Julian.
[Wildly.] Basil, farewell! I see a light on my path!
Basil.
[Flinging his arms around him.] I will not let you go; I will hold you fast!
Julian.
[Extricating himself from his grasp.] No one shall withhold me;—kick not against the pricks
Libanius.
What frenzy is this? Friend, brother, colleague, whither would you go?
Julian.
Thither, thither, where torches light themselves and where statues smile!
Libanius.
And you can do this! You, Julian, our pride, our light, our hope,—you can think of rushing to bewildered Ephesus, to give yourself into a juggler's power! Know that in the hour you so deeply debase yourself, in that same hour you throw away all that bright renown for learning and eloquence which, during these years in Pergamos and Nikomedia, and especially here in the great school of Athens
Julian.
Oh, the school, the school! Do you pore over your books;—you have pointed my way to the man for whom I have been seeking.
[He goes off hastily through the colonnade to
the left.
