If it be so--if all be as you say-- If he've betray'd the Emperor, his master, Have sold the troops, have purposed to deliver The strongholds of the country to the enemy-- Yea, truly!--there is no redemption for him Yet it is hard that me the lot should destine To be the instrument of his perdition; For we were pages at the court of Bergau At the same period; but I was the senior. BUTLER. I have heard so-- GORDON. 'Tis full thirty years since then, A youth who scarce had seen his twentieth year Was Wallenstein, when he and I were friends. Yet even then he had a daring soul: His frame of mind was serious and severe Beyond his years: his dreams were of great objects, He walk'd amidst us of a silent spirit, Communing with himself; yet I have known him Transported on a sudden into utterance Of strange conceptions; kindling into splendor, His soul reveal'd itself, and he spake so That we look'd round perplex 'd upon each other, Not knowing whether it were craziness, Or whether it were a god that spoke in him. BUTLER. But was it where he fell two-story-high From a window-ledge, on which he had fallen asleep And rose up free from injury? From this day (It is reported) he betrayed clear marks Of a distemper'd fancy. GORDON. He became Doubtless more self-enwrapt and melancholy; He made himself a Catholic.[30] Marvelously His marvelous preservation had transform'd him. Thenceforth he held himself for an exempted And privileged being, and, as if he were Incapable of dizziness or fall, He ran along the unsteady rope of life. But now our destinies drove us asunder, He paced with rapid step the way of greatness, Was Count, and Prince, Duke-regent, and Dictator-- And now is all, all this too little for him; He stretches forth his hands for a king's crown, And plunges in unfathomable ruin. BUTLER. No more, he comes. SCENE III _To these enter_ WALLENSTEIN, _in conversation with the_ BURGOMASTER _of Egra_. WALLENST. You were at one time a free town. I see, Ye bear the half eagle in your city arms. Why the _half_ eagle only? BURGOMASTER. We were free, But for these last two hundred years has Egra Remain'd in pledge to the Bohemian crown; Therefore we bear the half eagle, the other half Being cancell'd till the empire ransom us, If ever that should be. WALLENSTEIN. Ye merit freedom. Only be firm and dauntless. Lend your ears To no designing whispering court-minions. What may your imposts be? BURGOMASTER. So heavy that We totter under them. The garrison Lives at our costs. WALLENSTEIN. I will relieve you. Tell me, There are some Protestants among you still [_The_ BURGOMASTER _hesitates_.] Yes, yes; I know it. Many lie conceal'd Within these walls--confess now--you your self-- [_Fixes his eye on him. The_ BURGOMASTER _alarmed_.]