WEISLINGEN:
Berlichingen!
World's Greatest Books - Volume 17 - Poetry and Drama
How strangely past and
present seem to intermingle here.
[_Enter_ GOETZ, _and a man with jug and goblet_.
GOETZ: Let us drink, until the meal is ready. Come, you are at home.
It is a long time since we last shared a bottle. (_Raising his goblet_)
A gay heart!
WEISLINGEN: Those times are past.
GOETZ: Heaven forbid! Though merrier days we may not find. If you had
only followed me to Brabant, instead of taking to that miserable life
at court! Are you not as free and nobly born as anyone in Germany?
Independent, subject only to the emperor? And you submit to vassals,
who poison the emperor's ear against me! They want to get rid of me.
And you, Weislingen, are their tool!
WEISLINGEN: Berlichingen!
GOETZ: No more of it! I hate explanations. They only lead to
deceiving one or the other, or both.
[_They stand apart, their backs turned to each other.
Enter_ MARIE.
MARIE (_to_ WEISLINGEN): I come to greet and to invite you in
my sister's name. What is it? Why are you silent both? You are host
and guest. Be guided by a woman's voice.
GOETZ: You remind me of my duty.
WEISLINGEN: Who could resist so heavenly a hint?
MARIE: Draw near each other, be reconciled! (_The men shake hands_. )
The union of brave men is the most ardent wish of all good women.
present seem to intermingle here.
[_Enter_ GOETZ, _and a man with jug and goblet_.
GOETZ: Let us drink, until the meal is ready. Come, you are at home.
It is a long time since we last shared a bottle. (_Raising his goblet_)
A gay heart!
WEISLINGEN: Those times are past.
GOETZ: Heaven forbid! Though merrier days we may not find. If you had
only followed me to Brabant, instead of taking to that miserable life
at court! Are you not as free and nobly born as anyone in Germany?
Independent, subject only to the emperor? And you submit to vassals,
who poison the emperor's ear against me! They want to get rid of me.
And you, Weislingen, are their tool!
WEISLINGEN: Berlichingen!
GOETZ: No more of it! I hate explanations. They only lead to
deceiving one or the other, or both.
[_They stand apart, their backs turned to each other.
Enter_ MARIE.
MARIE (_to_ WEISLINGEN): I come to greet and to invite you in
my sister's name. What is it? Why are you silent both? You are host
and guest. Be guided by a woman's voice.
GOETZ: You remind me of my duty.
WEISLINGEN: Who could resist so heavenly a hint?
MARIE: Draw near each other, be reconciled! (_The men shake hands_. )
The union of brave men is the most ardent wish of all good women.
