The Robbers Read online

  CHARLES. Good! good! Now some of you must climb up the trees, or conceal yourselves in the thickets, and some fire upon them in ambush-

  SCHWEITZER. That part will suit you, Spiegelberg.

  CHARLES. The rest will follow me, and fall upon their flanks like furies.

  SCHWEITZER. There will I be!

  CHARLES. At the same time let every man make his whistle ring through the forest, and gallop about in every direction, so that our numbers may appear the more formidable. And let all the dogs be unchained, and set on upon their ranks, that they may be broken and dispersed and run in the way of our fire. We three, Roller, Schweitzer, and myself, will fight wherever the fray is hottest.

  SCHWEITZER. Masterly! excellent! We will so bewilder them with balls that they shall not know whence the salutes are coming. I have more than once shot away a cherry from the mouth. Only let them come on (SCHUFTERLE is pulling SCHWEITZER; the latter takes the captain aside, and entreats him in a low voice.)

  CHARLES. Silence!

  SCHWEITZER. I entreat you-

  CHARLES. Away! Let him have the benefit of his disgrace; it has saved him. He shall not die on the same field with myself, my Schweitzer, and my Roller. Let him change his apparel, and I will say he is a traveller whom I have plundered. Make yourself easy, Schweitzer. Take my word for it he will be hanged yet.

  Enter FATHER DOMINIC.

  FATHER DOM. (to himself, starts). Is this the dragon's nest? With your leave, sirs! I am a servant of the church; and yonder are seventeen hundred men who guard every hair of my head.

  SCHWEITZER. Bravo! bravo! Well spoken to keep his courage warm.

  CHARLES. Silence, comrade! Will you tell us briefly, good father, what is your errand here?

  FATHER Dom. I am delegated by the high justices, on whose sentence hangs life or death-ye thieves-ye incendiaries-ye villains-ye venomous generation of vipers, crawling about in the dark, and stinging in secret-ye refuse of humanity-brood of hell-food for ravens and worms-colonists for the gallows and the wheel-

  SCHWEITZER. Dog! a truce with your foul tongue! or --- (He holds the butt-end of his gun before FATHER DOMINIC'S face.)

  CHARLES. Fie, fie, Schweitzer! You cut the thread of his discourse. He has got his sermon so nicely by heart. Pray go on, Sir! "for the gallows and the wheel?"

  FATHER Dom. And thou, their precious captain !-commander-in-chief of cut-purses!-king of sharpers! Grand Mogul of all the rogues under the sun!-great prototype of that first hellish ringleader who imbued a thousand legions of innocent angels with the flame of rebellion, and drew them down with him into the bottomless pit of damnation! The agonizing cries of bereaved mothers pursue thy footsteps! Thou drinkest blood like water! and thy murderous knife holds men cheaper than air- bubbles!

  CHARLES. Very true-exceedingly true! Pray proceed, Sir!

  FATHER DOM. What do you mean? Very true-exceedingly true! Is that an answer?

  CHARLES. How, Sir? You were not prepared for that, it seems? Go on- by all means go on. What more were you going to say?

  FATHER DOM. (heated). Abominable wretch! Avaunt! Does not the blood of a murdered count of the empire cling to thy accursed fingers? Hast thou not, with sacrilegious hands, dared to break into the Lord's sanctuary, and carry off the consecrated vessels of the /sanctissimum/? Hast thou not flung firebrands into our godly city, and brought down the powder-magazine upon the heads of devout Christians? (Clasps his hands). Horrible, horrible wickedness! that stinketh in the nostrils of Heaven, and provoketh the day of judgment to burst upon you suddenly! ripe for retribution-rushing headlong to the last trump!

  CHARLES. Masterly guesses thus far! But now, sir, to the point! What is it that the right worshipful justices wish to convey to me through you?

  FATHER Dom. What you are not worthy to receive. Look around you, incendiary! As far as your eye can reach you are environed by our horsemen-there is no chance of escape. As surely as cherries grow on these oaks, and peaches on these firs, so surely shall you turn your backs upon these oaks and these firs in safety.

  CHARLES. Do you hear that, Schweitzer? But go on!

  FATHER DOM. Hear, then, what mercy and forbearance justice shows towards such miscreants. If you instantly prostrate yourselves in submission and sue for mercy and forgiveness, then severity itself will relent to compassion, and justice be to thee an indulgent mother. She will shut one eye upon your horrible crimes, and be satisfied-only think!-to let you be broken on the wheel.

  SCHWEITZER. Did you hear that, captain? Shall I throttle this well- trained shepherd's cur till the red blood spurts from every pore?

  ROLLER. Captain! Fire and fury! Captain! How he bites his lip ! Shall I topple this fellow upside down like a ninepin?

  SCHWEITZER. Mine, mine be the job! Let me kneel to you, captain; let me implore you! I beseech you to grant me the delight of pounding him to a jelly! (FATHER DOMINIC screams.)

  CHARLES. Touch him not! Let no one lay a finger on him!-(To FATHER DOMINIC, drawing his sword.) Hark ye, sir father! Here stand nine-and- seventy men, of whom I am the captain, and not one of them has been taught to trot at a signal, or learned to dance to the music of artillery; while yonder stand seventeen hundred men grown gray under the musket. But now listen! Thus says Moor, the captain of incendiaries. It is true I have slain a count of the empire, burnt and plundered the church of St. Dominic, flung firebrands into your bigoted city, and brought down the powder-magazine upon the heads of devout Christians. But that is not all,-I have done more. (He holds out his right hand.) Do you observe these four costly rings, one on each finger? Go and report punctually to their worships, on whose sentence hangs life or death what you shall hear and see. This ruby I drew from the finger of a minister, whom I stretched at the feet of his prince, during the chase. He had fawned himself up from the lowest dregs, to be the first favorite;-the ruin of his neighbor was his ladder to greatness- orphans' tears helped him to mount it. This diamond I took from a lord treasurer, who sold offices of honor and trust to the highest bidder, and drove the sorrowing patriot from his door. This opal I wear in honor of a priest of your cloth, whom I dispatched with my own hand, after he had publicly deplored in his pulpit the waning power of the Inquisition. I could tell you more stories about my rings, but that I repent the words I have already wasted upon you-

  FATHER DOM. O Pharaoh! Pharaoh!

  CHARLES. Do you hear it? Did you mark that sigh? Does he not stand there as if be were imploring fire from heaven to descend and destroy this troop of Korah? He pronounces judgment with a shrug of the shoulders, and eternal damnation with a Christian "Alas!" Is it possible for humanity to be so utterly blind? He who has the hundred eyes of Argus to spy out the faults of his brother-can he be so totally blind to his own? They thunder forth from their clouds about gentleness and forbearance, while they sacrifice human victims to the God of love as if he were the fiery Moloch. They preach the love of one's neighbor, while they drive the aged and blind with curses from their door. They rave against covetousness; yet for the sake of gold they have depopulated Peru, and yoked the natives, like cattle, to their chariots. They rack their brains in wonder to account for the creation of a Judas Iscariot, yet the best of them would betray the whole Trinity for ten shekels. Out upon you, Pharisees! ye falsifiers of truth! ye apes of Deity! You are not ashamed to kneel before crucifixes and altars; you lacerate your backs with thongs, and mortify your flesh with fasting; and with these pitiful mummeries you think, fools as you are, to veil the eyes of Him whom, with the same breath, you address as the Omniscient, just as the great are the most bitterly mocked by those who flatter them while they pretend to hate flatterers. You boast of your honesty and your exemplary conduct; but the God who sees through your hearts would be wroth with Him that made you, were He not the same that had also created the monsters of the Nile. Away with him out of my sight!

  FATHER DOM. That such a miscreant should be so proud!

  CHARLES. That's not all. Now I will speak proudly. Go and tell the right
worshipful justices-who set men's lives upon the cast of a die- I am not one of those thieves who conspire with sleep and midnight, and play the hero and the lordling on a scaling-ladder. What I have done I shall no doubt hereafter be doomed to read in the register of heaven; but with his miserable ministers of earth I will waste no more words. Tell your masters that my trade is retribution-vengeance my occupation! (He turns his back upon him.)

  FATHER DOM. Then you despise mercy and forbearance?--Be it so, I have done with you. (Turning to the troop.) Now then, sirs, you shall hear what the high powers direct me to make known to you!-If you will instantly deliver up to me this condemned malefactor, bound hand and foot, you shall receive a full pardon-your enormities shall be entirely blotted out, even from memory. The holy church will receive you, like lost sheep, with renewed love, into her maternal bosom, and the road to honorable employment shall be open to you all. (With a triumphant smile.) Now sir! how does your majesty relish this? Come on! bind him! and you are free!

  CHARLES. Do you hear that? Do you hear it? What startles you? Why do you hesitate? They offer you freedom-you that are already their prisoners. They grant you your lives, and that is no idle pretence, for it is clear you are already condemned felons. They promise you honor and emolument; and, on the other hand, what can you hope for, even should you be victorious to-day, but disgrace, and curses, and persecution? They ensure you the pardon of Heaven; you that are actually damned. There is not a single hair on any of you that is not already bespoke in hell. Do you still hesitate? are you staggered? Is it so difficult, then, to choose between heaven and hell?-Do put in a word, father!

  FATHER DOM. (aside.) Is the fellow crazy? (Aloud.) Perhaps you are afraid that this is a trap to catch you alive?-Read it yourselves! Here-is the general pardon fully signed. (He hands a paper to SCHWEITZER.) Can you still doubt?

  CHARLES. Only see! only see! What more can you require? Signed with their own hands! It is mercy beyond all bounds! Or are you afraid of their breaking their word, because you have heard it said that no faith need be kept with traitors? Dismiss that fear! Policy alone would constrain them to keep their word, even though it should merely have been pledged to old Nick. Who hereafter would believe them? How could they trade with it a second time? I would take my oath upon it that they mean it sincerely. They know that I am the man who has goaded you on and incited you; they believe you innocent. They look upon your crimes as so many juvenile errors-exuberances of rashness. It is I alone they want. I must pay the penalty. Is it not so, father?

  FATHER DOM. What devil incarnate is it that speaks out of him? Of course it is so-of course. The fellow turns my brain.

  CHARLES. What! no answer yet? Do you think it possible to cut your way through yon phalanx? Only look round you! just look round! You surely do not reckon upon that; that were indeed a childish conceit-Or do you flatter yourselves that you will fall like heroes, because you saw that I rejoiced in the prospect of the fight? Oh, do not console yourself with the thought! You are not MOOR. You are miserable thieves! wretched tools of my great designs! despicable as the rope in the hand of the hangman! No! no! Thieves do not fall like heroes. Life must be the hope of thieves, for something fearful has to follow. Thieves may well be allowed to quake at the fear of death. Hark! Do you hear their horns echoing through the forest? See there! how their glittering sabres threaten! What! are you still irresolute? are you mad? are you insane? It is unpardonable. Do you imagine I shall thank you for my life? I disdain your sacrifice!

  FATHER DOM. (in utter amazement). I shall go mad! I must be gone! Was the like ever heard of?

  CHARLES. Or are you afraid that I shall stab myself, and so by suicide put an end to the bargain, which only holds good if I am given up alive? No, comrades! that is a vain fear. Here, I fling away my dagger, and my pistols, and this phial of poison, which might have been a treasure to me. I am so wretched that I have lost the power even over my own life. What! still in suspense? Or do you think, perhaps, that I shall stand on my defence when you try to seize me? See here! I bind my right hand to this oak-branch; now I am quite defenceless, a child may overpower me. Who is the first to desert his captain in the hour of need?

  ROLLER (with wild energy). And what though hell encircle us with ninefold coils! (Brandishing his sword.) Who is the coward that will betray his captain?

  SCHWEITZER (tears the pardon and flings the pieces into FATHER DOMINIC'S face). Pardon be in our bullets! Away with thee, rascal! Tell your senate that you could not find a single traitor in all Moor's camp. Huzza! Huzza! Save the captain!

  ALL (shouting). Huzza! Save the captain! Save him! Save our noble captain!

  CHARLES (releasing his hand from the tree, joyfully). Now we are free, comrades! I feel a host in this single arm! Death or liberty! At the least they shall not take a man of us alive!

  [They sound the signal for attack; noise and tumult.

  Exeunt with drawn swords.]

  ACT III.

  SCENE I.-AMELIA in the garden, playing the guitar.

  Bright as an angel from Walhalla's hall,

  More beautiful than aught of earth was he!

  Heaven-mild his look, as sunbeams when they fall,

  Reflected from a calm cerulean sea.

  His warm embrace-oh, ravishing delight!

  With heart to heart the fiery pulses danced-

  Our every sense wrap'd in ecstatic night-

  Our souls in blissful harmony entranced.

  His kisses-oh, what paradise of feeling!

  E'en as two flames which round each other twine-

  Or flood of seraph harp-tones gently stealing

  In one soft swell, away to realms divine!

  They rushed, commingled, melted, soul in soul!

  Lips glued to lips, with burning tremor bound!

  Cold earth dissolved, and love without control

  Absorbed all sense of worldly things around!

  He's gone!-forever gone! Alas! in vain

  My bleeding heart in bitter anguish sighs;

  To me is left alone this world of pain,

  And mortal life in hopeless sorrow dies.

  Enter FRANCIS.

  FRANCIS. Here again already, perverse enthusiast? You stole away from the festive banquet, and marred the mirthful pleasures of my guests.

  AMELIA. 'Tis pity, truly, to mar such innocent pleasures! Shame on them! The funeral knell that tolled over your father's grave must still be ringing in your ears-

  FRANCIS. Wilt thou sorrow, then, forever? Let the dead sleep in peace, and do thou make the living happy! I come-

  AMELIA. And when do you go again?

  FRANCIS. Alas! Look not on me thus sorrowfully! You wound me, Amelia. I come to tell you-

  AMELIA. To tell me, I suppose, that Francis von Moor has become lord and master here.

  FRANCIS. Precisely so; that is the very subject on which I wish to communicate with you. Maximilian von Moor is gone to the tomb of his ancestors. I am master. But I wish-to be so in the fullest sense, Amelia. You know what you have been to our house always regarded as Moor's daughter, his love for you will survive even death itself; that, assuredly, you will never forget?

  AMELIA. Never, never! Who could be so unfeeling as to drown the memory of it in festive banqueting?

  FRANCIS. It is your duty to repay the love of the father to his sons; and Charles is dead. Ha! you are struck with amazement; dizzy with the thought! To be sure 'tis a flattering and an elating prospect which may well overpower the pride of a woman. Francis tramples under foot the hopes of the noblest and the richest, and offers his heart, his hand, and with them all his gold, his castles, and his forests to a poor, and, but for him, destitute orphan. Francis-the feared-voluntarily declares himself Amelia's slave!

  AMELIA. Why does not a thunderbolt cleave the impious tongue which utters the criminal proposal! Thou hast murdered my beloved Charles; and shall Amelia, his betrothed, call thee husband? Thou?

  FRANCIS. Be not so violent, most gracious princess!
It is true that Francis does not come before you like a whining Celadon-'tis true he has not learned, like a lovesick swain of Arcadia, to sigh forth his amorous plaints to the echo of caves and rocks. Francis speaks-and, when not answered, commands!

  AMELIA. Commands? thou reptile! Command me? And what if I laughed your command to scorn?

  FRANCIS. That you will hardly do. There are means, too, which I know of, admirably adapted to humble the pride of a capricious, stubborn girl-cloisters and walls!

  AMELIA. Excellent! delightful! to be forever secure within cloisters and walls from thy basilisk look, and to have abundant leisure to think and dream of Charles. Welcome with your cloister! welcome your walls!

  FRANCIS. Ha! Is that it? Beware! Now you have taught me the art of tormenting you. The sight of me shall, like a fiery-haired fury, drive out of your head these eternal phantasies of Charles. Francis shall be the dread phantom ever lurking behind the image of your beloved, like the fiend-dog that guards the subterranean treasure. I will drag you to church by the hair, and sword in hand wring the nuptial vow from your soul. By main force will I ascend your virginal couch, and storm your haughty modesty with still greater haughtiness.

  AMELIA (gives him a slap in the face). Then take that first by way of dowry!

  FRANCIS. Ha! I will be tenfold, and twice tenfold revenged for this! My wife! No, that honor you shall never enjoy. You shall be my mistress, my strumpet! The honest peasant's wife shall point her finger at you as she passes you in the street. Ay, gnash your teeth as fiercely as you please-scatter fire and destruction from your eyes- the fury of a woman piques my fancy-it makes you more beautiful, more tempting. Come, this resistance will garnish my triumph, and your struggles give zest to my embraces. Come, come to my chamber-I burn with desire. Come this instant. (Attempts to drag her away).

  AMELIA (falls on his neck). Forgive me, Francis! (As he is about to clasp her in his arms, she suddenly draws the sword at his side, and hastily disengages herself). Do you see now, miscreant, how I am able to deal with you? I am only a woman, but a woman enraged. Dare to approach, and this steel shall strike your lascivious heart to the core -the spirit of my uncle will guide my hand. Avaunt, this instant! (She drives him away).