ILLO (comes out from the second chamber), TERZKY.ILLO.How goes it with young Piccolomini!TERZKY.All right, I think. He has started no object.ILLO.He is the only one I fear about—He and his father. Have an eye on both!TERZKY.How looks it at your table: you forget notTo keep them warm and stirring?ILLO.Oh, quite cordial,They are quite cordial in the scheme. We have themAnd 'tis as I predicted too. AlreadyIt is the talk, not merely to maintainThe duke in station. "Since we're once for allTogether and unanimous, why not,"Says Montecuculi, "ay, why not onward,And make conditions with the emperorThere in his own Venice?" Trust me, count,Were it not for these said Piccolomini,We might have spared ourselves the cheat.TERZEY.And Butler?How goes it there? Hush!
To them enter BUTLER from a second table.BUTLER.Don't disturb yourselves;Field-marshal, I have understood you perfectly.Good luck be to the scheme; and as to me,[With an air of mystery.You may depend upon me.ILLO (with vivacity).May we, Butler?BUTLER.With or without the clause, all one to me!You understand me! My fidelityThe duke may put to any proof—I'm with himTell him so! I'm the emperor's officer,As long as 'tis his pleasure to remainThe emperor's general! and Friedland's servant,As soon as it shall please him to becomeHis own lord.TERZKY.You would make a good exchange.No stern economist, no Ferdinand,Is he to whom you plight your services.BUTLER (with a haughty look).I do not put up my fidelityTo sale, Count Terzky! Half a year agoI would not have advised you to have made meAn overture to that, to which I nowOffer myself of my own free accord.But that is past! and to the duke, field-marshal,I bring myself, together with my regiment.And mark you, 'tis my humor to believe,The example which I give will not remainWithout an influence.ILLO.Who is ignorant,That the whole army looks to Colonel ButlerAs to a light that moves before them?BUTLER.Ay?Then I repent me not of that fidelityWhich for the length of forty years I held,If in my sixtieth year my good old nameCan purchase for me a revenge so full.Start not at what I say, sir generals!My real motives—they concern not you.And you yourselves, I trust, could not expectThat this your game had crooked my judgment—orThat fickleness, quick blood, or such like cause,Has driven the old man from the track of honor,Which he so long had trodden. Come, my friends!I'm not thereto determined with less firmness,Because I know and have looked steadilyAt that on which I have determined.ILLO.Say,And speak roundly, what are we to deem you?BUTLER.A friend! I give you here my hand! I'm yoursWith all I have. Not only men, but moneyWill the duke want. Go, tell him, sirs!I've earned and laid up somewhat in his service,I lend it him; and is he my survivor,It has been already long ago bequeathed to him;He is my heir. For me, I stand aloneHere in the world; naught know I of the feelingThat binds the husband to a wife and children.My name dies with me, my existence ends.ILLO.'Tis not your money that he needs—a heartLike yours weighs tons of gold down, weighs down millions!BUTLER.I came a simple soldier's boy from IrelandTo Prague—and with a master, whom I buried.From lowest stable duty I climbed up,Such was the fate of war, to this high rank,The plaything of a whimsical good fortune.And Wallenstein too is a child of luck:I love a fortune that is like my own.ILLO.All powerful souls have kindred with each other.BUTLER.This is an awful moment! to the brave,To the determined, an auspicious moment.The Prince of Weimar arms, upon the Maine,To found a mighty dukedom. He of Halberstadt,That Mansfeldt, wanted but a longer lifeTo have marked out with his good sword a lordshipThat should reward his courage. Who of theseEquals our Friedland? There is nothing, nothingSo high, but he may set the ladder to it!TERZKY.That's spoken like a man!BUTLER.Do you secure the Spaniard and Italian—I'll be your warrant for the Scotchman Lesly.Come to the company!TERZKY.Where is the master of the cellar? Ho!Let the best wines come up. Ho! cheerly, boy!Luck comes to-day, so give her hearty welcome.[Exeunt, each to his table.
The MASTER OF THE CELLAR, advancing with NEUMANN, SERVANTS passingbackwards and forwards.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. The best wine! Oh, if my old mistress, his lady mother, could but see these wild goings on she would turn herself round in her grave. Yes, yes, sir officer! 'tis all down the hill with this noble house! no end, no moderation! And this marriage with the duke's sister, a splendid connection, a very splendid connection! but I will tell you, sir officer, it looks no good.
NEUMANN. Heaven forbid! Why, at this very moment the whole prospect is in bud and blossom!
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. You think so? Well, well! much may be said on that head.
FIRST SERVANT (comes). Burgundy for the fourth table.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. Now, sir lieutenant, if this aint the seventieth flask——
FIRST SERVANT. Why, the reason is, that German lord, Tiefenbach, sits at that table.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR (continuing his discourse to NEUMANN). They are soaring too high. They would rival kings and electors in their pomp and splendor; and wherever the duke leaps, not a minute does my gracious master, the count, loiter on the brink—(to the SERVANTS). What do you stand there listening for? I will let you know you have legs presently. Off! see to the tables, see to the flasks! Look there! Count Palfi has an empty glass before him!
RUNNER (comes). The great service-cup is wanted, sir, that rich gold cup with the Bohemian arms on it. The count says you know which it is.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. Ay! that was made for Frederick's coronation by the artist William—there was not such another prize in the whole booty at Prague.
RUNNER. The same!—a health is to go round in him.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR (shaking his head while he fetches and rinses the cups). This will be something for the tale-bearers—this goes to Vienna.
NEUMANN. Permit me to look at it. Well, this is a cup indeed! How heavy! as well it may be, being all gold. And what neat things are embossed on it! how natural and elegant they look! There, on the first quarter, let me see. That proud amazon there on horseback, she that is taking a leap over the crosier and mitres, and carries on a wand a hat together with a banner, on which there's a goblet represented. Can you tell me what all this signifies?
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. The woman you see there on horseback is the Free Election of the Bohemian Crown. That is signified by the round hat and by that fiery steed on which she is riding. The hat is the pride of man; for he who cannot keep his hat on before kings and emperors is no free man.
NEUMANN. But what is the cup there on the banner.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. The cup signifies the freedom of the Bohemian Church, as it was in our forefathers' times. Our forefathers in the wars of the Hussites forced from the pope this noble privilege; for the pope, you know, will not grant the cup to any layman. Your true Moravian values nothing beyond the cup; it is his costly jewel, and has cost the Bohemians their precious blood in many and many a battle.
NEUMANN. And what says that chart that hangs in the air there, over it all?
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. That signifies the Bohemian letter-royal which we forced from the Emperor Rudolph—a precious, never to be enough valued parchment, that secures to the new church the old privileges of free ringing and open psalmody. But since he of Steiermark has ruled over us that is at an end; and after the battle at Prague, in which Count Palatine Frederick lost crown and empire, our faith hangs upon the pulpit and the altar—and our brethren look at their homes over their shoulders; but the letter-royal the emperor himself cut to pieces with his scissors.
NEUMANN. Why, my good Master of the Cellar! you are deep read in the chronicles of your country.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. So were my forefathers, and for that reason were they minstrels, and served under Procopius and Ziska. Peace be with their ashes! Well, well! they fought for a good cause though. There! carry it up!
NEUMANN. Stay! let me but look at this second quarter. Look there! That is, when at Prague Castle, the imperial counsellors, Martinitz and Stawata, were hurled down head over heels. 'Tis even so! there stands Count Thur who commands it.
[RUNNER takes the service-cup and goes off with it.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. Oh, let me never more hear of that day. It was the three-and-twentieth of May in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and eighteen. It seems to me as it were but yesterday—from that unlucky day it all began, all the heartaches of the country. Since that day it is now sixteen years, and there has never once been peace on the earth.
[Health drunk aloud at the second table.
The Prince of Weimar! Hurrah!
[At the third and fourth tables.
Long live Prince William! Long live Duke Bernard! Hurrah!
[Music strikes up.
FIRST SERVANT. Hear 'em! Hear 'em! What an uproar!
SECOND SERVANT (comes in running). Did you hear? They have drunk the Prince of Weimar's health.
THIRD SERVANT. The Swedish chief commander!
FIRST SERVANT (speaking at the same time). The Lutheran!
SECOND SERVANT. Just before, when Count Deodati gave out the emperor's health, they were all as mum as a nibbling mouse.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR. Po, po! When the wine goes in strange things come out. A good servant hears, and hears not! You should be nothing but eyes and feet, except when you are called to.
SECOND SERVANT.[To the RUNNER, to whom he gives secretly a flask of wine, keepinghis eye on the MASTER OF THE CELLAR, standing between him and theRUNNER.Quick, Thomas! before the Master of the Cellar runs this way; 'tis aflask of Frontignac! Snapped it up at the third table. Canst go offwith it?
RUNNER (hides it in his, pocket). All right!
[Exit the Second Servant.
THIRD SERVANT (aside to the FIRST). Be on the hark, Jack! that we may have right plenty to tell to Father Quivoga. He will give us right plenty of absolution in return for it.
FIRST SERVANT. For that very purpose I am always having something to do behind Illo's chair. He is the man for speeches to make you stare with.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR (to NEUMANN). Who, pray, may that swarthy man be, he with the cross, that is chatting so confidently with Esterhats?
NEUMANN. Ay, he too is one of those to whom they confide too much. He calls himself Maradas; a Spaniard is he.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR (impatiently). Spaniard! Spaniard! I tell you, friend, nothing good comes of those Spaniards. All these outlandish fellows are little better than rogues.
NEUMANN. Fy, fy! you should not say so, friend. There are among them our very best generals, and those on whom the duke at this moment relies the most.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR.[Taking the flask out of RUNNER'S pocket.My son, it will be broken to pieces in your pocket.[TERZKY hurries in, fetches away the paper, and calls to a servantfor pen and ink, and goes to the back of the stage.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR (to the SERVANTS). The lieutenant-general stands up. Be on the watch. Now! They break up. Off, and move back the forms.
[They rise at all the tables, the SERVANTS hurry off the front ofthe stage to the tables; part of the guests come forward.
OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI enters, in conversation with MARADAS, and bothplace themselves quite on the edge of the stage on one side of theproscenium. On the side directly opposite, MAX. PICCOLOMINI, byhimself, lost in thought, and taking no part in anything that isgoing forward. The middle space between both, but rather moredistant from the edge of the stage, is filled up by BUTLER, ISOLANI,GOETZ, TIEFENBACH, and KOLATTO.
ISOLANI (while the company is coming forward). Good-night, good-night, Kolatto! Good-night, lieutenant-general! I should rather say good-morning.
GOETZ (to TIEFENBACH). Noble brother! (making the usual compliment after meals).
TIEFENBACH. Ay! 'twas a royal feast indeed.
GOETZ. Yes, my lady countess understands these matters. Her mother-in-law, heaven rest her soul, taught her! Ah! that was a housewife for you!
TIEFENBACH. There was not her like in all Bohemia for setting out a table.
OCTAVIO (aside to MARADAS). Do me the favor to talk to me—talk of what you will—or of nothing. Only preserve the appearance at least of talking. I would not wish to stand by myself, and yet I conjecture that there will be goings on here worthy of our attentive observation. (He continues to fix his eye on the whole following scene.)
ISOLANI (on the point of going). Lights! lights!
TERZKY (advances with the paper to ISOLANI). Noble brother; two minutes longer! Here is something to subscribe.
ISOLANI. Subscribe as much as you like—but you must excuse me from reading it.
TERZKY. There is no need. It is the oath which you have already read. Only a few marks of your pen!
[ISOLANI hands over the paper to OCTAVIO respectfully.
TERZKY. Nay, nay, first come, first served. There is no precedence here.
[OCTAVIO runs over the paper with apparent indifference.TERZKY watches him at some distance.
GOETZ (to TERZKY). Noble count! with your permission—good-night.
TERKZY. Where's the hurry? Come, one other composing draught. (To the SERVANTS). Ho!
GOETZ. Excuse me—aint able.
TERZKY. A thimble-full.
GOETZ. Excuse me.
TIEFENBACH (sits down). Pardon me, nobles! This standing does not agree with me.
TERZKY. Consult your own convenience, general.
TIEFENBACH. Clear at head, sound in stomach—only my legs won't carry me any longer.
ISOLANI (pointing at his corpulence). Poor legs! how should they! Such an unmerciful load!
[OCTAVIO subscribes his name, and reaches over the paper to TERZKY,who gives it to ISOLANI; and he goes to the table to sign his name.
TIEFENBACH. 'Twas that war in Pomerania that first brought it on. Out in all weathers—ice and snow—no help for it. I shall never get the better of it all the days of my life.
GOETZ. Why, in simple verity, your Swedes make no nice inquiries about the season.
TERZKY (observing ISOLANI, whose hand trembles excessively so that he can scarce direct his pen). Have you had that ugly complaint long, noble brother? Despatch it.
ISOLANI. The sins of youth! I have already tried the chalybeate waters. Well—I must bear it.
[TERZKY gives the paper to MARADAS; he steps to the tableto subscribe.
OCTAVIO (advancing to BUTLER). You are not over-fond of the orgies of Bacchus, colonel! I have observed it. You would, I think, find yourself more to your liking in the uproar of a battle than of a feast.
BUTLER. I must confess 'tis not in my way.
OCTAVIO (stepping nearer to him friendlily). Nor in mine neither, I can assure you; and I am not a little glad, my much-honored Colonel Butler, that we agree so well in our opinions. A half-dozen good friends at most, at a small round table, a glass of genuine Tokay, open hearts, and a rational conversation—that's my taste.
BUTLER. And mine, too, when it can be had.
[The paper comes to TIEFENBACH, who glances over it at the same timewith GOETZ and KOLATTO. MARADAS in the meantime returns to OCTAVIO.All this takes places, the conversation with BUTLER proceedinguninterrupted.
OCTAVIO (introducing MADARAS to BUTLER.) Don Balthasar Maradas! likewise a man of our stamp, and long ago your admirer.
[BUTLER bows.
OCTAVIO (continuing). You are a stranger here—'twas but yesterday you arrived—you are ignorant of the ways and means here. 'Tis a wretched place. I know at your age one loves to be snug and quiet. What if you move your lodgings? Come, be my visitor. (BUTLER makes a low bow.) Nay, without compliment! For a friend like you I have still a corner remaining.
BUTLER (coldly). Your obliged humble servant, my lord lieutenant-general.
[The paper comes to BUTLER, who goes to the table to subscribe it.The front of the stage is vacant, so that both the PICCOLOMINIS,each on the side where he had been from the commencement of the
SCENE, remain alone.
OCTAVIO (after having some time watched his son in silence, advances somewhat nearer to him). You were long absent from us, friend!
MAX. I—urgent business detained me.
OCTAVIO. And, I observe, you are still absent!
MAX. You know this crowd and bustle always makes me silent.
OCTAVIO (advancing still nearer). May I be permitted to ask what the business was that detained you? Terzky knows it without asking.
MAX. What does Terzky know?
OCTAVIO. He was the only one who did not miss you.
ISOLANI (who has been attending to them for some distance steps up). Well done, father! Rout out his baggage! Beat up his quarters! there is something there that should not be.
TERZKY (with the paper). Is there none wanting? Have the whole subscribed?
OCTAVIO. All.
TERZKY (calling aloud). Ho! Who subscribes?
BUTLER (to TERZKY). Count the names. There ought to be just thirty.
TERZKY. Here is a cross.
TIEFENBACH. That's my mark!
ISOLANI. He cannot write; but his cross is a good cross, and is honored by Jews as well as Christians.
OCTAVIO (presses on to MAX.). Come, general! let us go. It is late.
TERZKY. One Piccolomini only has signed.
ISOLANI (pointing to MAX.). Look! that is your man, that statue there, who has had neither eye, ear, nor tongue for us the whole evening.
[MAX. receives the paper from TERZKY, which he looks upon vacantly.
To these enter ILLO from the inner room. He has in his hand agolden service-cup, and is extremely distempered with drinking;GOETZ and BUTLER follow him, endeavoring to keep him back.
ILLO. What do you want! Let me go.
GOETZ and BUTLER. Drink no more, Illo! For heaven's sake, drink no more.
ILLO (goes up to OCTAVIO, and shakes him cordially by the hand, and then drinks). Octavio! I bring this to you! Let all grudge be drowned in this friendly bowl! I know well enough you never loved me—devil take me! and I never loved you! I am always even with people in that way! Let what's past be past—that is, you understand—forgotten! I esteem you infinitely. (Embracing him repeatedly.) You have not a dearer friend on earth than I, but that you know. The fellow that cries rogue to you calls me villain, and I'll strangle him! my dear friend!
TERZKY (whispering to him). Art in thy senses? For heaven's sake, Illo, think where you are!
ILLO (aloud). What do you mean? There are none but friends here, are there? (Looks round the whole circle with a jolly and triumphant air.) Not a sneaker amongst us, thank heaven.
TERZKY (to BUTLER, eagerly). Take him off with you, force him off, I entreat you, Butler!
BUTLER (to ILLO). Field-marshal! a word with you. (Leads to the side-board.)
ILLO (cordially). A thousand for one. Fill; fill it once more up to the brim. To this gallant man's health!
ISOLANI (to MAX., who all the while has been staring on the paper with fixed but vacant eyes). Slow and sure, my noble brother! Hast parsed it all yet? Some words yet to go through? Ha?
MAX. (waking as from a dream). What am I to do?
TERZKY, and at the same time ISOLANI. Sign your name. (OCTAVIO directs his eyes on him with intense anxiety).
MAX. (returns the paper). Let it stay till to-morrow. It is business; to-day I am not sufficiently collected. Send it to me to-morrow.
TERZKY. Nay, collect yourself a little.
ISOLANI. Awake man, awake! Come, thy signature, and have done with it! What! Thou art the youngest in the whole company, and would be wiser than all of us together! Look there! thy father has signed; we have all signed.
TERZKY (to OCTAVIO). Use your influence. Instruct him.
OCTAVIO. My son is at the age of discretion.
ILLO (leaves the service-cup on the sideboard). What's the dispute?
TERZKY. He declines subscribing the paper.
MAX. I say it may as well stay till to-morrow.
ILLO. It cannot stay. We have all subscribed to it—and so must you. You must subscribe.
MAX. Illo, good-night!
ILLO. No! you come not off so! The duke shall learn who are his friends. (All collect round ILLO and MAX.)
MAX. What my sentiments are towards the duke, the duke knows, every one knows—what need of this wild stuff?
ILLO. This is the thanks the duke gets for his partiality to Italians and foreigners. Us Bohemians he holds for little better than dullards— nothing pleases him but what's outlandish.
TERZKY (in extreme embarrassment, to the Commanders, who at ILLO's words give a sudden start as preparing to resent them). It is the wine that speaks, and not his reason. Attend not to him, I entreat you.
ISOLANI (with a bitter laugh). Wine invents nothing: it only tattles.
ILLO. He who is not with me is against me. Your tender consciences! Unless they can slip out by a back-door, by a puny proviso——
TERZKY (interrupting him). He is stark mad—don't listen to him!
ILLO (raising his voice to the highest pitch). Unless they can slip out by a proviso. What of the proviso? The devil take this proviso!
MAX. (has his attention roused, and looks again into the paper). What is there here then of such perilous import? You make me curious—I must look closer at it.
TERZKY (in a low voice to ILLO). What are you doing, Illo? You are ruining us.
TIEFENBACH (to KOLATTO). Ay, ay! I observed, that before we sat down to supper, it was read differently.
GOETZ. Why, I seemed to think so too.
ISOLANI. What do I care for that? Where there stand other names mine can stand too.
TIEFENBACH. Before supper there was a certain proviso therein, or short clause, concerning our duties to the emperor.
BUTLER (to one of the Commanders). For shame, for shame! Bethink you. What is the main business here? The question now is, whether we shall keep our general, or let him retire. One must not take these things too nicely, and over-scrupulously.
ISOLANI (to one of the Generals). Did the duke make any of these provisos when he gave you your regiment?
TERZKY (to GOETZ). Or when he gave you the office of army-purveyancer, which brings you in yearly a thousand pistoles!
ILLO. He is a rascal who makes us out to be rogues. If there be any one that wants satisfaction, let him say so,—I am his man.
TIEFENBACH. Softly, softly? 'Twas but a word or two.
MAX. (having read the paper gives it back). Till to-morrow therefore!
ILLO (stammering with rage and fury, loses all command over himself and presents the paper to MAX. With one hand, and his sword in the other). Subscribe—Judas!
ISOLANI. Out upon you, Illo!
OCTAVIO, TERZKY, BUTLER (all together). Down with the sword!
MAX. (rushes on him suddenly and disarms him, then to COUNT TERZKY). Take him off to bed!
[MAX leaves the stage. ILLO cursing and raving is held back by someof the officers, and amidst a universal confusion the curtain drops.
A Chamber in PICCOLOMINI's Mansion. It is Night.OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI. A VALET DE CHAMBRE with Lights.OCTAVIO.And when my son comes in, conduct him hither.What is the hour?VALET.'Tis on the point of morning.OCTAVIO.Set down the light. We mean not to undress.You may retire to sleep.[Exit VALET. OCTAVIO paces, musing, across the chamber; MAX.PICCOLOMINI enters unobserved, and looks at his father for somemoments in silence.MAX.Art thou offended with me? Heaven knowsThat odious business was no fault of mine.'Tis true, indeed, I saw thy signature,What thou hast sanctioned, should not, it might seem,Have come amiss to me. But—'tis my nature—Thou know'st that in such matters I must followMy own light, not another's.OCTAVIO (goes up to him and embraces him).Follow it,Oh, follow it still further, my best son!To-night, dear boy! it hath more faithfullyGuided thee than the example of thy father.MAX.Declare thyself less darkly.OCTAVIO.I will do so;For after what has taken place this night,There must remain no secrets 'twixt us two.[Both seat themselves.Max. Piccolomini! what thinkest thou ofThe oath that was sent round for signatures?MAX.I hold it for a thing of harmless import,Although I love not these set declarations.OCTAVIO.And on no other ground hast thou refusedThe signature they fain had wrested from thee?MAX.It was a serious business. I was absent—The affair itself seemed not so urgent to me.OCTAVIO.Be open, Max. Thou hadst then no suspicion?MAX.Suspicion! what suspicion? Not the least.OCTAVIO.Thank thy good angel, Piccolomini;He drew thee back unconscious from the abyss.MAX.I know not what thou meanest.OCTAVIO.I will tell thee.Fain would they have extorted from thee, son,The sanction of thy name to villany;Yes, with a single flourish of thy pen,Made thee renounce thy duty and thy honor!MAX. (rises).Octavio!OCTAVIO.Patience! Seat Yourself. Much yetHast thou to hear from me, friend! Hast for yearsLived in incomprehensible illusion.Before thine eyes is treason drawing outAs black a web as e'er was spun for venom:A power of hell o'erclouds thy understanding.I dare no longer stand in silence—dareNo longer see thee wandering on in darkness,Nor pluck the bandage from thine eyes.MAX.My father!Yet, ere thou speakest, a moment's pause of thought!If your disclosures should appear to beConjectures only—and almost I fearThey will be nothing further—spare them! IAm not in that collected mood at present,That I could listen to them quietly.OCTAVIO.The deeper cause thou hast to hate this light,The more impatient cause have I, my son,To force it on thee. To the innocenceAnd wisdom of thy heart I could have trusted theeWith calm assurance—but I see the netPreparing—and it is thy heart itselfAlarms me, for thine innocence—that secret,[Fixing his eyes steadfastly on his son's face.Which thou concealest, forces mine from me.[MAX. attempts to answer, but hesitates, and casts his eyesto the ground embarrassed.OCTAVIO (after a pause).Know, then, they are duping thee!—a most foul gameWith thee and with us all—nay, hear me calmly—The duke even now is playing. He assumesThe mask, as if he would forsake the army;And in this moment makes he preparationsThat army from the emperor to steal,And carry it over to the enemy!MAX.That low priest's legend I know well, but did notExpect to hear it from thy mouth.OCTAVIO.That mouth,From which thou hearest it at this present moment,Doth warrant thee that it is no priest's legend.MAX.How mere a maniac they supposed the duke;What, he can meditate?—the duke?—can dreamThat he can lure away full thirty thousandTried troops and true, all honorable soldiers,More than a thousand noblemen among them,From oaths, from duty, from their honor lure them,And make them all unanimous to doA deed that brands them scoundrels?OCTAVIO.Such a deed,With such a front of infamy, the dukeNo way desires—what he requires of usBears a far gentler appellation. NothingHe wishes but to give the empire peace.And so, because the emperor hates this peace,Therefore the duke—the duke will force him to it.All parts of the empire will he pacify,And for his trouble will retain in payment(What he has already in his gripe)—Bohemia!MAX.Has he, Octavio, merited of us,That we—that we should think so vilely of him?OCTAVIO.What we would think is not the question here,The affair speaks for itself—and clearest proofs!Hear me, my son—'tis not unknown to thee,In what ill credit with the court we stand.But little dost thou know, or guess what tricks,What base intrigues, what lying artifices,Have been employed—for this sole end—to sowMutiny in the camp! All bands are loosed—Loosed all the bands that link the officerTo his liege emperor, all that bind the soldierAffectionately to the citizen.Lawless he stands, and threateningly beleaguersThe state he's bound to guard. To such a height'Tis swollen, that at this hour the emperorBefore his armies—his own armies—trembles;Yea, in his capital, his palace, fearsThe traitor's poniard, and is meditatingTo hurry off and hide his tender offspring—Not from the Swedes, not from the Lutherans—no,From his own troops to hide and hurry them!MAX.Cease, cease! thou torturest, shatterest me. I knowThat oft we tremble at an empty terror;But the false phantasm brings a real misery.OCTAVIO.It is no phantasm. An intestine war,Of all the most unnatural and cruel,Will burst out into flames, if instantlyWe do not fly and stifle it. The generalsAre many of them long ago won over;The subalterns are vacillating; wholeRegiments and garrisons are vacillating.To foreigners our strongholds are intrusted;To that suspected Schafgotch is the wholeForce of Silesia given up: to TerzkyFive regiments, foot and horse; to Isolani,To Illo, Kinsky, Butler, the best troops.MAX.Likewise to both of us.OCTAVIO.Because the dukeBelieves he has secured us, means to lure usStill further on by splendid promises.To me he portions forth the princedoms, GlatzAnd Sagan; and too plain I see the baitWith which he doubts not but to catch thee.MAX.No! no!I tell thee, no!OCTAVIO.Oh, open yet thine eyes!And to what purpose think'st thou he has calledHither to Pilsen? to avail himselfOf our advice? Oh, when did Friedland everNeed our advice? Be calm, and listen to me.To sell ourselves are we called hither, andDecline we that, to be his hostages.Therefore doth noble Gallas stand aloof;Thy father, too, thou wouldst not have seen here,If higher duties had not held him fettered.MAX.He makes no secret of it—needs make none—That we're called hither for his sake—he owns it.He needs our aidance to maintain himself—He did so much for us; and 'tis but fairThat we, too, should do somewhat now for him.OCTAVIO.And know'st thou what it is which we must do?That Illo's drunken mood betrayed it to thee.Bethink thyself, what hast thou heard, what seen?The counterfeited paper, the omissionOf that particular clause, so full of meaning,Does it not prove that they would bind us downTo nothing good?MAX.That counterfeited paperAppears to me no other than a trickOf Illo's own device. These underhandTraders in great men's interests ever useTo urge and hurry all things to the extreme.They see the duke at variance with the court,And fondly think to serve him, when they widenThe breach irreparably. Trust me, father,The duke knows nothing of all this.OCTAVIO.It grieves meThat I must dash to earth, that I must shatterA faith so specious; but I may not spare thee!For this is not a time for tenderness.Thou must take measured, speedy ones, must act.I therefore will confess to thee that allWhich I've intrusted to thee now, that allWhich seems to thee so unbelievable,That—yes, I will tell thee, (a pause) Max.! I had it allFrom his own mouth, from the duke's mouth I had it.MAX (in excessive agitation).No! no! never!OCTAVIO.Himself confided to meWhat I, 'tis true, had long before discoveredBy other means; himself confided to me,That 'twas his settled plan to join the Swedes;And, at the head of the united armies,Compel the emperor——MAX.He is passionate,The court has stung him; he is sore all overWith injuries and affronts; and in a momentOf irritation, what if he, for once,Forgot himself? He's an impetuous man.OCTAVIO.Nay, in cold blood he did confess this to meAnd having construed my astonishmentInto a scruple of his power, he showed meHis written evidences—showed me letters,Both from the Saxon and the Swede, that gavePromise of aidance, and defined the amount.MAX.It cannot be!—cannot be! cannot be!Dost thou not see, it cannot!Thou wouldst of necessity have shown himSuch horror, such deep loathing—that or heHad taken thee for his better genius, orThou stood'st not now a living man before me.OCTAVIO.I have laid open my objections to him,Dissuaded him with pressing earnestness;But my abhorrence, the full sentimentOf my whole heart—that I have still kept safeTo my own consciousness.MAX.And thou hast beenSo treacherous? That looks not like my father!I trusted not thy words, when thou didst tell meEvil of him; much less can I now do it,That thou calumniatest thy own self.OCTAVIO.I did not thrust myself into his secrecy.MAX.Uprightness merited his confidence.OCTAVIO.He was no longer worthy of sincerity.MAX.Dissimulation, sure, was still less worthyOf thee, Octavio!OCTAVIO.Gave I him a causeTo entertain a scruple of my honor?MAX.That he did not evince his confidence.OCTAVIO.Dear son, it is not always possibleStill to preserve that infant purityWhich the voice teaches in our inmost heart,Still in alarm, forever on the watchAgainst the wiles of wicked men: e'en virtueWill sometimes bear away her outward robesSoiled in the wrestle with iniquity.This is the curse of every evil deedThat, propagating still, it brings forth evil.I do not cheat my better soul with sophisms;I but perform my orders; the emperorPrescribes my conduct to me. Dearest boy,Far better were it, doubtless, if we allObeyed the heart at all times; but so doing,In this our present sojourn with bad men,We must abandon many an honest object.'Tis now our call to serve the emperor;By what means he can best be served—the heartMay whisper what it will—this is our call!MAX.It seems a thing appointed, that to-dayI should not comprehend, not understand thee.The duke, thou sayest, did honestly pour outHis heart to thee, but for an evil purpose:And thou dishonestly hast cheated himFor a good purpose! Silence, I entreat thee—My friend, thou stealest not from me—Let me not lose my father!OCTAVIO (suppressing resentment).As yet thou knowest not all, my son. I haveYet somewhat to disclose to thee.[After a pause.Duke FriedlandHath made his preparations. He reliesUpon the stars. He deems us unprovided,And thinks to fall upon us by surprise.Yea, in his dream of hope, he grasps alreadyThe golden circle in his hand. He errs,We, too, have been in action—he but graspsHis evil fate, most evil, most mysterious!MAX.Oh, nothing rash, my sire! By all that's good,Let me invoke thee—no precipitation!OCTAVIO.With light tread stole he on his evil way,And light of tread hath vengeance stole on after him.Unseen she stands already, dark behind himBut one step more—he shudders in her grasp!Thou hast seen Questenberg with me. As yetThou knowest but his ostensible commission:He brought with him a private one, my son!And that was for me only.MAX.May I know it?OCTAVIO (seizes the patent).Max!In this disclosure place I in thy hands[A pause.The empire's welfare and thy father's life.Dear to thy inmost heart is WallensteinA powerful tie of love, of veneration,Hath knit thee to him from thy earliest youth.Thou nourishest the wish,—O let me stillAnticipate thy loitering confidence!The hope thou nourishest to knit thyselfYet closer to him——MAX.Father——OCTAVIO.Oh, my son!I trust thy heart undoubtingly. But am IEqually sure of thy collectedness?Wilt thou be able, with calm countenance,To enter this man's presence, when that IHave trusted to thee his whole fate?MAX.AccordingAs thou dost trust me, father, with his crime.[OCTAVIO takes a paper out of his escritoire and gives it to him.MAX.What! how! a full imperial patent!OCTAVIO.Read it.MAX. (just glances on it).Duke Friedland sentenced and condemned!OCTAVIO.Even so.MAX. (throws down the paper).Oh, this is too much! O unhappy error!OCTAVIO.Read on. Collect thyself.MAX. (after he has read further, with a look of affright and astonishmenton his father).How! what! Thou! thou!OCTAVIO.But for the present moment, till the KingOf Hungary may safely join the army,Is the command assigned to me.MAX.And think'st thou,Dost thou believe, that thou wilt tear it from him?Oh, never hope it! Father! father! father!An inauspicious office is enjoined thee.This paper here!—this! and wilt thou enforce it?The mighty in the middle of his host,Surrounded by his thousands, him wouldst thouDisarm—degrade! Thou art lost, both thou and all of us.OCTAVIO.What hazard I incur thereby, I know.In the great hand of God I stand. The AlmightyWill cover with his shield the imperial house,And shatter, in his wrath, the work of darkness.The emperor hath true servants still; and evenHere in the camp, there are enough brave menWho for the good cause will fight gallantly.The faithful have been warned—the dangerousAre closely watched. I wait but the first step,And then immediately——Max.What? On suspicion?Immediately?OCTAVIO.The emperor is no tyrant.The deed alone he'll punish, not the wish.The duke hath yet his destiny in his power.Let him but leave the treason uncompleted,He will be silently displaced from office,And make way to his emperor's royal son.An honorable exile to his castlesWill be a benefaction to him ratherThan punishment. But the first open step——MAX.What callest thou such a step? A wicked stepNe'er will he take; but thou mightest easily,Yea, thou hast done it, misinterpret him.OCTAVIO.Nay, howsoever punishable wereDuke Friedland's purposes, yet still the stepsWhich he hath taken openly permitA mild construction. It is my intentionTo leave this paper wholly unenforcedTill some act is committed which convicts himOf high treason, without doubt or plea,And that shall sentence him.MAX.But who the judgeOCTAVIO.Thyself.MAX.Forever, then, this paper will lie idle.OCTAVIO.Too soon, I fear, its powers must all be proved.After the counter-promise of this evening,It cannot be but he must deem himselfSecure of the majority with us;And of the army's general sentimentHe hath a pleasing proof in that petition,Which thou delivered'st to him from the regiments.Add this too—I have letters that the RhinegraveHath changed his route, and travels by forced marchesTo the Bohemian forests. What this purportsRemains unknown; and, to confirm suspicion,This night a Swedish nobleman arrived here.MAX.I have thy word. Thou'lt not proceed to actionBefore thou hast convinced me—me myself.OCTAVIO.Is it possible? Still, after all thou know'st,Canst thou believe still in his innocence?MAX. (with enthusiasm).Thy judgment may mistake; my heart cannot.[Moderates his voice and manner.These reasons might expound thy spirit or mine;But they expound not Friedland—I have faith:For as he knits his fortunes to the stars,Even so doth he resemble them in secret,Wonderful, still inexplicable courses!Trust me, they do him wrong. All will be solved.These smokes at once will kindle into flame—The edges of this black and stormy cloudWill brighten suddenly, and we shall viewThe unapproachable glide out in splendor.OCTAVIO.I will await it.