The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 04

  HOHENZOLLERN enters.THE PRINCE. Faith, now, friend Harry! Welcome, man, you are!  Well, then, I'm free of my imprisonment?HOHENZOLLERN (amazed).  Lord in the heavens be praised!THE PRINCE. What was that?HOHENZOLLERN. Free?  So then he's sent you back your sword again?THE PRINCE. Me? No.HOHENZOLLERN. No?THE PRINCE. No.HOHENZOLLERN. Then how can you be free?THE PRINCE (after a pause).  I thought that you were bringing it.—What of it?HOHENZOLL. I know of nothing.THE PRINCE. Well, you heard: What of it?  He'll send some other one to let me know.

[He turns and brings chairs.]

  Sit down. Now come and tell me all the news.  Has he returned, the Elector, from Berlin?HOHENZOLL. Yes. Yester eve.THE PRINCE. And did they celebrate  The victory as planned?—Assuredly!  And he was at the church himself, the Elector?HOHENZOLL. With the Electress and with Natalie.  The church was wonderfully bright with lights;  Upon the palace-square artillery  Through the Te Deum spoke with solemn splendor.  The Swedish flags and standards over us  Swung from the church's columns, trophy-wise,  And, on the sovereign's express command,  Your name was spoken from the chancel high,  Your name was spoken, as the victor's name.

THE PRINCE. I heard that.—Well, what other news? What's yours?

  Your face, my friend, is scarcely frolicsome.HOHENZOLL. Have you seen anybody?THE PRINCE. Golz, just now,  I' the Castle where, you know, I had my trial.

[Pause.]

HOHENZOLLERN (regarding him doubtfully).  What do you think of your position, Arthur,  Since it has suffered such a curious change?THE PRINCE. What you and Golz and even the judges think—  The Elector has fulfilled what duty asked,  And now he'll do as well the heart's behest.  Thus he'll address me, gravely: You have erred  (Put in a word perhaps of "death" and "fortress"),  But I grant you your liberty again—  And round the sword that won his victory  Perhaps there'll even twine some mark of grace;  If not that, good; I did not merit that.HOHENZOLL. Oh, Arthur! [He pauses.]THE PRINCE. Well?HOHENZOLLERN. Are you so very sure?THE PRINCE. So I have laid it out. I know he loves me,  He loves me like a son; since early childhood  A thousand signs have amply proven that.  What doubt is in your heart that stirs you so?  Has he not ever seemed to take more joy  Than I myself to see my young fame grow?  All that I am, am I not all through him?  And he should now unkindly tread in dust  The plant himself has nurtured, just because  Too swiftly opulent it flowered forth?  I'll not believe his worst foe could think that—  And far less you who know and cherish him.HOHENZOLLERN (significantly).  Arthur, you've stood your trial in court-martial,  And you believe that still?THE PRINCE. Because of it!  No one, by heaven alive, would go so far  Who did not have a pardon up his sleeve!  Even there, before the judgment bar, it was—  Even there it was, my confidence returned.  Come, was it such a capital offense  Two little seconds ere the order said  To have laid low the stoutness of the Swede?  What other felony is on my conscience?  And could he summon me, unfeelingly,  Before this board of owl-like judges, chanting  Their litanies of bullets and the grave,  Did he not purpose with a sovereign word  To step into their circle like a god?  No, he is gathering this night of cloud  About my head, my friend, that he may dawn  Athwart the gloomy twilight like the sun!  And, faith, this pleasure I begrudge him not!HOHENZOLL. And yet, they say, the court has spoken judgment.THE PRINCE. I heard so: death.HOHENZOLLERN (amazed). You know it then—so soon?THE PRINCE. Golz, who was present when they brought the verdict  Gave me report of how the judgment fell.HOHENZOLL. My God, man! And it stirred you not at all?THE PRINCE. Me? Why, not in the least!HOHENZOLLERN. You maniac!  On what then do you prop your confidence?THE PRINCE. On what I feel of him! [He rises.] No more, I beg.  Why should I fret with insubstantial doubts?

[He bethinks himself and sits down again. Pause.]

  The court was forced to make its verdict death;  For thus the statute reads by which they judge.  But ere he let that sentence be fulfilled—  Ere, at a kerchief's fall, he yields this heart  That loves him truly, to the muskets' fire,  Ere that, I say, he'll lay his own breast bare  And spill his own blood, drop by drop, in dust.HOHENZOLL. But, Arthur, I assure you—THE PRINCE (petulantly). Oh, my dear!HOHENZOLL. The Marshal—THE PRINCE (still petulantly). Come, enough!HOHENZOLLERN. Hear two words more!  If those make no impression, I'll be mute.THE PRINCE (turning to him again).  I told you, I know all. Well, now, what is it?HOHENZOLL. Most strange it is, a moment since, the Marshal  Delivered him the warrant for your death.  It leaves him liberty to pardon you,  But he, instead, has given the command  That it be brought him for his signature.THE PRINCE. No matter, I repeat!HOHENZOLLERN. No matter?THE PRINCE. For—  His signature?HOHENZOLLERN. By faith, I do assure you!THE PRINCE. The warrant?—No! The verdict—HOHENZOLLERN. The death warrant.THE PRINCE. Who was it told you that?HOHENZOLLERN. The Marshal.THE PRINCE. When?HOHENZOLL. Just now.THE PRINCE. Returning from the sovereign?HOHENZOLL. The stairs descending from the sovereign.  And added, when he saw my startled face,  That nothing yet was lost, and that the dawn  Would bring another day for pardoning.  But the dead pallor of his lips disproved  Their spoken utterance, with, I fear it—no!THE PRINCE (rising).  He could—I'll not believe it!—bring to birth  Such monstrous resolutions in his heart?  For a defect, scarce visible to the lens,  In the bright diamond he but just received,  Tread in the dust the giver? 'Twere a deed  To burn the Dey of Algiers white: with wings  Like those that silver-gleam on cherubim  To dizen Sardanapalus, and cast  The assembled tyrannies of ancient Rome,  Guiltless as babes that die on mother-breast,  Over upon the favor-hand of God!HOHENZOLLERN (who has likewise risen).  My friend, you must convince yourself of that!THE PRINCE. The Marshal then was silent, said nought else?HOHENZOLL. What should he say?THE PRINCE. Oh, heaven, my hope, my hope!HOHENZOLL. Come, have you ever done a thing, perchance,  Be it unconsciously or consciously,  That might have given his lofty heart offense?THE PRINCE. Never!HOHENZOLLERN. Consider!THE PRINCE. Never, by high heaven!  The very shadow of his head was sacred.HOHENZOLL. Do not be angry, Arthur, if I doubt.  Count Horn has come, the Ambassador of Sweden,  And I am told with all authority  His business concerns the Princess Orange.  A word her aunt, the Electress, spoke, they say,  Has cut the sovereign to the very quick;  They say, the lady has already chosen.  Are you in no way tangled up in this?THE PRINCE. Dear God, what are you saying?HOHENZOLLERN. Are you? Are you?THE PRINCE. Oh, friend, I am! And now all things are clear!  It is that wooing that destroys me quite.  I am accountable if she refuse,  Because the Princess is betrothed to me.HOHENZOLL. You feather-headed fool, what have you done?  How often have I warned you, loyally!THE PRINCE. Oh, friend! Then help me! Save me! I am lost!HOHENZOLL. Ay, what expedient saves us in this gloom?  Come, would you like to see her aunt, the Electress?THE PRINCE (turning).  Ho, watch!TROOPER (in the background). Here!THE PRINCE. Go, and call your officer!

[He hastily takes a cloak from the wall and puts on a plumed hat lying on the table.]

HOHENZOLLERN (as he assists him)  Adroitly used, this step may spell salvation.  For if the Elector can but make the peace,  By the determined forfeit, with King Charles,  His heart, you soon shall see, will turn to you,  And in brief time you will be free once more.

SCENE II

The officer enters. The others as before.

THE PRINCE (to the officer).  Stranz, they have put me in your custody;  Grant me my freedom for an hour's time.  I have some urgent business on my mind.OFFICER. Not in my custody are you, my lord.  The order given me declares that I  Shall leave you free to go where you desire.THE PRINCE. Most odd! Then I am not a prisoner?OFFICER. Your word of honor is a fetter, too.HOHENZOLLERN (preparing to go).  'Twill do! No matter.THE PRINCE. So. Then fare you well.HOHENZOLL. The fetter follows hard upon the Prince.THE PRINCE. I go but to the Castle, to my aunt,  And in two minutes I am back again.

[Exeunt omnes.]

SCENE III

Room of the ELECTRESS. The ELECTRESS and NATALIE enter.

ELECTRESS. Come, daughter mine, come now! This is your hour.  Count Gustaf Horn, the Swedes' ambassador,  And all the company have left the Castle;  There is a light in Uncle's study still.  Come, put your kerchief on and steal on him,  And see if you can rescue yet your friend.

[They are about to go.]

SCENE IV

A lady-in-waiting enters. Others as before.

LADY-IN-WAITING.  Madam, the Prince of Homburg's at the door.  But I am hardly sure that I saw right.ELECTRESS. Dear God!NATALIE. Himself?ELECTRESS. Is he not prisoner?LADY-IN-WAITING.  He stands without, in plumed hat and cloak,  And begs in urgent terror to be heard.ELECTRESS (distressed).  Impulsive boy! To go and break his word!NATALIE. Who knows what may torment him?ELECTRESS (after a moment in thought). Let him come!

[She seats herself.]

SCENE V

The PRINCE OF HOMBURG enters. The others as before.

THE PRINCE (throwing himself at the feet of the ELECTRESS).  Oh, mother!ELECTRESS. Prince! What are you doing here?THE PRINCE. Oh, let me clasp your knees, oh, mother mine!ELECTRESS (with suppressed emotion).  You are a prisoner, Prince, and you come hither?  Why will you heap new guilt upon the old?THE PRINCE (urgently).  Oh, do you know what they have done?ELECTRESS. Yes, all.  But what can I do, helpless I, for you?THE PRINCE. You would not speak thus, mother mine, if death  Had ever terribly encompassed you  As it doth me. With potencies of heaven,  You and my lady, these who serve you, all  The world that rings me round, seem blest to save.  The very stable-boy, the meanest, least,  That tends your horses, pleading I could hang  About his neck, crying: Oh, save me, thou!  I, only I, alone on God's wide earth  Am helpless, desolate, and impotent.ELECTRESS. You are beside yourself! What has occurred?THE PRINCE. Oh, on the way that led me to your side,  I saw in torchlight where they dug the grave  That on the morrow shall receive my bones!  Look, Aunt, these eyes that gaze upon you now,  These eyes they would eclipse with night, this breast  Pierce and transpierce with murderous musketry.  The windows on the Market that shall close  Upon the weary show are all reserved;  And one who, standing on life's pinnacle,  Today beholds the future like a realm  Of faery spread afar, tomorrow lies  Stinking within the compass of two boards,  And over him a stone recounts: He was.

[The PRINCESS, who until now has stood in the background supporting herself on the shoulder of one of the ladies-in-waiting, sinks into a chair, deeply moved at his words, and begins to weep.]

ELECTRESS. My son, if such should be the will of heaven,  You will go forth with courage and calm soul.THE PRINCE. God's world, O mother, is so beautiful!  Oh, let me not, before my hour strike,  Descend, I plead, to those black shadow-forms!  Why, why can it be nothing but the bullet?  Let him depose me from my offices,  With rank cashierment, if the law demands,  Dismiss me from the army. God of heaven!  Since I beheld my grave, life, life, I want,  And do not ask if it be kept with honor.ELECTRESS. Arise, my son, arise! What were those words?  You are too deeply moved. Control yourself!THE PRINCE. Oh, Aunt, not ere you promise on your soul,  With a prostration that shall save my life  Pleading to go before the sovereign presence.  Hedwig, your childhood friend, gave me to you,  Dying at Homburg, saying as she died:  Be you his mother when I am no more.  Moved to the depths, kneeling beside her bed,  Over her spent hand bending, you replied:  Yea, he shall be to me as mine own child.  Now, I remind you of the vow you made!  Go to him, go, as though I were your child,  Crying, I plead for mercy! Set him free!  Oh, and return to me, and say: 'Tis so!ELECTRESS (weeping).  Belovèd son! All has been done, erewhile.  But all my supplications were in vain.THE PRINCE. I give up every claim to happiness.  And tell him this, forget it not, that I  Desire Natalie no more, for her  All tenderness within my heart is quenched.  Free as the doe upon the meads is she,  Her hand and lips, as though I'd never been,  Freely let her bestow, and if it be  The Swede Karl Gustaf, I commend her choice.  I will go seek my lands upon the Rhine.  There will I build and raze again to earth  With sweating brow, and sow and gather in,  As though for wife and babe, enjoy alone;  And when the harvest's gathered, sow again,  And round and round the treadmill chase my days  Until at evening they sink down, and die.ELECTRESS. Enough! Now take your way home to your prison—  That is the first demand my favor makes.THE PRINCE (rises and turns toward the PRINCESS).  Poor little girl, you weep! The sun today  Lights all your expectations to their grave!  Your heart decided from the first on me;  Indeed, your look declares, that, true as gold,  You ne'er shall dedicate your heart anew.  Oh, what can I, poor devil, say to comfort?  Go to the Maiden's Chapter on the Main,  I counsel you, go to your cousin Thurn.  Seek in the hills a boy, light-curled as I,  Buy him with gold and silver, to your breast  Press him, and teach his lips to falter: Mother.  And when he grows to manhood, show him well  How men draw shut the eyelids of the dead.  That is the only joy that lies your way!NATALIE (bravely and impressively, as she rises and lays  her hand in his).  Return, young hero, to your prison walls,  And, on your passage, imperturbably  Regard once more the grave they dug for you.  It is not gloomier, nor more wide at all  Than those the battle showed a thousand times.  Meanwhile, since I am true to you till death,  A saving word I'll chance, unto my kin.  It may avail, perhaps, to move his heart  And disenthrall you from all misery.

[Pause.]

THE PRINCE (folding his hands, as he stands lost in contemplation  of her).  An you had pinions on your shoulders, maid,  Truly I should be sure you were an angel!  Dear God, did I hear right? You speak for me?  Where has the quiver of your speech till now  Lain hid, dear child, that you should dare approach  The sovereign in matters such as this?  Oh, light of hope, reviving me once more!NATALIE. The darts that find the marrow God will hand me!  But if the Elector cannot move the law's  Outspoken word, cannot—so be it! Then  Bravely to him the brave man will submit.  And he, the conqueror a thousand times,  Living, will know to conquer too in death!ELECTRESS. Make haste! The favorable hour flies by!THE PRINCE. Now may all holy spirits guard your way!  Farewell, farewell! Whate'er the outcome be,  Grant me a word to tell me how you fared.

[Exeunt omnes.]

ACT IV

Scene: Room of the ELECTOR.

SCENE I

The ELECTOR is standing with documents in his hand near a table set with lights. NATALIE enters through the centre door and, still some distance away, falls on her knees to him.

NATALIE. My noble uncle Frederick of the Mark!ELECTOR (laying the papers aside).  My Natalie!

[He seeks to raise her.]

NATALIE. No, no!ELECTOR. What is your wish?NATALIE. As it behooves me, at your feet in dust  To plead your pardon for my cousin Homburg.  Not for myself I wish to know him safe—  My heart desires him and confesses it—  Not for myself I wish to know him safe;  Let him go wed whatever wife he will.  I only ask, dear uncle, that he live,  Free, independent, unallied, unbound,  Even as a flower in which I find delight;  For this I plead, my sovereign lord and friend,  And such entreaty you will heed, I know.ELECTOR (raising her to her feet).  My little girl! What words escaped your lips?  Are you aware of how your cousin Homburg  Lately offended?NATALIE. But, dear uncle!ELECTOR. Well?  Was it so slight?NATALIE. Oh, this blond fault, blue-eyed,  Which even ere it faltered: Lo, I pray!  Forgiveness should raise up from the earth—  Surely you will not spurn it with your foot?  Why, for its mother's sake, for her who bore it,  You'll press it to your breast and cry: "Weep not!  For you are dear as loyalty herself."  Was it not ardor for your name's renown  That lured him in the fight's tumultuous midst  To burst apart the confines of the law?  And oh, once he had burst the bonds asunder,  Trod he not bravely on the serpent's head?  To crown him first because he triumphs, then  Put him to death—that, surely, history  Will not demand of you. Dear uncle mine,  That were so stoical and so sublime  That men might almost deem it was inhuman!  And God made nothing more humane than you.ELECTOR. Sweet child, consider! If I were a tyrant,  I am indeed aware your words ere now  Had thawed the heart beneath the iron breast.  But this I put to you: Have I the right  To quash the verdict which the court has passed?  What would the issue be of such an act?NATALIE. For whom? For you?ELECTOR. For me? No! Bah! For me!  My girl, know you no higher law than me!  Have you no inkling of a sanctuary  That in the camp men call the fatherland?NATALIE. My liege! Why fret your soul? Because of such  Upstirring of your grace, this fatherland  Will not this moment crash to rack and ruin!  The camp has been your school. And, look, what there  You term unlawfulness, this act, this free  Suppression of the verdict of the court,  Appears to me the very soul of law.  The laws of war, I am aware, must rule;  The heart, however, has its charter, too.  The fatherland your hands upbuilt for us,  My noble uncle, is a fortress strong,  And other greater storms indeed will bear  Than this unnecessary victory.  Majestically through the years to be  It shall uprise, beneath your line expand,  Grow beautiful with towers, luxuriant,  A fairy country, the felicity  Of those who love it, and the dread of foes.  It does not need the cold cementing seal  Of a friend's life-blood to outlast the calm  And glorious autumn of my uncle's days!ELECTOR. And cousin Homburg thinks this?NATALIE. Cousin Homburg?ELECTOR. Does he believe it matters not at all  If license rule the fatherland, or law?NATALIE. This poor dear boy!ELECTOR. Well, now?NATALIE. Oh, uncle dear,  To that I have no answer save my tears!ELECTOR (in surprise).  Why that, my little girl? What has befallen?NATALIE (falteringly).  He thinks of nothing now but one thing: rescue!  The barrels at the marksmen's shoulders peer  So ghastly, that, giddy and amazed,  Desire is mute, save one desire: To live.  The whole great nation of the Mark might sink  To wrack mid flare and thunderbolt; and he  Stand by nor even ask: What comes to pass?—  Oh, what a hero's heart have you brought low?

[She turns away, sobbing.]

ELECTOR (utterly amazed).  No, dearest Natalie! No, no, indeed!  Impossible!—He pleads for clemency?NATALIE. If you had only, only not condemned him!ELECTOR. Come, tell me, come! He pleads for clemency?  What has befallen, child? Why do you sob?  You met? Come, tell me all. You spoke with him?NATALIE (pressed against his breast).  In my aunt's chambers but a moment since,  Whither in mantle, lo, and plumèd hat  Stealthily through the screening dusk he came—  Furtive, perturbed, abashed, unworthy all,  A miserable, pitiable sight.  I never guessed a man could sink so low  Whom history applauded as her hero.  For look—I am a woman and I shrink  From the mere worm that draws too near my foot;  But so undone, so void of all control,  So unheroic quite, though lion-like  Death fiercely came, he should not find me thus!  Oh, what is human greatness, human fame!ELECTOR (confused).  Well, then, by God of heaven and of earth!  Take courage, then, my girl, for he is free!NATALIE. What, my liege lord?ELECTOR. I pardon him, I say!  I'll send the necessary word at once.NATALIE. Oh, dearest, is it really true?ELECTOR. You heard.NATALIE. You will forgive him? And he need not die?ELECTOR. Upon my word! I swear it! How shall I  Oppose myself to such a warrior's judgment?  Within my heart of hearts, as you know well,  I deeply do esteem his inner sense;  If he can say the verdict is unjust,  I cancel the indictment; he is free!

[He brings her a chair.]

Will you sit here and wait a little while?

[He goes to the table, seats himself and writes. Pause.]

NATALIE (softly).  Why dost thou knock so at thy house, my heart?ELECTOR (writing).  The Prince is over in the Castle?NATALIE. Pardon!  He has returned to his captivity.

ELECTOR (finishes his letter and seals it; thereupon he returns  with the letter to the PRINCESS).

  Well, well, my little niece, my daughter, wept!  And I, whose place it is to make her glad  Was forced to cloud the heaven of her fair eyes!

[He puts his arm about her.]

Will you go bring the note to him yourself?NATALIE. How? To the City Hall?ELECTOR (presses the letter into her hand).                                  Why not? Ho, lackeys!

[Enter lackeys.]

  Go, have the carriage up! Her ladyship  Has urgent business with Colonel Homburg.

[The lackeys go out.]

Now he can thank you for his life forthwith.

[He embraces her.]

Dear child, and do you like me now once more?NATALIE (after a pause).  I do not know and do not seek to know  What woke your favor, liege, so suddenly.  But truly this, I feel this in my heart,  You would not make ignoble sport of me.  The letter hold whate'er it may—I trust  That it hold pardon—and I thank you for it.

[She kisses his hand.]

ELECTOR. Indeed, my little girl, indeed. As sure  As pardon lies in Cousin Homburg's wish.

SCENE II

Room of the PRINCESS. Enter PRINCESS NATALIE, followed by two ladies-in-waiting and Captain of Cavalry, COUNT REUSS.

NATALIE (precipitantly).  What is it, Count? About my regiment?  Is it of moment? Can it wait a day?REUSS (handing her a letter).  Madam, a note for you from Colonel Kottwitz.NATALIE (opening it).  Quick, give it me! What's in it?REUSS. A petition,  Frankly addressed, though deferentially,  As you will note, to our liege lord, his Highness,  In furtherance of our chief, the Prince of Homburg.NATALIE (reading).  "Petition, loyally presented by  The regiment of Princess Orange"—so.

[Pause.]

This document—whose hand composed it, pray?REUSS. As the formations of the dizzy script  May let you guess, by none but Colonel Kottwitz.  His noble name stands foremost on the list.NATALIE. The thirty signatures which follow it?REUSS. The names of officers, most noble lady,  Each following each according to his rank.NATALIE. And they sent me the supplication—me?REUSS. My lady, most submissively to beg  If you, our colonel, likewise, at their head  Will fill the space left vacant, with your name?

[Pause.]

NATALIE. Indeed, I hear, the Prince, my noble kinsman,  By our lord's own volition shall be freed,  Wherefore there scarce is need for such a step.REUSS (delighted).  What? Truly?NATALIE. Yet I'll not deny my hand  Upon a document, which, wisely used,  May prove a weight upon the scales to turn  Our sovereign's decision—even prove  Welcome, mayhap, to introduce the issue.  According to your wish, therefore, I set  Myself here at your head and write my name.

[She goes to a desk and is about to write.]

REUSS. Indeed, you have our lively gratitude!

[Pause.]

NATALIE (turning to him again).  My regiment alone I find, Count Reuss!  Why do I miss the Bomsdorf Cuirassiers  And the dragoons of Götz and Anhalt-Pless?REUSS. Not, as perchance you fear, because their hearts  Are cooler in their throbbing than our own.  It proves unfortunate for our petition  That Kottwitz is in garrison apart  At Arnstein, while the other regiments  Are quartered in the city here. Wherefore  The document lacks freedom easily  In all directions to expand its force.NATALIE. Yet, as it stands, the plea seems all too thin.—  Are you sure, Count, if you were on the spot  To interview the gentlemen now here,  That they as well would sign the document?REUSS. Here in the city, madam? Head for head!  The entire cavalry would pledge itself  With signatures. By God, I do believe  That a petition might be safely launched  Amid the entire army of the Mark!NATALIE (after a pause).  Why does not some one send out officers  To carry on the matter in the camp?REUSS. Pardon! The Colonel put his foot on that.  He said that he desired to do no act  That men might christen with an ugly name.NATALIE. Queer gentleman! Now bold, now timorous!  But it occurs to me that happily  The Elector, pressed by other business,  Charged me to issue word that Kottwitz, cribbed  Too close in his position, march back hither.  I will sit down at once and do it!

[She sits down and writes.]