“ SCENE XIII A spacious Room in the Duke of Friedland's Palace.
WALLENSTEIN (in armor) .
Thou hast gain'd thy point, Octavio! Once more am I
Almost as friendless as at Regensburg.
There I had nothing left me, but myself;
But what one man can do, you have now experience.
The twigs have you hew'd off, and here I stand
A leafless trunk. But in the sap within
Lives the creating power, and a new world
May sprout forth from it. Once already have I
Proved myself worth an army to you—I alone!
Before the Swedish strength your troops had melted;
Beside the Lech sank Tilly your last hope ”

“ 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 ”

“ GESSLER (after a pause) .
And do you, Tell, so lightly hold your King,
And me, who act as his vice-regent here,
That you refuse obeisance to the cap,
I hung aloft to test your loyalty?
I read in this a disaffected spirit.
TELL. Pardon me, good my lord! The action sprung
From inadvertence—not from disrespect.
Were I discreet, I were not William Tell.
Forgive me now—I'll not offend again.
GESSLER (after a pause) .
I hear, Tell, you're a master with the bow—
From every rival bear the palm away.
WALTER. That's very truth, sir! At a hundred yards
He'll shoot an apple for you off the tree. ”

“ WRANGEL. That he forthwith disarm the Spanish regiments
Attached to the Emp'ror, that he seize on Prague,
And to the Swedes give up that city, with
The strong pass Egra.
WALLENSTEIN. That is much indeed!
Prague!—Egra's granted—but—but Prague!—'T won't do.
I give you every security
Which you may ask of me in common reason—
But Prague—Bohemia—these, Sir General,
I can myself protect.
WRANGEL. We doubt it not.
But 'tis not the protection that is now
Our sole concern. We want security
That we shall not expend our men and money
All to no purpose.
WALLENSTEIN. 'Tis but reasonable. ”

“ I long have known the grief that weighs thee down.
The Viceroy hates thee, fain would injure thee,
For thou past cross'd his wish to bend the Swiss
In homage to this upstart house of princes,
And kept them staunch, like their good sires of old,
In true allegiance to the Empire. Say,
Is't not so, Werner? Tell me, am I wrong?
STAUFF. 'Tis even so. For this doth Gessler hate me.
GERT. He burns with envy, too, to see thee living
Happy and free on thine ancestral soil,
For he is landless. From the Emperor's self
Thou hold'st in fief the lands thy fathers left thee. ”

“ Never take shame upon thee for thy choice.
COUNTESS. This journey, if 'twere not thy aim, ascribe it
To thine own self. Thou shouldst have chosen another
To have attended her.
WALLENSTEIN. And does he know it?
COUNTESS. Yes, and he hopes to win her!
WALLENSTEIN. Hopes to win her!
Is the boy mad?
COUNTESS. Well—hear it from themselves.
WALLENST. He thinks to carry off Duke Friedland's daughter!
Ay?—The thought pleases me.
The young man has no groveling spirit.
COUNTESS. Since
Such and such constant favor you have shown him—
WALLENST. He chooses finally to be my heir. ”

“ Shall ne'er disturb thy soul's fair peace.
MAX. Then I
Must leave thee, must part from thee!
THEKLA. Being faithful
To thine own self, thou art faithful, too, to me;
If our fates part, our hearts remain united.
A bloody hatred will divide forever
The houses Piccolomini and Friedland;
But we belong not to our houses. Go!
Quick! quick! and separate thy righteous cause
From our unholy and unblessèd one!
The curse of Heaven lies upon our head:
'Tis dedicate to ruin. Even me
My father's guilt drags with it to perdition.
Mourn not for me:
My destiny will quickly be decided. ”

“ 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 cherish'd 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. ”

“ His color at a daring enterprise.
GORDON. A brave man hazards life, but not his conscience.
BUTLER. What then? Shall he go forth anew to kindle
The unextinguishable flame of war?
GORDON. Seize him, and hold him prisoner—do not kill him.
BUTLER. Had not the Emperor's army been defeated,
I might have done so.—But 'tis now past by.
GORDON. O, wherefore open'd I the stronghold to him?
BUTLER. His destiny and not the place destroys him.
GORDON. Upon these ramparts, as beseem'd a soldier,
I had fallen, defending the Emperor's citadel!
BUTLER. Yes, and a thousand gallant men have perish'd. ”

“ WALLENST. The Emperor's proclamation weighs upon thee—
Alphabets wound not—and he finds no hands.
COUNTESS. If he should find them, my resolve is taken—
I bear about me my support and refuge.
[Exit COUNTESS.]
SCENE IV WALLENSTEIN, GORDON WALLENST. All quiet in the town?
GORDON. The town is quiet.
WALLENST. I hear a boisterous music! and the Castle
Is lighted up. Who are the revellers?
GORDON. There is a banquet given at the Castle
To the Count Terzky and Field Marshal Illo.
WALLENST. In honor of the victory—This tribe
Can show their joy in nothing else but feasting. ”

“ Suddenly the clouds broke, and the storm rolled away from Franconia, to burst upon the plains of Saxony. Near Lützen fell the thunder that had menaced Nuremberg; the victory, half lost, was purchased by the death of the king. Fortune, which had never forsaken him in his lifetime, favored the King of Sweden even in his death, with the rare privilege of falling in the fulness of his glory and an untarnished fame. By a timely death, his protecting genius rescued him from the inevitable fate of man—that of forgetting moderation in the intoxication of success, and justice in the plenitude of power. ”

“ And not with those that hate thee at Vienna?
TERZKY. In writing thou gavest nothing—But bethink thee,
How far thou ventured'st by word of mouth
With this Sesina! And will he be silent?
If he can save himself by yielding up
Thy secret purposes, will he retain them?
ILLO. Thyself dost not conceive it possible;
And since they now have evidence authentic
How far thou hast already gone, speak!—tell us,
What art thou waiting for? Thou canst no longer
Keep thy command; and beyond hope of rescue
Thou'rt lost, if thou resign'st it.
WALLENSTEIN. In the army
Lies my security. ”

“ ANSPESS. 'Tis then but mere appearances which thou
Dost put on with the Swede! Thou'lt not betray
The Emperor? Wilt not turn us into Swedes?
This is the only thing which we desire
To learn from thee.
WALLENSTEIN. What care I for the Swedes?
I hate them as I hate the pit of hell,
And under Providence I trust right soon
To chase them to their homes across their Baltic.
My cares are only for the whole: I have
A heart—it bleeds within me for the miseries
And piteous groaning of my fellow Germans.
Ye are but common men, but yet ye think
With minds not common ”

“ A human creature could not so at once
Have vanish'd.
ILLO (enters) .
Is it true that thou wilt send
Octavio?
TERZKY. How, Octavio! Whither send him?
WALLENST. He goes to Frauenburg, and will lead hither
The Spanish and Italian regiments.
ILLO. No!
Nay, Heaven forbid!
WALLENSTEIN. And why should Heaven forbid?
ILLO. Him!—that deceiver! Wouldst thou trust to him
The soldiery? Him wilt thou let slip from thee,
Now in the very instant that decides us—
TERZKY. Thou wilt not do this—No! I pray thee, no!
WALLENST. Ye are whimsical.
ILLO. O but for this time, Duke,
Yield to our warning! ”

“ Because thou wert an enemy and traitor.
WALLENST. And what did you determine?
ANSPESSADE. All our comrades
At Braunau, Budweiss, Prague and Olmütz, have
Obey'd already; and the regiments here,
Tiefenbach and Toscano, instantly
Did follow their example. But—but we
Do not believe that thou art an enemy
And traitor to thy country, hold it merely
For lie and trick and a trumped-up Spanish story!
[With warmth.]
Thyself shalt tell us what thy purpose is,
For we have found thee still sincere and true:
No mouth shall interpose itself betwixt
The gallant General and the gallant troops. ”

“ BUTLER. It shall be done, my General!
WALLENSTEIN (steps between MAX and THEKLA, who have remained during this time in each other's arms) .
Part! MAX. O God!
[Cuirassiers enter with drawn swords, and assemble in the background. At the same time there are heard from below some spirited passages out of the Pappenheim March, which seem to address MAX.]
WALLENSTEIN (to the Cuirassiers) .
Here he is, he is at liberty: I keep him
No longer.
[He turns away, and stands so that MAX cannot pass by him nor approach the PRINCESS.]
MAX. Thou know'st that I have not yet learnt to live
Without thee! ”

“ Quick! break off from the Duke!
BUTLER. Break off from him!
OCTAVIO. What now? Bethink thyself.
BUTLER (no longer governing his emotion) .
Only break off from him? He dies! he dies!
OCTAVIO. Come after me to Frauenburg, where now
All who are loyal are assembling under
Counts Altringer and Gallas. Many others
I've brought to a remembrance of their duty:
This night be sure that you escape from Pilsen.
BUTLER (strides up and down in excessive agitation, then steps up to OCTAVIO with resolved countenance) .
Count Piccolomini! dare that man speak
Of honor to you, who once broke his troth. ”

“ Supreme commander of the Austrian armies?—
We will stand by thee, General! and guarantee
Thy honest rights against all opposition.
And should it chance that all the other regiments
Turn from thee, by ourselves will we stand forth
Thy faithful soldiers, and, as is our duty,
Far rather let ourselves be cut to pieces
Than suffer thee to fall. But if it be
As the Emperor's letter says, if it be true,
That thou in traitorous wise wilt lead us over
To the enemy, which God in heaven forbid!
Then we too will forsake thee, and obey
That letter—
WALLENSTEIN. Hear me, children! ”