BERTRAM.

I am no brawler; but can bear myself
As far among the foe as any he

Who hears me; else why have I been selected
To be of your chief comrades? But no less
I own my natural weakness: I have not
Yet learn'd to think of indiscriminate murder
Without some sense of shuddering; and the sight
Of blood which spouts through hoary scalps is not
To me a thing of triumph, nor the death
Of men surprised a glory. Well--too well
I know that we must do such things on those
Whose acts have raised up such avengers: but
If there were some of those who could be saved
From out this sweeping fate, for our own sakes
And for our honour, to take off some stain
Of massacre, which else pollutes it wholly,
I had been glad; and see no cause in this
For sneer, nor for suspicion!

DAGOLINO.

Calm thee, Bertram, For we suspect thee not; and take good heart. It is the cause, and not our will, which asks Such actions from our hands: we'll wash away All stains in Freedom's fountain!

Enter ISRAEL BERTUCCIO and the DOGE disguised.

DAGOLINO.

You can: I care not.-Israel, are these men
The mighty hearts you spoke of? look upon them!

CALENDARO.

Faith! he hath shamed us, and deservedly.

Was this your trust in your true chief Bertuccio, To turn your swords against him and his guest? Sheathe them, and hear him.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

I disdain to speak.

They might and must have known a heart like mine
Incapable of treachery; and the power
They gave me to adopt all fitting means

To further their design was ne'er abused.

They might be certain that whoe'er was brought

By me into this council, had been led

To take his choice-as brother, or as victim.

DOGE.

And which am I to be? your actions leave
Some cause to doubt the freedom of the choice.
ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

My lord, we would have perish'd here together,
Had these rash men proceeded; but, behold,
They are ashamed of that mad moment's impulse,
And droop their heads; believe me, they are such
As I described them.-Speak to them.

CALENDARO.

Ay, speak;

Our comrades are even now prepared to greet him
In brotherhood, as I have made it known
That thou wouldst add a brother to our cause,
Approved by thee, and thus approved by all,
Such is our trust in all thine actions. Now
Let him unfold himself.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

Stranger, step forth!
[The DOGE discovers himself.

CONSPIRATORS.

To arms!-we are betray'd-it is the Doge!
Down with them both! our traitorous captain, and
The tyrant he hath sold us to.

CALENDARO (drawing his sword).

Hold! hold!

Who moves a step against them dies. Bold! hear Bertuccio.-What are you appall'd to see

A lone, unguarded, weaponless old man

(addressing the Conspirators).

You are safe,

Nay, more, almost triumphant-listen then, And know my words for truth.

DOGE.

You see me here,

As one of you hath said, an old, unarm'd,
Defenceless man; and yesterday you saw me
Presiding in the hall of ducal state,
Apparent sovereign of our hundred isles,
Robed in official purple, dealing out
The edicts of a power which is not mine,
Nor yours, but of our masters-the patricians.
Why I was there you know, or think you know;
Why I am here he who hath been most wrong'd,
He who among you hath been most insulted,
Outraged and trodden on, until he doubt
If he be worm or no, may answer for me,
Asking of his own heart what brought him here
You know my recent story, all men know it,
And judge of it far differently from those
Who sate in judgment to heap scorn on scorn.
But spare me the recital-it is here,

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

Let them advance and strike at their own bosoms, Ungrateful suicides! for on our lives

Depend their own, their fortunes, and their hopes?

DOGE.

Strike! If I dreaded death, a death more fearful
Than any your rash weapons can inflict,

I should not now be here:-Oh, noble courage!
The eldest-born of Fear, which makes you brave
Against this solitary hoary head!

See the bold chiefs, who would reform a state
And shake down senates, mad with wrath and dread
At sight of one patrician.-Butcher me,

Already spent in unavailing plaints,
Would only show my feebleness the more,
And I come here to strengthen even the strong,
And urge them on to deeds, and not to war
With woman's weapons: but I need not urge yon.

Our private wrongs have sprung from public vices

In this-I cannot call it commonwealth
Nor kingdom, which hath neither prince nor people,
But all the sins of the old Spartan state
Without its virtues-temperance and valour.
The lords of Lacedemon were true soldiers,
But ours are Sybarites, while we are Helots,
Of whom I am the lowest, most enslaved,

Although drest out to head a pageant, as

The Greeks of yore made drunk their slaves to form
A pastime for their children. You are met
To overthrow this monster of a state,
This mockery of a government, this spectre,
Which must be exorcised with blood, and then
We will renew the times of truth and justice,
Condensing in a fair free commonwealth
Not rash equality, but equal rights,
Proportion'd like the columns to the temple,
Giving and taking strength reciprocal,

And making firm the whole with grace and beauty,
So that no part could be removed without
Infringement of the general symmetry.
In operating this great change, I claim
To be one of you-if you trust in me;
If not, strike home,-my life is compromised,
And I would rather fall by freemen's hands
Than live another day to act the tyrant
As delegate of tyrants: such I am not,
And never have been-read it in our anuals.
I can appeal to my past government

What I suffer

In many lands and cities; they can tell you If I were an oppressor, or a man Feeling and thinking for my fellow men. Haply had I been what the senate sought, A thing of robes and trinkets, dizen'd out To sit in state as for a sovereign's picture: A popular scourge, a ready sentence-signer, A stickler for the Senate and « the Forty,» A sceptic of all measures which had not The sanction of « the Ten,» a council fawner, A tool, a fool, a puppet,-they had ne'er Foster'd the wretch who stung me. Has reach'd me through my pity for the people; That many know, and they who know not yet Will one day learn: meantime, I do devote, Whate'er the issue, my last days of lifeMy present power, such as it is, not that Of Doge, but of a man who has been great Before he was degraded to a Doge, And still has individual means and mind; I stike my fame fand I had fame)-my breath (The least of all, for its last hours are nigh) – My heart-my hope-my soul-upon this cast! Such as I am, I offer me to

you

And to your chiefs, accept me or reject me,
A prince who fain would be a citizen

Or nothing, and who has left his throne to be so.

The fallen? and how distinguish now the innocent
! From out the guilty? all their acts are one-
A single emanation from one body,
Together knit for our oppression! 'Tis
Much that we let their children live; I doubt
If all of these even should be set apart:
The hunter may reserve some single cub
From out the tiger's litter, but who e'er
Would seek to save the spotted sire or dam,

| Unless to perish by their fangs? However,
I will abide by Doge Faliero's counsel:
Let him decide if any should be saved.

DOGE.

Ask me not-tempt me not with such a questionDecide yourselves.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

You know their private virtues Far better than we can, to whom alune Their public vices, and most foul oppression, Have made them deadly; if there be amongst them One who deserves to be repeal'd, pronounce.

DOGE.

Dolfino's father was my friend, and Lando
Fought by my side, and Marc Cornaro shared
My Genoese embassy; I saved the life

Of Veniero-shall I save it twice?

Would that I could save them and Venice also!
All these men, or their fathers, were my friends
Till they became my subjects; then fell from me
As faithless leaves drop from the o'erblown flower,
And left me a lone blighted thorny stalk,
Which, in its solitude, can shelter nothing;
So, as they let me wither, let them perish!

CALENDARO.

They cannot co-exist with Venice' freedom!

DOGE.

Ye, though you know and feel our mutual mass
Of many wrongs, even ye are ignorant
What fatal poison to the springs of life,
To human ties, and all that's good and dear,
Lurks in the present institutes of Venice.

All these men were my friends; I loved them, they
Requited honourably my regards;

We served and fought, we smiled and wept in concert;
We revell'd or we sorrow'd side by side;

We made alliances of blood and marriage;

We grew in years and honours fairly, till
Their own desire, not my ambition, made
Them chuse me for their prince, and then farewell!
Farewell all social memory! all thoughts

In common and sweet bonds which link old friend

ships,

When the survivors of long years and actions,
Which now belong to history, soothe the days
Which yet remain by treasuring each other,
And never meet, but each beholds the mirror
Of half a century on his brothers brow,
And sees a hundred beings, now in earth,
Flit round them, whispring of the days gone by,
And seeming not all dead, as long as two
Of the brave, joyous, reckless, glorious band,
Which once were one and many, still retain
A breath to sigh for them, a tongue to speak
Of deeds that else were silent, save on marble--
Oime! Oime!-and must I do this deed?

Farewell the past! I died to all that had been,

Or rather they to me: no friends, no kindness,

No privacy of life-all were cut off:

They came not ne ir me, such approach gave umbrage,
They could not love me, such was not the law;
They thwarted me, 't was the state's policy;

They baffled me, 't was a patrician's duty;
They wrongd me, for such was to right the state;
They could not right me, that would give suspicion
So that I was a slave to my own subjects,
So that I was a foe to my own friends;
Begirt with spies for guards-with robes for power-
With pomp for freedom-gaolers for a council-
Inquisitors for friends-and hell for life!

I had one only fount of quiet left,

And that they poison'd! My pure household gods
Were shiver'd on my hearth, and o'er their shrine
Sate grinning ribaldry and sneering scorn.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

You have been deeply wrong'd, and now shall be Nobly avenged before another night.

DOGE.

I had borne all-it hurt me, but I bore it-
Till this last running over of the cup

Of bitterness-until this last loud insult,
Not only unredress'd, but sanctioned; then
And thus, I cast all further feelings from me-
The feelings which they crush'd for me, long, long
Before, even in their oath of false allegiance!
Even in that very hour and vow, they abjured
Their friend, and made a sovereign, as boys make
Playthings, to do their pleasure and be broken!
I from that hour have seen but senators
In dark suspicious conflict with the Doge,
Brooding with him in mutual hate and fear;
They dreading he should snatch the tyranny
From out their grasp, and he abhorring tyrants.

To me, then, these men have no private life,
Nor claim to ties they have cut off from others;
As senators for arbitrary acts
Amenable, I look on them-as such
Let them be dealt upon.

CALENDARO.

And now to action!

Hence, brethren, to our posts, and may this be
The last night of mere words: I'd fain be doing!
Saint Mark's great bell at dawn shall find me wakeful!

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

Disperse then to your posts; be firm and vigilant;
Think on the wrongs we bear, the rights we claim.
This day and night shall be the last of peril!
Watch for the signal, and then march: I go
To join my band; let each be prompt to marshal
His separate charge: the Doge will now return
To the palace to prepare all for the blow.
We part to meet in freedom and in glory!

CALENDARO.

Doge, when I greet you next, my homage to you Shall be the head of Steno on this sword!

DOGE.

No; let him be reserved unto the last,
Nor turn aside to strike at such a prey,
Till nobler game is quarried: his offence
Was a mere ebullition of the vice,
The general corruption generated
By the foul aristocracy; he could not-
He dared not in more honourable days
Have risk'd it! I have merged all private wrath
Against him, in the thought of our great purpose.
A slave insults me-I require his punishment
From his proud master's hands; if he refuse it,
The offence grows his, and let him answer it.

CALENDARO.

Yet, as the immediate cause of the alliance
Which consecrates our undertaking more,
I owe him such deep gratitude, that fain
I would repay him as he merits: may I?

DOGF.

You would but lop the hand, and I the head;
You would but smite the scholar, I the master;
You would but punish Steno, I the senate.
I cannot pause on individual hate,

In the absorbing, sweeping, whole revenge,

ད་ Which, like the sheeted fire from heaven, must blast Without distinction, as it fell of yore,

Where the Dead Sea hath quench'd two cities' ashes.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

Away, then, to your posts! I but remain
A moment to accompany the Doge
To our late place of trust, to see no spies

Have been upon the scout, and thence I hasten
To where my allotted band is under arms.

CALENDARO,

Farewell, then, until dawn.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

Success go with you!

CONSPIRATORS.

We will not fail-away! My lord, farewell! [The Conspirators salute the DOGE and ISRAEL BERTICCIO, and retire, headed by PHILIP CALENDARO,

The DOGE and ISRAEL BERTUCCIO rėmain.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

We have them in the toil-it cannot fail!
Now thou 'rt indeed a sovereign, and wilt make
A name immortal greater than the greatest.
Free citizens have struck at kings ere now;
Caesars have fallen, and even patrician hands
Have crush'd dictators, as the popular steel
Has reach'd patricians; but until this hour,
What prince has plotted for his people's freedom?
Or risk'd a life to liberate his subjects?
For ever, and for ever, they conspire
Against the people, to abuse their hands
To chains, but laid aside to carry weapons
Against the fellow nations, so that yoke
On yoke, and slavery and death may whet,
Not glut, the never-gorged Leviathan!
Now, my lord, to our enterprise; 't is great,
And greater the reward: why stand you rapt?
A moment back, and you were all impatience!

Ay, so it seems, and so it is to you;
You are a patriot, a plebeian Gracchus—
The rebel's oracle-the people's tribune-

I blame you not, you act in your vocation;
They smote you, and oppress'd you, and despised you;
So they have me: but you ne'er spake with them;
You never broke their bread, nor shared their salt;
You never had their wine-cup at your lips;
You grew not up with them, nor laugh'd, nor wept,
Nor held a revel in their company;

Ne'er smiled to see them smile, nor claim'd their smile
In social interchange for yours; nor trusted,
Nor wore them in your heart of hearts, as I have.
These hairs of mine are grey, and so are theirs,
The elders of the council: I remember
When all our locks were like the raven's wing,
As we went forth to take our prey around
The isles wrung from the false Mahometan:
And can I see them dabbled o'er with blood?
Each stab to them will seem my suicide.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

Doge! Doge! this vacillation is unworthy
A child: if you are not in second childhood,
Call back your nerves to your own purpose, nor
Thus shame yourself and me. By beavens! I'd rather
Forego even now, or fail in our intent,

Than see the man I venerate subside

From high resolves into such shallow weakness!

You have seen blood in battle, shed it, both
Your own and that of others; can you shrink then
From a few drops from veins of hoary vampires,
Who but give back what they have drain'd from millions`

DOGF.

Bear with me! Step by step, and blow on blow, I will divide with you; think not I waver:

Ah! no; it is the certainty of all

Which I must do doth make me tremble thus.
But let these last and lingering thoughts have way,
To which you only and the night are conscious,
And both regardless: when the hour arrives,

T is mine to sound the knell, and strike the blow,
Which shall unpeople many palaces,
And hew the highest genealogic trees

Down to the earth, strew'd with their bleeding fruit,
And crush their blossoms into barrenness.
This will I-must I-have I sworn to do,

Nor aught can turn me from my destiny:

But still I quiver to behold what I

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

Palazzo of the Patrician LIONI. LIONI laying aside the mask and cloak which the Venetian Nobles wore in public, attended by a Domestic,

LIONI.

I will to rest, right weary of this revel,
The gayest we have held for many moons,
And yet, I know not why, it cheer'd me not:
There came a heaviness across my heart,
Which in the lightest movement of the dance,

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

Re-man your breast; I feel no such remorse, I understand it not: why should you change? You acted, and you act on your free will.

DOGE.

Ay, there it is—you feel not, nor do I,
Else I should stab thee on the spot, to save
A thousand lives, and, killing, do no murder:
You feel not-you go to this butcher-work
As if these high-born men were steers for shambles!
When all is over, you 'll be free and merry,
And calmly wash those hands incarnadine;
But I, outgoing thee and all thy fellows
In this surpassing massacre, shall be,
Shall see, and feel-oh God! oh God! 't is true,
And thou dost well to answer that it was

My own free will and act;» and yet you err,
For I will do this! Doubt not-fear not; I
Will be your most unmerciful accomplice!
And yet I act no more on my free will,
Nor my own feelings-both compel me back;
But there is hell within me and around,
And, like the demon who believes and trembles,
Must I abhor and do. Away! Away!
Get thee unto thy fellows, I will hie me
To gather the retainers of our house.

Doubt not, Saint Mark's great bell shall wake all Venice,
Except her slaughter'd senate: ere the sun
Be broad upon the Adriatic, there

Shall be a voice of weeping, which shall drown
The roar of waters in the cry of blood!
I am resolved--come on.

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO.

With all my soul!

Keep a firm rein upon these bursts of passion; Remember what these men have dealt to thee, And that this sacrifice will be succeeded

By ages of prosperity and freedom

To this unshackled city: a true tyrant

Would have depopulated empires, nor

Even with the lady of my love, oppress'd me,
And through my spirit chill'd my blood, until
A damp like death rose o'er my brow: I strove
To laugh the thought away, but 't would not be;
Through all the music ringing in my cars
A knell was sounding as distinct and clear,
Though low and far, as e'er the Adrian wave
Rose o'er the city's murmur in the night,
Dashing against the outward Lido's bulwark;
So that I left the festival before

It reach'd its zenith, and will woo my pillow
For thoughts more tranquil, or forgetfulness.
Antonio, take my mask and cloak, and light
The lamp within my chamber.

Nought, save sleep, Which will not be commanded. Let me hope it, [Exit ANTONIO. Though my breast feels too anxious. I will try Whether the air will calm my spirits: 't is A goodly night; the cloudy wind which blew From the Levant hath crept into its cave, And the broad moon has brighten'd. What a stillness! [Goes to an open lattice. And what a contrast with the scene I left, Where the tall torches' glare, and silver lamps' More pallid gleam along the tapestried walls, Spread over the reluctant gloom which haunts Those vast and dimly-latticed galleries

A dazzling mass of artificial light,

Which show'd all things, but nothing as they were. There Age, essaying to recal the past,

After long striving for the hues of youth

At the sad labour of the toilet, and

Full many a glance at the too faithful mirror,
Prankt forth in all the pride of ornament,

Forgot itself, and trusting to the falsehood

To punish a few traitors to the people!

Trust me, such were a pity more misplaced Than the late mercy of the state to Steno.

DOGE.

Man, thou hast struck upon the chord which jars All nature from my heart. Hence to our task!

[Exeunt.

Believed itself forgotten, and was fool'd.

There Youth, which needed not, nor thought of such
Vain adjuncts, lavish'd its true bloom, and health,
And bridal beauty, in the unwholesome press

Of flush'd and crowded wassailers, and wasted
Its hours of rest in dreaming this was pleasure,
And so shall waste them till the sunrise streams
On sallow checks and sunken eyes, which should not
Have worn this aspect yet for many a year.
The music, and the banquet, and the wine-