Ter.

And yet

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.

A thought has struck me.

Does not Count Tertsky give us a set banquet
This evening?

Ter.

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' 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.

Gain me the signatures.
Illo.

Ere it slips from you.

The signatures!

Seize, seize the hour Seldom comes the moment sublime and weighty. To make a great decision possible,

In life, which is indeed

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
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 around 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 y

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 multitudes. 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, forced 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.
Wall. 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-eyed, thou may'st but burrow in the earth,
Blind as that subterrestrial, who with wan,
Lead-coloured 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 ministries-
The circles in the circles, that approach
The central sun with ever-narrowing orbit-
These see the glance alone, the unsealed eye,
Of Jupiter's glad children born in lustre.

[He walks across the chamber, then returns, and, stand-
ing still, proceeds.

The heavenly constellations make not merely The day and nights, summer and spring, not merely

Signify to the husbandman the seasons

Of sowing and of harvest. Human action,
That is the seed too of contingencies,
Strewed on the dark land of futurity,

In hopes to reconcile the powers of fate.
Whence it behoves us to seek out the seed-time,
To watch the stars, select their proper hours,
And trace with searching eye the heavenly houses,
Whether the enemy of growth and thriving
Hide himself not, malignant, in his corner.
Therefore permit me my own time. Meanwhile
Do you your part. As yet I cannot say
What I shall do-only, give way I will not.
Depose me too they shall not.
On these points

You may rely.

Page [entering.] My Lords, the Generals.
Wal. Let them come in.

SCENE XII-WALLENSTEIN, TERTSKY, ILLO.—To them enter QUESTENBERG, OCTAVIO, and MAX PICCOLOMINI, BUTLER, ISOLANI, MARADAS, and three other Generals. WALLENSTEIN motions QUESTENBERG, who in consequence takes the chair directly opposite to him; the others follow, arranging themselves according to their rank. There reigns a momentary silence.

Wal. I have understood, 'tis true, the sum and import

Of your instructions, Questenberg; have weighed them,

And formed my final, absolute resolve;

Yet it seems fitting, that the generals