Illo. War is a violent trade; one cannot always
Finish one’s work by soft means; every trifle
Must not be blackened into sacrilege. 110
If we should wait till you, in solemn council,
With due deliberation had selected
The smallest out of four-and-twenty evils,
I’faith, we should wait long. —
‘Dash! and through with it!’ — That’s the better watchword. 115
Then after come what may come. ‘Tis man’s nature
To make the best of a bad thing once past.
A bitter and perplexed ‘what shall I do?’
Is worse to man than worst necessity.
Questenberg. Ay, doubtless, it is true: the Duke does spare us 120
The troublesome task of choosing.
Butler. Yes, the Duke
Cares with a father’s feelings for his troops;
But how the Emperor feels for us, we see.
Questenberg. His cares and feelings all ranks share alike,
Nor will he offer one up to another. 125
Isolani. And therefore thrusts he us into the deserts
As beasts of prey, that so he may preserve
His dear sheep fattening in his fields at home.
Questenberg. Count, this comparison you make, not I.
Butler. Why, were we all the Court supposes us, 130
‘Twere dangerous, sure, to give us liberty.
Questenberg. You have taken liberty — it was not given you.
And therefore it becomes an urgent duty
To rein it in with curbs.
Octavio. My noble friend,
This is no more than a remembrancing 135
That you are now in camp, and among warriors.
The soldier’s boldness constitutes his freedom.
Could he act daringly, unless he dared
Talk even so? One runs into the other.
The boldness of this worthy officer, [pointing to BUTLER. 140
Which now has but mistaken in its mark,
Preserved, when nought but boldness could preserve it,
To the Emperor his capital city, Prague,
In a most formidable mutiny
Of the whole garrison. [Military music at a distance. 145
Hah! here they come!
Illo. The sentries are saluting them: this signal
Announces the arrival of the Duchess.
Octavio. Then my son Max too has returned. ‘Twas he
Fetched and attended them from Carnthen hither. 150
Isolani (to Illo). Shall we not go in company to greet them?
Illo. Well, let us go. — Ho! Colonel Butler, come.
[To OCTAVIO.
You’ll not forget, that yet ere noon we meet
The noble Envoy at the General’s palace.
[Exeunt all but QUESTENBERG and OCTAVIO.
SCENE III
QUESTENBERG and OCTAVIO.
Questenberg. What have I not been forced to hear, Octavio!
What sentiments! what fierce, uncurbed defiance!
And were this spirit universal —
Octavio. Hm!
You are now acquainted with three-fourths of the army.
Questenberg. Where must we seek then for a second host 5
To have the custody of this? That Illo
Thinks worse, I fear me, than he speaks. And then
This Butler too — he cannot even conceal
The passionate workings of his ill intentions.
Octavio. Quickness of temper — irritated pride; 10
‘Twas nothing more. I cannot give up Butler.
I know a spell that will soon dispossess
The evil spirit in him.
Questenberg. Friend, friend!
O! this is worse, far worse, than we had suffered
Ourselves to dream of at Vienna. There 15
We saw it only with a courtier’s eyes,
Eyes dazzled by the splendour of the throne.
We had not seen the War-Chief, the Commander,
The man all-powerful in his camp. Here, here,
‘Tis quite another thing. 20
Here is no Emperor more — the Duke is Emperor.
Alas, my friend! alas, my noble friend!
This walk which you have ta’en me through the camp
Strikes my hopes prostrate.
Octavio. Now you see yourself
Of what a perilous kind the office is, 25
Which you deliver to me from the Court.
The least suspicion of the General
Costs me my freedom and my life, and would
But hasten his most desperate enterprise.
Questenberg. Where was our reason sleeping when we trusted 30
This madman with the sword, and placed such power
In such a hand? I tell you, he’ll refuse,
Flatly refuse, to obey the Imperial orders.
Friend, he can do ‘t, and what he can, he will.
And then the impunity of his defiance — 35
O! what a proclamation of our weakness!
Octavio. D’ye think too, he has brought his wife and daughter
Without a purpose hither? Here in camp!
And at the very point of time, in which
We’re arming for the war? That he has taken 40
These, the last pledges of his loyalty,
Away from out the Emperor’s domains —
This is no doubtful token of the nearness
Of some eruption!
Questenberg. How shall we hold footing
Beneath this tempest, which collects itself 45
And threats us from all quarters? The enemy
Of the empire on our borders, now already
The master of the Danube, and still farther,
And farther still, extending every hour!
In our interior the alarum-bells 50
Of insurrection — peasantry in arms ——
All orders discontented — and the army,