Page:Wallenstein, a drama in 2 parts - Schiller (tr. Coleridge) (1800).djvu/323

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WALLENSTEIN.
85
GORDON.
Who leans with his whole confidence upon you!

BUTLER.
Such is his evil destiny!

GORDON.
Your General!
The sacred person of your General!

BUTLER.
My General he has been.

GORDON.
That 'tis only
An "has been" washes out no villainy.
And without judgment pass'd?

BUTLER.
The execution
Is here instead of judgment.

GORDON.
This were murder,
Not justice. The most guilty should be heard.

BUTLER.
His guilt is clear, the Emperor has past judgment,
And we but execute his will.

GORDON.
We should not
Hurry to realize a bloody sentence.
A word may be recall'd, a life can never be.

BUTLER.
Dispatch in service pleases sovereigns.

GORDON.
No honest man's ambitious to press forward
To the hangman's service.

BUT-