Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/352

316

Away, away, with the shameless wretch!

[A blind, in priestly garments, and supported by two younger men, also dressed as priests, is pushed forward till he stands at the foot of the temple steps, facing the Emperor.

Ah, what do I see? Tell me, old man, are not you Bishop Maris, of Chalcedon?

Yes, I am that unworthiest servant of the Church.

"Unworthiest," you call yourself; and I think you are not far wrong. If I mistake not, you have been one of the foremost in stirring up internal strife among the Galileans.

I have done that which weighs me still deeper down in penitence. When you seized the empire, and rumour told of your bent of mind, my heart was beleagured with unspeakable dread. Blind and enfeebled by age, I could not conceive the thought of setting myself up against the mighty monarch of the world. Yes,—God have mercy on me—I forsook the flock I was appointed to guard, shrank timidly from all the perils that gathered frowning around the Lord's people, and sought shelter here, in my Syrian villa