Know, then, they are duping thee!-a most foul
With thee and with us all-nay, hear me calmly
The Duke even now is playing. He assumes
The mask, as if he would forsake the
army; And in this moment makes he preparations That army from the Emperor to steal,
And carry it over to the enemy!
That low Priest's legend I know well, but did not
Expect to hear it from thy mouth.
From which thou hearest it at this present moment, Doth warrant thee that it is no Priest's legend.
How mere a maniac they supposed the Duke;
What, he can meditate?-the Duke?-can dream
That he can lure away full thirty thousand
Tried troops and true, all honourable soldiers,
More than a thousand noblemen among them,
From oaths, from duty, from their honour lure them,
And make them all unanimous to do
A deed that brands them scoundrels?
With such a front of infamy, the Duke
No ways desires-what he requires of us
Bears a far gentler appellation. Nothing
He wishes, but to give the Empire peace.
And so, because the Emperor hates this peace,
Therefore the Duke-the Duke will force him to it.
All parts of the Empire will he pacify,
And for his trouble will retain in payment
(What he has already in his gripe)-Bohemia! MAX.
Has he, Octavio, merited of us,
That we that we should think so vilely of him?
OCTAVIO.
What we would think is not the question here.
The affair speaks for itself—and clearest proofs !
Hear me, my son 'tis not unknown to thee,
In what ill credit with the Court we stand.
But little dost thou know, or guess, what tricks,
What base intrigues, what lying artifices,
Have been employed-for this sole end-to sow
Mutiny in the camp! All bands are loosed-
Loosed all the bands, that link the officer
To his liege Emperor, all that bind the soldier
Affectionately to the citizen.
Lawless he stands, and threateningly beleaguers
The state he's bound to guard. To such a height
"Tis swoln, that at this hour the Emperor
Before his armies-his own armies-trembles;
Yea, in his capital, his palace, fears
The traitors' poniards, and is meditating
To hurry off and hide his tender offspring-
Not from the Swedes, not from the Lutherans—
No! from his own troops hide and hurry them!
Cease, cease! thou torturest, shatterest me.
That oft we tremble at an empty terror;
But the false phantasm brings a real misery.
OCTAVIO,
It is no phantasm. An intestine war,
Of all the most unnatural and cruel,
Will burst out into flames, if instantly
We do not fly and stifle it. The Generals
Are many of them long ago won over;
The subalterns are vacillating-whole
Regiments and garrisons are vacillating.
To foreigners our strong holds are entrusted;
To that suspected Schafgotch is the whole
Force of Silesia given up: to Tertsky
Five regiments, foot and horse-to Isolani,
To Illo, Kinsky, Butler, the best troops.
Believes he has secured us-means to lure us
Still further on by splendid promises.
To me he portions forth the princedoms, Glatz
And Sagan; and too plain I see the angel
With which he doubts not to catch thee.
And to what purpose think'st thou he has called us
Hither to Pilsen ?-to avail himself
Of our advice?-O when did Friedland ever
Need our advice?-Be calm, and listen to me.
To sell ourselves are we called hither, and
Decline we that—to be his hostages.
Therefore doth noble Galas stand aloof;
Thy father, too, thou would'st not have seen here,
If higher duties had not held him fettered.
He makes no secret of it-needs make none
That we're called hither for his sake-he owns it.
He needs our aidance to maintain himself—
He did so much for us; and 'tis but fair
That we too should do somewhat now for him.
OCTAVIO.
And know'st thou what it is which we must do ?
That Illo's drunken mood betrayed it to thee.
Bethink thyself—what hast thou heard, what seen?
The counterfeited paper-the omission
Of that particular clause, so full of meaning,
Does it not prove, that they would bind us down
To nothing good?
Appears to me no other than a trick
Of Illo's own device. These underhand
Traders in great men's interests ever use
Το urge and hurry all things to the extreme.
They see the Duke at variance with the court,
And fondly think to serve him, when they widen
The breach irreparably. Trust me, father,
The Duke knows nothing of all this.
That I must dash to earth, that I must shatter
A faith so specious; but I
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