The mighty in the fleld, the sage in council; silent! Benint. He hath already own'd to his own guilt, Nor, as thou seest, doth he deny it now. Ang. Ay, but he must not die! Spare his few years, Which grief and shame will soon cut down to days! One day of baffled crime must not efface Near sixteen lustres crowded with brave acts. Doge. I have lived too long not to know Thy suing to these men were but the bleating A word with thee, and with this noble lady, Benint. His doom must be fulfill'd without But since that cannot be, as Christians let us Say farewell, and in peace: with full contrition remission Of time or penalty—'tis a decree. Ang. He hath been guilty, but there Benint. Not in this case with justice. He who is only just is cruel; who Benint. His punishment is safety to the state. Ang. He was a subject, and hath served the state;` He was your general, and hath saved the state; He is your sovereign, and hath ruled the state. One of the Council. He is a traitor, and betray'd the state. Ang. And, but for him, there now had been no state To save or to destroy; and you who sit Had now been groaning at a Moslem oar, Rather than breathe in slavery! Ang. If there are so The truly brave are generous to the fallen! Benint. Lady, it cannot be. to them Have begg'd as famish'd mendicants for bread Of virtue, looking not to what is called Of pleasure, and all pangs of pain, are feeble Their hopes is breathed on, jealous as the Of her high aiery; let what we now time; Have wept as they will cry unto their God Then, as a prince, address thee to thy doom! An obscene gesture cost Caligula His life, while Earth yet bore his cruelties; A virgin's wrong made Spain a Moorish province; And Steno's He, couch'd in two worthless Of grateful masses for Heaven's grace in lines, Hath decimated Venice, put in peril A senate which hath stood eight hundred years, Discrown'd a prince, cut off his crownless And forged new fetters for a groaning people! nor ever: We leave him to himself, that lowest depth And higher beings suffer; 'tis the charter May have the crawler crush'd, but feels no anger: 'Twas the worm's nature; and some men are worms In soul, more than the living things of tombs. Doge (to Benintende). Signor, complete We would request the princess to withdraw; For 'tis a part of mine—I will not quit, Nay, fear not either shriek, or sigh, or tear; snatching I have that within which shall o'ermaster all. Even to the highest, listen to the sentence: And the great enemy of man, as subject Doge. Is this the Giunta's sentence? Doge. I can endure it. And the time? peace with God; Within an hour thou must be in his presence. Doge. I am already; and my blood will rise Heaven before the souls of those who Are all my lands confiscated? And goods, and jewels, and all kind of reserved the lands Benint. These Lie under the state's ban; their chief, thy nephew, In peril of his own life; but the council Fear not, for we will do her justice. I share not in your spoil! From henceforth, know I am devoted unto God alone, And take my refuge in the cloister. Doge. Come! The hour may be a hard one, but 'twill end. The priest is robed, the scimitar is bare, Benint. Yes, Doge, thou hast lived and thou shalt die A sovereign; till the moment which precedes The separation of that head and trunk, That ducal crown and head shall be united. Thou hast forgot thy dignity in deigning To plot with petty traitors; not so we, Who in the very punishment acknowledge The prince. Thy vile accomplices have died The dog's death, and the wolf's; but thou shalt fall As falls the lion by the hunters, girt By those who feel a proud compassion for thee, And mourn even the inevitable death Provoked by thy wild wrath, and regal fierceness. Now we remit thee to thy preparation : Let it be brief, and we ourselves will be Thy guides unto the place where first we were United to thee as thy subjects, and Thy senate; and must now be parted from thee As such for ever on the self-same spot. Guards! form the Doge's escort to his chamber. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The Doge's Apartment. The DOGE as prisoner, and the DUCHESS attending him. Doge. Now, that the priest is gone, 'twere useless all To linger out the miserable minutes; But one pang more, the pang of parting from thee, And I will leave the few last grains of sand, Which yet remain of the accorded hour, And I have been the cause, the unconscious 'cause; And for this funeral marriage," this black union, Which thou, compliant with my father's wish, Didst promise at his death, thou hast seal'd thine own. Doge. Not so: there was that in my spirit ever Which shaped out for itself some great reverse; The marvel is, it came not until now- Doge. Long years ago-so long, they are a doubt In memory, and yet they live in annals: When I was in my youth, and served the senate And signory as podesta and captain anger, By strange delay, and arrogant reply To my reproof; I raised my hand and smote him, Until he reel'd beneath his holy burthen; And as he rose from earth again, he raised His tremulous hands in pious wrath towards Heaven. Thence pointing to the Host, which had fallen from him, He turn❜d to me, and said, "The hour will come When he thou hast o'erthrown shall over throw thee: The glory shall depart from out thy house, The wisdom shall be shaken from thy soul, And in thy best maturity of mind A madness of the heart shall seize upon thee; Passion shall tear thee when all passions cease In other men, or mellow into virtues; And majesty, which decks all other heads, Shall crown to leave thee headless; honours shall But prove to thee the heralds of destruction, And hoary hairs of shame,and both of death, But not such death as fits an aged man.” Thus saying, he pass'd on.-That hour is come. Ang. And with this warning couldst thou not have striven To avert the fatal moment, and atone heart, so much That I remember'd them amid the maze Of life, as if they form'd a spectral voice, Which shook me in a supernatural dream; And I repented; but 'twas not for me Thou canst not have forgot what all remember, That on my day of landing here as Doge, The Bucentaur like the columnar cloud Doge. And yet I find a comfort in The thought that these things are the work of Fate; For I would rather yield to gods than men, Or cling to any creed of destiny, Rather than deem these mortals, most of whom I know to be as worthless as the dust, Shall be a desolation and a curse, A hissing and a scoff unto the nations, Sweeps o'er thee to the last; thou dost deceive Thyself and canst not injure them-be calmer. Doge. I stand within eternity, and see Into eternity, and I behold— Ay, palpable as I see thy sweet face For the last time the days which I denounce Unto all time against these wave-girt walls, And they who are indwellers. Guard (coming forward). Doge of Venice, The Ten are in attendance on your highness. Doge. Then farewell, Angiolina! - one embrace Forgive the old man who hath been to thee A little love, or friendship, or esteem, She hath no breath, no pulse! Guards! lend your aid— I cannot leave her thus, and yet 'tis better, Since every lifeless moment spares a pang. When she shakes off this temporary death, I shall be with the Eternal.-Call her SCENE III.-The Court of the Ducal Palace: the outer gates are shut against the people. -The DOGE enters in his ducal robes, in procession with the Council of Ten and other Patricians, attended by the Guards till they arrive at the top of the "Giant's Staircase" (where the Doges took the oaths); the Executioner is stationed there with his sword. On arriving, a Chief of the Ten takes off the ducal cap from the Doge's head. Doge. So, now the Doge is nothing, and at last I am again Marino Faliero : With how much more contentment I resign One of the Ten. Thou tremblest, Faliero! Compatible with justice, to the senate? their mercy, My consort to their justice; for methinks My death, and such a death, might settle all Between the state and me, Benint. They shall be cared for; Even notwithstanding thine unheard of crime. Doge. Unheard-of! ay, there's not a history But shows a thousand crown'd conspirators Against the people; but to set them free One sovereign only died, and one is dying. Benint. And who are they who fell in such a cause? Doge. The King of Sparta, and the Doge of Venice Agis and Faliero! ? Benint. Hast thou more To utter or to do? Doge. May I speak? Benint. Thou mayst; But recollect the people are without, Ye winds! which flutter'd o'er as if you loved it, And fill'd my swelling sails as they were wafted To many a triumph! Thou, my native earth, Which I have bled for, and thou foreign earth, Which drank this willing blood from many a wound! Ye stones, in which my gore will not sink, but Reek up to Heaven! Ye skies, which will receive it! Thou sun! which shinest on these things, and Thou! Who kindlest and who quenchest suns! I am not innocent- but are these guiltless? the doom Of this proud city, and I leave my curse Shedding so much blood in her last defence: When thy patricians beg their bitter bread In narrow streets, and in their shameful need Make their nobility a plea for pity! · Then, when the few who still retain a wreck Of their great fathers' heritage shall fawn Round a barbarian Vice of Kings' Vicegerent, Even in the palace where they sway'd as sovereigns, Even in the palace where they slew their sovereign, Proud of some name they have disgraced, or sprung From an adulteress boastful of her guilt With some large gondolier or foreign soldier, Shall bear about their bastardy in triumph To the third spurious generation;—when Thy sons are in the lowest scale of being, Slaves turn'd o'er to the vanquish'd by the victors, Despised by cowards for greater cowardice, And scorn'd even by the vicious for such vices As in the monstrous grasp of their conception Defy all codes to image or to name them; Then, when of Cyprus, now thy subject kingdom, All thine inheritance shall be her shame Entail'd on thy less virtuous daughters, grown A wider proverb for worse prostitution;— When all the ills of conquer'd states shall cling thee, Vice without splendour, sin without relief Even from the gloss of love to smooth it o'er, But in its stead coarse lusts of habitude, Prurient yet passionless, cold studied lewdness, Depraving nature's frailty to an art;When these and more are heavy on thee, when Smiles without mirth, and pastimes without pleasure, Youth without honour, age without respect, Meanness and weakness, and a sense of woe 'Gainst which thou wilt not strive, and dar'st not murmur, Have made thee last and worst of peopled deserts: Then, in the last gasp of thine agony, Amidst thy many murders, think of mine! Thou den of drunkards with the blood of princes! Gehenna of the waters! thou sea-Sodom! Thus I devote thee to the infernal gods! Thee and thy serpent-seed! [Here the DoGE turns, and addresses Slave, do thine office; Strike-and but once! [The DoGE throws himself upon his knees, and as the Executioner raises his sword the scene closes. |