Early Plays
by
Henrik Ibsen

Part 1 out of 5







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This series of SCANDINAVIAN CLASSICS was published by the
American-Scandinavian Foundation in the belief that greater
familiarity with the chief literary monuments of the North will
help Americans to a better understanding of Scandinavians, and
thus serve to stimulate their sympathetic co-operation to good
ends.

* * * * *

SCANDINAVIAN CLASSICS

VOLUME XVII



EARLY PLAYS

by


HENRIK IBSEN

* * * * *

EARLY PLAYS


CATILINE, THE WARRIOR'S BARROW,
OLAF LILJEKRANS


by

HENRIK IBSEN


TRANSLATED FROM THE NORWEGIAN BY
ANDERS ORBECK, A. M.

_Assistant Professor of English in the University
of Montana_

* * * * *

_To

O. W. Firkins

Teacher and Friend
and Inspirer of
these Translations._

* * * * *


CONTENTS


INTRODUCTION

CATILINE

THE WARRIOR'S BARROW

OLAF LILJEKRANS

LIST OF FOUNDATION PUBLICATIONS

* * * * *


INTRODUCTION


One of the most remarkable facts about Ibsen is the orderly
development of his genius. He himself repeatedly maintained that
his dramas were not mere isolated accidents. In the foreword to
the readers in the popular edition of 1898 he urges the public to
read his dramas in the same order in which he had written them,
deplores the fact that his earlier works are less known and less
understood than his later works, and insists that his writings
taken as a whole constitute an organic unity. The three of his
plays offered here for the first time in English translation will
afford those not familiar with the original Norwegian some light
on the early stages of his development.

_Catiline_, the earliest of Ibsen's plays, was written in
1849, while Ibsen was an apothecary's apprentice in Grimstad. It
appeared in Christiania in the following spring under the
pseudonym Brynjolf Bjarme. The revolutionary atmosphere of
1848-49, the reading of the story of Catiline in Sallust and
Cicero in preparation for the university examinations, the
hostility which existed between the apprentice and his immediate
social environment, the fate which the play met at the hands of
the theatrical management and the publishers, his own struggles
at the time,--are all set forth clearly enough in the preface to
the second edition. The play was written in the blank verse of
Oehlenschlaeger's romantic dramas. Ibsen's portrayal of the
Roman politician is not in accord with tradition; Catiline is not
an out-and-out reprobate, but an unfortunate and highly sensitive
individual in whom idealism and licentiousness struggle for
mastery. Vasenius, in his study of the poet (_Ibsens
Dramatiska Diktning in dess Första Skede_, Helsingfors, 1879),
insists that Ibsen thus intuitively hit upon the real Catiline
revealed by later nineteenth century research. The poet seems
not to have heard of Duma's _Catiline_, which appeared about
the same time, nor of earlier plays on the subject by Ben Jonson
and others. The struggle in Ibsen's play is centered in the soul
of Catiline; not once do his political opponents appear on the
scene. Only one critic raised his voice in behalf of the play at
the time of its appearance, and only a few copies of the original
edition survive. Ibsen issued in 1875 a revised edition in
celebration of his twenty-fifth anniversary as an author. Since
then a third edition has been issued in 1891, and a fourth in
1913.

_The Warrior's Barrow_, Ibsen's second play, was finished in
1850 shortly after the publication of _Catiline_. Ibsen
entered upon his literary career with a gusto he seems soon to
have lost; he wrote to his friend Ole Schulerud in January, 1850,
that he was working on a play about Olaf Trygvesson, an
historical novel, and a longer poem. He had begun _The
Warrior's Barrow_ while he was still at Grimstad, but this
early version, called _The Normans_, he revised on reaching
Christiania. In style and manner and even in subject-matter the
play echoes Oehlenschlaeger. Ibsen's vikings are, however, of a
fiercer type than Oehlenschlaeger's, and this treatment of viking
character was one of the things the critics, bred to
Oehlenschlaeger's romantic conception of more civilized vikings,
found fault with in Ibsen's play. The sketch fared better than
_Catiline_: it was thrice presented on the stage in
Christiania and was on the whole favorably reviewed. When Ibsen
became associated with the Bergen theater he undertook another
revision of the play, and in this version the play was presented
on the stage in 1854 and 1856. The final version was published
in the _Bergenske Blad_ in 1854, but no copy of this issue
has survived; the play remained inaccessible to the public until
1902, when it was included in a supplementary volume (Volume X)
to Ibsen's collected works. The earlier version remained in
manuscript form until it was printed in 1917 in _Scandinavian
Studies and Notes_ (Vol. IV, pp. 309-337).

_Olaf Liljekrans_, which was presented on the Bergen stage
in 1857, marks the end of Ibsen's early romantic interest. The
original idea for this play, which he had begun in 1850, he found
in the folk-tale "The Grouse in Justedal," about a girl who alone
had survived the Black Death in an isolated village. Ibsen had
with many others become interested in popular folk-tales and
ballads. It was from Faye's _Norwegian Folk-Tales_ (1844)
that he took the story of "The Grouse in Justedal." His interest
was so great that he even turned collector. Twice during this
period he petitioned for and received small university grants to
enable him to travel and "collect songs and legends still current
among the people." Of the seventy or eighty "hitherto
unpublished legends" which he collected on the first of these
trips only a few have ever appeared in print; the results of his
second trip are unknown. Ibsen had great faith in the
availability of this medieval material for dramatic purposes; he
even wrote an essay, "The Heroic Ballad and Its Significance for
Artistic Poetry," urging its superior claims in contrast to that
of the saga material, to which he was himself shortly to turn.
The original play based on "The Grouse in Justedal" was left
unfinished. After the completion of _Lady Inger of Östråt_
and _The Feast at Solhoug_ he came back to it, and taking a
suggestion from the ballad in Landstad's collection (1852-3) he
recast the whole play, substituted the ballad meter for the
iambic pentameters, and called the new version _Olaf
Liljekrans_. _Olaf Liljekrans_ indicates clearly a
decline in Ibsen's interest in pure romance. It is much more
satirical than _The Feast at Solhoug_, and marks a step in
the direction of those superb masterpieces of satire and romance,
_Brand_ and _Peer Gynt_. The play was twice presented
on the stage in Bergen with considerable success, but the critics
treated it harshly.

The relationship of the revised versions to the original versions
of Ibsen's early plays is interesting, and might, if
satisfactorily elucidated, throw considerable light on the
development of his genius. It is evident that he was in this
early period experimenting in metrical forms. He employed blank
verse in _Catiline_, in the original version of _The
Grouse in Justedal_, and even as late as 1853 in the revision
of _The Warrior's Barrow_. There can be no question but
that he was here following the Ochlenschlaeger tradition.
Unrhymed pentameter, however, did not seem to satisfy him. He
could with difficulty keep from falling into rhyme in
_Catiline_, and in the early version of _The Warrior's
Barrow_ he used rhymed pentameters. After the revision of
this play he threw aside blank verse altogether. "Iambic
pentameter," he says in the essay on the heroic ballad, "is by no
means the most suitable form for the treatment of ancient
Scandinavian material; this form of verse is altogether foreign
to our national meters, and it is surely through a national form
that the national material can find its fullest expression." The
folk-tale and the ballad gave him the suggestion he needed. In
_The Feast at Solhoug_ and the final version of _Olaf
Liljekrans_ he employed the ballad meter, and this form became
the basis for the verse in all his later metrical plays.

Six years intervened between _The Grouse in Justedal_ and
_Olaf Liljekrans_, and the revision in this case amounted
almost to the writing of a new play. Fredrik Paasche in his
study (_Olaf Liljekrans_, Christiania, 1909) discusses the
relation of _Olaf Liljekrans_ to the earlier form of the
play. Three years intervened between the first and final
versions of _The Warrior's Barrow_. Professor
A. M. Sturtevant maintains (_Journal of English and Germanic
Philology_, XII, 407 ff.) that although "the influence of
Ochlenschlaeger upon both versions of _The Warrior's Barrow_
is unmistakable," yet "the two versions differ so widely from
each other ... that it may be assumed that ... Ibsen had begun to
free himself from the thraldom of Ochlenschlaeger's romantic
conception of the viking character." He points out the influence
of Welhaven and Heiberg on the second version, elaborates upon
the superior character-delineation, and shows in considerable
detail the "inner necessity ... which brings about the change of
heart in Gandalf and his warriors."

The revision of _Catiline_ came twenty-five years after the
original version, and consisted largely of linguistic changes.
Ibsen seems never to have completely disowned this play; it has
been included in all the complete editions, whereas _The
Warrior's Barrow_ and _Olaf Liljekrans_ appear only in
the first complete edition, and were even then relegated to a
supplementary volume. In suggesting the revision of
_Catiline_, Ibsen proposed "to make no change in the thought
and ideas, but only in the language in which these are expressed;
for the verses are, as Brandes has somewhere remarked, bad,--one
reason being that the book was printed from my first rough
uncorrected draft." He had at that time not developed his
careful craftsmanship, and sought in the revision merely to put
the drama into the form which he had originally had in mind, but
which at that time he had been unable to achieve. The changes
that were actually made are summarized by D. A. Seip (Ibsen,
_Samlede Digter Verker_, 1918, VII, 114) who quotes Halvdan
Koht and Julius Elias (Ibsen, _Efterladte Skrifter_, III):
"The two editions 'agree in the sequence of tenses, with a few
exceptions also in the sequence of speeches, and on the whole
even in the sequence of lines. The changes involve principally
the poetic expression itself; after the second act they become
more and more extensive, and the last two acts have been
augmented with 100 lines.' ... Not infrequently there appear
words and expressions which are suggestive of Ibsen's later
works."

These plays now appear for the first time in English translation.
A. Johnstone published in _Translations from the Norse, by a
B. S. S._ (Gloucester, about 1876), an English rendering of
the first act of _Catiline_ and a synopsis of the last two
acts. William Archer explains at length his omission of
_Catiline_ from his edition of Ibsen. "A great part of the
interest lies in the very crudities of its style, which it would
be a thankless task to reproduce in translation. Moreover, the
poet impaired even its biographical value by largely rewriting it
before publication. He did not make it, or attempt to make it, a
better play, but he in some measure corrected its juvenility of
expression. Which version, then, should a translator choose? To
go back to the original would seem a deliberate disregard of the
poet's wishes; while, on the other hand, the retouched version is
clearly of far inferior interest. It seems advisable, therefore,
to leave the play alone, as far as this edition is concerned."
_Olaf Liljekrans_ and _The Warrior's Barrow_ were acted
in English in London in 1911 and 1912 respectively, but the
English renderings used in these presentations have never
appeared in print.

The text of _Catiline_ in the present translation is that of
the revised version as given in the edition of 1906-07; the text
of the other two plays is that of the edition of 1898-1902. The
meters of the original have been carefully reproduced. The great
difficulty of rendering the ballad and lyrical meters of Ibsen
into adequate English verse has made some stylistic changes
necessary, such as the substitution of masculine for feminine
rhymes, and the occasional alteration of the sense in slight
measure.

I take this opportunity to acknowledge my gratitude to Professor
O. W. Firkins, now of _The Weekly Review_, who suggested the
translating of these plays and who offered from time to time
invaluable criticisms; to Professor Howard M. Jones, of the
University of Texas, Professor S. B. Hustvedt, of the University
of Minnesota, and Professor W. W. Lawrence, of Columbia
University, who read all or parts of these translations and made
many helpful suggestions; and to Professor G. P. Krapp, of
Columbia University, and my wife, who were of assistance in
various ways.

ANDERS ORBECK.

_New York, January 3, 1921._

* * * * *




CATILINE



A Drama in Three Acts



185O

* * * * *


PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION


The drama _Catiline_, with which I entered upon my literary
career, was written during the winter of 1848-49, that is in my
twenty-first year.

I was at the time in Grimstad, under the necessity of earning
with my hands the wherewithal of life and the means for
instruction preparatory to my taking the entrance examinations to
the university. The age was one of great stress. The February
revolution, the uprisings in Hungary and elsewhere, the Slesvig
war,--all this had a great effect upon and hastened my
development, however immature it may have remained for some time
after. I wrote ringing poems of encouragement to the Magyars,
urging them for the sake of liberty and humanity to hold out in
the righteous struggle against the "tyrants"; I wrote a long
series of sonnets to King Oscar, containing particularly, as far
as I can remember, an appeal to set aside all petty
considerations and to march forthwith at the head of his army to
the aid of our brothers on the outermost borders of Slesvig.
Inasmuch as I now, in contrast to those times, doubt that my
winged appeals would in any material degree have helped the cause
of the Magyars or the Scandinavians, I consider it fortunate that
they remained within the more private sphere of the manuscript.
I could not, however, on more formal occasions keep from
expressing myself in the impassioned spirit of my poetic
effusions, which meanwhile brought me nothing--from friends or
non-friends--but a questionable reward; the former greeted me as
peculiarly fitted for the unintentionally droll, and the latter
thought it in the highest degree strange that a young person in
my subordinate position could undertake to inquire into affairs
concerning which not even they themselves dared to entertain an
opinion. I owe it to truth to add that my conduct at various
times did not justify any great hope that society might count on
an increase in me of civic virtue, inasmuch as I also, with
epigrams and caricatures, fell out with many who had deserved
better of me and whose friendship I in reality prized.
Altogether,--while a great struggle raged on the outside, I
found myself on a war-footing with the little society where I
lived cramped by conditions and circumstances of life.

Such was the situation when amid the preparations for my
examinations I read through Sallust's _Catiline_ together
with Cicero's Catilinarian orations. I swallowed these
documents, and a few months later my drama was complete. As will
be seen from my book, I did not share at that time the conception
of the two ancient Roman writers respecting the character and
conduct of Catiline, and I am even now prone to believe that
there must after all have been something great and consequential
in a man whom Cicero, the assiduous counsel of the majority, did
not find it expedient to engage until affairs had taken such a
turn that there was no longer any danger involved in the attack.
It should also be remembered that there are few individuals in
history whose renown has been more completely in the hands of
enemies than that of Catiline.

My drama was written during the hours of the night. The leisure
hours for my study I practically had to steal from my employer, a
good and respectable man, occupied however heart and soul with
his business, and from those stolen study hours I again stole
moments for writing verse. There was consequently scarcely
anything else to resort to but the night. I believe this is the
unconscious reason that almost the entire action of the piece
transpires at night.

Naturally a fact so incomprehensible to my associates as that I
busied myself with the writing of plays had to be kept secret;
but a twenty-year old poet can hardly continue thus without
anybody being privy to it, and I confided therefore to two
friends of my own age what I was secretly engaged upon.

The three of us pinned great expectations on _Catiline_ when
it had been completed. First and foremost it was now to be
copied in order to be submitted under an assumed name to the
theater in Christiania, and furthermore it was of course to be
published. One of my faithful and trusting friends undertook to
prepare a handsome and legible copy of my uncorrected draft, a
task which he performed with such a degree of conscientiousness
that he did not omit even a single one of the innumerable dashes
which I in the heat of composition had liberally interspersed
throughout wherever the exact phrase did not for the moment occur
to me. The second of my friends, whose name I here mention since
he is no longer among the living, Ole C. Schulerud, at that time
a student, later a lawyer, went to Christiania with the
transcript. I still remember one of his letters in which he
informed me that _Catiline_ had now been submitted to the
theater; that it would soon be given a performance,--about that
there could naturally be no doubt inasmuch as the management
consisted of very discriminating men; and that there could be as
little doubt that the booksellers of the town would one and all
gladly pay a round fee for the first edition, the main point
being, he thought, only to discover the one who would make the
highest bid.

After a long and tense period of waiting there began to appear in
the meantime a few difficulties. My friend had the piece
returned from the management with a particularly polite but
equally peremptory rejection. He now took the manuscript from
bookseller to bookseller; but all to a man expressed themselves
to the same effect as the theatrical management. The highest
bidder demanded so and so much to publish the piece without any
fee.

All this, however, was far from lessening my friend's belief in
victory. He wrote to the contrary that it was best even so; I
should come forward myself as the publisher of my drama; the
necessary funds he would advance me; the profits we should divide
in consideration of his undertaking the business end of the deal,
except the proof-reading, which he regarded as superfluous in
view of the handsome and legible manuscript the printers had to
follow. In a later letter he declared that, considering these
promising prospects for the future, he contemplated abandoning
his studies in order to consecrate himself completely to the
publishing of my works; two or three plays a year, he thought, I
should with ease be able to write, and according to a calculation
of probabilities he had made he had discovered that with our
surplus we should at no distant time be able to undertake the
journey so often agreed upon or discussed, through Europe and the
Orient.

My journey was for the time being limited to Christiania. I
arrived there in the beginning of the spring of 1850 and just
previous to my arrival _Catiline_ had appeared in the
bookstalls. The drama created a stir and awakened considerable
interest among the students, but the critics dwelt largely on the
faulty verses and thought the book in other respects immature. A
more appreciative judgment was uttered from but one single
quarter, but this expression came from a man whose appreciation
has always been dear to me and weighty and whom I herewith offer
my renewed gratitude. Not very many copies of the limited
edition were sold; my friend had a good share of them in his
custody, and I remember that one evening when our domestic
arrangements heaped up for us insurmountable difficulties, this
pile of printed matter was fortunately disposed of as waste paper
to a huckster. During the days immediately following we lacked
none of the prime necessities of life.

During my sojourn at home last summer and particularly since my
return here there loomed up before me more clearly and more
sharply than ever before the kaleidoscopic scenes of my literary
life. Among other things I also brought out _Catiline_.
The contents of the book as regards details I had almost
forgotten; but by reading it through anew I found that it
nevertheless contained a great deal which I could still
acknowledge, particularly if it be remembered that it is my first
undertaking. Much, around which my later writings center, the
contradiction between ability and desire, between will and
possibility, the intermingled tragedy and comedy in humanity and
in the individual,--appeared already here in vague
foreshadowings, and I conceived therefore the plan of preparing a
new edition, a kind of jubilee-edition,--a plan to which my
publisher with his usual readiness gave his approval.

But it was naturally not enough simply to reprint without further
ado the old original edition, for this is, as already pointed
out, nothing but a copy of my imperfect and uncorrected concept
or of the very first rough draft. In the rereading of it I
remembered clearly what I originally had had in mind, and I saw
moreover that the form practically nowhere gave a satisfactory
rendering of what I had wished.

I determined therefore to revise this drama of my youth in a way
in which I believe even at that time I should have been able to
do it had the time been at my disposal and the circumstances more
favorable for me. The ideas, the conceptions, and the
development of the whole, I have not on the other hand altered.
The book has remained the original; only now it appears in a
complete form.

With this in mind I pray that my friends in Scandinavia and
elsewhere will receive it; I pray that they will receive it as a
greeting from me at the close of a period which to me has been
full of changes and rich in contradictions. Much of what I
twenty-five years ago dreamed has been realized, even though not
in the manner nor as soon as I then hoped. Yet I believe now
that it was best for me thus; I do not wish that any of that
which lies between should have been untried, and if I look back
upon what I have lived through I do so with thanks for everything
and thanks to all.

HENRIK IBSEN.

_Dresden, February, 1875._

* * * * *


DRAMATIS PERSONÆ


LUCIUS CATILINE A noble Roman.

AURELIA His wife.

FURIA A vestal.

CURIUS A youth related to Catiline.

MANLIUS An old warrior.

LENTULUS Young and noble Roman.

GABINIUS " " " "

STATILIUS " " " "

COEPARIUS " " " "

CETHEGUS " " " "

AMBIORIX Ambassador of the Allobroges.

OLLOVICO " " " "

An old MAN.

PRIESTESSES and SERVANTS in the Temple of
Vesta.

GLADIATORS and WARRIORS.

ESCORT of the Allobroges.

Sulla's GHOST.

* * * * *


SETTING

The first and second acts are laid in and near Rome, the third
act in Etruria.

* * * * *




FIRST ACT

[The Flaminian Way outside of Rome. Off the road a
wooded hillside. In the background loom the walls and
the heights of the city. It is evening.]

[CATILINE stands on the hill among the bushes, leaning
against a tree.]

CATILINE. I must! I must! A voice deep in my soul
Urges me on,--and I will heed its call.
Courage I have and strength for something better,
Something far nobler than this present life,--
A series of unbridled dissipations--!
No, no; they do not satisfy the yearning soul.

CATILINE. I rave and rave,--long only to forget.
'Tis past now,--all is past! Life has no aim.

CATILINE. [After a pause.]
And what became of all my youthful dreams?
Like flitting summer clouds they disappeared,
Left naught behind but sorrow and remorse;--
Each daring hope in turn fate robbed me of.

[He strikes his forehead.]

CATILINE. Despise yourself! Catiline, scorn yourself!
You feel exalted powers in your soul;--
And yet what is the goal of all your struggle?
The surfeiting of sensual desires.

CATILINE. [More calmly.]
But there are times, such as the present hour,
When secret longings kindle in my breast.
Ah, when I gaze on yonder city, Rome,
The proud, the rich,--and when I see that ruin
And wretchedness to which it now is sunk
Loom up before me like the flaming sun,--
Then loudly calls a voice within my soul:
Up, Catiline;--awake and be a man!

CATILINE. [Abruptly.] Ah, these are but delusions of the night,
Mere dreaming phantoms born of solitude.
At the slightest sound from grim reality,--
They flee into the silent depths within.

[The ambassadors of the Allobroges, AMBIORIX and OLLOVICO, with
their Escort, come down the highway without noticing CATILINE.]

AMBIORIX. Behold our journey's end! The walls of Rome!
To heaven aspires the lofty Capitol.

OLLOVICO. So that is Rome? Italy's overlord,
Germany's soon,--and Gaul's as well, perchance.

AMBIORIX. Ah, yes, alas;--so it may prove betimes;
The sovereign power of Rome is merciless;
It crushes all it conquers, down to earth.
Now shall we see what lot we may expect:
If here be help against the wrongs at home,
And peace and justice for our native land.

OLLOVICO. It will be granted us.

AMBIORIX. So let us hope;
For we know nothing yet with certainty.

OLLOVICO. You fear somewhat, it seems?

AMBIORIX. And with good reason.
Jealous was ever Rome of her great power.
And bear in mind, this proud and haughty realm
Is not by chieftains ruled, as is our land.
At home the wise man or the warrior reigns,--
The first in wisdom and in war the foremost;
Him choose we as the leader of our people,
As arbiter and ruler of our tribe.
But here--

CATILINE. [Calls down to them.]
--Here might and selfishness hold sway;--
Intrigue and craft are here the keys to power.

OLLOVICO. Woe to us, brethren, woe! He spies upon us.

AMBIORIX. [To CATILINE.]
Is such the practice of the high-born Roman?
A woman's trick we hold it in our nation.

CATILINE. [comes down on the road.]
Ah, have no fear;--spying is not my business;
By chance it was I heard your conversation.--
Come you from Allobrogia far away?
Justice you think to find in Rome? Ah, never!
Turn home again! Here tyranny holds sway,
And rank injustice lords it more than ever.
Republic to be sure it is in name;
And yet all men are slaves who cringe and cower,
Vassals involved in debt, who must acclaim
A venal senate--ruled by greed and power.
Gone is the social consciousness of old,
The magnanimity of former ages;--
Security and life are favors sold,
Which must be bargained for with hire and wages.
Not righteousness, but power here holds sway;
The noble man is lost among the gilded--

AMBIORIX. But say,--who then are you to tear away
The pillars of the hope on which we builded?

CATILINE. A man who burns in freedom's holy zeal;
An enemy of all unrighteous power;
Friend of the helpless trodden under heel,--
Eager to hurl the mighty from their tower.

AMBIORIX. The noble race of Rome--? Ah, Roman, speak--
Since we are strangers here you would deceive us?
Is Rome no more the guardian of the weak,
The dread of tyrants,--ready to relieve us?

CATILINE. [Points towards the city and speaks.]
Behold the mighty Capitol that towers
On yonder heights in haughty majesty.
See, in the glow of evening how it lowers,
Tinged with the last rays of the western sky.--
So too Rome's evening glow is fast declining,
Her freedom now is thraldom, dark as night.--
Yet in her sky a sun will soon be shining,
Before which darkness quick will take its flight.

[He goes.]

* * * * *

[A colonnade in Rome.]

[LENTULUS, STATILIUS, COEPARIUS, and CETHEGUS enter,
in eager conversation.]

COEPARIUS. Yes, you are right; things go from bad to worse;
And what the end will be I do not know.

CETHEGUS. Bah! I am not concerned about the end.
The fleeting moment I enjoy; each cup
Of pleasure as it comes I empty,--letting
All else go on to ruin as it will.

LENTULUS. Happy is he who can. I am not blessed
With your indifference, that can outface
The day when nothing shall be left us more,
Nothing with which to pay the final score.

STATILIUS. And not the faintest glimpse of better things!
Yet it is true: a mode of life like ours--

CETHEGUS. Enough of that!

LENTULUS. Today because of debt
The last of my inheritance was seized.

CETHEGUS. Enough of sorrow and complaint! Come, friends!
We'll drown them in a merry drinking bout!

COEPARIUS. Yes, let us drink. Come, come, my merry comrades!

LENTULUS. A moment, friends; I see old Manlius yonder,--
Seeking us out, I think, as is his wont.

MANLIUS. [Enters impetuously.]
Confound the shabby dogs, the paltry scoundrels!
Justice and fairness they no longer know!

LENTULUS. Come, what has happened? Wherefore so embittered?

STATILIUS. Have usurers been plaguing you as well?

MANLIUS. Something quite different. As you all know,
I served with honor among Sulla's troops;
A bit of meadow land was my reward.
And when the war was at an end, I lived
Thereon; it furnished me my daily bread.
Now is it taken from me! Laws decree--
State property shall to the state revert
For equal distribution. Theft, I say,--
It is rank robbery and nothing else!
Their greed is all they seek to satisfy.

COEPARIUS. Thus with our rights they sport to please themselves.
The mighty always dare do what they will.

CETHEGUS. [Gaily.] Hard luck for Manlius! Yet, a worse mishap
Has come to me, as I shall now relate.
Listen,--you know my pretty mistress, Livia,--
The little wretch has broken faith with me,
Just now when I had squandered for her sake
The slender wealth that still remained to me.

STATILIUS. Extravagance--the cause of your undoing.

CETHEGUS. Well, as you please; but I will not forego
My own desires; these, while the day is fair,
To their full measure I will satisfy.

MANLIUS. And I who fought so bravely for the glory
And might which now the vaunting tyrants boast!
I shall--! If but the brave old band were here,
My comrades of the battlefield! But no;
The greater part of them, alas, is dead;
The rest live scattering in many lands.--

MANLIUS. Oh, what are you, the younger blood, to them?
You bend and cringe before authority;
You dare not break the chains that bind you fast;
You suffer patiently this life of bondage!

LENTULUS. By all the Gods,--although indeed he taunts us,
Yet, Romans, is there truth in what he says.

CETHEGUS. Oh, well,--what of it? He is right, we grant,
But where shall we begin? Ay, there's the rub.

LENTULUS. Yes, it is true. Too long have we endured
This great oppression. Now--now is the time
To break the bonds asunder that injustice
And vain ambition have about us forged.

STATILIUS. Ah, Lentulus, I understand. Yet hold;
For such a thing we need a mighty leader,--
With pluck and vision. Where can he be found?

LENTULUS. I know a man who has the power to lead us.

MANLIUS. Ah, you mean Catiline?

LENTULUS. The very man.

CETHEGUS. Yes, Catiline perchance is just the man.

MANLIUS. I know him well. I was his father's friend;
Many a battle side by side we fought.
Often his young son went with him to war.
Even his early years were wild and headstrong;
Yet he gave open proof of rare endowments,--
His mind was noble, dauntless was his courage.

LENTULUS. We'll find him, as I think, most prompt and willing.
I met him late this evening much depressed;
He meditates in secret some bold plan;--
Some desperate scheme he long has had in mind.

STATILIUS. No doubt; the consulate he long has sought.

LENTULUS. His efforts are in vain; his enemies
Have madly raged against him in the senate;--
He was himself among them; full of wrath
He left the council--brooding on revenge.

STATILIUS. Then will he surely welcome our proposal.

LENTULUS. I hope so. Yet must we in secret weigh
Our enterprise. The time is opportune.

[They go.]

* * * * *

[In the Temple of Vesta in Rome. On an altar in the
background burns a lamp with the sacred fire.]

[CATILINE, followed by CURIUS, comes stealing in
between the pillars.]

CURIUS. What, Catiline,--you mean to bring me here?
In Vesta's temple!

CATILINE. [Laughing.] Well, yes; so you see!

CURIUS. Ye gods,--what folly! On this very day
Has Cicero denounced you in the council;
And yet you dare--

CATILINE. Oh, let that be forgotten!

CURIUS. You are in danger, and forget it thus--
By rushing blindly into some new peril.

CATILINE. [Gaily.] Well, change is my delight. I never knew
Ere now a vestal's love,--forbidden fruit;--
Wherefore I came to try my fortune here.

CURIUS. What,--here, you say? Impossible! A jest!

CATILINE. A jest? Why, yes,--as all my loving is.
And yet I was in earnest when I spoke.
During the recent games I chanced to see
The priestesses in long and pompous train.
By accident I cast my roving eye
On one of them,--and with a hasty glance
She met my gaze. It pierced me to the soul.
Ah, the expression in those midnight eyes
I never saw before in any woman.

CURIUS. Yes, yes, I know. But speak--what followed
then?

CATILINE. A way into the temple I have found,
And more than once I've seen and spoken to her.
Oh, what a difference between this woman
And my Aurelia!

CURIUS. And you love them both
At once? No,--that I cannot understand.

CATILINE. Yes, strange, indeed; I scarcely understand myself.
And yet--I love them both, as you have said.
But oh, how vastly different is this love!
The one is kind: Aurelia often lulls
With soothing words my soul to peace and rest;--
But Furia--. Come, away; some one approaches.

[They hide themselves among the pillars.]

FURIA. [Enters from the opposite side.]
Oh, hated walls,--witnesses of my anguish.
Home of the torment I must suffer still!
My hopes and cherished aspirations languish
Within my bosom,--now with feverish chill
Pervaded, now with all the heat of passion,
More hot and burning than yon vestal fire.

FURIA. Ah, what a fate! And what was my transgression
That chained me to this temple-prison dire,--
That robbed my life of every youthful pleasure,--
In life's warm spring each innocent delight?

FURIA. Yet tears I shall not shed in undue measure;
Hatred and vengeance shall my heart excite.

CATILINE. [Comes forward.]
Not even for me, my Furia, do you cherish
Another feeling,--one more mild than this?

FURIA. Ye gods! you, reckless man,--you here again?
Do you not fear to come--?

CATILINE. I know no fear.
'Twas always my delight to mock at danger.

FURIA. Oh, splendid! Such is also my delight;--
This peaceful temple here I hate the more,
Because I live in everlasting calm,
And danger never lurks within its walls.

FURIA. Oh, this monotonous, inactive life,
A life faint as the flicker of the lamp--!
How cramped a field it is for all my sum
Of fervid longings and far-reaching plans!
Oh, to be crushed between these narrow walls;--
Life here grows stagnant; every hope is quenched;
The day creeps slowly on in drowsiness,--
And not one single thought is turned to deeds.

CATILINE. O Furia, strange, in truth, is your complaint!
It seems an echo out of my own soul,--
As if with flaming script you sought to paint
My every longing towards a worthy goal.
Rancour and hate in my soul likewise flourish;
My heart--as yours--hate tempers into steel;
I too was robbed of hopes I used to nourish;
An aim in life I now no longer feel.

CATILINE. In silence still I mask my grief, my want;
And none can guess what smoulders in my breast.
They scoff and sneer at me,--these paltry things;
They can not grasp how high my bosom beats
For right and freedom, all the noble thoughts
That ever stirred within a Roman mind.

FURIA. I knew it! Ah, your soul, and yours alone,
Is born for me,--thus clearly speaks a voice
That never fails and never plays me false.
Then come! Oh, come--and let us heed the call.

CATILINE. What do you mean, my sweet enthusiast?

FURIA. Come,--let us leave this place, flee far away,
And seek a new and better fatherland.
Here is the spirit's lofty pride repressed;
Here baseness smothers each auspicious spark
Ere it can break into a burning flame.
Come, let us fly;--lo, to the free-born mind
The world's wide compass is a fatherland!

CATILINE. Oh, irresistibly you lure me on--

FURIA. Come, let us use the present moment then!
High o'er the hills, beyond the sea's expanse,--
Far, far from Rome we first will stay our journey.
Thousands of friends will follow you outright;
In foreign lands we shall a home design;
There shall we rule; 'twill there be brought to light
That no hearts ever beat as yours and mine.

CATILINE. Oh, wonderful!--But flee? Why must we flee?
Here too our love for freedom can be nourished;
Here also is a field for thought and action,
As vast as any that your soul desires.

FURIA. Here, do you say? Here, in this paltry Rome,
Where naught exists but thraldom and oppression?
Ah, Lucius, are you likewise one of those
Who can Rome's past recall without confession
Of shame? Who ruled here then? Who rule to-day?
Then an heroic race--and now a rabble,
The slaves of other slaves--

CATILINE. Mock me you may;--
Yet know,--to save Rome's freedom from this babble,
To see yet once again her vanished splendor,
Gladly I should, like Curtius, throw myself
Into the abyss--

FURIA. I trust you, you alone;
Your eyes glow bright; I know you speak the truth.
Yet go; the priestesses will soon appear;
Their wont it is to meet here at this hour.

CATILINE. I go; but only to return again.
A magic power binds me to your side;--
So proud a woman have I never seen.

FURIA. [With a wild smile.] Then pledge me this; and
swear that you will keep
Whatever you may promise. Will you, Lucius?

CATILINE. I will do aught my Furia may require;
Command me,--tell me what am I to promise.

FURIA. Then listen. Though I dwell a captive here,
I know there lives a man somewhere in Rome
Whom I have sworn deep enmity to death--
And hatred even beyond the gloomy grave.

CATILINE. And then--?

FURIA. Then swear, my enemy shall be
Your enemy till death. Will you, my Lucius?

CATILINE. I swear it here by all the mighty gods!
I swear it by my father's honored name
And by my mother's memory--! But, Furia,--
What troubles you? Your eyes are wildly flaming,--
And white as marble, deathlike, are your cheeks.

FURIA. I do not know myself. A fiery stream
Flows through my veins. Swear to the end your oath!

CATILINE. Oh, mighty powers, pour out upon this head
Your boundless fury, let your lightning wrath
Annihilate me, if I break my oath;
Aye, like a demon I shall follow him!

FURIA. Enough! I trust you. Ah, my heart is eased.
In your hand now indeed rests my revenge.

CATILINE. It shall be carried out. But tell me this,--
Who is your foe? And what was his transgression?

FURIA. Close by the Tiber, far from the city's tumult,
My cradle stood; it was a quiet home!
A sister much beloved lived with me there,
A chosen vestal from her childhood days.--
Then came a coward to our distant valley;--
He saw the fair, young priestess of the future--

CATILINE. [Surprised.] A priestess? Tell me--! Speak--!

FURIA. He ravished her.
She sought a grave beneath the Tiber's stream.

CATILINE. [Uneasy.] You know him?

FURIA. I have never seen the man.
When first I heard the tidings, all was past.
His name is all I know.

CATILINE. Then speak it out!

FURIA. Now is it famed. His name is Catiline.

CATILINE. [Taken aback.]
What do you say? Oh, horrors! Furia, speak--!

FURIA. Calm yourself! What perturbs you? You grow pale.
My Lucius,--is this man perhaps your friend?

CATILINE. My friend? Ah, Furia, no;--no longer now.
For I have cursed,--and sworn eternal hate
Against myself.

FURIA. You--you are Catiline?

CATILINE. Yes, I am he.

FURIA. My Sylvia you disgraced?
Nemesis then indeed has heard my prayer;--
Vengeance you have invoked on your own head!
Woe on you, man of violence! Woe!

CATILINE. How blank
The stare is in your eye. Like Sylvia's shade
You seem to me in this dim candle light.

[He rushes out; the lamp with the sacred fire goes out.]

FURIA. [After a pause.] Yes, now I understand it. From my eyes
The veil is fallen,--in the dark I see.
Hatred it was that settled in my breast,
When first I spied him in the market-place.
A strange emotion; like a crimson flame!
Ah, he shall know what such a hate as mine,
Constantly brewing, never satisfied,
Can fashion out in ruin and revenge!

A VESTAL. [Enters.] Go, Furia, go; your watch is at an end;
Therefore I came--. Yet, sacred goddess, here--
Woe unto you! The vestal fire is dead!

FURIA. [Bewildered.]
Dead, did you say? So bright it never burned;--
'Twill never, never die!

THE VESTAL. Great heavens,--what is this?

FURIA. The fires of hate are not thus lightly quenched!
Behold, love bursts forth of a sudden,--dies
Within the hour; but hate--

THE VESTAL. By all the gods,--
This is sheer madness!

[Calls out.]

THE VESTAL. Come! Oh, help! Come, help!

[VESTALS and temple SERVANTS rush in.]

SOME. What is amiss?

OTHERS. The vestal fire is dead!

FURIA. But hate burns on; revenge still blazes high!

THE VESTALS. Away with her to trial and punishment!

[They carry her out between them.]

CURIUS. [Comes forward.]
To prison now they take her. Thence to death.--
No, no, by all the gods, this shall not be!
Must she, most glorious of womankind,
Thus perish in disgrace, entombed alive?--
Oh, never have I felt so strangely moved.
Is this then love? Yes, love it is indeed.--
Then shall I set her free!--But Catiline?
With hate and vengeance will she follow him.
Has he maligners not enough already?
Dare I still others to their number add?
He was to me as were an elder brother;
And gratitude now bids me that I shield him.--
But what of love? Ah, what does it command?
And should he quake, the fearless Catiline,
Before the intrigues of a woman? No;--
Then to the rescue work this very hour!
Wait, Furia;--I shall drag you from your grave
To life again,--though at the risk of death!

[He goes away quickly.]

* * * * *

[A room in CATILINE's house.]

CATILINE. [Enters impetuous and uneasy.]
"Nemesis then indeed has heard my prayer,
Vengeance you have invoked on your own head!"
Such were the words from the enchantress' lips.
Remarkable! Perchance it was a sign,--
A warning of what time will bring to me.

CATILINE. Now therefore I have pledged myself on oath
The blood avenger of my own misdeed.
Ah, Furia,--still I seem to see your eye,
Wildly aflame like that of death's own goddess!
Your words still echo hollow in my ears;--
The oath I shall remember all my life.

[During the following AURELIA enters and approaches him
unnoticed.]

CATILINE. Yet, it is folly now to go on brooding
Upon this nonsense; it is nothing else.
Far better things there are to think upon;
A greater work awaits my energies.
The restless age is urgent with its plea;
Toward this I must direct my thought in season;
Of hope and doubt I am a stormy sea--

AURELIA. [Seizes his hand.]
And may not your Aurelia know the reason?
May she not know what moves within your breast,
What stirs therein and rages with such madness?
May she not cheer and soothe your soul to rest,
And banish from your brow its cloud of sadness?

CATILINE. [Tenderly.] O, my Aurelia,--O, how kind and tender--.
Yet why should I embitter all your life?
Why should I share with you my many sorrows?
For my sake you have borne enough of anguish.
Henceforth upon my own head I shall bear
What ill-designing fate allotted me,--
The curse that lies in such a soul as mine,
Full of great spiritual energies,
Of fervent longings for a life of deeds,
Yet dwarfed in all its work by sordid cares.--
Must you, too, sharing in my wretched life,
Bitter with blasted hopes, then with me perish?

AURELIA. To comfort is the role of every wife,
Though dreams of greatness she may never cherish.
When the man, struggling for his lofty dream,
Reaps nothing but adversity and sorrow,--
Her words to him then sweet and tender seem,
And give him strength sufficient for the morrow;
And then he sees that even the quiet life
Has pleasures which the most tumultuous lacks.

CATILINE. Yes, you are right; I know it all too well.
And yet I cannot tear myself away.
A ceaseless yearning surges in my breast,--
Which only life's great tumult now can quiet.

AURELIA. Though your Aurelia be not all to you,--
Though she can never still your restless soul,--
Your heart yet open to a gentle word,
A word of comfort from your loving wife.
Though she may never slake your fiery thirst,
Nor follow in their flight your noble thoughts,--
Know this, that she can share your every sorrow,
Has strength and fortitude to ease your burden.

CATILINE. Then listen, dear Aurelia; you shall hear
What has of late depressed so deep my spirits.
You know, I long have sought the consulate--
Without avail. You know the whole affair--
How to increase the votes for my election,
I have expended--

AURELIA. Catiline, no more;
You torture me--

CATILINE. Do you too blame my course?
What better means therefor had I to choose?--
In vain I lavished all that I possessed;
My one reward was mockery and shame.
Now in the senate has my adversary,
The crafty Cicero, trampled me to earth.
His speech was a portrayal of my life,
So glaring that I, even I, must gasp.
In every look I read dismay and fear;
With loathing people speak of Catiline;
To races yet unborn my name will be
A symbol of a low and dreadful union
Of sensuality and wretchedness,
Of scorn and ridicule for what is noble.--
And there will be no deed to purge this name
And crush to earth the lies that have been told!
Each will believe whatever rumor tells--

AURELIA. But I, dear husband, trust no such reports.
Let the whole world condemn you if it will;
And let it heap disgrace upon your head;--
I know you hide within your inmost soul
A seed that still can blossom and bear fruit.
Only it cannot burst forth here in Rome;
Poisonous weeds would quickly prove the stronger.
Let us forsake this degradation's home;--
What binds you here? Why should we dwell here longer?

CATILINE. I should forsake the field,--and go away?
I should my greatest dreams in life surrender?
The drowning man still clutches firm and fast
The broken spars--though hope is frail and slender;
And should the wreck be swallowed in the deep,
And the last hope of rescue fail forever,--
Still clings he to the lone remaining spar,
And sinks with it in one last vain endeavor.

AURELIA. But should a kindly seacoast smile on him,
With groves all green along the rolling billows,
Hope then awakens in his heart again,--
He struggles inward, toward the silvery willows.
There reigns a quiet peace; 'tis beautiful;
There roll the waves, in silence, without number;
His heated brow sweet evening breezes cool,
As weary-limbed he rests himself in slumber;
Each sorrow-laden cloud they drive away;
A restful calm his weary mind assuages;--
There he finds shelter and prolongs his stay
And soon forgets the sorry by-gone ages.
The distant echo of the world's unrest
Alone can reach his dwelling unfrequented.
It does not break the calm within his breast;--
It makes his soul more happy and contented;
It calls to mind the by-gone time of strife,
Its shattered hopes and its unbridled pleasures;
He finds twice beautiful this quiet life--
And would not change it for the greatest treasures.

CATILINE. You speak the truth; and in this very hour
From strife and tumult I could go with you.
But can you name me some such quiet spot,
Where we can live in shelter and in peace?

AURELIA. [Joyful.] You will go, Catiline? What happiness,--
Oh, richer than my bosom can contain!
Let it be so, then! Come! This very night
We'll go away--

CATILINE. But whither shall we go?
Name me the spot where I may dare to rest
My head in homely peace!

AURELIA. How can you ask?
Have you forgot our villa in the country,
Wherein I passed my childhood days, where since,
Enraptured during love's first happy dawn,
We two spent many a blithesome summer day?
Where was the grass indeed so green as there?
Where else the groves so shady and sweet-smelling?
The snow-white villa from its wooded lair
Peeps forth and bids us there to make our dwelling.
There let us flee and dedicate our life
To rural duties and to sweet contentment;--
You will find comfort in a loving wife,
And through her kisses banish all resentment.

[Smiling.]

AURELIA. And when with all the flowers of the land
You come to me, your sovereign, in my bowers,
Then shall I crown you with the laurel band,
And cry, All hail to you, my king of flowers!--
But why do you grow pale? Wildly you press
My hand,--and strangely now your eyes are glowing--

CATILINE. Aurelia, alas, past is your happiness;--
There we can never, never think of going.
There we can never go!

AURELIA. You frighten me!
Yet, surely,--you are jesting, Catiline?

CATILINE. I jest! Would only that it were a jest!
Each word you speak, like the avenging dart
Of Nemesis, pierces my heavy heart,
Which fate will never grant a moment's rest.

AURELIA. O gods! speak, speak! What do you mean?

CATILINE. See here!
Here is your villa,--here your future joys!

[He draws out a purse filled with gold and throws it on the
table.]

AURELIA. Oh, you have sold--?

CATILINE. Yes,--all I sold today;--
And to what end? In order to corrupt--

AURELIA. O Catiline, no more! Let us not think
On this affair; sorrow is all it brings.

CATILINE. Your quiet-patience wounds me tenfold more
Than would a cry of anguish from your lips!

[An old SOLDIER enters and approaches CATILINE.]

THE SOLDIER. Forgive me, master, that thus unannounced
I enter your abode at this late hour.
Ah, be not wroth--

CATILINE. What is your errand here?

THE SOLDIER. My errand here is but a humble prayer,
Which you will hear. I am a needy man,
One who has sacrificed his strength for Rome.
Now I am feeble, can no longer serve;
Unused my weapons rust away at home.
The hope of my old age was in a son,
Who labored hard and was my one support.
Alas,--in prison now he's held for debt.
And not a ray of hope--. Oh, help me, master!

[Kneeling.]

THE SOLDIER. If but a penny! I have gone on foot
From house to house; each door is long since closed.
I know not what to do--

CATILINE. The paltry knaves!
A picture this is of the many's want.
Thus they reward the old brave company.
No longer gratitude is found in Rome!
Time was I might have wished in righteous wrath
To punish them with sword and crimson flames;
But tender words have just been spoken here;
My soul is moved; I do not wish to punish;--
To ease misfortune likewise is a deed.--
Take this, old warrior;--clear with this your debt.

[He hands him the purse with the gold.]

THE SOLDIER. [Rising.]
O gracious lord,--dare I believe your words?

CATILINE. Yes; but be quick, old man; go free your son.

[The SOLDIER goes hurriedly out.]

CATILINE. A better use,--not so, Aurelia dear?--
Than bribery and purchasing of votes?
Noble it is to crush the tyrant's might;
Yet quiet solace too has its reward.

AURELIA. [Throws herself in his arms.]
Oh, rich and noble is your spirit still.
Yes,--now I know my Catiline again.

* * * * *

[An underground tomb with a freshly walled-in passage
high on the rear wall. A lamp burns faintly.]

[FURIA, in long black robes, is standing in the tomb
as if listening.]

FURIA. A hollow sound. 'Tis thunder rolls above.
I hear its rumble even in the tomb.
Yet is the tomb itself so still--so still!
Am I forever damned to drowsy rest?
Never again am I to wander forth
By winding paths, as ever was my wish?

FURIA. [After a pause.]
A strange, strange life it was;--as strange a fate.
Meteor-like all came--and disappeared.
He met me. A mysterious magic force,
An inner harmony, together drew us.
I was his Nemesis;--and he my victim;--
Yet punishment soon followed the avenger.

FURIA. [Another pause.]
Now daylight rules the earth.--Am I perchance
To slip--unknowing--from the realm of light?
'Tis well, if so it be,--if this delay
Within the tomb be nothing but a flight
Upon the wings of lightning into Hades,--
If I be nearing even now the Styx!
There roll the leaden billows on the shore;
There silently old Charon plies his boat.
Soon am I there! Then shall I seat myself
Beside the ferry,--question every spirit,
Each fleeting shadow from the land of life,
As light of foot he nears the river of death,--
Shall ask each one in turn how Catiline
Fares now among the mortals of the earth,--
Shall ask each one how he has kept his oath.
I shall illumine with blue sulphur light
Each spectral countenance and hollow eye,--
To ascertain if it be Catiline.
And when he comes, then shall I follow him;--
Together we shall make the journey hence,
Together enter Pluto's silent hall.
I too a shadow shall his shade pursue;--
Where Catiline is, must Furia also be!

FURIA. [After a pause, more faintly.]
The air is growing close and clammy here,--
And every breath in turn more difficult.--
Thus am I drawing near the gloomy swamps,
Where creep the rivers of the underworld.

FURIA. [She listens; a dull noise is heard.]
A muffled sound? 'Tis like the stroke of oars.
It is the ferryman of shades who comes
To take me hence. No, here--here will I wait!

[The stones in the freshly walled-in passage are broken asunder.
CURIUS comes into view on the outside; he beckons to her.]

FURIA. Ah, greetings, Charon! Are you ready now
To lead me hence, a guest among the spirits?
Here will I wait!

CURIUS. [Whispering.] I come to set you free!

* * * * *




SECOND ACT

[A room in CATILINE's house with a colonnade in the
rear; a lamp lights up the room.]

[CATILINE paces the floor back and forth; LENTULUS and
CETHEGUS are with him.]

CATILINE. No, no! I say, you do not understand
Yourselves what you demand of me. Should I
Turn traitor and incite a civil war,--
Besmear my hand with Roman blood? No, no!
I'll never do it! Let the entire state
Condemn me if--

LENTULUS. You will not, Catiline?

CATILINE. No.

LENTULUS. Tell me,--have you nothing to avenge?
No insult? No one here you fain would strike?

CATILINE. Let him who will avenge; I shall not stir.
Yet silent scorn is likewise a revenge;--
And that alone shall be enough.

CETHEGUS. Aha,--
Our visit was, I see, inopportune.
Yet doubtless will the morrow bring you back
To other thoughts.

CATILINE. But why the morrow?

CETHEGUS. There are mysterious rumors in the air.
A vestal recently was led to death--

CATILINE. [Surprised.]
A vestal,--say you? Ah, what do you mean?

LENTULUS. Why, yes, a vestal. Many people murmur--

CATILINE. What do they murmur?

CETHEGUS. That in this dark affair
You are not altogether innocent.

CATILINE. This they believe of me?

LENTULUS. Such is the rumor;
Of course,--to us, to all your good old friends,
Such talk is trifling and of no account;--
The world, however, judges more severely.

CATILINE. [Deep in thought.] And is she dead?

CETHEGUS. Undoubtedly she is.
An hour's confinement in the convict tomb
Is quite enough--

LENTULUS. That is not our affair.
It was not therefore that we spoke of her.
But hear me, Catiline! Bethink yourself.
You sought the consulate; and all your welfare
Hung on that single fragile thread of hope.
Now is it sundered; everything is lost.

CATILINE. [Still deep in thought.]
"Vengeance you have invoked on your own head!"

CETHEGUS. Shake off these useless thoughts; they profit naught;
Act like a man; still can this fight be won;
A bold resolve now--; you have friends enough;
Speak but the word, and we shall follow you.--
You are not tempted? Answer!

CATILINE. No, I say!
And why are you so eager to conspire?
Be honest! Are you driven by thirst for freedom?
Is it in order to renew Rome's splendor
That you would ruin all?

LENTULUS. Indeed, 'tis not;
Yet surely is the hope of personal greatness
Sufficient motive for our enterprise!

CETHEGUS. And means enough to taste the joys of life
Are not, in truth, to be so lightly scorned.
That is my motive;--I am not ambitious.

CATILINE. I knew it. Only mean and paltry motives,
The hope of private vantage, urge you on.
No, no, my friends; I aimed at nobler things!
True, I have sought with bribes and promises
To seize ere now the consulate, and yet
My plan was greater and comprised much more
Than means like these would point to. Civic freedom,
The welfare of the state,--these were my aims.
Men have misjudged, appearances belied me;
My fate has willed it so. It must so be!

CETHEGUS. True; but the thought of all your many friends
Whom you can save from ruin and disgrace--?
You know, we shall ere long be driven to take
The beggars' staff because of our wild living.

CATILINE. Then stop in season; that is my resolve.

LENTULUS. What, Catiline,--now you intend to change
Your mode of life? Ha, ha! you surely jest?

CATILINE. I am in earnest,--by the mighty gods!

CETHEGUS. Then there is nothing we can do with him.
Come, Lentulus, the others we'll inform
What answer he has given. We shall find
The merry company with Bibulus.

CATILINE. With Bibulus? How many a merry night
We have caroused at Bibulus' table!
Now is the tempest of my wild life ended;
Ere dawns the day I shall have left the city.

LENTULUS. What is all this?

CETHEGUS. You mean to go away?

CATILINE. This very night my wife and I together
Shall bid farewell to Rome forevermore.
In quiet Gaul we two shall found a home;--
The land I cultivate shall nourish us.

CETHEGUS. You will forsake the city, Catiline?

CATILINE. I will; I must! Disgrace here weighs me down.
Courage I have to bear my poverty,
But in each Roman face to read disdain
And frank contempt--! No, no; that is too much!
In Gaul I'll live in quiet solitude;
There shall I soon forget my former self,
Dull all my longings for the greater things,
And as the vaguest dream recall the past.

LENTULUS. Then fare you well; may fortune follow you!

CETHEGUS. Remember us with kindness, Catiline,
As we shall you remember! To our brothers
We will relate this new and strange resolve.

CATILINE. Then give them all a brother's hearty greeting!

[LENTULUS and CETHEGUS leave.]

[AURELIA has entered from the side, hut-stops frightened at the
sight of those who are leaving; when they are gone she
approaches CATILINE.]

AURELIA. [Gently reprimanding.]
Again these stormy comrades in your house?
O Catiline--!

CATILINE. This was their final visit.
I bade them all farewell. Now every bond
Forevermore is broken that bound me fast
And fettered me to Rome.

AURELIA. I've gathered up
Our bit of property. Not much perhaps;--
Yet, Catiline, enough for our contentment.

CATILINE. [Engrossed in thought.]
More than enough for me who squandered all.

AURELIA. Oh, brood no more on things we can not change;--
Forget what--

CATILINE. Happy he who could forget,--
Who could the memory tear from out his soul,
The many hopes, the goal of all desires.
Ah, time is needed ere I reach that state;
But I shall struggle--

AURELIA. I shall help you strive;
You shall be comforted for all your loss.
Yet we must leave as soon as possible.
Here life calls to you with a tempter's voice.
Is it not so,--we go this very night?

CATILINE. Yes, yes,--we leave this very night, Aurelia!

AURELIA. The little money left I've gathered up;
And for the journey it will be enough.

CATILINE. Good! I shall sell my sword and buy a spade.
What value henceforth is a sword to me?

AURELIA. You clear the land, and I shall till the soil.
Around our home will grow in floral splendor
A hedge of roses, sweet forget-me-nots,
The silent tokens of a chastened soul,
When as some youthful comrade you can greet
Each memory recurrent of the past.

CATILINE. That time, Aurelia? Ah, beloved, I fear--
That hour lies in a distant future's keeping.

CATILINE. [In a milder tone.]
But go, dear wife, and, while you may, repose.
Soon after midnight we shall start our journey.
The city then is lapped in deepest slumber,
And none shall guess our hidden destination.
The first glow in the morning sky shall find us
Far--far away; there in the laurel grove
We'll rest ourselves upon the velvet grass.

AURELIA. A new life opens up before us both--
Richer in happiness than this that's ended.
Now will I go. An hour's quiet rest
Will give me strength--. Good-night, my Catiline!

[She embraces him and goes out.]

CATILINE. [Gazes after her.]
Now is she gone! And I--what a relief!
Now can I cast away this wearisome
Hypocrisy, this show of cheerfulness,
Which least of all is found within my heart.
She is my better spirit. She would grieve
Were she to sense my doubt. I must dissemble.
Yet shall I consecrate this silent hour
To contemplation of my wasted life.--
This lamp,--ah, it disturbs my very thoughts;--
Dark it must be here,--dark as is my soul!

[He puts out the light; the moon shines through the pillars in
the rear.]

CATILINE.
Too light,--yes, still too light! And yet, no matter;--
The pallid moonlight here does well befit
The twilight and the gloom that shroud my soul,--
Have ever shrouded all my earthly ways.

CATILINE. Hm, Catiline, then is this day your last;
Tomorrow morning you will be no longer
The Catiline you hitherto have been.
Distant in barren Gaul my life shall run
Its course, unknown as is a forest stream.--
Now am I wakened from those many visions
Of power, of greatness, of a life of deeds;--
They vanished like the dew; in my dark soul
They struggled long and died,--unseen of men.

CATILINE. Ah, it is not this dull and drowsy life,
Far from all mundane tumult, that affrights me.
If only for a moment I could shine,
And blaze in splendor like a shooting star,--
If only by a glorious deed I could
Immortalize the name of Catiline
With everlasting glory and renown,--
Then gladly should I, in the hour of triumph,
Forsake all things,--flee to a foreign strand;--
I'd plunge the dagger in my exiled heart,
Die free and happy; for I should have lived!

CATILINE. But oh,--to die without first having lived.
Can that be possible? Shall I so die?

[With uplifted hands.]

CATILINE. A hint, oh angry powers,--that it is
My fate to disappear from life forgotten,
Without a trace!

FURIA. [Outside behind the pillars.] It is not, Catiline!

CATILINE. [Taken aback.]
Who speaks? What warning voice is this I hear?
A spirit voice from out the underworld!

FURIA. [Comes forward in the moonlight.] I am your shadow.

CATILINE. [Terrified.] What,--the vestal's ghost!

FURIA. Deep must your soul have sunk if you recoil
From me!

CATILINE. Speak! Have you risen from the grave
With hatred and with vengeance to pursue me?

FURIA. Pursue you,--did you say? I am your shadow.
I must be with you wheresoe'er you go.

[She comes nearer.]

CATILINE. She lives! O gods,--then it is she,--no other,
No disembodied ghost.

FURIA. Or ghost or not,--
It matters little; I must follow you.

CATILINE. With mortal hate!

FURIA. Hate ceases in the grave,
As love and all the passions do that flourish
Within an earthly soul. One thing alone
In life and death remains unchangeable.

CATILINE. And what? Say forth!

FURIA. Your fate, my Catiline!

CATILINE. Only the gods of wisdom know my fate,--
No human being.

FURIA. Yet I know your fate.
I am your shadow;--strange, mysterious ties
Bind us together.

CATILINE. Bonds of hatred.

FURIA. No!
Rose ever spirit from the dankest grave
For hate and vengeance? Listen, Catiline!
The rivers of the underworld have quenched
Each earthly flame that raged within my breast.
As you behold me here, I am no longer
The stormy Furia,--wild and passionate,--
Whom once you loved--

CATILINE. You do not hate me then?

FURIA. Ah, now no more. When in the tomb I stood,--
And faltered on the path that separates
This life from death, at any moment ready
To greet the underworld,--lo, seized me then
An eerie shuddering; I know not what--;
I felt in me a mystic transformation;--
Away flowed hate, revenge, my very soul;
Each memory vanished and each earthly longing;--
Only the name of "Catiline" remains
Written in fiery letters on my heart.

CATILINE. Ah, wonderful! No matter who you are,--
A human form, a shadow from the dead,--
There lies withal a dreadful fascination
In your dark eyes, in every word you speak.

FURIA. Your mind is strong as mine; yet you give up,
Disheartened and irresolute, each hope
Of triumph and dominion. You forsake
The battlefield, where all your inmost plans
Could grow and blossom forth into achievement.

CATILINE. I must! Inexorable fate decrees it!

FURIA. Your fate? Why were you given a hero's strength,--
If not to struggle with what you call fate?

CATILINE. Oh, I have fought enough! Was not my life
A constant battle? What are my rewards?
Disgrace and scorn--!

FURIA. Ah, you are fallen low!
You struggle towards a high and daring goal,
Are eager to attain it; yet you fear
Each trifling hindrance.

CATILINE. Fear is not the reason.
The goal I sought is unattainable;--
The whole was but a fleeting dream of youth.

FURIA. Now you deceive yourself, my Catiline!
You hover still about that single project;--
Your soul is noble,--worthy of a ruler,--
And you have friends--. Ah, wherefore hesitate?

CATILINE. [Meditating.]
I shall--? What do you mean--? With civil blood--?

FURIA. Are you a man,--yet lack a woman's courage?
Have you forgot that nimble dame of Rome,
Who sought the throne straight over a father's corpse?
I feel myself a Tullia now; but you--?
Scorn and despise yourself, O Catiline!

CATILINE. Must I despise myself because my soul
No longer harbors selfish aspirations?

FURIA. You stand here at a cross-road in your life;
Yonder a dull, inactive course awaits you,--
A half-way something, neither sleep nor death;--
Before you, on the other hand, you see
A sovereign's throne. Then choose, my Catiline!

CATILINE. You tempt me and allure me to destruction.

FURIA. Cast but the die,--and in your hand is placed
Forevermore the welfare of proud Rome.
Glory and might your silent fate conceals,
And yet you falter,--dare not lift a hand!
You journey yonder to the forests, where
Each longing that you cherished will be quenched.
Ah, tell me, Catiline, is there no trace
Of thirst for glory left within your heart?
And must this princely soul, for triumphs born,
Vanish unknown in yonder nameless desert?
Hence, then! But know that thus you lose forever
What here you could by daring deeds attain.

CATILINE. Go on, go on!

FURIA. With trembling and with fear
The future generations will recall
Your fate. Your life was all a daring game;--
Yet in the lustre of atonement it would shine,
Known to all men, if with a mighty hand
You fought your way straight through this surging
throng,--
If the dark night of thraldom through your rule
Gave way before a new-born day of freedom,--
If at some time you--

CATILINE. Hold! Ah, you have touched
The string that quivers deepest in my soul.
Your every word sounds like a ringing echo
Of what my heart has whispered day and night.

FURIA. Now, Catiline, I know you once again!

CATILINE. I shall not go! You have recalled to life
My youthful zeal, my manhood's full-grown longings.
Yes, I shall be a light to fallen Rome,--
Daze them with fear like some erratic star!
You haughty wretches,--you shall soon discover
You have not humbled me, though for a time
I weakened in the heat of battle!

FURIA. Listen!
Whatever be the will of fate,--whatever
The mighty gods decree, we must obey.
Just so! My hate is gone;--fate thus decreed,
And so it had to be! Give me your hand
In solemn compact!--Ah, you hesitate?
You will not?

CATILINE. Will--? I gaze upon your eyes:
They flash,--like lightning in the gloom of night.
Now did you smile! Just so I've often pictured
Nemesis--

FURIA. What? Herself you wish to see,--
Then look within. Have you forgot your oath?

CATILINE. No, I remember;--yet you seem to me
A Nemesis--

FURIA. I am an image born
From your own soul.

CATILINE. [Meditating.] What is all this you say?
I sense but vaguely what I fail to grasp;
I glimpse mysterious, strangely clouded visions,--
But can not understand. I grope in darkness!

FURIA. It must be dark here. Darkness is our realm;--
In darkness is our rule. Give me your hand
In solemn pledge!

CATILINE. [Wildly.] O lovely Nemesis,--
My shadow,--image of my very soul,--
Here is my hand in everlasting compact.

[He seizes her hand violently; she looks at him with a stern
smile.]

FURIA. Now we can never part!

CATILINE. Ah, like a stream
Of fire your touch went coursing through my veins!
'Tis blood no more that flows, but fiery flames;--
My breast now cabins and confines my heart;
My sight grows dull. Soon shall a flaming sea
Illumine with its light the Roman state!

[He draws his sword and brandishes it.]

CATILINE. My sword! My sword! Do you see how it flashes?
Soon will it redden in their tepid blood!--
What change is this in me? My brow burns hot;
A multitude of visions flit before me.--
Vengeance it is,--triumph for all those dreams
Of greatness, regal power, and lasting fame.
My watch-word shall be: livid flames and death!
The capitol! Now first I am myself!

[He rushes out; FURIA follows him.]

* * * * *

[The inside of a dimly illumined tavern.]

[STATILIUS, GABINIUS, COEPARIUS, and other young
ROMANS enter.]

STATILIUS. Here, comrades, we can while away the night;
Here we are safe; no one will overhear us.

GABINIUS. Ah, yes; now let us drink, carouse, enjoy!
Who knows how long it will be granted us?

STATILIUS. No, let us first await whatever tidings
Lentulus and Cethegus have for us.

GABINIUS. Bah, let them bring whatever news they will!
Meanwhile the wine is here; come, let us taste.
Quick, brothers, quick,--let's have a merry song!

[SERVANTS bring in wine and glasses.]

THE ASSEMBLED FRIENDS. (Sing.)

Bacchus, all praise to thee!
Joyful we raise to thee
Brimful the beaker!
Hail to thee, hail!
Wine, red and glowing,
Merrily flowing,
Drink of the wine-god,--


 


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