This  feature  of  Schiller's  plot,  which  has  for  us  some-
thing of  the  burlesque  about  it,  has  been  taken  more
than  any  other  to  prove  his  inexperience  of  life.  But
the  fact  is  that  the  thing  was  after  all  not  so  unthink-
able. Outlawry  on  a  large  scale  was  by  no  means  un-
known,  and  the  romance  of  outlawry  was   familiar  in


42  The  Robbers

literature.  The  Thirty  Years'  War  had  famiHarized
Germany  with  marauding  bands  who  recognized  no
authority  save  that  of  their  leader.  Even  in  the  eigh-
teenth century  the  brigandage  which  was  common  in
the  Mediterranean  countries  continued  to  flourish  in
Southern  Germany.  As  late  as  1781,  the  very  year  in
which  '  The  Robbers '  appeared,  we  hear  of  the  cap-
ture in  Bavaria  of  a  band  of  outlaws  numbering  nearly
a  thousand  men.  The  year  1771  witnessed  the  exe-
cution of  the  robber-chieftain  Klostermayer,  who,  under
the  name  of  the  Bavarian  Hiesel,  became  the  subject
of  an  idealizing  saga  in  which  we  recognize  the  essen-
tial features  of  Karl  Moor.*

Schiller's  main  fiction  was  thus,  in  a  sense,  war-
ranted by  the  facts  ;  and  it  gains  further  in  artistic
plausibility  when  we  consider  that  the  idealized  bandit
was  already  a  familiar  type  in  literature.  The  author  of
'  The  Robbers '  was  acquainted  with  Robin  Hood,  and
he  had  probably  read  '  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona ',
in  which  the  banished  Valentine  becomes  the  captain
of  a  band  of  outlaws  on  condition  that  they  "do  no
outrages  on  silly  women  or  poor  passengers  ",  and  the
outlaws  reply  that  they  "  detest  such  vile,  base  prac-
tices."^ He  had  also  read,  in  'Don  Quixote',  of  the
high-toned  robber,  Roque  Guinart,  who  had  more  of
compassion  in  his  nature  than  cruelty.  Cervantes
makes  Roque  comment  thus  upon  his  mode  of  life  :
"  Injuries  which  I  could  not  brook  and  thirst  for  re-
venge first  led  me  into  it  contrary  to  my  nature  ;  for
the  savage  asperity  of  my  present  behavior  is   a  dis-

1  Cf.  Minor,  I,  313  ff.       "
''  Act  IV,  scene  i.
