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 noiseScatters my spirits, and announces to meThe 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 QuestenbergWith 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 dietWill 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.DUCHESS.Yes, my poor child!Thou too hast lost a most affectionate godmotherIn the empress. Oh, that stern, unbending man!In this unhappy marriage what have INot suffered, not endured? For even as ifI had been linked on to some wheel of fireThat restless, ceaseless, whirls impetuous onward,I have passed a life of frights and horrors with him,And ever to the brink of some abyssWith dizzy headlong violence he bears me.Nay, do not weep, my child. Let not my sufferingsPresignify unhappiness to thee,Nor blacken with their shade the fate that waits thee.There lives no second Friedland; thou, my child,Hast not to fear thy mother's destiny.THEELA.Oh, let us supplicate him, dearest mother!Quick! quick! here's no abiding-place for us.Here every coming hour broods into lifeSome new affrightful monster.DUCHESS.Thou wilt shareAn easier, calmer lot, my child! We, too,I and thy father, witnessed happy days.Still think I with delight of those first years,When he was making progress with glad effort,When his ambition was a genial fire,Not that consuming flame which now it is.The emperor loved him, trusted him; and allHe undertook could not but be successful.But since that ill-starred day at Regensburg,Which plunged him headlong from his dignity,A gloomy, uncompanionable spirit,Unsteady and suspicious, has possessed him.His quiet mind forsook him, and no longerDid he yield up himself in joy and faithTo his old luck and individual power;But thenceforth turned his heart and best affectionsAll to those cloudy sciences which neverHave yet made happy him who followed them.COUNTESS.You see it, sister! as your eyes permit you,But surely this is not the conversationTo pass the time in which we are waiting for him.You know he will be soon here. Would you have himFind her in this condition?DUCHESS.Come, my child!Come, wipe away thy tears, and show thy fatherA cheerful countenance. See, the tie-knot hereIs off; this hair must not hang so dishevelled.Come, dearest! dry thy tears up. They deformThy gentle eye. Well, now—what was I saying?Yes, in good truth, this PiccolominiIs a most noble and deserving gentleman.COUNTESS.That is he, sister!THEKLA (to the COUNTESS, with marks of great oppression of spirits).Aunt, you will excuse me?(Is going).COUNTESS.But, whither? See, your father comes!THEKLA.I cannot see him now.COUNTESS.Nay, but bethink you.THEKLA.Believe me, I cannot sustain his presence.COUNTESS.But he will miss you, will ask after you.DUCHESS.What, now? Why is she going?COUNTESS.She's not well.DUCHESS (anxiously).What ails, then, my beloved child?[Both follow the PRINCESS, and endeavor to detain her. Duringthis WALLENSTEIN appears, engaged in conversation with ILLO.
WALLENSTEIN, ILLO, COUNTESS, DUCHESS, THEKLA.WALLENSTEIN.All quiet in the camp?ILLO.It is all quiet.WALLENSTEIN.In a few hours may couriers come from PragueWith tidings that this capital is ours.Then we may drop the mask, and to the troopsAssembled in this town make known the measureAnd its result together. In such casesExample does the whole. Whoever is foremostStill leads the herd. An imitative creatureIs man. The troops at Prague conceive no other,Than that the Pilsen army has gone throughThe forms of homage to us; and in PilsenThey shall swear fealty to us, becauseThe example has been given them by Prague.Butler, you tell me, has declared himself?ILLO.At his own bidding, unsolicited,He came to offer you himself and regiment.WALLENSTEIN,I find we must not give implicit credenceTo every warning voice that makes itselfBe listened to in the heart. To hold us back,Oft does the lying spirit counterfeitThe voice of truth and inward revelation,Scattering false oracles. And thus have ITo entreat forgiveness for that secretly.I've wronged this honorable gallant man,This Butler: for a feeling of the whichI am not master (fear I would not call it),Creeps o'er me instantly, with sense of shuddering,At his approach, and stops love's joyous motion.And this same man, against whom I am warned,This honest man is he who reaches to meThe first pledge of my fortune.ILLO.And doubt notThat his example will win over to youThe best men in the army.WALLENSTEIN.Go and sendIsolani hither. Send him immediately.He is under recent obligations to me:With him will I commence the trial. Go.[Exit ILLO.WALLENSTEIN (turns himself round to the females).Lo, there's the mother with the darling daughter.For once we'll have an interval of rest—Come! my heart yearns to live a cloudless hourIn the beloved circle of my family.COUNTESS.'Tis long since we've been thus together, brother.WALLENSTEIN (to the COUNTESS, aside).Can she sustain the news? Is she prepared?COUNTESS.Not yet.WALLENSTEIN.Come here, my sweet girl! Seat thee by me,For there is a good spirit on thy lips.Thy mother praised to me thy ready skill;She says a voice of melody dwells in thee,Which doth enchant the soul. Now such a voiceWill drive away from me the evil demonThat beats his black wings close above my head.DUCHESS.Where is thy lute, my daughter? Let thy fatherHear some small trial of thy skill.THEKLA.My motherI——DUCHESS.Trembling? Come, collect thyself. Go, cheerThy father.THEKLA.O my mother! I—I cannot.COUNTESS.How, what is that, niece?THEKLA (to the COUNTESS).O spare me—sing—now—in this sore anxiety,Of the overburdened soul—to sing to himWho is thrusting, even now, my mother headlongInto her grave.DUCHESS.How, Thekla! Humorsome!What! shall thy father have expressed a wishIn vain?COUNTESS.Here is the lute.THEKLA.My God! how can I——[The orchestra plays. During the ritornello THEKLA expresses in hergestures and countenance the struggle of her feelings; and at themoment that she should begin to sing, contracts herself together, asone shuddering, throws the instrument down, and retires abruptly.DUCHESS.My child! Oh, she is ill——WALLENSTEIN.What ails the maiden?Say, is she often so?COUNTESS.Since then herselfHas now betrayed it, I too must no longerConceal it.WALLENSTEIN.What?COUNTESS.She loves him!WALLENSTEIN.Loves him? Whom?COUNTESS.Max. does she love! Max. Piccolomini!Hast thou never 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 needestNever take shame upon thee for thy choice.COUNTESS.This journey, if 'twere not thy aim, ascribe itTo thine own self. Thou shouldst have chosen anotherTo 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.WALLENSTEIN.He thinks to carry off Duke Friedland's daughter!Ay? The thought pleases me.The young man has no groveling spirit.COUNTESS.SinceSuch and such constant favor you have shown him——WALLENSTEIN.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 childrenThat we must show our favor by?DUCHESS.His noble disposition and his manners——WALLENSTEIN.Win him my heart, but not my daughter.DUCHESS.ThenHis rank, his ancestors——WALLENSTEIN.Ancestors! What?He is a subject, and my son-in-lawI will seek out upon the thrones of Europe.DUCHESSO dearest Albrecht! Climb we not too highLest we should fall too low.WALLENSTEIN.What! have I paidA price so heavy to ascend this eminence,And jut out high above the common herd,Only to close the mighty part I playIn life's great drama with a common kinsman?Have I for this——[Stops suddenly, repressing himself.She is the only thingThat 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 fashionThe pair that chance to suit each other's liking—And I must do it now, even now, when IAm stretching out the wreath that is to twineMy full accomplished work—no! she is the jewel,Which I have treasured long, my last, my noblest,And 'tis my purpose not to let her from meFor 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 basisCannot sustain the giddy tottering column.WALLENSTEIN (to the COUNTESS).Have you announced the place of residenceWhich 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?WALLENSTEIN.You would not be secure there.DUCHESS.Not secure.In the emperor's realms, beneath the emperor'sProtection?WALLENSTEIN.Friedland's wife may be permittedNo longer to hope that.DUCHESS.O God in heaven!And have you brought it even to this!WALLENSTEIN.In HollandYou'll find protection.DUCHESSIn a Lutheran country?What? And you send us into Lutheran countries?WALLENSTEIN.Duke Franz of Lauenburg conducts you thither.DUCHESS.Duke Franz of Lauenburg?The ally of Sweden, the emperor's enemy.WALLENSTEIN.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 degradedDeposed from the command? O God in heaven!COUNTESS (aside to the DUKE).Leave her in this belief. Thou seest she cannotSupport the real truth.
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 betrayed.WALLENSTEIN.What?TERZKY.They are off! This nightThe Jaegers likewise—all the villagesIn 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 vanished, both of them.
To them enter ILLO.ILLO.Has Terzky told thee?TERZKY.He knows all.ILLO.And likewiseThat Esterhatzy, Goetz, Maradas, Kaunitz,Kolatto, Palfi, have forsaken thee.TERZKY.Damnation!WALLENSTEIN (winks at them).Hush!COUNTESS (who has been watching them anxiously from the distance andnow advances to them).Terzky! Heaven! What is it? What has happened?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-bloodHas 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.WALLENSTEIN.Go, hear his business.[To ILLO.This could not have happenedSo unsuspected without mutiny.Who was on guard at the gates?ILLO.'Twas Tiefenbach.WALLENSTEIN.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 metHe 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?WALLENSTEIN.Be tranquil! leave me, sister! dearest wife!We are in camp, and this is naught unusual;Here storm and sunshine follow one anotherWith rapid interchanges. These fierce spiritsChamp the curb angrily, and never yetDid quiet bless the temples of the leader;If I am to stay go you. The plaints of womenIll suit the scene where men must act.[He is going: TERZKY returns.TERZKY.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 attentionto the DUCHESS).Theresa!DUCHESS.Sister, come! since he commands it.
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 corpsMarshal themselves, each under its own banners;Tiefenbach's corps make threatening movements; onlyThe Pappenheimers still remain aloofIn their own quarters and let no one enter.WALLENSTEIN.Does Piccolomini appear among them?TERZKY.We are seeking him: he is nowhere to be met with.WALLENSTEIN.What did the aide-de-camp deliver to you?TERZKY.My regiments had despatched him; yet once moreThey swear fidelity to thee, and waitThe shout for onset, all prepared, and eager.WALLENSTEIN.But whence arose this larum in the camp?It should have been kept secret from the armyTill fortune had decided for us at Prague.TERZKY.Oh, that thou hadst believed me! Yester-eveningDid 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.WALLENSTEIN.The old tune still! Now, once for all, no moreOf this suspicion—it is doting folly.TERZKY.Thou didst confide in Isolani too;And lo! he was the first that did desert thee.WALLENSTEIN.It was but yesterday I rescued himFrom abject wretchedness. Let that go by;I never reckoned yet on gratitude.And wherein doth he wrong in going from me?He follows still the god whom all his lifeHe has worshipped at the gaming-table. WithMy fortune and my seeming destinyHe made the bond and broke it, not with me.I am but the ship in which his hopes were stowed,And with the which, well-pleased and confident,He traversed the open sea; now he beholds itIn eminent jeopardy among the coast-rocks,And hurries to preserve his wares. As lightAs the free bird from the hospitable twigWhere it had nested he flies off from me:No human tie is snapped betwixt us two.Yea, he deserves to find himself deceivedWho seeks a heart in the unthinking man.Like shadows on a stream, the forms of lifeImpress their characters on the smooth forehead,Naught sinks into the bosom's silent depth:Quick sensibility of pain and pleasureMoves the light fluids lightly; but no soulWarmeth the inner frame.TERZKY.Yet, would I ratherTrust the smooth brow than that deep furrowed one.
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!WALLENSTEIN.What followed?ILLO.They refused obedience to them.TERZKY.Fire on them instantly! Give out the order.WALLENSTEIN.Gently! what cause did they assign?ILLO.No other,They said, had right to issue orders butLieutenant-General Piccolomini.WALLENSTEIN (in a convulsion of agony).What? How is that?ILLO.He takes that office on him by commission,Under sign-manual from the emperor.TERZKY.From the emperor—hearest thou, duke?ILLO.At his incitementThe generals made that stealthy flight——TERZKY.Duke, hearest 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 himFrom 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.Oh, hadst thou but believed me!
SCENE IX.
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 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.WALLENSTEIN.The stars lie not; but we have here a workWrought counter to the stars and destiny.The science is still honest: this false heartForces a lie on the truth-telling heaven,On a divine law divination rests;Where nature deviates from that law, and stumblesOut of her limits, there all science errs.True I did not suspect! Were it superstitionNever by such suspicion to have affrontedThe human form, oh, may the time ne'er comeIn 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 triumphed o'er an honest one.No shield received the assassin stroke; thou plungestThy weapon on an unprotected breast—Against such weapons I am but a child.
To these enter BUTLER.TERZKY (meeting him).Oh, 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 sunLooks 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).Knowest thou alreadyThat old man has betrayed me to the emperor.What sayest thou? Thirty years have we togetherLived out, and held out, sharing joy and hardship.We have slept in one camp-bed, drank from one glass,One morsel shared! I leaned 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 hisHe sees and takes the advantage, stabs the knifeSlowly into my heart.[He hides his face on BUTLER's breast.BUTLER.Forget the false one.What is your present purpose?WALLENSTEIN.Well remembered!Courage, my soul! I am still rich in friends,Still loved by destiny; for in the momentThat it unmasks the plotting hypocriteIt sends and proves to me one faithful heart.Of the hypocrite no more! Think not his lossWas that which struck the pang: Oh, no! his treasonIs that which strikes the pang! No more of him!Dear to my heart, and honored 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 whateverHe may bring with him we must take good careTo keep it from the mutineers. Quick then!Despatch some messenger you can rely onTo meet him, and conduct him to me.[ILLO is going.BUTLER (detaining him).My general, whom expect you then?WALLENSTEIN.The courierWho brings me word of the event at Prague.BUTLER (hesitating).Hem!WALLENSTEIN.And what now?BUTLER.You do not know it?WALLENSTEIN.Well?BUTLER.From what that larum in the camp arose?WALLENSTEIN.From what?BUTLER.That courier——WALLENSTEIN (with eager expectation).Well?BUTLER.Is already here.TERZKY and ILLO (at the same time).Already here?WALLENSTEIEN.My courier?BUTLER.For some hours.WALLENSTEIN.And I not know it?BUTLER.The sentinels detain himIn custody.ILLO (stamping with his foot).Damnation!BUTLER.And his letterWas broken open, and is circulatedThrough the whole camp.WALLENSTEIN.You know what it contains?BUTLER.Question me not.TERZKY.Illo! Alas for us.WALLENSTEIN.Hide nothing from me—I can bear the worst.Prague then is lost. It is. Confess it freely.BUTLER.Yes! Prague is lost. And all the several regimentsAt Budweiss, Tabor, Braunau, Koenigingratz,At Brunn, and Znaym, have forsaken you,And taken the oaths of fealty anewTo the emperor. Yourself, with Kinsky, Terzky,And Illo have been sentenced.[TERZKY and ILLO express alarm and fury. WALLENSTEIN remainsfirm and collected.WALLENSTEIN.'Tis decided! 'Tis well! I have received a sudden cureFrom all the pangs of doubt: with steady streamOnce more my life-blood flows! My soul's secure!In the night only Friedland stars can beam.Lingering irresolute, with fitful fearsI drew the sword—'twas with an inward strife,While yet the choice was mine. The murderous knifeIs lifted for my heart! Doubt disappears!I fight now for my head and for my life.[Exit WALLENSTEIN; the others follow him.
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 calmnessBefore my sister, and shut in within meThe 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 notAs 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 greatnessAn ignominious monument. But no!That day I will not see! And could himselfEndure to sink so low, I would not bearTo see him so low sunken.
COUNTESS, DUCHESS, THEKLA.THEKLA (endeavoring to hold back the DUCHESS)Dear mother, do stay here!DUCHESS.No! Here is yetSome frightful mystery that is hidden from me.Why does my sister shun me? Don't I see herFull of suspense and anguish roam aboutFrom room to room? Art thou not full of terror?And what import these silent nods and gesturesWhich stealthwise thou exchangest with her?THEKLA.NothingNothing, dear mother!DUCHESS (to the COUNTESS).Sister, I will know.COUNTESS.What boots it now to hide it from her? SoonerOr 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 disciplineOf fortitude. One word, and over with it!Sister, you are deluded. You believeThe duke has been deposed—the duke is notDeposed—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).Oh, stand firm! stand firm, my mother!COUNTESS.Revolted is the duke; he is preparingTo join the enemy; the army leave him,And all has failed.
A spacious room in the Duke of Friedland's palace.WALLENSTEIN (in armor).Thou hast gained thy point, Octavio! Once more am IAlmost 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 hewed off, and here I standA leafless trunk. But in the sap withinLives the creating power, and a new worldMay sprout forth from it. Once already have IProved 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 ViennaIn his own palace did the emperor tremble.Soldiers were scarce, for still the multitudeFollow the luck: all eyes were turned on me,Their helper in distress; the emperor's prideBowed itself down before the man he had injured.'Twas I must rise, and with creative wordAssemble forces in the desolate camps.I did it. Like a god of war my nameWent through the world. The drum was beat; and, toThe plough, the workshop is forsaken, allSwarm to the old familiar long loved banners;And as the wood-choir rich in melodyAssemble quick around the bird of wonder,When first his throat swells with his magic song,So did the warlike youth of GermanyCrowd 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 unfilled.Lead then your thousands out to meet me—true!They are accustomed under me to conquer,But not against me. If the head and limbsSeparate from each other, 'twill be soonMade manifest in which the soul abode.(ILLO and TERZKY enter.)Courage, friends! courage! we are still unvanquished;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.
WALLENSTEIN, ILLO, TERZKY.(To them enter NEUMANN, who leads TERZKY aside,and talks with him.)TERZKY.What do they want?WALLENSTEIN.What now?TERZKY.Ten cuirassiersFrom Pappenheim request leave to address youIn the name of the regiment.WALLENSTEIN (hastily to NEUMANN).Let them enter.[Exit NEUMANN.ThisMay end in something. Mark you. They are stillDoubtful, and may be won.
WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, ILLO, ten CUIRASSIERS (led by an ANSPESSADE4, march up and arrange themselves, after the word of command,in one front before the DUKE, and make their obeisance. He takeshis hat off, and immediately covers himself again).ANSPESSADE.Halt! Front! Present!WALLENSTEIN (after he has run through them with his eye, to theANSPESSADE).I know thee well. Thou art out of Brueggen in Flanders:Thy name is Mercy.ANSPESSADE.Henry Mercy.WALLENSTEIN. Thou were cut off on the march, surrounded by the Hessians,and didst fight thy way with an hundred and eighty men through theirthousand.ANSPESSADE. 'Twas even so, general!WALLENSTEIN. What reward hadst thou for this gallant exploit?ANSPESSADE. That which I asked for: the honor to serve in this corps.WALLENSTEIN (turning to a second). Thou wert among the volunteers thatseized and made booty of the Swedish battery at Altenburg.SECOND CUIRASSIER. Yes, general!WALLENSTEIN. I forget no one with whom I have exchanged words.(A pause.) Who sends you?ANSPESSADE. Your noble regiment, the cuirassiers of Piccolomini.WALLENSTEIN. Why does not your colonel deliver in your request accordingto the custom of service?ANSPESSADE. Because we would first know whom we serve.WALLENSTEIN. Begin your address.ANSPESSADE (giving the word of command). Shoulder your arms!WALLENSTEIN (turning to a third). Thy name is Risbeck; Cologne is thybirthplace.THIRD CUIRASSIER. Risbeck of Cologne.WALLENSTEIN. It was thou that broughtest in the Swedish colonel Duebald,prisoner, in the camp at Nuremberg.THIRD CUIRASSIER. It was not I, general.WALLENSTRIN. Perfectly right! It was thy elder brother: thou hadst ayounger brother, too: where did he stay?THIRD CUIRASSIER. He is stationed at Olmutz, with the imperial army.WALLENSTEIN (to the ANSPESSADE). Now then—begin.ANSPESSADE.There came to hand a letter from the emperorCommanding us——WALLENSTEIN (interrupting him).Who chose you?ANSPESSADE.Every companyDrew its own man by lot.WALLENSTEIN.Now! to the business.ANSPESSADE.There came to hand a letter from the emperorCommanding us, collectively, from theeAll duties of obedience to withdraw,Because thou wert an enemy and traitor.WALLENSTEIN.And what did you determine?ANSPESSADE.All our comradesAt Braunau, Budweiss, Prague, and Olmutz, haveObeyed already; and the regiments here,Tiefenbach and Toscano, instantlyDid follow their example. But—but weDo not believe that thou art an enemyAnd traitor to thy country, hold it merelyFor lie and trick, and a trumped-up Spanish story![With warmth.Thyself shall tell us what thy purpose is,For we have found thee still sincere and trueNo mouth shall interpose itself betwixtThe gallant general and the gallant troops.WALLENSTEIN.Therein I recognize my Pappenheimers.ANSPESSADE.And this proposal makes thy regiment to thee:Is it thy purpose merely to preserveIn thine own hands this military sceptre,Which so becomes thee, which the emperorMade over to thee by a covenant!Is it thy purpose merely to remainSupreme commander of the Austrian armies?We will stand by thee, general! and guaranteeThy honest rights against all opposition.And should it chance, that all the other regimentsTurn from thee, by ourselves we will stand forthThy faithful soldiers, and, as is our duty,Far rather let ourselves be cut to piecesThan suffer thee to fall. But if it beAs the emperor's letter says, if it be true,That thou in traitorous wise wilt lead us overTo the enemy, which God in heaven forbid!Then we too will forsake thee, and obeyThat 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 honorAbove all others, suffered you to reason;Have treated you as free men, and my ordersWere but the echoes of your prior suffrage.ANSPESSADE.Most fair and noble has thy conduct beenTo us, my general! With thy confidenceThou has honored us, and shown us grace and favorBeyond all other regiments; and thou seestWe follow not the common herd. We willStand by thee faithfully. Speak but one word—Thy word shall satisfy us that it is notA treason which thou meditatest—thatThou meanest not to lead the army overTo the enemy; nor e'er betray thy country.WALLENSTEIN.Me, me are they betraying. The emperorHath sacrificed me to my enemies,And I must fall, unless my gallant troopsWill rescue me. See! I confide in you.And be your hearts my stronghold! At this breastThe aim is taken, at this hoary head.This is your Spanish gratitude, this is ourRequital for that murderous fight at Luetzen!For this we threw the naked breast againstThe halbert, made for this the frozen earthOur bed, and the hard stone our pillow! never streamToo rapid for us, nor wood too impervious;With cheerful spirit we pursued that MansfeldtThrough all the turns and windings of his flight:Yea, our whole life was but one restless march:And homeless, as the stirring wind, we travelledO'er the war-wasted earth. And now, even now,That we have well-nigh finished the hard toil,The unthankful, the curse-laden toil of weapons,With faithful indefatigable armHave rolled the heavy war-load up the hill,Behold! this boy of the emperor's bears awayThe honors of the peace, an easy prize!He'll weave, forsooth, into his flaxen locksThe olive branch, the hard-earned ornamentOf this gray head, grown gray beneath the helmet.ANSPESSADE.That shall he not, while we can hinder it!No one, but thou, who has conducted itWith fame, shall end this war, this frightful war.Thou leadest us out to the bloody fieldOf 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.WALLENSTEIN.What! Think you then at length in late old ageTo enjoy the fruits of toil? Believe it not.Never, no never, will you see the endOf 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 IEndeavored after peace, therefore I fall.For what cares Austria how long the warWears out the armies and lays waste the world!She will but wax and grow amid the ruinAnd still win new domains.[The CUIRASSIERS express agitation by their gestures.Ye're moved—I seeA noble rage flash from your eyes, ye warriors!Oh, that my spirit might possess you nowDaring as once it led you to the battleYe 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 youHave sacrificed you for your general.[Confidentially.No! let us tread securely, seek for friends;The Swedes have proffered us assistance, let usWear for a while the appearance of good-will,And use them for your profit, till we bothCarry the fate of Europe in our hands,And from our camp to the glad jubilant worldLead peace forth with the garland on her head!ANSPESSADE.'Tis then but mere appearances which thouDost put on with the Swede! Thou'lt not betrayThe emperor? Wilt not turn us into Swedes?This is the only thing which we desireTo 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 soonTo chase them to their homes across their Baltic.My cares are only for the whole: I haveA heart—it bleeds within me for the miseriesAnd piteous groanings of my fellow-Germans.Ye are but common men, but yet ye thinkWith minds not common; ye appear to meWorthy before all others, that I whisper theeA little word or two in confidence!See now! already for full fifteen years,The war-torch has continued burning, yetNo rest, no pause of conflict. Swede and German,Papist and Lutheran! neither will give wayTo 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 unravelThis tangle, ever tangling more and moreIt must be cut asunder.I feel that I am the man of destiny,And trust, with your assistance, to accomplish it.