Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/173

 ERKOPF
 * Exalted poet!

PEER [more and more elevated].
 * The Gyntish Self-it is the host
 * of wishes, appetites, desires,-
 * the Gyntish Self, it is the sea
 * of fancies, exigencies, claims,
 * all that, in short, makes my breast heave,
 * and whereby I, as I, exist.
 * But as our Lord requires the clay
 * to constitute him God o' the world,
 * so I, too, stand in need of gold,
 * if I as Emperor would figure.

MONSIEUR BALLON
 * You have the gold, though!

PEER
 * Not enough.
 * Ay, maybe for a nine-days' flourish,
 * as Emperor a la Lippe-Detmold.
 * But I must be myself en bloc,
 * must be the Gynt of all the planet,
 * Sir Gynt throughout, from top to toe!

MONSIEUR BALLON [enraptured].
 * Possess the earth's most exquisite beauty!

VON EBERKOPF
 * All century-old Johannisberger!