_Wallenstein._ The world will judge me sternly, I expect it. Already have I said to my own self All thou canst say to me. Who but avoids The extreme,--can he by going round avoid it? But here there is no choice. Yes--I must use 80 Or suffer violence--so stands the case, There remains nothing possible but that. _Max._ O that is never possible for thee! 'Tis the last desperate resource of those Cheap souls, to whom their honour, their good name 85 Is their poor saving, their last worthless keep, Which having staked and lost, they stake themselves In the mad rage of gaming. Thou art rich, And glorious; with an unpolluted heart Thou canst make conquest of whate'er seems highest! 90 But he, who once hath acted infamy, Does nothing more in this world. _Wallenstein (grasps his hand)._ Calmly, Max! Much that is great and excellent will we Perform together yet. And if we only Stand on the height with dignity, 'tis soon 95 Forgotten, Max, by what road we ascended. Believe me, many a crown shines spotless now, That yet was deeply sullied in the winning. To the evil spirit doth the earth belong, Not to the good. All, that the powers divine 100 Send from above, are universal blessings: Their light rejoices us, their air refreshes, But never yet was man enriched by them: In their eternal realm no property Is to be struggled for--all there is general. 105 The jewel, the all-valued gold we win From the deceiving Powers, depraved in nature, That dwell beneath the day and blessed sun-light. Not without sacrifices are they rendered Propitious, and there lives no soul on earth 110 That e'er retired unsullied from their service.