Chapter 74

_Wallenstein._ Is it possible? Is't so? I can no longer what I would? No longer draw back at my liking? I Must do the deed, because I thought of it, And fed this heart here with a dream? Because 5 I did not scowl temptation from my presence, Dallied with thoughts of possible fulfilment, Commenced no movement, left all time uncertain, And only kept the road, the access open? By the great God of Heaven! it was not 10 My serious meaning, it was ne'er resolve. I but amused myself with thinking of it. The free-will tempted me, the power to do Or not to do it.--Was it criminal To make the fancy minister to hope, 15 To fill the air with pretty toys of air, And clutch fantastic sceptres moving t'ward me? Was not the will kept free? Beheld I not The road of duty close beside me--but One little step, and once more I was in it! 20 Where am I? Whither have I been transported? No road, no track behind me, but a wall, Impenetrable, insurmountable, Rises obedient to the spells I muttered And meant not--my own doings tower behind me. 25 A punishable man I seem, the guilt, Try what I will, I cannot roll off from me; The equivocal demeanour of my life Bears witness on my prosecutor's party; And even my purest acts from purest motives 30 Suspicion poisons with malicious gloss. Were I that thing, for which I pass, that traitor, A goodly outside I had sure reserved, Had drawn the coverings thick and double round me, Been calm and chary of my utterance. 35 But being conscious of the innocence Of my intent, my uncorrupted will, I gave way to my humours, to my passion: Bold were my words, because my deeds were not. Now every planless measure, chance event, 40 The threat of rage, the vaunt of joy and triumph, And all the May-games of a heart o'erflowing, Will they connect, and weave them all together Into one web of treason; all will be plan, My eye ne'er absent from the far-off mark, 45 Step tracing step, each step a politic progress; And out of all they'll fabricate a charge So specious, that I must myself stand dumb. I am caught in my own net, and only force, Naught but a sudden rent can liberate me. 50 How else! since that the heart's unbiass'd instinct Impelled me to the daring deed, which now Necessity, self-preservation, orders. Stern is the On-look of Necessity, Not without shudder many a human hand 55 Grasps the mysterious urn of destiny. My deed was mine, remaining in my bosom, Once suffered to escape from its safe corner Within the heart, its nursery and birthplace, Sent forth into the Foreign, it belongs 60 For ever to those sly malicious powers Whom never art of man conciliated. What is thy enterprize? thy aim? thy object? Hast honestly confessed it to thyself? Power seated on a quiet throne thou'dst shake, 65 Power on an ancient consecrated throne, Strong in possession, founded in old custom; Power by a thousand tough and stringy roots Fixed to the people's pious nursery-faith. This, this will be no strife of strength with strength. 70 That feared I not. I brave each combatant, Whom I can look on, fixing eye to eye, Who full himself of courage kindles courage In me too. 'Tis a foe invisible, The which I fear--a fearful enemy, 75 Which in the human heart opposes me, By its coward fear alone made fearful to me. Not that, which full of life, instinct with power, Makes known its present being, that is not The true, the perilously formidable. 80 O no! it is the common, the quite common, The thing of an eternal yesterday, What ever was, and evermore returns, Sterling to-morrow, for to-day 'twas sterling! For of the wholly common is man made, 85 And custom is his nurse! Woe then to them, Who lay irreverent hands upon his old House furniture, the dear inheritance From his forefathers. For time consecrates; And what is grey with age becomes religion. 90 Be in possession, and thou hast the right, And sacred will the many guard it for thee!

[_To the_ Page, _who here enters._

The Swedish officer?--Well, let him enter.

[_The_ Page _exit, WALLENSTEIN fixes his eye in deep thought on the door._

Yet is it pure--as yet!--the crime has come Not o'er this threshold yet--so slender is 95 The boundary that divideth life's two paths.

LINENOTES:

[Before 1] _Wallenstein (in soliloquy)._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[2] _can . . . would_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[4] _do . . . thought_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[After 25] [_Pauses and remains in deep thought._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[39] _not_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[48] _dumb_ 1800.

[50] _rent_ 1800.

[After 50] [_Pauses again._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[53] _orders_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[55] many] may 1800, 1828, 1829.

[56] Grasps] Grasp 1800, 1828, 1829.

[After 62] [_Paces in agitation through the chamber, then pauses, and, after the pause, breaks out again into audible soliloquy._ 1800, 1828, 1829.