It is not possible that it should torture me Thek. Name it, I entreat you. Coun. It lies within your power to do your What need of me for that? And is he not Already linked to him? Coun. Thek. He was. And wherefore Should he not be so now-not be so always? Coun. He cleaves to th' Emperor too. Thek. Not more than duty We ask And honour may demand of him. Coun. Proofs of his love, and not proofs of his honour. Duty and honour ! Those are ambiguous words with many meanings. You should interpret them for him: his love Should be the sole definer of his honour. Thek. How? Coun. Th' Emperor or you must he re nounce. Thek. He will accompany my father gladly In his retirement. From himself you heard, How much he wished to lay aside the sword. Coun. He must not lay the sword aside, we mean; He must unsheath it in your father's cause. Thek. He'll spend with gladness and alacrity His life, his heart's blood in my father's cause, If shame or injury be intended him. Coun. You will not understand me. Well, Your father has fallen off from the Emperor. With the whole soldiery— Thek. Alas, my mother! Coun. There needs a great example to draw on The army after him. The Piccolomini Possess the love and reverence of the troops; They govern all opinions, and wherever They lead the way, none hesitate to follow. The son secures the father to our interestsYou've much in your hands at this moment. Ah, Thek. My miserable mother! what a death-stroke Awaits thee!-No! She never will survive it. Coun. She will accommodate her soul to that Which is and must be. I do know your mother The far-off future weighs upon her heart With torture of anxiety; but is it Unalterably, actually present, She soon resigns herself, and bears it calmly. Revealed to me, that spirits of death were hovering Preserve you for your father the firm friend, Prove good and fortunate. Thek. Prove good? What good? Must we not part? Part ne'er to meet again? Coun. He parts not from you. He can not part from you. Thek. Alas for his sore anguish! It will rend His heart asunder. Coun. If indeed he loves you, His resolution will be speedily taken. Thek. His resolution will be speedily taken O do not doubt of that! A resolution! Does there remain one to be taken? Coun. Hush! Collect yourself! I hear your mother coming. Thek. How shall I bear to see her? Coun. Collect yourself. SCENE III.-To them enter the DUCHESS. Duch. [to the COUNTESS.] Who was here sister? I heard some one talking, And passionately too. Coun. Nay! There was no one. Duch. I am grown so timorous, every trifling noise Scatters my spirits, and announces to me Coun. Duch. Alas! then all is The worst that can come! him; No, he has not. lost! I see it coming, Yes, they will depose The accursed business of the Regenspurg diet Coun. No! never! Make your heart easy, sister, as to that. [THEKLA, in extreme agitation, throws herself upon her Mother, and enfolds her in her arms, weeping. Duch. Yes, my poor child! Thou too hast lost a most affectionate godmother In th' Empress. O that stern unbending man! In this unhappy marriage what have I Not suffered, not endured! For ev'n as if I had been linked on to some wheel of fire That restless, ceaseless, whirls impetuous onward, I have passed a life of frights and horrors with him, And ever to the brink of some abyss With dizzy headlong violence he whirls me. Nay, do not weep, my child! Let not my sufferings Presignify unhappiness to thee, Nor blacken with their shade the fate that waits thee. There lives no second Friedland; thou, my child, Hast not to fear thy mother's destiny. Thek. O let us supplicate him, dearest mother! Quick! quick! here's no abiding place for us. Here every coming hour broods into life Some new affrightful monster. Duch. An easier, calmer lot, my child! Thou wilt share We too, I and thy father, witnessed happy days. Still think I with delight of those first years, Not that consuming flame which now it is. Unsteady and suspicious, has possessed him. |