The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iii Part 47

It can't be.

His father has betray'd us, is gone over To the Emperor--the son could not have ventured To stay behind.

THEKLA (_her eyes fixed on the door_).

There he is!

SCENE XVIII

_To these enter_ MAX PICCOLOMINI

MAX.

Yes! here he is! I can endure no longer To creep on tiptoe round this house, and lurk In ambush for a favorable moment: This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.

[_Advancing to_ THEKLA, _who has thrown herself into her mother's arms_.]

Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me!

Confess it freely before all. Fear no one.

Let who will hear that we both love each other; Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy Is for the happy--misery, hopeless misery, Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns It dares act openly.

[_He observes the_ COUNTESS _looking on_ THEKLA _with expressions of triumph_.]

No, Lady! No!

Expect not, hope it not. I am not come To stay: to bid farewell, farewell forever.

For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!

Thekla, I must--_must_ leave thee! Yet thy hatred Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me One look of sympathy, only one look.

Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla!

[_Grasps her hand_.]

O G.o.d! I cannot leave this spot--I cannot!

Cannot let go this hand. O tell me, Thekla!

That thou dost suffer with me, art convinced That I cannot act otherwise.

[THEKLA, _avoiding his look, points with her hand to her father_. MAX _turns round to the Duke, whom he had not till then perceived_.]

Thou here? It was not thou whom here I sought.

I trusted never more to have beheld thee.

My business is with her alone. Here will I Receive a full acquittal from this heart-- For any other I am no more concern'd.

WALLENST.

Think'st thou that, fool-like, I shall let thee go, And act the mock-magnanimous with thee?

Thy father is become a villain to me; I hold thee for his son, and nothing more: Nor to no purpose shalt thou have been given Into my power. Think not that I will honor That ancient love, which so remorselessly He mangled. They are now past by, those hours Of friends.h.i.+p and forgiveness. Hate and vengeance Succeed--'tis now their turn--I too can throw All feelings of the man aside--can prove Myself as much a monster as thy father!

MAX. (_calmly_).

Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast power.

Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage.

What has detain'd me here, that too thou know'st.

[_Taking_ THEKLA _by the hand_.]

See, Duke! All--all would I have owed to thee, Would have received from thy paternal hand The lot of blessed spirits. This hast thou Laid waste forever--that concerns not thee; Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust Their happiness who most are thine. The G.o.d Whom thou dost serve is no benignant deity Like as the blind, irreconcilable, Fierce element, incapable of compact, Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow.[28]

WALLENST.

Thou art describing thy own father's heart.

The adder! O, the charms of h.e.l.l o'erpowered me; He dwelt within me, to my inmost soul Still to and fro he pa.s.s'd, suspected never On the wide ocean, in the starry heaven Did mine eyes seek the enemy, whom I In my heart's heart had folded! Had I been To _Ferdinand_ what Octavio was to _me_, War had I ne'er denounced against him. No, I never could have done it. The Emperor was My austere master only, not my friend.

There was already war 'twixt him and me When he deliver'd the Commander's Staff Into my hands; for there's a natural, Unceasing war 'twixt cunning and suspicion; Peace exists only betwixt confidence And faith. Who poisons confidence, he murders The future generations.

MAX.

I will not Defend my father. Woe is me, I cannot!

Hard deeds and luckless have ta'en place; one crime Drags after it the other in close link.

But we are innocent: how have we fallen Into this circle of mishap and guilt?

To whom have we been faithless? Wherefore must The evil deeds and guilt reciprocal Of our two fathers twine like serpents round us?

Why must our fathers'

Unconquerable hate rend us asunder, Who love each other?

WALLENSTEIN.

Max, remain with me.

Go you not from me, Max! Hark! I will tell thee-- How when at Prague, our winter quarters, thou Wert brought into my tent a tender boy, Not yet accustom'd to the German winters; Thy hand was frozen to the heavy colors; Thou wouldst not let them go.-- At that time did I take thee in my arms, And with my mantle did I cover thee; I was thy nurse, no woman could have been A kinder to thee; I was not ashamed To do for thee all little offices, However strange to me; I tended thee Till life return'd; and when thine eyes first open'd, I had thee in my arms. Since then, when have Alter'd my feelings toward thee? Many thousands Have I made rich, presented them with lands; Rewarded them with dignities and honors; Thee have I _loved_: my heart, my self, I gave To thee! They all were aliens: THOU went Our child and inmate.[29] Max! Thou cans't not leave me; It cannot be; I may not, will not think That Max can leave me.

MAX.

O my G.o.d!

WALLENSTEIN.

I have Held and sustain'd thee from thy tottering childhood; What holy bond is there of natural love, What human tie, that does not knit thee to me?

I love thee, Max! What did thy father for thee, Which I too have not done, to the height of duty?

Go hence, forsake me, serve thy Emperor; He will reward thee with a pretty chain Of gold; with his ram's fleece will he reward thee; For that the friend, the father of thy youth, For that the holiest feeling of humanity, Was nothing worth to thee.

MAX.

O G.o.d! how can I Do otherwise? Am I not forced to do it?

My oath--my duty--my honor--

WALLENSTEIN.

How? Thy duty?

Duty to whom? Who art thou? Max! bethink thee What duties mayst _thou_ have? If _I_ am acting A criminal part toward the Emperor, It is my crime, not thine. Dost thou belong To thine own self? Art thou thine own commander?

Stand'st thou, like me, a freeman in the world, That in thy actions thou shouldst plead free agency?

On me thou'rt planted, I am thy Emperor; To obey _me_, to _belong_ to me, this is Thy honor, this a law of nature to thee!