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prevent thy fall,

       Then — fall! fall honourably, even as thou stood’st.

       Lose the command. Go from the stage of war. 140

       Thou canst with splendour do it — do it too

       With innocence. Thou hast liv’d much for others,

       At length live thou for thy own self. I follow thee.

       My destiny I never part from thine.

      Wallenstein. It is too late! Even now, while thou art losing 145

       Thy words, one after the other are the mile-stones

       Left fast behind by my post couriers,

       Who bear the order on to Prague and Egra.

       Yield thyself to it. We act as we are forced.

       I cannot give assent to my own shame 150

       And ruin. Thou — no — thou canst not forsake me!

       So let us do, what must be done, with dignity,

       With a firm step. What am I doing worse

       Than did famed Cæsar at the Rubicon,

       When he the legions led against his country, 155

       The which his country had delivered to him?

       Had he thrown down the sword, he had been lost,

       As I were, if I but disarmed myself.

       I trace out something in me of his spirit.

       Give me his luck, that other thing I’ll bear. 160

      [MAX quits him abruptly. WALLENSTEIN, startled and

       overpowered, continues looking after him, and

       is still in this posture when TERTSKY enters.

      [After 128] [WALLENSTEIN betrays a sudden agitation. 1800, 1828, 1829.

      [After 148] [MAX stands as convulsed, with a gesture and countenance

       expressing the most intense anguish. 1800, 1828, 1829.

SCENE III

       Table of Contents

      WALLENSTEIN, TERTSKY.

      Tertsky. Max Piccolomini just left you?

      Wallenstein. Where is Wrangel?

      Tertsky. He is already gone.

      Wallenstein. In such a hurry?

      Tertsky. It is as if the earth had swallowed him.

       He had scarce left thee, when I went to seek him.

       I wished some words with him — but he was gone. 5

       How, when, and where, could no one tell me. Nay,

       I half believe it was the devil himself;

       A human creature could not so at once

       Have vanished.

      Illo (enters). Is it true that thou wilt send

       Octavio?

      Tertsky. How, Octavio! Whither send him? 10

      Wallenstein. He goes to Frauenberg, and will lead hither

       The Spanish and Italian regiments.

      Illo. No!

       Nay, Heaven forbid!

      Wallenstein. And why should Heaven forbid?

      Illo. Him! — that deceiver! Would’st thou trust to him

       The soldiery? Him wilt thou let slip from thee, 15

       Now, in the very instant that decides us ——

      Tertsky. Thou wilt not do this! — No! I pray thee, no!

      Wallenstein. Ye are whimsical.

      Illo. O but for this time, Duke,

       Yield to our warning! Let him not depart.

      Wallenstein. And why should I not trust him only this time, 20

       Who have always trusted him? What, then, has happened,

       That I should lose my good opinion of him?

       In complaisance to your whims, not my own,

       I must, forsooth, give up a rooted judgment.

       Think not I am a woman. Having trusted him 25

       E’en till to-day, to-day too will I trust him.

      Tertsky. Must it be he — he only? Send another.

      Wallenstein. It must be he, whom I myself have chosen;

       He is well fitted for the business. Therefore

       I gave it him.

      Illo. Because he’s an Italian — 30

       Therefore is he well fitted for the business.

      Wallenstein. I know you love them not — nor sire nor son —

       Because that I esteem them, love them — visibly

       Esteem them, love them more than you and others,

       E’en as they merit. Therefore are they eye-blights, 35

       Thorns in your footpath. But your jealousies,

       In what affect they me or my concerns?

       Are they the worse to me because you hate them?

       Love or hate one another as you will,

       I leave to each man his own moods and likings; 40

       Yet know the worth of each of you to me.

      Illo. Von Questenberg, while he was here, was always

       Lurking about with this Octavio.

      Wallenstein. It happened with my knowledge and permission.

      Illo. I know that secret messengers came to him 45

       From Galas ——

      Wallenstein. That’s not true.

      Illo. O thou art blind

       With thy deep-seeing eyes.

      Wallenstein. Thou wilt not shake

       My faith for me — my faith, which founds itself

       On the profoundest science. If ‘tis false,

       Then the whole science of the stars is false. 50

       For know, I have a pledge from fate itself,

       That he is the most faithful of my friends.

      Illo. Hast thou a pledge, that this pledge is not false?

      Wallenstein. There exist moments in the life of man,

       When he is nearer the great soul of the world 55

       Than is man’s custom, and possesses freely

       The power of questioning his destiny:

       And such a moment ‘twas, when in the night

       Before the action in the plains of Lützen,

       Leaning against a tree, thoughts crowding thoughts, 60

       I looked out far upon the ominous plain.

       My whole life, past and future, in this moment

       Before my mind’s eye glided in procession,

       And to the destiny of the next morning

       The spirit, filled with anxious presentiment, 65

       Did knit the most removed futurity.

       Then said I also to myself, ‘So many

       Dost thou command. They follow all thy stars,

      

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