Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 3).djvu/227

Brand.

                   Is that an end
I reach by plunging in the mire?

The Dean.

Whoso him humbleth shall go higher!
Hooks will not catch, unless they bend.

Brand.

Man can't be used, unless he perish!

The Dean.

Good God! How can you think I cherish
Any such purpose?

Brand.

                  Ay, indeed,
That's the condition! First to bleed!
Your bloodless spirit to put on
Man must be first a skeleton!

The Dean.

I would not put the lancet through
A very kitten—far less you;
But yet I thought no harm were done
In leaving just ajar the door
That opens, where I went before.

Brand.

And do you know what you have sought?
This, that upon the State's cock-cry
I that Ideal should deny
For which I until now have fought?

The Dean.

Deny, friend? Who makes such request?
Duty is all I bid you follow: