e. I know it.

Egmont. The Regent appeared to know nothing of it.

Orange. And, therefore, the stronger is my conviction. The Regent will
give place to him. I know his blood-thirsty disposition, and he brings
an army with him.

Egmont. To harass the provinces anew? The people will be exasperated to
the last degree.

Orange. Their leaders will be secured.

Egmont. No! No!

Orange. Let us retire, each to his province. There we can strengthen
ourselves; the Duke will not begin with open violence.

Egmont. Must we not greet him when he comes?

Orange. We will delay.

Egmont. What if, on his arrival, he should summon us in the king's name?

Orange. We will answer evasively.

Egmont. And if he is urgent?

Orange. We will excuse ourselves.

Egmont. And if he insist?

Orange. We shall be the less disposed to come.

Egmont. Then war is declared; and we are rebels. Do not suffer prudence
to mislead you, Orange. I know it is not fear that makes you yield.
Consider this step.

Orange. I have considered it.

Egmont. Consider for what you are answerable if you are wrong. For the
most fatal war that ever yet desolated a country. Your refusal is the
signal that at once summons the provinces to arms, that justifies every
cruelty for which Spain has hitherto so anxiously sought a pretext. With
a single nod you will excite to the direst confusion what, with patient
effort, we have so long kept in abeyance. Think of the towns, the
nobles, the people; think of commerce, agriculture, trade! Realize the
murder, the desolation! Calmly the soldier beholds his comrade fall
beside him in the battlefield. But towards you, carried downwards by the
stream, shall float the corpses of citizens, of children, of maidens,
till, aghast with horror, you shall no longer know whose cause you are
defending, since you shall see those, for whose liberty you drew
the sword, perishing around you. And what will be your emotions when
conscience whispers, "It was for my own safety that I drew it "?

Orange. We are not ordinary men, Egmont. If it becomes us to sacrifice
ourselves for thousands, it becomes us no less to spare ourselves for
thousands.

Egmont. He who spares himself becomes an object of suspicion ever to
himself.

Orange. He who is sure of his own motives can, with confidence, advance
or retreat.

Egmont. Your own act will render certain the evil that you dread.

Orange. Wisdom and courage alike prompt us to meet an inevita