SCENE I.--_Forest_. GOETZ _and_ GEORGE.

GOETZ: No further! Another step and I should have broken my oath. What is that dust beyond? And that wild mob moving towards us?

LERSE (_entering_): The rebel peasants. Back to the castle! They have dealt horribly with the noblest men!

GOETZ: On my own soil I shall not try to evade the rabble.

[_Enter_ STUMPF, KOHL, SIEVERS, _and armed peasants_.

STUMPF: We come to ask you, brave Goetz, to be our captain.

GOETZ: What! Me? To break my oath? Stumpf, I thought you were a friend! Even if I were free, and you wanted to carry on as you did at Weinsberg, raving and burning, and murdering, I'd rather be killed than be your captain!

STUMPF: If we had a leader of authority, such things would not happen. The princes and all Germany would thank you.

SIEVERS: You must be our captain, or you will have to defend your own skin. We give you two hours to consider it.

GOETZ: Why consider? I can decide now as well as later. Will you desist from your misdeeds, and act like decent folk who know what they want? Then I shall help you with your claims, and be your captain for four weeks. Now, come! [_Exeunt._