The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03. Коллектив авторов

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СКАЧАТЬ 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, СКАЧАТЬ