The Robbers

by Friedrich Schiller

  *[In the acting edition the scene changes materially at this point,

  and the most sentimental part of the whole drama is transformed

  into the most voluptuous. The stage direction here is,-(They give

  way to their transports without control, and mingle their kisses.

  MOOR hangs in ecstacy on her lips, while she sinks half delirious

  on the couch.) O Charles! now avenge thyself; my vow is broken.

  MOOR (tearing himself away from her, as if in frenzy). Can this be

  hell that still pursues me! (Gazing on her.) I felt so happy!

  AMELIA (perceiving the ring upon her finger, starts up from the

  couch). What! Art thou still there-on that guilty hand? Witness

  of my perjury. Away with thee! (She pulls the ring from her

  finger and gives it to CHARLES.) Take it-take it, beloved

  seducer! and with it what I hold most sacred-take my all-my

  Charles! (She falls back upon the couch.)

  MOOR (changes color). O thou Most High! was this thy almighty

  will? It is the very ring I gave her in pledge of our mutual

  faith. Hell be the grave of love! She has returned my ring.

  AMELIA (terrified). Heavens! What is the matter? Your eyes roll

  wildly, and your lips are pale as death! Ah! woe is me. And are

  the pleasures of thy crime so soon forgotten?

  MOOR (suppressing his emotion). 'Tis nothing! Nothing! (Raising

  his eyes to heaven.) I am still a man! (He takes of his own ring

  and puts it on AMELIA'S finger.) In return take this! sweet fury of

  my heart! And with it what I hold most sacred-take my all-my

  Amelia!

  AMELIA (starting up). Your Amelia!

  MOOR (mournfully). Oh, she was such a lovely maiden, and faithful

  as an angel. When we parted we exchanged rings, and vowed eternal

  constancy. She heard that I was dead-believed it-yet remained

  constant to the dead. She heard again that I was living-yet

  became faithless to the living. I flew into her arms-was happy

  as-the blest in Paradise. Think what my heart was doomed to feel,

  Amelia! She gave me back my ring-she took her own.

  AMELIA (her eyes fixed on the earth in amazement). 'Tis strange,

  most strange! 'Tis horrible!

  MOOR. Ay, strange and horrible! My child, there is much-ay, much

  for man to learn ere his poor intellect can fathom the decrees of

  Him who smiles at human vows and weeps at human projects. My

  Amelia is an unfortunate maiden!

  AMELIA. Unfortunate! Because she rejected you?

  MOOR. Unfortunate. Because she embraced the man she betrayed.

  AMELIA (with melancholy tenderness). Oh, then, she is indeed

  unfortunate! From my soul I pity her! She shall be my sister.

  But there is another and a better world."

  CHARLES. He is no more?

  AMELIA. He sails on troubled seas-Amelia's love sails with him. He wanders through pathless, sandy deserts-Amelia's love clothes the burning sand with verdure, and the barren shrubs with flowers. Southern suits scorch his bare head, northern snows pinch his feet, tempestuous hail beats down on his temples, but Amelia's love lulls him to sleep in the midst of the storm. Seas, and mountains, and skies, divide the lovers-but their souls rise above this prison-house of clay, and meet in the paradise of love. You appear sad, count!

  CHARLES. These words of love rekindle my love.

  AMELIA (pale). What? You love another? Alas! what have I said?

  CHARLES. She believed me dead, and in my supposed death she remained faithful to me-she heard again that I was alive, and she sacrificed for me the crown of a saint. She knows that I am wandering in deserts, and roaming about in misery, yet her love follows me on wings through deserts and through misery. Her name, too, like yours, is Amelia.

  AMELIA. How I envy your Amelia!

  CHARLES. Oh, she is an unhappy maid. Her love is fixed upon one who is lost-and it can never-never be rewarded.

  AMELIA. Say not so! It will be rewarded in heaven. Is it not agreed that there is a better world, where mourners rejoice, and where lovers meet again?

  CHARLES. Yes, a world where the veil is lifted-where the phantom love will make terrible discoveries-Eternity is its name. My Amelia is an unhappy maid.

  AMELIA. Unhappy, and loves you?*

  *[In the acting edition the scene closes with a different

  denouement. Amelia here says, "Are all unhappy who live with you,

  and bear the name of Amelia.

  "CHARLES. Yes, all-when they think they embrace an angel, and

  find in their arms-a murderer. Alas, for my Amelia! She is

  indeed unfortunate.

  "AMELIA (with an expression of deep affliction). Oh, I must weep

  for her.

  "CHARLES (grasping her hand, and pointing to the ring). Weep for

  thyself.

  "AMELIA (recognizing the ring). Charles! Charles! O heaven and

  earth!

  (She sinks fainting; the scene closes.)"]

  CHARLES. Unhappy, because she loves me! What if I were a murderer? How, Lady Amelia, if your lover could reckon you up a murder for every one of your kisses? Woe to my Amelia! She is an unhappy maid.

  AMELIA (gayly rising). Ha! What a happy maid am I! My only one is a reflection of Deity, and Deity is mercy and compassion! He could not bear to see a fly suffer. His soul is as far from every thought of blood as the sun is from the moon. (CHARLES suddenly turns away into a thicket, and looks wildly out into the landscape. AMELIA sings, playing the guitar.)

  Oh! Hector, wilt thou go forevermore,

  Where fierce Achilles, on the blood-stained shore,

  Heaps countless victims o'er Patroclus' grave?

  Who then thy hapless orphan boy will rear,

  Teach him to praise the gods and hurl the spear,

  When thou art swallowed up in Xanthus' wave?

  CHARLES (silently tunes the guitar, and plays).

  Beloved wife!-stern duty calls to arms

  Go, fetch my lance! and cease those vain alarms!

  [He flings the guitar away, and rushes off.]

  SCENE V.-A neighboring forest. Night. An old ruined castle in the centre of the scene.

  The band of ROBBERS encamped on the ground.

  The ROBBERS singing.

  To rob, to kill, to wench, to fight,

  Our pastime is, and daily sport;

  The gibbet claims us morn and night,

  So let's be jolly, time is short.

  A merry life we lead, and free,

  A life of endless fun;

  Our couch is 'neath the greenwood tree,

  Through wind and storm we gain our fee,

  The moon we make our sun.

  Old Mercury is our patron true,

  And a capital chap for helping us through.

  To-day we make the abbot our host,

  The farmer rich to-morrow;

  And where we shall get our next day's roast,

  Gives us nor care nor sorrow.

  And, when with Rhenish and rare Moselle

  Our throats we have been oiling,

  Our courage burns with a fiercer swell,

  And we're hand and glove with the Lord of Hell,

  Who down in his flames is broiling.

  For fathers slain the orphans' cries,

  The widowed mothers' moan and wail,

  Of brides bereaved the whimpering sighs,

  Like music sweet, our ears regale.

  Beneath the axe to see them writhe,

  Bellow like calves, fall dead like flies;

  Such bonny sights, and sounds so blithe,

  With rapture fill our eats and eyes.

  And when at last our death-knell rings-

  The devil take that hour!

  P
ayment in full the hangman brings,

  And off the stage we scour.

  On the road a glass of good liquor or so,

  Then hip! hip! hip! and away we go!

  SCHWEITZER. The night is far advanced, and the captain has not yet returned.

  RAZ. And yet he promised to be back before the clock struck eight.

  SCHWEITZER. Should any harm have befallen him, comrades, wouldn't we kindle fires! ay, and murder sucking babes?

  SPIEGEL. (takes RAZMANN aside). A word in your ear, Razmann!

  SCHWARZ (to GRIMM). Should we not send out scouts?

  GRIMM. Let him alone. He no doubt has some feat in hand that will put us to shame.

  SCHWEITZER. Then you are out, by old Harry! He did not part from us like one that had any masterpiece of roguery in view. Have you forgotten what he said as he marched us across the heath? "The fellow that takes so much as a turnip out of a field, if I know it, leaves his head behind him, as true as my name is Moor." We dare not plunder.

  RAZ. (aside to SPIEGELBERG). What are you driving at? Speak plainer.

  SPIEGEL. Hush! hush! I know not what sort of a notion you and I have of liberty, that we should toil under the yoke like bullocks, while we are making such wonderful fine speeches about independence. I like it not.

  SCHWEITZER (to GRIMM). What crotchet has that swaggering booby got in his numskull, I wonder?

  RAZ. (aside to SPIEGELBERG). Is it the captain you mean?-

  SPIEGEL. Hush! I tell you; hush! He has got his eavesdroppers all around us. Captain, did you say? Who made him captain over us? Has he not, in fact, usurped that title, which by right belongs to me? What? Is it for this that we stake our lives-that we endure all the splenetic caprices of fortunes-that we may in the end congratulate ourselves upon being the serfs of a slave? Serfs! When we might be princes? By heaven! Razmann, I could never brook it.

  SCHWEITZER (overhearing him-to the others). Yes-there's a hero for you! He is just the man to do mighty execution upon frogs with stones. The very breath of his nostrils, when he sneezes, would blow you through the eye of a needle.

  SPIEGEL. (to RAZMANN). Yes-and for years I have been intent upon it. There must be an alteration, Razmann. If you are the man I always took you for-Razmann! He is missing-he is almost given up-Razmann- methinks his hour is come. What? does not the color so much as mount to your cheek when you hear the chimes of liberty ringing in your ears? Have you not courage enough to take the hint?

  RAZ. Ha! Satan! What bait art thou spreading for my soul?

  SPIEGEL. Does it take? Good! then follow me! I have marked in what direction he slunk off. Come along! a brace of pistols seldom fail; and then-we shall be the first to strangle sucking babes. (He endeavors to draw him of.)

  SCHWEITZER (enraged, draws his sword). Ha! caitiff! I have overheard you! You remind me, at the right moment, of the Bohemian forest! Were not you the coward that began to quail when the cry arose, "the enemy is coming!" I then swore by my soul-(They fight, SPIEGELBERG is killed.) To the devil with thee, assassin!

  ROBBERS (in agitation). Murder! murder!-Schweitzer !-Spiegelberg!- Part them!

  SCHWEITZER (throwing the sword on the body). There let him rot! Be still, my comrades! Don't let such a trifle disturb you. The brute has always been inveterate against the captain and has not a single scar on his whole body. Once more, be still. Ha, the scoundrel! He would stab a man behind his back-skulk and murder! Is it for this that the hot sweat has poured down us in streams? that we may sneak out of the world at last like contemptible wretches? The brute! Is it for this that we have lived in fire and brimstone? To perish at last like rats?

  GRIMM. But what the devil, comrade, were you after? What were you quarreling about? The captain will be furious.

  SCHWEITZER. Be that on my head. And you, wretch (to RAZMANN) you were his accomplice, you! Get out of my sight! Schufterle was another of your kidney, but he has met his deserts in Switzerland-has been hanged, as the captain prophesied. (A shot is heard.)

  SCHWARZ (jumping up). Hark! a pistol shot! (Another shot is heard.) Another! Hallo! the captain!

  GRIMM. Patience! If it be he, there will be a third. (The third shot is heard.)

  SCHWARZ. 'Tis he! 'Tis the captain! Absent yourself awhile, Schweitzer-till we explain to him! (They fire.)

  Enter CHARLES VON MOOR and KOSINSKY.

  SCHWEITZER (running to meet them). Welcome, captain. I have been somewhat choleric in your absence. (He conducts him to the corpse.) Be you judge between him and me. He meant to waylay and assassinate you.

  ROBBERS (in consternation). What; the captain?

  CHARLES (after fixing his eyes for some time upon the corpse, with a sudden burst of feeling). Oh, incomprehensible finger of the avenging Nemesis! Was it not he whose siren song seduced me to be what I am? Let this sword be consecrated to the dark goddess of retribution! That was not thy deed, Schweitzer.

  SCHWEITZER. By heaven, it was mine, though! and, as the devil lives, it is not the worst deed I have done in my time. (Turns away moodily.)

  CHARLES (absorbed in thought). I comprehend-Great Ruler in heaven- I comprehend. The leaves fall from the trees, and my autumn is come. Remove this object from my sight! (The corpse of SPIEGELBERG is carried out.)

  GRIMM. Give us your orders, captain! What shall we do next?

  CHARLES. Soon-very soon-all will be accomplished. Hand me my lute; I have lost myself since I have been there. My lute, I say-I must nurse up my strength again. Leave me!

  ROBBERS. 'Tis midnight, captain.

  CHARLES. They were only stage tears after all. Let me bring to memory the song of the old Roman, that my slumbering genius may wake up again. Hand me my lute. Midnight, say you?

  SCHWARZ. Yes, and past, too! Our eyes are as heavy as lead. For three days we have not slept a wink.

  CHARLES. What? does balmy sleep visit the eyes of murderers? Why doth it flee mine? I never was a coward, nor a villain. Lay yourselves to rest. At day-break we march.

  ROBBERS. Good night, captain. (They stretch them selves on the ground and fall asleep.)

  Profound silence. CHARLES VON MOOR takes up his

  guitar, and plays.

  BRUTUS. Oh, be ye welcome, realms of peace and rest! Receive the last of all the sons of Rome! From dread Philippi's field, where all the best Fell bleeding in her cause, I wearied come. Cassius, no more! And Rome now prostrate laid! My brethren all lie weltering in their gore! No refuge left but Hades' gloomy shade; No hope remains !-No world for Brutus more!

  CAESAR. Who's he that, with a hero's lofty bearing, Comes striding o'er yon mountain's rocky bed? Unless my eyes deceive, that noble daring Bespeaks the Roman warrior's fearless tread. Whence, son of Tiber, do thy footsteps bend! Say, stands the seven-billed city firmly yet? No Caesar there, to be the soldiers friend! Full oft has he that orphaned city wept.

  BRUTUS. Ha! thou of three-and-twenty wounds! Avaunt! Thou unblest shade, what calls thee back to light? Down with thee, down, to Pluto's deepest haunt, And shroud thy form in black, eternal night, Proud mourner! triumph not to learn our fall! Phillippi's altars reek with freedom's blood? The bier of Brutus is Rome's funeral pall; He Minos seeks. Hence to thy Stygian flood!

  CAESAR. That death-stroke, Brutus, which thy weapon hurled! Thou, too, Brutus?-that thou shouldst be my foe! Oh, son! It was thy father! Son! The world Was thine by heritage! Now proudly go, Well mayst thou claim to be the chief in glory, 'Twas thy fell sword that pierced thy father's heart! Now go-and at yon gates relate thy story- Say Brutus claims to be the chief in glory, 'Twas his fell sword that pierced his father's heart! Go-Now thou'rt told what staid me on this shore, Grim ferryman, push off, and swiftly ply thine oar.

  BRUTUS. Stay, father, stay! Within the whole bright round Of Sol's diurnal course I knew but one Who to compare with Caesar could be found; And that one, Caesar, thou didst call thy son! 'Twas only Caesar could destroy a Rome; Brutus alone that Caesar could withstand- Where Brutus lives, must Caesar die! Thy home Be far from
mine. I'll seek another land.

  [He lays down his guitar, and walks to and

  fro in deep meditation.]

  Who will give me certainty! All is so dark-a confused labyrinth-no outlet-no guiding star. Were but all to end with this last gasp of breath. To end, like an empty puppet-show. But why then this burning thirst after happiness? Wherefore this ideal of unattained perfection? This looking to an hereafter for the fulfilment of our hopes? If the paltry pressure of this paltry thing (putting a pistol to his head) makes the wise man and the fool-the coward and the brave-the noble and the villain equal?-the harmony which pervades the inanimate world is so divinely perfect-why, then, should there be such discord in the intellectual? No! no! there must be something beyond, for I have not yet attained to happiness.

  Think ye that I will tremble, spirits of my slaughtered victims? No, I will not tremble. (Trembling violently.) The shrieks of your dying agonies-your black, convulsive features-your ghastly bleeding wounds- what are they all but links of one indissoluble chain of destiny, which hung upon the temperament of my father, the life's blood of my mother, the humors of my nurses and tutors, and even upon the holiday pastimes of my childhood! (Shaking with horror.) Why has my Perillus made of me a brazen bull, whose burning entrails yearn after human flesh? (He lifts the pistol again to his head.)

  Time and Eternity!-linked together by a single instant! Fearful key, which locks behind me the prisonhouse of life, and opens before me the habitations of eternal night-tell me-oh, tell me-whither-whither wilt thou lead me? Strange, unexplored land! Humanity is unnerved at the fearful thought, the elasticity of our finite nature is paralyzed, and fancy, that wanton ape of the senses, juggles our credulity with appalling phantoms. No! no! a man must be firm. Be what thou wilt, thou undefined futurity, so I remain but true to myself. Be what thou wilt, so I but take this inward self hence with me. External forms are but the trappings of the man. My heaven and my hell is within.