The Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Prose and Verse

ILLO (hesitating).

How so? Do you know————

ISOLANI (interrupting him).

Max. Piccolomini here?O bring me to him.
I see him yet ('tis now ten years ago,

We were engaged with Mansfeld hard by Dessau).
I see the youth, in my mind's eye I see him,
Leap his black war-horse from the bridge adown,
And t'ward his father, then in extreme peril,
Beat up against the strong tide of the Elbe.
The down was scarce upon his chin! I hear
He has made good the promise of his youth,
And the full hero now is finish'd in him.

ILLO.

You'll see him yet ere evening. He conducts The Duchess Friedland hither, and the Princesst From Carnthen. We expect them here at noon.

⚫ A town about 12 German miles N. E. of Ulm.

↑ The dukes in Germany being always reigning powers, their sons and daughters are entitled Princes and Princesses.

I dare accept this your congratulation.
I am perplex'd and doubtful, whether or no

The Emperor has not yet confirm'd the appointment

ISOLANI.

Seize it, friend! Seize it! The hand which in tha

post

Placed you, is strong enough to keep you there, Spite of the Emperor and his Ministers?

ILLO.

Ay, if we would but so consider it !—
If we would all of us consider it so!

The Emperor gives us nothing; from the Duke
Comes all-whate'er we hope, whate'er we have
ISOLANI (lo ILLO).

My noble brother! did I tell you how
The Duke will satisfy my creditors?
Will be himself my banker for the future,
Make me once more a creditable man!—
And this is now the third time, think of that!
This kingly-minded man has rescued me
From absolute ruin, and restored my honor.

ILLO.

O that his power but kept pace with his wishes! Why, friend! he'd give the whole world to his

soldiers.

But at Vienna, brother!-here's the grievance!— What politic schemes do they not lay to shorten

ILLO.

Not from his right most surely, unless first
-From office!

BUTLER (shocked and confused).

Know you aught then? You alarm me.

Ay!

Well, well, then-to compel him, if you choose.
I can remember me right well, Count Tilly
Had suffer'd total rout upon the Lech.
Bavaria lay all open to the enemy,

Whom there was nothing to delay from pressing

ISOLANI (at the same time with BUTLER, and in a hur- Onwards into the very heart of Austria.

rying voice).

We should be ruin'd, every one of us!

ILLO.

No more!

Yonder I see our worthy friend* approaching
With the Lieutenant General, Piccolomini.

BUTLER (shaking his head significantly).
I fear we shall not go hence as we came.

SCENE II.

Enter OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI and QUESTENBERG.
OCTAVIO (still in the distance).

Ay, ay! more still! Still more new visitors!
Acknowledge, friend! that never was a camp,
Which held at once so many heads of heroes.
[Approaching nearer.
Welcome, Count Isolani!

ISOLANI.

My noble brother,

At that time you and Werdenberg appear'd
Before our General, storming him with prayers,
And menacing the Emperor's displeasure,
Unless he took compassion on this wretchedness.
ISOLANI (steps up to them).
Yes, yes, 'tis comprehensible enough,
Wherefore with your commission of to-day
You were not all too willing to remember
Your former one.

ILLO.

A worthy office! After with our blood
We have wrested this Bohemia from the Saxon,

Evel. now am I arrived; it had been else my duty-To be swept out of it is all our thanks,

The sole reward of all our hard-won victories.

[Universal silence. Poh! We are all his subjects.

ILLO (moving towards QUESTENBERG). 'Tis not the first time, noble Minister, You have shown our camp this honor.

QUESTENBERG.

I stood before these colors.

ILLO.

QUESTENBERG.

Yet with a difference, General! The one fills
With profitable industry the purse,

The others are well skill'd to empty it.

Once before, The sword has made the Emperor poor; the plow
Must reinvigorate his resources.

ISOLANI.

Sure!

Times are not yet so bad. Methinks I see

[Examining with his eye the dress and ornaments of QUESTENBERG.

Good store of gold that still remains uncoin'd

QUESTENBERG.

Thank Heaven! that means have been found out to His cares and feelings all ranks share alike,
Nor will he offer one up to another.

hide

Some little from the fingers of the Croats.

ILLO.

There! The Stawata and the Martinitz,

On whom the Emperor heaps his gifts and graces, To the heart-burning of all good BohemiansThose minions of court favor, those court harpies, Who fatten on the wrecks of citizens

ISOLANI.

And therefore thrusts he us into the deserts
As beasts of prey, that so he may preserve
His dear sheep fattening in his fields at home.
QUESTENBERG (with a sneer).
Count! this comparison you make, not I.

BUTLER.

Driven from their house and home-who reap no Why, were we all the court supposes us,

harvests

Save in the general calamity

Who now, with kingly pomp, insult and mock
The desolation of their country-these,
Let these, and such as these, support the war,
The fatal war, which they alone enkindled!

BUTLER.

And those state-parasites, who have their feet
So constantly beneath the Emperor's table,
Who cannot let a benefice fall, but they
Snap at it with dog's hunger-they, forsooth,
Would pare the soldier's bread, and cross his reckon-
ing!

ISOLANI.

My life long will it anger me to think,

How when I went to court seven years ago,
To see about new horses for our regiment,
How from one antechamber to another
They dragg'd me on, and left me by the hour
To kick my heels among a crowd of simpering
Feast-fatten'd slaves, as if I had come thither
A mendicant suitor for the crumbs of favor
That fall beneath their tables. And, at last,
Whom should they send me but a Capuchin!
Straight I began to muster up my sins
For absolution-but no such luck for me!
This was the man, this capuchin, with whom
I was to treat concerning the army horses:
And I was forced at last to quit the field,
The business unaccomplish'd. Afterwards

The Duke procured me, in three days, what I
Could not obtain in thirty at Vienna.

QUESTENBERG.

"Twere dangerous, sure, to give us liberty

QUESTENBERG.

You have taken liberty-it was not given you.
And therefore it becomes an urgent duty
To rein it in with curbs.

OCTAVIO (interposing and addressing QUESTENBERG)
My noble friend,

This is no more than a remembrancing
That you are now in camp, and among warriors.
The soldier's boldness constitutes his freedom.
Talk even so? One runs into the other.
Could he act daringly, unless he dared
The boldness of this worthy officer,

[Pointing to BUTLER. Which now has but mistaken in its mark, Preserved, when naught but boldness could preserve it,

To the Emperor his capital city, Prague,
In a most formidable mutiny

Of the whole garrison. [Military music at a distance.
Hah! here they come

ILLO.

The sentries are saluting them: this signal
Announces the arrival of the Duchess.
OCTAVIO (to QUESTENBERG).

Then my son Max. too has returned. "Twas he
Fetch'd and attended them from Carnthen hither.
ISOLANI (to ILLO).

Shall we not go in company to greet them?

ILLO.

Well, let us go.-Ho! Colonel Butler, come.

[TO OCTAVIO. You'll not forget, that yet ere noon we meet

Yes, yes! your travelling bills soon found their way The noble Envoy at the General's palace.

Then after come what may come. "T is man's nature You are now acquainted with three-fourths of the

I know a spell that will soon dispossess

The evil spirit in him.

Their little army faithful to its duty,

And daily it becomes more numerous.
Nor can he take us by surprise: you know

QUESTENBERG (walking up and down in evident disquiet.) I hold him all encompass'd by my listeners.

Friend, friend!

O! this is worse, far worse, than we had suffer'd
Ourselves to dream of at Vienna. There
We saw it only with a courtier's eyes,
Fyes dazzled by the splendor of the throne.
We had not seen the War-chief, the Commander,

The man all-powerful in his camp. Here, here,
Tis quite another thing.

Here is no Emperor more-the Duke is Emperor. Alas, my friend! alas, my noble friend!

Beware, you do not think,

This walk which you have ta'en me through the camp That I, by lying arts, and complaisant Strikes my hopes prostrate.

How shall we hold footing Beneath this tempest, which collects itself And threats us from all quarters? The enemy Of the empire on our borders, now already The master of the Danube, and still farther, And farther still, extending every hour! In our interior the alarum-bells Of insurrection-peasantry in arms— All orders discontented-and the army, Just in the moment of our expectation Of aidance from it-lo! this very army Seduced, run wild, lost to all discipline, Loosen'd, and rent asunder from the state And from their sovereign, the blind instrument Of the most daring of mankind, a weapon of fearful power, which at his will he wields!

OCTAVIO.

Nay, nay, friend! let us not despair too soon.
Men's words are ever bolder than their deeds:
And many a resolute, who now appears
Made up to all extremes, will, on a sudden
Find in his breast a heart he wot not of,
Let but a single honest man speak out
The true name of his crime! Remember too,
We stand not yet so wholly unprotected.
Counts Altringer and Galas have maintain'd

Hypocrisy, have skulked into his graces:
Or with the substance of smooth professions
Nourish his all-confiding friendship! No-
Compell'd alike by prudence, and that duty
Which we all owe our country, and our sovereign,
To hide my genuine feelings from him, yet
Ne'er have I duped him with base counterfeits!

QUESTENBERG.

It is the visible ordinance of Heaven.

OCTAVIO.

I know not what it is that so attracts
And links him both to me and to my son.
Comrades and friends we always were-long hab
Adventurous deeds perform'd in company,
And all those many and various incidents
Which store a soldier's memory with affections,
Had bound us long and early to each other—
Yet I can name the day, when all at once
His heart rose on me, and his confidence
Shot out in sudden growth. It was the morning
Before the memorable fight at Lutzner.
Urged by an ugly dream, I sought him out,
To press him to accept another charger.

At distance from the tents, beneath a tree,

I found him in a sleep. When I had waked him
And had related all my bodings to him,
Long time he stared upon me, like a man
Astounded; thereon fell upon my neck,

And manifested to me an emotion

That far outstripp'd the worth of that small service. Since then his confidence has follow'd me

With the same pace that mine has fled from him.

QUESTENBERG.

You lead your son into the secret?

OCTAVIO.

No!

QUESTENBERG.

What! and not warn him either what bad hands His lot has placed him in?

OCTAVIO.

I must perforce

Leave him in wardship to his innocence.
His young and open soul-dissimulation
Is foreign to its habits! Ignorance
Alone can keep alive the cheerful air,
The unembarrass'd sense and light free spirit
That make the Duke secure.

QUESTENBERG (anxiously).

My honor'd friend! most highly do I deem
Of Colonel Piccolomini-yet-if-
Reflect a little-

OCTAVIO.

I must venture it.

Hush!-There he comes!

OCTAVIO (to QUESTEN BERG).

Hush! Suppress it, friend! Unless some end were answer'd by the utterance.— Of him there you'll make nothing.

SCENE IV.

MAX. PICCOLOMINI, OCTAVIO PICCOLOMINI,

QUESTENBERG.

MAX.

Ha! there he is himself. Welcome, my father!
[He embraces his father. As he turns round, he
observes QUESTENBERG, and draws back with
a cold and reserved air.

You are engaged, I see. I'll not disturb you.

OCTAVIO.

How, Max.? Look closer at this visitor.
Attention, Max., an old friend merits-Reverence
Belongs of right to the envoy of your sovereign.

MAX. (drily).

MAX. (continuing).

In their distress

They call a spirit up, and when he comes,
Straight their flesh creeps and quivers, and they
dread him

More than the ills for which they call'd him up.
The uncommon, the sublime, must seem and be
Like things of every day.-But in the field,
Ay, there the Present Being makes itself felt
The personal must command, the actual eye
Examine. If to be the chieftain asks

All that is great in nature, let it be
Likewise his privilege to move and act
In all the correspondencies of greatness.
The oracle within him, that which lives,
He must invoke and question-not dead books,

Von Questenberg!-Welcome-if you bring with you Not ordinances, not mould-rotted papers.
Aught good to our head-quarters.

QUESTENBERG (seizing his hand).
Nay, draw not
Your hand away, Count Piccolomini !
Not on mine own account alone I seized it,
And nothing common will I say therewith.

OCTAVIO.

My son of those old narrow ordinances
Let us not hold too lightly. They are weights
Of priceless value, which oppress'd mankind
Tied to the volatile will of their oppressors.
For always formidable was the league

[Taking the hands of both. And partnership of free power with free will.

Octavio-Max. Piccolomini!

O savior names, and full of happy omen!
Ne'er will her prosperous genius turn from Austria,
While two such stars, with blessed influences
Beaming protection, shine above her hosts.

MAX.

Heh!-Noble minister! You miss your part.
You came not here to act a panegyric.
You're sent, I know, to find fault and to scold
I must not be beforehand with my comrades.
OCTAVIO (to Max.).

The way of ancient ordinance, though it winds,
Is yet no devious way. Straight forward goes
The lightning's path, and straight the fearful path
Of the cannon-ball. Direct it flies and rapid,
Shattering that it may reach, and shattering what it
reaches.

My son the road, the human being travels,

That, on which BLESSING comes and goes, doth follow
us-The river's course, the valley's playful windings,
Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines,
Honoring the holy bounds of property!
And thus secure, though late, leads to its end.

He comes from court, where people are not quite
So well contented with the Duke, as here.

MAX.

What now have they contrived to find out in him?
That he alone determines for himself
What he himself alone doth understand!
Well, therein he does right, and will persist in 't.
Heaven never meant him for that passive thing
That can be struck and hammer'd out to suit
Another's taste and fancy. He'll not dance
To every tune of every minister:

It goes against his nature-he can't do it.
He is possess'd by a commanding spirit,
And his too is the station of command.
And well for us it is so! There exist
Few fit to rule themselves, but few that use
Their intellects intelligently.-Then
Well for the whole, if there be found a man,
Who makes himself what nature destined him,
The pause, the central point to thousand thousands-
Stands fix'd and stately, like a firm-built column,
Where all may press with joy and confidence.
Now such a man is Wallenstein; and if
Another better suits the court-no other
But such a one as he can serve the army

QUESTENBERG

The army? Doubtless!

QUESTENBERG.

O hear your father, noble youth! hear him,
Who is at once the hero and the man.

OCTAVIO.

My son, the nursling of the camp spoke in thee!
A war of fifteen years

Hath been thy education and thy school.
Peace hast thou never witness'd! There exists
A higher than the warrior's excellence.
In war itself war is no ultimate purpose.
The vast and sudden deeds of violence,
Adventures wild, and wonders of the moment,
These are not they, my son, that generate
The Calm, the Blissful, and the enduring Mighty!
Lo there! the soldier, rapid architect!

Builds his light town of canvas, and at once
The whole scene moves and bustles momently,
With arms, and neighing steeds, and mirth and quarrel.
The motley market fills; the roads, the streams
Are crowded with new freights, trade stirs and hurries
But on some morrow morn, all suddenly,
The tents drop down, the horde renews its march
Dreary, and solitary as a church-yard

The meadow and down-trodden seed-plot lie
And the year's harvest is gone utterly

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The Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Prose and Verse: Complete in One Volume