The Death of Wallenstein

SCENE VI

WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, and ILLO (re-enter).

ILLO

 
  Is't all right?
 

TERZKY

 
           Are you compromised?
 

ILLO

 
                      This Swede
  Went smiling from you. Yes! you're compromised.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  As yet is nothing settled; and (well weighed)
  I feel myself inclined to leave it so.
 

TERZKY

 
  How? What is that?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
             Come on me what will come,
  The doing evil to avoid an evil
  Cannot be good!
 

TERZKY

 
           Nay, but bethink you, duke.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  To live upon the mercy of these Swedes!
  Of these proud-hearted Swedes! – I could not bear it.
 

ILLO

 
  Goest thou as fugitive, as mendicant?
  Bringest thou not more to them than thou receivest?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  How fared it with the brave and royal Bourbon
  Who sold himself unto his country's foes,
  And pierced the bosom of his father-land?
  Curses were his reward, and men's abhorrence
  Avenged the unnatural and revolting deed.
 

ILLO

 
  Is that thy case?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
            True faith, I tell thee,
  Must ever be the dearest friend of man
  His nature prompts him to assert its rights.
  The enmity of sects, the rage of parties,
  Long-cherished envy, jealousy, unite;'
  And all the struggling elements of evil
  Suspend their conflict, and together league
  In one alliance 'gainst their common foe —
  The savage beast that breaks into the fold,
  Where men repose in confidence and peace.
  For vain were man's own prudence to protect him.
  'Tis only in the forehead nature plants
  The watchful eye; the back, without defence,
  Must find its shield in man's fidelity.
 

TERZKY

 
  Think not more meanly off thyself than do
  Thy foes, who stretch their hands with joy to greet thee.
  Less scrupulous far was the imperial Charles,
  The powerful head of this illustrious house;
  With open arms he gave the Bourbon welcome;
  For still by policy the world is ruled.
 

SCENE VII

To these enter the COUNTESS TERZKY.

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Who sent for you? There is no business here
  For women.
 

COUNTESS

 
        I am come to bid you joy.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Use thy authority, Terzky; bid her go.
 

COUNTESS

 
  Come I perhaps too early? I hope not.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Set not this tongue upon me, I entreat you:
  You know it is the weapon that destroys me.
  I am routed, if a woman but attack me:
  I cannot traffic in the trade of words
  With that unreasoning sex.
 

COUNTESS

 
                I had already
  Given the Bohemians a king.
 

WALLENSTEIN (sarcastically)

 
                 They have one,
  In consequence, no doubt.
 

COUNTESS (to the others)

 
                Ha! what new scruple?
 

TERZKY

 
  The duke will not.
 

COUNTESS

 
            He will not what he must!
 

ILLO

 
  It lies with you now. Try. For I am silenced
  When folks begin to talk to me of conscience
  And of fidelity.
 

COUNTESS

 
           How? then, when all
  Lay in the far-off distance, when the road
  Stretched out before thine eyes interminably,
  Then hadst thou courage and resolve; and now,
  Now that the dream is being realized,
  The purpose ripe, the issue ascertained,
  Dost thou begin to play the dastard now?
  Planned merely, 'tis a common felony;
  Accomplished, an immortal undertaking:
  And with success comes pardon hand in hand,
  For all event is God's arbitrament.
 

SERVANT (enters)

 
  The Colonel Piccolomini.
 

COUNTESS (hastily)

 
              – Must wait.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  I cannot see him now. Another time.
 

SERVANT

 
  But for two minutes he entreats an audience
  Of the most urgent nature is his business.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Who knows what he may bring us! I will hear him.
 

COUNTESS (laughs)

 
  Urgent for him, no doubt? but thou may'st wait.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  What is it?
 

COUNTESS

 
         Thou shalt be informed hereafter.
  First let the Swede and thee be compromised.
 

[Exit SERVANT.

WALLENSTEIN

 
  If there were yet a choice! if yet some milder
  Way of escape were possible – I still
  Will choose it, and avoid the last extreme.
 

COUNTESS

 
  Desirest thou nothing further? Such a way
  Lies still before thee. Send this Wrangel off.
  Forget thou thy old hopes, cast far away
  All thy past life; determine to commence
  A new one. Virtue hath her heroes too,
  As well as fame and fortune. To Vienna
  Hence – to the emperor – kneel before the throne;
  Take a full coffer with thee – say aloud,
  Thou didst but wish to prove thy fealty;
  Thy whole intention but to dupe the Swede.
 

ILLO

 
  For that too 'tis too late. They know too much;
  He would but bear his own head to the block.
 

COUNTESS

 
  I fear not that. They have not evidence
  To attaint him legally, and they avoid
  The avowal of an arbitrary power.
  They'll let the duke resign without disturbance.
  I see how all will end. The King of Hungary
  Makes his appearance, and 'twill of itself
  Be understood, and then the duke retires.
  There will not want a formal declaration.
  The young king will administer the oath
  To the whole army; and so all returns
  To the old position. On some morrow morning
  The duke departs; and now 'tis stir and bustle
  Within his castles. He will hunt and build;
  Superintend his horses' pedigrees,
  Creates himself a court, gives golden keys,
  And introduceth strictest ceremony
  In fine proportions, and nice etiquette;
  Keeps open table with high cheer: in brief,
  Commenceth mighty king – in miniature.
  And while he prudently demeans himself,
  And gives himself no actual importance,
  He will be let appear whate'er he likes:
  And who dares doubt, that Friedland will appear
  A mighty prince to his last dying hour?
  Well now, what then? Duke Friedland is as others,
  A fire-new noble, whom the war hath raised
  To price and currency, a Jonah's gourd,
  An over-night creation of court-favor,
  Which, with an undistinguishable ease,
  Makes baron or makes prince.
 

WALLENSTEIN (in extreme agitation)

 
                 Take her away.
  Let in the young Count Piccolomini.
 

COUNTESS

 
  Art thou in earnest? I entreat thee!
  Canst thou consent to bear thyself to thy own grave,
  So ignominiously to be dried up?
  Thy life, that arrogated such an height
  To end in such a nothing! To be nothing,
  When one was always nothing, is an evil
  That asks no stretch of patience, a light evil;
  But to become a nothing, having been —
 

WALLENSTEIN (starts up in violent agitation)

 
  Show me a way out of this stifling crowd,
  Ye powers of aidance! Show me such a way
  As I am capable of going. I
  Am no tongue-hero, no fine virtue-prattler;
  I cannot warm by thinking; cannot say
  To the good luck that turns her back upon me
  Magnanimously: "Go; I need thee not."
  Cease I to work, I am annihilated.
  Dangers nor sacrifices will I shun,
  If so I may avoid the last extreme;
  But ere I sink down into nothingness,
  Leave off so little, who began so great,
  Ere that the world confuses me with those
  Poor wretches, whom a day creates and crumbles,
  This age and after ages² speak my name
  With hate and dread; and Friedland be redemption
  For each accursed deed.
 

COUNTESS

 
               What is there here, then,
  So against nature? Help me to perceive it!
  Oh, let not superstition's nightly goblins
  Subdue thy clear, bright spirit! Art thou bid
  To murder? with abhorred, accursed poniard,
  To violate the breasts that nourished thee?
  That were against our nature, that might aptly
 

Make thy flesh shudder, and thy whole heart sicken.³ Yet not a few, and for a meaner object,

 
  Have ventured even this, ay, and performed it.
  What is there in thy case so black and monstrous?
  Thou art accused of treason – whether with
  Or without justice is not now the question —
  Thou art lost if thou dost not avail thee quickly
  Of the power which thou possessest – Friedland! Duke!
  Tell me where lives that thing so meek and tame,
  That doth not all his living faculties
  Put forth in preservation of his life?
  What deed so daring, which necessity
  And desperation will not sanctify?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Once was this Ferdinand so gracious to me;
  He loved me; he esteemed me; I was placed
  The nearest to his heart. Full many a time
  We like familiar friends, both at one table,
  Have banqueted together – he and I;
  And the young kings themselves held me the basin
  Wherewith to wash me – and is't come to this?
 

COUNTESS

 
  So faithfully preservest thou each small favor,
  And hast no memory for contumelies?
  Must I remind thee, how at Regensburg
  This man repaid thy faithful services?
  All ranks and all conditions in the empire
  Thou hadst wronged to make him great, – hadst loaded on thee,
  On thee, the hate, the curse of the whole world.
  No friend existed for thee in all Germany,
  And why? because thou hadst existed only
  For the emperor. To the emperor alone
  Clung Friedland in that storm which gathered round him
  At Regensburg in the Diet – and he dropped thee!
  He let thee fall! he let thee fall a victim
  To the Bavarian, to that insolent!
  Deposed, stripped bare of all thy dignity
  And power, amid the taunting of thy foe
  Thou wert let drop into obscurity.
  Say not, the restoration of thy honor
  Has made atonement for that first injustice.
  No honest good-will was it that replaced thee;
  The law of hard necessity replaced thee,
  Which they had fain opposed, but that they could not.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Not to their good wishes, that is certain,
  Nor yet to his affection I'm indebted
  For this high office; and if I abuse it,
  I shall therein abuse no confidence.
 

COUNTESS

 
  Affection! confidence! – they needed thee.
  Necessity, impetuous remonstrant!
  Who not with empty names, or shows of proxy,
  Is served, who'll have the thing and not the symbol,
  Ever seeks out the greatest and the best,
  And at the rudder places him, e'en though
  She had been forced to take him from the rabble —
  She, this necessity, it was that placed thee
  In this high office; it was she that gave thee
  Thy letters-patent of inauguration.
  For, to the uttermost moment that they can,
  This race still help themselves at cheapest rate
  With slavish souls, with puppets! At the approach
  Of extreme peril, when a hollow image
  Is found a hollow image and no more,
  Then falls the power into the mighty hands
  Of nature, of the spirit-giant born,
  Who listens only to himself, knows nothing
  Of stipulations, duties, reverences,
  And, like the emancipated force of fire,
  Unmastered scorches, ere it reaches them,
  Their fine-spun webs, their artificial policy.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  'Tis true! they saw me always as I am —
  Always! I did not cheat them in the bargain.
  I never held it worth my pains to hide
  The bold all-grasping habit of my soul.
 

COUNTESS

 
  Nay rather – thou hast ever shown thyself
  A formidable man, without restraint;
  Hast exercised the full prerogatives
  Of thy impetuous nature, which had been
  Once granted to thee. Therefore, duke, not thou,
  Who hast still remained consistent with thyself,
  But they are in the wrong, who, fearing thee,
  Intrusted such a power in hands they feared.
  For, by the laws of spirit, in the right
  Is every individual character
  That acts in strict consistence with itself:
  Self-contradiction is the only wrong.
  Wert thou another being, then, when thou
  Eight years ago pursuedst thy march with fire,
  And sword, and desolation, through the circles
  Of Germany, the universal scourge,
  Didst mock all ordinances of the empire,
  The fearful rights of strength alone exertedst,
  Trampledst to earth each rank, each magistracy,
  All to extend thy Sultan's domination?
  Then was the time to break thee in, to curb
  Thy haughty will, to teach thee ordinance.
  But no, the emperor felt no touch of conscience;
  What served him pleased him, and without a murmur
  He stamped his broad seal on these lawless deeds.
  What at that time was right, because thou didst it
  For him, to-day is all at once become
  Opprobrious, foul, because it is directed
  Against him. O most flimsy superstition!
 

WALLENSTEIN (rising)

 
  I never saw it in this light before,
  'Tis even so. The emperor perpetrated
  Deeds through my arm, deeds most unorderly.
  And even this prince's mantle, which I wear,
  I owe to what were services to him,
  But most high misdemeanors 'gainst the empire.
 

COUNTESS

 
  Then betwixt thee and him (confess it, Friedland!)
  The point can be no more of right and duty,
  Only of power and the opportunity.
  That opportunity, lo! it comes yonder
  Approaching with swift steeds; then with a swing
  Throw thyself up into the chariot-seat,
  Seize with firm hand the reins ere thy opponent
  Anticipate thee, and himself make conquest
  Of the now empty seat. The moment comes;
  It is already here, when thou must write
  The absolute total of thy life's vast sum.
  The constellations stand victorious o'er thee,
  The planets shoot good fortune in fair junctions,
  And tell thee, "Now's the time!" The starry courses
  Hast thou thy life-long measured to no purpose?
  The quadrant and the circle, were they playthings?
     [Pointing to the different objects in the room.
  The zodiacs, the rolling orbs of heaven,
  Hast pictured on these walls and all around thee.
  In dumb, foreboding symbols hast thou placed
  These seven presiding lords of destiny —
  For toys? Is all this preparation nothing?
  Is there no marrow in this hollow art,
  That even to thyself it doth avail
  Nothing, and has no influence over thee
  In the great moment of decision?
 

WALLENSTEIN (during this last speech walks up and down with inward struggles, laboring with passion; stops suddenly, stands still, then interrupting the COUNTESS)

 
  Send Wrangel to me – I will instantly
  Despatch three couriers —
 

ILLO (hurrying out)

 
                God in heaven be praised!
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  It is his evil genius and mine.
  Our evil genius! It chastises him
  Through me, the instrument of his ambition;
  And I expect no less, than that revenge
  E'en now is whetting for my breast the poinard.
  Who sows the serpent's teeth let him not hope
  To reap a joyous harvest. Every crime
  Has, in the moment of its perpetration,
  Its own avenging angel – dark misgiving,
  An ominous sinking at the inmost heart.
  He can no longer trust me. Then no longer
  Can I retreat – so come that which must come.
  Still destiny preserves its due relations,
  The heart within us is its absolute
  Vicegerent.         [To TERZKY.
         Go, conduct you Gustave Wrangel
  To my state cabinet. Myself will speak to
  The couriers. And despatch immediately
  A servant for Octavio Piccolomini.
 

[To the COUNTESS, who cannot conceal her triumph.

 
  No exultation! woman, triumph not!
  For jealous are the powers of destiny,
  Joy premature, and shouts ere victory,
  Encroach upon their rights and privileges.
  We sow the seed, and they the growth determine.
     [While he is making his exit the curtain drops.
 

ACT II

SCENE I

SCENE as in the preceding Act.

WALLENSTEIN, OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI.

WALLENSTEIN (coming forward in conversation)

 
  He sends me word from Linz that he lies sick;
  But I have sure intelligence that he
  Secretes himself at Frauenberg with Gallas.
  Secure them both, and send them to me hither.
  Remember, thou takest on thee the command
  Of those same Spanish regiments, – constantly
  Make preparation, and be never ready;
  And if they urge thee to draw out against me,
  Still answer yes, and stand as thou went fettered.
  I know, that it is doing thee a service
  To keep thee out of action in this business.
  Thou lovest to linger on in fair appearances;
  Steps of extremity are not thy province,
  Therefore have I sought out this part for thee.
  Thou wilt this time be of most service to me
  By thy inertness. The meantime, if fortune
  Declare itself on my side, thou wilt know
  What is to do.
 

[Enter MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

 
          Now go, Octavio.
  This night must thou be off, take my own horses
  Him here I keep with me – make short farewell —
  Trust me, I think we all shall meet again
  In joy and thriving fortunes.
 

OCTAVIO (to his son)

 
                  I shall see you
  Yet ere I go.
 

SCENE II

WALLENSTEIN, MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

 

MAX. (advances to him)

 
  My general!
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
         That I am no longer, if
  Thou stylest thyself the emperor's officer.
 

MAX

 
  Then thou wilt leave the army, general?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  I have renounced the service of the emperor.
 

MAX

 
  And thou wilt leave the army?
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
                  Rather hope I
  To bind it nearer still and faster to me.
 

[He seats himself.

 
  Yes, Max., I have delayed to open it to thee,
  Even till the hour of acting 'gins to strike.
  Youth's fortunate feeling doth seize easily
  The absolute right, yea, and a joy it is
  To exercise the single apprehension
  Where the sums square in proof;
  But where it happens, that of two sure evils
  One must be taken, where the heart not wholly
  Brings itself back from out the strife of duties,
  There 'tis a blessing to have no election,
  And blank necessity is grace and favor.
  This is now present: do not look behind thee, —
  It can no more avail thee. Look thou forwards!
  Think not! judge not! prepare thyself to act!
  The court – it hath determined on my ruin,
  Therefore I will be beforehand with them.
  We'll join the Swedes – right gallant fellows are they,
  And our good friends.
 

[He stops himself, expecting PICCOLOMINI's answer.

 
  I have taken thee by surprise. Answer me not:
  I grant thee time to recollect thyself.
 

[He rises, retires to the back of the stage. MAX. remains for a long time motionless, in a trance of excessive anguish.

At his first motion WALLENSTEIN returns, and places himself before him.

MAX

 
  My general, this day thou makest me
  Of age to speak in my own right and person,
  For till this day I have been spared the trouble
  To find out my own road. Thee have I followed
  With most implicit, unconditional faith,
  Sure of the right path if I followed thee.
  To-day, for the first time, dost thou refer
  Me to myself, and forcest me to make
  Election between thee and my own heart.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  Soft cradled thee thy fortune till to-day;
  Thy duties thou couldst exercise in sport,
  Indulge all lovely instincts, act forever
  With undivided heart. It can remain
  No longer thus. Like enemies, the roads
  Start from each other. Duties strive with duties,
  Thou must needs choose thy party in the war
  Which is now kindling 'twixt thy friend and him
  Who is thy emperor.
 

MAX

 
             War! is that the name?
  War is as frightful as heaven's pestilence,
  Yet it is good, is it heaven's will as that is.
  Is that a good war, which against the emperor
  Thou wagest with the emperor's own army?
  O God of heaven! what a change is this.
  Beseems it me to offer such persuasion
  To thee, who like the fixed star of the pole
  Wert all I gazed at on life's trackless ocean?
  O! what a rent thou makest in my heart!
  The ingrained instinct of old reverence,
  The holy habit of obediency,
  Must I pluck life asunder from thy name?
  Nay, do not turn thy countenance upon me —
  It always was as a god looking upon me!
  Duke Wallenstein, its power has not departed;
  The senses still are in thy bonds, although
  Bleeding, the soul hath freed itself.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
                      Max., hear me.
 

MAX

 
  Oh, do it not, I pray thee, do it not!
  There is a pure and noble soul within thee,
  Knows not of this unblest unlucky doing.
  Thy will is chaste, it is thy fancy only
  Which hath polluted thee – and innocence,
  It will not let itself be driven away
  From that world-awing aspect. Thou wilt not,
  Thou canst not end in this. It would reduce
  All human creatures to disloyalty
  Against the nobleness of their own nature.
  'Twill justify the vulgar misbelief,
  Which holdeth nothing noble in free will,
  And trusts itself to impotence alone,
  Made powerful only in an unknown power.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  The world will judge me harshly, I expect it.
  Already have I said to my own self
  All thou canst say to me. Who but avoids
  The extreme, can he by going round avoid it?
  But here there is no choice. Yes, I must use
  Or suffer violence – so stands the case,
  There remains nothing possible but that.
 

MAX

 
  Oh, that is never possible for thee!
  'Tis the last desperate resource of those
  Cheap souls, to whom their honor, their good name,
  Is their poor saving, their last worthless keep,
  Which, having staked and lost, they staked themselves
  In the mad rage of gaming. Thou art rich
  And glorious; with an unpolluted heart
  Thou canst make conquest of whate'er seems highest!
  But he who once hath acted infamy
  Does nothing more in this world.
 

WALLENSTEIN (grasps his hand)

 
                   Calmly, Max.!
  Much that is great and excellent will we
  Perform together yet. And if we only
  Stand on the height with dignity, 'tis soon
  Forgotten, Max., by what road we ascended.
  Believe me, many a crown shines spotless now,
  That yet was deeply sullied in the winning.
  To the evil spirit doth the earth belong,
  Not to the good. All that the powers divine
  Send from above are universal blessings
  Their light rejoices us, their air refreshes,
  But never yet was man enriched by them:
  In their eternal realm no property
  Is to be struggled for – all there is general.
  The jewel, the all-valued gold we win
  From the deceiving powers, depraved in nature,
  That dwell beneath the day and blessed sunlight.
  Not without sacrifices are they rendered
  Propitious, and there lives no soul on earth
  That e'er retired unsullied from their service.
 

MAX

 
  Whate'er is human to the human being
  Do I allow – and to the vehement
  And striving spirit readily I pardon
  The excess of action; but to thee, my general!
  Above all others make I large concession.
  For thou must move a world and be the master —
  He kills thee who condemns thee to inaction.
  So be it then! maintain thee in thy post
  By violence. Resist the emperor,
  And if it must be force with force repel;
  I will not praise it, yet I can forgive it.
  But not – not to the traitor – yes! the word
  Is spoken out —
  Not to the traitor can I yield a pardon.
  That is no mere excess! that is no error
  Of human nature – that is wholly different,
  Oh, that is black, black as the pit of hell!
 

[WALLENSTEIN betrays a sudden agitation.

 
  Thou canst not hear it named, and wilt thou do it?
  O turn back to thy duty. That thou canst,
  I hold it certain. Send me to Vienna;
  I'll make thy peace for thee with the emperor.
  He knows thee not. But I do know thee. He
  Shall see thee, duke! with my unclouded eye,
  And I bring back his confidence to thee.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  It is too late! Thou knowest not what has happened.
 

MAX

 
  Were it too late, and were things gone so far,
  That a crime only could prevent thy fall,
  Then – fall! fall honorably, even as thou stoodest,
  Lose the command. Go from the stage of war!
  Thou canst with splendor do it – do it too
  With innocence. Thou hast lived much for others,
  At length live thou for thy own self. I follow thee.
  My destiny I never part from thine.
 

WALLENSTEIN

 
  It is too late! Even now, while thou art losing
  Thy words, one after another, are the mile-stones
  Left fast behind by my post couriers,
  Who bear the order on to Prague and Egra.
 

[MAX. stands as convulsed, with a gesture and countenance expressing the most intense anguish.

 
  Yield thyself to it. We act as we are forced.
  I cannot give assent to my own shame
  And ruin. Thou – no – thou canst not forsake me!
  So let us do, what must be done, with dignity,
  With a firm step. What am I doing worse
  Than did famed Caesar at the Rubicon,
  When he the legions led against his country,
  The which his country had delivered to him?
  Had he thrown down the sword, he had been lost.
  As I were, if I but disarmed myself.
  I trace out something in me of this spirit.
  Give me his luck, that other thing I'll bear.
 

[MAX. quits him abruptly. WALLENSTEIN startled and overpowered, continues looking after him, and is still in this posture when TERZKY enters.