The Death of Wallenstein (play) Read online

  The Death of Wallenstein (play)

  Friedrich Schiller

  Schiller [Translated by S. T. Coleridge]. The Death of Wallenstein (play)

  This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger, [email protected]

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

  WALLENSTEIN, Duke of Friedland, Generalissimo of the Imperial Forces in

  the Thirty Years' War.

  DUCHESS OF FREIDLAND, Wife of Wallenstein.

  THEKLA, her Daughter, Princess of Friedland.

  THE COUNTESS TERZKY, Sister of the Duchess.

  LADY NEUBRUNN.

  OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, Lieutenant-General.

  MAX. PICCOLOMINI, his Son, Colonel of a Regiment of Cuirassiers.

  COUNT TERZKY, the Commander of several Regiments, and

  Brother-in-law of Wallenstein.

  ILLO, Field-Marshal, Wallenstein's Confidant.

  ISOLANI, General of the Croats.

  BUTLER, an Irishman, Commander of a Regiment of Dragoons.

  GORDON, Governor of Egra.

  MAJOR GERALDIN.

  CAPTAIN DEVEREUX.

  CAPTAIN MACDONALD.

  AN ADJUTANT.

  NEUMANN, Captain of Cavalry, Aide-de-Camp to TERZKY.

  COLONEL WRANGEL, Envoy from the Swedes.

  ROSENBURG, Master of Horse.

  SWEDISH CAPTAIN.

  SENI.

  BURGOMASTER of Egra.

  ANSPESSADE of the Cuirassiers.

  GROOM OF THE CHAMBER. | Belonging

  A PAGE. | to the Duke.

  Cuirassiers, Dragoons, and Servants.

  ACT I.

  SCENE I.

  A room fitted up for astrological labors, and provided with

  celestial charts, with globes, telescopes, quadrants, and other

  mathematical instruments. Seven colossal figures, representing the

  planets, each with a transparent star of different color on its

  head, stand in a semicircle in the background, so that Mars and

  Saturn are nearest the eye. The remainder of the scene and its

  disposition is given in the fourth scene of the second act. There

  must be a curtain over the figures, which may be dropped and conceal

  them on occasions.

  [In the fifth scene of this act it must be dropped; but in the

  seventh scene it must be again drawn up wholly or in part.]

  WALLENSTEIN at a black table, on which, a speculum astrologicum is

  described with chalk. SENI is taking observations through a window.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  All well-and now let it be ended, Seni. Come,

  The dawn commences, and Mars rules the hour;

  We must give o'er the operation. Come,

  We know enough.

  SENI.

  Your highness must permit me

  Just to contemplate Venus. She is now rising

  Like as a sun so shines she in the east.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  She is at present in her perigee,

  And now shoots down her strongest influences.

  [Contemplating the figure on the table.

  Auspicious aspect! fateful in conjunction,

  At length the mighty three corradiate;

  And the two stars of blessing, Jupiter

  And Venus, take between them the malignant

  Slyly-malicious Mars, and thus compel

  Into my service that old mischief-founder:

  For long he viewed me hostilely, and ever

  With beam oblique, or perpendicular,

  Now in the Quartile, now in the Secundan,

  Shot his red lightnings at my stars, disturbing

  Their blessed influences and sweet aspects:

  Now they have conquered the old enemy,

  And bring him in the heavens a prisoner to me.

  SENI (who has come down from the window).

  And in a corner-house, your highness-think of that!

  That makes each influence of double strength.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  And sun and moon, too, in the Sextile aspect,

  The soft light with the vehement-so I love it.

  Sol is the heart, Luna the head of heaven,

  Bold be the plan, fiery the execution.

  SENI.

  And both the mighty Lumina by no

  Maleficus affronted. Lo! Saturnus,

  Innocuous, powerless, in cadente Domo.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  The empire of Saturnus is gone by;

  Lord of the secret birth of things is he;

  Within the lap of earth, and in the depths

  Of the imagination dominates;

  And his are all things that eschew the light.

  The time is o'er of brooding and contrivance,

  For Jupiter, the lustrous, lordeth now,

  And the dark work, complete of preparation,

  He draws by force into the realm of light.

  Now must we hasten on to action, ere

  The scheme, and most auspicious positure

  Parts o'er my head, and takes once more its flight,

  For the heaven's journey still, and adjourn not.

  [There are knocks at the door.

  There's some one knocking there. See who it is.

  TERZKY (from without).

  Open, and let me in.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  Ay-'tis Terzky.

  What is there of such urgence? We are busy.

  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.

  SCENE II.

  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 passed--

  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.

  SCENE III.

  To them enters ILLO.

  ILLO (to TERZKY).

  Has he heard it?

  TERZKY.

  He has heard it.

  ILLO (to WALLENSTEIN).

  Thinkest thou still

  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 wished: 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--

  WALLENSTEIN.

  Of my handwriting-no iota. Thee

  I punish or thy lies.

  ILLO.

  And thou believe
st,

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

  Did in thy name, will not stand on thy reckoning?

  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 venturedst 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.

  In the army

  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

  To-day, to-morrow: 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--

  WALLENSTEIN.

  'Tis a cursed accident!

  Oh! I will call it a most blessed one,

  If it work on thee as it ought to do,

  Hurry thee on to action-to decision.

  The Swedish general?

  WALLENSTEIN.

  He's arrived! Know'st

  What his commission is--

  ILLO.

  To thee alone

  Will he intrust the purpose of his coming.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  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.

  Ruin thee,

  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 toyed 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?

  TERZRY.

  It was-be fancied--

  ILLO.

  Mere self-willedness.

  There needed no such thing 'twixt him and you.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  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.

  I will hear, however,

  What the Swede has to say to me.

  ILLO (eagerly to TERZKY).

  Go, call him,

  He stands without the door in waiting.

  WALLENSTEIN.

  Stay!

  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.

  First hear him only,

  And then weigh it.

  [Exeunt TERZKY and ILLO.

  SCENE IV.

  WALLENSTEIN (in soliloquy).

  Is it possible?

  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.

  I but amused myself with thinking of it.

  The free-will tempted me, the power to do

  Or not to do it. Was it criminal

  To make the fancy minister to hope,

  To fill the air with pretty toys of air,

  And clutch fantastic sceptres moving toward me?

  Was not the will kept free? Beheld I not

  The road of duty close beside me-but

  One little step, and once more I was in it!

  Where am I? Whither have I been transported?

  No road, no track behind me, but a wall,

  Impenetrable, insurmountable,

  Rises obedient to the spells I muttered

  And meant not-my own doings tower behind me.

  [Pauses and remains in deep thought.

  A punishable man I seem, the guilt,

  Try what I will, I cannot roll off from me;

  The equivocal demeanor of my life

  Bears witness on my prosecutor's party.

  And even my purest acts from purest motives

  Suspicion poisons with malicious gloss.

  Were I that thing for which I pass, that traitor,

  A goodly outside I had sure reserved,

  Had drawn the coverings thick and double round me,

  Been calm and chary of my utterance;

  But being conscious of the innocence

  Of my intent, my uncorrupted will,

  I gave way to my humors, to my passion:

  Bold were my words, because my deeds were not

  Now every planless measure, chance event,

  The threat of rage, the vaunt of joy and triumph,

  And all the May-games of a heart overflowing,

  Will they connect, and weave them all together

  Into one web of treason; all will be plan,

  My eye ne'er absent from the far-off mark,

  Step tracing step, each step a politic progress;

  And out of all they'll fabricate a charge

  So specious, that I must myself stand dumb.

  I am caught in my own net, and only force,

  Naught but a sudden rent can liberate me.

  [Pauses again.

  How else! since that the heart's unbiased instinct

  Impelled me to the daring deed, which now

  Necessity, self-preserv
ation, orders.

  Stern is the on-look of necessity,

  Not without shudder may a human hand

  Grasp the mysterious urn of destiny.

  My deed was mine, remaining in my bosom;

  Once suffered to escape from its safe corner

  Within the heart, its nursery and birthplace,

  Sent forth into the foreign, it belongs

  Forever to those sly malicious powers

  Whom never art of man conciliated.

  [Paces in agitation through the chamber, then pauses, and, after

  the pause, breaks out again into audible soliloquy.

  What it thy enterprise? thy aim? thy object?

  Hast honestly confessed it to thyself?

  Power seated on a quiet throne thou'dst shake,

  Power on an ancient, consecrated throne,

  Strong in possession, founded in all custom;

  Power by a thousand tough and stringy roots

  Fixed to the people's pious nursery faith.

  This, this will be no strife of strength with strength.

  That feared I not. I brave each combatant,

  Whom I can look on, fixing eye to eye,

  Who, full himself of courage, kindles courage