The Death of Wallenstein

DUCHESS               Yes, my poor child!  Thou too hast lost a most affectionate godmother  In the empress. Oh, that stern, unbending man!  In this unhappy marriage what have I  Not suffered, not endured? For even as if  I had been linked on to some wheel of fire  That restless, ceaseless, whirls impetuous onward,  I have passed a life of frights and horrors with him,  And ever to the brink of some abyss  With dizzy headlong violence he bears me.  Nay, do not weep, my child. Let not my sufferings  Presignify unhappiness to thee,  Nor blacken with their shade the fate that waits thee.  There lives no second Friedland; thou, my child,  Hast not to fear thy mother's destiny.THEELA  Oh, let us supplicate him, dearest mother!  Quick! quick! here's no abiding-place for us.  Here every coming hour broods into life  Some new affrightful monster.DUCHESS                  Thou wilt share  An easier, calmer lot, my child! We, too,  I and thy father, witnessed happy days.  Still think I with delight of those first years,  When he was making progress with glad effort,  When his ambition was a genial fire,  Not that consuming flame which now it is.  The emperor loved him, trusted him; and all  He undertook could not but be successful.  But since that ill-starred day at Regensburg,  Which plunged him headlong from his dignity,  A gloomy, uncompanionable spirit,  Unsteady and suspicious, has possessed him.  His quiet mind forsook him, and no longer  Did he yield up himself in joy and faith  To his old luck and individual power;  But thenceforth turned his heart and best affections  All to those cloudy sciences which never  Have yet made happy him who followed them.COUNTESS  You see it, sister! as your eyes permit you,  But surely this is not the conversation  To pass the time in which we are waiting for him.  You know he will be soon here. Would you have him  Find her in this condition?DUCHESS                 Come, my child!  Come, wipe away thy tears, and show thy father  A cheerful countenance. See, the tie-knot here  Is off; this hair must not hang so dishevelled.  Come, dearest! dry thy tears up. They deform  Thy gentle eye. Well, now – what was I saying?  Yes, in good truth, this Piccolomini  Is a most noble and deserving gentleman.COUNTESS  That is he, sister!THEKLA (to the COUNTESS, with marks of great oppression of spirits)             Aunt, you will excuse me?                (Is going).COUNTESS  But, whither? See, your father comes!THEKLA  I cannot see him now.COUNTESS              Nay, but bethink you.THEKLA  Believe me, I cannot sustain his presence.COUNTESS  But he will miss you, will ask after you.DUCHESS  What, now? Why is she going?COUNTESS                  She's not well.DUCHESS (anxiously)  What ails, then, my beloved child?

[Both follow the PRINCESS, and endeavor to detain her. During this WALLENSTEIN appears, engaged in conversation with ILLO.

SCENE IV

WALLENSTEIN, ILLO, COUNTESS, DUCHESS, THEKLA.

WALLENSTEIN  All quiet in the camp?ILLO              It is all quiet.WALLENSTEIN  In a few hours may couriers come from Prague  With tidings that this capital is ours.  Then we may drop the mask, and to the troops  Assembled in this town make known the measure  And its result together. In such cases  Example does the whole. Whoever is foremost  Still leads the herd. An imitative creature  Is man. The troops at Prague conceive no other,  Than that the Pilsen army has gone through  The forms of homage to us; and in Pilsen  They shall swear fealty to us, because  The example has been given them by Prague.  Butler, you tell me, has declared himself?ILLO  At his own bidding, unsolicited,  He came to offer you himself and regiment.WALLENSTEIN,  I find we must not give implicit credence  To every warning voice that makes itself  Be listened to in the heart. To hold us back,  Oft does the lying spirit counterfeit  The voice of truth and inward revelation,  Scattering false oracles. And thus have I  To entreat forgiveness for that secretly.  I've wronged this honorable gallant man,  This Butler: for a feeling of the which  I am not master (fear I would not call it),  Creeps o'er me instantly, with sense of shuddering,  At his approach, and stops love's joyous motion.  And this same man, against whom I am warned,  This honest man is he who reaches to me  The first pledge of my fortune.ILLO                   And doubt not  That his example will win over to you  The best men in the army.WALLENSTEIN                Go and send  Isolani hither. Send him immediately.  He is under recent obligations to me:  With him will I commence the trial. Go.

[Exit ILLO.

WALLENSTEIN (turns himself round to the females)  Lo, there's the mother with the darling daughter.  For once we'll have an interval of rest —  Come! my heart yearns to live a cloudless hour  In the beloved circle of my family.COUNTESS  'Tis long since we've been thus together, brother.WALLENSTEIN (to the COUNTESS, aside)  Can she sustain the news? Is she prepared?COUNTESS  Not yet.WALLENSTEIN       Come here, my sweet girl! Seat thee by me,  For there is a good spirit on thy lips.  Thy mother praised to me thy ready skill;  She says a voice of melody dwells in thee,  Which doth enchant the soul. Now such a voice  Will drive away from me the evil demon  That beats his black wings close above my head.DUCHESS  Where is thy lute, my daughter? Let thy father  Hear some small trial of thy skill.THEKLA                     My mother  I —DUCHESS  Trembling? Come, collect thyself. Go, cheer  Thy father.THEKLA         O my mother! I – I cannot.COUNTESS  How, what is that, niece?THEKLA (to the COUNTESS)  O spare me – sing – now – in this sore anxiety,  Of the overburdened soul – to sing to him  Who is thrusting, even now, my mother headlong  Into her grave.DUCHESS           How, Thekla! Humorsome!  What! shall thy father have expressed a wish  In vain?COUNTESS       Here is the lute.THEKLA                 My God! how can I —

[The orchestra plays. During the ritornello THEKLA expresses in her gestures and countenance the struggle of her feelings; and at the moment that she should begin to sing, contracts herself together, as one shuddering, throws the instrument down, and retires abruptly.

DUCHESS  My child! Oh, she is ill —WALLENSTEIN                 What ails the maiden?  Say, is she often so?COUNTESS              Since then herself  Has now betrayed it, I too must no longer  Conceal it.WALLENSTEIN         What?COUNTESS            She loves him!WALLENSTEIN                    Loves him? Whom?COUNTESS  Max. does she love! Max. Piccolomini!  Hast thou never noticed it? Nor yet my sister?DUCHESS  Was it this that lay so heavy on her heart?  God's blessing on thee, – my sweet child! Thou needest  Never take shame upon thee for thy choice.COUNTESS  This journey, if 'twere not thy aim, ascribe it  To thine own self. Thou shouldst have chosen another  To have attended her.WALLENSTEIN              And does he know it?COUNTESS  Yes, and he hopes to win her.WALLENSTEIN                  Hopes to win her!  Is the boy mad?COUNTESS           Well – hear it from themselves.WALLENSTEIN  He thinks to carry off Duke Friedland's daughter!  Ay? The thought pleases me.  The young man has no groveling spirit.COUNTESS                       Since  Such and such constant favor you have shown him —WALLENSTEIN  He chooses finally to be my heir.  And true it is, I love the youth; yea, honor him.  But must he therefore be my daughter's husband?  Is it daughters only? Is it only children  That we must show our favor by?DUCHESS  His noble disposition and his manners —WALLENSTEIN  Win him my heart, but not my daughter.DUCHESS                      Then  His rank, his ancestors —WALLENSTEIN                Ancestors! What?  He is a subject, and my son-in-law  I will seek out upon the thrones of Europe.DUCHESS  O dearest Albrecht! Climb we not too high  Lest we should fall too low.WALLENSTEIN                 What! have I paid  A price so heavy to ascend this eminence,  And jut out high above the common herd,  Only to close the mighty part I play  In life's great drama with a common kinsman?  Have I for this —

[Stops suddenly, repressing himself.

            She is the only thing  That will remain behind of me on earth;  And I will see a crown around her head,  Or die in the attempt to place it there.  I hazard all – all! and for this alone,  To lift her into greatness.  Yea, in this moment, in the which we are speaking

[He recollects himself.

  And I must now, like a soft-hearted father,  Couple together in good peasant fashion  The pair that chance to suit each other's liking —  And I must do it now, even now, when I  Am stretching out the wreath that is to twine  My full accomplished work – no! she is the jewel,  Which I have treasured long, my last, my noblest,  And 'tis my purpose not to let her from me  For less than a king's sceptre.DUCHESS                   O my husband!  You're ever building, building to the clouds,  Still building higher, and still higher building,  And ne'er reflect, that the poor narrow basis  Cannot sustain the giddy tottering column.WALLENSTEIN (to the COUNTESS)  Have you announced the place of residence  Which I have destined for her?COUNTESS                  No! not yet,  'Twere better you yourself disclosed it to her.DUCHESS  How? Do we not return to Carinthia then?WALLENSTEIN                        No.DUCHESS  And to no other of your lands or seats?WALLENSTEIN  You would not be secure there.DUCHESS                  Not secure.  In the emperor's realms, beneath the emperor's  Protection?WALLENSTEIN         Friedland's wife may be permitted  No longer to hope that.DUCHESS               O God in heaven!  And have you brought it even to this!WALLENSTEIN                      In Holland  You'll find protection.DUCHESS               In a Lutheran country?  What? And you send us into Lutheran countries?WALLENSTEIN  Duke Franz of Lauenburg conducts you thither.DUCHESS  Duke Franz of Lauenburg?  The ally of Sweden, the emperor's enemy.WALLENSTEIN  The emperor's enemies are mine no longer.DUCHESS (casting a look of terror on the DUKE and the COUNTESS)  Is it then true? It is. You are degraded  Deposed from the command? O God in heaven!COUNTESS (aside to the DUKE)  Leave her in this belief. Thou seest she cannot  Support the real truth.

SCENE V

To them enter COUNT TERZKY.

COUNTESS                  Terzky!  What ails him? What an image of affright!  He looks as he had seen a ghost.TERZKY (leading WALLENSTEIN aside)  Is it thy command that all the Croats —WALLENSTEIN                       Mine!TERZKY  We are betrayed.WALLENSTEIN           What?TERZKY               They are off! This night  The Jaegers likewise – all the villages  In the whole round are empty.WALLENSTEIN                  Isolani!TERZKY  Him thou hast sent away. Yes, surely.WALLENSTEIN                       I?TERZKY  No? Hast thou not sent him off? Nor Deodati?  They are vanished, both of them.

SCENE VI

To them enter ILLO.

ILLO  Has Terzky told thee?TERZKY              He knows all.ILLO                     And likewise  That Esterhatzy, Goetz, Maradas, Kaunitz,  Kolatto, Palfi, have forsaken thee.TERZKY  Damnation!WALLENSTEIN (winks at them)  Hush!COUNTESS (who has been watching them anxiously from the distance and now advances to them)  Terzky! Heaven! What is it? What has happened?WALLENSTEIN (scarcely suppressing his emotions)  Nothing! let us be gone!TERZKY (following him)               Theresa, it is nothing.COUNTESS (holding him back)  Nothing? Do I not see that all the life-blood  Has left your cheeks – look you not like a ghost?  That even my brother but affects a calmness?PAGE (enters)  An aide-de-camp inquires for the Count Terzky.

[TERZKY follows the PAGE.

WALLENSTEIN  Go, hear his business.

[To ILLO.

              This could not have happened  So unsuspected without mutiny.  Who was on guard at the gates?ILLO                  'Twas Tiefenbach.WALLENSTEIN  Let Tiefenbach leave guard without delay,  And Terzky's grenadiers relieve him.

[ILLO is going.

                     Stop!  Hast thou heard aught of Butler?ILLO                   Him I met  He will be here himself immediately.  Butler remains unshaken,

[ILLO exit. WALLENSTEIN is following him.

COUNTESS  Let him not leave thee, sister! go, detain him!  There's some misfortune.DUCHESS (clinging to him)               Gracious Heaven! What is it?WALLENSTEIN  Be tranquil! leave me, sister! dearest wife!  We are in camp, and this is naught unusual;  Here storm and sunshine follow one another  With rapid interchanges. These fierce spirits  Champ the curb angrily, and never yet  Did quiet bless the temples of the leader;  If I am to stay go you. The plaints of women  Ill suit the scene where men must act.

[He is going: TERZKY returns.

TERZKY  Remain here. From this window must we see it.WALLENSTEIN (to the COUNTESS)  Sister, retire!COUNTESS           No – never!WALLENSTEIN                 'Tis my will.TERZKY (leads the COUNTESS aside, and drawing her attention to the DUCHESS)  Theresa!DUCHESS       Sister, come! since he commands it.

SCENE VII

WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY.

WALLENSTEIN (stepping to the window)  What now, then?TERZKY  There are strange movements among all the troops,  And no one knows the cause. Mysteriously,  With gloomy silentness, the several corps  Marshal themselves, each under its own banners;  Tiefenbach's corps make threatening movements; only  The Pappenheimers still remain aloof  In their own quarters and let no one enter.WALLENSTEIN  Does Piccolomini appear among them?TERZKY  We are seeking him: he is nowhere to be met with.WALLENSTEIN  What did the aide-de-camp deliver to you?TERZKY  My regiments had despatched him; yet once more  They swear fidelity to thee, and wait  The shout for onset, all prepared, and eager.WALLENSTEIN  But whence arose this larum in the camp?  It should have been kept secret from the army  Till fortune had decided for us at Prague.TERZKY  Oh, that thou hadst believed me! Yester-evening  Did we conjure thee not to let that skulker,  That fox, Octavio, pass the gates of Pilsen.  Thou gavest him thy own horses to flee from thee.WALLENSTEIN  The old tune still! Now, once for all, no more  Of this suspicion – it is doting folly.TERZKY  Thou didst confide in Isolani too;  And lo! he was the first that did desert thee.WALLENSTEIN  It was but yesterday I rescued him  From abject wretchedness. Let that go by;  I never reckoned yet on gratitude.  And wherein doth he wrong in going from me?  He follows still the god whom all his life  He has worshipped at the gaming-table. With  My fortune and my seeming destiny  He made the bond and broke it, not with me.  I am but the ship in which his hopes were stowed,  And with the which, well-pleased and confident,  He traversed the open sea; now he beholds it  In eminent jeopardy among the coast-rocks,  And hurries to preserve his wares. As light  As the free bird from the hospitable twig  Where it had nested he flies off from me:  No human tie is snapped betwixt us two.  Yea, he deserves to find himself deceived  Who seeks a heart in the unthinking man.  Like shadows on a stream, the forms of life  Impress their characters on the smooth forehead,  Naught sinks into the bosom's silent depth:  Quick sensibility of pain and pleasure  Moves the light fluids lightly; but no soul  Warmeth the inner frame.TERZKY               Yet, would I rather  Trust the smooth brow than that deep furrowed one.

SCENE VIII

WALLENSTEIN, TERZKY, ILLO.

ILLO (who enters agitated with rage)Treason and mutiny!TERZKY             And what further now?ILLO  Tiefenbach's soldiers, when I gave the orders.  To go off guard – mutinous villains!TERZKY  Well!WALLENSTEIN      What followed?ILLO  They refused obedience to them.TERZKY  Fire on them instantly! Give out the order.WALLENSTEIN  Gently! what cause did they assign?ILLO                     No other,  They said, had right to issue orders but  Lieutenant-General Piccolomini.WALLENSTEIN (in a convulsion of agony)  What? How is that?ILLO  He takes that office on him by commission,  Under sign-manual from the emperor.TERZKY  From the emperor – hearest thou, duke?ILLO                      At his incitement  The generals made that stealthy flight —TERZKY                       Duke, hearest thou?ILLO  Caraffa too, and Montecuculi,  Are missing, with six other generals,  All whom he had induced to follow him.  This plot he has long had in writing by him  From the emperor; but 'twas finally concluded,  With all the detail of the operation,  Some days ago with the Envoy Questenberg.

[WALLENSTEIN sinks down into a chair and covers his face.

TERZKY  Oh, hadst thou but believed me!

SCENE IX

To them enter the COUNTESS.

COUNTESS                This suspense,  This horrid fear – I can no longer bear it.  For heaven's sake tell me what has taken place?ILLO  The regiments are falling off from us.TERZKY  Octavio Piccolomini is a traitor.COUNTESS  O my foreboding!

[Rushes out of the room.

TERZKY           Hadst thou but believed me!  Now seest thou how the stars have lied to thee.WALLENSTEIN  The stars lie not; but we have here a work  Wrought counter to the stars and destiny.  The science is still honest: this false heart  Forces a lie on the truth-telling heaven,  On a divine law divination rests;  Where nature deviates from that law, and stumbles  Out of her limits, there all science errs.  True I did not suspect! Were it superstition  Never by such suspicion to have affronted  The human form, oh, may the time ne'er come  In which I shame me of the infirmity.  The wildest savage drinks not with the victim,  Into whose breast he means to plunge the sword.  This, this, Octavio, was no hero's deed  'Twas not thy prudence that did conquer mine;  A bad heart triumphed o'er an honest one.  No shield received the assassin stroke; thou plungest  Thy weapon on an unprotected breast —  Against such weapons I am but a child.

SCENE X

To these enter BUTLER.

TERZKY (meeting him)  Oh, 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)             Knowest thou already  That old man has betrayed me to the emperor.  What sayest thou? Thirty years have we together  Lived out, and held out, sharing joy and hardship.  We have slept in one camp-bed, drank from one glass,  One morsel shared! I leaned 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 on BUTLER's breast.

BUTLER              Forget the false one.  What is your present purpose?WALLENSTEIN                  Well remembered!  Courage, my soul! I am still rich in friends,  Still loved 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: Oh, no! his treason  Is that which strikes the pang! No more of him!  Dear to my heart, and honored were they both,  And the young man – yes – he did truly love me,  He – he – has not deceived 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!  Despatch 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.TERZKY and ILLO (at the same time)  Already here?WALLENSTEIEN          My courier?BUTLER                 For some hours.WALLENSTEIN  And I not know it?BUTLER            The sentinels 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.TERZKY           Illo! Alas for us.WALLENSTEIN  Hide nothing from me – I can bear 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, Koenigingratz,  At Brunn, and Znaym, have forsaken you,  And taken the oaths of fealty anew  To the emperor. Yourself, with Kinsky, Terzky,  And Illo have been sentenced.

[TERZKY and ILLO express alarm and fury. WALLENSTEIN remains firm and collected.

WALLENSTEIN  'Tis decided! 'Tis well! I have received 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 stars can beam.  Lingering irresolute, with fitful fears  I drew the sword – 'twas with an inward strife,  While yet the choice was mine. The murderous knife  Is lifted for my heart! Doubt disappears!  I fight now for my head and for my life.

[Exit WALLENSTEIN; the others follow him.

SCENE XI

COUNTESS TERZKY (enters from a side room).

  I can endure no longer. No!

[Looks around her.

                 Where are they!  No one is here. They leave me all alone,  Alone in this sore anguish of suspense.  And I must wear the outward show of calmness  Before my sister, and shut in within me  The pangs and agonies of my crowded bosom.  It is not to be borne. If all should fail;  If – if he must go over to the Swedes,  An empty-handed fugitive, and not  As an ally, a covenanted equal,  A proud commander with his army following,  If we must wander on from land to land,  Like the Count Palatine, of fallen greatness  An ignominious monument. But no!  That day I will not see! And could himself  Endure to sink so low, I would not bear  To see him so low sunken.

SCENE XII

COUNTESS, DUCHESS, THEKLA.

THEKLA (endeavoring to hold back the DUCHESS)  Dear mother, do stay here!DUCHESS                No! Here is yet  Some frightful mystery that is hidden from me.  Why does my sister shun me? Don't I see her  Full of suspense and anguish roam about  From room to room? Art thou not full of terror?  And what import these silent nods and gestures  Which stealthwise thou exchangest with her?THEKLA                         Nothing  Nothing, dear mother!DUCHESS (to the COUNTESS)              Sister, I will know.COUNTESS  What boots it now to hide it from her? Sooner  Or later she must learn to hear and bear it.  'Tis not the time now to indulge infirmity;  Courage beseems us now, a heart collect,  And exercise and previous discipline  Of fortitude. One word, and over with it!  Sister, you are deluded. You believe  The duke has been deposed – the duke is not  Deposed – he is —THEKLA (going to the COUNTESS),           What? do you wish to kill her?COUNTESS  The duke is —THEKLA (throwing her arms round her mother)          Oh, stand firm! stand firm, my mother!COUNTESS  Revolted is the duke; he is preparing  To join the enemy; the army leave him,  And all has failed.

SCENE XIII

A spacious room in the Duke of Friedland's palace.

WALLENSTEIN (in armor)  Thou hast gained thy point, Octavio! Once more am I  Almost as friendless as at Regensburg.  There I had nothing left me but myself;  But what one man can do you have now experience.  The twigs have you hewed off, and here I stand  A leafless trunk. But in the sap within  Lives the creating power, and a new world  May sprout forth from it. Once already have I  Proved myself worth an army to you – I alone!  Before the Swedish strength your troops had melted;  Beside the Lech sank Tilly, your last hope;  Into Bavaria, like a winter torrent,  Did that Gustavus pour, and at Vienna  In his own palace did the emperor tremble.  Soldiers were scarce, for still the multitude  Follow the luck: all eyes were turned on me,  Their helper in distress; the emperor's pride  Bowed itself down before the man he had injured.  'Twas I must rise, and with creative word  Assemble forces in the desolate camps.  I did it. Like a god of war my name  Went through the world. The drum was beat; and, to  The plough, the workshop is forsaken, all  Swarm to the old familiar long loved banners;  And as the wood-choir rich in melody  Assemble quick around the bird of wonder,  When first his throat swells with his magic song,  So did the warlike youth of Germany  Crowd in around the image of my eagle.  I feel myself the being that I was.  It is the soul that builds itself a body,  And Friedland's camp will not remain unfilled.  Lead then your thousands out to meet me – true!  They are accustomed under me to conquer,  But not against me. If the head and limbs  Separate from each other, 'twill be soon  Made manifest in which the soul abode.

(ILLO and TERZKY enter.)