Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/272

236 such cases; but I do not complain when I remember how much we owe to these very divinities; nor am I ashamed to do everything with my own hands Whither away, Caesarius?

To the church, most gracious Emperor; I would pray for the soul of my departed master.

Go, go! In these matters every one is free.

[, with several of the older courtiers and officers of state, goes out to the left.

But the freedom I concede to the meanest citizen, I claim for myself as well.Be it known, therefore, to you all, Greeks and Romans, that I return with my whole heart to the beliefs and rites which our forefathers held sacred,—that they may be freely propagated and exercised, no less than all new and foreign opinions;—and as I am a son of this city, and therefore hold it pre-eminently dear, this I proclaim in the name of its guardian deities.

['' gives a sign; some of the attendants withdraw the veil from the stone: an altar is seen, and, at its base, a flagon of wine, a cruse of oil, a little heap of wood, and other appurtenances. Strong but speechless emotion in the multitude, as goes up to the altar, and prepares for the offering.''

Oh well may I, as a Greek, melt into tears at the sight of so much humility and pious zeal!