The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 93

_Tertsky._ What shall we make of this?

_Wallenstein._ Said I not so?

O my prophetic heart! he is still here.

He has not betrayed me--he could not betray me. 25 I never doubted of it.

_Countess._ If he be Still here, then all goes well; for I know what

[_Embracing THEKLA._

Will keep him here for ever.

_Tertsky._ It can't be.

His father has betrayed us, is gone over To the Emperor--the son could not have ventured 30 To stay behind.

_Thekla (her eye fixed on the door)._ There he is!

LINENOTES:

[9] _he_ 1800.

[After 22] [_All stand amazed._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

SCENE VI

_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 favourable moment.

This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.

[_Advancing to THEKLA._

Turn not thine eyes away. O look upon me! 5 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 10 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 for ever.

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

Thekla, I must--must leave thee! Yet thy hatred 15 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! 20 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 25 Receive a full acquittal from this heart-- For any other I am no more concerned.

_Wallenstein._ 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; 30 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 honour That ancient love, which so remorselessly He mangled. They are now past by, those hours 35 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._ Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast power. 40 Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage.

What has detained 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 45 Laid waste for ever--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 irreconcileable 50 Fierce element, incapable of compact, Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow.[753:1]

_Wallenstein._ 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 55 Still to and fro he pa.s.sed, 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, 60 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 delivered the Commander's Staff 65 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 70 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? 75 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. 80 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 accustomed to the German winters; Thy hand was frozen to the heavy colours; 85 Thou would'st 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 90 To do for thee all little offices, However strange to me; I tended thee Till life returned; and when thine eyes first opened, I had thee in my arms. Since then, when have I Altered my feelings towards thee? Many thousands 95 Have I made rich, presented them with lands; Rewarded them with dignities and honours; Thee have I loved: my heart, my self, I gave To thee! They all were aliens: thou wert Our child and inmate.[755:1] Max! Thou canst not leave me; 100 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 sustained thee from thy tottering childhood.

What holy bond is there of natural love?

What human tie, that does not knit thee to me? 105 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; 110 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--honour--

_Wallenstein._ How? Thy duty? 115 Duty to whom? Who art thou? Max! bethink thee What duties may'st 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? 120 Stand'st thou, like me, a freeman in the world, That in thy actions thou should'st plead free agency?

On me thou'rt planted, I am thy Emperor; To obey me, to belong to me, this is Thy honour, this a law of nature to thee! 125 And if the planet, on the which thou liv'st And hast thy dwelling, from its...o...b..t starts, It is not in thy choice, whether or no Thou'lt follow it. Unfelt it whirls thee onward Together with his ring and all his moons. 130 With little guilt stepp'st thou into this contest, Thee will the world not censure, it will praise thee, For that thou heldst thy friend more worth to thee Than names and influences more removed.

For justice is the virtue of the ruler, 135 Affection and fidelity the subject's.

Not every one doth it beseem to question The far-off high Arcturus. Most securely Wilt thou pursue the nearest duty--let The pilot fix his eye upon the pole-star. 140

FOOTNOTES: