The Piccolomini

SCENE II

The COUNTESS steps out from a closet.

COUNT and COUNTESS TERZKY.

TERZKY   Well – is she coming? I can keep him back   No longer.COUNTESS         She will be here instantly,   You only send him.TERZKY             I am not quite certain,   I must confess it, countess, whether or not   We are earning the duke's thanks hereby. You know   No ray has broke out from him on this point.   You have o'erruled me, and yourself know best   How far you dare proceed.COUNTESS                 I take it on me.

[Talking to herself while she is advancing.

   Here's no heed of full powers and commissions;   My cloudy duke! we understand each other —   And without words. What could I not unriddle,   Wherefore the daughter should be sent for hither,   Why first he, and no other should be chosen   To fetch her hither? This sham of betrothing her   To a bridegroom9, whom no one knows – No! no!   This may blind others! I see through thee, brother!   But it beseems thee not to draw a card   At such a game. Not yet! It all remains   Mutely delivered up to my finessing.   Well – thou shalt not have been deceived, Duke Friedland,   In her who is thy sister.SERVANT (enters)                 The commanders!

[Exit.

TERZKY (to the COUNTESS)   Take care you heat his fancy and affections —   Possess him with a reverie, and send him,   Absent and dreaming to the banquet; that   He may not boggle at the signature.COUNTESS   Take care of your guests! Go, send him hither.TERZKY   All rests upon his undersigning.COUNTESS (interrupting him)   Go to your guests! Go —ILLO (comes back)                 Where art staying, Terzky?   The house is full, and all expecting you.TERZKY   Instantly! instantly!

[To the COUNTESS.

               And let him not   Stay here too long. It might awake suspicion   In the old man —COUNTESS            A truce with your precautions!

[Exeunt TERZKY and ILLO.

SCENE III

COUNTESS, MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

MAX. (peeping in on the stage slyly)   Aunt Terzky! may I venture?      [Advances to the middle of the stage, and looks around      him with uneasiness.                  She's not here!   Where is she?COUNTESS           Look but somewhat narrowly   In yonder corner, lest perhaps she lie   Concealed behind that screen.MAX                   There lie her gloves!

[Snatches at them, but the COUNTESS takes them herself.

   You unkind lady! You refuse me this,   You make it an amusement to torment me.COUNTESS   And this the thanks you give me for my trouble?MAX   O, if you felt the oppression at my heart!   Since we've been here, so to constrain myself   With such poor stealth to hazard words and glances.   These, these are not my habits!COUNTESS                    You have still   Many new habits to acquire, young friend!   But on this proof of your obedient temper   I must continue to insist; and only   On this condition can I play the agent   For your concerns.MAX             But wherefore comes she not?   Where is she?COUNTESS           Into my hands you must place it   Whole and entire. Whom could you find, indeed,   More zealously affected to your interest?   No soul on earth must know it – not your father;   He must not, above all.MAX                Alas! what danger?   Here is no face on which I might concentre   All the enraptured soul stirs up within me.   O lady! tell me, is all changed around me?   Or is it only I?            I find myself,   As among strangers! Not a trace is left   Of all my former wishes, former joys.   Where has it vanished to? There was a time   When even, methought, with such a world as this,   I was not discontented. Now how flat!   How stale! No life, no bloom, no flavor in it!   My comrades are intolerable to me.   My father – even to him I can say nothing.   My arms, my military duties – O!   They are such wearying toys!COUNTESS                  But gentle friend!   I must entreat it of your condescension,   You would be pleased to sink your eye, and favor   With one short glance or two this poor stale world,   Where even now much, and of much moment,   Is on the eve of its completion.MAX                     Something,   I can't but know is going forward round me.   I see it gathering, crowding, driving on,   In wild uncustomary movements. Well,   In due time, doubtless, it will reach even me.   Where think you I have been, dear lady? Nay,   No raillery. The turmoil of the camp,   The spring-tide of acquaintance rolling in,   The pointless jest, the empty conversation,   Oppressed and stifled me. I gasped for air —   I could not breathe – I was constrained to fly,   To seek a silence out for my full heart;   And a pure spot wherein to feel my happiness.   No smiling, countess! In the church was I.

There is a cloister here "To the heaven's gate,"10 Thither I went, there found myself alone.

   Over the altar hung a holy mother;   A wretched painting 'twas, yet 'twas the friend   That I was seeking in this moment. Ah,   How oft have I beheld that glorious form   In splendor, 'mid ecstatic worshippers;   Yet, still it moved me not! and now at once   Was my devotion cloudless as my love.COUNTESS   Enjoy your fortune and felicity!   Forget the world around you. Meantime, friendship   Shall keep strict vigils for you, anxious, active.   Only be manageable when that friendship   Points you the road to full accomplishment.MAX   But where abides she then? Oh, golden time   Of travel, when each morning sun united   And but the coming night divided us;   Then ran no sand, then struck no hour for us,   And time, in our excess of happiness,   Seemed on its course eternal to stand still.   Oh, he hath fallen from out his heaven of bliss   Who can descend to count the changing hours,   No clock strikes ever for the happy!COUNTESS   How long is it since you declared your passion?MAX   This morning did I hazard the first word.COUNTESS   This morning the first time in twenty days?MAX   'Twas at that hunting-castle, betwixt here   And Nepomuck, where you had joined us, and   That was the last relay of the whole journey;   In a balcony we were standing mute,   And gazing out upon the dreary field   Before us the dragoons were riding onward,   The safeguard which the duke had sent us – heavy;   The inquietude of parting lay upon me,   And trembling ventured at length these words:   This all reminds me, noble maiden, that   To-day I must take leave of my good fortune.   A few hours more, and you will find a father,   Will see yourself surrounded by new friends,   And I henceforth shall be but as a stranger,   Lost in the many – "Speak with my Aunt Terzky!"   With hurrying voice she interrupted me.   She faltered. I beheld a glowing red   Possess her beautiful cheeks, and from the ground   Raised slowly up her eye met mine – no longer   Did I control myself.

[The Princess THEKLA appears at the door, and remains standing, observed by the COUNTESS, but not by PICCOLOMINI.

               With instant boldness   I caught her in my arms, my lips touched hers;   There was a rustling in the room close by;   It parted us – 'Twas you. What since has happened   You know.COUNTESS (after a pause, with a stolen glance at THEKLA)        And is it your excess of modesty   Or are you so incurious, that you do not   Ask me too of my secret?MAX                Of your secret?COUNTESS   Why, yes! When in the instant after you   I stepped into the room, and found my niece there;   What she in this first moment of the heart   Taken with surprise —MAX. (with eagerness)               Well?

SCENE IV

THEKLA (hurries forward), COUNTESS, MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

THEKLA (to the COUNTESS)              Spare yourself the trouble:   That hears he better from myself.MAX. (stepping backward)                     My princess!   What have you let her hear me say, Aunt Terzky?THEKLA (to the COUNTESS)   Has he been here long?COUNTESS               Yes; and soon must go,   Where have you stayed so long?THEKLA                   Alas! my mother,   Wept so again! and I – I see her suffer,   Yet cannot keep myself from being happy.MAX   Now once again I have courage to look on you.   To-day at noon I could not.   The dazzle of the jewels that played round you   Hid the beloved from me.THEKLA                Then you saw me   With your eye only – and not with your heart?MAX   This morning, when I found you in the circle   Of all your kindred, in your father's arms,   Beheld myself an alien in this circle,   O! what an impulse felt I in that moment   To fall upon his neck, to call him father!   But his stern eye o'erpowered the swelling passion,   It dared not but be silent. And those brilliants,   That like a crown of stars enwreathed your brows,   They scared me too! O wherefore, wherefore should be   At the first meeting spread as 'twere the ban   Of excommunication round you, – wherefore   Dress up the angel as for sacrifice.   And cast upon the light and joyous heart   The mournful burden of his station? Fitly   May love dare woo for love; but such a splendor   Might none but monarchs venture to approach.THEKLA   Hush! not a word more of this mummery;   You see how soon the burden is thrown off.

[To the COUNTESS.

   He is not in spirits. Wherefore is he not?   'Tis you, aunt, that have made him all so gloomy!   He had quite another nature on the journey —   So calm, so bright, so joyous eloquent.

[To MAX.

   It was my wish to see you always so,   And never otherwise!MAX              You find yourself   In your great father's arms, beloved lady!   All in a new world, which does homage to you,   And which, were't only by its novelty,   Delights your eye.THEKLA             Yes; I confess to you   That many things delight me here: this camp,   This motley stage of warriors, which renews   So manifold the image of my fancy,   And binds to life, binds to reality,   What hitherto had but been present to me   As a sweet dream!MAX             Alas! not so to me.   It makes a dream of my reality.   Upon some island in the ethereal heights   I've lived for these last days. This mass of men   Forces me down to earth. It is a bridge   That, reconducting to my former life,   Divides me and my heaven.THEKLA                 The game of life   Looks cheerful, when one carries in one's heart   The unalienable treasure. 'Tis a game,   Which, having once reviewed, I turn more joyous   Back to my deeper and appropriate bliss.          [Breaking off, and in a sportive tone.   In this short time that I've been present here.   What new unheard-of things have I not seen;   And yet they all must give place to the wond   Which this mysterious castle guards.COUNTESS (recollecting)                      And what   Can this be then? Methought I was acquainted   With all the dusky corners of this house.THEKLA (smiling)   Ay, but the road thereto is watched by spirits,   Two griffins still stand sentry at the door.COUNTESS (laughs)   The astrological tower! How happens it   That this same sanctuary, whose access   Is to all others so impracticable,   Opens before you even at your approach?THEKLA   A dwarfish old man with a friendly face   And snow-white hairs, whose gracious services   Were mine at first sight, opened me the doors.MAX   That is the duke's astrologer, old Seni.THEKLA   He questioned me on many points; for instance,   When I was born, what month, and on what day,   Whether by day or in the night.COUNTESS                    He wished   To erect a figure for your horoscope.THEKLA   My hand too he examined, shook his head   With much sad meaning, and the lines, methought,   Did not square over truly with his wishes.COUNTESS   Well, princess, and what found you in this tower?   My highest privilege has been to snatch   A side-glance, and away!THEKLA                It was a strange   Sensation that came o'er me, when at first   From the broad sunshine I stepped in; and now   The narrowing line of daylight, that ran after   The closing door, was gone; and all about me   'Twas pale and dusky night, with many shadows   Fantastically cast. Here six or seven   Colossal statues, and all kings, stood round me   In a half-circle. Each one in his hand   A sceptre bore, and on his head a star;   And in the tower no other light was there   But from these stars all seemed to come from them.   "These are the planets," said that low old man,   "They govern worldly fates, and for that cause   Are imaged here as kings. He farthest from you,   Spiteful and cold, an old man melancholy,   With bent and yellow forehead, he is Saturn.   He opposite, the king with the red light,   An armed man for the battle, that is Mars;   And both these bring but little luck to man."   But at his side a lovely lady stood,   The star upon her head was soft and bright,   Oh, that was Venus, the bright star of joy.   And the left hand, lo! Mercury, with wings   Quite in the middle glittered silver bright.   A cheerful man, and with a monarch's mien;   And this was Jupiter, my father's star   And at his side I saw the Sun and Moon.MAX   Oh, never rudely will I blame his faith   In the might of stars and angels. 'Tis not merely   The human being's pride that peoples space   With life and mystical predominance;   Since likewise for the stricken heart of love   This visible nature, and this common world,   Is all too narrow; yea, a deeper import   Lurks in the legend told my infant years   Than lies upon that truth, we live to learn.   For fable is love's world, his home, his birth-place;   Delightedly dwells he among fays and talismans,   And spirits; and delightedly believes   Divinities, being himself divine   The intelligible forms of ancient poets,   The fair humanities of old religion,   The power, the beauty, and the majesty,   That had her haunts in dale, or piny mountain,   Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring,   Or chasms, and watery depths, all these have vanished.   They live no longer in the faith of reason!   But still the heart doth need a language, still   Doth the old instinct bring back the old names;   And to yon starry world they now are gone,   Spirits or gods, that used to share this earth   With man as with their friend11, and to the lover   Yonder they move, from yonder visible sky   Shoot influence down: and even at this day   'This Jupiter who brings whate'er is great,   And Venus who brings everything that's fair!THEKLA   And if this be the science of the stars,   I, too, with glad and zealous industry,   Will learn acquaintance with this cheerful faith.   It is a gentle and affectionate thought,   That in immeasurable heights above us,   At our first birth, the wreath of love was woven,   With sparkling stars for flowers.COUNTESS                     Not only roses   And thorns too hath the heaven, and well for you   Leave they your wreath of love inviolate:   What Venus twined, the bearer of glad fortune,   The sullen orb of Mars soon tears to pieces.MAX   Soon will this gloomy empire reach its close.   Blest be the general's zeal: into the laurel   Will he inweave the olive-branch, presenting   Peace to the shouting nations. Then no wish   Will have remained for his great heart. Enough   Has he performed for glory, and can now   Live for himself and his. To his domains will   He retire; he has a stately seat   Of fairest view at Gitschin, Reichenberg,   And Friedland Castle, both lie pleasantly;   Even to the foot of the huge mountains here   Stretches the chase and covers of his forests:   His ruling passion to create the splendid   He can indulge without restraint; can give   A princely patronage to every art,   And to all worth a sovereign's protection.   Can build, can plant, can watch the starry courses —COUNTESS   Yet I would have you look, and look again,   Before you lay aside your arms, young friend!   A gentle bride, as she is, is well worth it,   That you should woo and win her with the sword.MAX   Oh, that the sword could win her!COUNTESS                     What was that?   Did you hear nothing? Seemed as if I heard   Tumult and larum in the banquet-room.

[Exit COUNTESS.

SCENE V

THEKLA and MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

THEKLA (as soon as the COUNTESS is out of sight, in a quick, low voice to PICCOLOMINI)   Don't trust them! They are false!MAX                     Impossible!THEKLA   Trust no one here but me. I saw at once,   They had a purpose.MAX              Purpose! but what purpose?   And how can we be instrumental to it?THEKLA   I know no more than you; but yet believe me   There's some design in this; to make us happy,   To realize our union – trust me, love!   They but pretend to wish it.MAX                  But these Terzkys —   Why use we them at all? Why not your mother?   Excellent creature! She deserves from us   A full and filial confidence.THEKLA                   She doth love you,   Doth rate you high before all others – but —   But such a secret – she would never have   The courage to conceal it from my father.   For her own peace of mind we must preserve it   A secret from her too.MAX               Why any secret?   I love not secrets. Mark what I will do.   I'll throw me at your father's feet – let him   Decide upon my fortune! He is true,   He wears no mask – he hates all crooked ways —   He is so good, so noble!THEKLA. (falls on his neck)                That are you!MAX   You knew him only from this morn! But I   Have lived ten years already in his presence;   And who knows whether in this very moment   He is not merely waiting for us both   To own our loves in order to unite us?   You are silent!   You look at me with such a hopelessness!   What have you to object against your father?THEKLA   I? Nothing. Only he's so occupied —   He has no leisure time to think about   The happiness of us two.

[Taking his hand tenderly.

                Follow me   Let us not place too great a faith in men.   These Terzkys – we will still be grateful to them   For every kindness, but not trust them further   Than they deserve; – and in all else rely   On our own hearts!MAX             O! shall we e'er be happy?THEKLA   Are we not happy now? Art thou not mine?   Am I not thine? There lives within my soul   A lofty courage – 'tis love gives it me!   I ought to be less open – ought to hide   My heart more from thee – so decorum dictates:   But where in this place couldst thou seek for truth,   If in my mouth thou didst not find it?   We now have met, then let us hold each other   Clasped in a lasting and a firm embrace.   Believe me this was more than their intent.   Then be our loves like some blest relic kept   Within the deep recesses of the heart.   From heaven alone the love has been bestowed,   To heaven alone our gratitude is due;   It can work wonders for us still.

SCENE VI

To them enters the COUNTESS TERZKY.

COUNTESS (in a pressing manner)                 Come, come!   My husband sends me for you. It is now   The latest moment.      [They not appearing to attend to what she says,      she steps between them.             Part you!THEKLA                   Oh, not yet!   It has been scarce a moment.COUNTESS                  Ay! Then time   Flies swiftly with your highness, princess niece!MAX   There is no hurry, aunt.COUNTESS                Away! Away!   The folks begin to miss you. Twice already   His father has asked for him.THEKLA                   Ha! His father!COUNTESS   You understand that, niece!THEKLA                  Why needs he   To go at all to that society?   'Tis not his proper company. They may   Be worthy men, but he's too young for them;   In brief, he suits not such society.COUNTESS   You mean, you'd rather keep him wholly here?   THEKLA (with energy).   Yes! You have hit it aunt! That is my meaning,   Leave him here wholly! Tell the company —COUNTESS   What! have you lost your senses, niece?   Count, you remember the conditions. Come!MAX (to THEKLA)   Lady, I must obey. Fairwell, dear lady!

[THEKLA turns away from him with a quick motion.

   What say you then, dear lady?THEKLA (without looking at him)                   Nothing. Go!MAX   Can I when you are angry —

[He draws up to her, their eyes meet, she stands silent a moment, then throws herself into his arms; he presses her fast to his heart.

COUNTESS   Off! Heavens! if any one should come!   Hark! What's that noise! It comes this way. Off!

[MAX. tears himself away out of her arms and goes. The COUNTESS accompanies him. THEKLA follows him with her eyes at first, walks restlessly across the room, then stops, and remains standing, lost in thought. A guitar lies on the table, she seizes it as by a sudden emotion, and after she has played awhile an irregular and melancholy symphony, she falls gradually into the music and sings.

SCENE VII

THEKLA (plays and sings)      The cloud doth gather, the greenwood roar,      The damsel paces along the shore;      The billows, they tumble with might, with might;      And she flings out her voice to the darksome night;        Her bosom is swelling with sorrow;      The world it is empty, the heart will die,      There's nothing to wish for beneath the sky      Thou Holy One, call thy child away!      I've lived and loved, and that was to-day;        Make ready my grave-clothes to-morrow.12

SCENE VIII

COUNTESS (returns), THEKLA.

COUNTESS   Fie, lady niece! to throw yourself upon him   Like a poor gift to one who cares not for it,   And so must be flung after him! For you,   Duke Friedland's only child, I should have thought   It had been more beseeming to have shown yourself   More chary of your person.THEKLA (rising)                 And what mean you?DUCHESS   I mean, niece, that you should not have forgotten   Who you are, and who he is. But perchance   That never once occurred to you.THEKLA                    What then?COUNTESS   That you're the daughter of the Prince Duke Friedland.THEKLA   Well, and what farther?DUCHESS                What? A pretty question!THEKLA   He was born that which we have but become.   He's of an ancient Lombard family,   Son of a reigning princess.COUNTESS                  Are you dreaming?   Talking in sleep? An excellent jest, forsooth!   We shall no doubt right courteously entreat him   To honor with his hand the richest heiress   In Europe.THEKLA         That will not be necessary.COUNTESS   Methinks 'twere well, though, not to run the hazard.THEHLA   His father loves him; Count Octavio   Will interpose no difficulty —COUNTESS                    His!   His father! His! But yours, niece, what of yours?THERLA   Why, I begin to think you fear his father,   So anxiously you hide it from the man!   His father, his, I mean.COUNTESS (looks at her as scrutinizing)                Niece, you are false.THEBLA   Are you then wounded? O, be friends with me!COUNTESS   You hold your game for won already. Do not   Triumph too soon!THEKLA (interrupting her, and attempting to soothe her)             Nay now, be friends with me.COUNTESS   It is not yet so far gone.THEKLA                 I believe you.COUNTESS   Did you suppose your father had laid out   His most important life in toils of war,   Denied himself each quiet earthly bliss,   Had banished slumbers from his tent, devoted   His noble head to care, and for this only,   To make a happier pair of you? At length   To draw you from your convent, and conduct   In easy triumph to your arms the man   That chanced to please your eyes! All this, methinks,   He might have purchased at a cheaper rate.THEKLA   That which he did not plant for me might yet   Bear me fair fruitage of its own accord.   And if my friendly and affectionate fate,   Out of his fearful and enormous being,   Will but prepare the joys of life for me —COUNTESS   Thou seest it with a lovelorn maiden's eyes,   Cast thine eye round, bethink thee who thou art; —   Into no house of joyance hast thou stepped,   For no espousals dost thou find the walls   Decked out, no guests the nuptial garland wearing;   Here is no splendor but of arms. Or thinkest thou   That all these thousands are here congregated   To lead up the long dances at thy wedding!   Thou see'st thy father's forehead full of thought,   Thy mother's eye in tears: upon the balance   Lies the great destiny of all our house.   Leave now the puny wish, the girlish feeling;   Oh, thrust it far behind thee! Give thou proof   Thou'rt the daughter of the mighty – his   Who where he moves creates the wonderful.   Not to herself the woman must belong,   Annexed and bound to alien destinies.   But she performs the best part, she the wisest,   Who can transmute the alien into self,   Meet and disarm necessity by choice;   And what must be, take freely to her heart,   And bear and foster it with mother's love.THEKLA   Such ever was my lesson in the convent.   I had no loves, no wishes, knew myself   Only as his – his daughter – his, the mighty!   His fame, the echo of whose blast drove to me   From the far distance, weakened in my soul   No other thought than this – I am appointed   To offer myself up in passiveness to him.COUNTESS   That is thy fate. Mould thou thy wishes to it —   I and thy mother gave thee the example.THEKLA   My fate hath shown me him, to whom behoves it   That I should offer up myself. In gladness   Him will I follow.COUNTESS             Not thy fate hath shown him!   Thy heart, say rather – 'twas thy heart, my child!THEKLA   Faith hath no voice but the heart's impulses.   I am all his! His present – his alone.   Is this new life, which lives in me? He hath   A right to his own creature. What was I   Ere his fair love infused a soul into me?COUNTESS   Thou wouldst oppose thy father, then, should he   Have otherwise determined with thy person?

[THEKLA remains silent. The COUNTESS continues.