The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iii Part 94

Ay, pity 'tis thou art! Alas, that home To thee has grown so strange! Oh, Uly! Uly!

I scarce do know thee now, thus deck'd in silks, The peac.o.c.k's feather[45] flaunting in thy cap, And purple mantle round thy shoulders flung; Thou look'st upon the peasant with disdain; And tak'st his honest greeting with a blush.

RUDENZ.

All honor due to him I gladly pay, But must deny the right he would usurp.

ATTING.

The sore displeasure of its monarch rests Upon our land, and every true man's heart Is full of sadness for the grievous wrongs We suffer from our tyrants. Thou alone Art all unmoved amid the general grief.

Abandoning thy friends, thou tak'st thy stand Beside thy country's foes, and, as in scorn Of our distress, pursuest giddy joys, Courting the smiles of princes all the while Thy country bleeds beneath their cruel scourge.

RUDENZ.

The land is sore oppress'd, I know it, uncle.

But why? Who plunged it into this distress?

A word, one little easy word, might buy Instant deliverance from all our ills, And win the good will of the Emperor.

Woe unto those who seal the people's eyes, And make them adverse to their country's good-- The men, who, for their own vile selfish ends, Are seeking to prevent the Forest States From swearing fealty to Austria's House, As all the countries round about have done.

It fits their humor well, to take their seats Amid the n.o.bles on the Herrenbank;[46]

They'll have the Kaiser for their lord, forsooth-- That is to say, they'll have no lord at all.

ATTING.

Must I hear this, and from thy lips, rash boy!

RUDENZ.

You urged me to this answer. Hear me out.

What, uncle, is the character you've stoop'd To fill contentedly through life? Have you No higher pride than in these lonely wilds To be the Landamman or Banneret,[47]

The petty chieftain of a shepherd race?

How! Were it not a far more glorious choice, To bend in homage to our royal lord, And swell the princely splendors of his court, Than sit at home, the peer of your own va.s.sals, And share the judgment-seat with vulgar clowns?

ATTING.

Ah, Uly, Uly; all too well I see, The tempter's voice has caught thy willing ear, And pour'd its subtle poison in thy heart.

RUDENZ.

Yes, I conceal it not. It doth offend My inmost soul, to hear the stranger's gibes, That taunt us with the name of "Peasant n.o.bles!"

Think you the heart that's stirring here can brook, While all the young n.o.bility around Are reaping honor under Habsburg's banner, That I should loiter, in inglorious ease, Here on the heritage my fathers left, And, in the dull routine of vulgar toil, Lose all life's glorious spring? In other lands Great deeds are done. A world of fair renown Beyond these mountains stirs in martial pomp.

My helm and s.h.i.+eld are rusting in the hall; The martial trumpet's spirit-stirring blast, The herald's call, inviting to the lists, Rouse not the echoes of these vales, where naught Save cowherd's horn and cattle bell is heard, In one unvarying dull monotony.

ATTING.

Deluded boy, seduced by empty show!

Despise the land that gave thee birth! Ashamed Of the good ancient customs of thy sires!

The day will come, when thou, with burning tears, Wilt long for home, and for thy native hills, And that dear melody of tuneful herds, Which now, in proud disgust, thou dost despise!

A day when wistful pangs shall shake thy heart, Hearing their music in a foreign land.

Oh! potent is the spell that binds to home!

No, no, the cold, false world is not for thee.

At the proud court, with thy true heart, thou wilt Forever feel a stranger among strangers.

The world asks virtues of far other stamp Than thou hast learned within these simple vales.

But go--go thither--barter thy free soul, Take land in fief, be minion to a prince, Where thou might'st be lord paramount, and prince Of all thine own unburden'd heritage!

O, Uly, Uly, stay among thy people!

Go not to Altdorf. Oh, abandon not The sacred cause of thy wrong'd native land!

I am the last of all my race. My name Ends with me. Yonder hang my helm and s.h.i.+eld; They will be buried with me in the grave.[48]

And must I think, when yielding up my breath, That thou but wait'st the closing of mine eyes, To stoop thy knee to this new feudal court, And take in va.s.salage from Austria's hands The n.o.ble lands, which I from G.o.d received, Free and unfetter'd as the mountain air!

RUDENZ.

'Tis vain for us to strive against the king.

The world pertains to him. Shall we alone, In mad presumptuous obstinacy, strive To break that mighty chain of lands, which he Hath drawn around us with his giant grasp?

His are the markets, his the courts--his, too, The highways; nay, the very carrier's horse, That traffics on the Gotthardt, pays him toll.

By his dominions, as within a net, We are inclosed, and girded round about-- And will the Empire s.h.i.+eld us? Say, can it Protect itself 'gainst Austria's growing power?

To G.o.d, and not to emperors must we look!

What store can on their promises be placed, When they, to meet their own necessities, Can p.a.w.n, and even alienate the towns That flee for shelter 'neath the Eagle's wings?[49]

No, uncle! It is wise and wholesome prudence, In times like these, when faction's all abroad, To vow attachment to some mighty chief.

The imperial crown's transferred from line to line.[50]

It has no memory for faithful service But to secure the favor of these great Hereditary masters, were to sow Seed for a future harvest.

ATTINGHAUSEN.

Art so wise?

Wilt thou see clearer than thy n.o.ble sires, Who battled for fair freedom's priceless gem With life, and fortune, and heroic arm?

Sail down the lake to Lucern, there inquire How Austria's thraldom weighs the Cantons down.

Soon she will come to count our sheep, our cattle, To portion out the Alps, e'en to their peaks, And in our own free woods to hinder us From striking down the eagle or the stag; To set her tolls on every bridge and gate, Impoverish us, to swell her l.u.s.t of sway, And drain our dearest blood to feed her wars.

No, if our blood must flow, let it be shed In our own cause! We purchase liberty More cheaply far than bondage.

RUDENZ.

What can we, A shepherd race, against great Albert's hosts?

ATTING.

Learn, foolish boy, to know this shepherd race!

I know them, I have led them on in fight-- I saw them in the battle of Favenz.

What! Austria try, forsooth, to force on us A yoke we are determined not to bear!

Oh, learn to feel from what a stock thou'rt sprung; Cast not, for tinsel trash and idle show, The precious jewel of thy worth away.

To be the chieftain of a free born race, Bound to thee only by their unbought love, Ready to stand--to fight--to die with thee, Be that thy pride, be that thy n.o.blest boast!

Knit to thy heart the ties of kindred--home-- Cling to the land, the dear land of thy sires, Grapple to that with thy whole heart and soul!

Thy power is rooted deep and strongly here, But in yon stranger world thou'lt stand alone, A trembling reed beat down by every blast.

Oh come! 'tis long since we have seen thee, Uly!

Tarry but this one day. Only today!

Go not to Altdorf. Wilt thou? Not today!

For this one day, bestow thee on thy friends.

[_Takes his hand_.]

RUDENZ.