A Gradenigo or a Foscari; Enter ANTONIO and other armed Domestics, who seize BERTRAM. Lioni (continues). Take care We will unto Giovanni Gradenigo's, Bear me a prisoner ? Where wouldst thou The die is thrown; but for a warlike service, Ber. F. Thus thinking, I must marvel you resolve To strike the blow so suddenly. Must be struck suddenly or never. When I had o'ermaster'd the weak false remorse I was most fain to strike; and, firstly, that I might not yield again to such emotions; I know not well the courage or the faith: Ber. F. By this time they are; Resolve to cleanse this conimonwealth with fire, As doth the pilot of an admiral galley: Yet (wouldst thou think it, kinsman ?) it hath been To steel me to a purpose such as made Timoleon immortal, than to face The toils and dangers of a life of war. Ber. F. It gladdens me to see your former wisdom Subdue the furies which so wrung you ere You were decided. It was ever thus Doge. With me; the hour of agitation came In the first glimmerings of a purpose, when Passion had too much room to sway; but in The hour of action I have stood as calm As were the dead who lay around me: this They knew who made me what I am, and trusted To the subduing power which I preserved Over my mood, when its first burst was spent. But they were not aware that there are things Which make revenge a virtue by reflection, And not an impulse of mere anger; though The laws sleep, justice wakes, and injured souls Oft do a public right with private wrong, And justify their deeds unto themselves. Methinks the day breaks-is it not so? look, Thine eyes are clear with youth; the air puts on A morning freshness, and, at least to me, The sea looks greyer through the lattice. Ber. F. - The morn is dappling in the sky. 1 Doge. True, Away then! See that they strike without delay, and with The first toll from St. Mark's, march on the palace With all our house's strength: here I will meet Glut the more careless swords of those leagued with us. In freedom and true sovereignty, or never! Doge. Come hither, my Bertuccio - one embraceSpeed, for the day grows broader-Send me soon A messenger to tell me how all goes When you rejoin our troops, and then sound-sound The storm-bell from Saint Mark's! [Exit BERTUCCIO FALIERO. He is gone, 2 Doge (solus). And on each footstep moves a life. 'Tis done. Now the destroying angel hovers o'er Venice, and pauses ere he pours the vial, Even as the eagle overlooks his prey, And for a moment, poised in middle air, Suspends the motion of his mighty wings, Then swoops with his unerring beak. That slowly walk'st the waters! march-march on I would not smite i' the dark, but rather see That no stroke errs. And you, ye blue sea-waves ! 1 Thou day! ["The night is clearing from the sky."— MS.] [At last the moment arrives when the bell is to be sounded, and the whole of the conspiring bands are watching in impatience for the signal. The nephew of the Doge, and the heir of his house (for he is childless), leaves Faliero in his palace, and goes to strike with his own hand the fatal summous. The Doge is left alone; and English poetry, we think, contains few passages superior to that which follows. -LOCKHART.] I have seen you dyed ere now, and deeply too, With Genoese, Saracen, and Hunnish gore, While that of Venice flow'd too, but victorious; Now thou must wear an unmix'd crimson; no Barbaric blood can reconcile us now Unto that horrible incarnadine, But friend or foe will roll in civic slaughter. [4 pause. Hark! was there not Sound till the strong tower rock!- What! silent still ? I would go forth, but that my post is here, To be the centre of re-union to The oft discordant elements which form The master-mover. -- Hark! he comes- he comes, Enter a SIGNOR OF THE NIGHT', with Guards, Sig. Doge, I arrest thee of high treason! Me! Thy prince, of treason? - Who are they that dare Cloak their own treason under such an order? Sig. (showing his order). Behold my order from the assembled Ten. Doge. And where are they, and why assembled ? no Such council can be lawful, till the prince Preside there, and that duty's mine: on thine I charge thee, give me way, or marshal me To the council chamber. Sig. Duke! it may not be : Nor are they in the wonted Hall of Council, But sitting in the convent of Saint Saviour's. Doge. You dare to disobey me, then? Sig. I serve The state, and needs must serve it faithfully; My warrant is the will of those who rule it. Doge. And till that warrant has my signature It is illegal, and, as now applied, Rebellious-Hast thou weigh'd well thy life's worth, The bloodhound mob on their patrician prey— Peace, thou thing! As rebel slave of a revolted council! And yet how near success! I would have fallen, 1st Sig. Are all the passes Which lead up to the palace well secured? 2d Sig. They are- besides, it matters not; the Are all in chains, and some even now on trialTheir followers are dispersed, and many taken. Ber. F. Uncle ! Doge. It is in vain to war with Fortune; The Glory hath departed from our house. Ber. F. Who would have deem'd it?-Ah! one [of ages; moment sooner! Doge. That moment would have changed the face This gives us to eternity-We'll meet it As men whose triumph is not in success, But who can make their own minds all in all, Equal to every fortune. Droop not, 'tis But a brief passage—I would go alone, Yet if they send us, as 't is like, together, Let us go worthy of our sires and selves. Ber. F. I shall not shame you, uncle. 1st Sig. Lords, our orders Are to keep guard on both in separate chambers, Until the council call ye to your trial. Doge. Our trial! will they keep their mockery up Even to the last ? but let them deal upon us, As we had dealt on them, but with less pomp. 'Tis but a game of mutual homicides, Who have cast lots for the first death, and they Have won with false dice. Who hath been our Judas? 1st Sig. I am not warranted to answer that. Ber. F. I'll answer for thee-'t is a certain Bertram, Even now deposing to the secret giunta. [tools Doge. Bertram the Bergamask! With what vile We operate to slay or save! This creature, Black with a double treason, now will earn Rewards and honours, and be stamp'd in story With the geese in the Capitol, which gabbled Alas! The Chief of the Ten, BENINTENDE. 3 The savage Hun, and not less barbarous Frank; I. Ber. So my life grows: I Was bred a soldier, not a senator. Ben. Perhaps you think by this blunt brevity To brave your judges to postpone the sentence? I. Ber. Do you be brief as I am, and believe me, I shall prefer that mercy to your pardon. Ben. Is this your sole reply to the tribunal ? I. Ber. Go, ask your racks what they have wrung from us, Or place us there again; we have still some blood left, And some slight sense of pain in these wrench'd limbs : But this ye dare not do; for if we die there Ben. What do you mean? The Senate! Ask of the suffering people, And you, too, Philip Calendaro, what Cal. Most true, it will do so; A former application did so; but It will not change my words, or, if it did— Ben. What then? Cal. Stand good in law? Ben. Will my avowal on yon rack Assuredly. brought in his part is very forcibly written throughout. JEFFREY.] ["In the notes to Marino Faliero, it may be as well to say that Benintende was not really of the Ten, but merely Grand Chancellor - a separate office, though an important one. It was an arbitrary alteration of mine.' - Byron Letters.] Cal. Whoe'er The culprit be whom I accuse of treason? Ben. Without doubt, he will be brought up to trial. Cal. And on this testimony would he perish? Ben. So your confession be detail'd and full, He will stand here in peril of his life. Cal. Then look well to thy proud self, President! For by the eternity which yawns before me, I swear that thou, and only thou, shalt be The traitor I denounce upon that rack, If I be stretch'd there for the second time. One of the Giunta. Lord President, 't were best proceed to judgment; There is no more to be drawn from these men. Cal. What! must we Not even say farewell to some foud friend, Nor leave a last word with our confessor ? Ben. A priest is waiting in the antechamber; But, for your friends, such interviews would be Painful to them, and useless all to you. Cal. I knew that we were gagg'd in life; at least All those who had not heart to risk their lives Upon their open thoughts; but still I deem'd That in the last few moments, the same idle Freedom of speech accorded to the dying, Would not now be denied to us; but since I. Ber. Even let them have their way, brave Calendaro! What matter a few syllables? let's die Without the slightest show of favour from them; So shall our blood more readily arise To Heaven against them, and more testify 1 "Giovedi grasso"-" fat or greasy Thursday," which I cannot literally translate in the text, was the day. 2 Historical fact. See Sanuto, APPENDIX: Marino Faliero, Note A. 3 ["I know what Foscolo means, about Calendaro's spitting at Bertram; that's national - the objection, I mean. The Italians and French, with those flags of abomination' their pocket handkerchiefs, spit there, and here, and every where else-in your face almost, and therefore object to it on the stage as too familiar But we who spit nowhere- but in a man's face when we grow savage-are not likely to feel this. Remember Massinger, and Kean's Sir Giles Overreach — Lord! thus I spit at thee and at thy counsel ! ' Besides, Calendaro does not spit in Bertram's face; he spits at him, as I have seen the Mussulmans do upon the ground when What brooks it now to ponder upon this. Bert. Alas! I fain you died in peace with me; Cal. (spitting at him). 3 I die and scorn thee ! Ben. Now that these criminals have been disposed of, "T is time that we proceed to pass our sentence Upon the greatest traitor upon record In any annals, the Doge Faliero ! The proofs and process are complete; the time Ben. Avogadori, order that the Doge Have been disposed of. Some have fled to Chiozza; As well as in the islands, that we hope Enter the DOGE as Prisoner, with Guards, &c. &c. But it must plot to overthrow your peers, Who made you what you are, and quench in blood A city's glory -we have laid already Before you in your chamber at full length, By the Avogadori, all the proofs Which have appear'd against you; and more ample Ne'er rear'd their sanguinary shadows to they are in a rage. Again, he does not in fact despise Bertram, though he affects it, as we all do, when angry with one we think our inferior. He is angry at not being allowed to die in his own way (although not afraid of death); and recollect Bertuccio, on the other hand, is a cooler and more concenthat he suspected and hated Bertram from the first. Israel trated fellow he acts upon principle and impulse; Calendaro upon impulse and example. So there's argument for you. — The Doge repeats; - true, but it is from engrossing passion, and because he sees different persons, and is always speeches are long;'- true, but I wrote for the closet, and on obliged to recur to the cause uppermost in his mind. His the French and Italian model rather than yours, which I think not very highly of, for all your old dramatists, who are long enough too, God knows: look into any of them.” Byron Letters.] |