Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/108

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72
caesar's apostasy.
[act ii.

banishment? Did he not flatter me at our meeting in Constantinople, that meeting which he has since attempted, most unsuccessfully, to present in a ludicrous light! And what am I to him now? Now he writes letters to Gallus, to Gallus Caesar, to the Emperor's heir, congratulating him on his successes against the Persians, although these successes have as yet been meagre enough, and Gallus Caesar is not distinguished either for learning or for any considerable eloquence.—And this Libanius the Greeks persist in calling the king of the philosophers! Ah, I will not deny that it stirs my indignation. I should have thought, to tell the truth, that the Greeks might have made a better choice, if they had noted a little more closely the cultivators of wisdom and eloquence, who of late years——

Basil of Caesarea.

[Entering from the right.] Letters! Letters from Cappadocia!

Gregory.

For me too?

Basil.

Yes, here; from your mother.

Gregory.

My pious mother!

[He opens the paper and reads.

Julian.

[To Basil.] Is it your sister who writes to you?