Johann Tserclaes von Wallenstein

“ That you decoy the Swedes—to make fools of them,
Will league yourself with Saxony against them,
And at last make yourself a riddance of them
With a paltry sum of money.
WALLENSTEIN.
So then, doubtless,
Yes, doubtless, this same modest Swede expects
That I shall yield him some fair German tract
For his prey and booty, that ourselves at last
On our own soil and native territory,
May be no longer our own lords and masters!
An excellent scheme!—No, no! They must be off,
Off, off! away!—we want no such neighbours. ”

“ Great Stone.
No, not for gold and silver have there bled
So many of our Swedish Nobles—neither
Will we, with empty laurels for our payment,
Hoist sail for our own country. Citizens
Will we remain upon the soil, the which
Our Monarch conquer'd for himself, and died.
WALLENSTEIN.
Help to keep down the common enemy,
And the fair border land must needs be your's,
WRANGEL.
But when the common enemy lies vanquish'd,
Who knits together our new friendship then?
We know, Duke Friedland! though perhaps the Swede
Ought not t' have known it, that you carry on
Secret negociations with the Saxons. ”

“ In brief, 'tis sign'd and seal'd that this Octavio
Is my good angel—and now no word more.
(He is retiring.)
TERTSKY.
This is my comfort—Max. remains our hostage.
ILLO.
And he shall never stir from here alive.
WALLENSTEIN. (stops, and turns himself round)
Are ye not like the women, who for ever
Only recur to their first word, altho'
One had been talking reason by the hour?
Know, that the human being's thoughts and deeds
Are not, like ocean billows, blindly mov'd.
The inner world, his microcosmus, is
The deep shaft, out of which they spring eternally. ”

“ Cheap souls, to whom their honor, their good name
Is their poor saving, their last worthless Keep,
Which having stak'd and lost, they stake 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. ”

“ Nay, yield them up that dot, that speck of land—
It goes not from your portion. If you win
The game, what matters it to you who pays it?
WALLENSTEIN.
Off with them, off! Thou understand'st not this.
Never shall it be said of me, I parcell'd
My native land away, dismember'd Germany,
Betray'd it to a foreigner, in order
To come with stealthy tread, and filch away
My own share of the plunder.—Never! never!—
No foreign power shall strike root in the empire,
And least of all, these Goths! these hunger-wolves! ”

“ Not from the Swedes, not from the Lutherans—
No! from his own troops to hide and hurry them!
MAX.
Cease, cease! thou tortur'st, shatter'st 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 strong holds are entrusted ”

“ But to the point! The best is yet to come,
Attend now, Generals!
QUESTENBERG.
⁠The Prince Cardinal
Begins his route at the approach of spring
From the Milanese; and leads a Spanish army
Thro' Germany into the Netherlands.
That he may march secure and unimpeded,
'Tis th' Emperor's will, you grant him a detachment
Of eight horse-regiments from the army here.
WALLENSTEIN.
Yes, yes! I understand!—Eight regiments! Well,
Right well concerted, Father Lamormain!
Eight thousand horse! Yes, yes! 'Tis as it should be!
I see it coming.
QUESTENBERG.
⁠There is nothing coming. ”

“ There serve here many foreigners in th' army,
And were the man in all else brave and gallant,
I was not wont to make nice scrutiny
After his pedigree or catechism.
This will be otherwise i'the time to come.
Well—me no longer it concerns.
⁠ (He seats himself.)
MAX. PICCOLOMINI.
Forbid it, Heaven, that it should come to this!
Our troops will swell in dreadful fermentation—
The Emperor is abus'd—it cannot be.
ISOLANI.
It cannot be; all goes to instant wreck.
WALLENSTEIN.
Thou hast said truly, faithful Isolani! ”

“ With fifteen thousand men, and only waits
For orders to proceed and join your army.
Those orders I give out, immediately
We're compromis'd.
WALLENSTEIN.
What asks the Chancellor?
WRANGLE. (considerately.)
Twelve Regiments, every man a Swede—my head
The warranty—and all might prove at last
Only false play———
WALLENSTEIN. (starting.)
Sir Swede!
WRANGLE. (calmly proceeding.)
Am therefore forc'd
T' insist thereon, that he do formally,
Irrevocably break with th' Emperor,
Else not a Swede is trusted to Duke Friedland.
WALLENSTEIN.
Come, brief, and open! What is the demand? ”

“ The Swede, if he would treat well with the German,
Must keep a sharp look-out. We have been call'd
Over the Baltic, we have sav'd the empire
From ruin-with our best blood have we seal'd
The liberty of faith, and gospel truth.
But now already is the benefaction
No longer felt, the load alone is felt.———
Ye look askance with evil eye upon us,
As foreigners, intruders in the empire,
And would fain send us, with some paltry sum
Of money, home again to our old forests. ”

“ 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 honourable soldiers,
More than a thousand noblemen among them,
From oaths, from duty, from their honour 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. ”

“ Questenberg, Octavio, and Max. Piccolomini,
Butler, Isolani, Maradas, and three other Generals.
Wallenstein motions Questenberg, who in
consequence takes the chair directly opposite
to him; the others follow, arranging themselves
according to their rank. There reigns
a momentary Silence.
WALLENSTEIN.
I have understood, 'tis true, the sum and import
Of your instructions, Questenberg, have weigh'd them,
And form'd my final, absolute resolve;
Yet it seems fitting that the Generals
Should hear the will of th' Emperor from your mouth. ”

“ Because the Duke
Believes he has secur'd 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 angel
With which he doubts not but to catch thee.
MAX.
No! no!
I tell thee—no!
OCTAVIO.
O open yet thine eyes!
And to what purpose think'st thou he has call'd us
Hither to Pilsen?—To avail himself
Of our advice?—O when did Friedland ever
Need our advice?—Be calm, and listen to me.
To sell ourselves are we call'd hither, and
Decline we that—to be his hostages. ”

“ COUNTESS.
So faithfully preserv'st thou each small favour,
And hast no memory for contumelies?
Must I remind thee, how at Regenspurg
This man repaid thy faithful services?
All ranks and all conditions in the empire
Thou hadst wrong'd, 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 th' Emperor. To th' Emperor alone
Clung Friedland in that storm which gather'd round him
At Regenspurg in the Diet—and he dropp'd thee! ”

“ Be the whole world acquainted with the weakness
For which I never can forgive myself.
Lieutenant General! Yes—I have ambition.
Ne'er was I able to endure contempt.
It stung me to the quick, that birth and title
Should have more weight than merit has in th' army. ”

“ Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, Generalissimo of the Imperial Forces in the Thirty-years War.
Duchess of Friedland, Wife of Wallenstein.
Thekla, her Daughter, Princess of Friedland.
The Countess Tertsky, Sister of the Duchess.
Lady Neubrunn.
Octavio Piccolomini, Lieutenant General.
Max. Piccolomini, his Son, Colonel of a Regiment of Cuirassiers.
Count Tertsky, the Commander of federal Regiments, and Brother-in-law of Wallenstein.
Illo, Field Marshal, Wallenstein's Confidant. ”

“ His neck is forfeit. Can he save himself
At thy cost, think you he will scruple it?
And if they put him to the torture, will he,
Will he, that dastardling, have strength enough—
WALLENSTEIN. (lost in thought)
Their confidence is lost—irreparably! ”

“ It will not let itself be driv'n 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 sternly, I expect it.
Already have I said to my own self
All thou canst say to me. Who but avoids
Th' extreme,—can he by going round avoid it? ”

“ Scene a Chamber in Piccolomini's Dwelling-House.
Octavio Piccolomini, Isolani, entering.
ISOLANI.
Here am I—Well! who comes yet of the others?
OCTAVIO. (with an air of mystery)
But, first, a word with you, Count Isolani.
ISOLANI. (assuming the same air of mystery)
Will it explode, ha?—Is the Duke about
To make th' attempt? In I me, friend, you may place
Full confidence.—Nay, put me to the proof.
OCTAVIO.
That may happen.
ISOLANI.
Noble brother, I am
Not one of those men who in words are valiant,
And when it comes to action skulk away. ”

“ 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 settl'd 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. ”

“ I never charge a man but with those acts
To which his character deliberately
Impels him; for alas! the violence
Of blind misunderstandings often thrusts
The very best of us from the right track.
You came thro' Frauenberg. Did the Count Galas
Say nothing to you? Tell me. He's my friend. ”

“ The only one that harmeth you, is Doubt.
WALLENSTEIN.
Thou speakest as thou understand'st. How oft
And many a time I've told thee, Jupiter,
That lustrous god, was setting at thy birth.
Thy visual power subdues no mysteries;
Mole-ey'd, thou may'st but burrow in the earth,
Blind as the subterrestrial, who with wan,
Lead-colour'd shine lighted thee into life. ”

“ QUESTENBERG.
⁠The Emperor
Already hath commanded colonel Suys
To advance toward Bavaria?
WALLENSTEIN.
⁠What did Suys?
QUESTENBERG.
That which his duty prompted. He advanc'd!
WALLENSTEIN.
What? he advanc'd? And I, his general,
Had given him orders, peremptory orders,
Not to desert his station! Stands it thus
With my authority? Is this th' obedience
Due to my office, which being thrown aside
No war can be conducted? Chieftains, speak!
You be the judges, generals! What deserves
That officer, who of his oath neglectful
Is guilty of contempt of orders? ”

“ Octavio Piccolomini. Butler.
BUTLER.
At your command, Lieutenant General.
OCTAVIO.
Welcome, as honor'd friend and visitor.
BUTLER.
You do me too much honour.
OCTAVIO. (after both have seated themselves.)
You have not
Return'd the advances which I made you yesterday—
Misunderstood them, as mere empty forms.
That wish proceeded from my heart—I was
In earnest with you—for 'tis now a time
In which the honest should unite most closely.
BUTLER.
'Tis only the like-minded can unite.
OCTAVIO.
True! and I name all honest men like-minded. ”

“ Who listens only to himself, knows nothing
Of stipulations, duties, reverences,
And, like th' emancipated force of fire,
Unmaster'd scorches, ere it 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 shewn thyself
A formidable man, without restraint ”

“ Even in the first perusal of ä work in any foreign language which we understand, we are apt to attribute to it more excellence than it really possesses from our own pleasurable sense of difficulty overcome without effort. Translation of poetry into poetry is difficult, because the Translator must give a brilliancy to his language without that warmth of original conception, from which each brilliancy would follow of its own accord. But the Translator of a living Author is encumbered with additional inconveniences. ”

“ 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. ”