First Voice. 
What this crabbed text here meaneth
By the Word, is plain and simple,
It is Jove to whose great voice
Gods and men obedient listen.

Chrysanthus. 
Jove, it must be Jove, by whom
Breath, speech, life itself are given.

Second Voice. 
What the holy Gospel means
By the Word, is that great Spirit
Who was in Himself for ever,
First, last, always self-existent.

Chrysanthus. 
Self-existent! first and last! 
Reason cannot grasp that dictum.

First Voice. 
In the beginning of the world
Jove in heaven his high throne fix`ed,
Leaving less imperial thrones
To the other gods to fill them.

Chrysanthus. 
Yes, if he could not alone
Rule creation unassisted.

Second Voice. 
God was God, long, long before
Earth or heaven’s blue vault existed,
He was in Himself, ere He
Gave to time its life and mission.

First Voice. 
Worship only pay to Jove,
God o’er all our gods uplifted.

Second Voice. 
Worship pay to God alone,
He the infinite, the omniscient.

First Voice. 
He doth lord the world below.

Second Voice. 
He is Lord of Heaven’s high kingdom.

First Voice. 
Shun the lightnings of his wrath.

Second Voice. 
Seek the waves of his forgiveness. [The Figures disappear.

Chrysanthus. 
Oh! what darkness, what confusion,
In myself I find here pitted
’Gainst each other!  Spirits twain
Struggle desperately within me,
Spirits twain of good and ill,—­
One with gentle impulse wins me
To believe, but, oh! the other
With opposing force resistless
Drives me back to doubt:  Oh! who
Will dispel these doubts that fill me?

Polemius (within). 
Yes, Carpophorus must pay
For the trouble that this gives me.—­

Chrysanthus. 
Though these words by chance were spoken
As an omen I ’ll admit them: 
Since Carpophorus (who in Rome
Was the most renowned, most gifted
Master in all science), now
Flying from the emperor’s lictors,
Through suspect of being a Christian,
In lone deserts wild and dismal
Lives a saintly savage life,
He will give to all my wishes
The solution of these doubts:—­
And till then, O restless thinking
Torture me and tease no more! 
Let me live for that! [His voice gradually rises.

Escarpin (within). 
                       Within there
My young master calls.

Claudius (within). 
                        All enter. 
(Enter Polemius, Claudius, Aurelius, and Escarpin).

Polemius. 
My Chrysanthus, what afflicts thee?

Chrysanthus. 
Canst thou have been here, my father?