The Death of Wallenstein (play)

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 conldst 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.