"I fear," said the Prince of Anhalt, in words which sovereigns are not accustomed to hear, "that this answer will rather tend to prolong the dispute than to tranquillize the united princes. I am bound in duty to represent to your imperial majesty the dangerous flame which I now see bursting forth in Germany. Your counselors are ill adapted to extinguish this rising flame--those counselors who have brought you into such imminent danger, and who have nearly destroyed public confidence, credit and prosperity throughout your dominions. I must likewise exhort your imperial majesty to take all important affairs into consideration yourself, intreating you to recollect the example of Julius Caesar, who, had he not neglected to read the note presented to him as he was going to the capitol, would not have received the twenty wounds which caused his death." This last remark threw the emperor into a paroxysm of terror. He had long been trembling from the apprehension of assassination. This allusion to Julius Caesar he considered an intimation that his hour was at hand. His terror was so great that Prince Anhalt had to assure him, again and again, that he intended no such menace, and that he was not aware that any conspiracy was thought of any where, for his death. The emperor was, however, so alarmed that he promised any thing and every thing. He doubtless intended to fulfill his promise, but subsequent troubles arose which absorbed all his remaining feeble energies, and obliterated past engagements from his mind. Matthias was watching all the events with the intensest eagerness, as affording a brilliant prospect to him, to obtain the crown of Bohemia, and the scepter of the empire. This ambition consumed his days and his nights, verifying the adage, "uneasy lies the head which wears a crown." CHAPTER XIV. RHODOLPH III. AND MATTHIAS. From 1609 to 1612. Difficulties as to the Succession.--Hostility of Henry IV. to the House of Austria.--Assassination of Henry IV.--Similarity in Sully's and Napoleon's Plans.--Exultation of the Catholics.--The Brothers' Compact.--How Rhodolph Kept It.--Seizure of Prague.--Rhodolph a Prisoner.--The King's Abdication.--Conditions Attached to the Crown.--Rage of Rhodolph.--Matthias Elected King.--The Emperor's Residence.--Rejoicings of the Protestants.--Reply of the Ambassadors.--The Nuremburg Diet.--The Unkindest Cut of All.--Rhodolph's Humiliation And Death.