Page:Wallenstein, a drama in 2 parts - Schiller (tr. Coleridge) (1800).djvu/44

22 Straight their flesh creeps and quivers, and they dread him More than the ills for which they call'd him up. Th' uncommon, the sublime, must seem and be Like things of every day.—But in the field, Aye, there the Present Being makes itself felt. The personal must command, the actual eye Examine. If to be the chieftain asks All that is great in nature, let it be Likewise his privilege to move and act In all the correspondencies of greatness. The oracle within him, that which lives, He must invoke and question—not dead books, Not ordinances, not mould-rotted papers.

My son! of those old narrow ordinances Let us not hold too lightly. They are weights Of priceless value, which oppress'd mankind Tied to the volatile will of their oppressors. For always formidable was the league And partnership of free power with free will. The way of ancient ordinance, tho' it winds, Is yet no devious way. Straight forwards goes The lightning's path, and straight the fearful path Of the cannon-ball. Direct it flies and rapid, Shatt'ring that it may reach, and shatt'ring what it reaches. My son! the road, the human being travels, That, on which comes and goes, doth follow The river's course, the valley's playful windings, Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines, Honour-