IBSEN'S PLAYS 747 



naked of every joy and comfort, that a crown of thorns pressed upon 

 every brow will be their wages, and a free soul their reward, they 

 turn round fiercely upon the " deceiver " and chase him with blows 

 and curses out into the snow-fields. 



Weary, bleeding, and alone, Brand now sees as in vision the people 

 for whom he has sacrificed himself, the God whom he has striven to 

 serve, the home and happiness that he has lost. 



Those miserable thralls, whom he has given his very life to raise out 

 of their sordid cares, will sink lower and lower. Their national hostory 

 passeth before him. He sees them sheltering their cowardice under the 

 plea of feebleness, sitting still while their brethren in Denmark are 

 crushed; bribed by English gold to pollute their land with smoke and 

 their hearts with greed ; drawing aside from the great spiritual battles 

 of the world, suffering the old faith to die, and taking no part in es- 

 tablishing the new; for their stake in the world's redemption is too 

 small to fight for. Not for them was the cup drained, not for them 

 did the crown of thorns strike its teeth into the Saviour's temples, not 

 for them the thrust of the Eoman lance into his side, not for them the 

 burning of the nails that pierced his hands and feet, not for them the 

 bearing of the cross the purple ridge that rose upon his shoulder 

 under the leather thong with which the cobbler Ahasuerus smote 

 him, is Norway's "fraction of the passion." These are the -men he, 

 Brand, had sought to redeem! 



And as for the God whom he had striven to bring men to serve 

 with whole heart, had he not accepted his all and then rejected him? 

 Had he not quenched every light that shone upon his path, had he not 

 suffered him to be crushed in utter defeat, had he not flung back his 

 prayers to him and deserted him in his utmost need? 



Through the storm he hears the sentence of doom chanted, 



Never, never can'st be like him, for in flesh hast thou been made. Do his 

 bidding or desert him, either way alike thou'rt lost! Worm, thou never can'st 

 be like him, though thou drain the cup of death! Follow after or desert him, 

 either way thy deeds are doomed. Dreamer! ne'er shalt thou be like him; lands 

 and goods though thou hast lost; all thou giv'st can naught enrich him for 

 the earth-life wast thou formed. 



And in the service of this inexorable and unapproachable God, for 

 the sake of these sordid and unredeemable earthlings, what had he 

 lost? Agnes and his baby boy might yet have been his may yet 

 be his, for Agnes appears to him, in his fever, and tells him that all 

 the loss and sorrow is but a dream. She is still living, and so is 

 their boy. They may have peace and joy if he will but strike a line 

 through these words, "everything or nothing," and fall into the 

 even easy ways against which he has fought in vain. No, never ! If 

 indeed it has been a dream, then he will now make that dream a real- 

 ity, will lose wife and child and everything sooner than endure the 



