Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/332

296 undertake the task. It fell perforce to me. Therefore it is, sire, that I stand here before you in all humility, to announce that we Christians in Caesarea have resolved that the temple where the heathen in bygone days worshipped a false deity, under the name of Fortuna, shall be pulled down and levelled with the ground.

[Springing up.] And I must listen to this with my own ears: One single man dares to tell me such unheard-of things!

O pious Emperor, do not suffer it! Punish this audacious man!

He is distraught, sire! Let him go. See,—the frenzy glitters in his eyes.

Ay, it may well be called madness. But 'tis more than madness. To dream of pulling down that excellent temple, dedicated to a no less excellent divinity! Is it not to the favour of this very goddess that I ascribe my achievements, the fame of which has reached the remotest nations? Were I to suffer this, how could I ever again hope for victory or prosperity?—Gregory, I command you to return to Caesarea and give the citizens to understand that I forbid this outrage.

Impossible, sire! The matter has come to such a pass that we have to choose between the fear of man and obedience to God. We cannot draw back.