FIRST PART OF WALLENSTEIN.
189
WALLENSTEIN.
It is too late. Thou know'st not what has happen'd.
It is too late. Thou know'st not what has happen'd.
MAX.
Were it too late, and were gone so far,
That a crime only could prevent thy fall,
Then—fall! fall honourably, even as thou stood'st.
Lose the command. Go from the stage of war.
Thou canst with splendour do it—do it too
With innocence. Thou hast liv'd much for others.
At length live thou for thy own self. I follow thee.
My destiny I never part from thine.
Were it too late, and were gone so far,
That a crime only could prevent thy fall,
Then—fall! fall honourably, even as thou stood'st.
Lose the command. Go from the stage of war.
Thou canst with splendour do it—do it too
With innocence. Thou hast liv'd much for others.
At length live thou for thy own self. I follow thee.
My destiny I never part from thine.
WALLENSTEIN.
It is too late! Even now, while thou art losing
Thy words, one after the other are the mile-stones
Left fast behind by my post couriers,
Who bear the order on to Prague and Egra.
(Max. stands as convuls'd, with a gesture and
countenance expressing the most intense anguish.)
Yield thyself to it. We act as we are forc'd.
I cannot give assent to my own shame
And ruin. Thou—no—thou canst not forsake me!
So let us do, what must be done, with dignity,
With a firm step. What am I doing worse
Than did fam'd Cæsar at the Rubicon,
When he the legions led against his country,
The which his country had deliver'd to him?
Had he thrown down the sword, he had been lost,
It is too late! Even now, while thou art losing
Thy words, one after the other are the mile-stones
Left fast behind by my post couriers,
Who bear the order on to Prague and Egra.
(Max. stands as convuls'd, with a gesture and
countenance expressing the most intense anguish.)
Yield thyself to it. We act as we are forc'd.
I cannot give assent to my own shame
And ruin. Thou—no—thou canst not forsake me!
So let us do, what must be done, with dignity,
With a firm step. What am I doing worse
Than did fam'd Cæsar at the Rubicon,
When he the legions led against his country,
The which his country had deliver'd to him?
Had he thrown down the sword, he had been lost,
As
