Page images
PDF
EPUB

About the business you provided for him. Are ye content?

Barb. We will not interrupt A parent's sorrows.

Marina No, ye only make them,
Then leave them.

Doge (rising). Sirs, I am ready.
Barb. No- not now.

Lored. Yet 'twas important.
Doge. If 'twas so, I can
Only repeat-1 am ready.

Barb. It shall not be

Just now,though Venice totter'd o'er the deep Like a frail vessel. I respect your griefs. Doge. I thank you. If the tidings which | you bring

Are evil, you may say them; nothing further Can touch me more than him thou lookst on there:

If they be good, say on; you need not fear That they can comfort me.

Barb. I would they could!

Doge. I spoke not to you, but to Loredano. He understands me.

Marina. Ah! I thought it would be so. Doge. What mean you?

:

Marina. Lo! there is the blood beginning To flow through the dead lips of FoscariThe body bleeds in presence of the assassin. [To Loredano. Thou cowardly murderer by law, behold How death itself bears witness to thy deeds! Doge. My child! this is a phantasy of grief.

Bear hence the body. [To his Attendants.]
Signors, if it please you,
Within an hour I'll hear you.

[Exeunt Doge, Marina, and Attendants
with the body.]

[Manent Loredano and Barbarigo. Barb. He must not Be troubled now.

Lored. He said himself that nought Could give him trouble farther.

Barb. These are words;

But grief is lonely, and the breaking in Upon it barbarous.

Lored. Sorrow preys upon

Its solitude, and nothing more diverts it From its sad visions of the other world Than calling it at moments back to this; The busy have no time for tears.

Barb. And therefore

You would deprive this old man of all business?

Lored. The thing's decreed. The Giunta and the Ten

Have made it law: who shall oppose that law?

Barb. Humanity!

Lored. Because his son is dead?
Barb. And yet unburied.

Lored. Had we known this when

The act was passing, it might have suspended Its passage, but impedes it not—once past.

[blocks in formation]

Inter his son before we press upon him
This edict.

Lored. Let him call up into life
My sire and uncle-I consent. Men may,
Even aged men, be, or appear to be,
Sires of a hundred sons, but cannot kindle
An atom of their ancestors from earth.
The victims are not equal: he has seen
His sons expire by natural deaths, and I
My sires by violent and mysterious maladies.
I used no poison, bribed no subtle master
Of the destructive art of healing, to
Shorten the path to the eternal cure.
His sons, and he had four, are dead, without
My dabbling in vile drugs.

Barb. And art thou sure
He dealt in such?

Lored. Most sure.
Barb. And yet he seems
All openness.

Lored. And so he seem'd not long
Ago to Carmagnuola.

Barb. The attainted And foreign traitor?

Lored. Even so: when he, After the very night in which the Ten (Join'd with the Doge) decided his destruction,

Met the great Duke at daybreak with a jest, Demanding whether he should augur him "The good day or good night?" his Dogeship answer'd,

"That he in truth had pass'd a night of vigil,

In which (he added with a gracious smile) There often has been question about you." 'Twas true; the question was the death

resolved

Of Carmagnuola, eight months ere he died; And the old Doge, who knew him doom'd, smiled on him

With deadly cozenage, eight long months beforehand

Eight months of such hypocrisy as is Learnt but in eighty years. Brave Carmagnuola

Is dead; so is youngFoscari and his brethren_ I never smiled on them.

Barb. Was Carmagnuola

Your friend?

Lored. He was the safeguard of the city.

In early life its foe, but, in his manhood, Its saviour first, then victim.

Barb. Ah! that seems

The penalty of saving cities. He
Whom we now act against not only saved
Our own, but added others to her sway.
Lored. The Romans (and we ape them)
gave a crown

To him who took a city; and they gave
A crown to him who saved a citizen
In battle: the rewards are equal. Now,
If we should measure forth the cities taken
By the Doge Foscari, with citizens
Destroy'd by him, or through him, the

account

Were fearfully against him, although narrow'd

To private havoc, such as between him
And my dead father.

Barb. Are you then thus fix'd?
Lored. Why, what should change me?
Barb. That which changes me:
But you, I know, are marble to retain
A feud. But when all is accomplish'd, when
The old man is deposed, his name degraded,
His sons all dead, his family depress'd,
And you and yours triumphant, shall you
sleep?

Lored. More soundly.

Barb. That's an error, and you'll find it Ere you sleep with your fathers.

Lored. They sleep not

In their accelerated graves, nor will,
Till Foscari fills his. Each night I see them
Stalk frowning round my couch, and, point-
ing towards

The ducal palace, marshal me to vengeance. Barb. Fancy's distemperature! There is no passion

More spectral or fantastical than hate; Not even its opposite, Love, so peoples air With phantoms, as this madness of the heart.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Doge. True-true-true: I crave your pardon. I

Begin to fail in apprehension, and
Wax very old-old almost as my years.
Till now I fought them off, but they begin
To overtake me.

Enter the Deputation, consisting of six of the
Signory, and the Chief of the Ten.
Noble men, your pleasure!

Chief of the Ten. In the first place, the
Council doth condole

With the Doge on his late and private grief.
Doge. No more-no more of that.
Chief of the Ten. Will not the Duke
Accept the homage of respect?

Doge. I do

Accept it as 'tis given-proceed.

Chief of the Ten. The Ten,

With a selected Giunta from the senate
Of twenty-five of the best-born patricians,
Having deliberated on the state

Of the republic, and the o'erwhelming cares
Which, at this moment, doubly must oppress
Your years, so long devoted to your country,
Have judged it fitting, with all reverence,
Now to solicit from your wisdom (which
Upon reflection must accord in this)
The resignation of the ducal ring,
Which you have worn so long and venerably;
And, to prove that they are not ungrateful nor
Cold to your years and services, they add
An appanage of twenty hundred golden

Ducats, to make retirement not less splendid
Than should become a sovereign's retreat.
Doge. Did I hear rightly?

Chief of the Ten. Need I say again?
Doge. No.-Have you done?

Chief of the Ten. I have spoken. Twenty

four

Hours are accorded you to give an answer.
Doge. I shall not need so many seconds.
Chief of the Ten.
We
Will now retire.

Doge. Stay! Four and twenty hours Will alter nothing which I have to say. Chief of the Ten. Speak!

Doge. When I twice before reiterated
My wish to abdicate, it was refused me;
And not alone refused, but ye exacted
An oath from me that I would never more
Renew this instance. I have sworn to die
In full exertion of the functions which
My country call'd me here to exercise,
According to my honour and my conscience—
I cannot break my oath.

Chief of the Ten. Reduce us not
To the alternative of a decree,
Instead of your compliance.
Doge. Providence

Prolongs my days to prove and chasten me;
But ye have no right to reproach my length
Of days, since every hour has been the
country's.

I am ready to lay down my life for her,
As I have laid down dearer things than life:
But for my dignity-I hold it of
The whole republic; when the general will
Is manifest, then you shall all be answer'd.
Chief of the Ten. We grieve for such an
answer; but it cannot

[blocks in formation]

Marina. He might have lived, So form'd for gentle privacy of life, So loving, so beloved; the native of Another land, and who so blest and blessing As my poor Foscari? Nothing was wanting Unto his happiness and mine save not

To be Venetian.

Doge. Or a prince's son.

Marina. Yes; all things which conduce to other men's

Imperfect happiness or high ambition, By some strange destiny to him proved deadly.

The country and the people whom he loved, The prince of whom he was the elder born, And

Doge. Soon may be a prince no longer. Marina. How?

Doge. They have taken my son from me, and now aim

At my too long worn diadem and ring.
Let them resume the gewgaws!
Marina. Oh the tyrants!

In such an hour too!

Doge. 'Tis the fittest time:
An hour ago I should have felt it.
Marina. And

Will you not now resent it?-Oh for vengeance!

But he, who, had he been enough protected, Might have repaid protection in this moment, Cannot assist his father.

Doge. Nor should do so Against his country, had he a thousand lives Instead of that

Marina. They tortured from him. This May be pure patriotism. I am a woman: To me my husband and my children were Country and home. I loved him—how I loved him!

I have seen him pass through such ordeal as The old martyrs would have shrunk from: he is gone,

And I, who would have given my blood for him,

Have nought to give but tears! But could I compass

The retribution of his wrongs!—Well, well ;
I have sons who shall be men.

Doge. Your grief distracts you.
Marina. I thought I could have borne
it, when I saw him

Bow'd down by such oppression; yes, I thought

That I would rather look upon his corse Than his prolong'd captivity: Iam punish'd For that thought now. Would I were in

his grave!

Doge. I must look on him once more. Marina. Come with me!

Doge. Is he

Marina. Our bridal bed is now his bier.

Doge. And he is in his shrond?

Marina. Come, come, old man!

[Exeunt the Doge and Marina.

[blocks in formation]

utter

Their office: they'll be here soon after us.
Barb. And will they press their answer | Nothing but sobs through blood, for this!

on the Doge?

Lored. 'Twas his own wish that all should be done promptly.

He answer'd quickly, and must so be answer'd;

His dignity is look'd to, his estate
Cared for what would he more?

Barb. Die in his robes.

He could not have lived long; but I have done

My best to save his honours, and opposed This proposition to the last, though vainly. Why would the general vote compel me hither?

Lored. "Twas fit that some one of such different thoughts From ours should be a witness, lest false tongues

Should whisper that a harsh majority
Dreaded to have its acts beheld by others.
Barb. And not less, I must needs think,
for the sake

Of humbling me for my vain opposition.
You are ingenious, Loredano, in
Your modes of vengeance, nay, poetical,
A very Ovid in the art of hating;
'Tis thus (although a secondary object,
Yet hate has microscopic eyes) to you
I owe, by way of foil to the more zealous,
This undesired association in
Your Giunta's duties.

Lored. How!—my Giunta!
Barb. Yours!

They speak your language, watch your nod, approve

Your plans, and do your work. Are they not yours?

Lored. You talk unwarily. Twere best they hear not This from you.

Barb. Oh! they'll hear as much one day From louder tongues than mine: they have gone beyond

Even their exorbitance of power; and when This happens in the most contemn'd and abject

States, stung humanity will rise to check it.
Lored. You talk but idly.
Barb. That remains for proof.
Here come our colleagues.

[blocks in formation]

Doge. I have obey'd your summons. Chief of the Ten. We come once more to urge our past request. Doge. And I to answer. Chief of the Ten. What? Doge. My only answer. You have heard it.

Chief of the Ten. Hear you then the last decree,

Definitive and absolute!
Doge. To the point-

To the point! I know of old the forms of office,

And gentle preludes to strong acts-Go on! Chief of the Ten. You are no longer Doge;

you are released

From your imperial oath as sovereign 3
Your ducal robes must be put off; but for
Your services, the state allots the appanage
Already mention'd in our former congress.
Three days are left you to remove from
hence,

Under the penalty to see confiscated
All your own private fortune.

Doge. That last clause,

I am proud to say, would not enrich the treasury.

Chief of the Ten. Your answer, Duke!
Lored. Your answer, Francis Foscari!
Doge. If I could have foreseen that my
old age

Was prejudicial to the state, the chief
Of the republic never would have shown
Himself so far ungrateful as to place
His own high dignity before his country;
But this life having been so many years
Not useless to that country, I would fain
Have consecrated my last moments to her.
But the decree being render'd, I obey.

Chief of the Ten. If you would have the
three days named extended,
We willingly will lengthen them to eight,
As sign of our esteem.

Doge. Not eight hours, signor,

Nor even eight minutes.-There's the ducal ring, [Taking off his ring and cap. And there the ducal diadem. And so The Adriatic's free to wed another. Chief of the Ten. quickly.

Doge. Earth and heaven!
Ye will reverberate this peal; and I
Live to hear this!-the first doge who e'er
heard

Yet go not forth so Such sound for his successor! Happier he,
My attainted predecessor, stern Faliero-
This insult at the least was spared him.
Lored. What!

Doge. I am old, sir,

And even to move but slowly must begin To move betimes. Methinks I see amongst

[blocks in formation]

Doge. Get thee ready, we must mourn Elsewhere.

Marina. And every where. Doge. True; but in freedom, Without these jealous spies upon the great. Signors, you may depart: what would you more?

We are going: do you fear that we shall bear
The palace with us? Its old walls, ten times
As old as I am, and I'm very old,

Have served you, so have I, and I and they
Could tell a tale; but I invoke them not
To fall upon you! else they would, as erst
The pillars of stone Dagon's temple on
The Israelite and his Philistine foes.
Such power I do believe there might exist
In such a curse as mine, provoked by such
As you; but I curse not. Adieu, good signors!
May the next duke be better than the present!
Lored. The present duke is Paschal
Malipiero.

Doge.

Not till I pass the threshold of these doors. Lored. Saint Mark's great bell is soon about to toll For his inauguration.

[ocr errors]

Do you regret a traitor?
Doge. No-I merely
Envy the dead.

Chief of the Ten. My lord, if you indeed
Are bent upon this rash abandonment
Of the state's palace, at the least retire
By the private staircase, which conducts
you towards

The landing-place of the canal.
Doge. No. I

Will now descend the stairs by which I mounted

To sovereignty- the Giant's Stairs, on whose
Broad eminence I was invested duke.
My services have call'd me up those steps,
The malice of my foes will drive me down
them.

There five and thirty years ago was I Install'd, and traversed these same halls from which

I never thought to be divorced except A corse-a corse, it might be, fighting for them

But not push'd hence by fellow-citizens. But, come; my son and I will go togetherHe to his grave, and I to pray for mine.

Chief of the Ten. What, thus in public?
Doge. I was publicly

Elected, and so will I be deposed.
Marina! art thou willing?

Marina. Here's my arm?

Doge. And here my staff: thus propp'd will I go forth.

Chief of the Ten.

It must not be-the people will perceive it.

Doge. The people! There's no people,

you well know it,

Else you dare not deal thus by them or me. There is a populace, perhaps, whose looks May shame you; but they dare not groan nor curse you,

Save with their hearts and eyes.

Chief of the Ten. You speak in passion, Else

Doge. You have reason. I have spoken
much

More than my wont: it is a foible which
Was not of mine, but more excuses you,
Inasmuch as it shows that I approach
A dotage which may justify this deed
Of yours, although the law does not,nor will.
Farewell, sirs!

Barb. You shall not depart without An escort fitting past and present rank. We will accompany, with due respect, The Doge unto his private palace. Say! My brethren, will we not?

« PreviousContinue »