Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/112

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I? I will go no more to Eleusis; I will break off all dealings with the heathen, and thank the Lord my God that he spared me the temptations of power.

Good; but then?

I do not understand you

Then listen. The murder of Clemazius is not all, believe me. This unheard-of infamy has descended like a plague on Antioch. All evil things have awakened, and are swarming forth from their lairs. My mother writes that it seems as though some pestilent abyss had opened. Wives denounce their husbands, sons their fathers, priests the members of their own flock

This will spread yet further. The abomination will corrupt us all.Oh, Gregory, would I could fly to the world's end!

Your place is at the world's navel, Prince Julian.

What would you have me do?

You are this bloody Caesar's brother. Stand forth before him—he calls himself a Christian—*