Wallenstein/The Piccolomini/A1S10

by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

SCENE X.

Wallenstein, Count Tertsky.

WALLENSTEIN. (in deep thought to himself.)

She has seen all things as they are—It is so,

And squares completely with my other notices.
They have determin'd finally in Vienna,
Have given me my successor already;
It is the King of Hungary, Ferdinand,

The Emperor's delicate son! he's now their savior,
He's the new star that's rising now! Of us
They think themselves already fairly rid,
And as we were deceas'd, the heir already
Is entering on possession.—Therefore—dispatch!

(As he turns round he observes Tertsky, and
gives him a letter.)

Count Altringer will have himself excus'd,

And Gallas too—I like not this!

TERTSKY.

And if

Thou loiterest longer, all will fall away,
One following the other.

WALLENSTEIN.

Altringer

Is master of the Tyrol passes. I must forthwith
Send some one to him, that he let not in
The Spaniards on me from the Milanese.
———Well, and the old Sesin, that ancient trader
In contraband negociations, he
Has shewn himself again of late. What brings he
From the Count Thur?

TERTSKY.

The Count communicates,

He has found out the Swedish chancellor
At Halberstadt, where the convention's held,
Who says, you've tir'd him out, and that he'll have
No further dealings with you.

WALLENSTEIN.

And why so?

TERTSKY.

He says, you are never in earnest in your speeches,

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.

TERTSKY.

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!
Who send such envious, hot and greedy glances
T'wards the rich blessings of our German lands!

I'll have their aid to cast and draw my nets,
But not a single fish of all the draught
Shall they come in for.

TERTSKY.

You will deal, however,

More fairly with the Saxons? They lose patience
While you shift ground and make so many curves.
Say, to what purpose all these masks? Your friends
Are plung'd in doubts, baffled, and led astray in you.
There's Oxenstein, there's Arnheim—neither knows
What he should think of your procrastinations.
And in the end I prove the liar; all
Passes through me. I've not even your hand-writing.

WALLENSTEIN.

I never give hand-writing; and thou know'st it.

TERTSKY.

But how can it be known that you're in earnest,

If the act follows not upon the word?
You must yourself acknowledge, that in all
Your intercourses hitherto with th' enemy,
You might have done with safety all you have done,
Had you meant nothing further than to gull him
For th' Emperor's service.

WALLENSTEIN (after a pause, during which he
looks narrowly on Tertsky.)

And from whence dost thou know

That I'm not gulling him for th' Emperor's service?

Whence knowest thou that I'm not gulling all of you?
Dost thou know me so well? When made I thee
Th' intendant of my secret purposes?
I am not conscious that I ever open'd
My inmost thoughts to thee. Th' Emperor, it is true,
Hath dealt with me amiss; and if I would,
I could repay him with usurious interest
For th' evil he hath done me. It delights me
To know my power; but whether I shall use it,
Of that, I should have thought that thou could'st speak
No wiselier than thy fellows.

TERTSKY.

So hast thou always play'd thy game with us.

Enter Illo.

 

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