# Wallenstein/The Piccolomini/A1S10

SCENE X.
Wallenstein, Count Tertsky.
WALLENSTEIN. (in deep thought to himself.)
And squares completely with my other notices. They have determin'd finally in Vienna, Have given me my successor already; It is the King of Hungary, Ferdinand,
The Emperor's delicate son! he's now their savior, He's the new star that's rising now! Of us They think themselves already fairly rid, And as we were deceas'd, the heir already Is entering on possession.—Therefore—dispatch!
(As he turns round he observes Tertsky, and gives him a letter.)
And Gallas too—I like not this!
TERTSKY.
Thou loiterest longer, all will fall away, One following the other.
WALLENSTEIN.
Is master of the Tyrol passes. I must forthwith Send some one to him, that he let not in The Spaniards on me from the Milanese. ———Well, and the old Sesin, that ancient trader In contraband negociations, he Has shewn himself again of late. What brings he From the Count Thur?
TERTSKY.
He has found out the Swedish chancellor At Halberstadt, where the convention's held, Who says, you've tir'd him out, and that he'll have No further dealings with you.
WALLENSTEIN.
TERTSKY.
That you decoy the Swedes—to make fools of them, Will league yourself with Saxony against them, And at last make yourself a riddance of them With a paltry sum of money.
WALLENSTEIN.
Yes, doubtless, this same modest Swede expects That I shall yield him some fair German tract For his prey and booty, that ourselves at last On our own soil and native territory, May be no longer our own lords and masters! An excellent scheme!—No, no! They must be off, Off, off! away!—we want no such neighbours.
TERTSKY.
It goes not from your portion. If you win The game, what matters it to you who pays it?
WALLENSTEIN.
Never shall it be said of me, I parcell'd My native land away, dismember'd Germany, Betray'd it to a foreigner, in order To come with stealthy tread, and filch away My own share of the plunder.—Never! never!— No foreign power shall strike root in the empire, And least of all, these Goths! these hunger-wolves! Who send such envious, hot and greedy glances T'wards the rich blessings of our German lands!
I'll have their aid to cast and draw my nets, But not a single fish of all the draught Shall they come in for.
TERTSKY.
More fairly with the Saxons? They lose patience While you shift ground and make so many curves. Say, to what purpose all these masks? Your friends Are plung'd in doubts, baffled, and led astray in you. There's Oxenstein, there's Arnheim—neither knows What he should think of your procrastinations. And in the end I prove the liar; all Passes through me. I've not even your hand-writing.
WALLENSTEIN.
TERTSKY.
If the act follows not upon the word? You must yourself acknowledge, that in all Your intercourses hitherto with th' enemy, You might have done with safety all you have done, Had you meant nothing further than to gull him For th' Emperor's service.
WALLENSTEIN (after a pause, during which he looks narrowly on Tertsky.)
That I'm not gulling him for th' Emperor's service?
Whence knowest thou that I'm not gulling all of you? Dost thou know me so well? When made I thee Th' intendant of my secret purposes? I am not conscious that I ever open'd My inmost thoughts to thee. Th' Emperor, it is true, Hath dealt with me amiss; and if I would, I could repay him with usurious interest For th' evil he hath done me. It delights me To know my power; but whether I shall use it, Of that, I should have thought that thou could'st speak No wiselier than thy fellows.
TERTSKY.
Enter Illo.