Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/463

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Every man was ordered, as he came forward, to cast a grain of incense into the braziers

Yes—well, well?

Many of the Galilean soldiers did so unthinkingly, but others refused?

What! they refused?

At first, sire; but when the paymasters told them that 'twas an old custom revived, in no wise pertaining to things divine

Aha! what then?

they yielded and did as they were bidden.

There you see; they yielded!

But afterward, sire, our own men laughed and mocked at them, and said, unthinkingly, that now they had best efface the sign of the cross and the fish which they are wont to imprint upon their arms; for now they had worshipped the divine Emperor.