Orange.  She is held incapable of this determination, because you have already seen her hesitate and draw back; nevertheless, it lies in her to take this step; new circumstances may impel her to the long-delayed resolve.  What if she were to depart, and the king to send another?

Egmont.  Why, he would come, and he also would have business enough upon his hands.  He would arrive with vast projects and schemes to reduce all things to order, to subjugate and combine; and to-day he would be occupied with this trifle, to-morrow with that, and the day following have to deal with some unexpected hindrance.  He would spend one month in forming plans, another in mortification at their failure, and half a year would be consumed in cares for a single province.  With him also time would pass, his head grow dizzy, and things hold on their ordinary course, till instead of sailing into the open sea, according to the plan which he had previously marked out, he might thank if, amid the tempest, he were able to keep his vessel off the rocks.

Orange.  What if the king were advised to try an experiment?

Egmont.  Which should be—?

Orange.  To try how the body would get on without the head.

Egmont.  How?

Orange.  Egmont, our interests have for years weighed upon my heart; I ever stand as over a chess-board, and regard no move of my adversary as insignificant; and as men of science carefully investigate the secrets of nature, so I hold it to be the duty, ay, the very vocation of a prince, to acquaint himself with the dispositions and intentions of all parties.  I have reason to fear an outbreak.  The king has long acted according to certain principles; he finds that they do not lead to a prosperous issue; what more probable than that he should seek it some other way?

Egmont.  I do not believe it.  When a man grows old, has attempted much, and finds that the world cannot be made to move according to his will, he must needs grow weary of it at last.

Orange.  One thing has yet to be attempted.

Egmont.  What?

Orange.  To spare the people, and to put an end to the princes.

Egmont.  How many have long been haunted by this dread?  There is no cause for such anxiety.

Orange.  Once I felt anxious; gradually I became suspicious; suspicion has at length grown into certainty.

Egmont.  Has the king more faithful servants than ourselves?

Orange.  We serve him after our own fashion; and, between ourselves, it must be confessed that we understand pretty well how to make the interests of the king square with our own.

Egmont.  And who does not?  He has our duty and submission, in so far as they are his due.

Orange.  But what if he should arrogate still more, and regard as disloyalty what we esteem the maintenance of our just rights?

Egmont.  We shall know in that case how to defend ourselves.  Let him assemble the Knights of the Golden Fleece; we will submit ourselves to their decision.