QUESTENBERG.
But you did not succeed, and so commenced The fearful strife anew. And here at length, Beside the river Oder did the duke a.s.sert his ancient fame. Upon the fields Of Steinau did the Swedes lay down their arms, Subdued without a blow. And here, with others, The righteousness of heaven to his avenger Delivered that long-practised stirrer-up Of insurrection, that curse-laden torch And kindler of this war, Matthias Thurn.
But he had fallen into magnanimous hands Instead of punishment he found reward, And with rich presents did the duke dismiss The arch-foe of his emperor.
WALLENSTEIN (laughs).
I know, I know you had already in Vienna Your windows and your balconies forestalled To see him on the executioner"s cart.
I might have lost the battle, lost it too With infamy, and still retained your graces-- But, to have cheated them of a spectacle, Oh! that the good folks of Vienna never, No, never can forgive me!
QUESTENBERG.
So Silesia Was freed, and all things loudly called the duke Into Bavaria, now pressed hard on all sides.
And he did put his troops in motion: slowly, Quite at his ease, and by the longest road He traverses Bohemia; but ere ever He hath once seen the enemy, faces round, Breaks up the march, and takes to winter-quarters.
WALLENSTEIN.
The troops were pitiably dest.i.tute Of every necessary, every comfort, The winter came. What thinks his majesty His troops are made of? Aren"t we men; subjected Like other men to wet, and cold, and all The circ.u.mstances of necessity?
Oh, miserable lot of the poor soldier!
Wherever he comes in all flee before him, And when he goes away the general curse Follows him on his route. All must be seized.
Nothing is given him. And compelled to seize From every man he"s every man"s abhorrence.
Behold, here stand my generals. Karaffa!
Count Deodati! Butler! Tell this man How long the soldier"s pay is in arrears.
BUTLER.
Already a full year.
WALLENSTEIN.
And "tis the hire That const.i.tutes the hireling"s name and duties, The soldier"s pay is the soldier"s covenant. [8]
QUESTENBERG.
Ah! this is a far other tone from that In which the duke spoke eight, nine years ago.
WALLENSTEIN.
Yes! "tis my fault, I know it: I myself Have spoilt the emperor by indulging him.
Nine years ago, during the Danish war, I raised him up a force, a mighty force, Forty or fifty thousand men, that cost him Of his own purse no doit. Through Saxony The fury G.o.ddess of the war marched on, E"en to the surf-rocks of the Baltic, bearing The terrors of his name. That was a time!
In the whole imperial realm no name like mine Honored with festival and celebration-- And Albrecht Wallenstein, it was the t.i.tle Of the third jewel in his crown!
But at the Diet, when the princes met At Regensburg, there, there the whole broke out, There "twas laid open, there it was made known Out of what money-bag I had paid the host, And what were now my thanks, what had I now That I, a faithful servant of the sovereign, Had loaded on myself the people"s curses, And let the princes of the empire pay The expenses of this war that aggrandizes The emperor alone. What thanks had I?
What? I was offered up to their complaint Dismissed, degraded!
QUESTENBERG.
But your highness knows What little freedom he possessed of action In that disastrous Diet.
WALLENSTEIN.
Death and h.e.l.l!
I had that which could have procured him freedom No! since "twas proved so inauspicious to me To serve the emperor at the empire"s cost, I have been taught far other trains of thinking Of the empire and the Diet of the empire.
From the emperor, doubtless, I received this staff, But now I hold it as the empire"s general,-- For the common weal, the universal interest, And no more for that one man"s aggrandizement!
But to the point. What is it that"s desired of me?
QUESTENBERG.
First, his imperial majesty hath willed That without pretexts of delay the army Evacuate Bohemia.
WALLENSTEIN.
In this season?
And to what quarter wills the emperor That we direct our course?
QUESTENBERG.
To the enemy.
His majesty resolves, that Regensburg Be purified from the enemy ere Easter, That Lutheranism may be no longer preached In that cathedral, nor heretical Defilement desecrate the celebration Of that pure festival.
WALLENSTEIN.
My generals, Can this be realized?
ILLO.
"Tis not possible.
BUTLER.
It can"t be realized.
QUESTENBERG.
The emperor Already hath commanded Colonel Suys To advance towards Bavaria.
WALLENSTEIN.
What did Suys?
QUESTENBERG.
That which his duty prompted. He advanced.
WALLENSTEIN.
What! he advanced? And I, his general, Had given him orders, peremptory orders Not to desert his station! Stands it thus With my authority? Is this the obedience Due to my office, which being thrown aside, No war can be conducted? Chieftains, speak You be the judges, generals. What deserves That officer who, of his oath neglectful, Is guilty of contempt of orders?
ILLO.
Death.
WALLENSTEIN (raising his voice, as all but ILLO had remained silent and seemingly scrupulous).
Count Piccolomini! what has he deserved?
MAX. PICCOLOMINI (after a long pause).
According to the letter of the law, Death.
ISOLANI.
Death.
BUTLER.
Death, by the laws of war.
[QUESTENBERG rises from his seat, WALLENSTEIN follows, all the rest rise.
WALLENSTEIN.
To this the law condemns him, and not I.
And if I show him favor, "twill arise From the reverence that I owe my emperor.
QUESTENBERG.
If so, I can say nothing further--here!