Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Duchess. Not secure 120

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? 125

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. 130

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.

Have I for this — [Stops suddenly, repressing himself.

1800, 1828, 1829.

[After 101] [He recollects himself. 1800, 1828, 1829.

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To them enter COUNT TERTSKY.

Countess. — Tertsky!

What ails him? What an image of affright!

He looks as he had seen a ghost.

Tertsky (leading Wallenstein aside). Is it thy command that all

the Croats —

Wallenstein. Mine! 5

Tertsky. We are betrayed.

Wallenstein. What?

Tertsky. They are off! This night

The Jägers likewise — all the villages

In the whole round are empty.

Wallenstein. Isolani?

Tertsky. Him thou hast sent away. Yes, surely.

Wallenstein. I?

Tertsky. No! Hast thou not sent him off? Nor Deodate? 10

They are vanished both of them.

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To them enter ILLO.

Illo. Has Tertsky told thee?

Tertsky. He knows all.

Illo. And likewise

That Esterhatzy, Goetz, Maradas, Kaunitz,

Kolatto, Palfi, have forsaken thee?

Tertsky. Damnation!

Wallenstein (winks at them). Hush!

Countess (who has been watching them anxiously from the distance

and now advances to them). Tertsky! Heaven! What is it? What

has happened? 5

Wallenstein (scarcely suppressing his emotions). Nothing! let us

be gone!

Tertsky (following him). Theresa, it is nothing.

Countess (holding him back). Nothing? Do I not see, that all the

lifeblood

Has left your cheeks — look you not like a ghost?

That even my brother but affects a calmness? 10

Page (enters). An Aid-de-Camp enquires for the Count Tertsky.

[TERTSKY 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. 15

Wallenstein. Let Tiefenbach leave guard without delay,

And Tertsky’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! 20

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 nought unusual;

Here storm and sunshine follow one another

With rapid interchanges. These fierce spirits 25

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: TERTSKY returns.

Tertsky. Remain here. From this window must we see it. 30

Wallenstein (to the Countess). Sister, retire!

Countess. No — never.

Wallenstein. ‘Tis my will.

Tertsky (leads the Countess aside, and drawing her attention to the

Duchess). Theresa!

Duchess. Sister, come! since he commands it.

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WALLENSTEIN, TERTSKY.

Wallenstein (stepping to the window). What now, then?

Tertsky. 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. 5

Tiefenbach’s corps makes threatening movements; only

The Pappenheimers still remain aloof

In their own quarters, and let no one enter.

Wallenstein. Does Piccolomini appear among them?

Tertsky. We are seeking him: he is no where to be met with. 10

Wallenstein. What did the Aid-de-Camp deliver to you?

Tertsky. My regiments had dispatched 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? 15

It should have been kept secret from the army,

Till fortune had decided for us at Prague.

Tertsky. O that thou hadst believed me! Yester evening

Did we conjure thee not to let that skulker,

That fox, Octavio, pass the gates of Pilsen. 20

Thou gav’st 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.

Tertsky. Thou did’st confide in Isolani too;

And lo! he was the first that did desert thee. 25

Wallenstein. It was but yesterday I rescued him

From abject wretchedness. Let that go by.

I never reckon’d yet on gratitude.

And wherein doth he wrong in going from me?

He follows still the god whom all his life 30

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 35

He traversed the open sea; now he beholds it

In imminent 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: 40

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, 45

Nought 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.

Tertsky. Yet, would I rather

Trust the smooth brow than that deep furrowed one. 50

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WALLENSTEIN, TERTSKY, ILLO.

Illo. Treason and mutiny!

Tertsky. And what further now?

Illo. Tiefenbach’s soldiers, when I gave the orders

To go off guard — Mutinous villains!

Tertsky. Well!

Wallenstein. What followed?

Illo. They refused obedience to them. 5

Tertsky. 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. What? How is that? 10

Illo. He takes that office on him by commission,

Under sign-manual of the Emperor.

Tertsky. From the Emperor — hear’st thou, Duke?

Illo. At his incitement

The Generals made that stealthy flight —

Tertsky. Duke! hearest thou?

Illo. Caraffa too, and Montecuculi, 15

Are missing, with six other Generals,

All whom he had induced to follow him.

This plot he has long had in writing by him