Prince Friedrich of Homburg Read online

  PRINCE: So I’ve heard. Well, what else is new? What other news have you brought? Your expression, my friend, does not seem very cheerful.

  HOHENZOLLERN: Have you spoken to anyone else yet?

  PRINCE: To Goltz, just now . . . at the castle where I was being questioned, as you know.

  [Pause.]

  HOHENZOLLERN [looking at him with misgivings]: Well, Arthur, how do you view your situation since it has taken such an unexpected turn?

  PRINCE: How do I view it? I think as you and Goltz do . . . and as the judges do too. The Elector has fulfilled his duty as required by the law. Now he will also listen to the promptings of his heart. “You’ve been at fault,” he’ll tell me in a solemn voice, and perhaps he’ll add a word or two concerning death and prison: “Nevertheless, I will give you back your freedom.” And around the sword with which I gave him victory, perhaps he’ll wind some token of his favor. And, if not, that’s all right too, since I really don’t deserve it!

  HOHENZOLLERN: Oh, Arthur! [He stops short.]

  PRINCE: Well, what?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Are you so sure of him?

  PRINCE: This is how I see it! I mean a lot to him, that much I know. He loves me like a son and has proved it in a thousand ways ever since my earliest childhood. What doubts could possibly be troubling you? Didn’t he seem to be even more pleased than I myself each time my fame grew greater? Has he not made me everything I am? Could he . . . could he really now be so devoid of love that he would trample into dust the plant which he himself has nurtured, just because it flowered a little too soon and with too much show? His worst enemy could not make me credit him with such behavior. So much less can you, who know and love him.

  HOHENZOLLERN [with emphasis]: Arthur! You can still believe all this after having stood before the military court?

  PRINCE: Yes! Because I stood before it. No one goes so far who does not intend to grant a pardon. It was precisely there, before the bar of justice, that I regained my confidence. After all, was it really a capital crime to have routed the Swedish army two minutes before the order came? And what other offense could I possibly be guilty of? How could he have summoned me before those heartless judges who sat like owls and hooted at me a constant funeral song of bullets–how could he have done this unless he thought of finally appearing like a God within their circle, there to utter his serene majestic pardon? No, my friend! He is gathering this night of clouds around my head only so that he can rise through the mists in radiance before me like the sun. And, quite frankly, I don’t begrudge him this caprice.

  HOHENZOLLERN: All the same, they say your sentence has been passed.

  PRINCE: Yes, so I’ve heard . . . the death sentence.

  HOHENZOLLERN [astonished]: You know it already?

  PRINCE: Goltz, who was present at the sentencing, reported the court’s verdict to me.

  HOHENZOLLERN: Well, then, for God’s sake–this fact does not upset you?

  PRINCE: Upset me? Not in the least.

  HOHENZOLLERN: You madman! On what do you base this certainty of yours?

  PRINCE: On a feeling I have about him! [He stands up.] Leave me alone, I beg you! Why should I torture myself with useless doubts? [He reflects a moment and sits down again. Pause.] The court was forced to sentence me to death; so the law demands by which it acts. But before he’d sacrifice this loyal and loving heart to a bullet, before he’d end my life with a mere wave of a scarf . . . he’d sooner . . . can’t you see that? . . . he’d sooner bare his own chest and pour his own blood drop by drop into the dust.

  HOHENZOLLERN: But, Arthur, I assure you . . .

  PRINCE [impatiently]: Oh, not again!

  HOHENZOLLERN: The Field Marshal . . .

  PRINCE [as before]: Let me be, my friend!

  HOHENZOLLERN: Listen, I just have one more thing to say. And if this also means nothing to you, I’ll say no more.

  PRINCE [turning his back on him]: But I’ve told you, I know everything. Oh, well, what is it?

  HOHENZOLLERN: The Field Marshal . . . and this is most peculiar . . . has just sent the death sentence to the castle. And the Elector, far from exercising his prerogative to pardon, has ordered that it be sent to him for signing.

  PRINCE: It doesn’t matter, I’m telling you.

  HOHENZOLLERN: It doesn’t matter?

  PRINCE: For signing, did you say?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Upon my word of honor! I can assure you of it.

  PRINCE: The death sentence? No! The written verdict . . . ?

  HOHENZOLLERN: It was the death sentence.

  PRINCE: Who told you that?

  HOHENZOLLERN: The Field Marshal himself.

  PRINCE: When?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Just now.

  PRINCE: After he came back from seeing the Elector?

  HOHENZOLLERN: As he was coming down the castle steps. He added . . . since he saw me so distraught . . . that all was not yet lost. Tomorrow brings another day on which you could be pardoned. But his white lips contradicted the words they spoke and revealed the fear that this would never happen!

  PRINCE [standing up]: He couldn’t possibly harbor such a monstrous decision in his heart, could he? He couldn’t possibly trample into dust the giver of a diamond just because the diamond had a tiny flaw scarcely visible even through a magnifying glass. An act like this would turn the blackness of the warlord of Algiers white. It would decorate the pleasure-loving Sardanapalus with cherubic wings of shimmering silver. It would place at God’s right hand the entire line of ancient Roman tyrants and make them guiltless . . . like infants who have died upon their mothers’ breasts.

  HOHENZOLLERN [who has also risen]: My friend, try to recognize your situation!

  PRINCE: And the Field Marshal kept silent and said nothing?

  HOHENZOLLERN: What was there to say?

  PRINCE: Oh, God! All my hopes are gone!

  HOHENZOLLERN: Have you ever done anything . . . to your knowledge or unconsciously . . . that might have seemed to challenge his proud will?

  PRINCE: Never!

  HOHENZOLLERN: Think carefully!

  PRINCE: Never. I swear it! The very shadow of his head was sacred to me.

  HOHENZOLLERN: Arthur, now don’t be angry with me if I doubt your words. Count Horn, the Swedish envoy, has arrived, and his business, so I’ve been assured, concerns the Princess of Orange. But something that your aunt, the Electress, let slip has offended the Elector most profoundly. It is said that the Princess has already given her heart to someone else. Are you not involved here in some way?

  PRINCE: Oh, God! What are you telling me?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Are you the one? Are you?

  PRINCE: Yes, my friend, I am. Now everything is clear to me. My understanding with the Princess plunges me in ruin! Know, then, that I am to blame for her refusal. She has promised her hand to me.

  HOHENZOLLERN: You reckless fool! What have you done? How many times have I not warned you as a loyal friend?

  PRINCE: Oh, my friend! Help me! Save me! I am lost!

  HOHENZOLLERN: Of course, I will, but where’s the way out from this desperate situation? Perhaps you would like to speak with your aunt, the Electress?

  PRINCE [turning around]: Hey, guard!

  CAVALRY SOLDIER [in the background]: Here!

  PRINCE: Call your officer! [He quickly takes a coat from the wall and puts on a plumed hat which is lying on the table.]

  HOHENZOLLERN [helping him]: This move, if shrewdly carried out, could save your life. For if the Elector can only conclude a peace treaty with King Karl . . . at that special price of which we’re both aware . . . then you’ll see, his heart will once again be reconciled to you and you will have your freedom right away . . . within a few short hours.

  SCENE 2

  [The Officer enters. The others remain]

  PRINCE [to the officer]: Strantz, I am in your custody. Permit me to leave this prison for one hour on an urgent matter.

  OFFICER: Prince, you have not been remanded into my c
ustody. According to my orders, you are free to go wherever you wish.

  PRINCE: That’s strange! Then I’m not a prisoner?

  OFFICER: Forgive me for saying so, but your word is bond enough.

  PRINCE [setting off]: I see. It doesn’t matter. Very well, then. So, goodbye.

  HOHENZOLLERN: The Prince will drag his chains along with him wherever he goes.

  PRINCE: I’m only going to the castle to see my aunt, and will be back again very shortly.

  [They all leave.]

  SCENE 3

  Scene: the Electress’s rooms.

  [The Electress and Princess Natalia enter.]

  ELECTRESS: Come along, my dear, do come! Now is your chance. Count Gustave Horn, the Swedish envoy, and his delegation have left the castle, and I see a light in your uncle’s chamber. Come, now, put on your shawl and tiptoe in to him. Try to see if you can save your friend.

  [They are about to leave.]

  SCENE 4

  [Enter a lady-in-waiting. The others remain.]

  LADY-IN-WAITING: Madam, the Prince of Homburg is waiting at the door. I could scarcely believe my eyes!

  ELECTRESS [taken aback]: Oh, my God!

  NATALIA: The Prince himself?

  ELECTRESS: Isn’t he under arrest?

  LADY-IN-WAITING: He is standing outside the door in his cloak and feathered hat and appears to be extremely upset. He implores you for an audience and says it’s urgent.

  ELECTRESS [annoyed]: The reckless fool, to break his word in such a manner!

  NATALIA: Who knows what’s driven him here?

  ELECTRESS [upon reflection]: Let him enter. [She sits down in a chair.]

  SCENE 5

  [The Prince of Homburg enters. The others remain.]

  PRINCE: Mother! [He falls on his knees before her.]

  ELECTRESS: Prince! What are you doing here?

  PRINCE: I am here to beg for mercy, mother!

  ELECTRESS [with suppressed emotion]: You are a prisoner, Prince, how is it that you are here? Why are you adding new guilt to the old?

  PRINCE [urgently]: Do you know what has happened to me?

  ELECTRESS: I know everything. But what can I, a helpless woman, do for you?

  PRINCE: Oh, mother! You would not speak like that if death were creeping toward you as it is toward me. You seem to me endowed with powers of Heaven, with the power to save . . . and so does Princess Natalia, so do your ladies here, and everyone around me. I could fling my arms about the neck of your stableboy, the lowest servant in your house who does nothing more than care for horses, and plead with him to save me. Of all God’s creatures here on earth, I alone am helpless; only I have been abandoned and can do nothing, nothing at all!

  ELECTRESS: You are quite beside yourself. What has happened?

  PRINCE: Oh, God! As I was walking down the path that led me here, I saw the grave that is to hold my bones tomorrow; in the light shed by the torches, I saw it open up before me! They want to draw the shades of night across these eyes, dear aunt, with which I see you now; they want to pierce this chest with deadly bullets. On the market square, even the windows have already been reserved that will look down upon the desolate spectacle of my execution. And he, who standing on life’s summit now, can still look out upon the future as if upon a wondrous realm . . . that man will lie between two narrow boards tomorrow, stinking. And only a stone will remain to tell you: he once was!

  [The Princess, who until now has been standing in the background, leaning on the shoulder of a lady-in-waiting, is greatly shaken by these words and sits down at a table, weeping.]

  ELECTRESS: My son! If this be God’s will, you must arm yourself with courage and with self-control!

  PRINCE: But God’s world is so beautiful, mother! I beg you, do not let me go down into the shadows of darkness before my time has come! Let him punish me in some other way, if I have been in error. Why does it have to be with bullets? Let him take away my offices, let him cashier me, if the law demands it, and discharge me from the army with dishonor. God in heaven! Since I have seen my grave, I only want to live, and care no more for honor!

  ELECTRESS: Stand up, my son, stand up! What are you saying? You are going to pieces! Pull yourself together!

  PRINCE: No, aunt, not until you promise me that you will approach your exalted husband on your knees to save my life, not until you promise to plead with him on my behalf. Hedwig, your childhood friend, gave me into your keeping when she lay dying in Homburg. She said: “You be his mother when I am gone.” Deeply moved, you knelt down beside her bed and, bending over her, you gave your pledge: “He shall be as dear to me as if I myself had borne him.” Well, I now remind you of those words! Go, then, as if you really were the one who’d borne me, and say: “I beg for mercy, for mercy! Let him go!” Yes, and come back to me and say: “You are free!”

  ELECTRESS [weeping]: My dear son! I have already done that! But all my pleading was in vain!

  PRINCE: I give up every claim to happiness. Natalia’s hand in marriage . . . and don’t forget to tell him this . . . I don’t want it any more. All affection that I ever felt for her has died within my heart. She is once again as free as a deer on the heath, free to give her hand and heart to anyone she wants, as if I had never existed. And even should she give herself to Karl Gustave, the King of Sweden, I would praise her choice. I only want to go back to my estates along the Rhine. There I will build, tear down, and build again until I drip with sweat; there, although I am alone, I will sow and reap as if for wife and child. And after I have reaped my harvest, I will plough once more and so chase life around a circle until it sinks as evening falls . . . and dies!

  ELECTRESS: Very well! But now return to your prison. That is the first condition of my favor.

  PRINCE [He stands up and turns to the Princess.]: Poor girl, you are crying! Today the sun is lighting the path that leads all your hopes into their grave. I know that your first feelings of love were for me, and the expression on your face now tells me, clear as day, that you will never devote yourself to another man. But what can I, the poorest of men, give you that would be of comfort to you now? My advice is that you go to your cousin Thurn, to live inside her nunnery on the River Main. Find yourself a little boy in the mountains, whose hair is curly blond like mine. Buy him for yourself with gold and silver, press him to your heart, and teach him how to stammer out the word: “Mother”! And when he grows older, show him how to close the eyes of dying men. That is all the happiness that is in store for you!

  NATALIA [Encouraged and inspired, she stands up and places her hand in that of the Prince.]: Return, young hero, to the custody of your prison. And on your way back, take a second look, this time a calm look, at the grave that has been dug for you! It is in no way darker and by no means deeper than the grave which already has appeared to you a thousand times upon the field of battle. I will be faithful to you until death. In the meanwhile, I’ll dare to speak to my uncle in the hope of saving you. Perhaps I will succeed in touching his heart, and so free you from all your sorrow!

  [Pause.]

  PRINCE [Lost in rapturous contemplation of her, he folds his hands.]: If you had two wings upon your shoulders, Natalia, I would truly take you for an angel. Oh, God! Did I really hear you say you’d speak for me? Where have you kept hidden till today the quiver of your speech’s arrows . . . that you will dare to approach His Highness? Oh, a ray of hope now all at once revives me!

  NATALIA: God himself will hand to me the arrows which will strike home. But if the Elector is unable to change the verdict of the law, is unable to, I say: so be it! Then you, brave hero, shall accept the law and submit to it with courage. The man who’s won a thousand victories in life will know how to conquer death as well!

  ELECTRESS: But go now! Valuable time, which we could use to help you, is flying by!

  PRINCE: Well, may all the saints protect you! Farewell! Farewell! And whatever it is you may succeed in doing, send me a sign, some word of your success.

  [They
all leave.]

  CURTAIN

  Act IV

  SCENE 1

  Scene: The Elector’s rooms.

  [The Elector, with papers in his hand, is standing near a table illuminated by candlelight. Natalia enters through a center door and kneels at some distance from him. Pause.]

  NATALIA [kneeling]: My noble uncle, Friedrich of Brandenburg.

  ELECTOR [putting the papers aside]: Natalia! [He goes to raise her up.]

  NATALIA: Let me be!

  ELECTOR: What do you want, my dear?

  NATALIA: To beg for mercy for my cousin Homburg, to plead here at your feet as is only fitting. I do not want to save him for myself! Although I have to tell you that I love him, I do not wish to save him for myself. Let him marry any woman he chooses. I only want to know that he’s alive, alive and free and independent . . . like a flower that delights me. This I beg of you, my most sovereign Lord and friend. I know that you will listen to my prayer.

  ELECTOR [raising her]: How can you ask such a thing, my little daughter! Do you not know what crime your cousin Homburg has committed?

  NATALIA: Oh, dear uncle!

  ELECTOR: Well? Did he or did he not commit a crime?

  NATALIA: Oh, it was a little error . . . innocent as his blond hair and blue eyes. You should have raised him from the ground before he had a chance to beg for mercy. Surely, you will not destroy him and cast him from your side. No, you will press him to your heart for his dear mother’s sake, and you will say: “Come, do not weep! You mean as much to me as loyalty itself!” Was it not his eagerness to glorify your name which seduced him into breaking through the limits set by law? And, oh, having broken the law with youthful folly, did he not then crush the dragon like a man in the heat of battle? First to place a crown upon his head because he was the victor in the battle and then to take his head away . . . surely, history does not require such a gesture from you. That would be so exalted, dear uncle, that one could almost call it an inhuman act. And yet, God has never created a gentler man than you.