Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/406

370 "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,—and to God the things that are God's!" Never has mouth of man uttered a craftier saying than that. What lies behind it? What, and how much, belongs to the Emperor? That saying is nothing but a bludgeon wherewith to strike the crown from off the Emperor's head.

Yet the great Constantine knew how to compound matters with the Galilean—and your predecessor too.

Yes, could one only be as easily satisfied as they! But call you that ruling the empire of the world? Constantine widened the boundaries of his dominion, but did he not fix narrow boundaries to his spirit and his will? You rate that man too high when you call him "the great." Of my predecessor I will not speak; he was more slave than Emperor, and I cannot be contented with the name alone.

No, no, a truce is not to be thought of in this contest. And yet—to have to give way! Oh, Maximus, after these defeats I cannot retain the crown—yet neither can I renounce it.

You, Maximus, who can interpret omens whose mystic meaning is hidden from all others—you who can read the volume of the eternal stars,—can you foretell the issue of this struggle?

Yes, my brother, I can foretell the issue.