MAXIMUS.
Then may the night’s high festival begin!
[_He gives a sign; dancing-girls and flute-players appear in the
outer court. Music and dancing continue during what
follows._
JULIAN.
Maximus,—what is this?
MAXIMUS.
Roses in the hair! Sparkling wine! See, see the lovely limbs at play!
JULIAN.
And amid this whirl of the senses you would——?
MAXIMUS.
Sin lies only in thy sense of sinfulness.
JULIAN.
Roses in the hair! Sparkling wine! [_He casts himself down on one of the
couches beside the table, drains a full goblet, puts it hastily from
him, and asks_:] Ah! What was in the wine?
MAXIMUS.
A spark of that fire which Prometheus stole.
[_He reclines at the opposite side of the table._
JULIAN.
My senses exchange their functions; I hear brightness and I see music.
MAXIMUS.
Wine is the soul of the grape. The freed and yet willing captive. Logos
in Pan!
THE DANCING-GIRLS.
[_Singing in the court_]
Would’st thou know liberty?
Drain Bacchus’ blood;—
Rock on the rhythm-sea,
Float with its flood!
JULIAN.
[_Drinking._] Yes, Yes; there is freedom in intoxication. Canst thou
interpret this rapture?
MAXIMUS.
This intoxication is thy marriage with the soul of nature.
JULIAN.
Sweet riddle; tempting, alluring——! What was that? Why didst thou laugh?
MAXIMUS.
I?
JULIAN.
There is whispering on my left hand! The silk cushions rustle——
[_Springing half up with a pale face._] Maximus, we are not alone!
MAXIMUS.
[_Loudly._] We are five at table!
JULIAN.
Symposium with the spirits!
MAXIMUS.
With the shades.
JULIAN.
Name my guests!
MAXIMUS.
Not now. Hark, hark!
JULIAN.
What is that? There is a rushing, as of a storm, through the house——
MAXIMUS.
[_Shrieks._] Julian! Julian! Julian!
JULIAN.
Speak, speak! What is befalling us?
MAXIMUS.
The hour of annunciation is upon thee!
JULIAN.
[_Springing up and shrinking far back from the table._] Ah!
[_The table lamps seem on the point of extinction; over the
great bronze lamp rises a bluish circle of light._
MAXIMUS.
[_Casting himself wholly down._] Thine eye toward the light!
JULIAN.
Yonder?
MAXIMUS.
Yes, yes!
THE GIRLS’ SONG.
[_Low, from the court._]
Night spreads her snares for thee,
All-seeing night;
Laughing-eyed Luxury
Lures to delight.
JULIAN.
[_Staring at the radiance._] Maximus! Maximus!
MAXIMUS.
[_Softly._] Seest thou aught?
JULIAN.
Yes.
MAXIMUS.
What seest thou?
JULIAN.
I see a shining countenance in the light.
MAXIMUS.
Man, or woman?
JULIAN.
I know not.
MAXIMUS.
Speak to it.
JULIAN.
Dare I?
MAXIMUS.
Speak! speak!
JULIAN.
[_Advancing._] Why was I born?
A VOICE IN THE LIGHT.
To serve the spirit.
MAXIMUS.
Does it answer?
JULIAN.
Yes, yes.
MAXIMUS.
Ask further.
JULIAN.
What is my mission?
THE VOICE.
To establish the empire.
JULIAN.
What empire?
THE VOICE.
The empire.
JULIAN.
And by what way?
THE VOICE.
By the way of freedom.
JULIAN.
Speak clearly! What is the way of freedom?
THE VOICE.
The way of necessity.
JULIAN.
And by what power?
THE VOICE.
By _willing_.
JULIAN.
_What_ shall I will?
THE VOICE.
What thou _must_.
JULIAN.
It pales; it vanishes——! [_Coming closer._] Speak, speak! What must I
will?
THE VOICE.
[_Wailing._] Julian!
[_The circle of light passes away; the table lamps burn as
before._
MAXIMUS.
[_Looking up._] Gone?
JULIAN.
Gone.
MAXIMUS.
Dost thou _now_ see clearly?
JULIAN.
Now less than ever. I hang in the void over the yawning deep—midway
between light and darkness. [_He lies down again._] What is the empire?
MAXIMUS.
There are three empires.
JULIAN.
Three?
MAXIMUS.
First that empire which was founded on the tree of knowledge; then that
which was founded on the tree of the cross——
JULIAN.
And the third?
MAXIMUS.
The third is the empire of the great mystery; that empire which shall be
founded on the tree of knowledge and the tree of the cross together,
because it hates and loves them both, and because it has its living
sources under Adam’s grove and under Golgotha.
JULIAN.
And this empire shall come——?
MAXIMUS.
It stands on the threshold. I have counted and counted——
JULIAN.
[_Breaking off sharply._] The whispering again! Who are my guests?
MAXIMUS.
The three corner-stones under the wrath of necessity.
JULIAN.
Who, who?
MAXIMUS.
The three great helpers in denial.
JULIAN.
Name them!
MAXIMUS.
I cannot; I know them not;—but I could show them to thee——
JULIAN.
Then show me them! At once, Maximus——!
MAXIMUS.
Beware——!
JULIAN.
At once; at once! I will see them; I will speak with them, one by one.
MAXIMUS.
The guilt be on thy head.
[_He waves his wand and calls._
Take shape and come to sight, thou first-elected lamb of sacrifice!
JULIAN.
Ah!
MAXIMUS.
[_With veiled face._] What seest thou?
JULIAN.
[_In a low voice._] There he lies; just by the corner.—He is great as
Hercules, and beautiful,—yet no, not——
[_Hesitatingly._
Speak to me if thou canst!
A VOICE.
What wouldst thou know?
JULIAN.
What was thy task in life?
THE VOICE.
My sin.
JULIAN.
Why didst thou sin?
THE VOICE.
Why was I not my brother?
JULIAN.
Palter not with me. Why didst thou sin?
THE VOICE.
Why was I myself?
JULIAN.
And what didst thou _will_, being thyself?
THE VOICE.
What I must.
JULIAN.
And wherefore must thou?
THE VOICE.
I was myself.
JULIAN.
Thou art sparing of words.
MAXIMUS.
[_Without looking up._] _In vino veritas._
JULIAN.
Thou hast hit it, Maximus?
[_He pours forth a full goblet in front of the empty seat._
Bathe thee in the fumes of wine, my pallid guest! Refresh thee. Feel,
feel—it mounts aloft like the smoke of sacrifice.
THE VOICE.
The smoke of sacrifice does not always _mount_.
JULIAN.
Why does that scar redden on thy brow? Nay, nay,—draw not the hair over
it; What is it?
THE VOICE.
The mark.
JULIAN.
H’m; no more of that. And what fruit has thy sin borne?
THE VOICE.
The most glorious.
JULIAN.
What callest thou the most glorious?
THE VOICE.
Life.
JULIAN.
And the ground of life?
THE VOICE.
Death.
JULIAN.
And of death?
THE VOICE.
[_Losing itself as in a sigh._] Ah, _that_ is the riddle!
JULIAN.
Gone!
MAXIMUS.
[_Looking up._] Gone?
JULIAN.
Yes.
MAXIMUS.
Didst thou know him?
JULIAN.
Yes.
MAXIMUS.
Who was it?
JULIAN.
Cain.
MAXIMUS.
By _that_ way, then! Ask no more!
JULIAN.
[_With an impatient gesture._] The second, Maximus!
MAXIMUS.
No, no, no; I will not!
JULIAN.
The second, I say! Thou hast sworn that I should fathom the meaning of
certain things. The second, Maximus. I will see him; I will know my
guests!
MAXIMUS.
Thou hast willed it, not I.
[_He waves his wand._
Arise and come to light, thou willing slave, thou who didst help at the
world’s next great turning-point.
JULIAN.
[_Gazes for a moment into the empty space; suddenly he makes a gesture
of repulsion towards the seat at its side, and says in a low voice_:] No
nearer!
MAXIMUS.
[_Who has turned his back._] Dost thou see him?
JULIAN.
Yes.
MAXIMUS.
How dost thou see him?
JULIAN.
I see him as a red-bearded man. His garments are rent, and he has a rope
round his neck——
Speak to him, Maximus!
MAXIMUS.
’Tis thou must speak.
JULIAN.
What wast thou in life?
A VOICE.
[_Close beside him._] The twelfth wheel of the world chariot.
JULIAN.
The twelfth? The fifth is reckoned useless.
THE VOICE.
But for me, whither had the chariot rolled?
JULIAN.
Whither did it roll by means of thee?
THE VOICE
Into the glory of glories.
JULIAN.
Why didst thou help?
THE VOICE.
Because I _willed_.
JULIAN.
What didst thou will?
THE VOICE.
What I _must_.
JULIAN.
Who chose thee?
THE VOICE.
The master.
JULIAN.
Did the master foreknow when he chose thee?
THE VOICE.
Ah, _that_ is the riddle!
[_A short silence._
MAXIMUS.
Thou art silent.
JULIAN.
He is no longer here.
MAXIMUS.
[_Looking up._] Didst thou know him?
JULIAN.
Yes.
MAXIMUS.
How was he called in life?
JULIAN.
Judas Iscariot.
MAXIMUS.
[_Springing up._] The abyss blossoms; the night betrays itself!
JULIAN.
[_Shrieks to him._] Forth with the third!
MAXIMUS.
He shall come!
[_He waves the wand._
Come forth, thou third corner-stone! Come forth, thou third great
freed-man under necessity!
[_He casts himself down again on the couch, and turns his face
away._
What seest thou?
JULIAN.
I see nothing.
MAXIMUS.
And yet he is here.
[_He waves the wand again._
By Solomon’s seal, by the eye in the triangle—I conjure thee—come to
sight!——
What seest thou now?
JULIAN.
Nothing, nothing!
MAXIMUS.
[_Waving his wand once more._] Come forth, thou——!
[_He stops suddenly, utters a shriek, and springs up from the
table._
Ah! lightning in the night! I see it;—all art is in vain.
JULIAN.
[_Rising._] Why? Speak, speak!
MAXIMUS.
The third is not yet among the shades.
JULIAN.
He lives?
MAXIMUS.
Yes, he lives.
JULIAN.
And _here_, sayest thou——!
MAXIMUS.
Here, or there, or among the unborn;—I know not——
JULIAN.
[_Rushing at him._] Thou liest! Thou art deceiving me! _Here_, here thou
saidst——!
MAXIMUS.
Let go my cloak!
JULIAN.
Then it is thou, or I! But which of us?
MAXIMUS.
Let go my cloak, Julian!
JULIAN.
Which of us? Which? All hangs on that!
MAXIMUS.
Thou knowest more than I. What said the voice in the light?
JULIAN.
The voice in the light——!
[_With a cry._] The empire! The empire? To found the empire——!
MAXIMUS.
The third empire!
JULIAN.
No; a thousand times no! Away, corrupter! I renounce thee and all thy
works——
MAXIMUS.
And necessity?
JULIAN.
I defy necessity! I will not serve it! I am free, free, free![10]
[_A noise outside; the dancing-girls and flute-players take to
flight._
MAXIMUS.
[_Listening towards the right._] What is this alarm and shrieking——?
JULIAN.
Strange men are forcing their way into the house——
MAXIMUS.
They are maltreating your servants; they will murder us!
JULIAN.
Fear not; us no one can hurt.
THE CHAMBERLAIN EUTHERIUS.
[_Comes hastily across the court._] My lord, my lord!
JULIAN.
What is that noise without?
EUTHERIUS.
Strange men have surrounded the house; they have set a watch at all the
doors; they are making their way in—almost by force. Here they come, my
lord! Here they are!
_The QUAESTOR LEONTES, with a large and richly-attired retinue, enters
from the right._
LEONTES.
Pardon, a thousand pardons, most gracious lord——
JULIAN.
[_Recoiling a step._] What do I see!
LEONTES.
Your servants would have hindered me from entering; and as my errand was
of the utmost moment——
JULIAN.
You here, in Ephesus, my excellent Leontes!
LEONTES.
I have travelled night and day, as the Emperor’s envoy.
JULIAN.
[_Turning pale._] To me? What would the Emperor with me? I swear I am
unwitting of any crime. I am sick, Leontes! This man—[_Pointing to
MAXIMUS_]—attends me as my physician.
LEONTES.
Permit me, my gracious lord——!
JULIAN.
Why do you force your way into my house? What is the Emperor’s will?
LEONTES.
His will is to gladden you, my lord, by a great and weighty
announcement.
JULIAN.
I pray you, let me know what announcement you bring.
LEONTES.
[_Kneels._] My most noble lord,—with praise to your good fortune and my
own, I hail you Caesar.
THE QUAESTOR’S FOLLOWERS.
Long live Julian Caesar!
MAXIMUS.
Caesar!
JULIAN.
[_Retreating, with an exclamation._] Caesar! Stand up, Leontes! What mad
words are these!
LEONTES.
I do but deliver the Emperor’s commands.
JULIAN.
I—I Caesar!—Ah, where is Gallus?
LEONTES.
Oh, do not ask me.
JULIAN.
Where is Gallus? Tell me, I conjure you,—where is Gallus?
LEONTES.
[_Standing up._] Gallus Caesar is with his beloved wife.
JULIAN.
Dead?
LEONTES.
In bliss, with his wife.
JULIAN.
Dead! dead! Gallus dead! Dead in the midst of his triumphal progress!
But when,—and where?
LEONTES.
Oh, my dear lord, spare me——
GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS.
[_Struggling with the guards at the door._] I must go to him! Aside, I
say!—Julian!
JULIAN.
Gregory, brother,—after all, you come again?
GREGORY.
Is it true, what rumour is scattering like a storm of arrows over the
city?
JULIAN.
I am myself transfixed by one of its arrows. Dare I believe in this
blending of good hap and of ill?
GREGORY.
For Christ’s sake, bid the tempter avaunt!
JULIAN.
The Emperor’s commands, Gregory!
GREGORY.
You will trample on your brother’s bloody corpse——
JULIAN.
Bloody——?
GREGORY.
Know you it not? Gallus Caesar was murdered.
JULIAN.
[_Clasping his hands._] Murdered?
LEONTES.
Ah, who is this audacious——?
JULIAN.
Murdered? Murdered? [_To LEONTES._] Tell me he lies!
LEONTES.
Gallus Caesar has fallen through his own misdeeds.
JULIAN.
Murdered!—Who murdered him?
LEONTES.
What has occurred was inevitable, my noble lord! Gallus Caesar madly
misused his power here in the East. He was no longer content with his
rank as Caesar. His conduct, both in Constantinople and elsewhere on his
progress, showed clearly what was in his mind.
JULIAN.
’Tis not his crime I would know, but the rest.
LEONTES.
Oh, let me spare a brother’s ears.
JULIAN.
A brother’s ears can bear what a son’s ears have borne. Who killed him?
LEONTES.
The tribune Scudilo, who escorted him, thought it advisable to have him
executed.
JULIAN.
Where? Not in Rome?
LEONTES.
No, my lord; it happened on the journey thither,—in the city of Pola, in
Illyria.
JULIAN.
[_Bowing himself._] The Emperor is great and righteous.—The last of the
race, Gregory!—The Emperor Constantius is great.
LEONTES.
[_Taking a purple robe from one of his attendants._] Noble Caesar, deign
to array yourself——
JULIAN.
Red! Away with it! Was it this he wore at Pola——?
LEONTES.
This comes fresh from Sidon.
JULIAN.
[_With a look at MAXIMUS._] From Sidon! The purple robe——!
MAXIMUS.
Apollinaris’s vision!
GREGORY.
Julian! Julian!
LEONTES.
See, this is sent to you by your kinsman, the Emperor. He bids me tell
you that, childless as he is, he looks to you to heal this the deepest
wound of his life. He wishes to see you in Rome. Afterwards, it is his
will that you should go, as Caesar, to Gaul. The border tribes of the
Alemanni have passed the Rhine, and made a dangerous inroad into the
empire. He builds securely on the success of your campaign against the
barbarians. Certain things have been revealed to him in dreams, and his
last word to me at my departure was that he was assured you would
succeed in establishing the empire.
JULIAN.
Establish the empire! The voice in the light, Maximus!
MAXIMUS.
Sign against sign.
LEONTES.
How, noble Caesar?
JULIAN.
I also have been forewarned of certain things; but this——
GREGORY.
Say no, Julian! ’Tis the wings of destruction they would fasten on your
shoulders.
LEONTES.
Who are you, that defy the Emperor?
GREGORY.
My name is Gregory; I am the son of the Bishop of Nazianzus;—do with me
what you will.
JULIAN.
He is my friend and brother; let no one touch him!
[_A great crowd has meanwhile filled the outer court._
BASIL OF CAESAREA.
[_Making his way through the crowd._] Take not the purple, Julian!
JULIAN.
You, too, my faithful Basil.
BASIL.
Take it not! For the Lord God’s sake——
JULIAN.
What terrifies you so in this?
BASIL.
The horrors that will follow.
JULIAN.
Through me shall the empire be established.
BASIL.
Christ’s empire?
JULIAN.
The Emperor’s great and beautiful empire.
BASIL.
Was that the empire which shone before your eyes when, as a child, you
preached the word beside the Cappadocian martyrs’ graves? Was that the
empire you set forth from Constantinople to establish on earth? Was that
the empire——?
JULIAN.
Mists, mists;—all that lies behind me like a wild dream.
BASIL.
’Twere better you yourself should be at the bottom of the sea, with a
mill-stone about your neck, than that that dream should lie behind
you.—— See you not the work of the tempter? All the glory of the world
is laid at your feet.
MAXIMUS.
Sign against sign, Caesar!
JULIAN.
One word, Leontes!
[_Seizing his hand and drawing him aside._
Whither do you lead me?
LEONTES.
To Rome, my lord.
JULIAN.
That is not what I ask. Whither do you lead me: to fortune and power,—or
to the shambles?
LEONTES.
Oh, my lord, so odious a suspicion——
JULIAN.
My brother’s body can scarce have mouldered yet.
LEONTES.
I can silence all doubt. [_Taking out a paper._] This letter from the
Emperor, which I had thought to hand you in private——
JULIAN.
A letter? What does he write?——
[_He opens the paper and reads._
Ah, Helena! Oh, Leontes! Helena,—Helena to me!
LEONTES.
The Emperor gives her to you, my lord! He gives you his beloved sister,
for whom Gallus Caesar begged in vain.
JULIAN.
Helena to me! The unattainable attained!—But she, Leontes——?
LEONTES.
At my departure he took the Princess by the hand and led her to me. A
flush of maiden blood swept over her lovely cheeks, she cast down her
eyes, and said: “Greet my dear kinsman, and let him know that he has
ever been the man whom——”
JULIAN.
Go on, Leontes!
LEONTES.
These words were all she spoke, the modest and pure woman.
JULIAN.
The pure woman!—How marvellously is all fulfilled!
[_He calls loudly._
Robe me in the purple!
MAXIMUS.
You have chosen?
JULIAN.
Chosen, Maximus!
MAXIMUS.
Chosen, in spite of sign against sign?
JULIAN.
Here is no sign against sign. Maximus, Maximus, seer though you be, you
have been blind. Robe me in the purple!
[_The QUAESTOR LEONTES attires him in the mantle._
BASIL.
It is done!
MAXIMUS.
[_Murmurs to himself with upstretched hands._] Light and victory be to
him who _wills_!
LEONTES.
And now to the Governor’s palace; the people would fain greet Caesar.
JULIAN.
Caesar, in his exaltation, remains what he was,—the poor lover of
wisdom, who owes all to the Emperor’s grace.—To the Governor’s palace,
my friends!
VOICES AMONG THE QUAESTOR’S RETINUE.
Room, room for Julian Caesar!
[_All go out through the court, amid the acclamations of the
crowd; only GREGORY and BASIL remain behind._
BASIL.
Gregory? Whatever comes of this—let us hold together.
GREGORY.
Here is my hand.
ACT FOURTH
_At Lutetia, in Gaul. A hall in Caesar’s palace, “The Warm Baths,”
outside the city. Entrance, door in the back; to the right,
another smaller door; in front, on the left, is a window with
curtains._
_THE PRINCESS HELENA, richly attired, with pearls in her hair, sits in
an arm-chair, and looks out of the window. Her slave, MYRRHA,
stands opposite her, and holds the curtain aside._
THE PRINCESS HELENA.
What a multitude! The whole city streams out to meet them.—Hark!
Myrrha,—do you not hear flutes and drums?
MYRRHA.
Yes, I think I can hear——
HELENA.
You lie! The noise is too great; you can hear nothing. [_Springing up._]
Oh, this torturing uncertainty! Not to know whether he comes as a
conqueror or as a fugitive.
MYRRHA.
Fear not, my noble mistress; Caesar has always returned a conqueror.
HELENA.
Ay, hitherto; after all his lesser encounters. But this time, Myrrha!
This great, fearful battle. All these conflicting rumours. If Caesar
were victorious, why should he have sent that letter to the city
magistrates, forbidding them to meet him with shows of honour outside
the gates?
MYRRHA.
Oh, you know well, my lady, how little your noble husband cares for such
things.
HELENA.
Yes, yes, that is true. And had he been defeated—they must have known it
in Rome—would the Emperor have sent us this envoy who is to arrive
to-day, and whose courier has brought me all these rich ornaments and
gifts? Ah, Eutherius! Well? Well?
THE CHAMBERLAIN EUTHERIUS.
[_From the back._] My Princess, it is impossible to obtain any
trustworthy tidings——
HELENA.
Impossible? You are deceiving me! The soldiers themselves must surely
know——
EUTHERIUS.
They are only barbarian auxiliaries who are coming in—Batavians and
others—and they know nothing.
HELENA.
[_Wringing her hands._] Oh, have I deserved this torture? Sweet, holy
Christ, have I not called upon Thee day and night——
[_She listens and screams out._
Ah, my Julian! I hear him!—Julian; my beloved!
JULIAN CAESAR.
[_In dusty armour, enters hastily by the back._] Helena!
EUTHERIUS.
My noble Caesar!
JULIAN.
[_Vehemently embracing the Princess._] Helena!—Bar all the doors,
Eutherius!
HELENA.
Defeated! Pursued!
EUTHERIUS.
My lord!
JULIAN.
Double guards at all the doors; let no one pass! Tell me: has any
emissary arrived from the Emperor?
EUTHERIUS.
No, my lord; but one is expected.
JULIAN.
Go, go! [_To the Slave._] Away with you.
[_EUTHERIUS and MYRRHA go out by the back._
HELENA.
[_Sinking into the arm-chair._] Then all is over with us?
JULIAN.
[_Drawing the curtains together._] Who knows? If we are cautious, the
storm may yet——
HELENA.
After such a defeat——?
JULIAN.
Defeat? What are you talking of, my beloved?
HELENA.
Have not the Alemanni defeated you?
JULIAN.
If they had, you would not have seen me alive.
HELENA.
[_Springing up._] Then, Lord of Heaven, what has happened?
JULIAN.
[_Softly._] The worst, Helena;—a stupendous victory.
HELENA.
Victory, you say! A stupendous victory? You have conquered, and yet——?
JULIAN.
You know not how I stand. You see only the gilded outside of all a
Caesar’s misery.
HELENA.
Julian!
JULIAN.
Can you blame me for having hidden it from you? Did not both duty and
shame constrain me——? Ah, what is _this_? What a change——!
HELENA.
What? What?
JULIAN.
How these months have changed you! Helena, you have been ill?
HELENA.
No, no; but tell me——
JULIAN.
Yes, you have been ill! You must be ill now;—your fever-flushed temples,
the blue rings round your eyes——
HELENA.
Oh, ’tis nothing, my beloved! Do not look at me, Julian! ’Tis only
anxiety and wakeful nights on your account; ardent prayers to the
Blessed One on the cross——
JULIAN.
Spare yourself, my treasure; it is more than doubtful whether such zeal
is of any avail.
HELENA.
Fie; you speak impiously.—But tell me of your own affairs, Julian! I
implore you, hide nothing from me.
JULIAN.
Nothing _can_ now be hidden. Since the Empress’s death, I have taken no
single step here in Gaul that has not been evilly interpreted at court.
If I went cautiously to work with the Alemanni, I was called timorous or
inert. They laughed at the philosopher, ill at ease in his coat of mail.
If I gained an advantage over the barbarians, I was told that I ought to
have done more.
HELENA.
But all your friends in the army——
JULIAN.
Who, think you, are my friends in the army? I have not one, my beloved
Helena! Yes, one single man—the knight Sallust, of Perusia, to whom,
during our marriage feast at Milan, I had to refuse a slight request. He
magnanimously came to me in the camp, appealed to our old friendship in
Athens, and begged leave to stand at my side in all dangers. But what
does Sallust count for at the imperial court? He is one of those whom
they call heathens. He can be of no help to me.—And the others! Arbetio,
the tribune, who left me in the lurch when I was blockaded by the
Senones! Old Severus, burdened with the sense of his own impotence, yet
unable to reconcile himself to my new strategy! Or think you I can
depend on Florentius, the captain of the Praetorians? I tell you, that
turbulent man is filled with the most unbridled ambitions.
HELENA.
Ah, Julian!
JULIAN.
[_Pacing up and down._] If I could but come to the bottom of their
intrigues! Every week secret letters pass between the camp and Rome.
Everything I do is set down and distorted. No slave in the empire is so
fettered as Caesar. Would you believe it, Helena, even my cook has to
abide by a bill of fare sent to him by the Emperor; I may not alter it,
either by adding or countermanding a single dish!
HELENA.
And all this you have borne in secrecy——!
JULIAN.
All know it, except you. All mock at Caesar’s powerlessness. I will bear
it no longer! I will not bear it!
HELENA.
But the great battle——? Tell me,—has rumour exaggerated——?
JULIAN.
Rumour could not exaggerate.—Hush; what was that? [_Listening towards
the door._] No, no; I only thought——
I may say that in these months I have done all that mortal man could do.
Step by step, and in spite of all hindrances in my own camp, I drove the
barbarians back towards the eastern frontier. Before Argentoratum, with
the Rhine at his back, King Knodomar gathered all his forces together.
He was joined by five kings and ten lesser princes. But before he had
collected the necessary boats for his retreat in case of need, I led my
army to the attack.
HELENA.
My hero, my Julian!
JULIAN.