Коллектив авторов - The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03

WALLENSTEIN.

What is there of such urgence? We are busy.

Municipal Theatre, Hamburg, 1906.]

TERZKY ( from without ).

Lay all aside at present, I entreat you.

It suffers no delaying.

WALLENSTEIN.

Open, Seni!

[ While SENI opens the door for TERZKY, WALLENSTEIN draws the curtain over the figures .]

WALLENSTEIN. COUNT TERZKY

TERZKY ( enters ).

Hast thou already heard it? He is taken.

Gallas has given him up to the Emperor.

[SENI draws off the black table, and exit .]

WALLENSTEIN ( to TERZKY).

Who has been taken? Who is given up?

TERZKY.

The man who knows our secrets, who knows every

Negotiation with the Swede and Saxon,

Through whose hands all and everything has pass'd—

WALLENSTEIN ( drawing back ).

Nay, not Sesina?—Say, No! I entreat thee.

TERZKY.

All on his road for Regensburg to the Swede

He was plunged down upon by Gallas' agent,

Who had been long in ambush, lurking for him.

There must have been found on him my whole packet

To Thur, to Kinsky, to Oxenstiern, to Arnheim:

All this is in their hands; they have now an insight

Into the whole—our measures and our motives.

To them enters ILLO.

ILLO ( to TERZKY).

Has he heard it?

TERZHY.

He has heard it.

ILLO ( to WALLENSTEIN).

To make thy peace with the Emperor, to regain

His confidence? E'en were it now thy wish

To abandon all thy plans, yet still they know

What thou hast wish'd: then forwards thou must press,

Retreat is now no longer in thy power.

TERZKY.

They have documents against us, and in hands,

Which show beyond all power of contradiction—

WALLENST.

Of my handwriting—no iota. Thee

I punish for thy lies.

ILLO.

That what this man, and what thy sister's husband,

Did in thy name, will not stand on thy reck'ning?

His word must pass for thy word with the Swede,

And not with those that hate thee at Vienna?

TERZKY.

In writing thou gavest nothing—But bethink thee,

How far thou ventured'st by word of mouth

With this Sesina! And will he be silent?

If he can save himself by yielding up

Thy secret purposes, will he retain them?

ILLO.

Thyself dost not conceive it possible;

And since they now have evidence authentic

How far thou hast already gone, speak!—tell us,

What art thou waiting for? Thou canst no longer

Keep thy command; and beyond hope of rescue

Thou'rt lost, if thou resign'st it.

WALLENSTEIN.

Lies my security. The army will not

Abandon me. Whatever they may know,

The power is mine, and they must gulp it down—

And if I give them caution for my fealty,

They must be satisfied, at least appear so.

ILLO.

The army, Duke, is thine now—for this moment—

'Tis thine, but think with terror on the slow,

The quiet power of time. From open violence

The attachment of thy soldiery secures thee

Today—tomorrow: but grant'st thou them a respite

Unheard, unseen, they'll undermine that love

On which thou now dost feel so firm a footing,

With wily theft will draw away from thee

One after the other other—

WALLENSTEIN.

'Tis a cursed accident!

ILLO.

Oh! I will call it a most blessèd one,

If it work on thee as it ought to do,

Hurry thee on to action—to decision.

The Swedish General—

WALLENSTEIN.

What his commission is—

ILLO.

Will he intrust the purpose of his coming.

WALLENST.

A cursed, cursed accident! Yes, yes,

Sesina knows too much, and won't be silent.

TERZKY.

He's a Bohemian fugitive and rebel,

His neck is forfeit. Can he save himself

At thy cost, think you he will scruple it?

And if they put him to the torture, will he,

Will he , that dastardling, have strength enough—

WALLENSTEIN ( lost in thought ).

Their confidence is lost, irreparably!

And I may act which way I will, I shall

Be and remain forever in their thought

A traitor to my country. How sincerely

Soever I return back to my duty,

It will no longer help me—

ILLO.

That it will do! Not thy fidelity,

Thy weakness will be deemed the sole occasion—

WALLENSTEIN ( pacing up and down in extreme agitation ).

What! I must realize it now in earnest,

Because I toy'd too freely with the thought!

Accursed he who dallies with a devil!

And must I—I must realize it now—

Now, while I have the power, it must take place?

ILLO.

Now—now—ere they can ward and parry it!

WALLENSTEIN ( looking at the paper of signatures ).

I have the Generals' word—a written promise!

Max Piccolomini stands not here—how's that?

TERZKY.

It was—he fancied—

ILLO.

There needed no such thing 'twixt him and you.

WALLENST.

He is quite right; there needed no such thing.

The regiments, too, deny to march for Flanders—

Have sent me in a paper of remonstrance,

And openly resist the Imperial orders.

The first step to revolt's already taken.

ILLO.

Believe me, thou wilt find it far more easy

To lead them over to the enemy

Than to the Spaniard.

WALLENSTEIN.

What the Swede has to say to me.

ILLO ( eagerly to TERZKY).

He stands without the door in waiting.

WALLENSTEIN.

Stay but a little. It hath taken me

All by surprise; it came too quick upon me;

'Tis wholly novel that an accident,

With its dark lordship, and blind agency,

Should force me on with it.

ILLO.

And after weigh it.

[ Exeunt TERZKY and ILLO.]

WALLENSTEIN ( in soliloquy ).

Is't so! I can no longer what I would ?

No longer draw back at my liking? I

Must do the deed, because I thought of it?

And fed this heart here with a dream? Because

I did not scowl temptation from my presence,

Dallied with thoughts of possible fulfilment,

Commenced no movement, left all time uncertain,

And only kept the road, the access open?

By the great God of Heaven! it was not

My serious meaning, it was ne'er resolved.