STAUFF.
Oh wife! a horrid, ruthless fiend is war,
That smites at once the shepherd and his flock.

GERT.
Whate'er great Heaven inflicts, we must endure;
But wrong is what no noble heart will bear.

STAUFF.
This house--thy pride--war, unrelenting war
Will burn it down.

GERT.
And did I think this heart
Enslaved and fettered to the things of earth,
With my own hand I'd hurl the kindling torch.

STAUFF.
Thou hast faith in human kindness, wife; but war
Spares not the tender infant in its cradle.

GERT.
There is a Friend to innocence in heaven.
Send your gaze forward, Werner--not behind.

STAUFF.
We men may die like men, with sword in hand;
But oh, what fate, my Gertrude, may be thine?