SCENE VI.
To them enters the COUNTESS TERZKY.
COUNTESS (in a pressing manner).
Come, come!
My husband sends me for you. It is now
The latest moment.
[They not appearing to attend to what she says,
she steps between them.
Part you!
THEKLA.
Oh, not yet!
It has been scarce a moment.
COUNTESS.
Ay! Then time
Flies swiftly with your highness, princess niece!
MAX.
There is no hurry, aunt.
COUNTESS.
Away! Away!
The folks begin to miss you. Twice already
His father has asked for him.
THEKLA.
Ha! His father!
COUNTESS.
You understand that, niece!
THEKLA.
Why needs he
To go at all to that society?
'Tis not his proper company. They may
Be worthy men, but he's too young for them;
In brief, he suits not such society.
COUNTESS.
You mean, you'd rather keep him wholly here?
THEKLA (with energy).
Yes! You have hit it aunt! That is my meaning,
Leave him here wholly! Tell the company----
COUNTESS.
What! have you lost your senses, niece?
Count, you remember the conditions. Come!
MAX (to THEKLA).
Lady, I must obey. Fairwell, dear lady!
[THEKLA turns away from him with a quick motion.
What say you then, dear lady?
THEKLA (without looking at him).
Nothing. Go!
MAX.
Can I when you are angry----
[He draws up to her, their eyes meet, she stands silent a moment,
then throws herself into his arms; he presses her fast to his heart.
COUNTESS.
Off! Heavens! if any one should come!
Hark! What's that noise! It comes this way. Off!
[MAX. tears himself away out of her arms and goes. The COUNTESS
accompanies him. THEKLA follows him with her eyes at first, walks
restlessly across the room, then stops, and remains standing, lost
in thought. A guitar lies on the table, she seizes it as by a
sudden emotion, and after she has played awhile an irregular and
melancholy symphony, she falls gradually into the music and sings.
SCENE VII.
THEKLA (plays and sings).
The cloud doth gather, the greenwood roar,
The damsel paces along the shore;
The billows, they tumble with might, with might;
And she flings out her voice to the darksome night;
Her bosom is swelling with sorrow;
The world it is empty, the heart will die,
There's nothing to wish for beneath the sky
Thou Holy One, call thy child away!
I've lived and loved, and that was to-day;
Make ready my grave-clothes to-morrow. [12]
SCENE VIII.
COUNTESS (returns), THEKLA.
COUNTESS.
Fie, lady niece! to throw yourself upon him
Like a poor gift to one who cares not for it,
And so must be flung after him! For you,
Duke Friedland's only child, I should have thought
It had been more beseeming to have shown yourself
More chary of your person.
THEKLA (rising).
And what mean you?
DUCHESS.
I mean, niece, that you should not have forgotten
Who you are, and who he is. But perchance
That never once occurred to you.
THEKLA.
What then?
COUNTESS.
That you're the daughter of the Prince Duke Friedland.
THEKLA.
Well, and what farther?
DUCHESS.
What? A pretty question!
THEKLA.
He was born that which we have but become.
He's of an ancient Lombard family,
Son of a reigning princess.
COUNTESS.
Are you dreaming?
Talking in sleep? An excellent jest, forsooth!
We shall no doubt right courteously entreat him
To honor with his hand the richest heiress
In Europe.
THEKLA.
That will not be necessary.
COUNTESS.
Methinks 'twere well, though, not to run the hazard.
THEHLA.
His father loves him; Count Octavio
Will interpose no difficulty----
COUNTESS.
His!
His father! His! But yours, niece, what of yours?
THERLA.
Why, I begin to think you fear his father,
So anxiously you hide it from the man!
His father, his, I mean.
COUNTESS (looks at her as scrutinizing).
Niece, you are false.
THEBLA.
Are you then wounded? O, be friends with me!
COUNTESS.
You hold your game for won already. Do not
Triumph too soon!
THEKLA (interrupting her, and attempting to soothe her).
Nay now, be friends with me.
COUNTESS.
It is not yet so far gone.
THEKLA.
I believe you.
COUNTESS.
Did you suppose your father had laid out
His most important life in toils of war,
Denied himself each quiet earthly bliss,
Had banished slumbers from his tent, devoted
His noble head to care, and for this only,
To make a happier pair of you? At length
To draw you from your convent, and conduct
In easy triumph to your arms the man
That chanced to please your eyes! All this, methinks,
He might have purchased at a cheaper rate.
THEKLA.
That which he did not plant for me might yet
Bear me fair fruitage of its own accord.
And if my friendly and affectionate fate,
Out of his fearful and enormous being,
Will but prepare the joys of life for me----
COUNTESS.
Thou seest it with a lovelorn maiden's eyes,
Cast thine eye round, bethink thee who thou art;--
Into no house of joyance hast thou stepped,
For no espousals dost thou find the walls
Decked out, no guests the nuptial garland wearing;
Here is no splendor but of arms. Or thinkest thou
That all these thousands are here congregated
To lead up the long dances at thy wedding!
Thou see'st thy father's forehead full of thought,
Thy mother's eye in tears: upon the balance
Lies the great destiny of all our house.
Leave now the puny wish, the girlish feeling;
Oh, thrust it far behind thee! Give thou proof
Thou'rt the daughter of the mighty--his
Who where he moves creates the wonderful.
Not to herself the woman must belong,
Annexed and bound to alien destinies.
But she performs the best part, she the wisest,
Who can transmute the alien into self,
Meet and disarm necessity by choice;
And what must be, take freely to her heart,
And bear and foster it with mother's love.
THEKLA.
Such ever was my lesson in the convent.
I had no loves, no wishes, knew myself
Only as his--his daughter--his, the mighty!
His fame, the echo of whose blast drove to me
From the far distance, weakened in my soul
No other thought than this--I am appointed
To offer myself up in passiveness to him.
COUNTESS.
That is thy fate. Mould thou thy wishes to it--
I and thy mother gave thee the example.
THEKLA.
My fate hath shown me him, to whom behoves it
That I should offer up myself. In gladness
Him will I follow.
COUNTESS.
Not thy fate hath shown him!
Thy heart, say rather--'twas thy heart, my child!
THEKLA.
Faith hath no voice but the heart's impulses.
I am all his! His present--his alone.
Is this new life, which lives in me? He hath
A right to his own creature. What was I
Ere his fair love infused a soul into me?
COUNTESS.
Thou wouldst oppose thy father, then, should he
Have otherwise determined with thy person?
[THEKLA remains silent. The COUNTESS continues.
Thou meanest to force him to thy liking? Child,
His name is Friedland.
THEKLA.
My name too is Friedland.
He shall have found a genuine daughter in me.
COUNTESS.
What! he has vanquished all impediment,
And in the wilful mood of his own daughter
Shall a new struggle rise for him? Child! child!
As yet thou hast seen thy father's smiles alone;
The eye of his rage thou hast not seen. Dear child,
I will not frighten thee. To that extreme,
I trust it ne'er shall come. His will is yet
Unknown to me; 'tis possible his aims
May have the same direction as thy wish.
But this can never, never be his will,
That thou, the daughter of his haughty fortunes,
Shouldest e'er demean thee as a lovesick maiden
And like some poor cost-nothing, fling thyself
Toward the man, who, if that high prize ever
Be destined to await him, yet with sacrifices
The highest love can bring, must pay for it.
[Exit COUNTESS.
SCENE IX.
THEKLA (who during the last speech had been standing evidently
lost in her reflections).
I thank thee for the hint. It turns
My sad presentiment to certainty.
And it is so! Not one friend have we here,
Not one true heart! we've nothing but ourselves!
Oh, she said rightly--no auspicious signs
Beam on this covenant of our affections.
This is no theatre where hope abides
The dull thick noise of war alone stirs here,
And love himself, as he were armed in steel,
Steps forth, and girds him for the strife of death.
[Music from the banquet-room is heard.
There's a dark spirit walking in our house.
And swiftly will the destiny close on us.
It drove me hither from my calm asylum,
It mocks my soul with charming witchery,
It lures me forward in a seraph's shape,
I see it near, I see it nearer floating,
It draws, it pulls me with a godlike power--
And lo! the abyss--and thither am I moving--
I have no power within me not to move!
[The music from the banquet-room becomes louder.
Oh, when a house is, doomed in fire to perish,
Many and dark Heaven drives his clouds together,
Yea, shoots his lightnings down from sunny heights,
Flames burst from out the subterraneous chasms,
And fiends and angels, mingling in their fury,
Sling firebrands at the burning edifice. [13]
[Exit THEKLA.
ACT IV.
SCENE I.
A large saloon lighted up with festal splendor; in the midst of it,
and in the centre of the stage a table richly set out, at which
eight generals are sitting, among whom are OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI,
TERZKY, and MARADAS. Right and left of this, but further back, two
other tables, at each of which six persons are placed. The middle
door, which is standing open, gives to the prospect a fourth table
with the same number of persons. More forward stands the sideboard.
The whole front of the stage is kept open, for the pages and
servants-in-waiting. All is in motion. The band of music belonging
to TERZKY's regiment march across the stage, and draw up around the
tables. Before they are quite off from the front of the stage, MAX.
PICCOLOMINI appears, TERZKY advances towards him with a paper,
ISOLANI comes up to meet him with a beaker, or service-cup.
TERZKY, ISOLANI, MAX. PICCOLOMINI.
ISOLANI.
Here, brother, what we love! Why, where hast been?
Off to thy place--quick! Terzky here has given
The mother's holiday wine up to free booty.
Here it goes on as at the Heidelberg castle.
Already hast thou lost the best. They're giving
At yonder table ducal crowns in shares;
There Sternberg's lands and chattels are put up,
With Eggenberg's, Stawata's, Lichtenstein's,
And all the great Bohemian feudalities.
Be nimble, lad! and something may turn up
For thee, who knows? off--to thy place! quick! march!
TIEFENBACH and GOETZ (call out from the second and third tables).
Count Piccolomini!
TERZKY.
Stop, ye shall have him in an instant. Read
This oath here, whether as 'tis here set forth,
The wording satisfies you. They've all read it,
Each in his turn, and each one will subscribe
His individual signature.
MAX. (reads).
"Ingratis servire nefas."
ISOLANI.
That sounds to my ears very much like Latin,
And being interpreted, pray what may it mean?
TERZKY.
No honest man will serve a thankless master.
MAX. "Inasmuch as our supreme commander, the illustrious Duke of
Friedland, in consequence of the manifold affronts and grievances which
he has received, had expressed his determination to quit the emperor, but
on our unanimous entreaty has graciously consented to remain still with
the army, and not to part from us without our approbation thereof, so we,
collectively and each in particular, in the stead of an oath personally
taken, do, hereby oblige ourselves--likewise by him honorably and
faithfully to hold, and in nowise whatsoever from him to part, and to be
ready to shed for his interests the last drop of our blood, so far,
namely, as our oath to the emperor will permit it. (These last words are
repeated by ISOLANI.) In testimony of which we subscribe our names."
TERZKY.
Now! are you willing to subscribe to this paper?
ISOLANI.
Why should he not? All officers of honor
Can do it, ay, must do it. Pen and ink here!
TERZKY.
Nay, let it rest till after meal.
ISOLANI (drawing MAX. along).
Come, Max!
[Both seat themselves at their table.
SCENE II.
TERZKY, NEUMANN.
TERZKY (beckons to NEUMANN, who is waiting at the side-table and steps
forward with him to the edge of the stage).
Have you the copy with you, Neumann? Give it.
It may be changed for the other?
NEUMANN.
I have copied it
Letter by letter, line by line; no eye
Would e'er discover other difference,
Save only the omission of that clause,
According to your excellency's order.
TERZKY.
Right I lay it yonder and away with this--
It has performed its business--to the fire with it.
[NEUMANN lays the copy on the table, and steps back again
to the side-table.
SCENE III.
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 not
To keep them warm and stirring?
ILLO.
Oh, quite cordial,
They are quite cordial in the scheme. We have them
And 'tis as I predicted too. Already
It is the talk, not merely to maintain
The duke in station. "Since we're once for all
Together and unanimous, why not,"
Says Montecuculi, "ay, why not onward,
And make conditions with the emperor
There 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!
SCENE IV.
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 fidelity
The duke may put to any proof--I'm with him
Tell him so! I'm the emperor's officer,
As long as 'tis his pleasure to remain
The emperor's general! and Friedland's servant,
As soon as it shall please him to become
His 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 fidelity
To sale, Count Terzky! Half a year ago
I would not have advised you to have made me
An overture to that, to which I now
Offer 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 remain
Without an influence.
ILLO.
Who is ignorant,
That the whole army looks to Colonel Butler
As to a light that moves before them?
BUTLER.
Ay?
Then I repent me not of that fidelity
Which for the length of forty years I held,
If in my sixtieth year my good old name
Can 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 expect
That this your game had crooked my judgment--or
That 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 steadily
At 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 yours
With all I have. Not only men, but money
Will 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 alone
Here in the world; naught know I of the feeling
That 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 heart
Like yours weighs tons of gold down, weighs down millions!
BUTLER.
I came a simple soldier's boy from Ireland
To 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 life
To have marked out with his good sword a lordship
That should reward his courage. Who of these
Equals our Friedland? There is nothing, nothing
So 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.
SCENE V.
The MASTER OF THE CELLAR, advancing with NEUMANN, SERVANTS passing
backwards 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, keeping
his eye on the MASTER OF THE CELLAR, standing between him and the
RUNNER.
Quick, Thomas! before the Master of the Cellar runs this way; 'tis a
flask of Frontignac! Snapped it up at the third table. Canst go off
with 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 servant
for 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 of
the stage to the tables; part of the guests come forward.
SCENE VI.
OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI enters, in conversation with MARADAS, and both
place themselves quite on the edge of the stage on one side of the
proscenium. On the side directly opposite, MAX. PICCOLOMINI, by
himself, lost in thought, and taking no part in anything that is
going forward. The middle space between both, but rather more
distant 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 table
to 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 time
with GOETZ and KOLATTO. MARADAS in the meantime returns to OCTAVIO.
All this takes places, the conversation with BUTLER proceeding
uninterrupted.
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.
SCENE VII.
To these enter ILLO from the inner room. He has in his hand a
golden 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 some
of the officers, and amidst a universal confusion the curtain drops.
ACT V.
SCENE I.
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 some
moments in silence.
MAX.
Art thou offended with me? Heaven knows
That 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 follow
My 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 faithfully
Guided 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 of
The 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 refused
The 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 yet
Hast thou to hear from me, friend! Hast for years
Lived in incomprehensible illusion.
Before thine eyes is treason drawing out
As 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--dare
No 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 be
Conjectures only--and almost I fear
They will be nothing further--spare them! I
Am 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 innocence
And wisdom of thy heart I could have trusted thee
With calm assurance--but I see the net
Preparing--and it is thy heart itself
Alarms 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 eyes
to the ground embarrassed.
OCTAVIO (after a pause).
Know, then, they are duping thee!--a most foul game
With thee and with us all--nay, hear me calmly--
The duke even now is playing. He assumes
The mask, as if he would forsake the army;
And in this moment makes he preparations
That army from the emperor to steal,
And carry it over to the enemy!
MAX.
That low priest's legend I know well, but did not
Expect 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 dream
That he can lure away full thirty thousand
Tried 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 do
A deed that brands them scoundrels?
OCTAVIO.
Such a deed,
With such a front of infamy, the duke
No way desires--what he requires of us
Bears a far gentler appellation. Nothing
He 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 sow
Mutiny in the camp! All bands are loosed--
Loosed all the bands that link the officer
To his liege emperor, all that bind the soldier
Affectionately to the citizen.
Lawless he stands, and threateningly beleaguers
The state he's bound to guard. To such a height
'Tis swollen, that at this hour the emperor
Before his armies--his own armies--trembles;
Yea, in his capital, his palace, fears
The traitor's poniard, and is meditating
To 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 know
That 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 instantly
We do not fly and stifle it. The generals
Are many of them long ago won over;
The subalterns are vacillating; whole
Regiments and garrisons are vacillating.
To foreigners our strongholds are intrusted;
To that suspected Schafgotch is the whole
Force of Silesia given up: to Terzky
Five regiments, foot and horse; to Isolani,
To Illo, Kinsky, Butler, the best troops.
MAX.
Likewise to both of us.
OCTAVIO.
Because the duke
Believes he has secured us, means to lure us
Still further on by splendid promises.
To me he portions forth the princedoms, Glatz
And Sagan; and too plain I see the bait
With 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 called
Hither to Pilsen? to avail himself
Of our advice? Oh, when did Friedland ever
Need our advice? Be calm, and listen to me.
To sell ourselves are we called hither, and
Decline 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 fair
That 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 omission
Of that particular clause, so full of meaning,
Does it not prove that they would bind us down
To nothing good?
MAX.
That counterfeited paper
Appears to me no other than a trick
Of Illo's own device. These underhand
Traders in great men's interests ever use
To 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 widen
The breach irreparably. Trust me, father,
The duke knows nothing of all this.
OCTAVIO.
It grieves me
That I must dash to earth, that I must shatter
A 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 all
Which I've intrusted to thee now, that all
Which seems to thee so unbelievable,
That--yes, I will tell thee, (a pause) Max.! I had it all
From his own mouth, from the duke's mouth I had it.
MAX (in excessive agitation).
No! no! never!
OCTAVIO.
Himself confided to me
What I, 'tis true, had long before discovered
By 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 over
With injuries and affronts; and in a moment
Of irritation, what if he, for once,
Forgot himself? He's an impetuous man.
OCTAVIO.
Nay, in cold blood he did confess this to me
And having construed my astonishment
Into a scruple of his power, he showed me
His written evidences--showed me letters,
Both from the Saxon and the Swede, that gave
Promise 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 him
Such horror, such deep loathing--that or he
Had taken thee for his better genius, or
Thou 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 sentiment
Of my whole heart--that I have still kept safe
To my own consciousness.
MAX.
And thou hast been
So treacherous? That looks not like my father!
I trusted not thy words, when thou didst tell me
Evil 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 worthy
Of thee, Octavio!
OCTAVIO.
Gave I him a cause
To entertain a scruple of my honor?
MAX.
That he did not evince his confidence.
OCTAVIO.
Dear son, it is not always possible
Still to preserve that infant purity
Which the voice teaches in our inmost heart,
Still in alarm, forever on the watch
Against the wiles of wicked men: e'en virtue
Will sometimes bear away her outward robes
Soiled in the wrestle with iniquity.
This is the curse of every evil deed
That, propagating still, it brings forth evil.
I do not cheat my better soul with sophisms;
I but perform my orders; the emperor
Prescribes my conduct to me. Dearest boy,
Far better were it, doubtless, if we all
Obeyed 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 heart
May whisper what it will--this is our call!
MAX.
It seems a thing appointed, that to-day
I should not comprehend, not understand thee.
The duke, thou sayest, did honestly pour out
His heart to thee, but for an evil purpose:
And thou dishonestly hast cheated him
For 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 have
Yet somewhat to disclose to thee.
[After a pause.
Duke Friedland
Hath made his preparations. He relies
Upon the stars. He deems us unprovided,
And thinks to fall upon us by surprise.
Yea, in his dream of hope, he grasps already
The golden circle in his hand. He errs,
We, too, have been in action--he but grasps
His 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 him
But one step more--he shudders in her grasp!
Thou hast seen Questenberg with me. As yet
Thou 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 Wallenstein
A powerful tie of love, of veneration,
Hath knit thee to him from thy earliest youth.
Thou nourishest the wish,--O let me still
Anticipate thy loitering confidence!
The hope thou nourishest to knit thyself
Yet closer to him----
MAX.
Father----
OCTAVIO.
Oh, my son!
I trust thy heart undoubtingly. But am I
Equally sure of thy collectedness?
Wilt thou be able, with calm countenance,
To enter this man's presence, when that I
Have trusted to thee his whole fate?
MAX.
According
As 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 astonishment
on his father).
How! what! Thou! thou!
OCTAVIO.
But for the present moment, till the King
Of 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 thou
Disarm--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 Almighty
Will cover with his shield the imperial house,
And shatter, in his wrath, the work of darkness.
The emperor hath true servants still; and even
Here in the camp, there are enough brave men
Who for the good cause will fight gallantly.
The faithful have been warned--the dangerous
Are closely watched. I wait but the first step,
And then immediately----
