Chapter 83

_OCTAVIO and MAX PICCOLOMINI._

_Octavio (advances to Max)._ I am going off, my son.

[_Receiving no answer he takes his hand._

My son, farewell.

_Max._ Farewell.

_Octavio._ Thou wilt soon follow me?

_Max._ I follow thee? Thy way is crooked--it is not my way.

[_OCTAVIO drops his hand, and starts back._

O, hadst thou been but simple and sincere, Ne'er had it come to this--all had stood otherwise. 5 He had not done that foul and horrible deed, The virtuous had retained their influence o'er him: He had not fallen into the snares of villains. Wherefore so like a thief, and thief's accomplice Did'st creep behind him--lurking for thy prey? 10 O, unblest falsehood! Mother of all evil! Thou misery-making demon, it is thou That sink'st us in perdition. Simple truth, Sustainer of the world, had saved us all! Father, I will not, I cannot excuse thee! 15 Wallenstein has deceived me--O, most foully! But thou hast acted not much better.

_Octavio._ Son! My son, ah! I forgive thy agony!

_Max._ Was't possible? had'st thou the heart, my father, Had'st thou the heart to drive it to such lengths, 20 With cold premeditated purpose? Thou-- Had'st thou the heart, to wish to see him guilty, Rather than saved? Thou risest by his fall. Octavio, 'twill not please me.

_Octavio._ God in Heaven!

_Max._ O, woe is me! sure I have changed my nature. 25 How comes suspicion here--in the free soul? Hope, confidence, belief, are gone; for all Lied to me, all what I e'er loved or honoured. No! No! Not all! She--she yet lives for me, And she is true, and open as the Heavens! 30 Deceit is every where, hypocrisy, Murder, and poisoning, treason, perjury: The single holy spot is now our love, The only unprofaned in human nature.

_Octavio._ Max!--we will go together. 'Twill be better. 35

_Max._ What? ere I've taken a last parting leave, The very last--no never!

_Octavio._ Spare thyself The pang of necessary separation. Come with me! Come, my son! [_Attempts to take him with him._

_Max._ No! as sure as God lives, no! 40

_Octavio._ Come with me, I command thee! I, thy father.

_Max._ Command me what is human. I stay here.

_Octavio._ Max! in the Emperor's name I bid thee come.

_Max._ No Emperor has power to prescribe Laws to the heart; and would'st thou wish to rob me 45 Of the sole blessing which my fate has left me, Her sympathy? Must then a cruel deed Be done with cruelty? The unalterable Shall I perform ignobly--steal away, With stealthy coward flight forsake her? No! 50 She shall behold my suffering, my sore anguish, Hear the complaints of the disparted soul, And weep tears o'er me. Oh! the human race Have steely souls--but she is as an angel. From the black deadly madness of despair 55 Will she redeem my soul, and in soft words Of comfort, plaining, loose this pang of death!

_Octavio._ Thou wilt not tear thyself away; thou canst not. O, come, my son! I bid thee save thy virtue.

_Max._ Squander not thou thy words in vain. 60 The heart I follow, for I dare trust to it.

_Octavio._ Max! Max! if that most damnéd thing could be, If thou--my son--my own blood--(dare I think it?) Do sell thyself to him, the infamous, Do stamp this brand upon our noble house, 65 Then shall the world behold the horrible deed, And in unnatural combat shall the steel Of the son trickle with the father's blood.

_Max._ O hadst thou always better thought of men, Thou hadst then acted better. Curst suspicion! 70 Unholy miserable doubt! To him Nothing on earth remains unwrenched and firm, Who has no faith.

_Octavio._ And if I trust thy heart, Will it be always in thy power to follow it?

_Max._ The heart's voice thou hast not o'erpower'd--as little 75 Will Wallenstein be able to o'erpower it.

_Octavio._ O, Max! I see thee never more again!

_Max._ Unworthy of thee wilt thou never see me.

_Octavio._ I go to Frauenberg--the Pappenheimers I leave thee here, the Lothrings too; Toskana 80 And Tiefenbach remain here to protect thee. They love thee, and are faithful to their oath, And will far rather fall in gallant contest Than leave their rightful leader, and their honour.

_Max._ Rely on this, I either leave my life 85 In the struggle, or conduct them out of Pilsen.

_Octavio._ Farewell, my son!

_Max._ Farewell!

_Octavio._ How? not one look Of filial love? No grasp of the hand at parting? It is a bloody war, to which we are going, And the event uncertain and in darkness. 90 So used we not to part--it was not so! Is it then true? I have a son no longer?

[_MAX falls into his arms, they hold each [other] for a long time in a speechless embrace, then go away at different sides._

_The Curtain drops._

LINENOTES:

[Before 1] (_MAX enters almost in a state of derangement from extreme agitation, his eyes roll wildly, his walk is unsteady, and he appears not to observe his father, who stands at a distance, and gazes at him with a countenance expressive of compassion. He paces with long strides through the chamber, then stands still again, and at last throws himself into a chair, staring vacantly at the object directly before him_). 1800, 1828, 1829.

[Before 19] _Max (rises and contemplates his father with looks of suspicion)._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[28] what] that 1828, 1829.

[33] The single holy spot is our love 1800.

[Before 41] _Octavio (more urgently)._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[Before 62] _Octavio (trembling, and losing all self-command)._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[63] _think_ 1800.

[75] _thou_ 1800.

THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN

A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS

PREFACE OF THE TRANSLATOR TO THE FIRST EDITION

The two Dramas, PICCOLOMINI, or the first part of WALLENSTEIN, and WALLENSTEIN, are introduced in the original manuscript by a Prelude in one Act, entitled WALLENSTEIN'S CAMP. This is written in rhyme, and in nine-syllable verse, in the same _lilting_ metre (if that expression may be permitted) 5 with the second Eclogue of Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar.

This Prelude possesses a sort of broad humour, and is not deficient in character; but to have translated it into prose, or into any other metre than that of the original, would have given a false notion both of its style and purport; to have 10 translated it into the same metre would have been incompatible with a faithful adherence to the sense of the German, from the comparative poverty of our language in rhymes; and it would have been unadvisable from the incongruity of those lax verses with the present taste of the English Public. Schiller's intention 15 seems to have been merely to have prepared his reader for the Tragedies by a lively picture of the laxity of discipline, and the mutinous dispositions of Wallenstein's soldiery. It is not necessary as a preliminary explanation. For these reasons it has been thought expedient not to translate it. 20

The admirers of Schiller, who have abstracted their conception of that author from the _Robbers_, and the _Cabal_ and _Love_, plays in which the main interest is produced by the excitement of curiosity, and in which the curiosity is excited by terrible and extraordinary incident, will not have perused without some 25 portion of disappointment the Dramas, which it has been my employment to translate. They should, however, reflect that these are Historical Dramas, taken from a popular German History; that we must therefore judge of them in some measure with the feelings of Germans; or by analogy, with the interest 30 excited in us by similar Dramas in our own language. Few, I trust, would be rash or ignorant enough to compare Schiller with Shakspeare yet, merely as illustration, I would say that we should proceed to the perusal of Wallenstein, not from Lear or Othello, but from Richard the Second, or the 35 three parts of Henry the Sixth. We scarcely expect rapidity in an Historical Drama; and many prolix speeches are pardoned from characters, whose names and actions have formed the most amusing tales of our early life. On the other hand, there exist in these plays more individual beauties, 40 more passages the excellence of which will bear reflection, than in the former productions of Schiller. The description of the Astrological Tower, and the reflections of the Young Lover, which follow it, form in the original a fine poem; and my translation must have been wretched indeed, if it can have 45 wholly overclouded the beauties of the Scene in the first Act of the first Play between Questenberg, Max, and Octavio Piccolomini. If we except the Scene of the setting sun in the _Robbers_, I know of no part in Schiller's Plays which equals the whole of the first Scene of the fifth Act of the concluding Play. It 50 would be unbecoming in me to be more diffuse on this subject. A Translator stands connected with the original Author by a certain law of subordination, which makes it more decorous to point out excellencies than defects: indeed he is not likely to be a fair judge of either. The pleasure or disgust from his 55 own labour will mingle with the feelings that arise from an afterview of the original. Even in the first perusal of a work in any foreign language which we understand, we are apt to attribute to it more excellence than it really possesses from our own pleasurable sense of difficulty overcome without effect. 60 Translation of poetry into poetry is difficult, because the Translator must give a brilliancy to his language without that warmth of original conception, from which such brilliancy would follow of its own accord. But the translator of a living Author is encumbered with additional inconveniences. If he render his 65 original faithfully, as to the sense of each passage, he must necessarily destroy a considerable portion of the spirit; if he endeavour to give a work executed according to laws of compensation, he subjects himself to imputations of vanity, or misrepresentation. I have thought it my duty to remain 70 bound by the sense of my original, with as few exceptions as the nature of the languages rendered possible.

LINENOTES:

Title] Part Second. The Death of Wallenstein. A Tragedy. The Death of Wallenstein. Preface of the Translator. 1828, 1829.

[10] notion] idea 1800, 1828, 1829.

[21] conception] idea 1800, 1828, 1829.

[41] the excellence of which] whose excellence 1800, 1828, 1829.

[60] effect] effort 1834.

[66] sense] _sense_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[67] spirit] _spirit_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[68] compensation] _compensation_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[After 72] S. T. Coleridge 1800, 1828, 1829.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

_WALLENSTEIN, Duke of Friedland, Generalissimo of the Imperial Forces in the Thirty Years' War._ _DUCHESS OF FRIEDLAND, Wife of Wallenstein._ _THEKLA, her Daughter, Princess of Friedland._ _THE COUNTESS TERTSKY, Sister of the Duchess._ _LADY NEUBRUNN._ _OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, Lieutenant-General._ _MAX PICCOLOMINI, his Son, Colonel of a Regiment of Cuirassiers._ _COUNT TERTSKY, the Commander of several Regiments, and Brother-in-law of Wallenstein._ _ILLO, Field Marshal, Wallenstein's confidant._ _BUTLER, an Irishman, Commander of a Regiment of Dragoons._ _GORDON, Governor of Egra._ _MAJOR GERALDIN._ _CAPTAIN DEVEREUX._ _CAPTAIN MACDONALD._ _NEUMANN, Captain of Cavalry, Aide-de-Camp to Tertsky._ _SWEDISH CAPTAIN._ _SENI._ _BURGOMASTER of Egra._ _ANSPESSADE of the Cuirassiers._ _GROOM OF THE CHAMBER_, } _belonging to the Duke._ _A PAGE_, } _CUIRASSIERS, DRAGOONS, SERVANTS._

THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN