urn
for further negotiations. It would have been well if your majesty had
marched victorious to Vienna, to let the proud Hapsburgers see for once
that Frederick of Prussia does not stand behind them, but at their side;
that he has created a new order of things; that the old, mouldy, rotten
statutes of the imperial sovereignty have fallen in the dust before
Frederick the Great; that Germany must be newly mapped out, in order to
give room near the old man Austria for young Prussia. Yes, your majesty,
I could have wished that you had even been less generous, less noble
toward the supercilious, insolent enemy, and have accepted no conditions
but those of 'equality for Prussia with Austria in the German empire!'"

"My dear sir, I am truly astonished at the vigor with which you express
yourself; I am very glad to find you so enthusiastic," said Frederick,
nodding to his minister; "but listen--I will confide to you that which
I do not wish you to repeat: I am no longer, to my regret, what you so
flatteringly call me, 'Frederick the Great,' but only 'Old Fritz.' Do
you understand me? the latter is a deplorable, worn-out soldier, who no
longer feels power or vigor. The lines of Boileau often recur to me on
mounting my horse:

'Unfortunate one, leave thy steed growing old in peace,
For fear, that, panting and suddenly out of breath,
In falling, he may not leave his master upon the arena!'

It is the misery of life that man will grow old, and that the body, when
worn and weary, will even subdue the spirit, and force her to fold her
wings and suffer. I did not realize that it had gone so far with me,
and I imagined that the winged soul could raise the old, decayed body.
Therefore I risked, in spite of my lazy old age, to undertake this war,
for I recognized it as a holy duty to enter into it, for the honor and
justice of our country, and prove to the Emperor of Germany that he
could not manage and rule at his will in the German empire. I long not
for the honor of new laurels, but I should be satisfied, as father of my
subjects, to gain a civil crown.

"There you have my creed. I have as sincerely confessed to you as my
respectable cousin, the empress-queen, to her confessor; only I did not
fall upon my knees to you, and you do not as the said confessor, betray
me to the Holy Father at Rome."

"Your majesty well knows that every word which you have the grace to
confide to me, is engraved upon my inmost soul, and