Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/243

]

I conjure you, my lord,—have done with these noxious dreams. Come with me; come up to the light of day!

[Nearer, underneath.] All my labour is vain.

[Speaking down the passage to the right.] No sign, my brother?

Desolation and emptiness.

Oh, Maximus!

Maximus!

Go, I tell you! If I leave this house of corruption, it will be as Emperor.

I implore you; what seek you here in the darkness?

Light. Go, go!

If Caesar loiters, I fear he will find the way barred against him.

[''He goes by the passage on the left. A little while afterwards, ascends the steps; he wears a white sacrificial fillet round his brow; in his hand is a long, bloody knife.''