# Wallenstein/The Piccolomini/A1S11

SCENE XI.
Illo, Wallenstein, Tertsky.
WALLENSTEIN.
ILLO.
They know about the Emperor's requisitions, And are tumultuous.
WALLENSTEIN.
Declar'd himself?
ILLO.
Since you built up again his Faro-bank.
WALLENSTEIN.
Made sure of Tiefenbach and Deodate?
ILLO.
WALLENSTEIN.
ILLO.
WALLENSTEIN.
TERTSKY.
I would you trusted not so much to Octavio, The fox!
WALLENSTEIN.
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 peculiar aspect. If therefore thou canst warrant me the rest———
ILLO.
You must not lay down the command. I hear They mean to send a deputation to you.
WALLENSTEIN.
They too must bind themselves to me.
ILLO.
WALLENSTEIN.
Give them in writing to me, promising Devotion to my service unconditional.
ILLO.
TERTSKY.
The exception of their duties towards Austria They'll always place among the premises. With this reserve———
WALLENSTEIN (shaking his head.)
No premises, no reserves.
ILLO.
Does not Count Tertsky give us a set banquet This evening?
TERTSKY.
Have been invited.
ILLO (to Wallenstein.)
Commission me to use my own discretion? I'll gain for you the Generals' words of honor, Even as you wish.
WALLENSTEIN.
How you come by them, that is your concern.
ILLO.
That all the leaders who are present here Give themselves up to you, without condition; Say, will you then—then will you shew yourself In earnest, and with some decisive action Make trial of your luck?
WALLENSTEIN.
Gain me the signatures.
ILLO.
Ere it slips from you. Seldom comes the moment In life, which is indeed sublime and weighty. To make a great decision possible, O! many things, all transient and all rapid, Must meet at once: and, haply, they thus met May by that confluence be enforc'd 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 round 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 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 multitude. 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, forc'd 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.
WALLENSTEIN.
TERTSKY.
But when will it be time?
WALLENSTEIN.
ILLO.
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.
WALLENSTEIN.
And many a time I've told thee, Jupiter, That lustrous god, was setting at thy birth. Thy visual power subdues no mysteries; Mole-ey'd, thou may'st but burrow in the earth, Blind as the subterrestrial, who with wan, Lead-colour'd 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 sees the glance alone, the unseal'd eye, Of Jupiter's glad children born in lustre. (He walks across the chamber, then returns, and, standing still, proceeds.) The heavenly constellations make not merely The day and night, 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, Strew'd 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.)
WALLENSTEIN.