n solemn council,
With due deliberation had selected
The smallest out of four-and-twenty evils,
I' faith we should wait long--
"Dash! and through with it!" That's the better watchword.
Then after come what may come. 'Tis man's nature
To make the best of a bad thing once past.
A bitter and perplexed "what shall I do?"
Is worse to man than worst necessity.

QUESTENBERG.
Ay, doubtless, it is true; the duke does spare us
The troublesome task of choosing.

BUTLER.
Yes, the duke
Cares with a father's feelings for his troops;
But how the emperor feels for us, we see.

QUESTENBERG.
His cares and feelings all ranks share alike,
Nor will he offer one up to another.

ISOLANI.
And therefore thrusts he us into the deserts
As beasts of prey, that so he may preserve
His dear sheep fattening in his fields at home.

QUESTENBERG (with a sneer).
Count! this comparison you make, not I.

ILLO.
Why, were we all the court supposes us
'Twere dangerous, sure, to give us liberty.

QUESTENBERG (gravely).
You have taken liberty--it was not given you,
And therefore it becomes an urgent duty
To rein it in with the curbs.

ILLO.
Expect to find a restive steed in us.

QUESTENBERG.
A better rider may be found to rule it.

ILLO.
He only brooks the rider who has tamed him.

QUESTENBERG.
Ay, tame him once, and then a child may lead him.

ILLO.
The child, we know, is found for him already.

QUESTENBERG.
Be duty, sir, your study, not a name.

BUTLER (who has stood aside with PICCOLOMINI, but with visible interest
in the conversation, advances).
Sir president, the emperor has in Germany
A splendid host assembled; in this kingdom
Full twenty thousand soldiers are cantoned,
With sixteen thousand in Silesia;
Ten regiments are posted on the Weser,
The Rhine, and Maine; in Swabia there are six,
And in Bavaria twelve, to face the Swedes;
Without including in the account the garrisons
Who on the frontiers hold the fortresses.
This vast and mighty host is all obedient
To Friedland's captains; and its brave commanders,
Bred in one school, and nurtured with one milk,
Are all excited by one heart and soul;
They are as strangers on the soil they tread,
The service is their only house and home.
No zeal inspires then for their country's cause,
For thousands like myself were born abroad;
Nor care they for the emperor, for one half
Deserting other service fled to ours,
Indifferent what their banner, whether 'twe