The Death of Wallenstein

TERZKY  This is my comfort – Max. remains our hostage.ILLO  And he shall never stir from here alive.WALLENSTEIN (stops and turns himself round)  Are ye not like the women, who forever  Only recur to their first word, although  One had been talking reason by the hour!  Know, that the human being's thoughts and deeds  Are not like ocean billows, blindly moved.  The inner world, his microcosmus, is  The deep shaft, out of which they spring eternally.  They grow by certain laws, like the tree's fruit —  No juggling chance can metamorphose them.  Have I the human kernel first examined?  Then I know, too, the future will and action.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV

Chamber in the residence of Piccolomini: OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI (attired for travelling), an ADJUTANT.

OCTAVIO  Is the detachment here?ADJUTANT               It waits below.OCTAVIO  And are the soldiers trusty, adjutant?  Say, from what regiment hast thou chosen them?ADJUTANT  From Tiefenbach's.OCTAVIO  That regiment is loyal,  Keep them in silence in the inner court,  Unseen by all, and when the signal peals  Then close the doors, keep watch upon the house.  And all ye meet be instantly arrested.

[Exit ADJUTANT.

  I hope indeed I shall not need their service,  So certain feel I of my well-laid plans;  But when an empire's safety is at stake  'Twere better too much caution than too little.

SCENE V

A chamber in PICCOLOMINI's dwelling-house: OCTAVIO, PICCOLOMINI, ISOLANI, entering.

ISOLANI  Here am I – well! who comes yet of the others?OCTAVIO (with an air of mystery)  But, first, a word with you, Count Isolani.ISOLANI (assuming the same air of mystery)  Will it explode, ha? Is the duke about  To make the attempt? In me, friend, you may place  Full confidence – nay, put me to the proof.OCTAVIO  That may happen.ISOLANI           Noble brother, I am  Not one of those men who in words are valiant,  And when it comes to action skulk away.  The duke has acted towards me as a friend:  God knows it is so; and I owe him all;  He may rely on my fidelity.OCTAVIO  That will be seen hereafter.ISOLANI                 Be on your guard,  All think not as I think; and there are many  Who still hold with the court – yes, and they say  That these stolen signatures bind them to nothing.OCTAVIO  Indeed! Pray name to me the chiefs that think so;ISOLANI  Plague upon them! all the Germans think so  Esterhazy, Kaunitz, Deodati, too,  Insist upon obedience to the court.OCTAVIO  I am rejoiced to hear it.ISOLANI                You rejoice?OCTAVIO  That the emperor has yet such gallant servants,  And loving friends.ISOLANI             Nay, jeer not, I entreat you.  They are no such worthless fellows, I assure you.OCTAVIO  I am assured already. God forbid  That I should jest! In very serious earnest,  I am rejoiced to see an honest cause  So strong.ISOLANI        The devil! – what! – why, what means this?  Are you not, then – For what, then, am I here?OCTAVIO  That you may make full declaration, whether  You will be called the friend or enemy  Of the emperor.ISOLANI (with an air of defiance)           That declaration, friend,  I'll make to him in whom a right is placed  To put that question to me.OCTAVIO                 Whether, count,  That right is mine, this paper may instruct you.ISOLANI (stammering)  Why, – why – what! this is the emperor's hand and seal

[Reads.

  "Whereas the officers collectively  Throughout our army will obey the orders  Of the Lieutenant-General Piccolomini,  As from ourselves." – Hem! – Yes! so! – Yes! yes!  I – I give you joy, lieutenant-general!OCTAVIO  And you submit to the order?ISOLANI                 I —  But you have taken me so by surprise  Time for reflection one must have —OCTAVIO                     Two minutes.ISOLANI  My God! But then the case is —OCTAVIO                   Plain and simple.  You must declare you, whether you determine  To act a treason 'gainst your lord and sovereign,  Or whether you will serve him faithfully.ISOLANI  Treason! My God! But who talks then of treason?OCTAVIO  That is the case. The prince-duke is a traitor —  Means to lead over to the enemy  The emperor's army. Now, count! brief and full —  Say, will you break your oath to the emperor?  Sell yourself to the enemy? Say, will you?ISOLANI  What mean you? I – I break my oath, d'ye say,  To his imperial majesty?  Did I say so! When, when have I said that?OCTAVIO  You have not said it yet – not yet. This instant  I wait to hear, count, whether you will say it.ISOLANI  Ay! that delights me now, that you yourself  Bear witness for me that I never said so.OCTAVIO  And you renounce the duke then?ISOLANI                   If he's planning  Treason – why, treason breaks all bonds asunder.OCTAVIO  And are determined, too, to fight against him?ISOLANI  He has done me service – but if he's a villain,  Perdition seize him! All scores are rubbed off.OCTAVIO  I am rejoiced that you are so well disposed.  This night break off in the utmost secrecy  With all the light-armed troops – it must appear  As came the order from the duke himself.  At Frauenberg's the place of rendezvous;  There will Count Gallas give you further orders.ISOLANI  It shall be done. But you'll remember me  With the emperor – how well disposed you found me.OCTAVIO  I will not fail to mention it honorably.

[Exit ISOLANI. A SERVANT enters.

  What, Colonel Butler! Show him up.ISOLANI (returning)  Forgive me too my bearish ways, old father!  Lord God! how should I know, then, what a great  Person I had before me.OCTAVIO               No excuses!ISOLANI  I am a merry lad, and if at time  A rash word might escape me 'gainst the court  Amidst my wine, – you know no harm was meant.OCTAVIO  You need not be uneasy on that score.  That has succeeded. Fortune favor us  With all the others only but as much.

[Exit.

SCENE VI

OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, BUTLER.

BUTLER  At your command, lieutenant-general.OCTAVIO  Welcome, as honored friend and visitor.BUTLER  You do me too much honor.OCTAVIO (after both have seated themselves)                You have not  Returned the advances which I made you yesterday —  Misunderstood them as mere empty forms.  That wish proceeded from my heart – I was  In earnest with you – for 'tis now a time  In which the honest should unite most closely.BUTLER  'Tis only the like-minded can unite.OCTAVIO  True! and I name all honest men like-minded.  I never charge a man but with those acts  To which his character deliberately  Impels him; for alas! the violence  Of blind misunderstandings often thrusts  The very best of us from the right track.  You came through Frauenberg. Did the Count Gallas  Say nothing to you? Tell me. He's my friend.BUTLER  His words were lost on me.OCTAVIO                It grieves me sorely  To hear it: for his counsel was most wise.  I had myself the like to offer.BUTLER                   Spare  Yourself the trouble – me the embarrassment.  To have deserved so ill your good opinion.OCTAVIO  The time is precious – let us talk openly.  You know how matters stand here. Wallenstein  Meditates treason – I can tell you further,  He has committed treason; but few hours  Have past since he a covenant concluded  With the enemy. The messengers are now  Full on their way to Egra and to Prague.  To-morrow he intends to lead us over  To the enemy. But he deceives himself;  For prudence wakes – the emperor has still  Many and faithful friends here, and they stand  In closest union, mighty though unseen.  This manifesto sentences the duke —  Recalls the obedience of the army from him,  And summons all the loyal, all the honest,  To join and recognize in me their leader.  Choose – will you share with us an honest cause?  Or with the evil share an evil lot?BUTLER (rises)  His lot is mine.OCTAVIO           Is that your last resolve?BUTLER  It is.OCTAVIO      Nay, but bethink you, Colonel Butler.  As yet you have time. Within my faithful breast  That rashly uttered word remains interred.  Recall it, Butler! choose a better party;  You have not chosen the right one.BUTLER (going)                    Any other  Commands for me, lieutenant-general?OCTAVIO  See your white hairs; recall that word!BUTLER                       Farewell!OCTAVIO  What! Would you draw this good and gallant sword  In such a cause? Into a curse would you  Transform the gratitude which you have earned  By forty years' fidelity from Austria?BUTLER (laughing with bitterness)  Gratitude from the House of Austria!               [He is going.OCTAVIO (permits him to go as far as the door, then calls after him)  Butler!BUTLER       What wish you?OCTAVIO               How was't with the count?BUTLER  Count? what?OCTAVIO (coldly)         The title that you wished, I mean.BUTLER (starts in sudden passion)  Hell and damnation!OCTAVIO (coldly)             You petitioned for it —  And your petition was repelled – was it so?BUTLER  Your insolent scoff shall not go by unpunished.  Draw!OCTAVIO  Nay! your sword to its sheath! and tell me calmly  How all that happened. I will not refuse you  Your satisfaction afterwards. Calmly, Butler!BUTLER  Be the whole world acquainted with the weakness  For which I never can forgive myself,  Lieutenant-general! Yes; I have ambition.  Ne'er was I able to endure contempt.  It stung me to the quick that birth and title  Should have more weight than merit has in the army.  I would fain not be meaner than my equal,  So in an evil hour I let myself  Be tempted to that measure. It was folly!  But yet so hard a penance it deserved not.  It might have been refused; but wherefore barb  And venom the refusal with contempt?  Why dash to earth and crush with heaviest scorn  The gray-haired man, the faithful veteran?  Why to the baseness of his parentage  Refer him with such cruel roughness, only  Because he had a weak hour and forgot himself?  But nature gives a sting e'en to the worm  Which wanton power treads on in sport and insult.OCTAVIO  You must have been calumniated. Guess you  The enemy who did you this ill service?BUTLER  Be't who it will – a most low-hearted scoundrel!  Some vile court-minion must it be, some Spaniard;  Some young squire of some ancient family,  In whose light I may stand; some envious knave,  Stung to his soul by my fair self-earned honors!OCTAVIO  But tell me, did the duke approve that measure?BUTLER  Himself impelled me to it, used his interest  In my behalf with all the warmth of friendship.OCTAVIO  Ay! are you sure of that?BUTLER                I read the letter.OCTAVIO  And so did I – but the contents were different.

[BUTLER is suddenly struck.

  By chance I'm in possession of that letter —  Can leave it to your own eyes to convince you.     [He gives him the letter.BUTLER  Ha! what is this?OCTAVIO            I fear me, Colonel Butler,  An infamous game have they been playing with you.  The duke, you say, impelled you to this measure?  Now, in this letter, talks he in contempt  Concerning you; counsels the minister  To give sound chastisement to your conceit,  For so he calls it.

[BUTLER reads through the letter; his knees tremble, he seizes a chair, and sinks clown in it.

  You have no enemy, no persecutor;  There's no one wishes ill to you. Ascribe  The insult you received to the duke only.  His aim is clear and palpable. He wished  To tear you from your emperor: he hoped  To gain from your revenge what he well knew  (What your long tried fidelity convinced him)  He ne'er could dare expect from your calm reason.  A blind tool would he make you, in contempt  Use you, as means of most abandoned ends.  He has gained his point. Too well has he succeeded  In luring you away from that good path  On which you had been journeying forty years!BUTLER (his voice trembling)  Can e'er the emperor's majesty forgive me?OCTAVIO  More than forgive you. He would fain compensate  For that affront, and most unmerited grievance  Sustained by a deserving gallant veteran.  From his free impulse he confirms the present,  Which the duke made you for a wicked purpose.  The regiment, which you now command, is yours.

[BUTLER attempts to rise, sinks down again. He labors inwardly with violent emotions; tries to speak and cannot. At length he takes his sword from the belt, and offers it to PICCOLOMINI.

OCTAVIO  What wish you? Recollect yourself, friend.BUTLER                         Take it.OCTAVIO  But to what purpose? Calm yourself.BUTLER                      O take it!  I am no longer worthy of this sword.OCTAVIO  Receive it then anew, from my hands – and  Wear it with honor for the right cause ever.BUTLER  Perjure myself to such a gracious sovereign?OCTAVIO  You'll make amends. Quick! break off from the duke!BUTLER  Break off from him.OCTAVIO             What now? Bethink thyself.BUTLER (no longer governing his emotion)  Only break off from him? He dies! he dies!OCTAVIO  Come after me to Frauenberg, where now  All who are loyal are assembling under  Counts Altringer and Gallas. Many others  I've brought to a remembrance of their duty  This night be sure that you escape from Pilsen.BUTLER (strides up and down in excessive agitation, then steps up to OCTAVIO with resolved countenance)  Count Piccolomini! dare that man speak  Of honor to you, who once broke his troth.OCTAVIO  He who repents so deeply of it dares.BUTLER  Then leave me here upon my word of honor!OCTAVIO  What's your design?BUTLER             Leave me and my regiment.OCTAVIO  I have full confidence in you. But tell me  What are you brooding?BUTLER              That the deed will tell you.  Ask me no more at present. Trust me.  Ye may trust safely. By the living God,  Ye give him over, not to his good angel!  Farewell.

[Exit BUTLER.

SERVANT (enters with a billet)        A stranger left it, and is gone.  The prince-duke's horses wait for you below.

[Exit SERVANT.

OCTAVIO (reads)  "Be sure, make haste! Your faithful Isolani."  – O that I had but left this town behind me.  To split upon a rock so near the haven!  Away! This is no longer a safe place  For me! Where can my son be tarrying!

SCENE VII

OCTAVIO and MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

MAX. enters almost in a state of derangement, from extreme agitation; his eyes roll wildly, his walk is unsteady, and he appears not to observe his father, who stands at a distance, and gazes at him with a countenance expressive of compassion. He paces with long strides through the chamber, then stands still again, and at last throws himself into a chair, staring vacantly at the object directly before him.

OCTAVIO (advances to him)  I am going off, my son.     [Receiving no answer, he takes his hands               My son, farewell.MAX                         Farewell.OCTAVIO  Thou wilt soon follow me?MAX                I follow thee?  Thy way is crooked – it is not my way.

[OCTAVIO drops his hand and starts back.

  Oh, hadst thou been but simple and sincere,  Ne'er had it come to this – all had stood otherwise.  He had not done that foul and horrible deed,  The virtuous had retained their influence over him  He had not fallen into the snares of villains.  Wherefore so like a thief, and thief's accomplice  Didst creep behind him lurking for thy prey!  Oh, unblest falsehood! Mother of all evil!  Thou misery-making demon, it is thou  That sinkest us in perdition. Simple truth,  Sustainer of the world, had saved us all!  Father, I will not, I cannot excuse thee!  Wallenstein has deceived me – oh, most foully!  But thou has acted not much better.OCTAVIO                     Son  My son, ah! I forgive thy agony!MAX. (rises and contemplates his father with looks of suspicion)  Was't possible? hadst thou the heart, my father,  Hadst thou the heart to drive it to such lengths,  With cold premeditated purpose? Thou —  Hadst thou the heart to wish to see him guilty  Rather than saved? Thou risest by his fall.  Octavio, 'twill not please me.OCTAVIO                  God in heaven!MAX  Oh, woe is me! sure I have changed my nature.  How comes suspicion here – in the free soul?  Hope, confidence, belief, are gone; for all  Lied to me, all that I e'er loved or honored.  No, no! not all! She – she yet lives for me,  And she is true, and open as the heavens  Deceit is everywhere, hypocrisy,  Murder, and poisoning, treason, perjury:  The single holy spot is our love,  The only unprofaned in human nature.OCTAVIO  Max.! – we will go together. 'Twill be better.MAX  What? ere I've taken a last parting leave,  The very last – no, never!OCTAVIO                Spare thyself  The pang of necessary separation.  Come with me! Come, my son!     [Attempts to take him with him.MAX  No! as sure as God lives, no!OCTAVIO (more urgently)  Come with me, I command thee! I, thy father.MAX  Command me what is human. I stay here.OCTAVIO  Max.! in the emperor's name I bid thee come.MAX  No emperor has power to prescribe  Laws to the heart; and wouldst thou wish to rob me  Of the sole blessing which my fate has left me,  Her sympathy? Must then a cruel deed  Be done with cruelty? The unalterable  Shall I perform ignobly – steal away,  With stealthy coward flight forsake her? No!  She shall behold my suffering, my sore anguish,  Hear the complaints of the disparted soul,  And weep tears o'er me. Oh! the human race  Have steely souls – but she is as an angel.  From the black deadly madness of despair  Will she redeem my soul, and in soft words  Of comfort, plaining, loose this pang of death!OCTAVIO  Thou wilt not tear thyself away; thou canst not.  Oh, come, my son! I bid thee save thy virtue.MAX  Squander not thou thy words in vain.  The heart I follow, for I dare trust to it.OCTAVIO (trembling, and losing all self-command)  Max.! Max.! if that most damned thing could be,  If thou – my son – my own blood – (dare I think it?)  Do sell thyself to him, the infamous,  Do stamp this brand upon our noble house,  Then shall the world behold the horrible deed,  And in unnatural combat shall the steel  Of the son trickle with the father's blood.MAX  Oh, hadst thou always better thought of men,  Thou hadst then acted better. Curst suspicion,  Unholy, miserable doubt! To him  Nothing on earth remains unwrenched and firm  Who has no faith.OCTAVIO            And if I trust thy heart,  Will it be always in thy power to follow it?MAX  The heart's voice thou hast not o'erpowered – as little  Will Wallenstein be able to o'erpower it.OCTAVIO  O, Max.! I see thee never more again!MAX  Unworthy of thee wilt thou never see me.OCTAVIO  I go to Frauenberg – the Pappenheimers  I leave thee here, the Lothrings too; Tsokana  And Tiefenbach remain here to protect thee.  They love thee, and are faithful to their oath,  And will far rather fall in gallant contest  Than leave their rightful leader and their honor.MAX  Rely on this, I either leave my life  In the struggle, or conduct them out of Pilsen.OCTAVIO  Farewell, my son!MAX            Farewell!OCTAVIO                 How! not one look  Of filial love? No grasp of the hand at parting?  It is a bloody war to which we are going,  And the event uncertain and in darkness.  So used we not to part – it was not so!  Is it then true? I have a son no longer?     [MAX. falls into his arms, they hold each other for a long time     in a speechless embrace, then go away at different sides.(The curtain drops.)

ACT III

SCENE I

A chamber in the house of the Duchess of Friedland.

COUNTESS TERZKY, THEKLA, LADY NEUBRUNN (the two latter sit at the same table at work).

COUNTESS (watching them from the opposite side)  So you have nothing to ask me – nothing?  I have been waiting for a word from you.  And could you then endure in all this time  Not once to speak his name?

[THEKLA remaining silent, the COUNTESS rises and advances to her.

                 Why, how comes this?  Perhaps I am already grown superfluous,  And other ways exist, besides through me  Confess it to me, Thekla: have you seen him?THEKLA  To-day and yesterday I have not seen him.COUNTESS  And not heard from him, either? Come, be open.THEKLA  No Syllable.COUNTESS         And still you are so calm?THEKLA  I am.COUNTESS      May it please you, leave us, Lady Neubrunn.

[Exit LADY NEUBRUNN.

SCENE II

The COUNTESS, THEKLA.

COUNTESS  It does not please me, princess, that he holds  Himself so still, exactly at this time.THEKLA  Exactly at this time?COUNTESS              He now knows all  'Twere now the moment to declare himself.THEKLA  If I'm to understand you, speak less darkly.COUNTESS  'Twas for that purpose that I bade her leave us.  Thekla, you are no more a child. Your heart  Is no more in nonage: for you love,  And boldness dwells with love – that you have proved  Your nature moulds itself upon your father's  More than your mother's spirit. Therefore may you  Hear what were too much for her fortitude.THEKLA  Enough: no further preface, I entreat you.  At once, out with it! Be it what it may,  It is not possible that it should torture me  More than this introduction. What have you  To say to me? Tell me the whole, and briefly!COUNTESS  You'll not be frightened —THEKLA                Name it, I entreat you.COUNTESS  Lies within my power to do your father  A weighty service —THEKLA             Lies within my power.COUNTESS  Max. Piccolomini loves you. You can link him  Indissolubly to your father.THEKLA                  I?  What need of me for that? And is he not  Already linked to him?COUNTESS              He was.THEKLA                   And wherefore  Should he not be so now – not be so always?COUNTESS  He cleaves to the emperor too.THEKLA                  Not more than duty  And honor may demand of him.COUNTESS                  We ask  Proofs of his love, and not proofs of his honor.  Duty and honor!  Those are ambiguous words with many meanings.  You should interpret them for him: his love  Should be the sole definer of his honor.THEKLA  How?COUNTESS  The emperor or you must he renounce.THEKLA  He will accompany my father gladly  In his retirement. From himself you heard,  How much he wished to lay aside the sword.COUNTESS  He must not lay the sword aside, we mean;  He must unsheath it in your father's cause.THEKLA  He'll spend with gladness and alacrity  His life, his heart's blood in my father's cause,  If shame or injury be intended him.COUNTESS  You will not understand me. Well, hear then:  Your father has fallen off from the emperor,  And is about to join the enemy  With the whole soldiery —THEKLA                Alas, my mother!COUNTESS  There needs a great example to draw on  The army after him. The Piccolomini  Possess the love and reverence of the troops;  They govern all opinions, and wherever  They lead the way, none hesitate to follow.  The son secures the father to our interests —  You've much in your hands at this moment.THEKLA                        Ah,  My miserable mother! what a death-stroke  Awaits thee! No! she never will survive it.COUNTESS  She will accommodate her soul to that  Which is and must be. I do know your mother:  The far-off future weighs upon her heart  With torture of anxiety; but is it  Unalterably, actually present,  She soon resigns herself, and bears it calmly.THEKLA  O my foreboding bosom! Even now,  E'en now 'tis here, that icy hand of horror!  And my young hope lies shuddering in its grasp;  I knew it well – no sooner had I entered,  An heavy ominous presentiment  Revealed to me that spirits of death were hovering  Over my happy fortune. But why, think I  First of myself? My mother! O my mother!COUNTESS  Calm yourself! Break not out in vain lamenting!  Preserve you for your father the firm friend,  And for yourself the lover, all will yet  Prove good and fortunate.THEKLA                Prove good! What good?  Must we not part; part ne'er to meet again?COUNTESS  He parts not from you! He cannot part from you.THEKLA  Alas, for his sore anguish! It will rend  His heart asunder.COUNTESS            If indeed he loves you.  His resolution will be speedily taken.THEKLA  His resolution will be speedily taken —  Oh, do not doubt of that! A resolution!  Does there remain one to be taken?COUNTESS                     Hush!  Collect yourself! I hear your mother coming.THERLA  How shall I bear to see her?COUNTESS                 Collect yourself.

SCENE III

To them enter the DUCHESS.

DUCHESS (to the COUNTESS)  Who was here, sister? I heard some one talking,  And passionately, too.COUNTESS              Nay! there was no one.DUCHESS  I am growing so timorous, every trifling noise  Scatters my spirits, and announces to me  The footstep of some messenger of evil.  And you can tell me, sister, what the event is?  Will he agree to do the emperor's pleasure,  And send the horse regiments to the cardinal?  Tell me, has he dismissed von Questenberg  With a favorable answer?COUNTESS               No, he has not.DUCHESS  Alas! then all is lost! I see it coming,  The worst that can come! Yes, they will depose him;  The accursed business of the Regensburg diet  Will all be acted o'er again!COUNTESS                  No! never!  Make your heart easy, sister, as to that.

[THEKLA, in extreme agitation, throws herself upon her mother, and enfolds her in her arms, weeping.