Lighted by a lamp, a couch in the background
Egmont (alone). Old friend! Ever faithful sleep, dost thou too forsake
me, like my other friends? How wert thou wont of yore to descend
unsought upon my free brow, cooling my temples as with a myrtle wreath
of love! Amidst the din of battle, on the waves of life, I rested in
thine arms, breathing lightly as a growing boy. When tempests whistled
through the leaves and boughs, when the summits of the lofty trees swung
creaking in the blast, the inmost core of my heart remained unmoved.
What agitates thee now? What shakes thy firm and steadfast mind? I feel
it, 'tis the sound of the murderous axe, gnawing at thy root. Yet
I stand erect, but an inward shudder runs through my frame. Yes, it
prevails, this treacherous power; it undermines the firm, the lofty
stem, and ere the bark withers, thy verdant crown falls crashing to the
earth.
Yet wherefore now, thou who hast so often chased the weightiest cares
like bubbles from thy brow, wherefore canst thou not dissipate this dire
foreboding which incessantly haunts thee in a thousand different shapes?
Since when hast thou trembled at the approach of death, amid whose
varying forms, thou wert wont calmly to dwell, as with the other shapes
of this familiar earth. But 'tis not he, the sudden foe, to encounter
whom the sound bosom emulously pants;---'tis the dungeon, emblem of the
grave, revolting alike to the hero and the coward. How intolerable I
used to feel it, in the stately hall, girt round by gloomy walls, when,
seated on my cushioned chair, in the solemn assembly of the princes,
questions, which scarcely required deliberation, were overlaid with
endless discussions, while the rafters of the ceiling seemed to stifle
and oppress me. Then I would hurry forth as soon as possible, fling
myself upon my horse with deep-drawn breath, and away to the wide
champaign, man's natural element, where, exhaling from the earth,
nature's richest treasures are poured forth around us, while, from the
wide heavens, the stars shed down their blessings through the still
air; where, like earth-born giants, we spring aloft, invigorated by our
Mother's touch; where our entire humanity and our human desires throb in
every vein; where the desire to press forward, to vanquish, to snatch,
to use his clenched fist, to possess, to conquer, glows through the soul
of the young hunter; where the warrior, with rapid stride, assumes his
inborn right to dominion over the world; and, with terrible liberty,
sweeps like a desolating hailstorm over the field and grove, knowing no
boundaries traced by the hand of man.
Thou art but a shadow, a dream of the happiness I so long possessed;
where has treacherous fate conducted thee? Did she deny thee to meet the
rapid stroke of never-shunned death, in the open face of day, only
to prepare for thee a foretaste of the grave, in the midst of this
loathsome corruption? How revolting its rank odour exhales from these
damp stones! Life stagnates, and my foot shrinks from the couch as from
the grave. Oh care, care! Thou who dost begin prematurely the work of
murder,--forbear;--Since when has Egmont been alone, so utterly alone
in the world? 'Tis doubt renders thee insensible, not happiness. The
justice of the king, in which through life thou hast confided, the
friendship of the Regent, which, thou mayst confess it, was akin to
love,--have these suddenly vanished, like a meteor of the night, and
left thee alone upon thy gloomy path? Will not Orange, at the head of
thy friends, contrive some daring scheme? Will not the people assemble,
and with gathering might, attempt the rescue of their faithful friend?
Ye walls, which thus gird me round, separate me not from the
well-intentioned zeal of so many kindly souls. And may the courage with
which my glance was wont to inspire them, now return again from their
hearts to mine. Yes! they assemble in thousands! they come! they stand
beside me! their pious wish rises urgently to heaven, and implores a
miracle; and if no angel stoops for my deliverance, I see them grasp
eagerly their lance and sword. The gates are forced, the bolts are
riven, the walls fall beneath their conquering hands, and Egmont
advances joyously, to hail the freedom of the rising morn. How many
well-known faces receive me with loud acclaim! O Clara! wert thou a man,
I should see thee here the very first, and thank thee for that which it
is galling to owe even to a king--liberty.