Wallenstein/The Piccolomini/A1S07

by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

SCENE VII.

Wallenstein, Duchess.

WALLENSTEIN.

You went then through Vienna, were presented

To the Queen of Hungary?

DUCHESS.

Yes; and to the Empress too.

And by both Majesties were we admitted
To kiss the hand.

WALLENSTEIN.

And how was it receiv'd,

That I had sent for wife and daughter hither
To the camp, in winter time?

DUCHESS.

I did even that

Which you commission'd me to do. I told them,
You had determin'd on our daughter's marriage,
And wish'd, ere yet you went into the field,
To show th' elected husband his betroth'd.

WALLENSTEIN.

And did they guess the choice which I had made?

DUCHESS.

They only hop'd and wish'd it may have fallen

Upon no foreign nor yet Lutheran noble.

WALLENSTEIN.

And you—what do you wish, Elizabeth?

DUCHESS.

Your will, you know, was always mine.

WALLENSTEIN (after a pause).

Well then!

And in all else, of what kind and complexion
Was your reception at the court?
(The Duchess casts her eyes on the ground, and
remains silent.)
Hide nothing from me. How were you receiv'd?

DUCHESS.

O! my dear lord, all is not what it was.

A cankerworm, my lord, a cankerworm
Has stolen into the bud.

WALLENSTEIN.

Ay! is it so?

What, they were lax? they fail'd of th' old respect?

DUCHESS.

Not of respect. No honors were omitted,

No outward courtesy; but in the place
Of condescending, confidential kindness,
Familiar and endearing, there were given me
Only these honors and that solemn courtesy.
Ah! and the tenderness which was put on,
It was the guise of pity, not of favor.
No! Albrecht's wife, Duke Albrecht's princely wife,
Count Harrach's noble daughter, should not so—
Not wholly so should she have been receiv'd.

WALLENSTEIN.

Yes, yes; they have ta'en offence. My latest conduct,

They rail'd at it, no doubt.

DUCHESS.

O that they had!

I have been long accustom'd to defend you,
To heal and pacify distemper'd spirits.
No; no one rail'd at you. They wrapp'd them up,
O Heaven! in such oppressive, solemn silence!—
Here is no every-day misunderstanding,
No transient pique, no cloud that passes over;
Something most luckless, most unhealable,
Has taken place. The Queen of Hungary
Us'd formerly to call me her dear aunt,
And ever at departure to embrace me—

WALLENSTEIN.

Now she omitted it?

DUCHESS (wiping away her tears after a pause.)

She did embrace me,

But then first when I had already taken
My formal leave, and when the door already
Had clos'd upon me, then did she come out
In haste, as she had suddenly bethought herself,
And press'd me to her bosom, more with anguish
Than tenderness.

WALLENSTEIN (seizes her hand soothingly.)

Nay now, collect yourself.

And what of Eggenberg and Lichtenstein,
And of our other friends there?

DUCHESS (shaking her head.)

I saw none.

WALLENSTEIN.

Th' ambassador from Spain, who once was wont

To plead so warmly for me?—

DUCHESS.

Silent, silent!

WALLENSTEIN.

These suns then are eclipsed for us. Henceforward

Must we roll on, our own fire, our own light.

DUCHESS.

And were it—were it, my dear lord, in that

Which mov'd about the Court in buz and whisper,
But in the country let itself be heard
Aloud—in that which Father Lamormain
In sundry hints and———

WALLENSTEIN (eagerly.)

Lamormain! what said he?

DUCHESS.

That you're accused of having daringly

O'erstepped the powers intrusted to you, charg'd
With traitorous contempt of th' Emperor
And his supreme behests. The proud Bavarian,
He and the Spaniards stand up your accusers.—
That there's a storm collecting over you
Of far more fearful menace than the former one
Which whirl'd you headlong down at Regensburg.
And people talk, said he, of——— Ah!—
(stifling extreme emotion.)

WALLENSTEIN.

Proceed!

DUCHESS.

I cannot utter it!

WALLENSTEIN.

Proceed!

DUCHESS.

They talk———

WALLENSTEIN.

Well!

DUCHESS.

Of a second——— (catches her

voice and hesitates.)

WALLENSTEIN.

Second———

DUCHESS.

More disgraceful

———Dismission.

WALLENSTEIN.

Talk they?

(Strides across the chamber in vehement agitation.)
O! they force, they thrust me
With violence, against my own will, onward!

DUCHESS. (presses near him in entreaty.)

O! if there yet be time, my husband! If

By giving way and by submission, this
Can be averted—my dear Lord, give way!
Win down your proud heart to it! Tell that heart,
It is your sovereign lord, your Emperor
Before whom you retreat. O let no longer
Low tricking malice blacken your good meaning
With abhor'd venomous glosses. Stand you up
Shielded and helm'd and weapon'd with the truth,
And drive before you into uttermost shame
These slanderous liars! Few firm friends have we.
You know it!—The swift growth of our good fortune
It hath but set us up, a mark for hatred.
What are we, if the sovereign's grace and favour
Stand not before us!