Wallenstein/The Death of Wallenstein/A1S10

by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

SCENE X.

To these enter Butler.

TERTSKY. (meeting him.)
O look there! Butler! Here we've still a friend!

WALLENSTEIN.
(meets him with outspread arms, and embraces
him with warmth.)
Come to my heart, old comrade! Not the sun
Looks out upon us more revivingly
In the earliest month of spring,
Than a friend's countenance in such an hour.

BUTLER.
My General! I come—

WALLENSTEIN.
(leaning on Butler's shoulder.)
Know'st thou already?
That old man has betray'd me to the Emperor.
What say't thou? Thirty years have we together
Liv'd out, and held out, sharing joy and hardship.
We have slept in one camp-bed, drunk from one glass,
One morsel shar'd! I lean'd myself on him,
As now I lean me on thy faithful shoulder.
And now in the very moment, when, all love,
All confidence, my bosom beat to his,
He sees and takes the advantage, stabs the knife
Slowly into my heart.
(he hides his face in Butler's breast.)

BUTLER.
Forget the false one.
What is your present purpose?

WALLENSTEIN.
Well remember'd!
Courage, my soul! I am still rich in friends,
Still lov'd by Destiny; for in the moment,
That it unmasks the plotting hypocrite,
It sends and proves to me one faithful heart.
Of the hypocrite no more! Think not, his loss
Was that which struck the pang: O no! his treason
Is that which strikes this pang! No more of him!
Dear to my heart, and honour'd were they both,
And the young man—yes—he did truly love me,
He—he—has not deceiv'd me. But enough,
Enough of this—Swift counsel now beseems us.
The Courier, whom Count Kinsky sent from Prague,
I expect him every moment: and whatever
He may bring with him, we must take good care
To keep it from the mutineers. Quick, then!
Dispatch some messenger you can rely on
To meet him, and conduct him to me.
(Illo is going.)
BUTLER. (detaining him.)
My General, whom expect you then?

WALLENSTEIN.
The Courier
Who brings me word of the event at Prague.

BUTLER. (hesitating.)
Hem!

WALLENSTEIN.
And what now?

BUTLER.
You do not know it?

WALLENSTEIN.
Well?

BUTLER.
From what that larum in the camp arose?

WALLENSTEIN.
From what?

BUTLER.
That Courier

WALLENSTEIN. (with eager expectation.)
Well?

BUTLER.
Is already here.

TERTSKY and ILLO. (at the same time.)
Already here?

WALLENSTEIN.
My Courier?

BUTLER.
For some hours.

WALLENSTEIN.
And I not know it?

BUTLER.
The centinels detain him
In custody.

ILLO. (stamping with his foot.)
Damnation!

BUTLER.
And his letter
Was broken open, and is circulated
Through the whole camp.

WALLENSTEIN.
You know what it contains?

BUTLER.
Question me not!

TERTSKY.
Illo! alas for us!

WALLENSTEIN.
Hide nothing from me—I can hear the worst.
Prague then is lost. It is. Confess it freely.

BUTLER.
Yes! Prague is lost. And all the several regiments
At Budweiss, Tabor, Braunau, Konigingratz,
At Brun, and Znaym, have forsaken you,
And ta'en the oaths of fealty anew
To the Emperor. Yourself, with Kinsky, Tertsky,
And Illo have been sentenc'd.

(Tertsky and Illo express alarm and fury. Wallenstein
remains firm and collected.)

WALLENSTEIN.
Tis decided!
'Tis well! I have receiv'd a sudden cure
From all the pangs of doubt: with steady stream
Once more my life-blood flows! My soul's secure!
In the night only Friedland's stars can beam.
Ling'ring, irresolute, with fitful fears
I drew the sword—'twas with an inward strife,
While yet the choice was mine. The murd'rous knife
Is lifted for my heart! Doubt disappears!
I fight now for my head and for my life.
[Exit Wallenstein, the others follow him. 

 

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