Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/511

] You must not weep because I depart from you so young. 'Tis not always a sign of the Fates' displeasure when they call a man away in his prime. What, after all, is death? 'Tis nought but paying our debt to the ever-changing empire of the dust. No lamentations! Do we not all love wisdom? And does not wisdom teach us that the highest bliss lies in the life of the soul, not in that of the body? So far the Galileans are right, although; but we will not speak of that. Had the powers of life and death suffered me to finish a certain treatise, I think I should have succeeded in

Oh my Emperor, does it not weary you to talk so much?

No, no, no. I feel very light and free.

Julian, my beloved brother,—is there nought you would recall?

Truly I know not what it should be.

Nothing to repent of, Julian?

Nothing. That power which circumstances placed in my hands, and which is an emanation of divinity, I am conscious of having used to the best of my skill. I have never wittingly wronged any one. For this campaign there were good and