Page:Wallenstein, a drama in 2 parts - Schiller (tr. Coleridge) (1800).djvu/199

Who not with empty names, or shews of proxy,
Is serv'd, who'll have the thing and not the symbol,
Ever seeks out the greatest and the best,
And at the rudder places him, e'en though
She had been forc'd to take him from the rabble—
She, this Necessity, it was that plac'd thee
In this high office, it was she that gave thee
Thy letters patent of inauguration.
For, to the uttermost moment that they can,
This race still help themselves at cheapest rate
With slavish souls, with puppets! At the approach
Of extreme peril, when a hollow image
Is found a hollow image and no more,
Then falls the power into the mighty hands
Of Nature, of the spirit giant-born,
Who listens only to himself, knows nothing
Of stipulations, duties, reverences,
And, like th' emancipated force of fire,
Unmaster'd scorches, ere it it reaches them,
Their fine-spun webs, their artificial policy.

WALLENSTEIN.
'Tis true! they saw me always as I am—
Always! I did not cheat them in the bargain.
I never held it worth my pains to hide
The bold all-grasping habit of my soul.

COUNTESS.
Nay rather—thou hast ever shewn thyself
A formidable man, without restraint;
Hast exercis'd the full prerogatives

Of