The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03

Max does she love! Max Piccolomini.

Hast thou ne'er noticed it? Nor yet my sister?

DUCHESS.

Was it this that lay so heavy on her heart?

God's blessing on thee, my sweet child! Thou need'st

Never take shame upon thee for thy choice.

COUNTESS.

This journey, if 'twere not thy aim, ascribe it

To thine own self. Thou shouldst have chosen another

To have attended her.

WALLENSTEIN.

And does he know it?

COUNTESS.

Yes, and he hopes to win her!

WALLENSTEIN. Hopes to win her!

Is the boy mad?

COUNTESS.

Well—hear it from themselves.

WALLENST.

He thinks to carry off Duke Friedland's daughter!

Ay?—The thought pleases me.

The young man has no groveling spirit.

COUNTESS.

                                   Since

Such and such constant favor you have shown him—

WALLENST.

He chooses finally to be my heir.

And true it is, I love the youth; yea, honor him.

But must he therefore be my daughter's husband?

Is it daughters only? Is it only children

That we must show our favor by?

DUCHESS.

His noble disposition and his manners—

WALLENST.

Win him my heart, but not my daughter.

DUCHESS.

                        Then

His rank, his ancestors—

WALLENSTETN.

                 Ancestors! What?

He is a subject, and my son-in-law

I will seek out upon the thrones of Europe.

DUCHESS.

O dearest Albrecht! Climb we not too high

Lest we should fall too low.

WALLENSTEIN.

                       What! have I paid

A price so heavy to ascend this eminence,

And jut out high above the common herd,

Only to close the mighty part I play

In Life's great drama, with a common kinsman?

Have I for this—

[Stops suddenly, repressing himself.]

                     She is the only thing

That will remain behind of me on earth;

And I will see a crown around her head,

Or die in the attempt to place it there.

I hazard all—all! and for this alone,

To lift her into greatness—Yea,

in this moment, in the which we are

speaking—

[He recollects himself.]

And I must now, like a soft-hearted father,

Couple together in good peasant-fashion

The pair, that chance to suit each other's liking—

And I must do it now, even now, when I

Am stretching out the wreath that is to twine

My full accomplish'd work—no! she is the jewel,

Which I have treasured long, my last, my noblest,

And 'tis my purpose not to let her from me

For less than a king's sceptre.

DUCHESS.

                           O my husband!

You're ever building, building to the clouds,

Still building higher, and still higher building,

And ne'er reflect that the poor narrow basis

Cannot sustain the giddy tottering column.

WALLENSTEIN (to the COUNTESS).

Have you announced the place of residence

Which I have destined for her?

COUNTESS.

                            No! not yet.

'Twere better you yourself disclosed it to her.

DUCHESS.

How? Do we not return to Carinthia then?

WALLENSTEIN.

No.

DUCHESS.

And to no other of your lands or seats?

WALLENST.

You would not be secure there.

DUCHESS.

                              Not secure

In the Emperor's realms, beneath the Emperor's

Protection?

WALLENSTEIN.

Friedland's wife may be permitted

No longer to hope that.

DUCHESS.

                        O God in heaven!

And have you brought it even to this!

WALLENSTEIN.

                       In Holland

You'll find protection.

DUCHESS.

In a Lutheran country?

What? And you send us into Lutheran countries?

WALLENST.

Duke Franz of Lauenburg conducts you thither.

DUCHESS.

Duke Franz of Lauenburg?

The ally of Sweden, the Emperor's enemy.

WALLENST.

The Emperor's enemies are mine no longer.

DUCHESS (casting a look of terror on the DUKE and the

COUNTESS).

Is it then true? It is. You are degraded—

Deposed from the command! O God in heaven!

COUNTESS (aside to the DUKE).

Leave her in this belief. Thou seest she cannot

Support the real truth.

SCENE V

To them enter COUNT TERZKY.

COUNTESS.

                      —Terzky!

What ails him? What an image of affright!

He looks as he had seen a ghost.

TERZKY (leading WALLENSTEIN aside).

Is it thy command that all the Croats—

WALLENSTEIN.

Mine.

TERZKY.

We are betray'd.

WALLENSTEIN.

What?

TERZKY.

                    They are off! This night

The Jägers likewise—all the villages

In the whole round are empty.

WALLENSTEIN.

Isolani!

TERZKY.

Him thou hast sent away. Yes, surely.

WALLENSTEIN.

I?

TERZKY.

No! Hast thou not sent him off? Nor Deodati?

They are vanish'd both of them.

SCENE VI

To them enter ILLO.

ILLO.

Has Terzky told thee?

TERZKY.

He knows all.

ILLO.

                           And likewise

That Esterhatzy, Goetz, Maradas, Kaunitz,

Kolalto, Palfi, have forsaken thee.

TERZKY.

Damnation!

WALLENSTEIN (winks at them).

Hush!

COUNTESS (who has been watching them anxiously from the distance and now advances to them).

Terzky! Heaven! What is it? What has happen'd?

WALLENSTEIN (scarcely suppressing his emotions).

Nothing! let us be gone!

TERZKY (following him).

Theresa, it is nothing.

COUNTESS (holding him back).

Nothing? Do I not see that all the life-blood

Has left your cheeks—look you not like a ghost?

That even my brother but affects a calmness?

PAGE (enters).

An Aide-de-camp inquires for the Count Terzky.

[TERZKY follows the PAGE.]

WALLENST. Go, hear his business.

[To ILLO.]

                This could not have happen'd

So unsuspected without mutiny.

Who was on guard at the gates?

ILLO.

'Twas Tiefenbach.

WALLENST.

Let Tiefenbach leave guard without delay,

And Terzky's grenadiers relieve him.

[ILLO is going.]

                                  Stop!

Hast thou heard aught of Butler?

ILLO.

Him I met;

He will be here himself immediately.

Butler remains unshaken.

[ILLO exit. WALLENSTEIN is following him.]

COUNTESS.

Let him not leave thee, sister! go, detain him!

There's some misfortune.

DUCHESS (clinging to him).

Gracious Heaven! What is it?

WALLENST.

Be tranquil! leave me, sister! dearest wife!

We are in camp, and this is nought unusual;

Here storm and sunshine follow one another

With rapid interchanges. These fierce spirits

Champ the curb angrily, and never yet

Did quiet bless the temples of the leader.

If I am to stay, go you. The plaints of women

Ill suit the scene where men must act.

[He is going. TERZHY returns.]

TERZHY.

Remain here. From this window must we see it.

WALLENSTEIN (to the COUNTESS).

Sister, retire!

COUNTESS.

No—never.

WALLENSTEIN.

'Tis my will.

TERZKY (leads the COUNTESS aside, and drawing her attention to the DUCHESS).

Theresa?

DUCHESS.

Sister, come! since he commands it.

SCENE VII

WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY

WALLENSTEIN (stepping to the window).

What now, then?

TERZKY.

There are strange movements among all the troops,

And no one knows the cause. Mysteriously,

With gloomy silentness, the several corps

Marshal themselves, each under its own banners.

Tiefenbach's corps make threat'ning movements; only

The Pappenheimers still remain aloof

In their own quarters, and let no one enter.

WALLENST.

Does Piccolomini appear among them?

TERZKY.

We are seeking him: he is nowhere to be met with.

WALLENST.

What did the Aide-de-camp deliver to you?

TERZKY.

My regiments had dispatch'd him; yet once more

They swear fidelity to thee, and wait

The shout for onset, all prepared, and eager.

WALLENST.

But whence arose this larum in the camp?

It should have been kept secret from the army,

Till fortune had decided for us at Prague.

TERZKY.

O that thou hadst believed me! Yester evening

Did we conjure thee not to let that skulker,

That fox, Octavio, pass the gates of Pilsen.

Thou gavest him thy own horses to flee from thee.

WALLENST.

The old tune still! Now, once for all, no more

Of this suspicion—it is doting folly.

TERZKY.

Thou didst confide in Isolani too;

And lo! he was the first that did desert thee.

WALLENST.

It was but yesterday I rescued him

From abject wretchedness. Let that go by;

I never reckon'd yet on gratitude.

And wherein doth he wrong in going from me?

He follows still the god whom all his life

He has worship'd at the gaming-table. With

My fortune, and my seeming destiny,

He made the bond, and broke it not with me.

I am but the ship in which his hopes were stow'd

And with the which, well-pleased and confident,

He traversed the open sea; now he beholds it

In eminent jeopardy among the coast-rocks,

And hurries to preserve his wares. As light

As the free bird from the hospitable twig

Where it had nested, he flies off from me:

No human tie is snapp'd betwixt us two.

Yea, he deserves to find himself deceived

Who seeks a heart in the unthinking man.

Like shadows on a stream, the forms of life

Impress their characters on the smooth forehead,

Nought sinks into the bosom's silent depth;

Quick sensibility of pain and pleasure

Moves the light fluids lightly; but no soul

Warmeth the inner frame.

TERZKY.

                       Yet, would I rather

Trust the smooth brow than that deep furrow'd one.

SCENE VIII

WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, ILLO

ILLO (who enters agitated with rage).

Treason and mutiny!

TERZKY.

And what further now?

ILLO.

Tiefenbach's soldiers, when I gave the orders,

To go off guard—Mutinous villains!

TERZKY.

Well!

WALLENST.

What followed?

ILLO.

They refused obedience to them.

TERZKY.

Fire on them instantly! Give out the order.

WALLENST.

Gently! what cause did they assign?

ILLO.

                        No other,

They said, had right to issue orders but

Lieutenant-General Piccolomini.

WALLENSTEIN (in a convulsion of agony).

What? How is that?

ILLO.

He takes that office on him by commission,

Under sign-manual of the Emperor.

TERZKY.

From the Emperor—hear'st thou, Duke?

ILLO.

                       At his incitement

The Generals made that stealthy flight—

TERZKY.

Duke! hear'st thou?

ILLO.

Caraffa too, and Montecuculi,

Are missing, with six other generals,

All whom he had induced to follow him.

This plot he has long had in writing by him

From the Emperor; but 'twas finally concluded,

With all the detail of the operation,

Some days ago with the Envoy Questenberg.

[WALLENSTEIN sinks down into a chair and covers his face.]

TERZKY.

O hadst thou but believed me!

SCENE IX

To them enter the COUNTESS

COUNTESS

                            This suspense,

This horrid fear—I can no longer bear it.

For heaven's sake tell me what has taken place?

ILLO.

The regiments are all falling off from us.

TERZKY.

Octavio Piccolomini is a traitor.

COUNTESS.

O my foreboding! [Rushes out of the room.]

TERZKY.

                        Hadst thou but believed me!

Now seest thou how the stars have lied to thee.

WALLENST.

The stars lie not; but we have here a work

Wrought counter to the stars and destiny.

The science is still honest: this false heart

Forces a lie on the truth-telling heaven.

On a divine law divination rests;

Where nature deviates from that law, and stumbles

Out of her limits, there all science errs.

True I did not suspect! Were it superstition

Never by such suspicion t' have affronted

The human form, O may that time ne'er come

In which I shame me of the infirmity.

The wildest savage drinks not with the victim,

Into whose breast he means to plunge the sword.

This, this, Octavio, was no hero's deed:

'Twas not thy prudence that did conquer mine;

A bad heart triumph'd o'er an honest one.

No shield received the assassin stroke; thou plungest

Thy weapon on an unprotected breast—

Against such weapons I am but a child.

SCENE X

To these enter BUTLER

TERZKY (meeting him).

O look there! Butler! Here we've still a friend!

WALLENSTEIN (meets him with outspread arms, and embraces him with warmth).

Come to my heart, old comrade! Not the sun

Looks out upon us more revivingly

In the earliest month of spring,

Than a friend's countenance in such an hour.

BUTLER.

My General: I come—

WALLENSTEIN (leaning on BUTLER's shoulder).

                            Know'st thou already?

That old man has betray'd me to the Emperor.

What say'st thou? Thirty years have we together

Lived out, and held out, sharing joy and hardship.

We have slept in one camp-bed, drunk from one glass,

One morsel shared! I lean'd myself on him,

As now I lean me on thy faithful shoulder.

And now in the very moment, when, all love,

All confidence, my bosom beat to his,

He sees and takes the advantage, stabs the knife

Slowly into my heart.

[He hides his face on BUTLER'S breast.]

BUTLER.

                 Forget the false one.

What is your present purpose?

WALLENSTEIN.

                         Well remember'd!

Courage, my soul! I am still rich in friends,

Still loved by Destiny; for in the moment

That it unmasks the plotting hypocrite,

It sends and proves to me one faithful heart.

Of the hypocrite no more! Think not his loss

Was that which struck the pang: O no! his treason

Is that which strikes this pang! No more of him!

Dear to my heart and honor'd were they both,

And the young man—yes—he did truly love me,

He—he—has not deceived me. But enough,

Enough of this—swift counsel now beseems us.

The Courier, whom Count Kinsky sent from Prague,

I expect him every moment: and whatever

He may bring with him, we must take good care

To keep it from the mutineers. Quick then!

Dispatch some messenger you can rely on

To meet him and conduct him to me.

[ILLO is going.]

BUTLER (detaining him).

My General, whom expect you then?

WALLENSTEIN.

                           The Courier

Who brings me word of the event at Prague.

BUTLER (hesitating).

Hem!

WALLENST.

And what now?

BUTLER.

You do not know it?

WALLENSTEIN.

Well?

BUTLER.

From what that larum in the camp arose?

WALLENST.

From what?

BUTLER.

That Courier—

WALLENSTEIN (with eager expectation).

Well?

BUTLER.

Is already here.

TERZKY and ILLO (at the same time).

Already here?

WALLENSTEIN.

My Courier?

BUTLER.

For some hours.

WALLENST.

And I not know it?

BUTLER.

                  The sentinels detained him

In custody.

ILLO (stamping with his foot).

            Damnation!

BUTLER.

                     And his letter

Was broken open, and is circulated

Through the whole camp.

WALLENSTEIN.

You know what it contains?

BUTLER.

Question me not!

TERZKY.

Illo, alas for us!

WALLENST.

Hide nothing from me—I can hear the worst.

Prague then is lost? It is! Confess it freely.

BUTLER.

Yes! Prague is lost. And all the several regiments

At Budweiss, Tabor, Braunau, Königingratz,

At Brunn and Zanaym, have forsaken you,

And ta'en oaths of fealty anew

To the Emperor. Yourself, with Kinsky, Terzky,

And Illo have been sentenced.

[TERZKY and ILLO express alarm and fury. WALLENSTEIN remains firm and collected.]

WALLENSTEIN.

              'Tis decided!

'Tis well! I have received a sudden cure

From all the pangs of doubt: with steady stream

Once more my life-blood flows! My soul's secure!

In the night only Friedland's stars can beam.

Lingering irresolute, with fitful fears

I drew the sword—'twas with an inward strife,

While yet the choice was mine. The murderous knife

Is lifted for my heart! Doubt disappears!

I fight now for my head and for my life.

[Exit WALLENSTEIN; the others follow him.]

SCENE XI

COUNTESS TERZKY (enters from a side room).

I can endure no longer. No!

[Looks around her.]

                            Where are they!

No one is here. They leave me all alone,

Alone in this sore anguish of suspense.

And I must wear the outward show of calmness

Before my sister, and shut in within me

The pangs and agonies of my crowded bosom.

It is not to be borne. If all should fail;

If—if he must go over to the Swedes,

An empty-handed fugitive, and not

As an ally, a covenanted equal,

A proud commander with his army following,

If we must wander on from land to land,

Like the Count Palatine, of fallen greatness

An ignominious monument! But no!

That day I will not see! And could himself

Endure to sink so low, I would not bear

To see him so low sunken.

SCENE XII

COUNTESS, DUCHESS, THEKLA

THEKLA (endeavoring to hold back the DUCHESS).

Dear mother, do stay here!

DUCHESS.

                    No! Here is yet

Some frightful mystery that is hidden from me.

Why does my sister shun me? Don't I see her

Full of suspense and anguish roam about

From room to room? Art thou not full of terror?

And what import these silent nods and gestures

Which stealthwise thou exchangest with her?

THEKLA.

                                    Nothing:

Nothing, dear mother!

DUCHESS (to the COUNTESS).

Sister, I will know.

COUNTESS.

What boots it now to hide it from her? Sooner

Or later she must learn to hear and bear it.

'Tis not the time now to indulge infirmity;

Courage beseems us now, a heart collect,

And exercise and previous discipline

Of fortitude. One word, and over with it!

Sister, you are deluded. You believe

The Duke has been deposed—the Duke is not

Deposed—he is—

THEKLA (going to the COUNTESS).

What? do you wish to kill her?

COUNTESS.

The Duke is—

THEKLA (throwing her arms round her mother).

O stand firm; stand firm, my mother!

COUNTESS.

Revolted is the Duke; he is preparing

To join the enemy; the army leave him,

And all has fail'd.

SCENE XIII

A spacious Room in the Duke of Friedland's Palace.

WALLENSTEIN (in armor).

Thou hast gain'd thy point, Octavio! Once more am I

Almost as friendless as at Regensburg.

There I had nothing left me, but myself;

But what one man can do, you have now experience.

The twigs have you hew'd off, and here I stand

A leafless trunk. But in the sap within

Lives the creating power, and a new world

May sprout forth from it. Once already have I

Proved myself worth an army to you—I alone!

Before the Swedish strength your troops had melted;

Beside the Lech sank Tilly your last hope;

Into Bavaria like a winter torrent,

Did that Gustavus pour, and at Vienna

In his own palace did the Emperor tremble.

Soldiers were scarce, for still the multitude

Follow the luck: all eyes were turn'd on me,

Their helper in distress: the Emperor's pride

Bow'd itself down before the man he had injured.

'Twas I must rise, and with creative word

Assemble forces in the desolate camps.

I did it. Like a god of war, my name

Went through the world. The drum was beat; and, lo,

The plough, the workshop is forsaken, all

Swarm to the old familiar long-loved banners;

And as the wood-choir rich in melody

Assemble quick around the bird of wonder,

When first his throat swells with his magic song,

So did the warlike youth of Germany

Crowd in around the image of my eagle.

I feel myself the being that I was.

It is the soul that builds itself a body,

And Friedland's camp will not remain unfill'd.

Lead then your thousands out to meet me—true!

They are accustom'd under me to conquer,

But not against me. If the head and limbs

Separate from each other, 'twill be soon

Made manifest in which the soul abode.

(ILLO and TERZKY enter)

Courage, friends! courage! we are still unvanquish'd!

I feel my footing firm; five regiments, Terzky,

Are still our own, and Butler's gallant troops;

And an host of sixteen thousand Swedes to-morrow.

I was not stronger when, nine years ago,

I marched forth, with glad heart and high of hope,

To conquer Germany for the Emperor.

SCENE XIV

WALLENSTEIN, ILLO, TERZKY

(To them enter NEUMANN, who leads TERZKY aside and talks with him.)

TERZKY.

What do they want?

WALLENSTEIN.