Still to and fro he pass'd, suspected never!
On the wide ocean, in the starry heaven
Did mine eyes seek the enemy, whom I
In my heart's heart had folded! Had I been
To Ferdinand what Octavio was to me,
War had I ne'er denounc'd against him. No,
I never could have done it. The Emp'ror was
My austere master only, not my friend.
There was already war 'twixt him and me
When he deliver'd the Commander's Staff
Into my hands; for there's a natural
Unceasing war 'twixt cunning and suspicion;
Peace exists only betwixt confidence
And faith. Who poisons confidence, he murders
The future generations.
I will not
Defend my father. Woe is me, I cannot!
Hard deeds and luckless have ta'en place, one crime
all the plantations of men drives the wild stream in frightful devastation. Wallenstein. Thou art portraying thy father's heart, as thou describest, even so is it shaped in his entrails, in this black hypocrite's breast. O, the art of hell has deceiv'd me! The Abyss sent up to me the most spotted of the spirits, the most skilful in lies, and placed him as a friend at my side. Who may withstand the power of hell? I took the basilisk to my bosom, with my heart's blood I nourished him; he sucked himself glut-full at the breasts of my love. I never harboured evil towards him; wide open lid I leave the door of my thoughts; I threw, away the key of wise foresight. In the starry heaven, &c.—We find a difficulty in believing this to have been written by Schiller.
Drags
