With most implicit unconditional faith,
Sure of the right path if I follow'd thee.
To day, for the first time, doft thou refer
Me to myself, and forceft me to make
Election between thee and my own heart.
Soft cradled thee thy Fortune till to day;
Thy duties thou couldft exercife in fport,
Indulge all lovely inftincts, act for ever
With undivided heart. It can remain
No longer thus
Like enemies, the roads
Start from each other. Duties ftrive with duties. Thou must needs chufe thy party in the war
Which is now kindling 'twixt thy friend and him Who is thy Emperor.
War! is that the name?
War is as frightful as heaven's peftilence,
Yet it is good, is it heaven s will as that is.
Is that a good war, which against the Emperor
Thou wageft with the Emperor's own army?
O God of heaven! what a change is this.
Befeems it me to offer fuch perfuafion
To thee, who like the fix'd ftar of the pole
Wert all, I gaz'd at, on life's trackless ocean?
O! what a rent thou makeft in my heart!
The ingrained instinct of old reverence,
The holy habit of obediency,
Muft I pluck live afunder from thy name?
Nay, do not turn thy countenance upon me-
It always was a god looking at me!
Duke Wallenftein, its power is not departed:
The fenfes ftill are in thy bonds, although,
Bleeding, the foul hath freed itself.
O! do it not, I pray thee, do it not!
There is a pure and noble foul within thee,
Knows not of this unbleft, unlucky doing.
Thy will is chafte, it is thy fancy only
Which hath polluted thee-and innocence,
It will not let itself be driv'n away
From that world-awing afpect. Thou wilt not,
Thou canst not, end in this. It would reduce
All human creatures to difloyalty
Against the nobleness of their own nature.
'Twill juftify the vulgar misbelief,
Which.holdeth nothing noble in free will,
And trufts itself to impotence alone
Made powerful only in an unknown power.
The world will judge me fternly, I expect it.
Already have I faid to my own felf
All thou canft say to me. Who but avoids
Th' extreme,—can he by going round avoid it?
But here there is no choice. Yes-I must use
Or fuffer violence-fo ftands the cafe,
There remains nothing poffible but that.'
O that is never poffible for thee!
'Tis the last defperate refource of those
Cheap fouls, to whom their honor, their good name
Is their poor faving, their laft worthless Keep,
Which having stak'd and loft, they stake themselves
In the mad rage of gaming. Thou art rich,
And glorious; with an unpolluted heart
Thou canst make conqueft of whate'er feems highest!
But he, who once hath acted infamy,
Does nothing more in this world.
WALLENSTEIN. (grafps 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 foon
Forgotten, Max, by what road we ascended.
Believe me, many a crown fhines fpotlefs now,
That yet was deeply fullied in the winning.
To the evil fpirit doth the earth belong,
Not to the good. All, that the powers divine
Send from above, are univerfal bleffings:
Their light rejoices us, their air refreshes,
But never yet was man enrich'd by them:
In their eternal realm no property
Is to be ftruggled for-all there is general.
The jewel, the all-valued gold we win
From the deceiving Powers, deprav'd in nature,
That dwell beneath the day and bleffed fun-light.
Not without facrifices are they render'd
Propitious, and there lives no foul on earth
That e'er retir'd unfullied from their fervice.
Whate'er is human, to the human being
Do I allow-and to the vehement
And ftriving fpirit readily I pardon
Th' excefs of action; but to thee, my general!
Above all others make I large conceffion.
For thou must move a world,, and be the after-
He kills thee, who condemns thee to inaction.
So be it then! maintain thee in thy post
By violence. Refift the Emperor,
And if it muft 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 fpoken out-
Not to the traitor can I yield a pardon.
That is no mere excefs! that is no error
Of human nature--that is, wholly diff'rent,
O that is black, black as the pit of hell!
(Wallenftein betrays a fudden agitation.)
Thou canst not hear it nam'd, and wilt thou do it?
O turn back to thy duty. That thou canft,
I hold it certain. Send me to Vienna,
I'll make thy peace for thee with th' Emperor.
He knows thee not. But I do know thee. He
Shall fee thee, Duke! with unclouded eye,
And I bring back his confidence to thee.
It is too late. Thou know'st not what has happen'd.
Were it too late, and were gone fo far,
That a crime only could prevent thy fall,
Then-fall! fall honourably, even as thou ftood'st.
Lose the command. Go from the stage of war.
Thou canst with splendour do it-do it too
With innocence. Thou haft liv'd much for others.
At length live thou for thy own felf. I follow
thee.
My destiny I never part from thine,
It is too late! Even now, while thou art losing Thy words, one after the other are the mile-ftones Left faft behind by my poft couriers,
Who bear the order on to Prague and Egra.
(Max. ftands as convuls'd, with a gesture and countenance expreffing the most intenfe an
Yield thyself to it. We act as we are forc'd.
I cannot give affent to my own fhame
And ruin. Thou-no-thou canst not forfake me!
So let us do, what must be done, with dignity,
With a firm step. What am I doing worfe
Than did fam'd Cæfar at the Rubicon,
When he the legions led against his country,
The which his country had deliver'd to him?
Had he thrown down the fword, he had been loft,
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