Wilhelm Tell Part 11

RUDENZ.

I see, my presence is not needed here, I am but as a stranger in this house.

ATTINGHAUSEN (gazes fixedly at him for a considerable time).

Alas, thou art indeed! Alas, that home To thee has grown so strange! Oh, Uly! Uly!

I scarce do know thee now, thus decked in silks, The peac.o.c.k's feather [9] flaunting in thy cap, And purple mantle round thy shoulders flung; Thou lookest upon the peasant with disdain, And takest with a blush his honest greeting.

RUDENZ.

All honor due to him I gladly pay, But must deny the right he would usurp.

ATTINGHAUSEN.

The sore displeasure of the king is resting Upon the land, and every true man's heart Is full of sadness for the grievous wrongs We suffer from our tyrants. Thou alone Art all unmoved amid the general grief.

Abandoning thy friends, thou takest thy stand Beside thy country's foes, and, as in scorn Of our distress, pursuest giddy joys, Courting the smiles of princes, all the while Thy country bleeds beneath their cruel scourge.

RUDENZ.

The land is sore oppressed; I know it, uncle.

But why? Who plunged it into this distress?

A word, one little easy word, might buy Instant deliverance from such dire oppression, And win the good-will of the emperor.

Woe unto those who seal the people's eyes, And make them adverse to their country's good; The men who, for their own vile, selfish ends, Are seeking to prevent the Forest States From swearing fealty to Austria's house, As all the countries round about have done.

It fits their humor well, to take their seats Amid the n.o.bles on the Herrenbank; [10]

They'll have the Caesar for their lord, forsooth, That is to say, they'll have no lord at all.

ATTINGHAUSEN.

Must I hear this, and from thy lips, rash boy!

RUDENZ.

You urged me to this answer. Hear me out.

What, uncle, is the character you've stooped To fill contentedly through life? Have you No higher pride, than in these lonely wilds To be the Landamman or Banneret, [11]

The petty chieftain of a shepherd race?

How! Were it not a far more glorious choice To bend in homage to our royal lord, And swell the princely splendors of his court, Than sit at home, the peer of your own va.s.sals, And share the judgment-seat with vulgar clowns?

ATTINGHAUSEN.

Ah, Uly, Uly; all too well I see, The tempter's voice has caught thy willing ear, And poured its subtle poison in thy heart.

RUDENZ.

Yes, I conceal it not. It doth offend My inmost soul to hear the stranger's gibes, That taunt us with the name of "Peasant n.o.bles."

Think you the heart that's stirring here can brook, While all the young n.o.bility around Are reaping honor under Hapsburg's banner, That I should loiter, in inglorious ease, Here on the heritage my fathers left, And, in the dull routine of vulgar toil, Lose all life's glorious spring? In other lands Deeds are achieved. A world of fair renown Beyond these mountains stirs in martial pomp.

My helm and shield are rusting in the hall; The martial trumpet's spirit-stirring blast, The herald's call, inviting to the lists, Rouse not the echoes of these vales, where naught Save cowherd's horn and cattle-bell is heard, In one unvarying, dull monotony.

ATTINGHAUSEN.

Deluded boy, seduced by empty show!

Despise the land that gave thee birth! Ashamed Of the good ancient customs of thy sires!

The day will come, when thou, with burning tears, Wilt long for home, and for thy native hills, And that dear melody of tuneful herds, Which now, in proud disgust, thou dost despise!

A day when thou wilt drink its tones in sadness, Hearing their music in a foreign land.

Oh! potent is the spell that binds to home!

No, no, the cold, false world is not for thee.

At the proud court, with thy true heart thou wilt Forever feel a stranger among strangers.

The world asks virtues of far other stamp Than thou hast learned within these simple vales.

But go--go thither; barter thy free soul, Take land in fief, become a prince's va.s.sal, Where thou might'st be lord paramount, and prince Of all thine own unburdened heritage!

O, Uly, Uly, stay among thy people!

Go not to Altdorf. Oh, abandon not The sacred cause of thy wronged native land!

I am the last of all my race. My name Ends with me. Yonder hang my helm and shield; They will be buried with me in the grave. [12]

And must I think, when yielding up my breath, That thou but wait'st the closing of mine eyes, To stoop thy knee to this new feudal court, And take in va.s.salage from Austria's hands The n.o.ble lands, which I from G.o.d received Free and unfettered as the mountain air!

RUDENZ.

'Tis vain for us to strive against the king.

The world pertains to him:--shall we alone, In mad, presumptuous obstinacy strive To break that mighty chain of lands, which he Hath drawn around us with his giant grasp.

His are the markets, his the courts; his too The highways; nay, the very carrier's horse, That traffics on the Gotthardt, pays him toll.

By his dominions, as within a net, We are enclosed, and girded round about.

--And will the empire shield us? Say, can it Protect itself 'gainst Austria's growing power?

To G.o.d, and not to emperors, must we look!

What store can on their promises be placed, When they, to meet their own necessities, Can p.a.w.n, and even alienate the towns That flee for shelter 'neath the eagle's wings? [13]

No, uncle. It is wise and wholesome prudence, In times like these, when faction's all abroad, To own attachment to some mighty chief.

The imperial crown's transferred from line to line, [14]

It has no memory for faithful service: But to secure the favor of these great Hereditary masters, were to sow Seed for a future harvest.

ATTINGHAUSEN.

Art so wise?

Wilt thou see clearer than thy n.o.ble sires, Who battled for fair freedom's costly gem, With life, and fortune, and heroic arm?

Sail down the lake to Lucerne, there inquire, How Austria's rule doth weigh the Cantons down.

Soon she will come to count our sheep, our cattle, To portion out the Alps, e'en to their summits, And in our own free woods to hinder us From striking down the eagle or the stag; To set her tolls on every bridge and gate, Impoverish us to swell her l.u.s.t of sway, And drain our dearest blood to feed her wars.

No, if our blood must flow, let it be shed In our own cause! We purchase liberty More cheaply far than bondage.

RUDENZ.

What can we, A shepherd race, against great Albert's hosts?

ATTINGHAUSEN.

Learn, foolish boy, to know this shepherd race!

I know them, I have led them on in fight-- I saw them in the battle at Favenz.

Austria will try, forsooth, to force on us A yoke we are determined not to bear!

Oh, learn to feel from what a race thou'rt sprung!

Cast not, for tinsel trash and idle show, The precious jewel of thy worth away.

To be the chieftain of a freeborn race, Bound to thee only by their unbought love, Ready to stand--to fight--to die with thee, Be that thy pride, be that thy n.o.blest boast!

Knit to thy heart the ties of kindred--home-- Cling to the land, the dear land of thy sires, Grapple to that with thy whole heart and soul!

Thy power is rooted deep and strongly here, But in yon stranger world thou'lt stand alone, A trembling reed beat down by every blast.

Oh come! 'tis long since we have seen thee, Uly!

Tarry but this one day. Only to-day Go not to Altdorf. Wilt thou? Not to-day!

For this one day bestow thee on thy friends.

[Takes his hand.

RUDENZ.

I gave my word. Unhand me! I am bound.

ATTINGHAUSEN (drops his hand and says sternly).

Bound, didst thou say? Oh yes, unhappy boy, Thou art, indeed. But not by word or oath.

'Tis by the silken mesh of love thou'rt bound.

[RUDENZ turns away.