The Piccolomini
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PREFACE
The two dramas, – PICCOLOMINI, or the first part of WALLENSTEIN, and the DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN, are introduced in the original manuscript by a prelude in one act, entitled WALLENSTEIN'S CAMP. This is written in rhyme, and in nine-syllable verse, in the same lilting metre (if that expression may be permitted), with the second Eclogue of Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar.
This prelude possesses a sort of broad humor, and is not deficient in character: but to have translated it into prose, or into any other metre than that of the original, would have given a false idea both of its style and purport; to have translated it into the same metre would have been incompatible with a faithful adherence to the sense of the German from the comparative poverty of our language in rhymes; and it would have been unadvisable, from the incongruity of those lax verses with the present taste of the English public. Schiller's intention seems to have been merely to have prepared his reader for the tragedies by a lively picture of laxity of discipline and the mutinous dispositions of Wallenstein's soldiery. It is not necessary as a preliminary explanation. For these reasons it has been thought expedient not to translate it.
The admirers of Schiller, who have abstracted their idea of that author from the Robbers, and the Cabal and Love, plays in which the main interest is produced by the excitement of curiosity, and in which the curiosity is excited by terrible and extraordinary incident, will not have perused without some portion of disappointment the dramas, which it has been my employment to translate. They should, however, reflect that these are historical dramas taken from a popular German history; that we must, therefore, judge of them in some measure with the feelings of Germans; or, by analogy, with the interest excited in us by similar dramas in our own language. Few, I trust, would be rash or ignorant enough to compare Schiller with Shakspeare; yet, merely as illustration, I would say that we should proceed to the perusal of Wallenstein, not from Lear or Othello, but from Richard II., or the three parts of Henry VI. We scarcely expect rapidity in an historical drama; and many prolix speeches are pardoned from characters whose names and actions have formed the most amusing tales of our early life. On the other hand, there exist in these plays more individual beauties, more passages whose excellence will bear reflection than in the former productions of Schiller. The description of the Astrological Tower, and the reflections of the Young Lover, which follow it, form in the original a fine poem; and my translation must have been wretched indeed if it can have wholly overclouded the beauties of the scene in the first act of the first play between Questenberg, Max, and Octavio Piccolomini. If we except the scene of the setting sun in the Robbers, I know of no part in Schiller's plays which equals the first scene of the fifth act of the concluding plays. [In this edition, scene iii., act v.] It would be unbecoming in me to be more diffuse on this subject. A translator stands connected with the original author by a certain law of subordination which makes it more decorous to point out excellences than defects; indeed, he is not likely to be a fair judge of either. The pleasure or disgust from his own labor will mingle with the feelings that arise from an afterview of the original. Even in the first perusal of a work in any foreign language which we understand, we are apt to attribute to it more excellence than it really possesses from our own pleasurable sense of difficulty overcome without effort. Translation of poetry into poetry is difficult, because the translator must give a brilliancy to his language without that warmth of original conception from which such brilliancy would follow of its own accord. But the translator of a living author is incumbered with additional inconveniences. If he render his original faithfully as to the sense of each passage, he must necessarily destroy a considerable portion of the spirit; if he endeavor to give a work executed according to laws of compensation he subjects himself to imputations of vanity or misrepresentation. I have thought it my duty to remain bound by the sense of my original with as few exceptions as the nature of the languages rendered possible. S. T. C.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
WALLENSTEIN, Duke of Friedland, Generalissimo of the Imperial Forces in the Thirty Years' War.
OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, Lieutenant-General.
MAX. PICCOLOMINI, his Son, Colonel of a Regiment of Cuirassiers.
COUNT TERZKY, the Commander of several Regiments, and Brother-in-law of Wallenstein.
ILLO, Field-Marshal, Wallenstein's Confidant.
ISOLANI, General of the Croats.
BUTLER, an Irishman, Commander of a Regiment of Dragoons.
TIEFENBACH, |
DON MARADAS, | Generals under Wallenstein.
GOETZ, |
KOLATTO, |
NEUMANN, Captain of Cavalry, Aide-de-Camp to Terzky.
VON QUESTENBERG, the War Commissioner, Imperial Envoy.
BAPTISTA SENI, an Astrologer.
DUCHESS OF FRIEDLAND, Wife of Wallenstein.
THEKLA, her Daughter, Princess of Friedland.
THE COUNTESS TERZRY, Sister of the Duchess.
A CORNET.
COLONELS and GENERALS (several).
PAGES and ATTENDANTS belonging to Wallenstein.
ATTENDANTS and HOBOISTS belonging to Terzky.
MASTER OF THE CELLAR to Count Terzky.
VALET DE CHAMBRE of Count Piccolomini.
ACT I
SCENE I
An old Gothic Chamber in the Council-House at Pilsen, decorated with Colors and other War Insignia.
ILLO, with BUTLER and ISOLANI.
ILLOYe have come too late-but ye are come! The distance, Count Isolani, excuses your delay.ISOLANI Add this too, that we come not empty-handed. At Donauwerth1 it was reported to us, A Swedish caravan was on its way, Transporting a rich cargo of provision, Almost six hundreds wagons. This my Croats Plunged down upon and seized, this weighty prize! — We bring it hither —ILLO Just in time to banquet The illustrious company assembled here.BUTLER 'Tis all alive! a stirring scene here!ISOLANI Ay! The very churches are full of soldiers.[Casts his eye round.
And in the council-house, too, I observe, You're settled quite at home! Well, well! we soldiers Must shift and suit us in what way we can.ILLO We have the colonels here of thirty regiments. You'll find Count Terzky here, and Tiefenbach, Kolatto, Goetz, Maradas, Hinnersam, The Piccolomini, both son and father — You'll meet with many an unexpected greeting From many an old friend and acquaintance. Only Gallas is wanting still, and Altringer.BUTLER Expect not Gallas.ILLO (hesitating) How so? Do you know —ISOLANI (interrupting him) Max. Piccolomini here? O bring me to him. I see him yet ('tis now ten years ago, We were engaged with Mansfeldt hard by Dessau), I see the youth, in my mind's eye I see him, Leap his black war-horse from the bridge adown, And t'ward his father, then in extreme peril, Beat up against the strong tide of the Elbe. The down was scarce upon his chin! I hear He has made good the promise of his youth, And the full hero now is finished in him.ILLO You'll see him yet ere evening. He conductsThe Duchess Friedland hither, and the princess2 From Caernthen3. We expect them here at noon.
BUTLER Both wife and daughter does the duke call hither? He crowds in visitants from all sides.ISOLANI Hm! So much the better! I had framed my mind To hear of naught but warlike circumstance, Of marches and attacks, and batteries; And lo! the duke provides, and something too Of gentler sort and lovely, should be present To feast our eyes.ILLO (who has been standing in the attitude of meditation, to BUTLER,whom he leads a little on one side) And how came you to know That the Count Gallas joins us not?BUTLER Because He importuned me to remain behind.ILLO (with warmth) And you? You hold out firmly![Grasping his hand with affection.
Noble Butler!BUTLER After the obligation which the duke Had laid so newly on me —ILLO I had forgotten A pleasant duty – major-general, I wish you joy!ISOLANI What, you mean, of this regiment? I hear, too, that to make the gift still sweeter, The duke has given him the very same In which he first saw service, and since then Worked himself step by step, through each preferment, From the ranks upwards. And verily, it gives A precedent of hope, a spur of action To the whole corps, if once in their remembrance An old deserving soldier makes his way.BUTLER I am perplexed and doubtful whether or no I dare accept this your congratulation. The emperor has not yet confirmed the appointment.ISOLANI Seize it, friend, seize it! The hand which in that post Placed you is strong enough to keep you there, Spite of the emperor and his ministers!ILLO Ay, if we would but so consider it! — If we would all of us consider it so! The emperor gives us nothing; from the duke Comes all – whate'er we hope, whate'er we have.ISOLANI (to ILLO) My noble brother! did I tell you how The duke will satisfy my creditors? Will be himself my bankers for the future, Make me once more a creditable man! And this is now the third time, think of that! This kingly-minded man has rescued me From absolute ruin and restored my honor.ILLO Oh that his power but kept pace with his wishes! Why, friend! he'd give the whole world to his soldiers. But at Vienna, brother! – here's the grievance, — What politic schemes do they not lay to shorten His arm, and where they can to clip his pinions. Then these new dainty requisitions! these Which this same Questenberg brings hither!BUTLER Ay! Those requisitions of the emperor — I too have heard about them; but I hope The duke will not draw back a single inch!ILLO Not from his right most surely, unless first From office!BUTLER (shocked and confused) Know you aught then? You alarm me.ISOLANI (at the same time with BUTLER, and in a hurrying voice) We should be ruined, every one of us!ILLO Yonder I see our worthy friend [spoken with a sneer] approaching With the Lieutenant-General Piccolomini.BUTLER (shaking his head significantly) I fear we shall not go hence as we came.SCENE II
Enter OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI and QUESTENBERG.
OCTAVIO (still in the distance) Ay! ah! more still! Still more new visitors! Acknowledge, friend! that never was a camp, Which held at once so many heads of heroes.QUESTENBERG Let none approach a camp of Friedland's troops Who dares to think unworthily of war; E'en I myself had nigh forgot its evils When I surveyed that lofty soul of order, By which, while it destroys the world – itself Maintains the greatness which itself created.OCTAVIO (approaching nearer) Welcome, Count Isolani!ISOLANI My noble brother! Even now am I arrived; it has been else my duty —OCTAVIO And Colonel Butler – trust me, I rejoice Thus to renew acquaintance with a man Whose worth and services I know and honor. See, see, my friend! There might we place at once before our eyes The sum of war's whole trade and mystery —[To QUESTENBERG, presenting BUTLER and ISOLANI at the same time
to him. These two the total sum – strength and despatch.QUESTENBERG (to OCTAVIO) And lo! betwixt them both, experienced prudence!OCTAVIO (presenting QUESTENBERG to BUTLER and ISOLANI) The Chamberlain and War-Commissioner Questenberg. The bearer of the emperor's behests, — The long-tried friend and patron of all soldiers, We honor in this noble visitor.[Universal silence.
ILLO (moving towards QUESTENBERG) 'Tis not the first time, noble minister, You've shown our camp this honor.QUESTENBERG Once before I stood beside these colors.ILLO Perchance too you remember where that was; It was at Znaeim 4 in Moravia, where You did present yourself upon the part Of the emperor to supplicate our duke That he would straight assume the chief command.QUESTENBURG To supplicate? Nay, bold general! So far extended neither my commission (At least to my own knowledge) nor my zeal.ILLO Well, well, then – to compel him, if you choose, I can remember me right well, Count Tilly Had suffered total rout upon the Lech. Bavaria lay all open to the enemy, Whom there was nothing to delay from pressing Onwards into the very heart of Austria. At that time you and Werdenberg appeared Before our general, storming him with prayers, And menacing the emperor's displeasure, Unless he took compassion on this wretchedness.ISOLANI (steps up to them) Yes, yes, 'tis comprehensible enough, Wherefore with your commission of to-day, You were not all too willing to remember Your former one.QUESTENBERG Why not, Count Isolani? No contradiction sure exists between them. It was the urgent business of that time To snatch Bavaria from her enemy's hand; And my commission of to-day instructs me To free her from her good friends and protectors.ILLO A worthy office! After with our blood We have wrested this Bohemia from the Saxon, To be swept out of it is all our thanks, The sole reward of all our hard-won victories.QUESTENBERG Unless that wretched land be doomed to suffer Only a change of evils, it must be Freed from the scourge alike of friend or foe.ILLO What? 'Twas a favorable year; the boors Can answer fresh demands already.QUESTENBERG Nay, If you discourse of herds and meadow-grounds —ISOLANI The war maintains the war. Are the boors ruined The emperor gains so many more new soldiers.QUESTENBERG And is the poorer by even so many subjects.ISOLANI Poh! we are all his subjects.QUESTENBERG Yet with a difference, general! The one fill With profitable industry the purse, The others are well skilled to empty it. The sword has made the emperor poor; the plough Must reinvigorate his resources.ISOLANI Sure! Times are not yet so bad. Methinks I see[Examining with his eye the dress and ornaments of QUESTENBERG.
Good store of gold that still remains uncoined.QUESTENBERG Thank Heaven! that means have been found out to hide Some little from the fingers of the Croats.ILLO There! The Stawata and the Martinitz, On whom the emperor heaps his gifts and graces, To the heart-burning of all good Bohemians — Those minions of court favor, those court harpies, Who fatten on the wrecks of citizens Driven from their house and home – who reap no harvests Save in the general calamity — Who now, with kingly pomp, insult and mock The desolation of their country – these, Let these, and such as these, support the war, The fatal war, which they alone enkindled!BUTLER And those state-parasites, who have their feet So constantly beneath the emperor's table, Who cannot let a benefice fall, but they Snap at it with dogs' hunger – they, forsooth, Would pare the soldiers bread and cross his reckoning!ISOLANI My life long will it anger me to think, How when I went to court seven years ago, To see about new horses for our regiment, How from one antechamber to another They dragged me on and left me by the hour To kick my heels among a crowd of simpering Feast-fattened slaves, as if I had come thither A mendicant suitor for the crumbs of favor That fell beneath their tables. And, at last, Whom should they send me but a Capuchin! Straight I began to muster up my sins For absolution – but no such luck for me! This was the man, this Capuchin, with whom I was to treat concerning the army horses! And I was forced at last to quit the field, The business unaccomplished. Afterwards The duke procured me in three days what I Could not obtain in thirty at Vienna.QUESTENBERG Yes, yes! your travelling bills soon found their way to us! Too well I know we have still accounts to settle.ILLO War is violent trade; one cannot always Finish one's work by soft means; every trifle Must not be blackened into sacrilege. If we should wait till you, in solemn council, With due deliberation had selected The smallest out of four-and-twenty evils, I' faith we should wait long — "Dash! and through with it!" That's the better watchword. Then after come what may come. 'Tis man's nature To make the best of a bad thing once past. A bitter and perplexed "what shall I do?" Is worse to man than worst necessity.QUESTENBERG Ay, doubtless, it is true; the duke does spare us The troublesome task of choosing.BUTLER Yes, the duke Cares with a father's feelings for his troops; But how the emperor feels for us, we see.QUESTENBERG His cares and feelings all ranks share alike, Nor will he offer one up to another.ISOLANI And therefore thrusts he us into the deserts As beasts of prey, that so he may preserve His dear sheep fattening in his fields at home.QUESTENBERG (with a sneer) Count! this comparison you make, not I.ILLO Why, were we all the court supposes us 'Twere dangerous, sure, to give us liberty.QUESTENBERG (gravely) You have taken liberty – it was not given you, And therefore it becomes an urgent duty To rein it in with the curbs.ILLO Expect to find a restive steed in us.QUESTENBERG A better rider may be found to rule it.ILLO He only brooks the rider who has tamed him.QUESTENBERG Ay, tame him once, and then a child may lead him.ILLO The child, we know, is found for him already.QUESTENBERG Be duty, sir, your study, not a name.BUTLER (who has stood aside with PICCOLOMINI, but with visible interest in the conversation, advances) Sir president, the emperor has in Germany A splendid host assembled; in this kingdom Full twenty thousand soldiers are cantoned, With sixteen thousand in Silesia; Ten regiments are posted on the Weser, The Rhine, and Maine; in Swabia there are six, And in Bavaria twelve, to face the Swedes; Without including in the account the garrisons Who on the frontiers hold the fortresses. This vast and mighty host is all obedient To Friedland's captains; and its brave commanders, Bred in one school, and nurtured with one milk, Are all excited by one heart and soul; They are as strangers on the soil they tread, The service is their only house and home. No zeal inspires then for their country's cause, For thousands like myself were born abroad; Nor care they for the emperor, for one half Deserting other service fled to ours, Indifferent what their banner, whether 'twere, The Double Eagle, Lily, or the Lion. Yet one sole man can rein this fiery host By equal rule, by equal love and fear; Blending the many-nationed whole in one; And like the lightning's fires securely led Down the conducting rod, e'en thus his power Rules all the mass, from guarded post to post, From where the sentry hears the Baltic roar, Or views the fertile vales of the Adige, E'en to the body-guard, who holds his watch Within the precincts of the imperial palace!QUESTENBERG What's the short meaning of this long harangue?BUTLER That the respect, the love, the confidence, Which makes us willing subjects of Duke Friedland, Are not to be transferred to the first comer That Austria's court may please to send to us. We have not yet so readily forgotten How the command came into Friedland's hands. Was it, forsooth, the emperor's majesty That gave the army ready to his hand, And only sought a leader for it? No. The army then had no existence. He, Friedland, it was who called it into being, And gave it to his sovereign – but receiving No army at his hand; nor did the emperor Give Wallenstein to us as general. No, It was from Wallenstein we first received The emperor as our master and our sovereign; And he, he only, binds us to our banners!OCTAVIO (interposing and addressing QUESTENBERG) My noble friend, This is no more than a remembrancing That you are now in camp, and among warriors; The soldier's boldness constitutes his freedom. Could he act daringly, unless he dared Talk even so? One runs into the other. The boldness of this worthy officer,[Pointing to BUTLER.
Which now is but mistaken in its mark, Preserved, when naught but boldness could preserve it, To the emperor, his capital city, Prague, In a most formidable mutiny Of the whole garrison. [Military music at a distance. Hah! here they come!ILLO The sentries are saluting them: this signal Announces the arrival of the duchess.OCTAVIO (to QUESTENBERG) Then my son Max., too, has returned. 'Twas he Fetched and attended them from Caernthen hither.ISOLANI (to ILLO) Shall we not go in company to greet them?ILLO Well, let us go – Ho! Colonel Butler, come.[To OCTAVIO.
You'll not forget that yet ere noon we meet The noble envoy at the general's palace. [Exeunt all but QUESTENBERG and OCTAVIO.SCENE III
QUESTENBERG and OCTAVIO.
QUESTENBERG (with signs of aversion and astonishment) What have I not been forced to hear, Octavio! What sentiments! what fierce, uncurbed defiance! And were this spirit universal —OCTAVIO Hm! You're now acquainted with three-fourths of the army.QUESTENBERG Where must we seek, then, for a second host To have the custody of this? That Illo Thinks worse, I fear me, than he speaks. And then This Butler, too – he cannot even conceal The passionate workings of his ill intentions.OCTAVIO Quickness of temper – irritated pride; 'Twas nothing more. I cannot give up Butler. I know a spell that will soon dispossess The evil spirit in him.QUESTENBERG (walking up and down in evident disquiet) Friend, friend! O! this is worse, far worse, than we had suffered Ourselves to dream of at Vienna. There We saw it only with a courtier's eyes, Eyes dazzled by the splendor of the throne. We had not seen the war-chief, the commander, The man all-powerful in his camp. Here, here, 'Tis quite another thing. Here is no emperor more – the duke is emperor. Alas, my friend! alas, my noble friend! This walk which you have ta'en me through the camp Strikes my hopes prostrate.OCTAVIO Now you see yourself Of what a perilous kind the office is, Which you deliver to me from the court. The least suspicion of the general Costs me my freedom and my life, and would But hasten his most desperate enterprise.QUESTENBERG Where was our reason sleeping when we trusted This madman with the sword, and placed such power In such a hand? I tell you, he'll refuse, Flatly refuse to obey the imperial orders. Friend, he can do it, and what he can, he will. And then the impunity of his defiance — Oh! what a proclamation of our weakness!OCTAVIO D'ye think, too, he has brought his wife and daughter Without a purpose hither? Here in camp! And at the very point of time in which We're arming for the war? That he has taken These, the last pledges of his loyalty, Away from out the emperor's dominions — This is no doubtful token of the nearness Of some eruption.QUESTENBERG How shall we hold footing Beneath this tempest, which collects itself And threats us from all quarters? The enemy Of the empire on our borders, now already The master of the Danube, and still farther, And farther still, extending every hour! In our interior the alarum-bells Of insurrection – peasantry in arms — All orders discontented – and the army, Just in the moment of our expectation Of aidance from it – lo! this very army Seduced, run wild, lost to all discipline, Loosened, and rent asunder from the state And from their sovereign, the blind instrument Of the most daring of mankind, a weapon Of fearful power, which at his will he wields.OCTAVIO Nay, nay, friend! let us not despair too soon Men's words are even bolder than their deeds; And many a resolute, who now appears Made up to all extremes, will, on a sudden, Find in his breast a heart he wot not of, Let but a single honest man speak out The true name of his crime! Remember, too, We stand not yet so wholly unprotected. Counts Altringer and Gallas have maintained Their little army faithful to its duty, And daily it becomes more numerous. Nor can he take us by surprise; you know I hold him all encompassed by my listeners. What'er he does, is mine, even while 'tis doing — No step so small, but instantly I hear it; Yea, his own mouth discloses it.QUESTENBERG 'Tis quite Incomprehensible, that he detects not The foe so near!OCTAVIO Beware, you do not think, That I, by lying arts, and complaisant Hypocrisy, have sulked into his graces, Or with the substance of smooth professions Nourish his all-confiding friendship! No — Compelled alike by prudence, and that duty Which we all owe our country and our sovereign, To hide my genuine feelings from him, yet Ne'er have I duped him with base counterfeits!QUESTENBERG It is the visible ordinance of heaven.OCTAVIO I know not what it is that so attracts And links him both to me and to my son. Comrades and friends we always were – long habit, Adventurous deeds performed in company, And all those many and various incidents Which stores a soldier's memory with affections, Had bound us long and early to each other — Yet I can name the day, when all at once His heart rose on me, and his confidence Shot out into sudden growth. It was the morning Before the memorable fight at Luetzen. Urged by an ugly dream, I sought him out, To press him to accept another charger. At a distance from the tents, beneath a tree, I found him in a sleep. When I had waked him And had related all my bodings to him, Long time he stared upon me, like a man Astounded: thereon fell upon my neck, And manifested to me an emotion That far outstripped the worth of that small service. Since then his confidence has followed me With the same pace that mine has fled from him.QUESTENBERG You lead your son into the secret?OCTAVIO No!QUESTENBERG What! and not warn him either, what bad hands His lot has placed him in?OCTAVIO I must perforce Leave him in wardship to his innocence. His young and open soul – dissimulation Is foreign to its habits! Ignorance Alone can keep alive the cheerful air, The unembarrassed sense and light free spirit, That makes the duke secure.QUESTENBERG (anxiously) My honored friend! most highly do I deem Of Colonel Piccolomini – yet – if — Reflect a little —OCTAVIO I must venture it. Hush! There he comes!