Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). Wilhelm Tell.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Act IV
Scene IIFürst.All now is over with him. He is gone.
Moves on his lips! His sleep is very calm,
And on his features plays a placid smile.[B
That she must speak with you, and see her boy.[W
Does every sorrow centre on my head?
And is it possible he aim’d at thee?
How could he do it? Oh, he has no heart—
And he could wing an arrow at his child!
No choice was left him, but to shoot or die!
Have sooner perish’d by a thousand deaths!
That ordered things so well.
What might have been the issue? God of Heaven,
Were I to live for centuries, I still
Should see my boy tied up,—his father’s mark,—
And still the shaft would quiver in my heart.
And reason in his breast forsakes her seat;
In his blind wrath he’ll stake upon a cast
A child’s existence, and a mother’s heart!
That you embitter it by such reproaches?
Have you not feeling for his sufferings?
Hast thou tears only for thy friend’s distress?
Say, where were you when he—my noble Tell—
Was bound in chains? Where was your friendship then?
The shameful wrong was done before your eyes;
Patient you stood, and let your friend be dragg’d,
Ay, from your very hands. Did ever Tell
Act thus to you? Did he stand whining by,
When on your heels the Viceroy’s horsemen press’d,
And full before you roared the storm-toss’d lake?
Oh, not with idle tears his pity show’d;
Into the boat he sprang, forgot his home,
His wife, his children, and delivered thee!
Unarm’d and few in numbers as we were!
Oh, father, and thou, too, hast lost my Tell!
The country—all have lost him! All lament
His loss; and, oh, how he must pine for us!
Heaven keep his soul from sinking to despair!
No friend’s consoling voice can penetrate
His dreary dungeon walls. Should he fall sick!
Ah! In the vapours of the murky vault
He must fall sick. Even as the Alpine rose
Grows pale and withers in the swampy air,
There is no life for him, but in the sun,
And in the breath of Heaven’s fresh-blowing airs.
Imprison’d! Liberty to him is breath;
He cannot live in the rank dungeon air!
Combine to burst his prison doors.
What have you power to do? While Tell was free,
There still, indeed, was hope—weak innocence
Had still a friend, and the oppress’d a stay.
Tell saved you all! You cannot all combined
Release him from his cruel prison bonds.[The B
In my last moments he abandons me.
He has found his heart at last, and is our own.
That he may take my blessing ere I die?
I feel my life fast ebbing to a close.
Has much refresh’d you, and your eye is bright.
My sufferings, like my hopes, have pass’d away.[Observing the boy.
What boy is that?
He is my grandson, and is fatherless.[H
Oh wretched fate, that these old eyes should see
My country’s ruin, as they close in death!
Must I attain the utmost verge of life,
To feel my hopes go with me to the grave?
Shall not his parting moments be illumed
By hope’s inspiring beams? My noble lord,
Raise up your drooping spirit! We are not
Forsaken quite—past all deliverance.
The Cantons three are to each other pledged,
To hunt the tyrants from the land. The league
Has been concluded, and a sacred oath
Confirms our union. Ere another year
Begins its circling course—the blow shall fall.
In a free land your ashes shall repose.
All is prepared to strike—and to this hour
The secret closely kept, though hundreds share it;
The ground is hollow ’neath the tyrants’ feet;
Their days of rule are number’d, and ere long
No trace will of their hateful sway be left.
As yet the peasantry alone have sworn.
On their own charge, without the nobles’ aid—
Relied so much on their own proper strength?
Nay then, indeed, they want our help no more;
We may go down to death cheer’d by the thought,
That after us the majesty of man
Will live, and be maintain’d by other hands.[He lays his hand upon the head of the child who is kneeling before him.
From this boy’s head, whereon the apple lay,
Your new and better liberty shall spring;
The old is crumbling down—the times are changing—
And from the ruins blooms a fairer life.
This is not Nature’s last expiring flame,
It is the beam of renovated life.
And swearing in the towns the civic oath.
In Uechtland and Thurgau the work’s begun;
The noble Berne lifts her commanding head,
And Freyburg is a stronghold of the free;
The stirring Zurich calls her guilds to arms;—
And now, behold!—the ancient might of kings
Is shiver’d ’gainst her everlasting walls.[ what follows with a prophetic tone; his utterance rising into enthusiasm.
I see the princes and their haughty peers,
Clad all in steel, come striding on to crush
A harmless shepherd race with mailed hand.
Desp’rate the conflict; ’tis for life or death;
And many a pass will tell to after years
Of glorious victories sealed in foeman’s blood.
The peasant throws himself with naked breast,
A willing victim on their serried spears;
They yield—the flower of chivalry’s cut down,
And Freedom waves her conquering banner high.[Grasps the hands of W
Hold fast together, then,—forever fast!
Let freedom’s haunts be one in heart and mind!
Set watches on your mountain tops, that league
May answer league, when comes the hour to strike.
Be one—be one—be one—[He falls back upon the cushion. His lifeless hands continue to grasp those of F
Henceforth this castle bears another name.
Could he not live some few brief moments more,
To see the change that has come o’er my heart?
Oh, I was deaf to his true counselling voice,
While yet he walked on earth. Now he is gone,—
Gone, and forever,—leaving me the debt—
The heavy debt I owe him—undischarged!
Oh, tell me! did he apart in anger with me?
And bless’d the valour that inspired your words!
Thou lifeless corpse! Here, on thy death-cold hand
Do I abjure all foreign ties for ever!
And to my country’s cause devote myself.
I am a Switzer, and will act as one,
With my whole heart and soul.[Rises.
Mourn for our friend,
Our common parent, yet be not dismay’d!
’Tis not alone his lands that I inherit,—
His heart—his spirit have devolved on me;
And my young arm shall execute the task,
Which in his hoary age he could not pay.
Give me your hands, ye venerable sires!
Thine, Melchthal, too! Nay, do not hesitate,
Nor from me turn distrustfully away.
Accept my plighted vow—my knightly oath!
That sees and owns its error, claims our trust.
What surety have we, that you mean us fair?
See they be not forgotten!
A peasant’s hand,—and with it, noble sir,
The gage and the assurance of a man!
Without us, sir, what would the nobles be?
Our order is more ancient, too, than yours!
And makes its bosom blossom with increase,
Can also shield its owner’s breast at need.
Thus each be strengthen’d by the other’s strength.
Yet wherefore talk ye, while our native land
Is still to alien tyranny a prey?
First let us sweep the foemen from the soil,
Then reconcile our difference in peace![After a moment’s pause.
How! You are silent! Not a word for me?
And have I yet no title to your trust?—
Then must I force my way, despite your will,
Into the League you secretly have form’d.
You’ve held a Diet on the Rootli,—I
Know this,—know all that was transacted there;
And though not trusted with your secret, I
Have kept it closely like a sacred pledge.
Trust me—I never was my country’s foe,
Nor would I ever have against you stood!
Yet you did wrong—to put your rising off.
Time presses! We must strike, and swiftly too!
Already Tell is lost through your delay.
If you delay, I will not!
And my first duty is to guard your rights.
Within the earth to lay these dear remains.
Our fresh victorious wreaths upon his bier.
Oh, my dear friends, ’tis not your cause alone!—
I with the tyrants have a cause to fight,
That more concerns myself. My Bertha’s gone,
Has disappear’d,—been carried off by stealth,—
Stolen from amongst us by their ruffian hands!
Against a lady free and nobly born!
And I must first implore it for myself!
She that I love, is stolen—is forced away,
And who knows where she’s by the tyrant hid,
Or with what outrages his ruffian crew
May force her into nuptials she detests?
Forsake me not!—Oh, help me to her rescue!
She loves you! Well, oh, well, has she deserved,
That all should rush to arms in her behalf!
In the dark mystery that shrouds her fate,—
In the dread agony of this suspense,—
Where I can grasp at nought of certainty,—
One single ray of comfort beams upon me.
From out the ruins of the tyrant’s power
Alone can she be rescued from the grave.
Their strongholds must be levell’d, every one,
Ere we can penetrate her dungeon walls.
Until to-morrow, what to-day may do?
Tell’s arm was free when we at Rootli swore.
This foul enormity was yet undone.
And change of circumstance brings change of vow;
Who such a coward as to waver still?
The fiery signal on the mountain tops!
For swifter than a boat can scour the lake
Shall you have tidings of our victory;
And when you see the welcome flames ascend
Then, like the lightning, swoop upon the foe,
And lay the despots and their creatures low!