_Max._ Thou wilt proceed with me, as thou hast power. 40 Thou know'st, I neither brave nor fear thy rage. What has detained me here, that too thou know'st. [_Taking THEKLA by the hand._ See, Duke! All--all would I have owed to thee, Would have received from thy paternal hand The lot of blessed spirits. This hast thou 45 Laid waste for ever--that concerns not thee. Indifferent thou tramplest in the dust Their happiness, who most are thine. The god Whom thou dost serve, is no benignant deity. Like as the blind irreconcileable 50 Fierce element, incapable of compact, Thy heart's wild impulse only dost thou follow.[753:1] _Wallenstein._ Thou art describing thy own father's heart. The adder! O, the charms of hell o'erpowered me. He dwelt within me, to my inmost soul 55 Still to and fro he passed, suspected never! On the wide ocean, in the starry heaven Did mine eyes seek the enemy, whom I In my heart's heart had folded! Had I been To Ferdinand what Octavio was to me, 60 War had I ne'er denounced against him. No, I never could have done it. The Emperor was My austere master only, not my friend. There was already war 'twixt him and me When he delivered the Commander's Staff 65 Into my hands; for there's a natural Unceasing war 'twixt cunning and suspicion; Peace exists only betwixt confidence And faith. Who poisons confidence, he murders The future generations. _Max._ I will not 70 Defend my father. Woe is me, I cannot! Hard deeds and luckless have ta'en place, one crime Drags after it the other in close link. But we are innocent: how have we fallen Into this circle of mishap and guilt? 75 To whom have we been faithless? Wherefore must The evil deeds and guilt reciprocal Of our two fathers twine like serpents round us? Why must our fathers' Unconquerable hate rend us asunder, Who love each other?