Johann Tserclaes, Count of Wallenstein

“ SCENE IV. To these enter COUNT TERZKY. TERZKY. Joy, general, joy! I bring you welcome tidings. WALLENSTEIN. And what may they be? TERZKY. There has been an engagement At Neustadt; the Swedes gained the victory. WALLENSTEIN. From whence did you receive the intelligence? TERZKY. A countryman from Tirschenreut conveyed it. Soon after sunrise did the fight begin A troop of the imperialists from Tachau Had forced their way into the Swedish camp; The cannonade continued full two hours; There were left dead upon the field a thousand Imperialists, together with their colonel ”

“ The banished Count Thurn, who had long entered the service of Sweden, undertook to convey Wallenstein's congratulations to the king, and to invite him to a close alliance with the duke. Wallenstein required 15,000 men from the king; and with these, and the troops he himself engaged to raise, he undertook to conquer Bohemia and Moravia, to surprise Vienna, and drive his master, the Emperor, before him into Italy. ”

“ The purport was, that Wallenstein, notwithstanding his superiority, was willing to agree to a cessation of arms for six weeks. "He was come," he said, "to conclude a lasting peace with the Swedes, and with the princes of the empire, to pay the soldiers, and to satisfy every one. All this was in his power; and if the Austrian court hesitated to confirm his agreement, he would unite with the allies, and (as he privately whispered to Arnheim) hunt the Emperor to the devil." At the second conference, he expressed himself still more plainly to Count Thurn. ”

“ The only document he carried, in addition to Count Tilly's letter to the Emperor, was the extraordinary letter from Wallenstein taken from the dead Count von Teschen. This the Archduchess Stephanie had returned to him privately, with these few words inscribed upon the inside of the paper that enveloped them [225] —
"The ardour of a great loyalty createth a cloud of smoke, seen through which other men's actions may be distorted out of the natural semblance of beauty. ”

“ He was first made Count, and then Duke of Friedland, with the authority of an independent prince of the Empire.
1625.
Wallenstein was superstitious, and his studies in astrology gave him the belief that a much higher destiny awaited him. Here was the opportunity: he offered to raise and command a second army, in the Emperor's service. Ferdinand II. accepted the offer with joy, and sent word to Wallenstein that he should immediately proceed to enlist 20,000 men. "My army," the latter answered, "must live by what it can take: 20,000 men are not enough. ”

“ Nay, not Sesina? Say, no! I entreat thee. TERZKY. All on his road for Regensburg to the Swede He was plunged down upon by Gallas' agent, Who had been long in ambush, lurking for him. There must have been found on him my whole packet To Thur, to Kinsky, to Oxenstiern, to Arnheim: All this is in their hands; they have now an insight Into the whole—our measures and our motives.
SCENE III. To them enters ILLO. ILLO (to TERZKY) . Has he heard it? TERZKY. He has heard it. ILLO (to WALLENSTEIN) . Thinkest thou still To make thy peace with the emperor, to regain His confidence? ”

“ TERZKY. We are seeking him: he is nowhere to be met with. WALLENSTEIN. What did the aide-de-camp deliver to you? TERZKY. My regiments had despatched him; yet once more They swear fidelity to thee, and wait The shout for onset, all prepared, and eager. WALLENSTEIN. But whence arose this larum in the camp? It should have been kept secret from the army Till fortune had decided for us at Prague. TERZKY. Oh, that thou hadst believed me! Yester-evening Did we conjure thee not to let that skulker, That fox, Octavio, pass the gates of Pilsen. Thou gavest him thy own horses to flee from thee. ”

“ 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. ”

“ No, my lads, no, Rather his corps let each of us seek, And quietly then with his comrades speak, That every soldier may clearly know, It were not for his good so far to go; For my Walloons to answer I'm free, Every man of 'em thinks and acts with me. SERGEANT. The Terzky regiments, both horse and foot, Will thus resolve, and will keep them to't. SECOND CUIRASSIER (joining the first) . The Walloons and the Lombards one intent. FIRST YAGER. Freedom is Yagers' own element. SECOND YAGER. Freedom must ever with might entwine— I live and will die by Wallenstein. ”

“ But Wallenstein had many enemies; and never has any man been hated by a greater variety of foes at once. All who were envious or jealous of him—all whom he had eclipsed and mortified, and whom he had dispossessed of lands; all whom he had offended by his own haughtiness; all foreigners, because he openly disliked them; all priests, because he secretly distrusted them;—these and his Protestant countrymen joined in common action against him, under the lead of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. ”

“ No human tie is snapp'd betwixt us two.
Yea, he deserves to find himself deceived
Who seeks a heart in the unthinking man.
Like shadows on a stream, the forms of life
Impress their characters on the smooth forehead,
Nought sinks into the bosom's silent depth;
Quick sensibility of pain and pleasure
Moves the light fluids lightly; but no soul
Warmeth the inner frame.
TERZKY. Yet, would I rather
Trust the smooth brow than that deep furrow'd one.
SCENE VIII WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, ILLO ILLO (who enters agitated with rage) . ”

“ SCENE VIII. WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, ILLO. ILLO (who enters agitated with rage) . Treason and mutiny! TERZKY. And what further now? ILLO. Tiefenbach's soldiers, when I gave the orders. To go off guard—mutinous villains! TERZKY. Well! WALLENSTEIN. What followed? ILLO. They refused obedience to them. TERZKY. Fire on them instantly! Give out the order. WALLENSTEIN. Gently! what cause did they assign? ILLO. No other, They said, had right to issue orders but Lieutenant-General Piccolomini. ”

“ In a splendid banquet scene they present a written agreement (Revers) to stand by the general so far as loyalty to the Emperor will permit, and then, when all are heated with wine, secure signatures to a substituted document from which this reservation of loyalty to the Emperor is omitted. It is the hope of Illo and Terzky, through the sight of this document, to persuade Wallenstein to open rebellion. Max Piccolomini, coming late to the banquet from the interview with Thekla, refuses to sign the pledge, not because he sees through the deception, but because he is in no mood for business. ”

“ 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! ”

“ Wallenstein courted his friendship by restoring to him without ransom some of his attendants captured at Luetzen. The Duke was not ungrateful, and took a zealous part in the negotiations between Wallenstein and the Elector of Saxony, and Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar in January and February, 1634. On the night of Wallenstein's assassination he was arrested by Gordon and sent to Vienna, where he remained a year in imprisonment, but, at the expiration of that time, by embracing the Roman Catholic faith, obtained at once his freedom and a command in the Imperial army in Silesia. ”

“ Ruined churches, villages in ashes, harvests wilfully destroyed, families plundered, and murdered peasants, marked the progress of these barbarians, under whose scourge the whole of Thuringia, Vogtland, and Meissen, lay defenceless. Yet this was but the prelude to greater sufferings with which Wallenstein himself, at the head of the main army, threatened Saxony. After having left behind him fearful monuments of his fury, in his march through Franconia and Thuringia, he arrived with his whole army in the Circle of Leipzic, and compelled the city, after a short resistance, to surrender. ”

“ The proud monarch might condescend to accept the assistance of a rebellious subject against the Emperor, and to reward his valuable services with regal munificence; but he never could so far lose sight of his own dignity, and the majesty of royalty, as to bestow the recompense which the extravagant ambition of Wallenstein demanded, and requite an act of treason, however useful, with a crown. In him, therefore, even if all Europe should tacitly acquiesce, Wallenstein had reason to expect the most decided and formidable opponent to his views on the Bohemian crown ”

“ Death and hell! I will—— TERZKY. Expose thyself to their blind frenzy? DUCHESS and COUNTESS. No! For God's sake, no! ILLO. Not yet, my general! Oh, hold him! hold him! WALLENSTEIN. Leave me—— MAX. Do it not; Not yet! This rash and bloody deed has thrown them Into a frenzy-fit—allow them time—— WALLENSTEIN. Away! too long already have I loitered. They are emboldened to these outrages, Beholding not my face. They shall behold My countenance, shall hear my voice— Are they not my troops? Am I not their general, And their long-feared commander! ”

“ Seven times did this intrepid general renew the attack; seven horses were shot under him, and he himself was pierced with six musket-balls; yet he would not leave the field until he was carried along in the general rout of the whole army. Wallenstein himself was seen riding through his ranks with cool intrepidity, amidst a shower of balls, assisting the distrest, encouraging the valiant with praise and the wavering by his fearful glance. ”

“ To this proud subject of his, fresh from his dalliances with his enemies, the emperor now appealed for help. Wallenstein agreed to raise an army, provided his control of it should be absolute. Ferdinand was constrained to grant all that his old general demanded. Wallenstein now raised his standard, to which rallied the adventurers not only of Germany, but of all Europe as well. The array was a vast and heterogeneous host, bound together by no bonds of patriotism, loyalty, or convictions, but by the spell and prestige of the name of Wallenstein. ”

“ But however little confidence he had in the moderation of his friend, the extravagant contents of his writing surpassed even his worst expectations. Wallenstein required the uncontrolled command over all the German armies of Austria and Spain, with unlimited powers to reward and punish. Neither the King of Hungary, nor the Emperor himself, were to appear in the army, still less to exercise any act of authority over it. No commission in the army, no pension or letter of grace, was to be granted by the Emperor without Wallenstein's approval. ”

“ For carrying on the war along the Rhine, he was entirely dependent upon the princes of the Catholic League and their army under Tilly.
Wallenstein now came forward and offered to supply the Emperor with a powerful imperial army which should not cost him a penny. This offer, coming from a mere private gentleman, sounded absurd; and for a time Wallenstein was put aside with contemptuous laughter. At last the Emperor told him, if he thought he could raise as many as ten thousand men, to go ahead. "If I have only ten thousand," said Wallenstein, "we must accept what people choose to give us. ”

“ Thekla has yet another pang to encounter; the parting with her mother: but she persists in her determination, and goes forth, to die beside her lover's grave. The heart-rending emotions, which this amiable creature has to undergo, are described with an almost painful effect: the fate of Max and Thekla might draw tears from the eyes of a stoic.
Less tender, but not less sublimely poetical, is the fate of Wallenstein himself. We do not pity Wallenstein; even in ruin he seems too great for pity. ”

“ Though he had little more than 12,000 men to oppose to the 20,000 of the enemy, he might hope to maintain his ground until the return of Pappenheim, who could not have advanced farther than Halle, five miles distant. Messengers were hastily dispatched to recall him, while Wallenstein moved forward into the wide plain between the Canal and Lützen, where lie awaited the King in full order of battle, and, by this position, cut off his communication with Leipzic and the Saxons auxiliaries. ”

“ The immense riches Wallenstein possessed, the universal reputation he enjoyed, the rapidity with which six years before he had assembled an army of 40,000 men, the little expense at which he had maintained this formidable force, the actions he had performed at its head, and lastly, the zeal and fidelity he had displayed for his master's honor, still lived in the Emperor's recollection and made Wallenstein seem to him the ablest instrument to restore the balance between the belligerent powers, to save Austria, and preserve the Catholic religion. ”

“ But those who doubted did not know the tremendous energy, the boundless resources, and the towering ambition of the man. The plan was carried out to its fullest extent: within a few months a large and well-equipped{170} army was ready to take the field, and Wallenstein, whose name was comparatively unknown in the history of war, suddenly assumed an importance which eclipsed that of the renowned generals of the Catholic League and of the Protestant Union. ”