Sage also studied Ibsen's two-part epic, Emperor and Galilean, about the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried to establish what Ibsen called "the third Reich". Julian dies onstage but the play ends with a declaration that he will return, reincarnated, to found the prophesied Third Reich. Paraphrases in Hitler's recorded conversation indicated knowledge of that drama. The play had been venerated by a German literary cult in the early 20th century.
