And least of all, these Goths! these hunger-wolves!
Who send such envious, hot and greedy glances
T'wards the rich blessings of our German lands!
I'll have their aid to cast and draw my nets,
But not a single fish of all the draught

Shall they come in for.

Ter.

You will deal, however,

More fairly with the Saxons? They lose patience
While you shift ground and make so many curves.
Say, to what purpose all these masks! Your friends
Are plung'd in doubts, baffled, and led astray in you.
There's Oxenstein, there's Arnheim-neither knows
What he should think of your procrastinations.
And in the end I prove the liar; all

Passes through me. I have not even your hand-writing.
Wal. I never give my hand-writing; thou know'st it.
Ter. But how can it be known that you're in earnest,
If the act follows not upon the word?

You must yourself acknowledge, that in all
Your intercourses hitherto with th' enemy,

You might have done with safety all you have done,
Had you meant nothing further than to gull him
For th' Emperor's service.

Wal. (after a pause, during which he looks narrowly on Tertsky)

And from whence dost thou know

That I'm not gulling him for th' Emperor's service?
Whence knowest thou that I'm not gulling all of you?
Dost thou know me so well? When made I thee
Th' intendant of my secret purposes?

I am not conscious that I ever open'd

My inmost thoughts to thee. Th' Emperor, it is true,
Hath dealt with me amiss; and if I would,

I could repay him with usurious interest

P

For th' evil he hath done me. It delights me

To know my power; but whether I shall use it,
Of that, I should have thought that thou could'st speak
No wiselier than thy fellows.

Ter. So hast thou always play'd thy game with us.
(Enter Illo.)

SCENE XI.

Illo, Wallenstein, Tertsky.

Wal. How stand affairs without? Are they prepar'd? Illo. You'll find them in the very mood you wish. They know about the Emperor's requisitions,

Since you built up again his Faro-bank.

Wal. And which way doth Kolatto bend? Hast thou Made sure of Tiefenbach and Deodate?

Illo. What Piccolomini does, that they do too.

Wal. You mean, then, I may venture somewhat with

them?

Illo. If you are assured of the Piccolomini.

Wal. Not more assur'd of mine own self.

I would you trusted not so much to Octavio,

The fox!

Wal.

Thou teachest me to know my man?

Sixteen campaigns I have made with that old warrior. Besides, I have his horoscope,

We both are born beneath like stars-in short

(with an air of mystery)

To this belongs its own particular aspect.

If therefore thou canst warrant me the rest

Illo. There is among them all but this one voice, You must not lay down the command. I hear

They mean to send a deputation to you.

Wal. If I'm in aught to bind myself to them,

They too must bind themselves to me.

Illo.

Of course.

Wal. Their words of honour they must give, their

oaths,

Give them in writing to me, promising

Devotion to my service unconditional.

Illo. Why not?

Ter.

Devotion unconditional?

The exception of their duties towards Austria
They'll always place among the premises.
With this reserve

Wal. (shaking his head.) All unconditional!
No premises, no reserves.

Illo. (to Wallenstein.) Say, will you here fully
Commission me to use my own discretion?

I'll gain for you the Generals' words of honour,
Even as you wish.

Wal.

Gain me their signatures!

How you come by them, that is your concern.
Illo. And if I bring it to you, black on white,
That all the leaders who are present here

Give themselves up to you, without condition;
Say, will you then-then will you show yourself
In earnest, and with some decisive action

Make trial of your luck?

Wal.

The signatures!

Seize, seize the hour

Gain me the signatures.

Illo.

Ere it slips from you. Seldom comes the moment
In life, which is indeed sublime and weighty.
To make a great decision possible,

O! many things, all transient and all rapid,
Must meet at once: and, haply, they thus met
May, by that confluence, be enforc'd to pause
Time long enough for wisdom, though too short,
Far, far too short a time for doubt and scruple!
This is that moment. See, our army chieftains,
Our best, our noblest, are assembled round you,
Their kinglike leader! On your nod they wait.
The single threads, which here your prosperous fortune
Hath woven together in one potent web
Instinct with destiny, O! let them not
Unravel of themselves. If you permit
These chiefs to separate, so unanimous
Bring you them not a second time together.
'Tis the high tide that heaves the stranded ship,
And every individual's spirit waxes

In the great stream of multitude. Behold,

They are still here, here still! But soon the war
Bursts them once more asunder, and in small
Particular anxieties and interests

Scatters their spirit, and the sympathy

Of each man with the whole. He, who to-day
Forgets himself, forc'd onward with the stream,

Will become sober, seeing but himself,

Feel only his own weakness, and with speed
Will face about, and march on in the old
High road of duty, the old broad-trodden road,
And seek but to make shelter in good plight.
Wal. The time is not yet come.

Ter.

But when will it be time?

Wal.

So you say always.

When I shall say it.

Illo. You'll wait upon the stars, and on their hours, Till the earthly hour escapes you. O ! believe me, In your own bosom are your destiny's stars. Confidence in yourself, prompt resolution, This is your Venus! and the sole malignant, The only one that harmeth you, is Doubt.

Wal. Thou speakest as thou understand'st. How oft And many a time I've told thee, Jupiter, That lustrous god, was setting at thy birth.

Thy visual power subdues no mysteries;

Mole ey'd, thou may'st but burrow in the earth,
Blind as that subterrestrial, who, with wan,
Lead-colour'd shine, lighted thee into life.
The common, the terrestrial, thou may'st see,
With serviceable cunning knit together,
The nearest with the nearest; and therein
I trust thee and believe thee! but whate'er
Full of mysterious import Nature weaves,
And fashions in the depths-the spirit's ladder,
That from this gross and visible world of dust
Even to the starry world, with thousand rounds,
Builds itself up; on which the unseen powers
Move up and down on heavenly ministeries-
The circles in the circles, that approach