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.
WALLENSTEIN
If I'm in aught to bind myself to them
They too must bind themselves to me.
ILLO
Of course.
WALLENSTEIN
Their words of honor they must give, their oaths,
Give them in writing to me, promising
Devotion to my service unconditional.
ILLO
Why not?
TERZKY
Devotion unconditional?
The exception of their duties towards Austria
They'll always place among the premises.
With this reserve —
WALLENSTEIN (shaking his head)
All unconditional;
No premises, no reserves.
ILLO
A thought has struck me.
Does not Count Terzky give us a set banquet
This evening?
TERZKY
Yes; and all the generals
Have been invited.
ILLO (to WALLENSTEIN)
Say, will you here fully
Commission me to use my own discretion?
I'll gain for you the generals' word of honor,
Even as you wish.
WALLENSTEIN
Gain me their signatures!
How you come by them that is your concern.
ILLO
And if I bring it to you in 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
Try your fortune.
WALLENSTEIN
Get but the signatures!
ILLO
Think what thou dost, thou canst not execute
The emperor's orders, nor reduce thine army,
Nor send the regiments to the Spaniards' aid,
Unless thou wouldst resign thy power forever.
Think on the other hand – thou canst not spurn
The emperor's high commands and solemn orders,
Nor longer temporize, nor seek evasion,
Wouldst thou avoid a rupture with the court.
Resolve then! Wilt thou now by one bold act
Anticipate their ends, or, doubting still,
Await the extremity?
WALLENSTEIN
There's time before
The extremity arrives.
ILLO
Seize, seize the hour,
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 enforced to pause