The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 76

[9] YES 1800, 1828, 1829.

SCENE II

_WALLENSTEIN, MAX PICCOLOMINI._

_Max (advances to him)._ My General!

_Wallenstein._ That am I no longer, if Thou styl'st thyself the Emperor's officer.

_Max._ Then thou wilt leave the army, General?

_Wallenstein._ I have renounced the service of the Emperor.

_Max._ And thou wilt leave the army?

_Wallenstein._ Rather hope I 5 To bind it nearer still and faster to me. [_He seats himself._ Yes, Max, I have delayed to open it to thee, Even till the hour of acting 'gins to strike.

Youth's fortunate feeling doth seize easily The absolute right, yea, and a joy it is 10 To exercise the single apprehension Where the sums square in proof; But where it happens, that of two sure evils One must be taken, where the heart not wholly Brings itself back from out the strife of duties, 15 There 'tis a blessing to have no election, And blank necessity is grace and favour.

--This is now present: do not look behind thee.-- It can no more avail thee. Look thou forwards!

Think not! judge not! prepare thyself to act! 20 The Court--it hath determined on my ruin, Therefore I will to be beforehand with them.

We'll join the Swedes--right gallant fellows are they, And our good friends.

[_He stops himself, expecting PICCOLOMINI'S answer._

I have ta'en thee by surprise. Answer me not. 25 I grant thee time to recollect thyself.

[_He rises, and retires at the back of the stage. MAX remains for a long time motionless, in a trance of excessive anguish. At his first motion WALLENSTEIN returns, and places himself before him._

_Max._ My General, this day thou makest me Of age to speak in my own right and person, For till this day I have been spared the trouble To find out my own road. Thee have I followed 30 With most implicit unconditional faith, Sure of the right path if I followed thee.

To-day, for the first time, dost thou refer Me to myself, and forcest me to make Election between thee and my own heart. 35

_Wallenstein._ Soft cradled thee thy Fortune till to-day; Thy duties thou couldst exercise in sport, Indulge all lovely instincts, act for ever With undivided heart. It can remain No longer thus. Like enemies, the roads 40 Start from each other. Duties strive with duties.

Thou must needs choose thy party in the war Which is now kindling 'twixt thy friend and him Who is thy Emperor.

_Max._ War! is that the name?

War is as frightful as heaven's pestilence. 45 Yet it is good, is it heaven's will as that is.

Is that a good war, which against the Emperor Thou wagest with the Emperor's own army?

O G.o.d of heaven! what a change is this.

Beseems it me to offer such persuasion 50 To thee, who like the fixed star of the pole Wert all I gazed at on life's trackless ocean?

O! what a rent thou makest in my heart!

The ingrained instinct of old reverence.

The holy habit of obediency, 55 Must I pluck live asunder from thy name?

Nay, do not turn thy countenance upon me-- It always was as a G.o.d looking at me!

Duke Wallenstein, its power is not departed: The senses still are in thy bonds, although, 60 Bleeding, the soul hath freed itself.

_Wallenstein._ Max, hear me.

_Max._ O! do it not, I pray thee, do it not!

There is a pure and n.o.ble soul within thee, Knows not of this unblest, unlucky doing.

Thy will is chaste, it is thy fancy only 65 Which hath polluted thee--and innocence, It will not let itself be driven away From that world-awing aspect. Thou wilt not, Thou canst not, end in this. It would reduce All human creatures to disloyalty 70 Against the n.o.bleness of their own nature.

'Twill justify the vulgar misbelief, Which holdeth nothing n.o.ble in free will, And trusts itself to impotence alone Made powerful only in an unknown power. 75

_Wallenstein._ The world will judge me sternly, I expect it.

Already have I said to my own self All thou canst say to me. Who but avoids The extreme,--can he by going round avoid it?

But here there is no choice. Yes--I must use 80 Or suffer violence--so stands the case, There remains nothing possible but that.

_Max._ O that is never possible for thee!

'Tis the last desperate resource of those Cheap souls, to whom their honour, their good name 85 Is their poor saving, their last worthless keep, Which having staked and lost, they stake themselves In the mad rage of gaming. Thou art rich, And glorious; with an unpolluted heart Thou canst make conquest of whate'er seems highest! 90 But he, who once hath acted infamy, Does nothing more in this world.

_Wallenstein (grasps 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 soon 95 Forgotten, Max, by what road we ascended.

Believe me, many a crown s.h.i.+nes spotless now, That yet was deeply sullied in the winning.

To the evil spirit doth the earth belong, Not to the good. All, that the powers divine 100 Send from above, are universal blessings: Their light rejoices us, their air refreshes, But never yet was man enriched by them: In their eternal realm no property Is to be struggled for--all there is general. 105 The jewel, the all-valued gold we win From the deceiving Powers, depraved in nature, That dwell beneath the day and blessed sun-light.

Not without sacrifices are they rendered Propitious, and there lives no soul on earth 110 That e'er retired unsullied from their service.

_Max._ Whate'er is human, to the human being Do I allow--and to the vehement And striving spirit readily I pardon The excess of action; but to thee, my General! 115 Above all others make I large concession.

For thou must move a world, and be the master-- He kills thee, who condemns thee to inaction.

So be it then! maintain thee in thy post By violence. Resist the Emperor, 120 And if it must 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 spoken out---- Not to the traitor can I yield a pardon. 125 That is no mere excess! that is no error Of human nature--that is wholly different, O that is black, black as the pit of h.e.l.l!

Thou canst not hear it nam'd, and wilt thou do it?

O turn back to thy duty. That thou canst, 130 I hold it certain. Send me to Vienna.

I'll make thy peace for thee with the Emperor.

He knows thee not. But I do know thee. He Shall see thee, Duke! with my unclouded eye, And I bring back his confidence to thee. 135

_Wallenstein._ It is too late. Thou knowest not what has happened.

_Max._ Were it too late, and were things gone so far, That a crime only could prevent thy fall, Then--fall! fall honourably, even as thou stood'st.

Lose the command. Go from the stage of war. 140 Thou canst with splendour do it--do it too With innocence. Thou hast liv'd much for others, At length live thou for thy own self. I follow thee.

My destiny I never part from thine.

_Wallenstein._ It is too late! Even now, while thou art losing 145 Thy words, one after the other are the mile-stones Left fast behind by my post couriers, Who bear the order on to Prague and Egra.

Yield thyself to it. We act as we are forced.

I cannot give a.s.sent to my own shame 150 And ruin. Thou--no--thou canst not forsake me!

So let us do, what must be done, with dignity, With a firm step. What am I doing worse Than did famed Caesar at the Rubicon, When he the legions led against his country, 155 The which his country had delivered to him?

Had he thrown down the sword, he had been lost, As I were, if I but disarmed myself.

I trace out something in me of his spirit.

Give me his luck, that other thing I'll bear. 160

[_MAX quits him abruptly. WALLENSTEIN, startled and overpowered, continues looking after him, and is still in this posture when TERTSKY enters._

LINENOTES:

[86] _saving . . . Keep_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[104] _property_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[116] _all_ 1800, 1828, 1829.