Peace. What do you want here, relentless War? Dispute the world of the living with me if you will, but at least respect the peace of the grave. War. I have a right to summon the Dead when it is in the name of their country. Peace. The Dead are with God; they have but one country among them. War. You may dispense with set speeches, most eloquent Peace, for I pay no attention to them. I go forward, and leave talk to chatterers. The world belongs to the brave. Peace. The world belongs to those who are in the right. Since, however, you will not listen to me, you shall hear the Dead themselves, and see if they agree with you. (_Turns to the_ Dead.) Arise, my children; come and confound those who wish to fight with the bones of the departed. _The_ Dead _rise_. Grenadier. I have slept a long time since Austerlitz. Who are you, comrades? Hussar. I come from the battle-field of Leipsic, where the great German race broke the yoke which your Emperor had laid upon it. Grenadier. You were left upon the field? Hussar. I am proud to say so. Grenadier. And you are right, old fellow; every man owes himself to his country. We others have done just the same. If you had let us alone in '92 we should not have come to you. Cossack. I was killed under the walls of Paris, where great Russia went to return the insult she had received at Moscow. Highlander. I fell at Waterloo, avenging the great English people for the threats of the camp at Boulogne. I drowned in my blood the last effort of your Imperial Eagle. Grenadier. Well! we are well matched. My blood reddened the plain of Austerlitz, where the great French nation was avenged on Brunswick and Souwaroff. We have all perished, buried in a triumph. We can shake hands upon it. Cossack. Brave men are equals, in whatever dress. Let us shake hands. Hussar. We have all died for our country. Let us be brothers. Highlander. Let us be brothers. The hatreds of earth do not extend beyond the grave. [_They join hands._ Grenadier. And now Peace is proclaimed, let us tell each other what we used to do before we became warriors. Cossack. I cultivated a piece of ground in the steppes and took care of my old mother. Highlander. I brought up my daughter by farming a piece of ground which I had cleared on my native heath. Hussar. I lived with my wife on the piece of land which we cultivated. Grenadier. I tilled a piece of ground also, and supported my sister. It seems that we were all four of the same way of life. How did we come to kill one another? Cossack. The Czar spoke, and I marched. Highlander. Parliament voted for war, and I marched. Hussar. Our princes cried, "To arms!" and I marched. Grenadier. As for me, my comrades cried, "To arms!" and I put on my best sabots. But after all, what have we against each other? Where was the quarrel between our respective ploughshares? (_To the_ Hussar.) You, for instance, who began, what did you come into my country for? Hussar. We came to destroy brigands.