There must remain no secrets 'twixt us two.
(Both seat themselves.)

Max. Piccolomini! what think'st thou of
The oath that was sent round for signatures?

Max. I hold it for a thing of harmless import,
Altho' I love not these set declarations.

Oct. And on no other ground hadst thou refus'd The signature they fain had wrested from thee? Max. It was a serious business -I was absent

The affair itself seem'd not so urgent to me.

Oct. Be open, Max. Thou hadst then no suspicion ?
Max. Suspicion! what suspicion? Not the least.
Oct. Thank thy good angel, Piccolomini;

He drew thee back unconscious from the abyss.
Max. I know not what thou meanest.

Oct.

I will tell thee.

Fain would they have extorted from thee, son,
The sanction of thy name to villany;

Yea, with a single flourish of thy pen,

Made thee renounce thy duty and thy honour!
Max. (rises,) Octavio !

Oct.

Patience! Seat yourself. Much yet

Hast thou to hear from me, friend!-hast for years
Liv'd in incomprehensible illusion.

Before thine eyes is treason drawing out
As black a web as e'er was spun from venom:
A power of hell o'erclouds thy understanding.
I dare no longer stand in silence-dare
No longer see thee wandering on in darkness

Nor pluck the bandage from thine eyes.

Yet, ere thou speak'st, a moment's pause of thought. If your disclosures should appear to be

Conjectures only-and almost I fear

U

They will be nothing further-spare them! I
Am not in that collected mood at present,
That I could listen to them quietly.

Oct. The deeper cause thou hast to hate this light,
The more impatient cause have I, my son,

To force it on thee. To the innocence

And wisdom of thy heart I could have trusted thee
With calm assurance-but I see the net

Preparing and it is thy heart itself

Alarms me for thine innocence—that secret,

(fixing his eyes steadfastly on his son's face,)

Which thou concealest, forces mine from me.

(Max. attempts to answer, but hesitates, and casts his eyes to the ground embarrassed.)

Oct. (after a pause,) Know, then, they are duping thee;-a most foul game

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!

Max. That low priest's legend I know well, but did

not

Expect to hear it from thy mouth.

Oct.

That mouth,

From which thou hear'st it at this present moment

Doth warrant thee that it is no priest's legend.

Max. How mere a maniac they suppose 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

Such a deed,

A deed that brands them scoundrels?
Oct.
With such a front of infamy, the Duke
No way 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?
Oct. 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 employ'd-for this sole end-to sow
Mutiny in the camp! All bands are loos'd-
Loos'd all the bands that link the officer
To his liege Emperor, all that bind the soldier
Affectionately to the citizen.

Lawless he stands, and threat'ningly 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!

Max. Cease, cease! thou tortur'st, shatter'st me. I know

That oft we tremble at an empty terror;
But the false phantasm brings a real misery.
Oct. 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 intrusted;
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.
Max. Likewise to both of us.

Oct.
Because the Duke
Believes he has secur'd 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.

Мах.

I tell thee-no!

Oct.

No! no!

O open yet thine eyes!

And to what purpose think'st thou he has call'd 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 call'd 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 fetter'd.

Max. He makes no secret of it-needs make noneThat we're call'd 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.

Oct. And know'st thou what it is which we must do? That Illo's drunken mood betray'd 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?

Мах.

That counterfeited paper

Appears to me no other than a trick

Of Illo's own device. These underhand
Traders in great men's interests, ever use
To 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.

Oct.

It grieves me

That I must dash to earth, that I must shatter

A faith so specious; but I may not spare thee !

For this is not a time for tenderness.

Thou must take measures, speedy ones-must act.
I therefore will confess to thee, that all

Which I've intrusted to thee now-that all

Which seems to thee so unbelievable,

That-yes, I will tell thee-(a pause)-Max. I had it all From his own mouth-from the Duke's mouth I had it. Max. (in excessive agitation,) No!-no!-never!

Oct.

Himself confided to me