SCENE VI OCTAVIO and MAX PICCOLOMINI. Octavio (advances to Max). I am going off, my son. [Receiving no answer he takes his hand. My son, farewell. Max. Farewell. Octavio. Thou wilt soon follow me? Max. I follow thee? Thy way is crooked-it is not my way. [OCTAVIO drops his hand, and starts back. O, hadst thou been but simple and sincere, The virtuous had retained their influence o'er him: Octavio. My son, ah! I forgive thy agony! Son! Max. Was't possible? had'st thou the heart, my father, Had'st thou the heart to drive it to such lengths, With cold premeditated purpose? Thou Had'st thou the heart, to wish to see him guilty, Octavio. God in Heaven! 15 20 Max. O, woe is me! sure I have changed my nature. 25 his Before I (MAX enters almost in a state of derangement from extreme agitation, eyes roll wildly, his walk is unsteady, and he appears not to observe his father, who stands at a distance, and gazes at him with a countenance expressive of compassion. He paces with long strides through the chamber, then stands still again, and at last throws himself into a chair, staring vacantly at the object directly before him), 1800, 1528, 1829. Before 19 Mar (rises and contemplates his father with looks of suspicion). 1800, 1828, 1829. How comes suspicion here-in the free soul? Murder, and poisoning, treason, perjury: 30 Octavio. Max!-we will go together. "Twill be better. 35 Max. What? ere I've taken a last parting leave, The very last-no never! Octavio. Spare thyself The pang of necessary separation. [Attempts to take him with him. 40 Max. No! as sure as God lives, no! Laws to the heart; and would'st thou wish to rob me 45 With stealthy coward flight forsake her? No! 50 55 Of comfort, plaining, loose this pang of death! Octavio. Thou wilt not tear thyself away; thou canst not. O, come, my son! I bid thee save thy virtue. Max. Squander not thou thy words in vain. The heart I follow, for I dare trust to it. 60 Octavio. Max! Max! if that most damned thing could be, If thou-my son-my own blood-(dare I think it?) 28 what] that 1828, 1829. 33 The single holy spot is our love 1800. Before 62 Octavio (tremlling, 63 think 1800. Before 41 Octavio (more urgently). 1800, 1828, 1829. and losing all self-command). 1800, 1828, 1829. Do sell thyself to him, the infamous, Do stamp this brand upon our noble house, Of the son trickle with the father's blood. Max. O hadst thou always better thought of men, Nothing on earth remains unwrenched and firm, Octavio. And if I trust thy heart, Will it be always in thy power to follow it? 65 Max. The heart's voice thou hast not o'erpower'd-as little Will Wallenstein be able to o'erpower it. Octavio. O, Max! I see thee never more again! Max. Unworthy of thee wilt thou never see me. Than leave their rightful leader, and their honour. Max. Octavio. 70 76 80 85 Farewell! How? not one look Of filial love? No grasp of the hand at parting? Is it then true? I have a son no longer? MAX falls into his arms, they hold each [other] for a long time in a speechless embrace, then go away at different sides. The Curtain drops. 75 thou 1800. THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS PREFACE OF THE TRANSLATOR TO THE FIRST EDITION THE two Dramas, PICCOLOMINI, or the first part of WALLEN STEIN, and WALLENSTEIN, are introduced in the original manuscript by a Prelude in one Act, entitled WALLENSTEIN'S CAMP. This is written in rhyme, and in nine-syllable verse, in the same lilting metre (if that expression may be permitted) 5. with the second Eclogue of Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar. This Prelude possesses a sort of broad humour, and is not deficient in character; but to have translated it into prose, or into any other metre than that of the original, would have given a false notion both of its style and purport; to have trans- ro lated it into the same metre would have been incompatible with a faithful adherence to the sense of the German, from the comparative poverty of our language in rhymes; and it would have been unadvisable from the incongruity of those lax verses with the present taste of the English Public. Schiller's intention 15 seems to have been merely to have prepared his reader for the Tragedies by a lively picture of the laxity of discipline, and the mutinous dispositions of Wallenstein's soldiery. It is not necessary as a preliminary explanation. For these reasons it has been thought expedient not to translate it. 20 The admirers of Schiller, who have abstracted their conception of that author from the Robbers, and the Cabal and Love, plays in which the main interest is produced by the excitement of curiosity, and in which the curiosity is excited by terrible and extraordinary incident, will not have perused without some 25 portion of disappointment the Dramas, which it has been my employment to translate. They should, however, reflect that these are Historical Dramas, taken from a popular German History; that we must therefore judge of them in some measure with the feelings of Germans; or by analogy, with the interest 3o excited in us by similar Dramas in our own language. Few, I trust, would be rash or ignorant enough to compare Schiller Title] Part Second. The Death of Wallenstein. A Tragedy. The Death of Wallenstein. Preface of the Translator. 1828, 1829. 10 notion] idea 1800, 1828, 1829. 21 conception] idea 1800, 1828, 1829. with Shakspeare yet, merely as illustration, I would say that we should proceed to the perusal of Wallenstein, not from Lear or Othello, but from Richard the Second, or the 35 three parts of Henry the Sixth. We scarcely expect rapidity in an Historical Drama; and many prolix speeches are pardoned from characters, whose names and actions have formed the most amusing tales of our early life. On the other hand, there exist in these plays more individual beauties, 40 more passages the excellence of which will bear reflection, than in the former productions of Schiller. The description of the Astrological Tower, and the reflections of the Young Lover, which follow it, form in the original a fine poem; and my translation must have been wretched indeed, if it can have 45 wholly overclouded the beauties of the Scene in the first Act of the first Play between Questenberg, Max, and Octavio Piccolomini. If we except the Scene of the setting sun in the Robbers, I know of no part in Schiller's Plays which equals the whole of the first Scene of the fifth Act of the concluding Play. It 50 would be unbecoming in me to be more diffuse on this subject. A Translator stands connected with the original Author by a certain law of subordination, which makes it more decorous to point out excellencies than defects: indeed he is not likely to be a fair judge of either. The pleasure or disgust from his 55 own labour will mingle with the feelings that arise from an afterview of the original. Even in the first perusal of a work in any foreign language which we understand, we are apt to attribute to it more excellence than it really possesses from our own pleasurable sense of difficulty overcome without effect. 60 Translation of poetry into poetry is difficult, because the Translator must give a brilliancy to his language without that warmth of original conception, from which such brilliancy would follow of its own accord. But the translator of a living Author is encumbered with additional inconveniences. If he render his 65 original faithfully, as to the sense of each passage, he must necessarily destroy a considerable portion of the spirit; if he endeavour to give a work executed according to laws of compensation, he subjects himself to imputations of vanity, or misrepresentation. I have thought it my duty to remain 70 bound by the sense of my original, with as few exceptions as the nature of the languages rendered possible. 41 the excellence of which] whose excellence 1800, 1828, 1829. 60 effect] effort 1834. 66 sense] sense 1800, 1828, 1829. 67 spirit] spirit 1800, 1828, 1829. 68 compensation] compensation 1800, 1828, 1829. After 72 S. T. Coleridge 1800, 1828, 1829. |