did you transgress?

The voice.

Why did I become myself?

Prince Julian.

And what did you will, as yourself?

The voice.

What I had to.

Prince Julian.

And why did you have to?

The voice.

I was myself.

Prince Julian.

You are sparing of words.

Maximus the mystic (without looking up).

In vino veritas.

Prince Julian.

You hit it, Maximus!

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

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

The voice.

Sacrificial smoke does not always rise.

Prince Julian.

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

The voice.

The sign.

Prince Julian.

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

The voice.

The most glorious.

Prince Julian.

What do you call the most glorious?

The voice.

Life.

Prince Julian.

And the ground of life?

The voice.

Death.

Prince Julian.

And death's?

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

Yes, that is the riddle!

Prince Julian.

Gone!

Maximus the mystic (looks up).

Gone?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

Did you know him?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

Who was it?

Prince Julian.

Cain.

Maximus the mystic.

That way, then! Search no more!

Prince Julian (throws out his hand).

The next, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

No, no, no; – I will not do it!

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

You have willed it, not I.

(he swings the staff.)

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

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

No nearer!

Maximus the mystic (turned away).

Do you see him?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

How do you see him?

Prince Julian.

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

Speak to him, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

You must speak.

Prince Julian.

What were you in life?

A voice (right beside him).

The twelfth wheel of the world-chariot.

Prince Julian.

The twelfth? The fifth is already reckoned useless.

The voice.

Where would the chariot have rolled without me?

Prince Julian.

Where did it roll by you?

The voice.

Into the glorification.

Prince Julian.

Why did you help?

The voice.

Because I was willing.

Prince Julian.

What did you will?

The voice.

What I had to will.

Prince Julian.

Who chose you?

The voice.

The master.

Prince Julian.

Was the master foreknowing when he chose you?

The voice.

Yes, that is the riddle!

(short silence.)

Maximus the mystic.

You are silent?

Prince Julian.

He is here no more.

Maximus the mystic (looks up).

Did you know him?

Prince Julian.

Yes.

Maximus the mystic.

What was he called in life?

Prince Julian.

Judas Iscariot.

Maximus the mystic (springs up).

The abyss shoots forth blossoms; the night betrays itself!

Prince Julian (shrieks at him).

The third forth!

Maximus the mystic.

He shall come!

(swings the staff.)

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

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

What do you see?

Prince Julian.

I see nothing.

Maximus the mystic.

And yet he is here.

(swings the staff again.)

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

What do you see now?

Prince Julian.

Nothing; nothing!

Maximus the mystic (swings the staff again).

Come forth, you –! – –

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

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

Prince Julian (rises).

Why? Speak, speak!

Maximus the mystic.

The third is not yet among the shades.

Prince Julian.

He lives?

Maximus the mystic.

Yes, he lives.

Prince Julian.

And here, you said –!

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian (presses in upon him).

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

Maximus the mystic.

Let go of my cloak!

Prince Julian.

Then you or I! But which of us?

Maximus the mystic.

Let go of the cloak, Julian!

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian.

The voice in the light –?

(with a cry.)

The realm! The realm? Establish the realm –!

Maximus the mystic.

The third realm!

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

From necessity?

Prince Julian.

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

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

Maximus the mystic (listens toward the right).

What terror and cries –?

Prince Julian.

Strangers are pressing into the house –

Maximus the mystic.

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

Prince Julian.

Be calm; no one can strike us.

Eutherius the steward (comes hastily across the forecourt).

Lord, lord!

Prince Julian.

Who causes that noise outside?

Eutherius the steward.

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

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

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian (a step back).

What do I see!

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

You here in Ephesus, my excellent Leontes!

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian (pale).

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

Leontes the quaestor.

Permit me, gracious lord –!

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor (kneels).

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

The quaestor's retinue.

Long live Caesar Julian!

Maximus the mystic.

Caesar!

Prince Julian (shrinks back with an exclamation).

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

Leontes the quaestor.

I bring the emperor's command.

Prince Julian.

I – I Caesar! – Ah, where is Gallus?

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, do not ask.

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor (stands up).

Caesar Gallus is with his beloved wife.

Prince Julian.

Dead!

Leontes the quaestor.

In bliss with his wife.

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, precious lord, spare me –

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

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

The emperor's command, Gregory!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

You would tread upon your brother's bloody corpse –

Prince Julian.

Bloody –?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian (with clasped hands).

Murdered!

Leontes the quaestor.

Ah, who is this audacious one –?

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

Caesar Gallus has fallen by his deeds.

Prince Julian.

Murdered; – who murdered him?

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, let me spare your brotherly ears.

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

Where? Surely not in Rome?

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian (bows).

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

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

High Caesar, deign to clothe yourself –

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

It has come new from Sidon.

Prince Julian (with a glance at Maximus).

From Sidon! The purple robe –!

Maximus the mystic.

Apollinaris's vision!

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Julian; Julian!

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Maximus the mystic.

Sign against sign.

Leontes the quaestor.

How so, high Caesar?

Prince Julian.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

Who are you, who defy the emperor?

Gregory of Nazianzus.

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

Prince Julian.

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

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

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

Do not take the purple, Julian!

Prince Julian.

You too, my faithful Basil!

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Prince Julian.

What terrifies you in this?

Basil of Caesarea.

The horrors that will come.

Prince Julian.

By me the realm shall be established.

Basil of Caesarea.

Christ's realm?

Prince Julian.

The emperor's great fair realm.

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Maximus the mystic.

Sign against sign, Caesar!

Prince Julian.

A word, Leontes!

(grasps his hand and draws him aside.)

Where are you leading me?

Leontes the quaestor.

To Rome, lord!

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

Oh, lord, such a scornful mistrust –

Prince Julian.

Gallus's body is scarcely rotted yet.

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

A letter? What does he write? –

(he opens the paper and reads.)

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

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

Go on, Leontes!

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

The pure woman! – Wondrously is all fulfilled!

(he cries aloud.)

The purple cloak about me!

Maximus the mystic.

You have chosen?

Prince Julian.

Chosen, Maximus!

Maximus the mystic.

Chosen, despite sign against sign?

Prince Julian.

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

(Leontes the quaestor clothes him in the cloak.)

Basil of Caesarea.

It is done!

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

Victory and light over the willing one!

Leontes the quaestor.

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

Prince Julian.

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

Voices among the quaestor's retinue.

Make way, make way for Caesar Julian!

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

Basil of Caesarea.

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

Gregory of Nazianzus.

Here is my hand.