The Piccolomini

TERZKY (whispering to him). Art in thy senses? For heaven's sake, Illo, think where you are!

ILLO (aloud). What do you mean? There are none but friends here, are there? (Looks round the whole circle with a jolly and triumphant air.) Not a sneaker amongst us, thank heaven.

TERZKY (to BUTLER, eagerly). Take him off with you, force him off, I entreat you, Butler!

BUTLER (to ILLO). Field-marshal! a word with you. (Leads to the side-board.)

ILLO (cordially). A thousand for one. Fill; fill it once more up to the brim. To this gallant man's health!

ISOLANI (to MAX., who all the while has been staring on the paper with fixed but vacant eyes). Slow and sure, my noble brother! Hast parsed it all yet? Some words yet to go through? Ha?

MAX. (waking as from a dream). What am I to do?

TERZKY, and at the same time ISOLANI. Sign your name. (OCTAVIO directs his eyes on him with intense anxiety).

MAX. (returns the paper). Let it stay till to-morrow. It is business; to-day I am not sufficiently collected. Send it to me to-morrow.

TERZKY. Nay, collect yourself a little.

ISOLANI. Awake man, awake! Come, thy signature, and have done with it! What! Thou art the youngest in the whole company, and would be wiser than all of us together! Look there! thy father has signed; we have all signed.

TERZKY (to OCTAVIO). Use your influence. Instruct him.

OCTAVIO. My son is at the age of discretion.

ILLO (leaves the service-cup on the sideboard). What's the dispute?

TERZKY. He declines subscribing the paper.

MAX. I say it may as well stay till to-morrow.

ILLO. It cannot stay. We have all subscribed to it – and so must you. You must subscribe.

MAX. Illo, good-night!

ILLO. No! you come not off so! The duke shall learn who are his friends. (All collect round ILLO and MAX.)

MAX. What my sentiments are towards the duke, the duke knows, every one knows – what need of this wild stuff?

ILLO. This is the thanks the duke gets for his partiality to Italians and foreigners. Us Bohemians he holds for little better than dullards – nothing pleases him but what's outlandish.

TERZKY (in extreme embarrassment, to the Commanders, who at ILLO's words give a sudden start as preparing to resent them). It is the wine that speaks, and not his reason. Attend not to him, I entreat you.

ISOLANI (with a bitter laugh). Wine invents nothing: it only tattles.

ILLO. He who is not with me is against me. Your tender consciences! Unless they can slip out by a back-door, by a puny proviso —

TERZKY (interrupting him). He is stark mad – don't listen to him!

ILLO (raising his voice to the highest pitch). Unless they can slip out by a proviso. What of the proviso? The devil take this proviso!

MAX. (has his attention roused, and looks again into the paper). What is there here then of such perilous import? You make me curious – I must look closer at it.

TERZKY (in a low voice to ILLO). What are you doing, Illo? You are ruining us.

TIEFENBACH (to KOLATTO). Ay, ay! I observed, that before we sat down to supper, it was read differently.

GOETZ. Why, I seemed to think so too.

ISOLANI. What do I care for that? Where there stand other names mine can stand too.

TIEFENBACH. Before supper there was a certain proviso therein, or short clause, concerning our duties to the emperor.

BUTLER (to one of the Commanders). For shame, for shame! Bethink you. What is the main business here? The question now is, whether we shall keep our general, or let him retire. One must not take these things too nicely, and over-scrupulously.

ISOLANI (to one of the Generals). Did the duke make any of these provisos when he gave you your regiment?

TERZKY (to GOETZ). Or when he gave you the office of army-purveyancer, which brings you in yearly a thousand pistoles!

ILLO. He is a rascal who makes us out to be rogues. If there be any one that wants satisfaction, let him say so, – I am his man.

TIEFENBACH. Softly, softly? 'Twas but a word or two.

MAX. (having read the paper gives it back). Till to-morrow therefore!

ILLO (stammering with rage and fury, loses all command over himself and presents the paper to MAX. With one hand, and his sword in the other). Subscribe – Judas!

ISOLANI. Out upon you, Illo!

OCTAVIO, TERZKY, BUTLER (all together). Down with the sword!

MAX. (rushes on him suddenly and disarms him, then to COUNT TERZKY). Take him off to bed!

[MAX leaves the stage. ILLO cursing and raving is held back by some of the officers, and amidst a universal confusion the curtain drops.

ACT V

SCENE I

A Chamber in PICCOLOMINI's Mansion. It is Night.

OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI. A VALET DE CHAMBRE with Lights.

OCTAVIO   And when my son comes in, conduct him hither.   What is the hour?VALET             'Tis on the point of morning.OCTAVIO   Set down the light. We mean not to undress.   You may retire to sleep.

[Exit VALET. OCTAVIO paces, musing, across the chamber; MAX.

PICCOLOMINI enters unobserved, and looks at his father for some moments in silence.

MAX   Art thou offended with me? Heaven knows   That odious business was no fault of mine.   'Tis true, indeed, I saw thy signature,   What thou hast sanctioned, should not, it might seem,   Have come amiss to me. But – 'tis my nature —   Thou know'st that in such matters I must follow   My own light, not another's.OCTAVIO (goes up to him and embraces him)                   Follow it,   Oh, follow it still further, my best son!   To-night, dear boy! it hath more faithfully   Guided thee than the example of thy father.MAX   Declare thyself less darkly.OCTAVIO                  I will do so;   For after what has taken place this night,   There must remain no secrets 'twixt us two.

[Both seat themselves.

   Max. Piccolomini! what thinkest thou of   The oath that was sent round for signatures?MAX   I hold it for a thing of harmless import,   Although I love not these set declarations.OCTAVIO   And on no other ground hast thou refused   The signature they fain had wrested from thee?MAX   It was a serious business. I was absent —   The affair itself seemed not so urgent to me.OCTAVIO   Be open, Max. Thou hadst then no suspicion?MAX   Suspicion! what suspicion? Not the least.OCTAVIO   Thank thy good angel, Piccolomini;   He drew thee back unconscious from the abyss.MAX   I know not what thou meanest.OCTAVIO                   I will tell thee.   Fain would they have extorted from thee, son,   The sanction of thy name to villany;   Yes, with a single flourish of thy pen,   Made thee renounce thy duty and thy honor!MAX. (rises)   Octavio!OCTAVIO        Patience! Seat Yourself. Much yet   Hast thou to hear from me, friend! Hast for years   Lived in incomprehensible illusion.   Before thine eyes is treason drawing out   As black a web as e'er was spun for venom:   A power of hell o'erclouds thy understanding.   I dare no longer stand in silence – dare   No longer see thee wandering on in darkness,   Nor pluck the bandage from thine eyes.MAX                        My father!   Yet, ere thou speakest, a moment's pause of thought!   If your disclosures should appear to be   Conjectures only – and almost I fear   They will be nothing further – spare them! I   Am not in that collected mood at present,   That I could listen to them quietly.OCTAVIO   The deeper cause thou hast to hate this light,   The more impatient cause have I, my son,   To force it on thee. To the innocence   And wisdom of thy heart I could have trusted thee   With calm assurance – but I see the net   Preparing – and it is thy heart itself   Alarms me, for thine innocence – that secret,

[Fixing his eyes steadfastly on his son's face.

   Which thou concealest, forces mine from me.

[MAX. attempts to answer, but hesitates, and casts his eyes to the ground embarrassed.

OCTAVIO (after a pause)   Know, then, they are duping thee! – a most foul game   With thee and with us all – nay, hear me calmly —   The duke even now is playing. He assumes   The mask, as if he would forsake the army;   And in this moment makes he preparations   That army from the emperor to steal,   And carry it over to the enemy!MAX   That low priest's legend I know well, but did not   Expect to hear it from thy mouth.OCTAVIO                     That mouth,   From which thou hearest it at this present moment,   Doth warrant thee that it is no priest's legend.MAX   How mere a maniac they supposed the duke;   What, he can meditate? – the duke? – can dream   That he can lure away full thirty thousand   Tried troops and true, all honorable soldiers,   More than a thousand noblemen among them,   From oaths, from duty, from their honor lure them,   And make them all unanimous to do   A deed that brands them scoundrels?OCTAVIO                      Such a deed,   With such a front of infamy, the duke   No way desires – what he requires of us   Bears a far gentler appellation. Nothing   He wishes but to give the empire peace.   And so, because the emperor hates this peace,   Therefore the duke – the duke will force him to it.   All parts of the empire will he pacify,   And for his trouble will retain in payment   (What he has already in his gripe) – Bohemia!MAX   Has he, Octavio, merited of us,   That we – that we should think so vilely of him?OCTAVIO   What we would think is not the question here,   The affair speaks for itself – and clearest proofs!   Hear me, my son – 'tis not unknown to thee,   In what ill credit with the court we stand.   But little dost thou know, or guess what tricks,   What base intrigues, what lying artifices,   Have been employed – for this sole end – to sow   Mutiny in the camp! All bands are loosed —   Loosed all the bands that link the officer   To his liege emperor, all that bind the soldier   Affectionately to the citizen.   Lawless he stands, and threateningly beleaguers   The state he's bound to guard. To such a height   'Tis swollen, that at this hour the emperor   Before his armies – his own armies – trembles;   Yea, in his capital, his palace, fears   The traitor's poniard, and is meditating   To hurry off and hide his tender offspring —   Not from the Swedes, not from the Lutherans – no,   From his own troops to hide and hurry them!MAX   Cease, cease! thou torturest, shatterest me. I know   That oft we tremble at an empty terror;   But the false phantasm brings a real misery.OCTAVIO   It is no phantasm. An intestine war,   Of all the most unnatural and cruel,   Will burst out into flames, if instantly   We do not fly and stifle it. The generals   Are many of them long ago won over;   The subalterns are vacillating; whole   Regiments and garrisons are vacillating.   To foreigners our strongholds are intrusted;   To that suspected Schafgotch is the whole   Force of Silesia given up: to Terzky   Five regiments, foot and horse; to Isolani,   To Illo, Kinsky, Butler, the best troops.MAX   Likewise to both of us.OCTAVIO                Because the duke   Believes he has secured us, means to lure us   Still further on by splendid promises.   To me he portions forth the princedoms, Glatz   And Sagan; and too plain I see the bait   With which he doubts not but to catch thee.MAX                          No! no!   I tell thee, no!OCTAVIO            Oh, open yet thine eyes!   And to what purpose think'st thou he has called   Hither to Pilsen? to avail himself   Of our advice? Oh, when did Friedland ever   Need our advice? Be calm, and listen to me.   To sell ourselves are we called hither, and   Decline we that, to be his hostages.   Therefore doth noble Gallas stand aloof;   Thy father, too, thou wouldst not have seen here,   If higher duties had not held him fettered.MAX   He makes no secret of it – needs make none —   That we're called hither for his sake – he owns it.   He needs our aidance to maintain himself —   He did so much for us; and 'tis but fair   That we, too, should do somewhat now for him.OCTAVIO   And know'st thou what it is which we must do?   That Illo's drunken mood betrayed it to thee.   Bethink thyself, what hast thou heard, what seen?   The counterfeited paper, the omission   Of that particular clause, so full of meaning,   Does it not prove that they would bind us down   To nothing good?MAX            That counterfeited paper   Appears to me no other than a trick   Of Illo's own device. These underhand   Traders in great men's interests ever use   To urge and hurry all things to the extreme.   They see the duke at variance with the court,   And fondly think to serve him, when they widen   The breach irreparably. Trust me, father,   The duke knows nothing of all this.OCTAVIO                      It grieves me   That I must dash to earth, that I must shatter   A faith so specious; but I may not spare thee!   For this is not a time for tenderness.   Thou must take measured, speedy ones, must act.   I therefore will confess to thee that all   Which I've intrusted to thee now, that all   Which seems to thee so unbelievable,   That – yes, I will tell thee, (a pause) Max.! I had it all   From his own mouth, from the duke's mouth I had it.MAX (in excessive agitation)   No! no! never!OCTAVIO           Himself confided to me   What I, 'tis true, had long before discovered   By other means; himself confided to me,   That 'twas his settled plan to join the Swedes;   And, at the head of the united armies,   Compel the emperor —MAX              He is passionate,   The court has stung him; he is sore all over   With injuries and affronts; and in a moment   Of irritation, what if he, for once,   Forgot himself? He's an impetuous man.OCTAVIO   Nay, in cold blood he did confess this to me   And having construed my astonishment   Into a scruple of his power, he showed me   His written evidences – showed me letters,   Both from the Saxon and the Swede, that gave   Promise of aidance, and defined the amount.MAX   It cannot be! – cannot be! cannot be!   Dost thou not see, it cannot!   Thou wouldst of necessity have shown him   Such horror, such deep loathing – that or he   Had taken thee for his better genius, or   Thou stood'st not now a living man before me.OCTAVIO   I have laid open my objections to him,   Dissuaded him with pressing earnestness;   But my abhorrence, the full sentiment   Of my whole heart – that I have still kept safe   To my own consciousness.MAX                And thou hast been   So treacherous? That looks not like my father!   I trusted not thy words, when thou didst tell me   Evil of him; much less can I now do it,   That thou calumniatest thy own self.OCTAVIO   I did not thrust myself into his secrecy.MAX   Uprightness merited his confidence.OCTAVIO   He was no longer worthy of sincerity.MAX   Dissimulation, sure, was still less worthy   Of thee, Octavio!OCTAVIO             Gave I him a cause   To entertain a scruple of my honor?MAX   That he did not evince his confidence.OCTAVIO   Dear son, it is not always possible   Still to preserve that infant purity   Which the voice teaches in our inmost heart,   Still in alarm, forever on the watch   Against the wiles of wicked men: e'en virtue   Will sometimes bear away her outward robes   Soiled in the wrestle with iniquity.   This is the curse of every evil deed   That, propagating still, it brings forth evil.   I do not cheat my better soul with sophisms;   I but perform my orders; the emperor   Prescribes my conduct to me. Dearest boy,   Far better were it, doubtless, if we all   Obeyed the heart at all times; but so doing,   In this our present sojourn with bad men,   We must abandon many an honest object.   'Tis now our call to serve the emperor;   By what means he can best be served – the heart   May whisper what it will – this is our call!MAX   It seems a thing appointed, that to-day   I should not comprehend, not understand thee.   The duke, thou sayest, did honestly pour out   His heart to thee, but for an evil purpose:   And thou dishonestly hast cheated him   For a good purpose! Silence, I entreat thee —   My friend, thou stealest not from me —   Let me not lose my father!OCTAVIO (suppressing resentment)   As yet thou knowest not all, my son. I have   Yet somewhat to disclose to thee.

[After a pause.

                     Duke Friedland   Hath made his preparations. He relies   Upon the stars. He deems us unprovided,   And thinks to fall upon us by surprise.   Yea, in his dream of hope, he grasps already   The golden circle in his hand. He errs,   We, too, have been in action – he but grasps   His evil fate, most evil, most mysterious!MAX   Oh, nothing rash, my sire! By all that's good,   Let me invoke thee – no precipitation!OCTAVIO   With light tread stole he on his evil way,   And light of tread hath vengeance stole on after him.   Unseen she stands already, dark behind him   But one step more – he shudders in her grasp!   Thou hast seen Questenberg with me. As yet   Thou knowest but his ostensible commission:   He brought with him a private one, my son!   And that was for me only.MAX                 May I know it?OCTAVIO (seizes the patent)                         Max!   In this disclosure place I in thy hands

[A pause.

   The empire's welfare and thy father's life.   Dear to thy inmost heart is Wallenstein   A powerful tie of love, of veneration,   Hath knit thee to him from thy earliest youth.   Thou nourishest the wish, – O let me still   Anticipate thy loitering confidence!   The hope thou nourishest to knit thyself   Yet closer to him —MAX              Father —OCTAVIO                   Oh, my son!   I trust thy heart undoubtingly. But am I   Equally sure of thy collectedness?   Wilt thou be able, with calm countenance,   To enter this man's presence, when that I   Have trusted to thee his whole fate?MAX                      According   As thou dost trust me, father, with his crime.

[OCTAVIO takes a paper out of his escritoire and gives it to him.

MAX   What! how! a full imperial patent!OCTAVIO                     Read it.MAX. (just glances on it)   Duke Friedland sentenced and condemned!OCTAVIO                        Even so.MAX. (throws down the paper)   Oh, this is too much! O unhappy error!OCTAVIO   Read on. Collect thyself.MAX. (after he has read further, with a look of affright and astonishment on his father)                 How! what! Thou! thou!OCTAVIO   But for the present moment, till the King   Of Hungary may safely join the army,   Is the command assigned to me.MAX                   And think'st thou,   Dost thou believe, that thou wilt tear it from him?   Oh, never hope it! Father! father! father!   An inauspicious office is enjoined thee.   This paper here! – this! and wilt thou enforce it?   The mighty in the middle of his host,   Surrounded by his thousands, him wouldst thou   Disarm – degrade! Thou art lost, both thou and all of us.OCTAVIO   What hazard I incur thereby, I know.   In the great hand of God I stand. The Almighty   Will cover with his shield the imperial house,   And shatter, in his wrath, the work of darkness.   The emperor hath true servants still; and even   Here in the camp, there are enough brave men   Who for the good cause will fight gallantly.   The faithful have been warned – the dangerous   Are closely watched. I wait but the first step,   And then immediately —Max               What? On suspicion?   Immediately?OCTAVIO          The emperor is no tyrant.   The deed alone he'll punish, not the wish.   The duke hath yet his destiny in his power.   Let him but leave the treason uncompleted,   He will be silently displaced from office,   And make way to his emperor's royal son.   An honorable exile to his castles   Will be a benefaction to him rather   Than punishment. But the first open step —MAX   What callest thou such a step? A wicked step   Ne'er will he take; but thou mightest easily,   Yea, thou hast done it, misinterpret him.OCTAVIO   Nay, howsoever punishable were   Duke Friedland's purposes, yet still the steps   Which he hath taken openly permit   A mild construction. It is my intention   To leave this paper wholly unenforced   Till some act is committed which convicts him   Of high treason, without doubt or plea,   And that shall sentence him.MAX                  But who the judgeOCTAVIO   Thyself.MAX        Forever, then, this paper will lie idle.OCTAVIO   Too soon, I fear, its powers must all be proved.   After the counter-promise of this evening,   It cannot be but he must deem himself   Secure of the majority with us;   And of the army's general sentiment   He hath a pleasing proof in that petition,   Which thou delivered'st to him from the regiments.   Add this too – I have letters that the Rhinegrave   Hath changed his route, and travels by forced marches   To the Bohemian forests. What this purports   Remains unknown; and, to confirm suspicion,   This night a Swedish nobleman arrived here.MAX   I have thy word. Thou'lt not proceed to action   Before thou hast convinced me – me myself.OCTAVIO   Is it possible? Still, after all thou know'st,   Canst thou believe still in his innocence?MAX. (with enthusiasm)   Thy judgment may mistake; my heart cannot.         [Moderates his voice and manner.   These reasons might expound thy spirit or mine;   But they expound not Friedland – I have faith:   For as he knits his fortunes to the stars,   Even so doth he resemble them in secret,   Wonderful, still inexplicable courses!   Trust me, they do him wrong. All will be solved.   These smokes at once will kindle into flame —   The edges of this black and stormy cloud   Will brighten suddenly, and we shall view   The unapproachable glide out in splendor.OCTAVIO   I will await it.

SCENE II

OCTAVIO and MAX. as before. To then the VALET OF THE CHAMBER.

OCTAVIO   How now, then?VALET           A despatch is at the door.OCTAVIO   So early? From whom comes he then? Who is it?VALET   That he refused to tell me.OCTAVIO                  Lead him in:   And, hark you – let it not transpire.

[Exit VALET: the CORNET steps in.

OCTAVIO   Ha! cornet – is it you; and from Count Gallas?   Give me your letters.CORNET               The lieutenant-general   Trusted it not to letters.OCTAVIO                 And what is it?CORNET   He bade me tell you – Dare I speak openly here?OCTAVIO   My son knows all.CORNET             We have him.OCTAVIO                    Whom?CORNET                       Sesina,   The old negotiator.OCTAVIO (eagerly)              And you have him?CORNET   In the Bohemian Forest Captain Mohrbrand   Found and secured him yester-morning early.   He was proceeding then to Regensburg,   And on him were despatches for the Swede.OCTAVIO   And the despatches —CORNET              The lieutenant-general   Sent them that instant to Vienna, and   The prisoner with them.OCTAVIO                This is, indeed, a tiding!   That fellow is a precious casket to us,   Enclosing weighty things. Was much found on him?CORNET   I think, six packets, with Count Terzky's arms.OCTAVIO   None in the duke's own hand?CORNET                  Not that I know.OCTAVIO   And old Sesina.CORNET            He was sorely frightened.   When it was told him he must to Vienna;   But the Count Altringer bade him take heart,   Would he but make a full and free confession.OCTAVIO   Is Altringer then with your lord? I heard   That he lay sick at Linz.CORNET                 These three days past   He's with my master, the lieutenant-general,   At Frauenburg. Already have they sixty   Small companies together, chosen men;   Respectfully they greet you with assurances,   That they are only waiting your commands.OCTAVIO   In a few days may great events take place.   And when must you return?CORNET                 I wait your orders.OCTAVIO   Remain till evening.

[CORNET signifies his assent and obeisance, and is going.

              No one saw you – ha?CORNET   No living creature. Through the cloister wicket   The capuchins, as usual, let me in.OCTAVIO   Go, rest your limbs, and keep yourself concealed.   I hold it probable that yet ere evening   I shall despatch you. The development   Of this affair approaches: ere the day,   That even now is dawning in the heaven,   Ere this eventful day hath set, the lot   That must decide our fortunes will be drawn.

[Exit CORNET.

SCENE III

OCTAVIO and MAX. PICCOLOMINI.

OCTAVIO   Well – and what now, son? All will soon be clear;   For all, I'm certain, went through that Sesina.   MAX. (who through the whole of the foregoing scene has been in      a violent and visible struggle of feelings, at length starts      as one resolved).   I will procure me light a shorter way.   Farewell.OCTAVIO        Where now? Remain here.MAX                     To the Duke.OCTAVIO (alarmed)   What —MAX. (returning)       If thou hast believed that I shall act   A part in this thy play, thou hast   Miscalculated on me grievously.   My way must be straight on. True with the tongue,   False with the heart – I may not, cannot be   Nor can I suffer that a man should trust me —   As his friend trust me – and then lull my conscience   With such low pleas as these: "I ask him not —   He did it all at his own hazard – and   My mouth has never lied to him." No, no!   What a friend takes me for, that I must be.   I'll to the duke; ere yet this day is ended   Will I demand of him that he do save   His good name from the world, and with one stride   Break through and rend this fine-spun web of yours.   He can, he will! I still am his believer,   Yet I'll not pledge myself, but that those letters   May furnish you, perchance, with proofs against him.   How far may not this Terzky have proceeded —   What may not he himself too have permitted   Himself to do, to snare the enemy,   The laws of war excusing? Nothing, save   His own mouth shall convict him – nothing less!   And face to face will I go question him.OCTAVIO   Thou wilt.MAX         I will, as sure as this heart beats.OCTAVIO   I have, indeed, miscalculated on thee.   I calculated on a prudent son,   Who would have blessed the hand beneficent   That plucked him back from the abyss – and lo!   A fascinated being I discover,   Whom his two eyes befool, whom passion wilders,   Whom not the broadest light of noon can heal.   Go, question him! Be mad enough, I pray thee.   The purpose of thy father, of thy emperor,   Go, give it up free booty! Force me, drive me   To an open breach before the time. And now,   Now that a miracle of heaven had guarded   My secret purpose even to this hour,   And laid to sleep suspicion's piercing eyes,   Let me have lived to see that mine own son,   With frantic enterprise, annihilates   My toilsome labors and state policy.MAX   Ay – this state policy! Oh, how I curse it!   You will some time, with your state policy,   Compel him to the measure: it may happen,   Because ye are determined that he is guilty,   Guilty ye'll make him. All retreat cut off,   You close up every outlet, hem him in   Narrower and narrower, till at length ye force him —   Yes, ye, ye force him, in his desperation,   To set fire to his prison. Father! father!   That never can end well – it cannot – will not!   And let it be decided as it may,   I see with boding heart the near approach   Of an ill-starred, unblest catastrophe.   For this great monarch-spirit, if he fall,   Will drag a world into the ruin with him.   And as a ship that midway on the ocean   Takes fire, at once, and with a thunder-burst   Explodes, and with itself shoots out its crew   In smoke and ruin betwixt sea and heaven!   So will he, falling, draw down in his fall   All us, who're fixed and mortised to his fortune,   Deem of it what thou wilt; but pardon me,   That I must bear me on in my own way.   All must remain pure betwixt him and me;   And, ere the daylight dawns, it must be known   Which I must lose – my father or my friend.

[During his exit the curtain drops.