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THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

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 TERZKY, Sister of the Duchess.

LADY NEUBRUNN.

OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI, Lieutenant-General.

MAX PICCOLOMINI, his son, Colonel of a regiment of Cuirassiers.

COUNT TERZKY, the Commander of several Regiments, and Brother-in-law of Wallenstein.

ILLO, Field Marshall, Wallenstein's

Confident.

ISOLANI, General of the Croats.

BUTLER, an Irishman, Commander of a regiment of Dragoons.

GORDON, Governor Egra.

MAJOR GERALDIN.

CAPTAIN DEVEREUX.

CAPTAIN MACDONALD.

AN ADJUTANT.

NEUMANN, Captain of Cavalry, Aide-de-Camp to Terzky.

COLONEL WRANGEL, Envoy from the

Swedes.

ROSENBURG, Master of Horse.

SWEDISH CAPTAIN.

SENI.

BURGOMASTER of Egra.

ANSPESSADE of the Cuirassiers.

GROOM OF THE} Belonging to

CHAMBER, } the Duke.

A PAGE, }

Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Servants.

Municipal Theatre, Hamburg, 1906.]

THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN (1800)[23]

TRANSLATED BY S.T. COLERIDGE

ACT I

SCENE I

A Room fitted up for astrological labors, and provided with celestial Charts, with Globes, Telescopes, Quadrants, and other mathematical Instruments—Seven Colossal Figures, representing the Planets, each circle in the background, so that Mars and Saturn are nearest the eye.—The remainder of the Scene, and its disposition, is given in the Fourth Scene of the Second Act.—There must be a Curtain over the Figures, which may be dropped, and conceal them on occasion.

[In the Fifth Scene of this Act it must be dropped; but in the Seventh Scene it must be again drawn up wholly or in part.]

WALLENSTEIN at a black Table, on which a Speculum Astrologicum is described with Chalk. SENI is taking Observations through a window.

WALLENSTEIN.

All well—and now let it be ended, Seni. Come,

The dawn commences, and Mars rules the hour.

We must give o'er the operation. Come,

We know enough.

SENI.

 
               Your Highness must permit me
 

Just to contemplate Venus. She's now rising;

Like as a sun, so shines she in the east.

WALLENST.

She is at present in her perigee,

And now shoots down her strongest influences.

[Contemplating the figure on the table.]

Auspicious aspect! fateful in conjunction,

At length the mighty three corradiate;

And the two stars of blessing, Jupiter

And Venus, take between them the malignant

Slily-malicious Mars, and thus compel

Into my service that old mischief-founder:

For long he viewed me hostilely, and ever

With beam oblique, or perpendicular,

Now in the Quartile, now in the Secundan,

Shot his red lightnings at my stars, disturbing

Their blessed influences and sweet aspects.

Now they have conquer'd the old enemy,

And bring him in the heavens a prisoner to me.

SENI (who has come down from the window).

And in a corner house, your Highness—think of that!

That makes each influence of double strength.

WALLENST.

And sun and moon, too, in the Sextile aspect,

The soft light with the vehement—so I love it;

SOL is the heart, LUNA the head of heaven;

Bold be the plan, fiery the execution.

SENI.

And both the mighty Lumina by no

Maleficus affronted. Lo! Saturnus,

Innocuous, powerless, in cadente Domo.

WALLENST.

The empire of Saturnus is gone by;

Lord of the secret birth of things is he

Within the lap of earth, and in the depths

Of the imagination dominates;

And his are all things that eschew the light.

The time is o'er of brooding and contrivance,

For Jupiter, the lustrous, lordeth now,

And the dark work, complete of preparation,

He draws by force into the realm of light.

Now must we hasten on to action, ere

The scheme and most auspicious positure

Parts o'er my head, and takes once more its flight,

For the heavens journey still, and sojourn not.

[There are knocks at the door.]

There's some one knocking there. See who it is.

TERZKY (from without).

Open, and let me in.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
                     Ay—'tis Terzky.
 

What is there of such urgence? We are busy.

Municipal Theatre, Hamburg, 1906.]

TERZKY (from without).

Lay all aside at present, I entreat you.

It suffers no delaying.

WALLENSTEIN.

Open, Seni!

[While SENI opens the door for TERZKY, WALLENSTEIN draws the curtain over the figures.]

SCENE II

WALLENSTEIN. COUNT TERZKY

TERZKY (enters).

Hast thou already heard it? He is taken.

Gallas has given him up to the Emperor.

[SENI draws off the black table, and exit.]

WALLENSTEIN (to TERZKY).

Who has been taken? Who is given up?

TERZKY.

The man who knows our secrets, who knows every

Negotiation with the Swede and Saxon,

Through whose hands all and everything has pass'd—

WALLENSTEIN (drawing back).

Nay, not Sesina?—Say, No! I entreat thee.

TERZKY.

All on his road for Regensburg to the Swede

He was plunged down upon by Gallas' agent,

Who had been long in ambush, lurking for him.

There must have been found on him my whole packet

To Thur, to Kinsky, to Oxenstiern, to Arnheim:

All this is in their hands; they have now an insight

Into the whole—our measures and our motives.

SCENE III

To them enters ILLO.

ILLO (to TERZKY).

Has he heard it?

TERZHY.

He has heard it.

ILLO (to WALLENSTEIN).

 
             Thinkest thou still
 

To make thy peace with the Emperor, to regain

His confidence? E'en were it now thy wish

To abandon all thy plans, yet still they know

What thou hast wish'd: then forwards thou must press,

Retreat is now no longer in thy power.

TERZKY.

They have documents against us, and in hands,

Which show beyond all power of contradiction—

WALLENST.

Of my handwriting—no iota. Thee

I punish for thy lies.

ILLO.

 
                     And thou believest,
 

That what this man, and what thy sister's husband,

Did in thy name, will not stand on thy reck'ning?

His word must pass for thy word with the Swede,

And not with those that hate thee at Vienna?

TERZKY.

In writing thou gavest nothing—But bethink thee,

How far thou ventured'st by word of mouth

With this Sesina! And will he be silent?

If he can save himself by yielding up

Thy secret purposes, will he retain them?

ILLO.

Thyself dost not conceive it possible;

And since they now have evidence authentic

How far thou hast already gone, speak!—tell us,

What art thou waiting for? Thou canst no longer

Keep thy command; and beyond hope of rescue

Thou'rt lost, if thou resign'st it.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
                     In the army
 

Lies my security. The army will not

Abandon me. Whatever they may know,

The power is mine, and they must gulp it down—

And if I give them caution for my fealty,

They must be satisfied, at least appear so.

ILLO.

The army, Duke, is thine now—for this moment—

'Tis thine, but think with terror on the slow,

The quiet power of time. From open violence

The attachment of thy soldiery secures thee

Today—tomorrow: but grant'st thou them a respite

Unheard, unseen, they'll undermine that love

On which thou now dost feel so firm a footing,

With wily theft will draw away from thee

One after the other other—

WALLENSTEIN.

'Tis a cursed accident!

ILLO.

Oh! I will call it a most blessèd one,

If it work on thee as it ought to do,

Hurry thee on to action—to decision.

The Swedish General—

WALLENSTEIN.

 
        He's arrived! Know'st thou
 

What his commission is—

ILLO.

 
                      To thee alone
 

Will he intrust the purpose of his coming.

WALLENST.

A cursed, cursed accident! Yes, yes,

Sesina knows too much, and won't be silent.

TERZKY.

He's a Bohemian fugitive and rebel,

His neck is forfeit. Can he save himself

At thy cost, think you he will scruple it?

And if they put him to the torture, will he,

Will he, that dastardling, have strength enough—

WALLENSTEIN (lost in thought).

Their confidence is lost, irreparably!

And I may act which way I will, I shall

Be and remain forever in their thought

A traitor to my country. How sincerely

Soever I return back to my duty,

It will no longer help me—

ILLO.

 
                    Ruin thee,
 

That it will do! Not thy fidelity,

Thy weakness will be deemed the sole occasion—

WALLENSTEIN (pacing up and down in extreme agitation).

What! I must realize it now in earnest,

Because I toy'd too freely with the thought!

Accursed he who dallies with a devil!

And must I—I must realize it now—

Now, while I have the power, it must take place?

ILLO.

Now—now—ere they can ward and parry it!

WALLENSTEIN (looking at the paper of signatures).

I have the Generals' word—a written promise!

Max Piccolomini stands not here—how's that?

TERZKY.

It was—he fancied—

ILLO.

 
                 Mere self-willedness.
 

There needed no such thing 'twixt him and you.

WALLENST.

He is quite right; there needed no such thing.

The regiments, too, deny to march for Flanders—

Have sent me in a paper of remonstrance,

And openly resist the Imperial orders.

The first step to revolt's already taken.

ILLO.

Believe me, thou wilt find it far more easy

To lead them over to the enemy

Than to the Spaniard.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
             I will hear, however,
 

What the Swede has to say to me.

ILLO (eagerly to TERZKY).

 
    Go, call him
 

He stands without the door in waiting.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
                            Stay!
 

Stay but a little. It hath taken me

All by surprise; it came too quick upon me;

'Tis wholly novel that an accident,

With its dark lordship, and blind agency,

Should force me on with it.

ILLO.

 
               First hear him only,
 

And after weigh it.

[Exeunt TERZKY and ILLO.]

SCENE IV

WALLENSTEIN (in soliloquy).

 
               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

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

My serious meaning, it was ne'er resolved.

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,

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!

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.

[Pauses and remains in deep thought.]

A punishable man I seem; the guilt,

Try what I will, I cannot roll off from me;

The equivocal demeanor of my life

Bears witness on my prosecutor's party.

And even my purest acts from purest motives

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;

But being conscious of the innocence

Of my intent, my uncorrupted will,

I gave way to my humors, to my passion:

Bold were my words, because my deeds were not.

Now every planless measure, chance event,

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 plain,

My eye ne'er absent from the far-off mark,

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,

Nought but a sudden rent, can liberate me.

[Pauses again.]

How else! since that the heart's unbias'd instinct

Impell'd me to the daring deed, which now

Necessity, self-preservation, orders.

Stern is the on-look of Necessity,

Not without shudder may a human hand

Grasp the mysterious urn of destiny.

My deed was mine, remaining in my bosom:

Once suffer'd to escape from its safe corner

Within the heart, its nursery and birth-place,

Sent forth into the Foreign, it belongs

Forever to those sly malicious powers

Whom never art of man conciliated.

[Paces in agitation through the chamber, then pauses, and after the pause breaks out again into audible soliloquy.]

What is thy enterprise? thy aim? thy object?

Hast honestly confess'd it to thyself?

Power seated on a quiet throne thou'dst shake,

Power on an ancient consecrated throne,

Strong in possession, founded in all custom;

Power by a thousand tough and stringy roots

Fix'd to the people's pious nursery-faith.

This, this will be no strife of strength with strength.

That fear'd 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,

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.

O no! it is the common, the quite common,

The thing of an eternal yesterday.

What ever was, and evermore returns,

Sterling tomorrow, for today 'twas sterling!

For of the wholly common is man made,

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 gray with age becomes religion.

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

The boundary that divideth life's two paths.

SCENE V

WALLENSTEIN and WRANGEL

WALLENSTEIN (after having fixed a searching look on him).

Your name is Wrangel?

WRANGEL.

 
                Gustave Wrangel, General
 

Of the Sudermanian Blues.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
                   It was a Wrangel
 

Who injured me materially at Stralsund,

And by his brave resistance was the cause

Of the opposition which that sea-port made.

WRANGEL.

It was the doing of the element

With which you fought, my Lord! and not my merit.

The Baltic Neptune did assert his freedom:

The sea and land, it seem'd, were not to serve

One and the same.

[WALLENST.

You pluck'd the Admiral's hat from off my head.

WRANGEL.

I come to place a diadem thereon.]

WALLENSTEIN (makes the motion for him to take a seat, and seats himself).

 
                    And where are your credentials?
 

Come you provided with full powers, Sir General?

WRANGEL.

There are so many scruples yet to solve—

WALLENSTEIN (having read the credentials).

An able letter!—Ay—he is a prudent

Intelligent master whom you serve, Sir General!

The Chancellor writes me, that he but fulfils

His late departed Sovereign's own idea

In helping me to the Bohemian crown.

WRANGEL.

He says the truth. Our great King, now in heaven,

Did ever deem most highly of your Grace's

Preëminent sense and military genius;

And always the commanding Intellect,

He said, should have command, and be the King.

WALLENST.

Yes, he might say it safely.—General Wrangel,

[Taking his hand affectionately.]

Come, fair and open. Trust me, I was always

A Swede at heart. Eh! that did you experience

Both in Silesia and at Nuremberg;

I had you often in my power, and let you

Always slip out by some back door or other.

'Tis this for which the Court can ne'er forgive me,

Which drives me to this present step: and since

Our interests so run in one direction,

E'en let us have a thorough confidence

Each in the other.

WRANGEL.

 
            Confidence will come
 

Has each but only first security.

WALLENST.

The Chancellor still, I see, does not quite trust me;

And, I confess—the game does not lie wholly

To my advantage. Without doubt he thinks,

If I can play false with the Emperor,

Who is my sovereign, I can do the like

With the enemy, and that the one too were

Sooner to be forgiven me than the other.

Is not this your opinion, too, Sir General?

WRANGEL.

I have here a duty merely, no opinion.

WALLENST.

The Emperor hath urged me to the uttermost:

I can no longer honorably serve him;

For my security, in self-defence,

I take this hard step, which my conscience blames.

WRANGEL.

That I believe. So far would no one go

Who was not forced to it.

[After a pause.]

 
                          What may have impell'd
 

Your princely Highness in this wise to act

Toward your Sovereign Lord and Emperor,

Beseems not us to expound or criticise.

The Swede is fighting for his good old cause,

With his good sword and conscience. This concurrence,

This opportunity, is in our favor,

And all advantages in war are lawful.

We take what offers without questioning;

And if all have its due and just proportions—

WALLENST.

Of what then are ye doubting? Of my will?

Or of my power? I pledged me to the Chancellor,

Would he trust me with sixteen thousand men,

That I would instantly go over to them

With eighteen thousand of the Emperor's troops.

WRANGEL.

Your Grace is known to be a mighty war-chief,

To be a second Attila and Pyrrhus.

'Tis talked of still with fresh astonishment,

How some years past, beyond all human faith,

You call'd an army forth, like a creation:

But yet—

WALLENSTEIN.

But yet?

WRANGEL.

 
         But still the Chancellor thinks
 

It might yet be an easier thing from nothing

To call forth sixty thousand men of battle,

Than to persuade one sixtieth part of them—

WALLENST.

What now? Out with it, friend!

WRANGEL.

To break their oaths.

WALLENST.

And he thinks so? He judges like a Swede,

And like a Protestant. You Lutherans

Fight for your Bible. You are interested

About the cause; and with your hearts you follow

Your banners. Among you, whoe'er deserts

To the enemy hath broken covenant

With two Lords at one time. We've no such fancies.

WRANGEL.

Great God in Heaven! Have then the people here

No house and home, no fireside, no altar?

WALLENST.

I will explain that to you, how it stands:—

The Austrian has a country, ay, and loves it,

And has good cause to love it—but this army,

That calls itself the Imperial, this that houses

Here in Bohemia, this has none—no country;

This is an outcast of all foreign lands,

Unclaim'd by town or tribe, to whom belongs

Nothing except the universal sun.

And this Bohemian land for which we fight—

[Loves not the master whom the chance of war,

Not its own choice or will, hath given to it.

Men murmur at the oppression of their conscience,

And power hath only awed but not appeased them;

A glowing and avenging mem'ry lives

Of cruel deeds committed on these plains;

How can the son forget that here his father

Was hunted by the blood-hound to the mass?

A people thus oppress'd must still be feared,

Whether they suffer or avenge their wrongs.]

WRANGEL.

But then the Nobles and the Officers?

Such a desertion, such a felony,

It is without example, my Lord Duke,

In the world's history.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
                        They are all mine—
 

Mine unconditionally—mine on all terms.

Not me, your own eyes you must trust.

[He gives him the paper containing the written oath. WRANGEL reads it through, and, having read it, lays it on the table, remaining silent.]

 
                            So then?
 

Now comprehend you?

WRANGEL.

 
               Comprehend who can!
 

My Lord Duke, I will let the mask drop—yes!

I've full powers for a final settlement.

The Rhinegrave stands but four days' march from here

With fifteen thousand men, and only waits

For orders to proceed and join your army.

Those orders I give out, immediately

We're compromised.

WALLENSTEIN.

What asks the Chancellor?

WRANGEL (considerately).

Twelve regiments, every man a Swede—my head

The warranty—and all might prove at last

Only false play—

WALLENSTEIN (starting).

Sir Swede!

WRANGEL (calmly proceeding).

 
                     Am therefore forced
 

T' insist thereon, that he do formally,

Irrevocably break with the Emperor,

Else not a Swede is trusted to Duke Friedland.

WALLENST.

Come, brief, and open! What is the demand?

WRANGEL.

That he forthwith disarm the Spanish regiments

Attached to the Emp'ror, that he seize on Prague,

And to the Swedes give up that city, with

The strong pass Egra.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
                       That is much indeed!
 

Prague!—Egra's granted—but—but Prague!—'T won't do.

I give you every security

Which you may ask of me in common reason—

But Prague—Bohemia—these, Sir General,

I can myself protect.

WRANGEL.

 
                        We doubt it not.
 

But 'tis not the protection that is now

Our sole concern. We want security

That we shall not expend our men and money

All to no purpose.

WALLENSTEIN.

'Tis but reasonable.

WRANGEL.

And till we are indemnified, so long

Stays Prague in pledge.

WALLENSTEIN.

Then trust you us so little?

WRANGEL (rising).

The Swede, if he would treat well with the German,

Must keep a sharp look-out. We have been call'd

Over the Baltic, we have saved the empire

From ruin—with our best blood have we sealed

The liberty of faith and gospel truth.

But now already is the benefaction

No longer felt, the load alone is felt.

Ye look askance with evil eye upon us,

As foreigners, intruders in the empire,

And would fain send us, with some paltry sum

Of money, home again to our old forests.

No, no! my Lord Duke! no!—it never was

For Judas' pay, for chinking gold and silver,

That we did leave our King by the Great Stone[24]

No, not for gold and silver have there bled

So many of our Swedish Nobles—neither

Will we, with empty laurels for our payment,

Hoist sail for our own country. Citizens

Will we remain upon the soil, the which

Our Monarch conquer'd for himself, and died.

WALLENST.

Help to keep down the common enemy,

And the fair border land must needs be yours.

WRANGEL.

But when the common enemy lies vanquish'd,

Who knits together our new friendship then?

We know, Duke Friedland! though perhaps the Swede

Ought not to have known it, that you carry on

Secret negotiations with the Saxons.

Who is our warranty, that we are not

The sacrifices in those articles

Which 'tis thought needful to conceal from us?

WALLENSTEIN (rises).

Think you of something better, Gustave Wrangel!

Of Prague no more.

WRANGEL.

Here my commission ends.

WALLENST.

Surrender up to you my capital!

Far liever would I face about, and step

Back to my Emperor.

WRANGEL.

If time yet permits—

WALLENST.

That lies with me, even now, at any hour.

WRANGEL.

Some days ago, perhaps. Today, no longer;

No longer since Sesina's been a prisoner.

[WALLENSTEIN is struck, and silenced.]

My Lord Duke, hear me—We believe that you

At present do mean honorably by us.

Since yesterday we're sure of that—and now

This paper warrants for the troops, there's nothing

Stands in the way of our full confidence.

Prague shall not part us. Hear! The Chancellor

Contents himself with Altstadt; to your Grace

He gives up Ratschin and the narrow side.

But Egra above all must open to us,

Ere we can think of any junction.

WALLENSTEIN.

 
                              You,
 

You therefore must I trust, and not you me?

I will consider of your proposition.

WRANGEL.

I must entreat that your consideration

Occupy not too long a time. Already

Has this negotiation, my Lord Duke,

Crept on into the second year! If nothing

Is settled this time, will the Chancellor

Consider it as broken off for ever.

WALLENST.

Ye press me hard. A measure such as this,

Ought to be thought of.

WRANGEL.

 
                 Ay! but think of this too,
 

That sudden action only can procure it

Success—think first of this, your Highness.

[Exit WRANGEL.]