Duch. (enfolding her in her arms.) Unhappy child! and more unhappy mother!

Wal. (aside to Tertsky.) Quick! Let a carriage stand in

readiness

In the court behind the palace. Scherfenberg

Be their attendant; he is faithful to us;

To Egra he'll conduct them, and we follow.

Thou hast not brought them back?

[To Illo, who returns.

Illo.
The whole corps of the Pappenheimers is
Drawn out the younger Piccolomini,
Their Colonel, they require; for they affirm,
That he is in the palace here, a prisoner;
And if thou dost not instantly deliver him,
They will find means to free him with the sword.

Hear'st thou the uproar?

Ter. What shall we make of this?
Wal.

O my prophetic heart! he is still here.

[All stand amazed.

Said I not so?

He has not betrayed me-he could not betray me,
I never doubted of it.

Still here, then all goes well; for I know what

Will keep him here forever.

Ter.

[Embracing Thekla.

It can't be.

His father has betrayed us, is gone over

To the Emperor-the son could not have ventured
To stay behind.

Thek. (her eye fixed on the door.) There he is!

SCENE VI. To these enter Max. Piccolomini.

Max. Yes! here he is! I can endure no longer To creep on tiptoe round this house, and lurk

In ambush for a favorable moment.

This loitering, this suspense exceeds my powers.

[Advancing to Thekla, who has thrown herself into her mother's arms.

Turn not thine eyes away.

Confess it freely before all.

O look upon me!

Fear no one.

Let who will hear that we both love each other.
Wherefore continue to conceal it? Secrecy
Is for the happy-misery, hopeless misery,
Needeth no veil! Beneath a thousand suns
It dares act openly.

[He observes the Countess looking on Thekla with expres
sions of triumph.

No, lady! No!

Expect not, hope it not. I am not come

To stay to bid farewell, farewell forever,

For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!
Thekla, I must-must leave thee! Yet thy hatred
Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me
One look of sympathy, only one look.

Say that thou dost not hate me. Say it to me, Thekla !
[Grasps her hand

O God! I can not leave this spot-I can not

Can not let go this hand.

O tell me, Thekla!

That thou dost suffer with me, art convinced

That I can not act otherwise.

[Thekla, avoiding his look, points with her hand to her father. Max. turns round to the Duke, whom he had not till then perceived.

Thou here? It was not thou, whom here I sought.

I trusted never more to have beheld thee.

My business is with her alone. Here will I

Receive a full acquittal from this heart

For any other I am no more concerned.

Wal. Think'st thou, that fool-like, I shall let thee go,

And act the mock-magnanimous with thee?

Thy father is become a villain to me;

I hold thee for his son, and nothing more:

Nor to no purpose shalt thou have been given
Think not, that I will honor

Into my power.

That ancient love, which so remorselessly

He mangled. They are now past by, those hours
Of friendship and forgiveness. Hate and vengeance
Succeed-'tis now their turn-I too can throw

All feelings of the man aside-can prove
Myself as much a monster as thy father!

Max. (calmly.) Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast

power.

Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage.
What has detained me here, that too thou know'st.

[Taking Thekla by the hand.

See, Duke! All-all would I have owed to thee,
Would have received from thy paternal hand
The lot of blessed spirits. This hast thou
Laid waste forever-that concerns not thee.
Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust

Their happiness, who most are thine. The god
Whom thou dost serve, is no benignant deity.
Like as the blind irreconcilable

Fierce element, incapable of compact,

Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow.*
Wal. Thou art describing thy own father's heart.
The adder! O, the charms of hell o'erpowered me.
He dwelt within me, to my inmost soul
Still to and fro he passed, suspected never!
On the wide ocean, in the starry heaven
Did mine eyes seek the enemy, whom I
In my heart's heart had folded! Had I been
To Ferdinand what Octavio was to me,
War had I ne'er denounced against him. No,
I never could have done it. The Emperor was
My austere master only, not my friend.
There was already war 'twixt him and me
When he delivered the Commander's staff
Into my hands; for there's a natural

Unceasing war 'twixt cunning and suspicion;
Peace exists only betwixt confidence

And faith.

Who poisons confidence, he murders

Defend my father. Woe is me, I can not!

Hard deeds and luckless have ta'en place, one crime

* I have here ventured to omit a considerable number of lines, which it is difficult to believe that Schiller could have written.

Drags after it the other in close link.

But we are innocent: how have we fallen

Into this circle of mishap and guilt?

To whom have we been faithless? Wherefore mus
The evil deeds and guilt reciprocal

Of our two fathers twine like serpents round us?

Unconquerable hate rend us asunder,

Why must our fathers'

Who love each other?

Max., remain with me.

Hark! I will tell thee

Wal.

Go you not from me, Max.!

How when at Prague, our winter quarters, thou
Wert brought into my tent a tender boy,
Not yet accustomed to the German winters;
Thy hand was frozen to the heavy colors;
Thou wouldst not let them go.--

At that time did I take thee in my arms,
And with my mantle did I cover thee;
I was thy nurse, no woman could have been
A kinder to thee; I was not ashamed
To do for thee all little offices,

However strange to me; I tended thee

Till life returned; and when thine eyes first opened,
I had thee in my arms. Since then, when have I
Altered my feelings t'wards thee? Many thousands
Have I made rich, presented them with lands;
Rewarded them with dignities and honors;
Thee have I loved: my heart, my self, I gave
To thee! They were all aliens: THOU wert

Our child and inmate.* Max. thou canst not leave me;
It can not be; I may not, will not think

That Max. can leave me.

Max.
Wal.

0 my God!

I have

* This is a poor and inadequate translation of the affectionate simplicity of the original:—

Sie alle waren Fremdlinge,. Du warst

Das kind des Hauses.

Indeed the whole speech is in the best style of Massinger. O si sic omnia !

Held and sustained thee from thy tottering childhood.
What holy bond is there of natural love,

What human tie, that does not knit thee to me?
I love thee, Max.! What did thy father for thee,
Which I too have not done, to the height of duty;
Go hence, forsake me, serve thy Emperor;

He will reward thee with a pretty chain

Of geld; with his ram's fleece will he reward thee;
For that the friend, the father of thy youth,

For that the holiest feeling of humanity,
Was nothing worth to thee.

Max.

Do otherwise? Am I not forced to do it?

O God! how can I

How? Thy duty?

My oath my duty-honor

Wal.

Duty to whom? Who art thou? Max. bethink thee Wh. t duties mayst thou have? If I am acting

A criminal part toward the Emperor,

It is my crime, not thine. Dost thou belong

To thine own self? Art thou thine own commander?
Stand'st thou, like me, a freeman in the world,
That in thy actions thou shouldst plead free agency?
On me thou'rt planted, I am thy Emperor;
To obey me, to belong to me, this is
Thy honor, this a law of nature to thee!
And if the planet, on the which thou liv'st

And hast thy dwelling, from its orbit starts,
It is not in thy choice, whether or no
Thou'lt follow it ;-unfelt it whirls thee onward
Together with his ring and all his moons.
With little guilt stepp'st thou into this contest,
Thee will the world not censure, it will praise thee,
For that thou held'st thy friend more worth to thee
Than names and influences more removed.
For justice is the virtue of the ruler,
Affection and fidelity the subject's.
Not every one doth it beseem to question
The far-off high Arcturus. Most securely
Wilt thou pursue the nearest duty-let
The pilot fix his eye upon the pole-star.