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him.

      Max. My General, this day thou makest me

       Of age to speak in my own right and person,

       For till this day I have been spared the trouble

       To find out my own road. Thee have I followed 30

       With most implicit unconditional faith,

       Sure of the right path if I followed thee.

       To-day, for the first time, dost thou refer

       Me to myself, and forcest me to make

       Election between thee and my own heart. 35

      Wallenstein. Soft cradled thee thy Fortune till to-day;

       Thy duties thou couldst exercise in sport,

       Indulge all lovely instincts, act for ever

       With undivided heart. It can remain

       No longer thus. Like enemies, the roads 40

       Start from each other. Duties strive with duties.

       Thou must needs choose thy party in the war

       Which is now kindling ‘twixt thy friend and him

       Who is thy Emperor.

      Max. War! is that the name?

       War is as frightful as heaven’s pestilence. 45

       Yet it is good, is it heaven’s will as that is.

       Is that a good war, which against the Emperor

       Thou wagest with the Emperor’s own army?

       O God of heaven! what a change is this.

       Beseems it me to offer such persuasion 50

       To thee, who like the fixed star of the pole

       Wert all I gazed at on life’s trackless ocean?

       O! what a rent thou makest in my heart!

       The ingrained instinct of old reverence.

       The holy habit of obediency, 55

       Must I pluck live asunder from thy name?

       Nay, do not turn thy countenance upon me —

       It always was as a god looking at me!

       Duke Wallenstein, its power is not departed:

       The senses still are in thy bonds, although, 60

       Bleeding, the soul hath freed itself.

      Wallenstein. Max, hear me.

      Max. O! do it not, I pray thee, do it not!

       There is a pure and noble soul within thee,

       Knows not of this unblest, unlucky doing.

       Thy will is chaste, it is thy fancy only 65

       Which hath polluted thee — and innocence,

       It will not let itself be driven away

       From that world-awing aspect. Thou wilt not,

       Thou canst not, end in this. It would reduce

       All human creatures to disloyalty 70

       Against the nobleness of their own nature.

       ‘Twill justify the vulgar misbelief,

       Which holdeth nothing noble in free will,

       And trusts itself to impotence alone

       Made powerful only in an unknown power. 75

      Wallenstein. The world will judge me sternly, I expect it.

       Already have I said to my own self

       All thou canst say to me. Who but avoids

       The extreme, — can he by going round avoid it?

       But here there is no choice. Yes — I must use 80

       Or suffer violence — so stands the case,

       There remains nothing possible but that.

      Max. O that is never possible for thee!

       ‘Tis the last desperate resource of those

       Cheap souls, to whom their honour, their good name 85

       Is their poor saving, their last worthless keep,

       Which having staked and lost, they stake themselves

       In the mad rage of gaming. Thou art rich,

       And glorious; with an unpolluted heart

       Thou canst make conquest of whate’er seems highest! 90

       But he, who once hath acted infamy,

       Does nothing more in this world.

      Wallenstein (grasps his hand). Calmly, Max!

       Much that is great and excellent will we

       Perform together yet. And if we only

       Stand on the height with dignity, ‘tis soon 95

       Forgotten, Max, by what road we ascended.

       Believe me, many a crown shines spotless now,

       That yet was deeply sullied in the winning.

       To the evil spirit doth the earth belong,

       Not to the good. All, that the powers divine 100

       Send from above, are universal blessings:

       Their light rejoices us, their air refreshes,

       But never yet was man enriched by them:

       In their eternal realm no property

       Is to be struggled for — all there is general. 105

       The jewel, the all-valued gold we win

       From the deceiving Powers, depraved in nature,

       That dwell beneath the day and blessed sunlight.

       Not without sacrifices are they rendered

       Propitious, and there lives no soul on earth 110

       That e’er retired unsullied from their service.

      Max. Whate’er is human, to the human being

       Do I allow — and to the vehement

       And striving spirit readily I pardon

       The excess of action; but to thee, my General! 115

       Above all others make I large concession.

       For thou must move a world, and be the master —

       He kills thee, who condemns thee to inaction.

       So be it then! maintain thee in thy post

       By violence. Resist the Emperor, 120

       And if it must be, force with force repel:

       I will not praise it, yet I can forgive it.

       But not — not to the traitor — yes! — the word

       Is spoken out ——

       Not to the traitor can I yield a pardon. 125

       That is no mere excess! that is no error

       Of human nature — that is wholly different,

       O that is black, black as the pit of hell!

       Thou canst not hear it nam’d, and wilt thou do it?

       O turn back to thy duty. That thou canst, 130

       I hold it certain. Send me to Vienna.

       I’ll make thy peace for thee with the Emperor.

       He knows thee not. But I do know thee. He

       Shall see thee, Duke! with my unclouded eye,

       And I bring back his confidence to thee. 135

      Wallenstein. It is too late. Thou knowest not what has happened.

      Max. Were it too late, and were things gone so far,

      

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