1A grand Hall, festively lit. In the center, upstage, an opulently laid table at which eight Generals are seated, among them, Octavio Piccolomini, Terzky, and Maradas. Two other tables, right and left and farther upstage, where six diners are seated, respectively. Downstage, a sideboard. The front of the stage is left free for the Pages and Servants who wait the tables. The whole room is in motion and marching musicians from Terzky’s regiment circle the tables. Before they have left the scene, Max Piccolomini enters. Terzky approaches him, carrying a sheet of paper; Isolani, equally, carrying a wine cup.

Scene One

2Terzky. Isolani. Max Piccolomini.

ISOLANI. Ho, Brother! What a pleasure! Where’ve you been?
Quick! Take your place. Our Terzky’s sacrificed
His mother’s best reserve wines. It’s as if [1710]
These were the cellars of the Heidelberger’s
Castle.148 You’ve missed the best. Up there at table
They’re handing prince’s bonnets out: estates
Of Eggenberg, Slavata, Lichtenstein,
And Sternberg are on offer, all the great
Bohemian fiefs. Be quick and you’ll get something,
Too. March! And sit!
COLALTO and GOETZ (calling from the second table).
Count Piccolomini!
TERZKY. He’ll be there right away! Here, read this oath,
See if you like it, how it’s formulated.
We all have read it, everyone in turn, [1720]
And are prepared to put our name to it.
MAX (reads). “Ingratis servire nefas.”
ISOLANI. That sounds like Latin, Brother. What’s the German?
TERZKY. “No honest man would serve an ingrate.” Max?
MAX. “WHEREAS our most sovereign Marshal, his Grace, the Prince of Friedland, prompted by manifold offenses, intended to resign the Kaiser’s service, but, moved by our unanimous request, has promised to remain with the Army and not to leave us without consultation, we THEREFORE bind ourselves, separately and together, in lieu of oral oath, also to hold to him, in honor and in loyalty, to cleave to him irrespective of events, and to risk everything for him, to our last drop of blood, to the extent permitted by our Oath sworn to the Kaiser. (Isolani repeats these last words aloud.) We FURTHER declare anyone who deserts our common cause, in contravention of this Pledge, to be a traitor to our League whom we are obliged to penalize in his property and assets, his person and his life. IN WITNESS WHEREOF we hereby set our name.”149
TERZKY. Are you prepared to put your name to this?
ISOLANI. Why shouldn’t he? Why, every officer
Of honor can and must. Ho! Pen and ink here!
TERZKY. We’ll let that wait till after table.
ISOLANI (drawing Max after him). Come! Come!

3(Both go to table.)

Scene Two

4Terzky. Neumann.

TERZKY (signals Neumann, who is standing at the sideboard and comes with him to the front).
You have the copy, Neumann? Let me see.
It’s set so that one doesn’t see the difference? [1730]
NEUMANN. I copied line for line and nothing’s missing
Except the passage with the Kaiser’s oath,
Just as your Excellency ordered me.
TERZKY. Good! Lay it over there. Into the fire
With this. It’s done what we required of it.

5(Neumann lays the Copy on the table and returns to the sideboard.)

Scene Three

6Illo, coming from the back room. Terzky.

ILLO. Well? How’s it stand with Piccolomini?
TERZKY. I think, fine. He raised no objection to it.
ILLO. The only one whom I don’t really trust—
Him and his father. Keep an eye on both!
TERZKY. And at your table? Everybody’s keeping [1740]
Warm?
ILLO. All aglow! It looks as if we have them.
And as I told you, talk is now not just of
The Prince’s honor being saved. Since we’re all
Together here, says Montecuculi,
We ought to put conditions to the Kaiser
There in his own Vienna. Believe you me,
But for these Piccolomini, we could
Have spared ourselves here this whole sleight of hand.
TERZKY. What’s Buttler after? Shh!

Scene Four

7Buttler joins them.

BUTTLER (coming from the second table). I’ll not disturb you.
I’ve understood you, Field Marshal, and wish [1750]
You luck. As far as I’m concerned, (conspiratorial) just count
On me.
ILLO (vividly). We can then?
BUTTLER. With or without clause.
All one to me. You understand? The Prince
Can put my loyalty to any test.
I am the Kaiser’s officer as long
As he should choose to be the Kaiser’s general,
And Friedland’s servant when he once elects to
Be his own master. Let him know these things.
TERZKY. You’ve chosen well. For you’ve not pledged yourself
To any miser, any Ferdinand. [1760]
BUTTLER (gravely). My good faith’s not on offer to the high-
Est bidder, Count. Six months ago, I’d not have
Advised you to exact of me what I
Now freely offer. To the Duke I bring
Myself together with my regiment. The
Example that I set will not, I think,
Be altogether without consequences.
ILLO. Who doesn’t know that Colonel Buttler is
A beacon and a model for the army!
BUTTLER. Indeed, Field Marshal? I do not regret then [1770]
The loyalty I’ve kept these forty years,
If my good name, so carefully preserved,
Can purchase for me in my sixtieth
A vengeance so complete, revenge so perfect.
Take no offense, my Lords, at what I say.
You needn’t be concerned with how you have me,
Nor should you think your game will bend my judgment,
Or wavering thoughts, a blood that’s quick to boil,
Or any other trivial cause will drive
The old man off his chosen path of honor. [1780]
It doesn’t weaken my resolve to know
Quite clearly what it is I’m parting from.150
ILLO. Then tell us openly how we should take you.
BUTTLER. For a good friend. You have my hand on this.
With all I have, I belong to you and yours.
The Prince has need not just of men—of money,
Too. In the course of serving him I’ve laid
Aside funds that I’ll lend him; he, if he
Survives me, will receive them: he’s my heir.
I am alone here in this world. I know not [1790]
The feeling binding man to wife and child;
My name dies with me, I am at an end.
ILLO. Your money there’s no need of. Such a heart
As yours outweighs a ton of gold and millions.
BUTTLER. I came from Ireland as a simple groom
To Prague, accompanying my master, whom
I buried. I rose by skill at war from stable
Duties to dignity and prominence,
The plaything, object, of capricious fortune.151
No less is Wallenstein a child of fortune; [1800]
I love a progress that resembles mine.
ILLO. Strong spirits are all kin to one another.
BUTTLER. We have arrived at a great moment; our
Times smile upon the brave and resolute.
The way small change will wander hand to hand,
A city and a citadel now switch
Their fleeting occupant. Grandsons of ancient
Houses take flight, new names, new coats of arms
Crop up. A northern people would presume
To settle German lands against our will. [1810]
The Prince of Weimar arms himself to found
A mighty principality. And Mansfeld
And Halberstadt lacked only longer life
To conquer vast possessions by the sword.
Among these men who is our Friedland’s equal?
No object stands so high that a strong man is
Not privileged to set his ladder there.152
TERZKY. That’s spoken like a man.
BUTTLER. Make sure of both
The Spaniard and Italian. I’ll take charge
Of Scottish Leslie. Time to join the party! [1820]
TERZKY. Holla! Steward! Bring out the best you have.
The time is right and all’s in perfect order.

8(Each goes to his table.)

Scene Five

9Wine Steward comes forward with Neumann. Servants go back and forth.

WINE STEWARD. Such fine wine! If my former mistress, his
Lamented Mama, saw all this wild living,
Would she turn over in her grave! Oh, yes,
Indeed! This noble house is slipping backward,
Sir. It has neither measure nor does it
Have purpose, and their ducal Graces, these
In-laws, will bring us poor reward, I wager.
NEUMANN. Which God forbid! It’s coming into flower. [1830]
WINE STEWARD. You think? There’d be a lot to say about that.
SERVANT (approaching). More burgundy at table four.
WINE STEWARD. That makes
Seventy bottles opened here, Lieutenant.
SERVANT. It’s all because that German, Tiefenbach,
Is sitting there. (Goes off.)
WINE STEWARD (to Neumann again).
They want to climb too high.
They want to equal prince-electors, kings
In ostentation; where the Prince has dared
To go, the Count, my master, wants to follow.
(To the Servants.)
You’re standing there and listening? Get moving!
Go wait the tables, check the bottles. There! [1840]
Count Palffy has an empty glass before him!
SECOND SERVANT (approaches).
They’re asking for the giant wine cup, Steward,
The decorated, golden one, the one
That carries the Bohemian coat of arms.
You’d know which one he meant, his Lordship said.
WINE STEWARD. The one that Master Wilhelm fashioned for
King Friedrich, for the king’s own coronation,
The finest piece of booty got at Prague ?153
SECOND SERVANT. Yes, that one. It’s to make the round among ’em.
WINE STEWARD (brings out the Wine Cup and rinses it, shaking his head).
Yet more to be reported to Vienna! [1850]
NEUMANN. Show me! It’s truly a magnificent piece!154
Heavily gilded and in high relief,
It’s worked to show the cleverest things with charm.
The first escutcheon—let me see it clearly:
A towering Amazon astride a horse,
She vaults a crozier and a bishop’s miter,
She holds aloft a hat upon a pike,
Beside a flag on which I see a chalice.
Can you tell me the meaning of all this?
WINE STEWARD. The mounted female figure you see is [1860]
Electoral freedom of Bohemia’s crown,
Shown by the round hat and wild horse she rides.
The ornament of mankind is a hat,
For one who cannot keep his hat before
A kaiser or a king is no free man.
NEUMANN. The meaning of the chalice on the flag?
WINE STEWARD. The chalice is religious freedom in
Bohemia as it was in former times.
Our fathers in the Hussite War acquired
This privilege in defiance of the Pope’s [1870]
Denial of the chalice to the laity.
The chalice is the prize of Utraquists,
Their dearest treasure, and has cost Bohemians
Their precious blood in many bitter battles.155
NEUMANN. What is the meaning of the scroll above them?
WINE STEWARD. The scroll you see there represents the Letter
Of Majesty we forced from Kaiser Rudolf,156
A cherished priceless parchment that assures
The new religion, like the old, a free
Disposal over bells and over hymnal. [1880]
But since the Graz man157 rules us, that has ended.
Since Prague, where Friedrich Palatine lost crown
And realm, our faith lacks chancel, altar, and
Our brothers emigrate. The Kaiser, though,
Himself cut up the Letter with his shears.
NEUMANN. All that you know? How you’re well-schooled in your
Land’s chronicles, Wine Steward!
WINE STEWARD. That’s because
My ancestors were Taborites and served
Under Prokop and Ziska,158 may they rest
In peace. And fought for a good cause. [1890]
(To a Servant.) Remove it.
NEUMANN. First let me see the second small escutcheon:
Oh, yes! The Kaiser’s counselors, Slavata
And Martinitz,159 pushed headlong from a castle
Window. And here’s Count Thurn, who ordered it.
(Servant removes the Wine Cup.)
WINE STEWARD. Unspeakable, that day! The twenty-third
Of May, one thousand and six hundred eighteen.
Like yesterday, and the beginning of
Unending sorrow for my country. Since then,
For sixteen years, we’ve had no peace on earth.
OFFICERS (at the second table).
The Prince of Weimar! [1900]
(At the third and fourth tables.) Long live our Duke Bernhard!
(Music.)
FIRST SERVANT. Listen to that!
SECOND SERVANT (running up). You hear? They’re toasting Weimar!
THIRD SERVANT. An Austrian enemy!
FIRST SERVANT. And Lutheran!
SECOND SERVANT. Just now, when Deodat proposed to drink
Our Kaiser’s health, you could have heard a pin drop.
WINE STEWARD. A toast has many meanings. And a well
Conducted servant does not listen to such.
THIRD SERVANT (aside to the Fourth).
See to it, Johann: Let’s have plenty to
Pass on to Father Quiroga.160 For our
Good work. He’ll grant us plenty of indulgence.
FOURTH SERVANT. That’s why I’m always busy near that Illo’s [1910]
Table. He says the most amazing things.
(They go to the tables.) WINE STEWARD (to Neumann).
Who is his Lordship there in black and with
The Cross, so deep in talking with Count Palffy?
NEUMANN. Another one they trust too much, a Spaniard,
Maradas is his name.
WINE STEWARD. It’s no good with
These Spaniards, let me tell you. All those Latins
Are no good.
NEUMANN. Now! Now! Shouldn’t talk that way,
Wine Steward. They’ve some of the finest generals
Among them, whom the Duke esteems the most.
(Terzky comes to fetch the Oath; a stir at the tables.)
WINE STEWARD (to the Servants).
The Lieutenant General’s on his feet. Look sharp! [1920]
They’re breaking up. Snap to and hold their chairs.
(The Servants hurry upstage. Some Guests come down to the front.)

Scene Six

10Octavio Piccolomini comes downstage, in conversation with Maradas; they stand far forward, to one side of the proscenium. Max Piccolomini comes down opposite them, alone, lost in thought, abstracted. In the space between them, slightly upstage, Buttler, Isolani, Götz, Tiefenbach, and Colalto gather; Terzky joins them.

ISOLANI (while the Company is coming forward).
Night! Night, Colalto! Lieutenant General, night!
Or rather, I should say “Good morning” to you.
GOETZ (to Tiefenbach). Prost, Brother! Prost and blessings!
TIEFENBACH. That was a banquet for a king!
GOETZ. Madame
The Countess knows a thing or two. She got
It from the Countess Dowager, God rest
Her soul. And what a chatelaine she was!
ISOLANI (wanting to leave). Lights here! Lights here!
TERZKY (approaching Isolani with the Oath).
Wait, Brother! Just two minutes more. There’s something [1930]
To sign here still.
ISOLANI. Oh, I’ll sign anything
You like, Friend. Just spare me the reading of it.
TERZKY. Let me not trouble you. It is the oath
That you’ve already read. A pen stroke merely.
(Isolani passes the sheet to Octavio.)
As you see fit. Whoever’s next. No ranks here.
(Octavio skims the text with apparent indifference;
Terzky observes him from a distance.)
GOETZ (to Terzky). Count, by your leave. My warmest compliments.
TERZKY. But what’s your hurry! Have a nightcap. (To the Servants.)Hey!
GOETZ. Not up to it.
TERZKY. A little gaming?
GOETZ. Pardon!
TIEFENBACH (seating himself).
Forgive me, Lords. It’s hard to stand so long.
TERZKY. Make yourself comfortable, my Lord Field Marshal! [1940]
TIEFENBACH. My head is clear, my stomach’s strong. My legs,
However, now refuse to do their job.
ISOLANI (indicating his corpulence).
You’ve made them carry far too great a load.
(Octavio has signed and returned the sheet to Terzky,
who gives it to Isolani. He goes to the table to sign.)
TIEFENBACH. The war in Pomerania did it to me,
We had to go out there in ice and snow,
And I will not recover all my days.
GOETZ. Oh, yes. The Swede did not inquire the season.161
(Terzky passes the sheet to Don Maradas,
who goes to the table to sign.)
OCTAVIO (approaching Buttler).162
These bacchanals, permit me to remark,
My Lord, do not agree much with you either.
I’d think that you prefer the uproar of [1950]
A battle to the rowdiness of feasting.
BUTTLER. I must confess, it’s not quite to my taste.
OCTAVIO (coming closer, confidentially).
And not to mine, I happily assure you.
I’m gratified, most honored Colonel Buttler,
To find that we are so well matched in thinking.
At most, a handful of good friends, about
A small round table, with a little glass
Of Tokay, open hearts and honest talk—
That’s what I love.
BUTTLER. And I, when’t can be done.
(The sheet reaches Buttler, who goes to the table to sign. The
proscenium has emptied, leaving the two Piccolomini, each on a side.)
OCTAVIO (having silently observed his son from a distance, comes closer).
You were away for quite a while, my boy. [1960]
MAX (turns away, confused).
I—urgent business held me up so long.
OCTAVIO. And I observe that you are still not here.
MAX. You know a noisy party leaves me silent.
OCTAVIO (coming still closer).
I’m not to know what kept you for so long?
(Sly.) And even Terzky knows?
MAX. What does he know?
OCTAVIO (with meaning).
He was the only one who did not miss you.
ISOLANI (who has been watching from a distance, joins them).
Quite right! Surprise his baggage train, old father!
And strike against his quarters! This won’t do!
TERZKY (bringing the Oath).
All hands on deck? Has everybody signed?
OCTAVIO. They’ve signed. [1970]
TERZKY (calling). Say! Who has yet to sign the oath?
BUTTLER (to Terzky). Go take a count. It should be thirty names.
TERZKY. A cross is here.
TIEFENBACH. That cross is mine.
ISOLANI (to Terzky). He cannot write. His cross is always valid
And recognized alike by Jew and Christian.
OCTAVIO (pressing Max).
Let’s leave together, Colonel. It’s now late.
TERZKY. One Piccolomini alone has signed.
ISOLANI (indicating Max).
It’s this guest from the graveyard that you miss.163
He’s not been worth the candle this whole evening.

11(Max takes the sheet from Terzky and stares into it blankly.)

Scene Seven

12As above. Illo comes out of the back room, holding the golden Wine Cup. He is very excited. Götz and Buttler follow, trying to quiet him.

ILLO. Wha’d’y want? Leave me alone!
GOETZ and BUTTLER. Illo! No more!
ILLO (goes to Octavio and embraces him, drinking).
Octavio! This is for you! Let’s drown [1980]
All our bad feelings, toast our brotherhood!
I know you’ve never loved me, nor I you,
By God! But now we’ll let bygones be bygones.
I value you just endlessly, I am your
(kissing him repeatedly)
Best friend and, so that you all know, anyone
Who calls him a bad apple—he will have
To do with me!
TERZKY (aside). Shush! Have you lost your mind?
Remember, Illo, where you are!
ILLO (guileless). Why should I? They are all our closest friends.
(Looking about the whole room with a contented face.)
There’s not a rogue among them, to my pleasure. [1990]
TERZKY (urgently, to Buttler).
Just get him out of here. I beg you, Buttler!
(Buttler leads him to the bar.)
ISOLANI (to Max, who has been staring absently into the sheet).
Soon finished, Brother? Studied it enough?
MAX (as if coming out of a dream).
What’s wanted?
TERZKY and ISOLANI (together). That you put your name to it.
(Octavio, in the distance, looks across at him anxiously.)
MAX (returning the sheet).
We’ll let it wait till morning. Business matters.
I can’t address them now. Send it tomorrow.
TERZKY. Consider now—
ISOLANI. Wake up! Just sign it, what?
The youngest at the table, you! You’d not
Pretend to know more than the rest of us?
Look here! Your father’s signed and all the others.
TERZKY (to Octavio). Use your prestige. Explain— [2000]
OCTAVIO. My son’s of age.
ILLO (has set the Wine Cup on the bar).
What’s all the talk?
TERZKY. Won’t sign the oath. Refuses.
MAX. I said there’s time enough for this tomorrow.
ILLO. There isn’t time. We’ve signed it, all of us,
And so must you. You have to sign your name.
MAX. Sleep well, Illo.
ILLO. Hey! Not so fast! Oh, no!
The Prince is to find out just who his friends are.
(All the Company gathers around them.)
MAX. My sentiments are well known to the Prince
And to all others. Antics are not needed.
ILLO. The thanks, this, that the Prince gets for preferring
These Latins always to the rest of us! [2010]
TERZKY (deeply alarmed, to the Commanders pressing in).
The wine he’s drunk is talking. Please don’t listen.
ISOLANI (laughs). No wine invents. It only prattles freely.
ILLO. Who isn’t for me is against me. Oh,
These tender consciences! If by the back door,
By a short clause—TERZKY (hastily). He’s mad! Pay no attention!
ILLO (shouting). By a short clause they cannot save themselves—
A clause? The devil take this cursed clause—
MAX (coming to attention, looks again into the sheet).
What is there here so highly dangerous?
You make me curious. What have I missed?
TERZKY (aside). Illo, what have you done? You’ve ruined us! [2020]
TIEFENBACH (to Colalto). I noticed. It read differently the first time.
GOETZ. I thought so, too.
ISOLANI. What’s that to me? Where others
Have put their name I’ll gladly put mine, too.
TIEFENBACH. Before the meal there was a reservation,
A clause about our service to the Kaiser.
BUTTLER (to the Commanders).
For shame, my Lords. Consider what’s in play here.
The question is: Are we to keep our General
Or shall we be obliged to let him go?
We can’t split hairs when so much is at stake.
ISOLANI (to one of the Generals).
When you received your regiment, the Prince did [2030]
Not wrap himself in clauses, I dare say?
TERZKY (to Götz). And when you got to sell supplies that yield
You full one thousand pistols every year?
ILLO. They’re rascals, those who would make rogues of us!
You’re discontent? Then take it up with me!
TIEFENBACH. Now, now. They’re only talking.
MAX (has read the sheet, which he returns). Till tomorrow.
ILLO (stammering with rage, no longer master of himself, brandishing the
sheet in one hand, his sword in the other).
Sign, Judas!
ISOLANI. Fie, Illo!
OCTAVIO, TERZKY, BUTTLER (together).
Drop that sword!
MAX (having blocked his hand and disarmed him, to Count Terzky).
Get him to bed!
(He goes off. Illo, cursing and scolding, is restrained by certain
Commanders as the Company breaks up.)
Curtain.