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 Forsta 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,