Wallenstein/The Death of Wallenstein/A2S06
SCENE VII.
To these enter Max. Piccolomini.
MAX.Yes! here he is! I can endure no longerTo creep on tiptoe round this house, and lurkIn ambush for a favourable moment.This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.(advancing to Thekla, who has thrown herself intoher mother's arms.) Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me!Confess it freely before all. Fear no one.Let who will hear that we both love each other.Wherefore continue to conceal it? SecrecyIs for the happy—misery, hopeless misery,Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand sunsIt dares act openly.(he observes the Countess looking on Thekla withexpressions of triumph.)No, Lady! No!Expect not, hope it not. I am not comeTo stay: to bid farewel, farewel for ever,For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!Thekla, I must—must leave thee! Yet thy hatredLet me not take with me. I pray thee, grant meOne look of sympathy, only one look.Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla!(grasps her hand.)O God! I cannot leave this spot—I cannot!Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla!That thou dost suffer with me, art convinc'dThat I can not ac otherwise.(Thekla, avoiding his look, points with her handto her father. Max. turns round to the Duke,whom he had not till then perceived.)Thou here? It was not thou, whom here I fought.I trusted never more to have beheld thee.My business is with her alone. Here will IReceive a full acquittal from this heart—For any other I am no more concern'd.
WALLENSTEIN.Think'st thou, that fool-like, I shall let thee go,And act the mock-magnanimous with thee?Thy father is become a villain to me;I hold thee for his son, and nothing more;Nor to no purpose shalt thou have been givenInto my power. Think not, that I will honourThat ancient love, which so remorselesslyHe mangled. They are now past by, those hoursOf friendship and forgiveness. Hate and vengeanceSucceed—'tis now their turn—I too can throwAll feelings of the man aside—can proveMyself as much a monster as thy father!
MAX. (calmly.) Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast power.Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage.What hail detain'd me here, that too thou know'st.(taking Thekla by the hand.) See, Duke! All—all would I have owed to thee,Would have receiv'd from thy paternal handThe lot of blessed spirits. This hast thouLaid waste for ever—that concerns not thee.Indifferent thou tramplest in the dustTheir happiness, who most are thine. The godWhom thou dost serve, is no benignant deity.Like as the blind irreconcileableFierce element, incapable of compact,Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow[1].
WALLENSTEIN.Thou art describing thy own father's heart. The adder! O, the charms of hell o'erpowerd me. He dwelt within me, to my inmost soulStill to and fro he pass'd, suspected never!On the wide ocean, in the starry heavenDid mine eyes seek the enemy, whom IIn my heart's heart had folded! Had I beenTo Ferdinand what Octavio was to me,War had I ne'er denounc'd against him. No,I never could have done it. The Emp'ror wasMy austere master only, not my friend.There was already war 'twixt him and meWhen he deliver'd the Commander's StaffInto my hands; for there's a naturalUnceasing war 'twixt cunning and suspicion;Peace exists only betwixt confidenceAnd faith. Who poisons confidence, he murdersThe future generations.
MAX.I will not Defend my father. Woe is me, I cannot! Hard deeds and luckless have ta'en place, one crime Drags after it the other in close link,But we are innocent: how have we fallenInto this circle of mis-hap and guilt?To whom have we been faithless? Wherefore mustThe evil deeds and guilt reciprocalOf our two fathers twine like serpents rounds us?Why must our fathers'Unconquerable hate rend us asunder, Who love each other?
WALLENSTEIN.Max. remain with me. Go you not from me, Max! Hark! I will tell thee—How when at Prague, our winter quarters, thou Wert brought into my tent a tender boy, Not yet accustom'd to the German winters; Thy hand was frozen to the heavy colours;Thou would'st not let them go—At that time did I take thee in my arms, And with my mantle did I cover thee: I was thy nurse, no woman could have been A kinder to thee; I was not asham'd To do for thee all little offices, However strange to me; I tended thee Till life return'd; and when thine eyes first open'd, I had thee in my arms. Since then, when have I Alter'd my feelings towards thee? Many thousands Have I made rich, presented them with lands; Rewarded them with dignities and honours; Thee have I lov'd: my heart, my self, I gave To thee! They all were aliens: thou wert Our child and inmate[2]. Max.! Thou can'st not leave me; It cannot be; I may not, will not think That Max. can leave me.
MAX.O my God!
WALLENSTEIN. I haveHeld and sustain'd thee from thy tott'ring childdhood. What holy bond is there of natural love? What human tie, that does not knit thee to me? I love thee, Max! What did thy father for thee, Which I too have not done, to the height of duty? Go hence, forsake me, serve thy Emperor; He will reward thee with a pretty chain Of gold; with his ram's fleece will he reward thee; For that the friend, the father of thy youth, For that the holiest feeling of humanity, Was nothing worth to thee.
MAX. O God! How can IDo otherwise? Am I not forc'd to do it? My oath-my duty-honour—
WALLENSTEIN.How? Thy duty? Duty to whom? Who art thou? Max! bethink thee What duties may'st thou have? If I am acting A criminal part toward the Emperor, It is my crime, not thine. Dost thou belong To thine own self? Art thou thine own commander? Stand'st thou, like me, a freeman in the world, That in thy actions thou should'st plead free agency? On me thou'rt planted, I am thy Emperor; To obey me, to belong to me, this is Thy honour, this a law of nature to thee! And if the planet, on the which thou liv'st And hast thy dwelling, from its orbit starts, It is not in thy choice, whether or no Thou'lt follow it. Unfelt it whirls thee onward Together with his ring and all his moons. With little guilt stepp'st thou into this contest, Thee will the world not censure, it will praise thee, For that thou heldst thy friend more worth to thee Than names and influences more remov'd. For justice is the virtue of the ruler, Affection and fidelity the subject's. Not every one doth it beseem to question The far-off high Arcturus. Most securely Wilt thou pursue the nearest duty—let The pilot fix his eye upon the pole-star.
- ↑ I have here ventured to omit a considerable number of lines. I fear that I should not have done amiss, had I taken this liberty more frequently. It is, however, incumbent on me to give the original with a literal translation.Weh denen die auf dich vertraun, an DichDie sichre Hütte ihres Glückes lehnen,Gelockt von deiner gastlichen Gestalt.Schnell unver hofft, by nächtlich stiller WeileGährts in dem tückschen Feuerschlunde, ladetSich aus mit tobender Gervalt, und wegTreibt über alle Pflanzunger der MenschenDer wilde Strom in grausender zerstöhrung.WALLENSTEIN.Du schilderst deines Vaters Herz. Wie Du's Beschreibst, so ists in seinem Eingeweide,In dieser schwarzen Heuchlers Brust gestaltet. O mich hat Höllenkunst getäuscht. Mir sandte Der Abgrund den verflecktesten der Geister, Den Lügekundigsten herauf, und stellt' ihn Als Freund an meine Seite. Wer vermag Der Hölle Macht zu widerstehn! Ich zog Den Basilisken auf an meinem Busen, Mit meinem Herzblut nährt ich ihn, er sog Sich schwelgend voll an meiner Liebe Brüsten,Ich hatte nimmer Arges gegen ihn, Weit offen liess ich des Gedankens Thore, Und warft die Schlüssel weiser Vorsicht weg,Am Sternenhimmel, &c.Alas! for those who place their confidence on thee, against thee lean the secure hut of their fortune, allured by thy hospitable form. Suddenly, unexpectedly, in a moment still as night, there is a fermentation in the treacherous gulf of fire; it discharges itself with raging force, and away over all the plantations of men drives the wild stream in frightful devastation. Wallenstein. Thou art portraying thy father's heart, as thou describest, even so is it shaped in his entrails, in this black hypocrite's breast. O, the art of hell has deceiv'd me! The Abyss sent up to me the most spotted of the spirits, the most skilful in lies, and placed him as a friend at my side. Who may withstand the power of hell? I took the basilisk to my bosom, with my heart's blood I nourished him; he sucked himself glut-full at the breasts of my love. I never harboured evil towards him; wide open lid I leave the door of my thoughts; I threw, away the key of wise foresight. In the starry heaven, &c.—We find a difficulty in believing this to have been written by Schiller.
Literal Translation.
- ↑ This is a poor and inadequate translation of the affectionate simplicity of the original—Indeed the whole speech is in the best style of Massinger. O si sic omnia!Sie alle waren Fremdlinge, Du warst Das kind des Hauses.