The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 77

The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 77

[123] _traitor_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[After 128] [_WALLENSTEIN betrays a sudden agitation._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[129] _nam'd . . . do_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[After 148] [_MAX stands as convulsed, with a gesture and countenance expressing the most intense anguish._ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[150] _I_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

[151] _Thou_--no 1800, 1828, 1829.

[160] _that other thing_ 1800, 1828, 1829.

SCENE III

_WALLENSTEIN, TERTSKY._

_Tertsky._ Max Piccolomini just left you?

_Wallenstein._ Where is Wrangel?

_Tertsky._ He is already gone.

_Wallenstein._ In such a hurry?

_Tertsky._ It is as if the earth had swallowed him.

He had scarce left thee, when I went to seek him.

I wished some words with him--but he was gone. 5 How, when, and where, could no one tell me. Nay, I half believe it was the devil himself; A human creature could not so at once Have vanished.

_Illo (enters)._ Is it true that thou wilt send Octavio?

_Tertsky._ How, Octavio! Whither send him? 10

_Wallenstein._ He goes to Frauenberg, and will lead hither The Spanish and Italian regiments.

_Illo._ No!

Nay, Heaven forbid!

_Wallenstein._ And why should Heaven forbid?

_Illo._ Him!--that deceiver! Would'st thou trust to him The soldiery? Him wilt thou let slip from thee, 15 Now, in the very instant that decides us----

_Tertsky._ Thou wilt not do this!--No! I pray thee, no!

_Wallenstein._ Ye are whimsical.

_Illo._ O but for this time, Duke, Yield to our warning! Let him not depart.

_Wallenstein._ And why should I not trust him only this time, 20 Who have always trusted him? What, then, has happened, That I should lose my good opinion of him?

In complaisance to your whims, not my own, I must, forsooth, give up a rooted judgment.

Think not I am a woman. Having trusted him 25 E'en till to-day, to-day too will I trust him.

_Tertsky._ Must it be he--he only? Send another.

_Wallenstein._ It must be he, whom I myself have chosen; He is well fitted for the business. Therefore I gave it him.

_Illo._ Because he's an Italian-- 30 Therefore is he well fitted for the business.

_Wallenstein._ I know you love them not--nor sire nor son-- Because that I esteem them, love them--visibly Esteem them, love them more than you and others, E'en as they merit. Therefore are they eye-blights, 35 Thorns in your foot-path. But your jealousies, In what affect they me or my concerns?

Are they the worse to me because you hate them?

Love or hate one another as you will, I leave to each man his own moods and likings; 40 Yet know the worth of each of you to me.

_Illo._ Von Questenberg, while he was here, was always Lurking about with this Octavio.

_Wallenstein._ It happened with my knowledge and permission.

_Illo._ I know that secret messengers came to him 45 From Galas----

_Wallenstein._ That's not true.

_Illo._ O thou art blind With thy deep-seeing eyes.

_Wallenstein._ Thou wilt not shake My faith for me--my faith, which founds itself On the profoundest science. If 'tis false, Then the whole science of the stars is false. 50 For know, I have a pledge from fate itself, That he is the most faithful of my friends.

_Illo._ Hast thou a pledge, that this pledge is not false?

_Wallenstein._ There exist moments in the life of man, When he is nearer the great soul of the world 55 Than is man's custom, and possesses freely The power of questioning his destiny: And such a moment 'twas, when in the night Before the action in the plains of Lutzen, Leaning against a tree, thoughts crowding thoughts, 60 I looked out far upon the ominous plain.

My whole life, past and future, in this moment Before my mind's eye glided in procession, And to the destiny of the next morning The spirit, filled with anxious presentiment, 65 Did knit the most removed futurity.

Then said I also to myself, 'So many Dost thou command. They follow all thy stars, And as on some great number set their All Upon thy single head, and only man 70 The vessel of thy fortune. Yet a day Will come, when destiny shall once more scatter All these in many a several direction: Few be they who will stand out faithful to thee.'

I yearn'd to know which one was faithfullest 75 Of all, this camp included. Great Destiny, Give me a sign! And he shall be the man, Who, on the approaching morning, comes the first To meet me with a token of his love: And thinking this, I fell into a slumber. 80 Then midmost in the battle was I led In spirit. Great the pressure and the tumult!

Then was my horse killed under me: I sank: And over me away, all unconcernedly, Drove horse and rider--and thus trod to pieces 85 I lay, and panted like a dying man.

Then seized me suddenly a saviour arm; It was Octavio's--I awoke at once, 'Twas broad day, and Octavio stood before me.

'My brother,' said he,'do not ride to-day 90 The dapple, as you're wont; but mount the horse Which I have chosen for thee. Do it, brother!

In love to me. A strong dream warned me so.'

It was the swiftness of this horse that s.n.a.t.c.hed me From the hot pursuit of Bannier's dragoons. 95 My cousin rode the dapple on that day.

And never more saw I or horse or rider.

_Illo._ That was a chance.

_Wallenstein._ There's no such thing as chance.

In brief, 'tis signed and sealed that this Octavio Is my good angel--and now no word more. [_He is retiring._

_Tertsky._ This is my comfort--Max remains our hostage. 100

_Illo._ And he shall never stir from here alive.

_Wallenstein (stops and turns himself round)._ Are ye not like the women, who for ever Only recur to their first word, although One had been talking reason by the hour? 105 Know, that the human being's thoughts and deeds Are not, like ocean billows, blindly moved.