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The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03

Год написания книги
2018
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Of extreme peril, when a hollow image

Is found a hollow image and no more,

Then falls the power into the mighty hands

Of Nature, of the spirit giant-born,

Who listens only to himself, knows nothing

Of stipulations, duties, reverences,

And, like the emancipated force of fire,

Unmaster'd scorches, ere it reaches them,

Their fine-spun webs, their artificial policy.

WALLENST.

'Tis true! they saw me always as I am—

Always! I did not cheat them in the bargain.

I never held it worth my pains to hide

The bold all-grasping habit of my soul.

COUNTESS.

Nay rather—thou hast ever shown thyself

A formidable man, without restraint;

Hast exercised the full prerogatives

Of thy impetuous nature, which had been

Once granted to thee. Therefore, Duke, not thou

Who hast still remained consistent with thyself;

But they are in the wrong, who fearing thee,

Intrusted such a power in hand they fear'd.

For, by the laws of Spirit, in the right

Is every individual character

That acts in strict consistence with itself.

Self-contradiction is the only wrong.

Wert thou another being, then, when thou

Eight years ago pursuedst thy march with fire,

And sword, and desolation, through the Circles

Of Germany, the universal scourge,

Didst mock all ordinances of the empire,

The fearful rights of strength alone exertedst,

Trampledst to earth each rank, each magistracy,

All to extend thy Sultan's domination?

Then was the time to break thee in, to curb

Thy haughty will, to teach thee ordinance.

But no, the Emperor felt no touch of conscience;

What served him pleased him, and without a murmur

He stamp'd his broad seal on these lawless deeds.

What at that time was right, because thou didst it

For him, today is all at once become

Opprobrious, foul, because it is directed

Against him.—O most flimsy superstition!

WALLENSTEIN (rising).

I never saw it in this light before;

'Tis even so. The Emperor perpetrated

Deeds through my arm, deeds most unorderly.

And even this prince's mantle, which I wear,

I owe to what were services to him,
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