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

What now!

TERZKY.

                        Ten Cuirassiers

From Pappenheim request leave to address you

In the name of the regiment.

WALLENSTEIN (hastily to NEUMANN).

Let them enter.

[Exit NEUMANN.]

                                          This

May end in something. Mark you. They are still

Doubtful, and may be won.

SCENE XV

WALLENSTEIN, TERZBY, ILLO, ten Cuirassiers (led by an ANSPESSADE,[27] march up and arrange themselves, after the word of command, in one front before the Duke, and make their obeisance. He takes his hat off and immediately covers himself again).

ANSPESS.

Halt! Front! Present!

WALLENSTEIN (after he has run through them with his eye, to the ANSPESSADE).

I know thee well. Thou art out of Brüggen in Flanders.

Thy name is Mercy.

ANSPESS.

Henry Mercy.

WALLENST.

Thou wert cut off on the march, surrounded by the Hessians, and didst fight thy way with an hundred and eighty men through their thousand.

ANSPESS.

'Twas even so, General!

WALLENST.

What reward hadst thou for this gallant exploit?

ANSPESS.

That which I asked for: the honor to serve in this corps.

WALLENSTEIN (turning to a second).

Thou wert among the volunteers that seized and made booty of the Swedish battery at Altenburg.

2D CUIRAS.

Yes, General.

WALLENST.

I forget no one with whom I have exchanged words.

(A pause.)

Who sends you?

ANSPESS.

Your noble regiment, the Cuirassiers of Piccolomini.

WALLENST.

Why does not your colonel deliver in your request, according to the custom of service?

ANSPESS.

Because we would first know whom we serve.

WALLENST.

Begin your address.

ANSPESSADE (giving the word of command).

Shoulder your arms!

WALLENSTEIN (turning to a third).

Thy name is Risbeck; Cologne is thy birth-place.

3D CUIRAS.

Risbeck of Cologne.

WALLENST.

It was thou that broughtest in the Swedish colonel,

Dübald, prisoner, in the camp at Nuremberg.

3D CUIRAS.

It was not I, General.

WALLENST.

Perfectly right! It was thy elder brother: thou hadst a younger brother too: Where did he stay?

3D CUIRAS.

He is stationed at Olmütz, with the Imperial army.

WALLENSTEIN (to the ANSPESSADE).

Now then—begin.

ANSPESS.

There came to hand a letter from the Emperor

Commanding us—

WALLENSTEIN (interrupting him).

Who chose you?

ANSPESSADE.

                              Every company

Drew its own man by lot.

WALLENSTEIN.

Now to the business.

ANSPESS.

There came to hand a letter from the Emperor

Commanding us collectively, from thee

All duties of obedience to withdraw,

Because thou wert an enemy and traitor.

WALLENST.

And what did you determine?

ANSPESSADE.

                       All our comrades

At Braunau, Budweiss, Prague and Olmütz, have

Obey'd already; and the regiments here,

Tiefenbach and Toscano, instantly

Did follow their example. But—but we

Do not believe that thou art an enemy

And traitor to thy country, hold it merely

For lie and trick and a trumped-up Spanish story!

[With warmth.]

Thyself shalt tell us what thy purpose is,

For we have found thee still sincere and true:

No mouth shall interpose itself betwixt

The gallant General and the gallant troops.

WALLENST.

Therein I recognize my Pappenheimers.

ANSPESS.

And this proposal makes thy regiment to thee.

Is it thy purpose merely to preserve

In thine own hands this military sceptre,

Which so becomes thee, which the Emperor

Made over to thee by a covenant?

Is it thy purpose merely to remain

Supreme commander of the Austrian armies?—

We will stand by thee, General! and guarantee

Thy honest rights against all opposition.

And should it chance that all the other regiments

Turn from thee, by ourselves will we stand forth

Thy faithful soldiers, and, as is our duty,

Far rather let ourselves be cut to pieces

Than suffer thee to fall. But if it be

As the Emperor's letter says, if it be true,

That thou in traitorous wise wilt lead us over

To the enemy, which God in heaven forbid!

Then we too will forsake thee, and obey

That letter—

WALLENSTEIN.

Hear me, children!

ANSPESSADE.

                          Yes, or no!

There needs no other answer.

WALLENSTEIN.

                      Yield attention.

You're men of sense, examine for yourselves;

Ye think, and do not follow with the herd

And therefore have I always shown you honor

Above all others, suffer'd you to reason;

Have treated you as free men, and my orders

Were but the echoes of your prior suffrage.—

ANSPESS.

Most fair and noble has thy conduct been

To us, my General! With thy confidence

Thou hast honor'd us, and shown us grace and favor

Beyond all other regiments; and thou seest

We follow not the common herd. We will

Standby thee faithfully. Speak but one word—

Thy word shall satisfy us, that it is not

A treason which thou meditatest—that

Thou meanest not to lead the army over

To the enemy, nor e'er betray the country.

WALLENST.

Me, me are they betraying. The Emperor

Hath sacrificed me to my enemies,

And I must fall, unless my gallant troops

Will rescue me. See! I confide in you.

And be your hearts my stronghold! At this breast

The aim is taken, at this hoary head.

This is your Spanish gratitude, this is our

Requital for that murderous fight at Lützen!

For this we threw the naked breast against

The halbert, made for this the frozen earth

Our bed, and the hard stone our pillow! never stream

Too rapid for us, nor wood too impervious;

With cheerful spirit we pursued that Mansfeldt

Through all the turns and windings of his flight:

Yea, our whole life was but one restless march:

And homeless, as the stirring wind, we travel'd

O'er the war-wasted earth. And now, even now,

That we have well-nigh finish'd the hard toil,

The unthankful, the curse-laden toil of weapons,

With faithful indefatigable arm

Have roll'd the heavy war-load up the hill,

Behold! this boy of the Emperor's bears away

The honors of the peace, an easy prize!

He'll weave, forsooth, into his flaxen locks

The olive branch, the hard-earn'd ornament

Of this gray head, grown gray beneath the helmet.

ANSPESS.

That shall he not, while we can hinder it!

No one, but thou, who hast conducted it

With fame, shall end this war, this frightful war.

Thou leddest us out to the bloody field

Of death; thou and no other shalt conduct us home,

Rejoicing, to the lovely plains of peace—

Shalt share with us the fruits of the long toil—

WALLENST.

What! Think you then at length in late old age

To enjoy the fruits of toil? Believe it not.

Never, no never, will you see the end

Of the contest! you and me, and all of us,

This war will swallow up! War, war, not peace,

Is Austria's wish; and therefore, because I

Endeavor'd after peace, therefore I fall,

For what cares Austria how long the war

Wears out the armies and lays waste the world!

She will but wax and grow amid the ruin

And still win new domains.

[The Cuirassiers express agitation by their gestures.]

                           Ye're moved—I see

A noble rage flash from your eyes, ye warriors!

Oh that my spirit might possess you now

Daring as once it led you to the battle!

Ye would stand by me with your veteran arms,

Protect me in my rights; and this is noble!

But think not that you can accomplish it,

Your scanty number! to no purpose will you

Have sacrificed you for your General.

[Confidentially.]

No! let us tread securely, seek for friends;

The Swedes have proffer'd us assistance, let us

Wear for a while the appearance of good will,

And use them for your profit, till we both

Carry the fate of Europe in our hands,

And from our camp to the glad jubilant world

Lead Peace forth with the garland on her head!

ANSPESS.

'Tis then but mere appearances which thou

Dost put on with the Swede! Thou'lt not betray

The Emperor? Wilt not turn us into Swedes?

This is the only thing which we desire

To learn from thee.

WALLENSTEIN.

             What care I for the Swedes?

I hate them as I hate the pit of hell,

And under Providence I trust right soon

To chase them to their homes across their Baltic.

My cares are only for the whole: I have

A heart—it bleeds within me for the miseries

And piteous groaning of my fellow Germans.

Ye are but common men, but yet ye think

With minds not common; ye appear to me

Worthy before all others that I whisper ye

A little word or two in confidence!

See now! already for full fifteen years,

The war-torch has continued burning, yet

No rest, no pause of conflict. Swede and German,

Papist and Lutheran! neither will give way

To the other, every hand's against the other.

Each one is party and no one a judge.

Where shall this end? Where's he that will unravel

This tangle, ever tangling more and more;

It must be cut asunder;

I feel that I am the man of destiny,

And trust, with your assistance, to accomplish it.

SCENE XVI

To these enter BUTLER

BUTLER (passionately).

General! This is not right!

WALLENSTEIN.

What is not right?

BUTLER.

It must needs injure us with all honest men.

WALLENST.

But What?

BUTLER.

                 It is an open proclamation

Of insurrection.

WALLENSTEIN.

Well, well—but what is it?

BUTLER.

Count Terzky's regiments tear the Imperial Eagle

From off the banners, and instead of it

Have rear'd aloft their arms.

ANSPESSADE (abruptly to the Cuirassiers).

Right about! March!

WALLENST.

Cursed be this counsel, and accursed who gave it!

[To the Cuirassiers, who are retiring.]

Halt, children, halt! There's some mistake in this;

Hark!—I will punish it severely. Stop!

They do not hear. (To ILLO.) Go after them, assure them,

And bring them back to me, cost what it may.

[ILLO hurries out.]

This hurls us headlong. Butler! Butler!

You are my evil genius! Wherefore must you

Announce it in their presence? It was all

In a fair way. They were half won! those madmen

With their improvident over-readiness—

cruel game is Fortune playing with me.

The zeal of friends it is that razes me,

And not the hate of enemies.

SCENE XVII

To these enter the DUCHESS, who rushes into the Chamber THEKLA and the COUNTESS follow her.

DUCHESS.

            O Albrecht!

What hast thou done?

WALLENSTEIN.

And now comes this beside.

COUNTESS.

Forgive me, brother! It was not in my power—

They know all.

DUCHESS.

What hast thou done?

COUNTESS (to TERZKY).

Is there no hope? Is all lost utterly?

TERZKY.

All lost. No hope. Prague in the Emperor's hands,

The soldiery have ta'en their oaths anew.

COUNTESS.

That lurking hypocrite, Octavio!

Count Max is off too.

TERZKY.

                   Where can he be? He's

Gone over to the Emperor with his father.

[THEKLA rushes out into the arms of her mother, hiding her face in her bosom.]

DUCHESS (enfolding her in her arms).

Unhappy child! and more unhappy mother!

WALLENSTEIN (aside to TERZKY).

Quick! Let a carriage stand in readiness

In the court behind the palace. Scherfenberg

Be their attendant; he is faithful to us;

To Egra he'll conduct them, and we follow.

[To ILLO, who returns.]

Thou hast not brought them back?

ILLO.

             Hear'st thou the uproar?

The whole corps of the Pappenheimers is

Drawn out: the younger Piccolomini,

Their colonel, they require: for they affirm

That he is in the palace here, a prisoner;

And if thou dost not instantly deliver him,

They will find means to free him with the sword.

[All stand amazed.]

TERZKY.

What shall we make of this?

WALLENSTEIN.

                       Said I not so?

O my prophetic heart! he is still here.

He has not betray'd me—he could not betray me.

I never doubted of it.

COUNTESS.

                         If he be

Still here, then all goes well; for I know what

[Embracing THEKLA]

Will keep him here forever.

TERZKY.

                             It can't be.

His father has betray'd us, is gone over

To the Emperor—the son could not have ventured

To stay behind.

THEKLA (her eyes fixed on the door).

There he is!

SCENE XVIII

To these enter MAX PICCOLOMINI

MAX.

Yes! here he is! I can endure no longer

To creep on tiptoe round this house, and lurk

In ambush for a favorable moment:

This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.

[Advancing to THEKLA, who has thrown herself into her mother's arms.]

Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me!

Confess it freely before all. Fear no one.

Let who will hear that we both love each other;

Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy

Is for the happy—misery, hopeless misery,

Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns

It dares act openly.

[He observes the COUNTESS looking on THEKLA with expressions of triumph.]

                     No, Lady! No!

Expect not, hope it not. I am not come

To stay: to bid farewell, farewell forever.

For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!

Thekla, I must—must leave thee! Yet thy hatred

Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me

One look of sympathy, only one look.

Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me,

Thekla!

[Grasps her hand.]

O God! I cannot leave this spot—I cannot!

Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla!

That thou dost suffer with me, art convinced

That I cannot act otherwise.

[THEKLA, avoiding his look, points with her hand to her father. MAX turns round to the Duke, whom he had not till then perceived.]

Thou here? It was not thou whom here I sought.

I trusted never more to have beheld thee.

My business is with her alone. Here will I

Receive a full acquittal from this heart—

For any other I am no more concern'd.

WALLENST.

Think'st thou that, fool-like, I shall let thee go,

And act the mock-magnanimous with thee?

Thy father is become a villain to me;

I hold thee for his son, and nothing more:

Nor to no purpose shalt thou have been given

Into my power. Think not that I will honor

That ancient love, which so remorselessly

He mangled. They are now past by, those hours

Of friendship and forgiveness. Hate and vengeance

Succeed—'tis now their turn—I too can throw

All feelings of the man aside—can prove

Myself as much a monster as thy father!

MAX. (calmly).

Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast power.

Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage.

What has detain'd me here, that too thou know'st.

[Taking THEKLA by the hand.]

See, Duke! All—all would I have owed to thee,

Would have received from thy paternal hand

The lot of blessed spirits. This hast thou

Laid waste forever—that concerns not thee;

Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust

Their happiness who most are thine. The god

Whom thou dost serve is no benignant deity

Like as the blind, irreconcilable,

Fierce element, incapable of compact,

Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow.[28]

WALLENST.

Thou art describing thy own father's heart.

The adder! O, the charms of hell o'erpowered me;

He dwelt within me, to my inmost soul

Still to and fro he pass'd, suspected never

On the wide ocean, in the starry heaven

Did mine eyes seek the enemy, whom I

In my heart's heart had folded! Had I been

To Ferdinand what Octavio was to me,

War had I ne'er denounced against him. No,

I never could have done it. The Emperor was

My austere master only, not my friend.

There was already war 'twixt him and me

When he deliver'd the Commander's Staff

Into my hands; for there's a natural,

Unceasing war 'twixt cunning and suspicion;

Peace exists only betwixt confidence

And faith. Who poisons confidence, he murders

The future generations.

MAX.

                              I will not

Defend my father. Woe is me, I cannot!

Hard deeds and luckless have ta'en place; one crime

Drags after it the other in close link.

But we are innocent: how have we fallen

Into this circle of mishap and guilt?

To whom have we been faithless? Wherefore must

The evil deeds and guilt reciprocal

Of our two fathers twine like serpents round us?

                Why must our fathers'

Unconquerable hate rend us asunder,

Who love each other?

WALLENSTEIN.

                     Max, remain with me.

Go you not from me, Max! Hark! I will tell thee—

How when at Prague, our winter quarters, thou

Wert brought into my tent a tender boy,

Not yet accustom'd to the German winters;

Thy hand was frozen to the heavy colors;

Thou wouldst not let them go.—

At that time did I take thee in my arms,

And with my mantle did I cover thee;

I was thy nurse, no woman could have been

A kinder to thee; I was not ashamed

To do for thee all little offices,

However strange to me; I tended thee

Till life return'd; and when thine eyes first open'd,

I had thee in my arms. Since then, when have

Alter'd my feelings toward thee? Many thousands

Have I made rich, presented them with lands;

Rewarded them with dignities and honors;

Thee have I loved: my heart, my self, I gave

To thee! They all were aliens: THOU went

Our child and inmate.[29] Max! Thou cans't not leave me;

It cannot be; I may not, will not think

That Max can leave me.

MAX.

O my God!

WALLENSTEIN.

                                      I have

Held and sustain'd thee from thy tottering childhood;

What holy bond is there of natural love,

What human tie, that does not knit thee to me?

I love thee, Max! What did thy father for thee,

Which I too have not done, to the height of duty?

Go hence, forsake me, serve thy Emperor;

He will reward thee with a pretty chain

Of gold; with his ram's fleece will he reward thee;

For that the friend, the father of thy youth,

For that the holiest feeling of humanity,

Was nothing worth to thee.

MAX.

                         O God! how can I

Do otherwise? Am I not forced to do it?

My oath—my duty—my honor—

WALLENSTEIN.

                           How? Thy duty?

Duty to whom? Who art thou? Max! bethink thee

What duties mayst thou have? If I am acting

A criminal part toward the Emperor,

It is my crime, not thine. Dost thou belong

To thine own self? Art thou thine own commander?

Stand'st thou, like me, a freeman in the world,

That in thy actions thou shouldst plead free agency?

On me thou'rt planted, I am thy Emperor;

To obey me, to belong to me, this is

Thy honor, this a law of nature to thee!

And if the planet, on the which thou livest

And hast thy dwelling, from its orbit starts,

It is not in thy choice whether or no

Thou'lt follow it. Unfelt it whirls thee onward

Together with his ring, and all his moons.

With little guilt stepp'st thou into this contest,

Thee will the world not censure, it will praise thee,

For that thou held'st thy friend more worth to thee

Than names and influences more removed;

For justice is the virtue of the ruler,

Affection and fidelity the subject's.

Not every one doth it beseem to question

The far-off high Arcturus. Most securely

Wilt thou pursue the nearest duty: let

The pilot fix his eye upon the pole-star.

SCENE XIX

To these enter NEUMANN

WALLENST.

What now?

NEUMANN.

The Pappenheimers are dismounted,

And are advancing now on foot, determined

With sword in hand to storm the house, and free

The Count, their colonel.

WALLENSTEIN (to TERZKY).

                  Have the cannon planted.

I will receive them with chain-shot.

[Exit TERZKY

Prescribe to me with sword in hand! Go, Neumann,

'Tis my command that they retreat this moment,

And in their ranks in silence wait my pleasure.

[NEUMANN exit. ILLO steps to the window.]

COUNTESS.

Let him go, I entreat thee, let him go.

ILLO (at the window).

Hell and perdition!

WALLENSTEIN.

What is it?

ILLO. They scale the council-house, the roof's uncovered,

They level at this house the cannon—

MAX.

Madmen!

ILLO.

They are making preparations now to fire on us.

DUCHESS and COUNTESS.

Merciful heaven!

MAX (to WALLENSTEIN).

Let me go to them!

WALLENSTEIN.

Not a step!

MAX (pointing to THEKLA and the DUCHESS).

But their life! Thine!

WALLENSTEIN.

What tidings bring'st thou, Terzky?

SCENE XX

To these TERZKY returning

TERZKY

Message and greeting from our faithful regiments.

Their ardor may no longer be curb'd in.

They entreat permission to commence the attack;

And if thou wouldst but give the word of onset,

They could now charge the enemy in rear,

Into the city wedge them, and with ease

O'erpower them in the narrow streets.

ILLO.

                            O come!

Let not their ardor cool. The soldiery

Of Butler's corps stand by us faithfully;

We are the greater number. Let us charge them,

And finish here in Pilsen the revolt.

WALLENST.