NORDMANN.
O all-transforming Time !
Is this meek, saintly-hypocrite, the firm,
Ambitious, resolute Reinhard Peppercorn,
Terror of Jews and beacon of the Church ?
Look, you, I have won the special grace of Christ,
He knows through what fierce anguish ! Now he leans
Out of his heaven to whisper in mine ear,
And reach me my revenge. He makes my cause
His own — and I shall fail upon these heights.
Sink from the level of a hate sublime,
To puerile pity !
PRIOR.
Be advised. You hold
Your enemy's living heart within your hands.
This secret is far costlier than you dreamed.
For Frederick's son wooes Schnetzen's daughter. See,
A hundred delicate springs your wit may move.
Your puppets are the Landgrave and the Prince,
The Grovemor of Salza and the Jews.
You may recover station, wealth, and honor.
Selling your secret shrewdly ; while rash greed
Of clumsy vengeance may but drag you down
In the wild whirl of universal ruin.
