The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iii Part 129

Thus has he dug his own untimely grave, Who sought insatiably to grasp at all.

STAUFF.

The country round is fill'd with dire alarm, The pa.s.ses are blockaded everywhere, And sentinels on ev'ry frontier set; E'en ancient Zurich barricades her gates, That have stood open for these thirty years, Dreading the murd'rers and th' avengers more.

For cruel Agnes comes, the Hungarian queen, By all her s.e.x's tenderness untouch'd, Arm'd with the thunders of the ban, to wreak Dire vengeance for her parent's royal blood On the whole race of those that murder'd him-- Their servants, children, children's children--yea, Upon the stones that built their castle walls.

Deep has she sworn a vow to immolate Whole generations on her father's tomb, And bathe in blood as in the dew of May.

MELCH.

Is't known which way the murderers have fled?

STAUFF.

No sooner had they done the deed, than they Took flight each following a different route, And parted ne'er to see each other more.

Duke John must still be wand'ring in the mountains.

FuRST.

And thus their crime has borne no fruit for them.

Revenge bears never fruit. Itself, it is The dreadful food it feeds on; its delight Is murder--its satiety despair.

STAUFF.

The a.s.sa.s.sins reap no profit by their crime; But we shall pluck with unpolluted hands The teeming fruits of their most b.l.o.o.d.y deed.

For we are ransomed from our heaviest fear; The direst foe of liberty has fallen, And, 'tis reported, that the crown will pa.s.s From Habsburg's house into another line; The Empire is determined to a.s.sert Its old prerogative of choice, I hear.

FuRST _and several others_.

Is any named?

STAUFFACHER.

The Count of Luxembourg's Already chosen by the general voice.

FuRST.

'Tis well we stood so staunchly by the Empire!

Now we may hope for justice, and with cause.

STAUFF.

The Emperor will need some valiant friends.

He will 'gainst Austria's vengeance be our shield.

[_The peasantry embrace. Enter_ SACRISTAN _with Imperial messenger_.]

SACRIST.

Here are the worthy chiefs of Switzerland!

RoSSELMANN _and several others_.

Sacrist, what news?

SACRISTAN.

A courier brings this letter.

ALL (_to_ WALTER FuRST).

Open and read it.

FuRST (_reading_).

"To the worthy men Of Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwald, the Queen Elizabeth sends grace and all good wishes!"

MANY VOICES.

What wants the queen with us? Her reign is done.

FuRST (_reads_).

"In the great grief and doleful widowhood, In which the b.l.o.o.d.y exit of her lord Has plunged the queen, still in her mind she bears The ancient faith and love of Switzerland."

MELCH.

She ne'er did that in her prosperity.

RoSSEL.

Hush, let us hear!

FuRST (_reads_).

"And she is well a.s.sured, Her people will in due abhorrence hold The perpetrators of this d.a.m.ned deed.

On the three Cantons, therefore, she relies, That they in nowise lend the murderers aid; But rather, that they loyally a.s.sist, To give them up to the avenger's hand, Remembering the love and grace which they Of old received from Rudolph's royal house."

[_Symptoms of dissatisfaction among the peasantry_.]

MANY VOICES.

The love and grace!

STAUFF.

Grace from the father we, indeed, received, But what have we to boast of from the song Did he confirm the charter of our freedom, As all preceding emperors had done?

Did he judge righteous judgment, or afford Shelter, or stay, to innocence oppress'd?

Nay, did he e'en give audience to the men We sent to lay our grievances before him?