The Works of Frederick Schiller Part 205

Hear'st thou the uproar?

The whole corps of the Pappenheimers is Drawn out: the younger Piccolomini, Their colonel, they require: for they affirm, That he is in the palace here, a prisoner; And if thou dost not instantly deliver him, They will find means to free him with the sword.

[All stand amazed.

TERZKY.

What shall we make of this?

WALLENSTEIN.

Said I not so?

O my prophetic heart! he is still here.

He has not betrayed me--he could not betray me.

I never doubted of it.

COUNTESS.

If he be Still here, then all goes well; for I know what [Embracing THEKLA.

Will keep him here forever.

TERZKY.

It can't be.

His father has betrayed us, is gone over To the emperor--the son could not have ventured To stay behind.

THEKLA (her eye fixed on the door).

There he is!

SCENE XVIII.

To these enter MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

MAX.

Yes, here he is! I can endure no longer To creep on tiptoe round this house, and lurk In ambush for a favorable moment: This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.

[Advancing to THEKLA, who has thrown herself into her 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? Secrecy Is for the happy--misery, hopeless misery, Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns It dares act openly.

[He observes the COUNTESS looking on THEKLA with expressions of triumph.

No, lady! No!

Expect not, hope it not. I am not come To stay: to bid farewell, farewell forever.

For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!

Thekla, I must--must leave thee! Yet thy hatred Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me One look of sympathy, only one look.

Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla!

[Grasps her hand.

O G.o.d! I cannot leave this spot--I cannot!

Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla!

That thou dost suffer with me, art convinced That I cannot act otherwise.

[THEKLA, avoiding his look, points with her hand to her father.

MAX. turns round to the DUKE, whom he had not till then perceived.

Thou here? It was not thou whom here I sought.

I trusted never more to have beheld thee, My business is with her alone. Here will I Receive a full acquittal from this heart; For any other I am no more concerned.

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 given Into my power. Think not, that I will honor That ancient love, which so remorselessly He mangled. They are now pa.s.sed by, those hours Of friends.h.i.+p and forgiveness. Hate and vengeance Succeed--'tis now their turn--I too can throw All feelings of the man aside--can prove Myself as much a monster as thy father!

MAX (calmly).

Thou wilt proceed with me as thou hast power.

Thou knowest I neither brave nor fear thy rage.

What has detained me here, that too thou knowest.

[Taking THEKLA by the hand.

See, duke! All--all would I have owed to thee, Would have received from thy paternal hand The lot of blessed spirits. That hast thou Laid waste forever--that concerns not thee.

Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust Their happiness who most are thine. The G.o.d Whom thou dost serve is no benignant deity, Like as the blind, irreconcilable, Fierce element, incapable of compact.

Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow. [5]

WALLENSTEIN.

Thou art describing thy own father's heart.

The adder! Oh, the charms of h.e.l.l o'erpowered me He dwelt within me, to my inmost soul Still to and fro he pa.s.sed, suspected never.

On the wide ocean, in the starry heaven Did mine eyes seek the enemy, whom I In my heart's heart had folded! Had I been To Ferdinand what Octavio was to me, War had I ne'er denounced against him.

No, I never could have done it. The emperor was My austere master only, not my friend.

There was already war 'twixt him and me When he delivered the commander's staff Into my hands; for there's a natural Unceasing war twixt cunning and suspicion; Peace exists only betwixt confidence And faith. Who poisons confidence, he murders The future generations.

MAX.

I will not Defend my father. Woe is me, I cannot!

Hard deeds and luckless have taken place; one crime Drags after it the other in close link.

But we are innocent: how have we fallen Into this circle of mishap and guilt?

To whom have we been faithless? Wherefore must The evil deeds and guilt reciprocal Of our two fathers twine like serpents round 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 accustomed to the German winters; Thy hand was frozen to the heavy colors; Thou wouldst 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 ashamed To do for thee all little offices, However strange to me; I tended thee Till life returned; and when thine eyes first opened, I had thee in my arms. Since then, when have Altered my feelings toward thee? Many thousands Have I made rich, presented them with lands; Rewarded them with dignities and honors; Thee have I loved: my heart, my self, I gave To thee; They all were aliens: thou wert Our child and inmate. [6] Max.! Thou canst not leave me; It cannot be; I may not, will not think That Max. can leave me.

MAX.

Ob, my G.o.d!

WALLENSTEIN I have Held and sustained thee from thy tottering childhood.

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?