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They have determined finally in Vienna,

Have given me my successor already;

It is the King of Hungary, Ferdinand,

The Emperor's delicate son! he's now their savior,
He's the new star that's rising now!

Of us

They think themselves already fairly rid,

And as we were deceased, the heir already

Is entering on possession-Therefore-despatch!

[As he turns round he observes Terisky, and gives him a letter.

Count Altringer will have himself excused,

And Galas too-I like not this!

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I must forthwith

Is master of the Tyrole passes.

Send some one to him, that he let not in

The Spaniards on me from the Milanese.

-Well, and the old Sesin, that ancient trader

In contraband negotiations, he

Has shown himself again of late. What brings he
From the Count Thur?

Ter.

The Count communicates,

He has found out the Swedish chancellor

At Halberstadt, where the convention's held,

Who says, you've tired him out, and that he'll have

No further dealings with you.

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Ter. He says, you are never in earnest in your speeches, That you decoy the Swedes-to make fools of them,

Will league yourself with Saxony against them,

And at last make yourself a riddance of them
With a paltry sum of money.

Wal.
So then, doubtless,
Yes, doubtless, this same modest Swede expects
That I shall yield him some fair German tract
For his prey and booty, that ourselves at last
On our own soil and native territory,
May be no longer our own lords and masters!

An excellent scheme! No! no! They must be off,
Off, off! away! we want no such neighbors.

Ter. Nay, yield them up that dot, that speck of land—
It goes not from your portion. If you win

The game, what matters it to you who pays it?

Wal. Off with them, off! Thou understand'st not this.
Never shall it be said of me, I parcelled

My native land away, dismembered Germany,
Betrayed it to a foreigner, in order

To come with stealthy tread, and filch away
My own share of the plunder-Never! never!—
No foreign power shall strike root in the empire,
And least of all, these Goths, these hunger-wolves,
Who send such envious, hot and greedy glances
T'wards the rich blessings of our German lands!
I'll have their aid to cast and draw my nets,
But not a single fish of all the draught

Shall they come in for.

You will deal, however,

Ter.
More fairly with the Saxons? They lose patience
While you shift ground and make so many curves.
Say, to what purpose all these masks? Your friends
Are plunged in doubts, baffled and led astray in you.
There's Oxenstein, there's Arnheim--neither knows
What he should think of your procrastinations.
And in the end I prove the liar; all

Passes through me. I have not even your hand-writing.
Wal. I never give my hand-writing; thou knowest it.
Ter. But how can it be known that you're in earnest,
If the act follows not upon the word?

You must yourself acknowledge, that in all

Your intercourses hitherto with the enemy

You might have done with safety all you have done,
Had you meant nothing further than to gull him

For the Emperor's service.

Wal. (after a pause during which he looks narrowly m
Tertsky.) And from whence dost thou know

That I'm not gulling him for the Emperor's service?
Whence knowest thou that I'm not gulling all of you ?

Dost thou know me so well! When made I thee

The intendant of my secret purposes?

I am not conscious that I ever opened

My inmost thoughts to thee. The Emperor, it is true,
Hath dealt with me amiss; and if I would,

I could repay him with usurious interest

For the evil he hath done me. It delights me

To know my power; but whether I shall use it,

Of that, I should have thought that thou couldst speak
No wiser than thy fellows.

Ter. So hast thou always played thy game with us.

[Enter Ilv

SCENE XI.-Illo, Wallenstein, Tertsky.

Wal. How stand affairs without? Are they prepared?
Illo. You'll find them in the very mood you wish.

They know about the Emperor's requisitions,

And are tumultuous.

Wal.

Declared himself?

Illo.

How hath Isolan

He's yours, both soul and body,

Since you built up again his Faro-bank.

Wal. And which way doth Kolatto bend? Hast thou Made sure of Tiefenbach and Deodate?

Illo. What Piccolomini does, that they do too.

Wal. You mean then I may venture somewhat with them?
Illo. If you are assured of the Piccolomini.

Wal. Not more assured of mine own self.
Ter.

I would you trusted not so much to Octavio,
The fox!

Wal.

And yet

Thou teachest me to know my man?

Sixteen campaigns I have made with that old warrior.
Besides, I have his horoscope,

We both are born beneath like stars-in short

[With an air of mystery.

To this belongs its own particular aspect,

If therefore thou canst warrant me the rest

Illo. There is among them all but this one voice, You must not lay down the command. I hear

They mean to send a deputation to you.

Wal. If I'm in aught to bind myself to them, They too must bind themselves to me.

Illo.

Of course.

Wal. Their words of honor they must give, their oaths, Give them in writing to me, promising

Devotion to my service unconditional.

Illo. Why not?

Ter.

Devotion unconditional?

The exception of their duties towards Austria
They'll always place among the premisses.
With this reserve-

Wal. (shaking his head.) All unconditional!
No premisses, no reserves.

Illo.

A thought has struck me.

Does not Count Tertsky give us a set banquet
This evening?

Ter.

Yes; and all the Generals

Have been invited.

Illo. (to Wallenstein.) Say, will you here fully
Commission me to use my own discretion?
I'll gain for you the Generals' words of honor,
Even as you wish.

Wal.
Gain me their signatures!
How you come by them, that is your concern.

Illo. And if I bring it to you, black on white,
That all the leaders who are present here
Give themselves up to you, without condition;
Say, will you then-then will you show yourself
In earnest, and with some decisive action

Make trial of your luck?

Wal.

Gain me the signatures.

Illo.

Ere it slips from you.

The signatures!

Seize, seize the hour

Seldom comes the moment

In life, which is indeed sublime and weighty.
To make a great decision possible,

O many things, all transient and all rapid,
Must meet at once: and, haply, they thus met
May by that confluence be enforced to pause
Time long enough for wisdom, though too short,

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Far, far too short a time for doubt and scruple!
This is that moment. See, our army chieftains,
Our best, our noblest, are assembled around you,
Their kinglike leader! On your nod they wait.
The single threads, which here your prosperous fortune
Hath woven together in one potent web
Instinct with destiny, O let them not
Unravel of themselves. If you permit
These chiefs to separate, so unanimous
Bring you them not a second time together.
'Tis the high tide that heaves the stranded ship,
And every individual's spirit waxes

In the great stream of multitudes. Behold

They are still here, here still! But soon the war
Bursts them once more asunder, and in small
Particular anxieties and interests

Scatters their spirit, and the sympathy

Of each man with the whole. He, who to-day
Forgets himself, forced onward with the stream,
Will become sober, seeing but himself,

Feel only his own weakness, and with speed
Will face about, and march on in the old
High road of duty, the old broad-trodden road,
And seek but to make shelter in good plight.

Wal. The time is not yet come.

Ter.

But when will it be time?

Wal.

So you say always,

When I shall say it.

Illo. You'll wait upon the stars, and on their hours, Till the earthly hour escapes you. O, believe me, In your own bosom are your destiny's stars. Confidence in yourself, prompt resolution,

This is your VENUS! and the sole malignant,

The only one that harmeth you is DOUBT.

Wal. Thou speakest as thou understand'st. How oft

And many a time I've told thee, Jupiter,

That lustrous god, was setting at thy birth.

Thy visual power subdues no mysteries;

Mole-eyed, thou may'st but burrow in the earth,

Blind as that subterrestrial, who with wan

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