Early Plays by Henrik Ibsen (best novels in english txt) 📕

Before this child of death, but risen up

A fleeting moment from the underworld?

CURIUS.  Before you now I fear.  And yet this fear,

This strange, mysterious dread, is my delight.

FURIA.  What would you me?  In vain is all your pleading.

I'm of the grave, and yonder is my home;--

With dawn's approach I must again be speeding

Back to the vale of shadows whence I come.

You doubt me,--do not think that I have sat

Among the pallid shades in Pluto's hall?

I tell you, I was even now below,--

Beyond the river and the gloomy marshes.

CURIUS.  Then lead me there!

FURIA.  You?

CURIUS.  I shall gladly follow,

Though you should lead me through the jaws of death!

FURIA.  It cannot be!  On earth we two must part;--

Yonder the dead and living dare not meet.--

FURIA.  Why do you rob me of my fleeting moments?

I've but the hours of night in which to work;

My task is of the night; I am its herald.

But where is Catiline?

CURIUS.  Ah, him you seek?

FURIA.  Yes, him I seek.

CURIUS.  Then him you still pursue?

FURIA.  Why rose I from the spirit underworld

Tonight, if not because of Catiline?

CURIUS.  Alas, this fury that has seized your soul--!

Yet you are lovely even in your madness.

Oh, Furia, think no more of Catiline!

Come, flee with me!  Command me,--I shall serve you!

[He prostrates himself before her.]

CURIUS.  A prostrate slave I here entreat of you

One single look.  Oh, hear me, Furia, hear me!

I love but you!  A sweet and lethal fire

Consumes my soul, and you--ah, you alone--

Can ease my suffering.--

FURIA.  [Looks towards the house.]  Yonder there's a light--

And many men.  What now is going on

Within the house of Catiline?

CURIUS.  [Jumps up.]  Again

This name!  Around him hover all your thoughts.

Oh, I could hate him--!

FURIA.  Has he then resolved

To launch at last the daring enterprise

He long has cherished?

CURIUS.  Then you know--?

FURIA.  Yes, all.

CURIUS.  Ah, then you doubtless know, too, he himself

Is foremost in this daring enterprise?

Yet, I adjure you, beg you, think no more

Of Catiline!

FURIA.  Answer me this alone;

'Tis all I ask of you.  Do you go with him?

CURIUS.  He is to me a tender father--

FURIA.  [Smiling.]  He?

My Catiline?

CURIUS.  Ah!

FURIA.  He,--round whom my thoughts

Course without rest?

CURIUS.  My brain is in a tumult--

I hate this man--!  Oh, I could murder him!

FURIA.  Did you not lately swear you were prepared

To do my bidding?

CURIUS.  Ask me what you will;

In everything I serve you and obey!

I only beg,--forget this Catiline.

FURIA.  I shall forget him first--when he has stepped

Into his grave.

CURIUS.  [Draws back.]  Ah, you demand that I--?

FURIA.  You need not use the steel; you can betray

His enterprise--

CURIUS.  Murder and treachery

At once!  Remember, Furia, he is still

My foster-father and--

FURIA.  --My aim in life!

Ah, timid fool,--so you dare speak of love,--

Who lack the fortitude to strike him down

That stands across your path?  Away from me!

[She turns her back on him.]

CURIUS.  [Holding her back.]

No;--do not leave me!  I am in all things willing!

A shudder chills me as I look on you;

And yet I cannot break this net asunder

Wherein you trapped my soul.

FURIA.  Then you are willing?

CURIUS.  Why do you mock me with such questioning?

If I am willing?  Have I any will?

Your gaze is like the serpent's when 'tis fixed

With magic power upon the bird, that circles

Wildly about in terror-stricken awe,

Drawn ever nearer to the dreadful fangs.

FURIA.  Then to your task!

CURIUS.  And when I've sacrificed

My friendship to my love for you,--what then?

FURIA.  I shall forget that Catiline existed.

Then will my task be ended.  Ask no more!

CURIUS.  For this reward I should--?

FURIA.  You hesitate?

Is then your hope so faint that you forget

What gifts a grateful woman can bestow,

When first the time--?

CURIUS.  By all the powers of night,--

I'll not delay!  He only stands between us.

Then let him perish!  Quenched is every spark

Of feeling for him; every bond is sundered!--

Who are you, lovely vision of the night?

Near you I'm turned to marble, burned to ashes.

My longing chills me,--terror fires the soul;

My love is blended hate and sorcery.

Who am I now?  I know myself no more;

One thing I know; I am not he I was,

Ere you I saw.  I'll plunge into the deep

To follow you!  Doomed--doomed is Catiline!

I'll to the Capitol.  This very night

The senate is assembled.  Then farewell!

A written note betrays his enterprise.

[He goes out hastily.]

FURIA.  [To herself.]

The heavens grow dark; soon will the lightning play.

The end is fast approaching, Catiline;--

With measured steps you journey to your grave!

[The Allobrogian ambassadors, AMBIORIX and OLLOVICO, come out of

the house without noticing FURIA, who stands half concealed in

the shade between the trees.]

AMBIORIX.  So then it is decided!  Venturesome

It was to enter into such a compact.

OLLOVICO.  True;

Yet their refusal of each righteous claim

Opens no other way to liberty.

The prize of victory,--should our friends succeed,--

Outweighs indeed the perils of the conflict

That now awaits us.

AMBIORIX.  Brother, so it is!

OLLOVICO.  Emancipation from the rule of Rome,--

Freedom long lost is surely worth a struggle.

AMBIORIX.  Now we must hasten homeward with all speed,

Kindling through Gaul the flames of insurrection.

It will be easy to persuade the tribes

To 'rise up in revolt; they'll follow us

And join the partisans of Catiline.

OLLOVICO.  Hard will the fight be; mighty still is Rome.

AMBIORIX.  It must be risked.  Come, Ollovico, come!

FURIA.  [Calls warningly to them.]  Woe unto you!

AMBIORIX.  [Startled.]  By all the gods!

OLLOVICO.  [Terrified.]  Ah, hear!

A voice cries warning to us in the dark!

FURIA.  Woe to your people!

OLLOVICO.  Yonder stands she, brother,--

The pale and ill-foreboding shadow.  See!

FURIA.  Woe unto all who follow Catiline!

AMBIORIX.  Home, home!  Away!  We'll break all promises!

OLLOVICO.  A voice has warned us, and we shall obey.

[They go out hurriedly to the right.]

[CATILINE comes out of the house in the background.]

CATILINE.  Ah, desperate hope--to think of crushing Rome

With such a host of cowards and poltroons!

What spurs them on?  With frankness they confess--

Their only motive is their want and greed.

Is it then worth the trouble for such aims

To shed men's blood?  And what have I to win?

What can I gain?

FURIA.  [Invisible among the trees.]  Revenge, my Catiline!

CATILINE.  [Startled.]

Who speaks!  Who wakes the spirit of revenge

From slumber?  Came this voice then from the deep

Within my soul?  Revenge?  Yes, that's the word,--

My watch-word and my battle-cry.  Revenge!

Revenge for all the hopes and all the dreams

Which ever a vindictive fate destroyed!

Revenge for all my years of wasted life!

[The CONSPIRATORS come armed out of the house.]

LENTULUS.  Still rest the shades of darkness on the city.

Now is it time to break away.

SEVERAL.  [Whispering.]  Away!

[AURELIA comes out of the side-building without noticing the

CONSPIRATORS.]

AURELIA.  Beloved,--are you here?

CATILINE.  [With a cry.]  Aurelia!

AURELIA.  Say,--

Have you been waiting for me?

[She becomes aware of the Conspirators and rushes to him.]

AURELIA.  Gracious gods!

CATILINE.  [Thrusts her aside.]  Woman, away from me!

AURELIA.  Speak, Catiline!

These many men in arms--?  And you as well--?

Oh, you will go--

CATILINE.  [Wildly.]  Yes, by the spirits of night,--

A merry journey!  See--this flashing sword!

It thirsts for blood!  I go--to quench its thirst.

AURELIA.  My hope,--my dream!  Ah, blissful was my dream!

Thus am I wakened from my dreaming--

CATILINE.  Silence!

Stay here,--or follow!  But my heart is cold

To tears and lamentations.--Friends, behold

How bright the full moon in the west declines!

When next that full moon in its orient shines,

An avalanche of fire shall sweep the state

And all its golden glory terminate.

A thousand years from now, when it shall light

Mere crumbling ruins in the desert night,--

One pillar in the dust of yonder dome

Shall tell the weary wanderer: Here stood Rome!

[He rushes out to the right; all follow him.]

[CATILINE's camp in a wooded field in Etruria.  To the

right is seen CATILINE's tent and close by it an old

oak tree.  A camp fire is burning outside the tent;

similar fires are to be seen among the trees in the

background.  It is night.  At intervals the moon breaks

through the clouds.]

[STATILIUS lies stretched out asleep by the camp fire.

MANLIUS paces back and forth in front of the tent.]

MANLIUS.  Such is the way of young and buoyant souls.

They slumber on as peaceful and secure

As though embosomed in their mothers' arms,

Instead of in a forest wilderness.

They rest as though they dream some merry game

Were held in store for them when they awake,

Instead of battle,--the last one, perchance,

That will be theirs to fight.

STATILIUS.  [Awakes and rises.]  Still standing guard?

You must be weary?  I'll relieve you now.

MANLIUS.  Go rest yourself instead.  Youth needs his sleep;

His untamed passions tax his native strength.

'Tis otherwise when once the hair turns gray,

When in our veins the blood flows lazily,

And age weighs heavily upon our shoulders.

STATILIUS.  Yes, you are right.  Thus I too shall in time,

An old and hardened warrior--

MANLIUS.  Are you sure

The fates decreed you such a destiny?

STATILIUS.  And pray, why not?  Why all these apprehensions?

Has some misfortune chanced?

MANLIUS.  You think no doubt

That we have naught to fear, foolhardy youth?

STATILIUS.  Our troops are strongly reenforced--

MANLIUS.  Indeed,--

With fugitive slaves and gladiators--

STATILIUS.  Well,--

Grant that they are; together they may prove

No little aid, and all the tribes of Gaul

Will send us help--

MANLIUS.  --Which has not yet arrived.

STATILIUS.  You doubt that the Allobroges will keep

Their promised word?

MANLIUS.  I know these people well

From days gone by.  However, let that pass.

The day that dawns will doubtless bring to light

What destinies the gods have set for us.

MANLIUS.  But go the rounds, my friend, and ascertain

If all the guards perform their proper tasks.

For we must fend against a night attack;

We know not where the enemy makes his stand.

[STATILIUS goes into the forest.]

MANLIUS.  [Alone by the camp fire.]

The clouds begin to gather thick and fast;

It is a dark and storm-presaging night;--

A misty fog hangs heavy on my breast,

As though foreboding mishap to us all.

Where is it now, that easy carefree spirit

With which in former times I went to war?

Ah, can it be the weight of years alone

That now I feel?  Strange--strange, indeed,--last night

Even the young seemed sorely out of heart.

MANLIUS.  [After a pause.]

The gods shall know revenge was not the aim

For which I joined and followed Catiline.

My wrath flared up within me for a space

When first I felt I had been wronged, insulted;--

The old blood is not yet entirely cold;

Now and again it courses warmly through my veins.

But the humiliation is forgotten.

I followed Catiline for his own sake;

And I shall watch o'er him with zealous care.

Here stands he all alone amidst these hosts

Of paltry knaves and dissolute companions.

They cannot comprehend him,--he in turn

Is far too proud to wish to fathom them.

[He throws some branches on the fire and remains standing in

silence.  CATILINE comes out of the tent.]

CATILINE.  [To himself.]

Midnight approaches.  Everything is hushed;--

Only to my poor eyes sleep fails to come.

Cold is the night wind; 'twill refresh my soul

And give me strength anew--.  I sorely need it!

[He becomes aware of MANLIUS.]

CATILINE.  'Tis you, old Manlius?  And do you stand guard

Alone on such a night?

MANLIUS.  Oft have I stood

Guard over you in childhood's early days.

Say, do you not recall?

CATILINE.  Those days are gone;

With them, my peace; wherever now I go,

I'm haunted by a multitude of visions.

All things find shelter in my bosom, Manlius;--

Save peace alone.  That--that is far away.

MANLIUS.  Cast off these gloomy thoughts and take your rest!

Remember that the morrow may require

Your utmost strength for our deliverance.

CATILINE.  I cannot rest.  If I but close my eyes

One fleeting moment in forgetful slumber,

I'm tossed about in strange, fantastic dreams.

Here on my couch I lay now, half asleep,

When these same visions reappeared again,

More strange than ever,--more mysterious

And puzzling--.  Ah, if I could only know

What this forebodes!  But no--

MANLIUS.  Confide your dream

To me.  Perhaps I can expound its meaning.

CATILINE.  [After a pause.]

If I slept or if I waked, scarcely can I say;

Visions fast pursued each other in a mad array.

Soon a deepening