The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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СКАЧАТЬ Entreat swift aidance in his extreme need;

       The Emperor sends seven horsemen to Duke Friedland, 45

       Seven horsemen couriers sends he with the entreaty:

       He superadds his own, and supplicates

       Where as the sovereign lord he can command.

       In vain his supplication! At this moment

       The Duke hears only his old hate and grudge, 50

       Barters the general good to gratify

       Private revenge — and so falls Regenspurg.

      Wallenstein. Max, to what period of the war alludes he?

       My recollection fails me here.

      Max. He means

       When we were in Silesia.

      Wallenstein. Ay! Is it so! 55

       But what had we to do there?

      Max. To beat out

       The Swedes and Saxons from the province.

      Wallenstein. True.

       In that description which the Minister gave

       I seemed to have forgotten the whole war. [To QUESTENBERG.

       Well, but proceed a little.

      Questenberg. Yes! at length 60

       Beside the river Oder did the Duke

       Assert his ancient fame. Upon the fields

       Of Steinau did the Swedes lay down their arms,

       Subdued without a blow. And here, with others,

       The righteousness of Heaven to his avenger 65

       Delivered that long-practised stirrer-up

       Of insurrection, that curse-laden torch

       And kindler of this war, Matthias Thur.

       But he had fallen into magnanimous hands;

       Instead of punishment he found reward, 70

       And with rich presents did the Duke dismiss

       The arch-foe of his Emperor.

      Wallenstein (laughs). I know,

       I know you had already in Vienna

       Your windows and balconies all forestalled

       To see him on the executioner’s cart. 75

       I might have lost the battle, lost it too

       With infamy, and still retained your graces —

       But, to have cheated them of a spectacle,

       Oh! that the good folks of Vienna never,

       No, never can forgive me.

      Questenberg. So Silesia 80

       Was freed, and all things loudly called the Duke

       Into Bavaria, now pressed hard on all sides.

       And he did put his troops in motion: slowly,

       Quite at his ease, and by the longest road

       He traverses Bohemia; but ere ever 85

       He hath once seen the enemy, faces round,

       Breaks up the march, and takes to winter quarters.

      Wallenstein. The troops were pitiably destitute

       Of every necessary, every comfort.

       The winter came. What thinks his Majesty 90

       His troops are made of? Arn’t we men? subjected

       Like other men to wet, and cold, and all

       The circumstances of necessity?

       O miserable lot of the poor soldier!

       Wherever he comes in, all flee before him, 95

       And when he goes away, the general curse

       Follows him on his route. All must be seized,

       Nothing is given him. And compelled to seize

       From every man, he’s every man’s abhorrence.

       Behold, here stand my Generals. Karaffa! 100

       Count Deodate! Butler! Tell this man

       How long the soldiers’ pay is in arrears.

      Butler. Already a full year.

      Wallenstein. And ‘tis the hire

       That constitutes the hireling’s name and duties,

       The soldier’s pay is the soldier’s covenant. 105

      Questenberg. Ah! this is a far other tone from that

       In which the Duke spoke eight, nine years ago.

      Wallenstein. Yes! ‘tis my fault, I know it: I myself

       Have spoilt the Emperor by indulging him.

       Nine years ago, during the Danish war, 110

       I raised him up a force, a mighty force,

       Forty or fifty thousand men, that cost him

       Of his own purse no doit. Through Saxony

       The fury goddess of the war marched on,

       E’en to the surf-rocks of the Baltic, bearing 115

       The terrors of his name. That was a time!

       In the whole Imperial realm no name like mine

       Honoured with festival and celebration —

       And Albrecht Wallenstein, it was the title

       Of the third jewel in his crown! 120

       But at the Diet, when the Princes met

       At Regenspurg, there, there the whole broke out,

       There ‘twas laid open, there it was made known,

       Out of what money-bag I had paid the host.

       And what was now my thank, what had I now, 125

       That I, a faithful servant of the Sovereign,

       Had loaded СКАЧАТЬ