GET /poetry/collection
Erhalten Sie mehrere zufällige Gedichte in einer einzigen Anfrage. Ideal für den Aufbau von Gedicht-Feeds oder Entdeckungsfunktionen.
count
optional
Standard: 5
Number of poems (1-10)
| Name | Erforderlich | Standard | Beschreibung |
|---|---|---|---|
count |
Nein | 5 | Number of poems (1-10) |
curl "https://nordapi.ee/api/v1/poetry/collection?count=3"
{
"data": [
{
"author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron",
"line_count": "265",
"lines": [
" \"Qualis in Eurotæ ripis, aut per juga Cynthi,",
" Exercet DIANA choros.\"",
"",
" VIRGIL, 'Æn'. i. 502.",
"",
" \"Such on Eurotas's banks, or Cynthus's height,",
" Diana seems: and so she charms the sight,",
" When in the dance the graceful goddess leads",
" The quire of nymphs, and overtops their heads.\"",
"",
" DRYDEN'S _Virgil_.",
"",
"Muse of the many-twinkling feet! whose charms",
"Are now extended up from legs to arms;",
"Terpsichore!--too long misdeemed a maid--",
"Reproachful term--bestowed but to upbraid--",
"Henceforth in all the bronze of brightness shine,",
"The least a Vestal of the Virgin Nine.",
"Far be from thee and thine the name of Prude:",
"Mocked yet triumphant; sneered at, unsubdued;",
"Thy legs must move to conquer as they fly,",
"If but thy coats are reasonably high!",
"Thy breast--if bare enough--requires no shield;",
"Dance forth--_sans armour_ thou shalt take the field",
"And own--impregnable to _most_ assaults,",
"Thy not too lawfully begotten \"Waltz.\"",
"",
" Hail, nimble Nymph! to whom the young hussar,",
"The whiskered votary of Waltz and War,",
"His night devotes, despite of spur and boots;",
"A sight unmatched since Orpheus and his brutes:",
"Hail, spirit-stirring Waltz!--beneath whose banners",
"A modern hero fought for modish manners;",
"On Hounslow's heath to rival Wellesley's fame,",
"Cocked, fired, and missed his man--but gained his aim;",
"Hail, moving muse! to whom the fair one's breast",
"Gives all it can, and bids us take the rest.",
"Oh! for the flow of Busby, or of Fitz,",
"The latter's loyalty, the former's wits,",
"To \"energise the object I pursue,\"",
"And give both Belial and his Dance their due!",
"",
" Imperial Waltz! imported from the Rhine",
"(Famed for the growth of pedigrees and wine),",
"Long be thine import from all duty free,",
"And Hock itself be less esteemed than thee;",
"In some few qualities alike--for Hock",
"Improves our cellar--_thou_ our living stock.",
"The head to Hock belongs--thy subtler art",
"Intoxicates alone the heedless heart:",
"Through the full veins thy gentler poison swims,",
"And wakes to Wantonness the willing limbs.",
"",
" Oh, Germany! how much to thee we owe,",
"As heaven-born Pitt can testify below,",
"Ere cursed Confederation made thee France's,",
"And only left us thy d--d debts and dances!",
"Of subsidies and Hanover bereft,",
"We bless thee still--George the Third is left!",
"Of kings the best--and last, not least in worth,",
"For graciously begetting George the Fourth.",
"To Germany, and Highnesses serene,",
"Who owe us millions--don't we owe the Queen?",
"To Germany, what owe we not besides?",
"So oft bestowing Brunswickers and brides;",
"Who paid for vulgar, with her royal blood,",
"Drawn from the stem of each Teutonic stud:",
"Who sent us--so be pardoned all her faults--",
"A dozen dukes, some kings, a Queen--and Waltz.",
"",
" But peace to her--her Emperor and Diet,",
"Though now transferred to Buonapartè's \"fiat!\"",
"Back to my theme--O muse of Motion! say,",
"How first to Albion found thy Waltz her way?",
"",
" Borne on the breath of Hyperborean gales,",
"From Hamburg's port (while Hamburg yet had _mails_),",
"Ere yet unlucky Fame--compelled to creep",
"To snowy Gottenburg-was chilled to sleep;",
"Or, starting from her slumbers, deigned arise,",
"Heligoland! to stock thy mart with lies;",
"While unburnt Moscow yet had news to send,",
"Nor owed her fiery Exit to a friend,",
"She came--Waltz came--and with her certain sets",
"Of true despatches, and as true Gazettes;",
"Then flamed of Austerlitz the blest despatch,",
"Which _Moniteur_ nor _Morning Post_ can match",
"And--almost crushed beneath the glorious news--",
"Ten plays, and forty tales of Kotzebue's;",
"One envoy's letters, six composer's airs,",
"And loads from Frankfort and from Leipsic fairs:",
"Meiners' four volumes upon Womankind,",
"Like Lapland witches to ensure a wind;",
"Brunck's heaviest tome for ballast, and, to back it,",
"Of Heynè, such as should not sink the packet.",
"",
" Fraught with this cargo--and her fairest freight,",
"Delightful Waltz, on tiptoe for a Mate,",
"The welcome vessel reached the genial strand,",
"And round her flocked the daughters of the land.",
"Not decent David, when, before the ark,",
"His grand _Pas-seul_ excited some remark;",
"Not love-lorn Quixote, when his Sancho thought",
"The knight's _Fandango_ friskier than it ought;",
"Not soft Herodias, when, with winning tread,",
"Her nimble feet danced off another's head;",
"Not Cleopatra on her Galley's Deck,",
"Displayed so much of _leg_ or more of _neck_,",
"Than Thou, ambrosial Waltz, when first the Moon",
"Beheld thee twirling to a Saxon tune!",
"",
" To You, ye husbands of ten years! whose brows",
"Ache with the annual tributes of a spouse;",
"To you of nine years less, who only bear",
"The budding sprouts of those that you _shall_ wear,",
"With added ornaments around them rolled",
"Of native brass, or law-awarded gold;",
"To You, ye Matrons, ever on the watch",
"To mar a son's, or make a daughter's match;",
"To You, ye children of--whom chance accords--",
"_Always_ the Ladies, and _sometimes_ their Lords;",
"To You, ye single gentlemen, who seek",
"Torments for life, or pleasures for a week;",
"As Love or Hymen your endeavours guide,",
"To gain your own, or snatch another's bride;--",
"To one and all the lovely Stranger came,",
"And every Ball-room echoes with her name.",
"",
" Endearing Waltz!--to thy more melting tune",
"Bow Irish Jig, and ancient Rigadoon.",
"Scotch reels, avaunt! and Country-dance forego",
"Your future claims to each fantastic toe!",
"Waltz--Waltz alone--both legs and arms demands,",
"Liberal of feet, and lavish of her hands;",
"Hands which may freely range in public sight",
"Where ne'er before--but--pray \"put out the light.\"",
"Methinks the glare of yonder chandelier",
"Shines much too far--or I am much too near;",
"And true, though strange--Waltz whispers this remark,",
"\"My slippery steps are safest in the dark!\"",
"But here the Muse with due decorum halts,",
"And lends her longest petticoat to \"Waltz.\"",
"",
" Observant Travellers of every time!",
"Ye Quartos published upon every clime!",
"0 say, shall dull _Romaika's_ heavy round,",
"_Fandango's_ wriggle, or _Bolero's_ bound;",
"Can Egypt's _Almas_ -tantalising group--",
"Columbia's caperers to the warlike Whoop--",
"Can aught from cold Kamschatka to Cape Horn",
"With Waltz compare, or after Waltz be born?",
"Ah, no! from Morier's pages down to Galt's,",
"Each tourist pens a paragraph for \"Waltz.\"",
"",
" Shades of those Belles whose reign began of yore,",
"With George the Third's--and ended long before!--",
"Though in your daughters' daughters yet you thrive,",
"Burst from your lead, and be yourselves alive!",
"Back to the Ball-room speed your spectred host,",
"Fool's Paradise is dull to that you lost.",
"No treacherous powder bids Conjecture quake;",
"No stiff-starched stays make meddling fingers ache;",
"(Transferred to those ambiguous things that ape",
"Goats in their visage, women in their shape;)",
"No damsel faints when rather closely pressed,",
"But more caressing seems when most caressed;",
"Superfluous Hartshorn, and reviving Salts,",
"Both banished by the sovereign cordial \"Waltz.\"",
"",
" Seductive Waltz!--though on thy native shore",
"Even Werter's self proclaimed thee half a whore;",
"Werter--to decent vice though much inclined,",
"Yet warm, not wanton; dazzled, but not blind--",
"Though gentle Genlis, in her strife with Staël,",
"Would even proscribe thee from a Paris ball;",
"The fashion hails--from Countesses to Queens,",
"And maids and valets waltz behind the scenes;",
"Wide and more wide thy witching circle spreads,",
"And turns--if nothing else--at least our _heads_;",
"With thee even clumsy cits attempt to bounce,",
"And cockney's practise what they can't pronounce.",
"Gods! how the glorious theme my strain exalts,",
"And Rhyme finds partner Rhyme in praise of \"Waltz!\"",
"Blest was the time Waltz chose for her _début_!",
"The Court, the Regent, like herself were new;",
"New face for friends, for foes some new rewards;",
"New ornaments for black-and royal Guards;",
"New laws to hang the rogues that roared for bread;",
"New coins (most new) to follow those that fled;",
"New victories--nor can we prize them less,",
"Though Jenky wonders at his own success;",
"New wars, because the old succeed so well,",
"That most survivors envy those who fell;",
"New mistresses--no, old--and yet 'tis true,",
"Though they be _old_, the _thing_ is something new;",
"Each new, quite new--(except some ancient tricks),",
"New white-sticks--gold-sticks--broom-sticks--_all new sticks_!",
"With vests or ribands--decked alike in hue,",
"New troopers strut, new turncoats blush in blue:",
"So saith the Muse: my----, what say you?",
"Such was the time when Waltz might best maintain",
"Her new preferments in this novel reign;",
"Such was the time, nor ever yet was such;",
"Hoops are _ more_, and petticoats _not much_;",
"Morals and Minuets, Virtue and her stays,",
"And tell-tale powder--all have had their days.",
"The Ball begins--the honours of the house",
"First duly done by daughter or by spouse,",
"Some Potentate--or royal or serene--",
"With Kent's gay grace, or sapient Gloster's mien,",
"Leads forth the ready dame, whose rising flush",
"Might once have been mistaken for a blush.",
"From where the garb just leaves the bosom free,",
"That spot where hearts were once supposed to be;",
"Round all the confines of the yielded waist,",
"The strangest hand may wander undisplaced:",
"The lady's in return may grasp as much",
"As princely paunches offer to her touch.",
"Pleased round the chalky floor how well they trip",
"One hand reposing on the royal hip!",
"The other to the shoulder no less royal",
"Ascending with affection truly loyal!",
"Thus front to front the partners move or stand,",
"The foot may rest, but none withdraw the hand;",
"And all in turn may follow in their rank,",
"The Earl of--Asterisk--and Lady--Blank;",
"Sir--Such-a-one--with those of fashion's host,",
"For whose blest surnames--vide \"Morning Post.\"",
"(Or if for that impartial print too late,",
"Search Doctors' Commons six months from my date)--",
"Thus all and each, in movement swift or slow,",
"The genial contact gently undergo;",
"Till some might marvel, with the modest Turk,",
"If \"nothing follows all this palming work?\"",
"True, honest Mirza!--you may trust my rhyme--",
"Something does follow at a fitter time;",
"The breast thus publicly resigned to man,",
"In private may resist him--if it can.",
"",
" O ye who loved our Grandmothers of yore,",
"Fitzpatrick, Sheridan, and many more!",
"And thou, my Prince! whose sovereign taste and will",
"It is to love the lovely beldames still!",
"Thou Ghost of Queensberry! whose judging Sprite",
"Satan may spare to peep a single night,",
"Pronounce--if ever in your days of bliss",
"Asmodeus struck so bright a stroke as this;",
"To teach the young ideas how to rise,",
"Flush in the cheek, and languish in the eyes;",
"Rush to the heart, and lighten through the frame,",
"With half-told wish, and ill-dissembled flame,",
"For prurient Nature still will storm the breast--",
"_Who_, tempted thus, can answer for the rest?",
"",
" But ye--who never felt a single thought",
"For what our Morals are to be, or ought;",
"Who wisely wish the charms you view to reap,",
"Say--would you make those beauties quite so cheap?",
"Hot from the hands promiscuously applied,",
"Round the slight waist, or down the glowing side,",
"Where were the rapture then to clasp the form",
"From this lewd grasp and lawless contact warm?",
"At once Love's most endearing thought resign,",
"To press the hand so pressed by none but thine;",
"To gaze upon that eye which never met",
"Another's ardent look without regret;",
"Approach the lip which all, without restraint,",
"Come near enough--if not to touch--to taint;",
"If such thou lovest--love her then no more,",
"Or give--like her--caresses to a score;",
"Her Mind with these is gone, and with it go",
"The little left behind it to bestow.",
"",
" Voluptuous Waltz! and dare I thus blaspheme?",
"Thy bard forgot thy praises were his theme.",
"Terpsichore forgive!--at every Ball",
"My wife _now_ waltzes--and my daughters _shall_;",
"_My_ son--(or stop--'tis needless to inquire--",
"These little accidents should ne'er transpire;",
"Some ages hence our genealogic tree",
"Will wear as green a bough for him as me)--",
"Waltzing shall rear, to make our name amends",
"Grandsons for me--in heirs to all his friends."
],
"title": "The Waltz: An Apostrophic Hymn"
},
{
"author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson",
"line_count": "135",
"lines": [
"I.",
"And Willy, my eldest-born, is gone, you say, little Anne?",
"Ruddy and white, and strong on his legs, he looks like a man.",
"And Willy's wife has written: she never was over-wise,",
"Never the wife for Willy: he would n't take my advice.",
"",
"II.",
"For, Annie, you see, her father was not the man to save,",
"Had n't a head to manage, and drank himself into his grave.",
"Pretty enough, very pretty! but I was against it for one.",
"Eh!--but he would n't hear me--and Willy, you say, is gone.",
"",
"III.",
"Willy, my beauty, my eldest-born, the flower of the flock;",
"Never a man could fling him: for Willy stood like a rock.",
"`Here's a leg for a babe of a week!' says doctor; and he would be bound,",
"There was not his like that year in twenty parishes round.",
"",
"IV.",
"Strong of his hands, and strong on his legs, but still of his tongue!",
"I ought to have gone before him: I wonder he went so young.",
"I cannot cry for him, Annie: I have not long to stay;",
"Perhaps I shall see him the sooner, for he lived far away.",
"",
"V.",
"Why do you look at me, Annie? you think I am hard and cold;",
"But all my children have gone before me, I am so old:",
"I cannot weep for Willy, nor can I weep for the rest;",
"Only at your age, Annie, I could have wept with the best.",
"",
"VI.",
"For I remember a quarrel I had with your father, my dear,",
"All for a slanderous story, that cost me many a tear.",
"I mean your grandfather, Annie: it cost me a world of woe,",
"Seventy years ago, my darling, seventy years ago.",
"",
"VII.",
"For Jenny, my cousin, had come to the place, and I knew right well",
"That Jenny had tript in her time: I knew, but I would not tell.",
"And she to be coming and slandering me, the base little liar!",
"But the tongue is a fire as you know, my dear, the tongue is a fire.",
"",
"VIII.",
"And the parson made it his text that week, and he said likewise,",
"That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies,",
"That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright,",
"But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.",
"",
"IX.",
"And Willy had not been down to the farm for a week and a day;",
"And all things look'd half-dead, tho' it was the middle of May.",
"Jenny, to slander me, who knew what Jenny had been!",
"But soiling another, Annie, will never make oneself clean.",
"",
"X.",
"And I cried myself well-nigh blind, and all of an evening late",
"I climb'd to the top of the garth, and stood by the road at the gate.",
"The moon like a rick on fire was rising over the dale,",
"And whit, whit, whit, in the bush beside me chirrupt the nightingale.",
"",
"XI.",
"All of a sudden he stopt: there past by the gate of the farm,",
"Willy,--he did n't see me,--and Jenny hung on his arm.",
"Out into the road I started, and spoke I scarce knew how;",
"Ah, there's no fool like the old one -- it makes me angry now.",
"",
"XII.",
"Willy stood up like a man, and look'd the thing that he meant;",
"Jenny, the viper, made me a mocking courtesy and went.",
"And I said, `Let us part: in a hundred years it'll all be the same,",
"You cannot love me at all, if you love not my good name.'",
"",
"XIII.",
"And he turn'd, and I saw his eyes all wet, in the sweet moonshine:",
"Sweetheart, I love you so well that your good name is mine.",
"And what do I care for Jane, let her speak of you well of ill;",
"But marry me out of hand: we two shall be happy still.'",
"",
"XIV.",
"`Marry you, Willy!' said I, `but I needs must speak my mind,",
"And I fear you'll listen to tales, be jealous and hard and unkind.'",
"But he turn'd and claspt me in his arms, and answer'd, `No, love, no;'",
"Seventy years ago, my darling, seventy years ago.",
"",
"XV.",
"So Willy and I were wedded: I wore a lilac gown;",
"And the ringers rang with a will, and he gave the ringers a crown.",
"But the first that ever I bare was dead before he was born,",
"Shadow and shine is life, little Annie, flower and thorn.",
"",
"XVI.",
"That was the first time, too, that ever I thought of death.",
"There lay the sweet little body that never had drawn a breath.",
"I had not wept, little Anne, not since I had been a wife;",
"But I wept like a child that day, for the babe had fought for his life.",
"",
"XVII.",
"His dear little face was troubled, as if with anger or pain:",
"I look'd at the still little body--his trouble had all been in vain.",
"For Willy I cannot weep, I shall see him another morn:",
"But I wept like a child for the child that was dead before he was born.",
"",
"XVIII.",
"But he cheer'd me, my good man, for he seldom said me nay:",
"Kind, like a man, was he; like a man, too, would have his way:",
"Never jealous--not he: we had many a happy year;",
"And he died, and I could not weep--my own time seem'd so near.",
"",
"XIX.",
"But I wish'd it had been God's will that I, too, then could have died:",
"I began to be tired a little, and fain had slept at his side.",
"And that was ten years back, or more, if I don't forget:",
"But as to the children, Annie, they're all about me yet.",
"",
"XX.",
"Pattering over the boards, my Annie who left me at two,",
"Patter she goes, my own little Annie, an Annie like you:",
"Pattering over the boards, she comes and goes at her will,",
"While Harry is in the five-acre and Charlie ploughing the hill.",
"",
"XXI.",
"And Harry and Charlie, I hear them too--they sing to their team:",
"Often they come to the door in a pleasant kind of a dream.",
"They come and sit by my chair, they hover about my bed--",
"I am not always certain if they be alive or dead.",
"",
"XXII.",
"And yet I know for a truth, there's none of them left alive;",
"For Harry went at sixty, your father at sixty- five:",
"And Willy, my eldest born, at nigh threescore and ten;",
"I knew them all as babies, and now they're elderly men.",
"",
"XXIII.",
"For mine is a time of peace, it is not often I grieve;",
"I am oftener sitting at home in my father's farm at eve:",
"And the neighbors come and laugh and gossip, and so do I;",
"I find myself often laughing at things that have long gone by.",
"",
"XXIV.",
"To be sure the preacher says, our sins should make us sad:",
"But mine is a time of peace, and there is Grace to be had;",
"And God, not man, is the Judge of us all when life shall cease;",
"And in this Book, little Annie, the message is one of Peace.",
"",
"XXV.",
"And age is a time of peace, so it be free from pain,",
"And happy has been my life; but I would not live it again.",
"I seem to be tired a little, that's all, and long for rest;",
"Only at your age, Annie, I could have wept with the best.",
"",
"XXVI.",
"So Willy has gone, my beauty, my eldest-born, my flower;",
"But how can I weep for Willy, he has but gone for an hour,--",
"Gone for a minute, my son, from this room into the next;",
"I, too, shall go in a minute. What time have I to be vext?",
"",
"XXVII.",
"And Willy's wife has written, she never was over-wise.",
"Get me my glasses, Annie: thank God that I keep my eyes.",
"There is but a trifle left you, when I shall have past away.",
"But stay with the old woman now: you cannot have long to stay."
],
"title": "The Grandmother"
},
{
"author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron",
"line_count": "2624",
"lines": [
"ACT I.",
"",
"SCENE I.--_A Hall in the Ducal Palace_.",
"",
" _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO, _meeting_.",
"",
"_Lor._ WHERE is the prisoner?",
"",
"_Bar._ Reposing from",
"The Question.",
"",
"_Lor._ The hour's past--fixed yesterday",
"For the resumption of his trial.--Let us",
"Rejoin our colleagues in the council, and",
"Urge his recall.",
"",
"_Bar._ Nay, let him profit by",
"A few brief minutes for his tortured limbs;",
"He was o'erwrought by the Question yesterday,",
"And may die under it if now repeated.",
"",
"_Lor._ Well?",
"",
"_Bar._ I yield not to you in love of justice,",
"Or hate of the ambitious Foscari,",
"Father and son, and all their noxious race;",
"But the poor wretch has suffered beyond Nature's",
"Most stoical endurance.",
"",
"_Lor._ Without owning",
"His crime?",
"",
"_Bar._ Perhaps without committing any.",
"But he avowed the letter to the Duke",
"Of Milan, and his sufferings half atone for",
"Such weakness.",
"",
"_Lor._ We shall see.",
"",
"_Bar._ You, Loredano,",
"Pursue hereditary hate too far.",
"",
"_Lor._ How far?",
"",
"_Bar._ To extermination.",
"",
"_Lor._ When they are",
"Extinct, you may say this.--Let's in to council.",
"",
"_Bar._ Yet pause--the number of our colleagues is not",
"Complete yet; two are wanting ere we can",
"Proceed.",
"",
"_Lor._ And the chief judge, the Doge?",
"",
"_Bar._ No--he,",
"With more than Roman fortitude, is ever",
"First at the board in this unhappy process",
"Against his last and only son.",
"",
"_Lor._ True--true--",
"His _last_.",
"",
"_Bar._ Will nothing move you?",
"",
"_Lor._ _Feels he_, think you?",
"",
"_Bar._ He shows it not.",
"",
"_Lor._ I have marked _that_--the wretch!",
"",
"_Bar._ But yesterday, I hear, on his return",
"To the ducal chambers, as he passed the threshold",
"The old man fainted.",
"",
"_Lor._ It begins to work, then.",
"",
"_Bar._ The work is half your own.",
"",
"_Lor._ And should be _all_ mine--",
"My father and my uncle are no more.",
"",
"_Bar._ I have read their epitaph, which says they died",
"By poison.",
"",
"_Lor._ When the Doge declared that he",
"Should never deem himself a sovereign till",
"The death of Peter Loredano, both",
"The brothers sickened shortly:--he _is_ Sovereign.",
"",
"_Bar._ A wretched one.",
"",
"_Lor._ What should they be who make",
"Orphans?",
"",
"_Bar._ But _did_ the Doge make you so?",
"",
"_Lor._ Yes.",
"",
"_Bar._ What solid proofs?",
"",
"_Lor._ When Princes set themselves",
"To work in secret, proofs and process are",
"Alike made difficult; but I have such",
"Of the first, as shall make the second needless.",
"",
"_Bar._ But you will move by law?",
"",
"_Lor._ By all the laws",
"Which he would leave us.",
"",
"_Bar._ They are such in this",
"Our state as render retribution easier",
"Than 'mongst remoter nations. Is it true",
"That you have written in your books of commerce,",
"(The wealthy practice of our highest nobles)",
"\"Doge Foscari, my debtor for the deaths",
"Of Marco and Pietro Loredano,",
"My sire and uncle?\"",
"",
"_Lor._ It is written thus.",
"",
"_Bar._ And will you leave it unerased?",
"",
"_Lor._ Till balanced.",
"",
"_Bar._ And how?",
"",
" [_Two Senators pass over the stage, as in their way",
" to \"the Hall of the Council of Ten.\"_",
"",
"_Lor._ You see the number is complete.",
"Follow me. [_Exit_ LOREDANO.",
"",
"_Bar._ (_solus_). Follow _thee_! I have followed long",
"Thy path of desolation, as the wave",
"Sweeps after that before it, alike whelming",
"The wreck that creaks to the wild winds, and wretch",
"Who shrieks within its riven ribs, as gush",
"The waters through them; but this son and sire",
"Might move the elements to pause, and yet",
"Must I on hardily like them--Oh! would",
"I could as blindly and remorselessly!--",
"Lo, where he comes!--Be still, my heart! they are",
"Thy foes, must be thy victims: wilt thou beat",
"For those who almost broke thee?",
"",
" _Enter Guards, with young_ FOSCARI _as Prisoner, etc._",
"",
"_Guard_. Let him rest.",
"Signor, take time.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I thank thee, friend, I'm feeble;",
"But thou mayst stand reproved.",
"",
"_Guard_. I'll stand the hazard.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ That's kind:--I meet some pity, but no mercy;",
"This is the first.",
"",
"_Guard_. And might be the last, did they",
"Who rule behold us.",
"",
"_Bar._ (_advancing to the Guard_). There is one who does:",
"Yet fear not; I will neither be thy judge",
"Nor thy accuser; though the hour is past,",
"Wait their last summons--I am of \"the Ten,\"",
"And waiting for that summons, sanction you",
"Even by my presence: when the last call sounds,",
"We'll in together.--Look well to the prisoner!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ What voice is that?--'Tis Barbarigo's! Ah!",
"Our House's foe, and one of my few judges.",
"",
"_Bar._ To balance such a foe, if such there be,",
"Thy father sits amongst thy judges.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ True,",
"He judges.",
"",
"_Bar._ Then deem not the laws too harsh",
"Which yield so much indulgence to a sire,",
"As to allow his voice in such high matter",
"As the state's safety--",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And his son's. I'm faint;",
"Let me approach, I pray you, for a breath",
"Of air, yon window which o'erlooks the waters.",
"",
"_Enter an Officer, who whispers_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
"_Bar._ (to the Guard). Let him approach. I must not speak with him",
"Further than thus: I have transgressed my duty",
"In this brief parley, and must now redeem it",
"Within the Council Chamber. [_Exit_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
" [_Guard conducting_ JACOPO FOSCARI _to the window_.",
"",
"_Guard_. There, sir, 'tis",
"Open.--How feel you?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Like a boy--Oh Venice!",
"",
"_Guard_. And your limbs?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Limbs! how often have they borne me",
"Bounding o'er yon blue tide, as I have skimmed",
"The gondola along in childish race,",
"And, masqued as a young gondolier, amidst",
"My gay competitors, noble as I,",
"Raced for our pleasure, in the pride of strength;",
"While the fair populace of crowding beauties,",
"Plebeian as patrician, cheered us on",
"With dazzling smiles, and wishes audible,",
"And waving kerchiefs, and applauding hands,",
"Even to the goal!--How many a time have I",
"Cloven with arm still lustier, breast more daring,",
"The wave all roughened; with a swimmer's stroke",
"Flinging the billows back from my drenched hair,",
"And laughing from my lip the audacious brine,",
"Which kissed it like a wine-cup, rising o'er",
"The waves as they arose, and prouder still",
"The loftier they uplifted me; and oft,",
"In wantonness of spirit, plunging down",
"Into their green and glassy gulfs, and making",
"My way to shells and sea-weed, all unseen",
"By those above, till they waxed fearful; then",
"Returning with my grasp full of such tokens",
"As showed that I had searched the deep: exulting,",
"With a far-dashing stroke, and, drawing deep",
"The long-suspended breath, again I spurned",
"The foam which broke around me, and pursued",
"My track like a sea-bird.--I was a boy then.",
"",
"_Guard_. Be a man now: there never was more need",
"Of manhood's strength.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ (_looking from the lattice_). My beautiful, my own,",
"My only Venice--_this is breath_! Thy breeze,",
"Thine Adrian sea-breeze, how it fans my face!",
"Thy very winds feel native to my veins,",
"And cool them into calmness! How unlike",
"The hot gales of the horrid Cyclades,",
"Which howled about my Candiote dungeon, and",
"Made my heart sick.",
"",
"_Guard_. I see the colour comes",
"Back to your cheek: Heaven send you strength to bear",
"What more may be imposed!--I dread to think on't.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ They will not banish me again?--No--no,",
"Let them wring on; I am strong yet.",
"",
"_Guard_. Confess,",
"And the rack will be spared you.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I confessed",
"Once--twice before: both times they exiled me.",
"",
"_Guard_. And the third time will slay you.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Let them do so,",
"So I be buried in my birth-place: better",
"Be ashes here than aught that lives elsewhere.",
"",
"_Guard_. And can you so much love the soil which hates you?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ The soil!--Oh no, it is the seed of the soil",
"Which persecutes me: but my native earth",
"Will take me as a mother to her arms.",
"I ask no more than a Venetian grave,",
"A dungeon, what they will, so it be here.",
"",
" _Enter an Officer_.",
"",
"_Offi._ Bring in the prisoner!",
"",
"_Guard_. Signor, you hear the order.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Aye, I am used to such a summons; 'tis",
"The third time they have tortured me:--then lend me",
"Thine arm. [_To the Guard_.",
"",
"_Offi._ Take mine, sir; 'tis my duty to",
"Be nearest to your person.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ You!--you are he",
"Who yesterday presided o'er my pangs--",
"Away!--I'll walk alone.",
"",
"_Offi._ As you please, Signor;",
"The sentence was not of my signing, but",
"I dared not disobey the Council when",
"They----",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Bade thee stretch me on their horrid engine.",
"I pray thee touch me not--that is, just now;",
"The time will come they will renew that order,",
"But keep off from me till 'tis issued. As",
"I look upon thy hands my curdling limbs",
"Quiver with the anticipated wrenching,",
"And the cold drops strain through my brow, as if----",
"But onward--I have borne it--I can bear it.--",
"How looks my father?",
"",
"_Offi._ With his wonted aspect.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ So does the earth, and sky, the blue of Ocean,",
"The brightness of our city, and her domes,",
"The mirth of her Piazza--even now",
"Its merry hum of nations pierces here,",
"Even here, into these chambers of the unknown",
"Who govern, and the unknown and the unnumbered",
"Judged and destroyed in silence,--all things wear",
"The self-same aspect, to my very sire!",
"Nothing can sympathise with Foscari,",
"Not even a Foscari.--Sir, I attend you.",
" [_Exeunt_ JACOPO FOSCARI, _Officer, etc._",
"",
" _Enter_ MEMMO _and another Senator_.",
"",
"_Mem._ He's gone--we are too late:--think you \"the Ten\"",
"Will sit for any length of time to-day?",
"",
"_Sen._ They say the prisoner is most obdurate,",
"Persisting in his first avowal; but",
"More I know not.",
"",
"_Mem._ And that is much; the secrets",
"Of yon terrific chamber are as hidden",
"From us, the premier nobles of the state,",
"As from the people.",
"",
"_Sen._ Save the wonted rumours,",
"Which--like the tales of spectres, that are rife",
"Near ruined buildings--never have been proved,",
"Nor wholly disbelieved: men know as little",
"Of the state's real acts as of the grave's",
"Unfathomed mysteries.",
"",
"_Mem._ But with length of time",
"We gain a step in knowledge, and I look",
"Forward to be one day of the decemvirs.",
"",
"_Sen._ Or Doge?",
"",
"_Mem._ Why, no; not if I can avoid it.",
"",
"_Sen._ 'Tis the first station of the state, and may",
"Be lawfully desired, and lawfully",
"Attained by noble aspirants.",
"",
"_Mem._ To such",
"I leave it; though born noble, my ambition",
"Is limited: I'd rather be an unit",
"Of an united and Imperial \"Ten,\"",
"Than shine a lonely, though a gilded cipher.--",
"Whom have we here? the wife of Foscari?",
"",
" _Enter_ MARINA, _with a female Attendant_.",
"",
"_Mar._ What, no one?--I am wrong, there still are two;",
"But they are senators.",
"",
"_Mem._ Most noble lady,",
"Command us.",
"",
"_Mar._ _I command_!--Alas! my life",
"Has been one long entreaty, and a vain one.",
"",
"_Mem._ I understand thee, but I must not answer.",
"",
"_Mar._ (_fiercely_). True--none dare answer here save on the rack,",
"Or question save those----",
"",
"_Mem._ (_interrupting her_). High-born dame! bethink thee",
"Where thou now art.",
"",
"_Mar._ Where I now am!--It was",
"My husband's father's palace.",
"",
"_Mem._ The Duke's palace.",
"",
"_Mar._ And his son's prison!--True, I have not forgot it;",
"And, if there were no other nearer, bitterer",
"Remembrances, would thank the illustrious Memmo",
"For pointing out the pleasures of the place.",
"",
"_Mem._ Be calm!",
"",
"_Mar._ (_looking up towards heaven_). I am; but oh, thou eternal God!",
"Canst _thou_ continue so, with such a world?",
"",
"_Mem._ Thy husband yet may be absolved.",
"",
"_Mar._ He is,",
"In Heaven. I pray you, Signer Senator,",
"Speak not of that; you are a man of office,",
"So is the Doge; he has a son at stake",
"Now, at this moment, and I have a husband,",
"Or had; they are there within, or were at least",
"An hour since, face to face, as judge and culprit:",
"Will _he_ condemn _him_?",
"",
"_Mem._ I trust not.",
"",
"_Mar._ But if",
"He does not, there are those will sentence both.",
"",
"_Mem._ They can.",
"",
"_Mar._ And with them power and will are one",
"In wickedness;--my husband's lost!",
"",
"_Mem._ Not so;",
"Justice is judge in Venice.",
"",
"_Mar._ If it were so,",
"There now would be no Venice. But let it",
"Live on, so the good die not, till the hour",
"Of Nature's summons; but \"the Ten's\" is quicker,",
"And we must wait on't. Ah! a voice of wail!",
" [_A faint cry within_.",
"",
"_Sen._ Hark!",
"",
"_Mem._ 'Twas a cry of--",
"",
"_Mar._ No, no; not my husband's--",
"Not Foscari's.",
"",
"_Mem._ The voice was--",
"",
"_Mar._ _Not his_: no.",
"He shriek! No; that should be his father's part,",
"Not his--not his--he'll die in silence.",
" [_A faint groan again within_.",
"",
"_Mem._ What!",
"Again?",
"",
"_Mar._ _His_ voice! it seemed so: I will not",
"Believe it. Should he shrink, I cannot cease",
"To love; but--no--no--no--it must have been",
"A fearful pang, which wrung a groan from him.",
"",
"_Sen._ And, feeling for thy husband's wrongs, wouldst thou",
"Have him bear more than mortal pain in silence?",
"",
"_Mar._ We all must bear our tortures. I have not",
"Left barren the great house of Foscari,",
"Though they sweep both the Doge and son from life;",
"I have endured as much in giving life",
"To those who will succeed them, as they can",
"In leaving it: but mine were joyful pangs:",
"And yet they wrung me till I _could_ have shrieked,",
"But did not; for my hope was to bring forth",
"Heroes, and would not welcome them with tears.",
"",
"_Mem._ All's silent now.",
"",
"_Mar._ Perhaps all's over; but",
"I will not deem it: he hath nerved himself,",
"And now defies them.",
"",
" _Enter an Officer hastily_.",
"",
"_Mem._ How now, friend, what seek you?",
"",
"_Offi._ A leech. The prisoner has fainted. [_Exit Officer_.",
"",
"_Mem._ Lady,",
"'Twere better to retire.",
"",
"_Sen._ (_offering to assist her_), I pray thee do so.",
"",
"_Mar._ Off! _I_ will tend him.",
"",
"_Mem._ You! Remember, lady!",
"Ingress is given to none within those chambers",
"Except \"the Ten,\" and their familiars.",
"",
"_Mar._ Well,",
"I know that none who enter there return",
"As they have entered--many never; but",
"They shall not balk my entrance.",
"",
"_Mem._ Alas! this",
"Is but to expose yourself to harsh repulse,",
"And worse suspense.",
"",
"_Mar._ Who shall oppose me?",
"",
"_Mem._ They",
"Whose duty 'tis to do so.",
"",
"_Mar._ 'Tis _their_ duty",
"To trample on all human feelings, all",
"Ties which bind man to man, to emulate",
"The fiends who will one day requite them in",
"Variety of torturing! Yet I'll pass.",
"",
"_Mem._ It is impossible.",
"",
"_Mar._ That shall be tried.",
"Despair defies even despotism: there is",
"That in my heart would make its way through hosts",
"With levelled spears; and think you a few jailors",
"Shall put me from my path? Give me, then, way;",
"This is the Doge's palace; I am wife",
"Of the Duke's son, the _innocent_ Duke's son,",
"And they shall hear this!",
"",
"_Mem._ It will only serve",
"More to exasperate his judges.",
"",
"_Mar._ What",
"Are _judges_ who give way to anger? they",
"Who do so are assassins. Give me way. [_Exit_ MARINA.",
"",
"_Sen._ Poor lady!",
"",
"_Mem._ 'Tis mere desperation: she",
"Will not be admitted o'er the threshold.",
"",
"_Sen._ And",
"Even if she be so, cannot save her husband.",
"But, see, the officer returns.",
" [_The Officer passes over the stage with another person_.",
"",
"_Mem._ I hardly",
"Thought that \"the Ten\" had even this touch of pity,",
"Or would permit assistance to this sufferer.",
"",
"_Sen._ Pity! Is't pity to recall to feeling",
"The wretch too happy to escape to Death",
"By the compassionate trance, poor Nature's last",
"Resource against the tyranny of pain?",
"",
"_Mem._ I marvel they condemn him not at once.",
"",
"_Sen._ That's not their policy: they'd have him live,",
"Because he fears not death; and banish him,",
"Because all earth, except his native land,",
"To him is one wide prison, and each breath",
"Of foreign air he draws seems a slow poison,",
"Consuming but not killing.",
"",
"_Mem._ Circumstance",
"Confirms his crimes, but he avows them not.",
"",
"_Sen._ None, save the Letter, which, he says, was written",
"Addressed to Milan's duke, in the full knowledge",
"That it would fall into the Senate's hands,",
"And thus he should be re-conveyed to Venice.",
"",
"_Mem._ But as a culprit.",
"",
"_Sen._ Yes, but to his country;",
"And that was all he sought,--so he avouches.",
"",
"_Mem._ The accusation of the bribes was proved.",
"",
"_Sen._ Not clearly, and the charge of homicide",
"Has been annulled by the death-bed confession",
"Of Nicolas Erizzo, who slew the late",
"Chief of \"the Ten.\"",
"",
"_Mem._ Then why not clear him?",
"",
"_Sen._ That",
"They ought to answer; for it is well known",
"That Almoro Donato, as I said,",
"Was slain by Erizzo for private vengeance.",
"",
"_Mem._ There must be more in this strange process than",
"The apparent crimes of the accused disclose--",
"But here come two of \"the Ten;\" let us retire.",
" [_Exeunt_ MEMMO _and Senator_.",
"",
" _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
"_Bar._ (_addressing_ LOR.).",
"That were too much: believe me, 'twas not meet",
"The trial should go further at this moment.",
"",
"_Lor._ And so the Council must break up, and Justice",
"Pause in her full career, because a woman",
"Breaks in on our deliberations?",
"",
"_Bar._ No,",
"That's not the cause; you saw the prisoner's state.",
"",
"_Lor._ And had he not recovered?",
"",
"_Bar._ To relapse",
"Upon the least renewal.",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Twas not tried.",
"",
"_Bar._ 'Tis vain to murmur; the majority",
"In council were against you.",
"",
"_Lor._ Thanks to _you_, sir,",
"And the old ducal dotard, who combined",
"The worthy voices which o'er-ruled my own.",
"",
"_Bar._ I am a judge; but must confess that part",
"Of our stern duty, which prescribes the Question,",
"And bids us sit and see its sharp infliction,",
"Makes me wish--",
"",
"_Lor._ What?",
"",
"_Bar._ That _you_ would _sometimes_ feel,",
"As I do always.",
"",
"_Lor._ Go to, you're a child,",
"Infirm of feeling as of purpose, blown",
"About by every breath, shook by a sigh,",
"And melted by a tear--a precious judge",
"For Venice! and a worthy statesman to",
"Be partner in my policy.",
"",
"_Bar._ He shed",
"No tears.",
"",
"_Lor._ He cried out twice.",
"",
"_Bar._ A Saint had done so,",
"Even with the crown of Glory in his eye,",
"At such inhuman artifice of pain",
"As was forced on him; but he did not cry",
"For pity; not a word nor groan escaped him,",
"And those two shrieks were not in supplication,",
"But wrung from pangs, and followed by no prayers.",
"",
"_Lor._ He muttered many times between his teeth,",
"But inarticulately.",
"",
"_Bar._ That I heard not:",
"You stood more near him.",
"",
"_Lor._ I did so.",
"",
"_Bar._ Methought,",
"To my surprise too, you were touched with mercy,",
"And were the first to call out for assistance",
"When he was failing.",
"",
"_Lor._ I believed that swoon",
"His last.",
"",
"_Bar._ And have I not oft heard thee name",
"His and his father's death your nearest wish?",
"",
"_Lor._ If he dies innocent, that is to say,",
"With his guilt unavowed, he'll be lamented.",
"",
"_Bar._ What, wouldst thou slay his memory?",
"",
"_Lor._ Wouldst thou have",
"His state descend to his children, as it must,",
"If he die unattainted?",
"",
"_Bar._ War with _them_ too?",
"",
"_Lor._ With all their house, till theirs or mine are nothing.",
"",
"_Bar._ And the deep agony of his pale wife,",
"And the repressed convulsion of the high",
"And princely brow of his old father, which",
"Broke forth in a slight shuddering, though rarely,",
"Or in some clammy drops, soon wiped away",
"In stern serenity; these moved you not?",
" [_Exit_ LOREDANO.",
"He's silent in his hate, as Foscari",
"Was in his suffering; and the poor wretch moved me",
"More by his silence than a thousand outcries",
"Could have effected. 'Twas a dreadful sight",
"When his distracted wife broke through into",
"The hall of our tribunal, and beheld",
"What we could scarcely look upon, long used",
"To such sights. I must think no more of this,",
"Lest I forget in this compassion for",
"Our foes, their former injuries, and lose",
"The hold of vengeance Loredano plans",
"For him and me; but mine would be content",
"With lesser retribution than he thirsts for,",
"And I would mitigate his deeper hatred",
"To milder thoughts; but, for the present, Foscari",
"Has a short hourly respite, granted at",
"The instance of the elders of the Council,",
"Moved doubtless by his wife's appearance in",
"The hall, and his own sufferings.--Lo! they come:",
"How feeble and forlorn! I cannot bear",
"To look on them again in this extremity:",
"I'll hence, and try to soften Loredano.",
" [_Exit_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
"ACT II.",
"",
"SCENE I.--_A hall in the_ DOGE'S _Palace_.",
"",
" _The_ DOGE _and a Senator_.",
"",
"_Sen._ Is it your pleasure to sign the report",
"Now, or postpone it till to-morrow?",
"",
"_Doge_. Now;",
"I overlooked it yesterday: it wants",
"Merely the signature. Give me the pen--",
" [_The_ DOGE _sits down and signs the paper_.",
"There, Signor.",
"",
"_Sen._ (_looking at the paper_). You have forgot; it is not signed.",
"",
"_Doge_. Not signed? Ah, I perceive my eyes begin",
"To wax more weak with age. I did not see",
"That I had dipped the pen without effect.",
"",
"_Sen._ (_dipping the pen into the ink, and placing the paper",
"before the_ DOGE). Your hand, too, shakes, my Lord: allow me, thus--",
"",
"_Doge_. 'Tis done, I thank you.",
"",
"_Sen._ Thus the act confirmed",
"By you and by \"the Ten\" gives peace to Venice.",
"",
"_Doge_. 'Tis long since she enjoyed it: may it be",
"As long ere she resume her arms!",
"",
"_Sen._ 'Tis almost",
"Thirty-four years of nearly ceaseless warfare",
"With the Turk, or the powers of Italy;",
"The state had need of some repose.",
"",
"_Doge_. No doubt:",
"I found her Queen of Ocean, and I leave her",
"Lady of Lombardy; it is a comfort",
"That I have added to her diadem",
"The gems of Brescia and Ravenna; Crema",
"And Bergamo no less are hers; her realm",
"By land has grown by thus much in my reign,",
"While her sea-sway has not shrunk.",
"",
"_Sen._ 'Tis most true,",
"And merits all our country's gratitude.",
"",
"_Doge_. Perhaps so.",
"",
"_Sen._ Which should be made manifest.",
"",
"_Doge_. I have not complained, sir.",
"",
"_Sen._ My good Lord, forgive me.",
"",
"_Doge_. For what?",
"",
"_Sen._ My heart bleeds for you.",
"",
"_Doge_. For me, Signor?",
"",
"_Sen._ And for your----",
"",
"_Doge_. Stop!",
"",
"_Sen._ It must have way, my Lord:",
"I have too many duties towards you",
"And all your house, for past and present kindness,",
"Not to feel deeply for your son.",
"",
"_Doge_. Was this",
"In your commission?",
"",
"_Sen._ What, my Lord?",
"",
"_Doge_. This prattle",
"Of things you know not: but the treaty's signed;",
"Return with it to them who sent you.",
"",
"_Sen._ I",
"Obey. I had in charge, too, from the Council,",
"That you would fix an hour for their reunion.",
"",
"_Doge_. Say, when they will--now, even at this moment,",
"If it so please them: I am the State's servant.",
"",
"_Sen._ They would accord some time for your repose.",
"",
"_Doge_. I have no repose, that is, none which shall cause",
"The loss of an hour's time unto the State.",
"Let them meet when they will, I shall be found",
"_Where_ I should be, and _what_ I have been ever.",
" [_Exit Senator. The_ DOGE _remains in silence_.",
"",
" _Enter an Attendant_.",
"",
"_Att._ Prince!",
"",
"_Doge_. Say on.",
"",
"_Att._ The illustrious lady Foscari",
"Requests an audience.",
"",
"_Doge_. Bid her enter. Poor",
"Marina!",
" [_Exit Attendant. The_ DOGE _remains in silence as before_.",
"",
" _Enter MARINA_.",
"",
"_Mar._ I have ventured, father, on",
"Your privacy.",
"",
"_Doge_. I have none from you, my child.",
"Command my time, when not commanded by",
"The State.",
"",
"_Mar._ I wished to speak to you of _him_.",
"",
"_Doge_. Your husband?",
"",
"_Mar._ And your son.",
"",
"_Doge_. Proceed, my daughter!",
"",
"_Mar._ I had obtained permission from \"the Ten\"",
"To attend my husband for a limited number",
"Of hours.",
"",
"_Doge_. You had so.",
"",
"_Mar._ 'Tis revoked.",
"",
"_Doge_. By whom?",
"",
"_Mar._ \"The Ten.\"--When we had reached \"the Bridge of Sighs,\"",
"Which I prepared to pass with Foscari,",
"The gloomy guardian of that passage first",
"Demurred: a messenger was sent back to",
"\"The Ten;\"--but as the Court no longer sate,",
"And no permission had been given in writing,",
"I was thrust back, with the assurance that",
"Until that high tribunal reassembled",
"The dungeon walls must still divide us.",
"",
"_Doge_. True,",
"The form has been omitted in the haste",
"With which the court adjourned; and till it meets,",
"'Tis dubious.",
"",
"_Mar._ Till it meets! and when it meets,",
"They'll torture him again; and he and I",
"Must purchase by renewal of the rack",
"The interview of husband and of wife,",
"The holiest tie beneath the Heavens!--Oh God!",
"Dost thou see this?",
"",
"_Doge_. Child--child----",
"",
"_Mar._ (_abruptly_). Call _me_ not \"child!\"",
"You soon will have no children--you deserve none--",
"You, who can talk thus calmly of a son",
"In circumstances which would call forth tears",
"Of blood from Spartans! Though these did not weep",
"Their boys who died in battle, is it written",
"That they beheld them perish piecemeal, nor",
"Stretched forth a hand to save them?",
"",
"_Doge_. You behold me:",
"I cannot weep--I would I could; but if",
"Each white hair on this head were a young life,",
"This ducal cap the Diadem of earth,",
"This ducal ring with which I wed the waves",
"A talisman to still them--I'd give all",
"For him.",
"",
"_Mar._ With less he surely might be saved.",
"",
"_Doge_. That answer only shows you know not Venice.",
"Alas! how should you? she knows not herself,",
"In all her mystery. Hear me--they who aim",
"At Foscari, aim no less at his father;",
"The sire's destruction would not save the son;",
"They work by different means to the same end,",
"And that is--but they have not conquered yet.",
"",
"_Mar._ But they have crushed.",
"",
"_Doge_. Nor crushed as yet--I live.",
"",
"_Mar._ And your son,--how long will he live?",
"",
"_Doge_. I trust,",
"For all that yet is past, as many years",
"And happier than his father. The rash boy,",
"With womanish impatience to return,",
"Hath ruined all by that detected letter:",
"A high crime, which I neither can deny",
"Nor palliate, as parent or as Duke:",
"Had he but borne a little, little longer",
"His Candiote exile, I had hopes--he has quenched them--",
"He must return.",
"",
"_Mar._ To exile?",
"",
"_Doge_. I have said it.",
"",
"_Mar._ And can I not go with him?",
"",
"_Doge_. You well know",
"This prayer of yours was twice denied before",
"By the assembled \"Ten,\" and hardly now",
"Will be accorded to a third request,",
"Since aggravated errors on the part",
"Of your Lord renders them still more austere.",
"",
"_Mar._ Austere? Atrocious! The old human fiends,",
"With one foot in the grave, with dim eyes, strange",
"To tears save drops of dotage, with long white",
"And scanty hairs, and shaking hands, and heads",
"As palsied as their hearts are hard, they counsel,",
"Cabal, and put men's lives out, as if Life",
"Were no more than the feelings long extinguished",
"In their accurséd bosoms.",
"",
"_Doge_. You know not----",
"",
"_Mar._ I do--I do--and so should you, methinks--",
"That these are demons: could it be else that",
"Men, who have been of women born and suckled--",
"Who have loved, or talked at least of Love--have given",
"Their hands in sacred vows--have danced their babes",
"Upon their knees, perhaps have mourned above them--",
"In pain, in peril, or in death--who are,",
"Or were, at least in seeming, human, could",
"Do as they have done by yours, and you yourself--",
"_You_, who abet them?",
"",
"_Doge_. I forgive this, for",
"You know not what you say.",
"",
"_Mar._ _You_ know it well,",
"And feel it nothing.",
"",
"_Doge_. I have borne so much,",
"That words have ceased to shake me.",
"",
"_Mar._ Oh, no doubt!",
"You have seen your son's blood flow, and your flesh shook not;",
"And after that, what are a woman's words?",
"No more than woman's tears, that they should shake you.",
"",
"_Doge_. Woman, this clamorous grief of thine, I tell thee,",
"Is no more in the balance weighed with that",
"Which----but I pity thee, my poor Marina!",
"",
"_Mar._ Pity my husband, or I cast it from me;",
"Pity thy son! _Thou_ pity!--'tis a word",
"Strange to thy heart--how came it on thy lips?",
"",
"_Doge_. I must bear these reproaches, though they wrong me.",
"Couldst thou but read----",
"",
"_Mar._ 'Tis not upon thy brow,",
"Nor in thine eyes, nor in thine acts,--where then",
"Should I behold this sympathy? or shall?",
"",
"_Doge_ (_pointing downwards_). There.",
"",
"_Mar._ In the earth?",
"",
"_Doge_. To which I am tending: when",
"It lies upon this heart, far lightlier, though",
"Loaded with marble, than the thoughts which press it",
"Now, you will know me better.",
"",
"_Mar._ Are you, then,",
"Indeed, thus to be pitied?",
"",
"_Doge_. Pitied! None",
"Shall ever use that base word, with which men",
"Cloak their soul's hoarded triumph, as a fit one",
"To mingle with my name; that name shall be,",
"As far as _I_ have borne it, what it was",
"When I received it.",
"",
"_Mar._ But for the poor children",
"Of him thou canst not, or thou wilt not save,",
"You were the last to bear it.",
"",
"_Doge_. Would it were so!",
"Better for him he never had been born;",
"Better for me.--I have seen our house dishonoured.",
"",
"_Mar._ That's false! A truer, nobler, trustier heart,",
"More loving, or more loyal, never beat",
"Within a human breast. I would not change",
"My exiled, persecuted, mangled husband,",
"Oppressed but not disgraced, crushed, overwhelmed,",
"Alive, or dead, for Prince or Paladin",
"In story or in fable, with a world",
"To back his suit. Dishonoured!--_he_ dishonoured!",
"I tell thee, Doge, 'tis Venice is dishonoured;",
"His name shall be her foulest, worst reproach,",
"For what he suffers, not for what he did.",
"'Tis ye who are all traitors, Tyrant!--ye!",
"Did you but love your Country like this victim",
"Who totters back in chains to tortures, and",
"Submits to all things rather than to exile,",
"You'd fling yourselves before him, and implore",
"His grace for your enormous guilt.",
"",
"_Doge_. He was",
"Indeed all you have said. I better bore",
"The deaths of the two sons Heaven took from me,",
"Than Jacopo's disgrace.",
"",
"_Mar._ That word again?",
"",
"_Doge_. Has he not been condemned?",
"",
"_Mar._ Is none but guilt so?",
"",
"_Doge_. Time may restore his memory--I would hope so.",
"He was my pride, my----but 'tis useless now--",
"I am not given to tears, but wept for joy",
"When he was born: those drops were ominous.",
"",
"_Mar._ I say he's innocent! And were he not so,",
"Is our own blood and kin to shrink from us",
"In fatal moments?",
"",
"_Doge_. I shrank not from him:",
"But I have other duties than a father's;",
"The state would not dispense me from those duties;",
"Twice I demanded it, but was refused:",
"They must then be fulfilled.",
"",
" _Enter an Attendant_.",
"",
"_Att._ A message from",
"\"The Ten.\"",
"",
"_Doge_. Who bears it?",
"",
"_Att._ Noble Loredano.",
"",
"_Doge_. He!--but admit him. [_Exit Attendant_.",
"",
"_Mar._ Must I then retire?",
"",
"_Doge_. Perhaps it is not requisite, if this",
"Concerns your husband, and if not----Well, Signor,",
" [_To_ LOREDANO _entering_.",
"Your pleasure?",
"",
"_Lor._ I bear that of \"the Ten.\"",
"",
"_Doge_. They",
"Have chosen well their envoy.",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Tis _their_ choice",
"Which leads me here.",
"",
"_Doge_. It does their wisdom honour,",
"And no less to their courtesy.--Proceed.",
"",
"_Lor._ We have decided.",
"",
"_Doge_. We?",
"",
"_Lor._ \"The Ten\" in council.",
"",
"_Doge_. What! have they met again, and met without",
"Apprising me?",
"",
"_Lor._ They wished to spare your feelings,",
"No less than age.",
"",
"_Doge_. That's new--when spared they either?",
"I thank them, notwithstanding.",
"",
"_Lor._ You know well",
"That they have power to act at their discretion,",
"With or without the presence of the Doge.",
"",
"_Doge_. 'Tis some years since I learned this, long before",
"I became Doge, or dreamed of such advancement.",
"You need not school me, Signor; I sate in",
"That Council when you were a young patrician.",
"",
"_Lor._ True, in my father's time; I have heard him and",
"The Admiral, his brother, say as much.",
"Your Highness may remember them; they both",
"Died suddenly.",
"",
"_Doge_. And if they did so, better",
"So die than live on lingeringly in pain.",
"",
"_Lor._ No doubt: yet most men like to live their days out.",
"",
"_Doge_. And did not they?",
"",
"_Lor._ The Grave knows best: they died,",
"As I said, suddenly.",
"",
"_Doge_. Is that so strange,",
"That you repeat the word emphatically?",
"",
"_Lor._ So far from strange, that never was there death",
"In my mind half so natural as theirs.",
"Think _you_ not so?",
"",
"_Doge_. What should I think of mortals?",
"",
"_Lor._ That they have mortal foes.",
"",
"_Doge_. I understand you;",
"Your sires were mine, and you are heir in all things.",
"",
"_Lor._ You best know if I should be so.",
"",
"_Doge_. I do.",
"Your fathers were my foes, and I have heard",
"Foul rumours were abroad; I have also read",
"Their epitaph, attributing their deaths",
"To poison. 'Tis perhaps as true as most",
"Inscriptions upon tombs, and yet no less",
"A fable.",
"",
"_Lor._ Who dares say so?",
"",
"_Doge_. I!----'Tis true",
"Your fathers were mine enemies, as bitter",
"As their son e'er can be, and I no less",
"Was theirs; but I was _openly_ their foe:",
"I never worked by plot in Council, nor",
"Cabal in commonwealth, nor secret means",
"Of practice against life by steel or drug.",
"The proof is--your existence.",
"",
"_Lor._ I fear not.",
"",
"_Doge_. You have no cause, being what I am; but were I",
"That you would have me thought, you long ere now",
"Were past the sense of fear. Hate on; I care not.",
"",
"_Lor._ I never yet knew that a noble's life",
"In Venice had to dread a Doge's frown,",
"That is, by open means.",
"",
"_Doge_. But I, good Signor,",
"Am, or at least _was_, more than a mere duke,",
"In blood, in mind, in means; and that they know",
"Who dreaded to elect me, and have since",
"Striven all they dare to weigh me down: be sure,",
"Before or since that period, had I held you",
"At so much price as to require your absence,",
"A word of mine had set such spirits to work",
"As would have made you nothing. But in all things",
"I have observed the strictest reverence;",
"Not for the laws alone, for those _you_ have strained",
"(I do not speak of _you_ but as a single",
"Voice of the many) somewhat beyond what",
"I could enforce for my authority,",
"Were I disposed to brawl; but, as I said,",
"I have observed with veneration, like",
"A priest's for the High Altar, even unto",
"The sacrifice of my own blood and quiet,",
"Safety, and all save honour, the decrees,",
"The health, the pride, and welfare of the State.",
"And now, sir, to your business.",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Tis decreed,",
"That, without further repetition of",
"The Question, or continuance of the trial,",
"Which only tends to show how stubborn guilt is,",
"(\"The Ten,\" dispensing with the stricter law",
"Which still prescribes the Question till a full",
"Confession, and the prisoner partly having",
"Avowed his crime in not denying that",
"The letter to the Duke of Milan's his),",
"James Foscari return to banishment,",
"And sail in the same galley which conveyed him.",
"",
"_Mar._ Thank God! At least they will not drag him more",
"Before that horrible tribunal. Would he",
"But think so, to my mind the happiest doom,",
"Not he alone, but all who dwell here, could",
"Desire, were to escape from such a land.",
"",
"_Doge_. That is not a Venetian thought, my daughter.",
"",
"_Mar._ No, 'twas too human. May I share his exile?",
"",
"_Lor._ Of this \"the Ten\" said nothing.",
"",
"_Mar._ So I thought!",
"That were too human, also. But it was not",
"Inhibited?",
"",
"_Lor._ It was not named.",
"",
"_Mar. (to the Doge_). Then, father,",
"Surely you can obtain or grant me thus much:",
" [_To_ LOREDANO.",
"And you, sir, not oppose my prayer to be",
"Permitted to accompany my husband.",
"",
"_Doge_. I will endeavour.",
"",
"_Mar._ And you, Signor?",
"",
"_Lor._ Lady!",
"'Tis not for me to anticipate the pleasure",
"Of the tribunal.",
"",
"_Mar._ Pleasure! what a word",
"To use for the decrees of----",
"",
"_Doge_. Daughter, know you",
"In what a presence you pronounce these things?",
"",
"_Mar._ A Prince's and his subject's.",
"",
"_Lor._ Subject!",
"",
"_Mar._ Oh!",
"It galls you:--well, you are his equal, as",
"You think; but that you are not, nor would be,",
"Were he a peasant:--well, then, you're a Prince,",
"A princely noble; and what then am I?",
"",
"_Lor._ The offspring of a noble house.",
"",
"_Mar._ And wedded",
"To one as noble. What, or whose, then, is",
"The presence that should silence my free thoughts?",
"",
"_Lor._ The presence of your husband's Judges.",
"",
"_Doge_. And",
"The deference due even to the lightest word",
"That falls from those who rule in Venice.",
"",
"_Mar._ Keep",
"Those maxims for your mass of scared mechanics,",
"Your merchants, your Dalmatian and Greek slaves,",
"Your tributaries, your dumb citizens,",
"And masked nobility, your sbirri, and",
"Your spies, your galley and your other slaves,",
"To whom your midnight carryings off and drownings,",
"Your dungeons next the palace roofs, or under",
"The water's level; your mysterious meetings,",
"And unknown dooms, and sudden executions,",
"Your \"Bridge of Sighs,\" your strangling chamber, and",
"Your torturing instruments, have made ye seem",
"The beings of another and worse world!",
"Keep such for them: I fear ye not. I know ye;",
"Have known and proved your worst, in the infernal",
"Process of my poor husband! Treat me as",
"Ye treated him:--you did so, in so dealing",
"With him. Then what have I to fear _from_ you,",
"Even if I were of fearful nature, which",
"I trust I am not?",
"",
"_Doge_. You hear, she speaks wildly.",
"",
"_Mar._ Not wisely, yet not wildly.",
"",
"_Lor._ Lady! words",
"Uttered within these walls I bear no further",
"Than to the threshold, saving such as pass",
"Between the Duke and me on the State's service.",
"Doge! have you aught in answer?",
"",
"_Doge_. Something from",
"The Doge; it may be also from a parent.",
"",
"_Lor._ My mission _here_ is to the _Doge_.",
"",
"_Doge_. Then say",
"The Doge will choose his own ambassador,",
"Or state in person what is meet; and for",
"The father----",
"",
"_Lor._ I remember _mine_.--Farewell!",
"I kiss the hands of the illustrious Lady,",
"And bow me to the Duke. [_Exit_ LOREDANO.",
"",
"_Mar._ Are you content?",
"",
"_Doge_. I am what you behold.",
"",
"_Mar._ And that's a mystery.",
"",
"_Doge_. All things are so to mortals; who can read them",
"Save he who made? or, if they can, the few",
"And gifted spirits, who have studied long",
"That loathsome volume--man, and pored upon",
"Those black and bloody leaves, his heart and brain,",
"But learn a magic which recoils upon",
"The adept who pursues it: all the sins",
"We find in others, Nature made our own;",
"All our advantages are those of Fortune;",
"Birth, wealth, health, beauty, are her accidents,",
"And when we cry out against Fate, 'twere well",
"We should remember Fortune can take nought",
"Save what she _gave_--the rest was nakedness,",
"And lusts, and appetites, and vanities,",
"The universal heritage, to battle",
"With as we may, and least in humblest stations,",
"Where Hunger swallows all in one low want,",
"And the original ordinance, that man",
"Must sweat for his poor pittance, keeps all passions",
"Aloof, save fear of famine! All is low,",
"And false, and hollow--clay from first to last,",
"The Prince's urn no less than potter's vessel.",
"Our Fame is in men's breath, our lives upon",
"Less than their breath; our durance upon days",
"Our days on seasons; our whole being on",
"Something which is not _us_!--So, we are slaves,",
"The greatest as the meanest--nothing rests",
"Upon our will; the will itself no less",
"Depends upon a straw than on a storm;",
"And when we think we lead, we are most led,",
"And still towards Death, a thing which comes as much",
"Without our act or choice as birth, so that",
"Methinks we must have sinned in some old world,",
"And _this_ is Hell: the best is, that it is not",
"Eternal.",
"",
"_Mar._ These are things we cannot judge",
"On earth.",
"",
"_Doge_. And how then shall we judge each other,",
"Who are all earth, and I, who am called upon",
"To judge my son? I have administered",
"My country faithfully--victoriously--",
"I dare them to the proof, the _chart_ of what",
"She was and is: my reign has doubled realms;",
"And, in reward, the gratitude of Venice",
"Has left, or is about to leave, _me_ single.",
"",
"_Mar._ And Foscari? I do not think of such things,",
"So I be left with him.",
"",
"_Doge_. You shall be so;",
"Thus much they cannot well deny.",
"",
"_Mar._ And if",
"They should, I will fly with him.",
"",
"_Doge_. That can ne'er be.",
"And whither would you fly?",
"",
"_Mar._ I know not, reck not--",
"To Syria, Egypt, to the Ottoman--",
"Any where, where we might respire unfettered,",
"And live nor girt by spies, nor liable",
"To edicts of inquisitors of state.",
"",
"_Doge_. What, wouldst thou have a renegade for husband,",
"And turn him into traitor?",
"",
"_Mar._ He is none!",
"The Country is the traitress, which thrusts forth",
"Her best and bravest from her. Tyranny",
"Is far the worst of treasons. Dost thou deem",
"None rebels except subjects? The Prince who",
"Neglects or violates his trust is more",
"A brigand than the robber-chief.",
"",
"_Doge_. I cannot",
"Charge me with such a breach of faith.",
"",
"_Mar_ No; thou",
"Observ'st, obey'st such laws as make old Draco's",
"A code of mercy by comparison.",
"",
"_Doge_. I found the law; I did not make it. Were I",
"A subject, still I might find parts and portions",
"Fit for amendment; but as Prince, I never",
"Would change, for the sake of my house, the charter",
"Left by our fathers.",
"",
"_Mar._ Did they make it for",
"The ruin of their children?",
"",
"_Doge_. Under such laws, Venice",
"Has risen to what she is--a state to rival",
"In deeds, and days, and sway, and, let me add,",
"In glory (for we have had Roman spirits",
"Amongst us), all that history has bequeathed",
"Of Rome and Carthage in their best times, when",
"The people swayed by Senates.",
"",
"_Mar._ Rather say,",
"Groaned under the stern Oligarchs.",
"",
"_Doge_. Perhaps so;",
"But yet subdued the World: in such a state",
"An individual, be he richest of",
"Such rank as is permitted, or the meanest,",
"Without a name, is alike nothing, when",
"The policy, irrevocably tending",
"To one great end, must be maintained in vigour.",
"",
"_Mar._ This means that you are more a Doge than father.",
"",
"_Doge_. It means, I am more citizen than either.",
"If we had not for many centuries",
"Had thousands of such citizens, and shall,",
"I trust, have still such, Venice were no city.",
"",
"_Mar._ Accurséd be the city where the laws",
"Would stifle Nature's!",
"",
"_Doge_. Had I as many sons",
"As I have years, I would have given them all,",
"Not without feeling, but I would have given them",
"To the State's service, to fulfil her wishes,",
"On the flood, in the field, or, if it must be,",
"As it, alas! has been, to ostracism,",
"Exile, or chains, or whatsoever worse",
"She might decree.",
"",
"_Mar._ And this is Patriotism?",
"To me it seems the worst barbarity.",
"Let me seek out my husband: the sage \"Ten,\"",
"With all its jealousy, will hardly war",
"So far with a weak woman as deny me",
"A moment's access to his dungeon.",
"",
"_Doge_. I'll",
"So far take on myself, as order that",
"You may be admitted.",
"",
"_Mar._ And what shall I say",
"To Foscari from his father?",
"",
"_Doge_. That he obey",
"The laws.",
"",
"_Mar._ And nothing more? Will you not see him",
"Ere he depart? It may be the last time.",
"",
"_Doge_. The last!--my boy!--the last time I shall see",
"My last of children! Tell him I will come. [_Exeunt_.",
"",
"ACT III.",
"",
"SCENE I.--_The prison of_ JACOPO FOSCARI.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ (_solus_).",
"No light, save yon faint gleam which shows me walls",
"Which never echoed but to Sorrow's sounds,",
"The sigh of long imprisonment, the step",
"Of feet on which the iron clanked the groan",
"Of Death, the imprecation of Despair!",
"And yet for this I have returned to Venice,",
"With some faint hope, 'tis true, that Time, which wears",
"The marble down, had worn away the hate",
"Of men's hearts; but I knew them not, and here",
"Must I consume my own, which never beat",
"For Venice but with such a yearning as",
"The dove has for her distant nest, when wheeling",
"High in the air on her return to greet",
"Her callow brood. What letters are these which",
" [_Approaching the wall_.",
"Are scrawled along the inexorable wall?",
"Will the gleam let me trace them? Ah! the names",
"Of my sad predecessors in this place,",
"The dates of their despair, the brief words of",
"A grief too great for many. This stone page",
"Holds like an epitaph their history;",
"And the poor captive's tale is graven on",
"His dungeon barrier, like the lover's record",
"Upon the bark of some tall tree, which bears",
"His own and his belovéd's name. Alas!",
"I recognise some names familiar to me,",
"And blighted like to mine, which I will add,",
"Fittest for such a chronicle as this,",
"Which only can be read, as writ, by wretches.",
" [_He engraves his name_.",
"",
" _Enter a Familiar of \"the Ten.\"_",
"",
"_Fam._ I bring you food.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I pray you set it down;",
"I am past hunger: but my lips are parched--",
"The water!",
"",
"_Fam._ There.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ (_after drinking_). I thank you: I am better.",
"",
"_Fam._ I am commanded to inform you that",
"Your further trial is postponed.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Till when?",
"",
"_Fam._ I know not.--It is also in my orders",
"That your illustrious lady be admitted.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Ah! they relent, then--I had ceased to hope it:",
"'Twas time.",
"",
" _Enter_ MARINA.",
"",
"_Mar._ My best belovéd!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ (_embracing her_). My true wife,",
"And only friend! What happiness!",
"",
"_Mar._ We'll part",
"No more.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ How! would'st thou share a dungeon?",
"",
"_Mar._ Aye,",
"The rack, the grave, all--any thing with thee,",
"But the tomb last of all, for there we shall",
"Be ignorant of each other, yet I will",
"Share that--all things except new separation;",
"It is too much to have survived the first.",
"How dost thou? How are those worn limbs? Alas!",
"Why do I ask? Thy paleness----",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ 'Tis the joy",
"Of seeing thee again so soon, and so",
"Without expectancy, has sent the blood",
"Back to my heart, and left my cheeks like thine,",
"For thou art pale too, my Marina!",
"",
"_Mar._ 'Tis",
"The gloom of this eternal cell, which never",
"Knew sunbeam, and the sallow sullen glare",
"Of the familiar's torch, which seems akin",
"To darkness more than light, by lending to",
"The dungeon vapours its bituminous smoke,",
"Which cloud whate'er we gaze on, even thine eyes--",
"No, not thine eyes--they sparkle--how they sparkle!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And thine!--but I am blinded by the torch.",
"",
"_Mar._ As I had been without it. Couldst thou see here?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Nothing at first; but use and time had taught me",
"Familiarity with what was darkness;",
"And the grey twilight of such glimmerings as",
"Glide through the crevices made by the winds",
"Was kinder to mine eyes than the full Sun,",
"When gorgeously o'ergilding any towers",
"Save those of Venice; but a moment ere",
"Thou earnest hither I was busy writing.",
"",
"_Mar._ What?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ My name: look, 'tis there--recorded next",
"The name of him who here preceded me,--",
"If dungeon dates say true.",
"",
"_Mar._ And what of him?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ These walls are silent of men's ends; they only",
"Seem to hint shrewdly of them. Such stern walls",
"Were never piled on high save o'er the dead,",
"Or those who soon must be so.--_What of him?_",
"Thou askest.--What of me? may soon be asked,",
"With the like answer--doubt and dreadful surmise--",
"Unless thou tell'st my tale.",
"",
"_Mar._ _I speak_ of thee!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And wherefore not? All then shall speak of me:",
"The tyranny of silence is not lasting,",
"And, though events be hidden, just men's groans",
"Will burst all cerement, even a living grave's!",
"I do not _doubt_ my memory, but my life;",
"And neither do I fear.",
"",
"_Mar._ Thy life is safe.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And liberty?",
"",
"_Mar._ The mind should make its own!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ That has a noble sound; but 'tis a sound,",
"A music most impressive, but too transient:",
"The Mind is much, but is not all. The Mind",
"Hath nerved me to endure the risk of death,",
"And torture positive, far worse than death",
"(If death be a deep sleep), without a groan,",
"Or with a cry which rather shamed my judges",
"Than me; but 'tis not all, for there are things",
"More woful--such as this small dungeon, where",
"I may breathe many years.",
"",
"_Mar._ Alas! and this",
"Small dungeon is all that belongs to thee",
"Of this wide realm, of which thy sire is Prince.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ That thought would scarcely aid me to endure it.",
"My doom is common; many are in dungeons,",
"But none like mine, so near their father's palace;",
"But then my heart is sometimes high, and hope",
"Will stream along those moted rays of light",
"Peopled with dusty atoms, which afford",
"Our only day; for, save the gaoler's torch,",
"And a strange firefly, which was quickly caught",
"Last night in yon enormous spider's net,",
"I ne'er saw aught here like a ray. Alas!",
"I know if mind may bear us up, or no,",
"For I have such, and shown it before men;",
"It sinks in solitude: my soul is social.",
"",
"_Mar._ I will be with thee.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Ah! if it were so!",
"But _that_ they never granted--nor will grant,",
"And I shall be alone: no men; no books--",
"Those lying likenesses of lying men.",
"I asked for even those outlines of their kind,",
"Which they term annals, history, what you will,",
"Which men bequeath as portraits, and they were",
"Refused me,--so these walls have been my study,",
"More faithful pictures of Venetian story,",
"With all their blank, or dismal stains, than is",
"The Hall not far from hence, which bears on high",
"Hundreds of Doges, and their deeds and dates.",
"",
"_Mar._ I come to tell thee the result of their",
"Last council on thy doom.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I know it--look!",
"",
" [_He points to his limbs, as referring to the Question",
" which he had undergone_.",
"",
"_Mar._ No--no--no more of that: even they relent",
"From that atrocity.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ What then?",
"",
"_Mar._ That you",
"Return to Candia.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Then my last hope's gone.",
"I could endure my dungeon, for 'twas Venice;",
"I could support the torture, there was something",
"In my native air that buoyed my spirits up",
"Like a ship on the Ocean tossed by storms,",
"But proudly still bestriding the high waves,",
"And holding on its course; but _there_, afar,",
"In that accurséd isle of slaves and captives,",
"And unbelievers, like a stranded wreck,",
"My very soul seemed mouldering in my bosom,",
"And piecemeal I shall perish, if remanded.",
"",
"_Mar._ And _here_?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ At once--by better means, as briefer.",
"What! would they even deny me my Sire's sepulchre,",
"As well as home and heritage?",
"",
"_Mar._ My husband!",
"I have sued to accompany thee hence,",
"And not so hopelessly. This love of thine",
"For an ungrateful and tyrannic soil",
"Is Passion, and not Patriotism; for me,",
"So I could see thee with a quiet aspect,",
"And the sweet freedom of the earth and air,",
"I would not cavil about climes or regions.",
"This crowd of palaces and prisons is not",
"A Paradise; its first inhabitants",
"Were wretched exiles.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Well I know _how_ wretched!",
"",
"_Mar._ And yet you see how, from their banishment",
"Before the Tartar into these salt isles,",
"Their antique energy of mind, all that",
"Remained of Rome for their inheritance,",
"Created by degrees an ocean Rome;",
"And shall an evil, which so often leads",
"To good, depress thee thus?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Had I gone forth",
"From my own land, like the old patriarchs, seeking",
"Another region, with their flocks and herds;",
"Had I been cast out like the Jews from Zion,",
"Or like our fathers, driven by Attila",
"From fertile Italy, to barren islets,",
"I would have given some tears to my late country",
"And many thoughts; but afterwards addressed",
"Myself, with those about me, to create",
"A new home and fresh state: perhaps I could",
"Have borne this--though I know not.",
"",
"_Mar._ Wherefore not?",
"It was the lot of millions, and must be",
"The fate of myriads more.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Aye--we but hear",
"Of the survivors' toil in their new lands,",
"Their numbers and success; but who can number",
"The hearts which broke in silence at that parting,",
"Or after their departure; of that malady",
"Which calls up green and native fields to view",
"From the rough deep, with such identity",
"To the poor exile's fevered eye, that he",
"Can scarcely be restrained from treading them?",
"That melody, which out of tones and tunes",
"Collects such pasture for the longing sorrow",
"Of the sad mountaineer, when far away",
"From his snow canopy of cliffs and clouds,",
"That he feeds on the sweet, but poisonous thought,",
"And dies. You call this _weakness_! It is strength,",
"I say,--the parent of all honest feeling.",
"He who loves not his Country, can love nothing.",
"",
"_Mar._ Obey her, then: 'tis she that puts thee forth.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Aye, there it is; 'tis like a mother's curse",
"Upon my soul--the mark is set upon me.",
"The exiles you speak of went forth by nations,",
"Their hands upheld each other by the way,",
"Their tents were pitched together--I'm alone.",
"",
"_Mar._ You shall be so no more--I will go with thee.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ My best Marina!--and our children?",
"",
"_Mar._ They,",
"I fear, by the prevention of the state's",
"Abhorrent policy, (which holds all ties",
"As threads, which may be broken at her pleasure),",
"Will not be suffered to proceed with us.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And canst thou leave them?",
"",
"_Mar._ Yes--with many a pang!",
"But--I _can_ leave them, children as they are,",
"To teach you to be less a child. From this",
"Learn you to sway your feelings, when exacted",
"By duties paramount; and 'tis our first",
"On earth to bear.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Have I not borne?",
"",
"_Mar._ Too much",
"From tyrannous injustice, and enough",
"To teach you not to shrink now from a lot,",
"Which, as compared with what you have undergone",
"Of late, is mercy.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Ah! you never yet",
"Were far away from Venice, never saw",
"Her beautiful towers in the receding distance,",
"While every furrow of the vessel's track",
"Seemed ploughing deep into your heart; you never",
"Saw day go down upon your native spires",
"So calmly with its gold and crimson glory,",
"And after dreaming a disturbéd vision",
"Of them and theirs, awoke and found them not.",
"",
"_Mar._ I will divide this with you. Let us think",
"Of our departure from this much-loved city,",
"(Since you must _love_ it, as it seems,) and this",
"Chamber of state, her gratitude allots you.",
"Our children will be cared for by the Doge,",
"And by my uncles; we must sail ere night.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ That's sudden. Shall I not behold my father?",
"",
"_Mar._ You will.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Where?",
"",
"_Mar._ Here, or in the ducal chamber--",
"He said not which. I would that you could bear",
"Your exile as he bears it.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Blame him not.",
"I sometimes murmur for a moment; but",
"He could not now act otherwise. A show",
"Of feeling or compassion on his part",
"Would have but drawn upon his agéd head",
"Suspicion from \"the Ten,\" and upon mine",
"Accumulated ills.",
"",
"_Mar._ Accumulated!",
"What pangs are those they have spared you?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ That of leaving",
"Venice without beholding him or you,",
"Which might have been forbidden now, as 'twas",
"Upon my former exile.",
"",
"_Mar._ That is true,",
"And thus far I am also the State's debtor,",
"And shall be more so when I see us both",
"Floating on the free waves--away--away--",
"Be it to the earth's end, from this abhorred,",
"Unjust, and----",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Curse it not. If I am silent,",
"Who dares accuse my Country?",
"",
"_Mar._ Men and Angels!",
"The blood of myriads reeking up to Heaven,",
"The groans of slaves in chains, and men in dungeons,",
"Mothers, and wives, and sons, and sires, and subjects,",
"Held in the bondage of ten bald-heads; and",
"Though last, not least, _thy silence! Couldst thou_ say",
"Aught in its favour, who would praise like _thee_?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Let us address us then, since so it must be,",
"To our departure. Who comes here?",
"",
" _Enter_ LOREDANO _attended by Familiars_.",
"",
"_Lor._ (_to the Familiars_). Retire,",
"But leave the torch. [_Exeunt the two Familiars_.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Most welcome, noble Signor.",
"I did not deem this poor place could have drawn",
"Such presence hither.",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Tis not the first time",
"I have visited these places.",
"",
"_Mar._ Nor would be",
"The last, were all men's merits well rewarded.",
"Came you here to insult us, or remain",
"As spy upon us, or as hostage for us?",
"",
"_Lor._ Neither are of my office, noble Lady!",
"I am sent hither to your husband, to",
"Announce \"the Ten's\" decree.",
"",
"_Mar._ That tenderness",
"Has been anticipated: it is known.",
"",
"_Lor._ As how?",
"",
"_Mar._ I have informed him, not so gently,",
"Doubtless, as your nice feelings would prescribe,",
"The indulgence of your colleagues; but he knew it.",
"If you come for our thanks, take them, and hence!",
"The dungeon gloom is deep enough without you,",
"And full of reptiles, not less loathsome, though",
"Their sting is honester.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I pray you, calm you:",
"What can avail such words?",
"",
"_Mar._ To let him know",
"That he is known.",
"",
"_Lor._ Let the fair dame preserve",
"Her sex's privilege.",
"",
"_Mar._ I have some sons, sir,",
"Will one day thank you better.",
"",
"_Lor._ You do well",
"To nurse them wisely. Foscari--you know",
"Your sentence, then?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Return to Candia?",
"",
"_Lor._ True--",
"For life.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Not long.",
"",
"_Lor._ I said--for _life_.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And I",
"Repeat--not long.",
"",
"_Lor._ A year's imprisonment",
"In Canea--afterwards the freedom of",
"The whole isle.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Both the same to me: the after",
"Freedom as is the first imprisonment.",
"Is't true my wife accompanies me?",
"",
"_Lor._ Yes,",
"If she so wills it.",
"",
"_Mar._ Who obtained that justice?",
"",
"_Lor._ One who wars not with women.",
"",
"_Mar._ But oppresses",
"Men: howsoever let him have _my_ thanks",
"For the only boon I would have asked or taken",
"From him or such as he is.",
"",
"_Lor._ He receives them",
"As they are offered.",
"",
"_Mar._ May they thrive with him",
"So much!--no more.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Is this, sir, your whole mission?",
"Because we have brief time for preparation,",
"And you perceive your presence doth disquiet",
"This lady, of a house noble as yours.",
"",
"_Mar._ Nobler!",
"",
"_Lor._ How nobler?",
"",
"_Mar._ As more generous!",
"We say the \"generous steed\" to express the purity",
"Of his high blood. Thus much I've learnt, although",
"Venetian (who see few steeds save of bronze),",
"From those Venetians who have skirred the coasts",
"Of Egypt and her neighbour Araby:",
"And why not say as soon the \"_generous man_?\"",
"If race be aught, it is in qualities",
"More than in years; and mine, which is as old",
"As yours, is better in its product, nay--",
"Look not so stern--but get you back, and pore",
"Upon your genealogic tree's most green",
"Of leaves and most mature of fruits, and there",
"Blush to find ancestors, who would have blushed",
"For such a son--thou cold inveterate hater!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Again, Marina!",
"",
"_Mar._ Again! _still_, Marina.",
"See you not, he comes here to glut his hate",
"With a last look upon our misery?",
"Let him partake it!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ That were difficult.",
"",
"_Mar._ Nothing more easy. He partakes it now--",
"Aye, he may veil beneath a marble brow",
"And sneering lip the pang, but he partakes it.",
"A few brief words of truth shame the Devil's servants",
"No less than Master; I have probed his soul",
"A moment, as the Eternal Fire, ere long,",
"Will reach it always. See how he shrinks from me!",
"With death, and chains, and exile in his hand,",
"To scatter o'er his kind as he thinks fit;",
"They are his weapons, not his armour, for",
"I have pierced him to the core of his cold heart.",
"I care not for his frowns! We can but die,",
"And he but live, for him the very worst",
"Of destinies: each day secures him more",
"His tempter's.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ This is mere insanity.",
"",
"_Mar._ It may be so; and _who_ hath made us _mad_?",
"",
"_Lor._ Let her go on; it irks not me.",
"",
"_Mar._ That's false!",
"You came here to enjoy a heartless triumph",
"Of cold looks upon manifold griefs! You came",
"To be sued to in vain--to mark our tears,",
"And hoard our groans--to gaze upon the wreck",
"Which you have made a Prince's son--my husband;",
"In short, to trample on the fallen--an office",
"The hangman shrinks from, as all men from him!",
"How have you sped? We are wretched, Signor, as",
"Your plots could make, and vengeance could desire us,",
"And how _feel you_?",
"",
"_Lor._ As rocks.",
"",
"_Mar._ By thunder blasted:",
"They feel not, but no less are shivered. Come,",
"Foscari; now let us go, and leave this felon,",
"The sole fit habitant of such a cell,",
"Which he has peopled often, but ne'er fitly",
"Till he himself shall brood in it alone.",
"",
" _Enter the_ DOGE.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ My father!",
"",
"_Doge_ (_embracing him_). Jacopo! my son--my son!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ My father still! How long it is since I",
"Have heard thee name my name--_our_ name!",
"",
"_Doge_. My boy!",
"Couldst thou but know----",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I rarely, sir, have murmured.",
"",
"_Doge_. I feel too much thou hast not.",
"",
"_Mar._ Doge, look there!",
" [_She points to_ LOREDANO.",
"",
"_Doge_. I see the man--what mean'st thou?",
"",
"_Mar._ Caution!",
"",
"_Lor._ Being",
"The virtue which this noble lady most",
"May practise, she doth well to recommend it.",
"",
"_Mar._ Wretch! 'tis no virtue, but the policy",
"Of those who fain must deal perforce with vice:",
"As such I recommend it, as I would",
"To one whose foot was on an adder's path.",
"",
"_Doge_. Daughter, it is superfluous; I have long",
"Known Loredano.",
"",
"_Lor._ You may know him better.",
"",
"_Mar._ Yes; _worse_ he could not.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Father, let not these",
"Our parting hours be lost in listening to",
"Reproaches, which boot nothing. Is it--is it,",
"Indeed, our last of meetings?",
"",
"_Doge_. You behold",
"These white hairs!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And I feel, besides, that mine",
"Will never be so white. Embrace me, father!",
"I loved you ever--never more than now.",
"Look to my children--to your last child's children:",
"Let them be all to you which he was once,",
"And never be to you what I am now.",
"May I not see _them_ also?",
"",
"_Mar._ No--not _here_.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ They might behold their parent any where.",
"",
"_Mar._ I would that they beheld their father in",
"A place which would not mingle fear with love,",
"To freeze their young blood in its natural current.",
"They have fed well, slept soft, and knew not that",
"Their sire was a mere hunted outlaw. Well,",
"I know his fate may one day be their heritage,",
"But let it only be their _heritage_,",
"And not their present fee. Their senses, though",
"Alive to love, are yet awake to terror;",
"And these vile damps, too, and yon _thick green_ wave",
"Which floats above the place where we now stand--",
"A cell so far below the water's level,",
"Sending its pestilence through every crevice,",
"Might strike them: _this is not their_ atmosphere,",
"However you--and you--and most of all,",
"As worthiest--_you_, sir, noble Loredano!",
"May breathe it without prejudice.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I had not",
"Reflected upon this, but acquiesce.",
"I shall depart, then, without meeting them?",
"",
"_Doge_. Not so: they shall await you in my chamber.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And must I leave them--_all_?",
"",
"_Lor._ You must.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Not one?",
"",
"_Lor._ They are the State's.",
"",
"_Mar._ I thought they had been mine.",
"",
"_Lor._ They are, in all maternal things.",
"",
"_Mar._ That is,",
"In all things painful. If they're sick, they will",
"Be left to me to tend them; should they die,",
"To me to bury and to mourn; but if",
"They live, they'll make you soldiers, senators,",
"Slaves, exiles--what _you_ will; or if they are",
"Females with portions, brides and _bribes_ for nobles!",
"Behold the State's care for its sons and mothers!",
"",
"_Lor._ The hour approaches, and the wind is fair.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ How know you that here, where the genial wind",
"Ne'er blows in all its blustering freedom?",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Twas so",
"When I came here. The galley floats within",
"A bow-shot of the \"Riva di Schiavoni.\"",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Father! I pray you to precede me, and",
"Prepare my children to behold their father.",
"",
"_Doge_. Be firm, my son!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I will do my endeavour.",
"",
"_Mar._ Farewell! at least to this detested dungeon,",
"And him to whose good offices you owe",
"In part your past imprisonment.",
"",
"_Lor._ And present",
"Liberation.",
"",
"_Doge_. He speaks truth.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ No doubt! but 'tis",
"Exchange of chains for heavier chains I owe him.",
"He knows this, or he had not sought to change them,",
"But I reproach not.",
"",
"_Lor._ The time narrows, Signor.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Alas! I little thought so lingeringly",
"To leave abodes like this: but when I feel",
"That every step I take, even from this cell,",
"Is one away from Venice, I look back",
"Even on these dull damp walls, and----",
"",
"_Doge_. Boy! no tears.",
"",
"_Mar._ Let them flow on: he wept not on the rack",
"To shame him, and they cannot shame him now.",
"They will relieve his heart--that too kind heart--",
"And I will find an hour to wipe away",
"Those tears, or add my own. I could weep now,",
"But would not gratify yon wretch so far.",
"Let us proceed. Doge, lead the way.",
"",
"_Lor._ (_to the Familiar_). The torch, there!",
"",
"_Mar._ Yes, light us on, as to a funeral pyre,",
"With Loredano mourning like an heir.",
"",
"_Doge_. My son, you are feeble; take this hand.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Alas!",
"Must youth support itself on age, and I",
"Who ought to be the prop of yours?",
"",
"_Lor._ Take mine.",
"",
"_Mar._ Touch it not, Foscari; 'twill sting you. Signor,",
"Stand off! be sure, that if a grasp of yours",
"Would raise us from the gulf wherein we are plunged,",
"No hand of ours would stretch itself to meet it.",
"Come, Foscari, take the hand the altar gave you;",
"It could not save, but will support you ever. [_Exeunt_.",
"",
"ACT IV.",
"",
"SCENE I.--_A Hall in the Ducal Palace_.",
"",
" _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
"_Bar._ And have you confidence in such a project?",
"",
"_Lor._ I have.",
"",
"_Bar._ 'Tis hard upon his years.",
"",
"_Lor._ Say rather",
"Kind to relieve him from the cares of State.",
"",
"_Bar._ 'Twill break his heart.",
"",
"_Lor._ Age has no heart to break.",
"He has seen his son's half broken, and, except",
"A start of feeling in his dungeon, never",
"Swerved.",
"",
"_Bar._ In his countenance, I grant you, never;",
"But I have seen him sometimes in a calm",
"So desolate, that the most clamorous grief",
"Had nought to envy him within. Where is he?",
"",
"_Lor._ In his own portion of the palace, with",
"His son, and the whole race of Foscaris.",
"",
"_Bar._ Bidding farewell.",
"",
"_Lor._ A last! as, soon, he shall",
"Bid to his Dukedom.",
"",
"_Bar._ When embarks the son?",
"",
"_Lor._ Forthwith--when this long leave is taken. 'Tis",
"Time to admonish them again.",
"",
"_Bar._ Forbear;",
"Retrench not from their moments.",
"",
"_Lor._ Not I, now",
"We have higher business for our own. This day",
"Shall be the last of the old Doge's reign,",
"As the first of his son's last banishment,",
"And that is vengeance.",
"",
"_Bar._ In my mind, too deep.",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Tis moderate--not even life for life, the rule",
"Denounced of retribution from all time;",
"They owe me still my father's and my uncle's.",
"",
"_Bar._ Did not the Doge deny this strongly?",
"",
"_Lor._ Doubtless.",
"",
"_Bar._ And did not this shake your suspicion?",
"",
"_Lor._ No.",
"",
"_Bar._ But if this deposition should take place",
"By our united influence in the Council,",
"It must be done with all the deference",
"Due to his years, his station, and his deeds.",
"",
"_Lor._ As much of ceremony as you will,",
"So that the thing be done. You may, for aught",
"I care, depute the Council on their knees,",
"(Like Barbarossa to the Pope,) to beg him",
"To have the courtesy to abdicate.",
"",
"_Bar._ What if he will not?",
"",
"_Lor._ We'll elect another,",
"And make him null.",
"",
"_Bar._ But will the laws uphold us?",
"",
"_Lor._ What laws?--\"The Ten\" are laws; and if they were not,",
"I will be legislator in this business.",
"",
"_Bar._ At your own peril?",
"",
"_Lor._ There is none, I tell you,",
"Our powers are such.",
"",
"_Bar._ But he has twice already",
"Solicited permission to retire,",
"And twice it was refused.",
"",
"_Lor._ The better reason",
"To grant it the third time.",
"",
"_Bar._ Unasked?",
"",
"_Lor._ It shows",
"The impression of his former instances:",
"If they were from his heart, he may be thankful:",
"If not, 'twill punish his hypocrisy.",
"Come, they are met by this time; let us join them,",
"And be _thou_ fixed in purpose for this once.",
"I have prepared such arguments as will not",
"Fail to move them, and to remove him: since",
"Their thoughts, their objects, have been sounded, do not",
"_You_, with your wonted scruples, teach us pause,",
"And all will prosper.",
"",
"_Bar._ Could I but be certain",
"This is no prelude to such persecution",
"Of the sire as has fallen upon the son,",
"I would support you.",
"",
"_Lor._ He is safe, I tell you;",
"His fourscore years and five may linger on",
"As long as he can drag them: 'tis his throne",
"Alone is aimed at.",
"",
"_Bar._ But discarded Princes",
"Are seldom long of life.",
"",
"_Lor._ And men of eighty",
"More seldom still.",
"",
"_Bar._ And why not wait these few years?",
"",
"_Lor._ Because we have waited long enough, and he",
"Lived longer than enough. Hence! in to council!",
" [_Exeunt_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
" _Enter_ MEMMO _and a Senator_.",
"",
"_Sen._ A summons to \"the Ten!\" why so?",
"",
"_Mem._ \"The Ten\"",
"Alone can answer; they are rarely wont",
"To let their thoughts anticipate their purpose",
"By previous proclamation. We are summoned--",
"That is enough.",
"",
"_Sen._ For them, but not for us;",
"I would know why.",
"",
"_Mem._ You will know why anon,",
"If you obey: and, if not, you no less",
"Will know why you should have obeyed.",
"",
"_Sen._ I mean not",
"To oppose them, _but_----",
"",
"_Mem._ In Venice \"_but_\"'s a traitor.",
"But me no \"_buts_\" unless you would pass o'er",
"The Bridge which few repass.",
"",
"_Sen._ I am silent.",
"",
"_Mem._ Why",
"Thus hesitate? \"The Ten\" have called in aid",
"Of their deliberation five and twenty",
"Patricians of the Senate--you are one,",
"And I another; and it seems to me",
"Both honoured by the choice or chance which leads us",
"To mingle with a body so august.",
"",
"_Sen._ Most true. I say no more.",
"",
"_Mem._ As we hope, Signor,",
"And all may honestly, (that is, all those",
"Of noble blood may,) one day hope to be",
"Decemvir, it is surely for the Senate's",
"Chosen delegates, a school of wisdom, to",
"Be thus admitted, though as novices,",
"To view the mysteries.",
"",
"_Sen._ Let us view them: they,",
"No doubt, are worth it.",
"",
"_Mem._ Being worth our lives",
"If we divulge them, doubtless they are worth",
"Something, at least to you or me.",
"",
"_Sen._ I sought not",
"A place within the sanctuary; but being",
"Chosen, however reluctantly so chosen,",
"I shall fulfil my office.",
"",
"_Mem._ Let us not",
"Be latest in obeying \"the Ten's\" summons.",
"",
"_Sen._ All are not met, but I am of your thought",
"So far--let's in.",
"",
"_Mem._ The earliest are most welcome",
"In earnest councils--we will not be least so. [_Exeunt_.",
"",
" _Enter the_ DOGE, JACOPO FOSCARI, _and_ MARINA.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Ah, father! though I must and will depart,",
"Yet--yet--I pray you to obtain for me",
"That I once more return unto my home,",
"Howe'er remote the period. Let there be",
"A point of time, as beacon to my heart,",
"With any penalty annexed they please,",
"But let me still return.",
"",
"_Doge_. Son Jacopo,",
"Go and obey our Country's will: 'tis not",
"For us to look beyond.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ But still I must",
"Look back. I pray you think of me.",
"",
"_Doge_. Alas!",
"You ever were my dearest offspring, when",
"They were more numerous, nor can be less so",
"Now you are last; but did the State demand",
"The exile of the disinterréd ashes",
"Of your three goodly brothers, now in earth,",
"And their desponding shades came flitting round",
"To impede the act, I must no less obey",
"A duty, paramount to every duty.",
"",
"_Mar._ My husband! let us on: this but prolongs",
"Our sorrow.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ But we are not summoned yet;",
"The galley's sails are not unfurled:--who knows?",
"The wind may change.",
"",
"_Mar._ And if it do, it will not",
"Change _their_ hearts, or your lot: the galley's oars",
"Will quickly clear the harbour.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ O, ye Elements!",
"Where are your storms?",
"",
"_Mar._ In human breasts. Alas!",
"Will nothing calm you?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Never yet did mariner",
"Put up to patron saint such prayers for prosperous",
"And pleasant breezes, as I call upon you,",
"Ye tutelar saints of my own city! which",
"Ye love not with more holy love than I,",
"To lash up from the deep the Adrian waves,",
"And waken Auster, sovereign of the Tempest!",
"Till the sea dash me back on my own shore",
"A broken corse upon the barren Lido,",
"Where I may mingle with the sands which skirt",
"The land I love, and never shall see more!",
"",
"_Mar._ And wish you this with _me_ beside you?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ No--",
"No--not for thee, too good, too kind! May'st thou",
"Live long to be a mother to those children",
"Thy fond fidelity for a time deprives",
"Of such support! But for myself alone,",
"May all the winds of Heaven howl down the Gulf,",
"And tear the vessel, till the mariners,",
"Appalled, turn their despairing eyes on me,",
"As the Phenicians did on Jonah, then",
"Cast me out from amongst them, as an offering",
"To appease the waves. The billow which destroys me",
"Will be more merciful than man, and bear me",
"Dead, but _still bear_ me to a native grave,",
"From fishers' hands, upon the desolate strand,",
"Which, of its thousand wrecks, hath ne'er received",
"One lacerated like the heart which then",
"Will be.--But wherefore breaks it not? why live I?",
"",
"_Mar._ To man thyself, I trust, with time, to master",
"Such useless passion. Until now thou wert",
"A sufferer, but not a loud one: why",
"What is this to the things thou hast borne in silence--",
"Imprisonment and actual torture?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Double,",
"Triple, and tenfold torture! But you are right,",
"It must be borne. Father, your blessing.",
"",
"_Doge_. Would",
"It could avail thee! but no less thou hast it.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Forgive----",
"",
"_Doge_. What?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ My poor mother, for my birth,",
"And me for having lived, and you yourself",
"(As I forgive you), for the gift of life,",
"Which you bestowed upon me as my sire.",
"",
"_Mar._ What hast thou done?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Nothing. I cannot charge",
"My memory with much save sorrow: but",
"I have been so beyond the common lot",
"Chastened and visited, I needs must think",
"That I was wicked. If it be so, may",
"What I have undergone here keep me from",
"A like hereafter!",
"",
"_Mar._ Fear not: _that's_ reserved",
"For your oppressors.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Let me hope not.",
"",
"_Mar._ Hope not?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I cannot wish them _all_ they have inflicted.",
"",
"_Mar._ _All!_ the consummate fiends! A thousandfold",
"May the worm which never dieth feed upon them!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ They may repent.",
"",
"_Mar._ And if they do, Heaven will not",
"Accept the tardy penitence of demons.",
"",
" _Enter an Officer and Guards_.",
"",
"_Offi._ Signor! the boat is at the shore--the wind",
"Is rising--we are ready to attend you.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ And I to be attended. Once more, father,",
"Your hand!",
"",
"_Doge_. Take it. Alas! how thine own trembles!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ No--you mistake; 'tis yours that shakes, my father.",
"Farewell!",
"",
"_Doge_. Farewell! Is there aught else?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ No--nothing.",
" [_To the Officer_.",
"Lend me your arm, good Signor.",
"",
"_Offi._ You turn pale--",
"Let me support you--paler--ho! some aid there!",
"Some water!",
"",
"_Mar._ Ah, he is dying!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Now, I'm ready--",
"My eyes swim strangely--where's the door?",
"",
"_Mar._ Away!",
"Let me support him--my best love! Oh, God!",
"How faintly beats this heart--this pulse!",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ The light!",
"_Is_ it the light?--I am faint.",
" [_Officer presents him with water_.",
"",
"_Offi._ He will be better,",
"Perhaps, in the air.",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ I doubt not. Father--wife--",
"Your hands!",
"",
"_Mar._ There's death in that damp, clammy grasp.",
"Oh, God!--My Foscari, how fare you?",
"",
"_Jac. Fos._ Well! [_He dies_.",
"",
"_Offi._ He's gone!",
"",
"_Doge_. He's free.",
"",
"_Mar._ No--no, he is not dead;",
"There must be life yet in that heart--he could not",
"Thus leave me.",
"",
"_Doge_. Daughter!",
"",
"_Mar._ Hold thy peace, old man!",
"I am no daughter now--thou hast no son.",
"Oh, Foscari!",
"",
"_Offi._ We must remove the body.",
"",
"_Mar._ Touch it not, dungeon miscreants! your base office",
"Ends with his life, and goes not beyond murder,",
"Even by your murderous laws. Leave his remains",
"To those who know to honour them.",
"",
"_Offi._ I must",
"Inform the Signory, and learn their pleasure.",
"",
"_Doge_. Inform the Signory from _me_, the Doge,",
"They have no further power upon those ashes:",
"While he lived, he was theirs, as fits a subject--",
"Now he is _mine_--my broken-hearted boy! [_Exit Officer_.",
"",
"_Mar._ And I must live!",
"",
"_Doge_. Your children live, Marina.",
"",
"_Mar._ My children! true--they live, and I must live",
"To bring them up to serve the State, and die",
"As died their father. Oh! what best of blessings",
"Were barrenness in Venice! Would my mother",
"Had been so!",
"",
"_Doge_. My unhappy children!",
"",
"_Mar._ What!",
"_You_ feel it then at last--_you!_--Where is now",
"The Stoic of the State?",
"",
"_Doge_ (_throwing himself down by the body_). _Here!_",
"",
"_Mar._ Aye, weep on!",
"I thought you had no tears--you hoarded them",
"Until they are useless; but weep on! he never",
"Shall weep more--never, never more.",
"",
" _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
"_Lor._ What's here?",
"",
"_Mar._ Ah! the Devil come to insult the dead! Avaunt!",
"Incarnate Lucifer! 'tis holy ground.",
"A martyr's ashes now lie there, which make it",
"A shrine. Get thee back to thy place of torment!",
"",
"_Bar._ Lady, we knew not of this sad event,",
"But passed here merely on our path from council.",
"",
"_Mar._ Pass on.",
"",
"_Lor._ We sought the Doge.",
"",
"_Mar._ (_pointing to the Doge, who is still on the ground",
"by his son's body_) He's busy, look,",
"About the business _you_ provided for him.",
"Are ye content?",
"",
"_Bar._ We will not interrupt",
"A parent's sorrows.",
"",
"_Mar._ No, ye only make them,",
"Then leave them.",
"",
"_Doge_ (_rising_). Sirs, I am ready.",
"",
"_Bar._ No--not now.",
"",
"_Lor._ Yet 'twas important.",
"",
"_Doge_. If 'twas so, I can",
"Only repeat--I am ready.",
"",
"_Bar._ It shall not be",
"Just now, though Venice tottered 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 look'st on there;",
"If they be good, say on; you need not _fear_",
"That they can _comfort_ me.",
"",
"_Bar._ I would they could!",
"",
"_Doge_. I spoke not to _you_, but to Loredano.",
"_He_ understands me.",
"",
"_Mar._ Ah! I thought it would be so.",
"",
"_Doge_. What mean you?",
"",
"_Mar._ Lo! there is the blood beginning",
"To flow through the dead lips of Foscari--",
"The 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. Signors, if it please you,",
"Within an hour I'll hear you.",
"",
" [_Exeunt_ DOGE, MARINA, _and attendants with the",
" body_. _Manent_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO.",
"",
"_Bar._ He must not",
"Be troubled now.",
"",
"_Lor._ He said himself that nought",
"Could give him trouble farther.",
"",
"_Bar._ These are words;",
"But Grief is lonely, and the breaking in",
"Upon it barbarous.",
"",
"_Lor._ 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.",
"",
"_Bar._ And therefore",
"You would deprive this old man of all business?",
"",
"_Lor._ The thing's decreed. The Giunta and \"the Ten\"",
"Have made it law--who shall oppose that law?",
"",
"_Bar._ Humanity!",
"",
"_Lor._ Because his son is dead?",
"",
"_Bar._ And yet unburied.",
"",
"_Lor._ Had we known this when",
"The act was passing, it might have suspended",
"Its passage, but impedes it not--once passed.",
"",
"_Bar._ I'll not consent.",
"",
"_Lor._ You have consented to",
"All that's essential--leave the rest to me.",
"",
"_Bar._ Why press his abdication now?",
"",
"_Lor._ The feelings",
"Of private passion may not interrupt",
"The public benefit; and what the State",
"Decides to-day must not give way before",
"To-morrow for a natural accident.",
"",
"_Bar._ You have a son.",
"",
"_Lor._ I _have_--and _had_ a father.",
"",
"_Bar._ Still so inexorable?",
"",
"_Lor._ Still.",
"",
"_Bar._ But let him",
"Inter his son before we press upon him",
"This edict.",
"",
"_Lor._ Let him call up into life",
"My sire and uncle--I consent. Men may,",
"Even agéd 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.",
"",
"_Bar._ And art thou sure",
"He dealt in such?",
"",
"_Lor._ Most sure.",
"",
"_Bar._ And yet he seems",
"All openness.",
"",
"_Lor._ And so he seemed not long",
"Ago to Carmagnuola.",
"",
"_Bar._ The attainted",
"And foreign traitor?",
"",
"_Lor._ Even so: when _he_,",
"After the very night in which \"the Ten\"",
"(Joined 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 Doge-ship answered,",
"\"That he in truth had passed 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 doomed, 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 young Foscari and his brethren--",
"I never _smiled_ on _them_.",
"",
"_Bar._ Was Carmagnuola",
"Your friend?",
"",
"_Lor._ He was the safeguard of the city.",
"In early life its foe, but in his manhood,",
"Its saviour first, then victim.",
"",
"_Bar._ 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.",
"",
"_Lor._ 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",
"Destroyed by him, or _through_ him, the account",
"Were fearfully against him, although narrowed",
"To private havoc, such as between him",
"And my dead father.",
"",
"_Bar._ Are you then thus fixed?",
"",
"_Lor._ Why, what should change me?",
"",
"_Bar._ That which changes me.",
"But you, I know, are marble to retain",
"A feud. But when all is accomplished, when",
"The old man is deposed, his name degraded,",
"His sons all dead, his family depressed,",
"And you and yours triumphant, shall you sleep?",
"",
"_Lor._ More soundly.",
"",
"_Bar._ That's an error, and you'll find it",
"Ere you sleep with your fathers.",
"",
"_Lor._ They sleep not",
"In their accelerated graves, nor will",
"Till Foscari fills his. Each night I see them",
"Stalk frowning round my couch, and, pointing towards",
"The ducal palace, marshal me to vengeance.",
"",
"_Bar._ 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.",
"",
" _Enter an Officer_.",
"",
"_Lor._ Where go you, sirrah?",
"",
"_Offi._ By the ducal order",
"To forward the preparatory rites",
"For the late Foscari's interment.",
"",
"_Bar._ Their",
"Vault has been often opened of late years.",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Twill be full soon, and may be closed for ever!",
"",
"_Offi._ May I pass on?",
"",
"_Lor._ You may.",
"",
"_Bar._ How bears the Doge",
"This last calamity?",
"",
"_Offi._ With desperate firmness.",
"In presence of another he says little,",
"But I perceive his lips move now and then;",
"And once or twice I heard him, from the adjoining",
"Apartment, mutter forth the words--\"My son!\"",
"Scarce audibly. I must proceed. [_Exit Officer_.",
"",
"_Bar._ This stroke",
"Will move all Venice in his favour.",
"",
"_Lor._ Right!",
"We must be speedy: let us call together",
"The delegates appointed to convey",
"The Council's resolution.",
"",
"_Bar._ I protest",
"Against it at this moment.",
"",
"_Lor._ As you please--",
"I'll take their voices on it ne'ertheless,",
"And see whose most may sway them, yours or mine.",
" [_Exeunt_ BARBARIGO _and_ LOREDANO.",
"",
"ACT V.",
"",
"SCENE I.--_The_ DOGE'S _Apartment_.",
"",
" _The_ DOGE _and Attendants_.",
"",
"_Att._ My Lord, the deputation is in waiting;",
"But add, that if another hour would better",
"Accord with your will, they will make it theirs.",
"",
"_Doge_. To me all hours are like. Let them approach.",
" [_Exit Attendant_.",
"",
"_An Officer_. Prince! I have done your bidding.",
"",
"_Doge_. What command?",
"",
"_Offi._ A melancholy one--to call the attendance",
"Of----",
"",
"_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 called 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 answered.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. We grieve for such an answer; but it cannot",
"Avail you aught.",
"",
"_Doge_. I can submit to all things,",
"But nothing will advance; no, not a moment.",
"What you decree--decree.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. With this, then, must we",
"Return to those who sent us?",
"",
"_Doge_. You have heard me.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. With all due reverence we retire.",
" [_Exeunt the Deputation, etc._",
"",
" _Enter an Attendant_.",
"",
"_Att._ My Lord,",
"The noble dame Marina craves an audience.",
"",
"_Doge_. My time is hers.",
"",
" _Enter_ MARINA.",
"",
"_Mar._ My Lord, if I intrude--",
"Perhaps you fain would be alone?",
"",
"_Doge_. Alone!",
"Alone, come all the world around me, I",
"Am now and evermore. But we will bear it.",
"",
"_Mar._ We will, and for the sake of those who are,",
"Endeavour----Oh, my husband!",
"",
"_Doge_. Give it way:",
"I cannot comfort thee.",
"",
"_Mar._ He might have lived,",
"So formed 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.",
"",
"_Mar._ 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.",
"",
"_Mar._ 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!",
"",
"_Mar._ Oh, the tyrants!",
"In such an hour too!",
"",
"_Doge_. 'Tis the fittest time;",
"An hour ago I should have felt it.",
"",
"_Mar._ 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----",
"",
"_Mar._ 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 an 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.",
"",
"_Mar._ I thought I could have borne it, when I saw him",
"Bowed down by such oppression; yes, I thought",
"That I would rather look upon his corse",
"Than his prolonged captivity:--I am punished",
"For that thought now. Would I were in his grave!",
"",
"_Doge_. I must look on him once more.",
"",
"_Mar._ Come with me!",
"",
"_Doge_. Is he----",
"",
"_Mar._ Our bridal bed is now his bier,",
"",
"_Doge_. And he is in his shroud!",
"",
"_Mar._ Come, come, old man!",
" [_Exeunt the_ DOGE _and_ MARINA.",
"",
" _Enter_ BARBARIGO _and_ LOREDANO.",
"",
"_Bar._ (_to an Attendant_). Where is the Doge?",
"",
"_Att._ This instant retired hence,",
"With the illustrious lady his son's widow.",
"",
"_Lor._ Where?",
"",
"_Att._ To the chamber where the body lies.",
"",
"_Bar._ Let us return, then.",
"",
"_Lor._ You forget, you cannot.",
"We have the implicit order of the Giunta",
"To await their coming here, and join them in",
"Their office: they'll be here soon after us.",
"",
"_Bar._ And will they press their answer on the Doge?",
"",
"_Lor._ 'Twas his own wish that all should be done promptly.",
"He answered quickly, and must so be answered;",
"His dignity is looked to, his estate",
"Cared for--what would he more?",
"",
"_Bar._ 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?",
"",
"_Lor._ '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.",
"",
"_Bar._ 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.",
"",
"_Lor._ How!--_my_ Giunta!",
"",
"_Bar._ _Yours!_",
"They speak your language, watch your nod, approve",
"Your plans, and do your work. Are they not _yours?_",
"",
"_Lor._ You talk unwarily. 'Twere best they hear not",
"This from you.",
"",
"_Bar._ 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 contemned and abject",
"States, stung humanity will rise to check it.",
"",
"_Lor._ You talk but idly.",
"",
"_Bar._ That remains for proof.",
"Here come our colleagues.",
"",
" _Enter the Deputation as before_.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Is the Duke aware",
"We seek his presence?",
"",
"_Att._ He shall be informed.",
" [_Exit Attendant_.",
"",
"_Bar._ The Duke is with his son.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. If it be so,",
"We will remit him till the rites are over.",
"Let us return. 'Tis time enough to-morrow.",
"",
"_Lor._ (_aside to Bar_.) Now the rich man's hell-fire upon your tongue,",
"Unquenched, unquenchable! I'll have it torn",
"From its vile babbling roots, till you shall utter",
"Nothing but sobs through blood, for this! Sage Signors,",
"I pray ye be not hasty. [_Aloud to the others_.",
"",
"_Bar._ But be human!",
"",
"_Lor._ See, the Duke comes!",
"",
" _Enter the_ DOGE.",
"",
"_Doge_. I have obeyed 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;",
"Your ducal robes must be put off; but for",
"Your services, the State allots the appanage",
"Already mentioned 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!",
"",
"_Lor._ 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 rendered, 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,",
"Not 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_. Yet go not forth so quickly.",
"",
"_Doge_. I am old, sir,",
"And even to move but slowly must begin",
"To move betimes. Methinks I see amongst you",
"A face I know not.--Senator! your name,",
"You, by your garb, Chief of the Forty!",
"",
"_Mem._ Signor,",
"I am the son of Marco Memmo.",
"",
"_Doge_. Ah!",
"Your father was my friend.--But _sons_ and _fathers!_--",
"What, ho! my servants there!",
"",
"_Atten._ My Prince!",
"",
"_Doge_. No Prince--",
"There are the princes of the Prince!",
" [_Pointing to the Ten's Deputation_",
" --Prepare",
"To part from hence upon the instant.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Why",
"So rashly? 'twill give scandal.",
"",
"_Doge_ (_to the Ten_). Answer that;",
"It is your province.",
" [_To the Servants_.",
" --Sirs, bestir yourselves:",
"There is one burthen which I beg you bear",
"With care, although 'tis past all farther harm--",
"But I will look to that myself.",
"",
"_Bar._ He means",
"The body of his son.",
"",
"_Doge_. And call Marina,",
"My daughter!",
"",
" _Enter_ MARINA.",
"",
"_Doge_. Get thee ready, we must mourn",
"Elsewhere.",
"",
"_Mar._ And everywhere.",
"",
"_Doge_. True; but in freedom,",
"Without these jealous spies upon the great.",
"Signers, 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 Signers!",
"May the next Duke be better than the present!",
"",
"_Lor._ The _present_ Duke is Paschal Malipiero.",
"",
"_Doge_. Not till I pass the threshold of these doors.",
"",
"_Lor._ Saint Mark's great bell is soon about to toll",
"For his inauguration.",
"",
"_Doge_. Earth and Heaven!",
"Ye will reverberate this peal; and I",
"Live to hear this!--the first Doge who e'er heard",
"Such sound for his successor: happier he,",
"My attainted predecessor, stern Faliero--",
"This insult at the least was spared him.",
"",
"_Lor._ What!",
"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 Giants' Stairs, on whose",
"Broad eminence I was invested Duke.",
"My services have called me up those steps,",
"The malice of my foes will drive me down them.",
"_There_ five and thirty years ago was I",
"Installed, 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 pushed hence by fellow-citizens.",
"But come; my son and I will go together--",
"He 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?",
"",
"_Mar._ Here's my arm!",
"",
"_Doge_. And here my _staff_: thus propped 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!",
"",
"_Bar._ 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?",
"",
"_Different voices_. Aye!--Aye!",
"",
"_Doge_. You shall not",
"Stir--in my train, at least. I entered here",
"As Sovereign--I go out as citizen",
"By the same portals, but as citizen.",
"All these vain ceremonies are base insults,",
"Which only ulcerate the heart the more,",
"Applying poisons there as antidotes.",
"Pomp is for Princes--I am none!--That's false,",
"I _am_, but only to these gates.--Ah!",
"",
"_Lor._ Hark!",
" [_The great bell of St. Mark's tolls_.",
"",
"_Bar._ The bell!",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. St. Mark's, which tolls for the election",
"Of Malipiero.",
"",
"_Doge_. Well I recognise",
"The sound! I heard it once, but once before,",
"And that is five and thirty years ago;",
"Even _then_ I _was not young_.",
"",
"_Bar._ Sit down, my Lord!",
"You tremble.",
"",
"_Doge_. 'Tis the knell of my poor boy!",
"My heart aches bitterly.",
"",
"_Bar._ I pray you sit.",
"",
"_Doge_. No; my seat here has been a throne till now.",
"Marina! let us go.",
"",
"_Mar._ Most readily.",
"",
"_Doge_. (_walks a few steps, then stops_).",
"I feel athirst--will no one bring me here",
"A cup of water?",
"",
"_Bar._ I----",
"",
"_Mar._ And I----",
"",
"_Lor._ And I----",
" [_The Doge takes a goblet from the hand of_ LOREDANO.",
"",
"_Doge_. I take _yours_, Loredano, from the hand",
"Most fit for such an hour as this.",
"",
"_Lor._ Why so?",
"",
"_Doge_. 'Tis said that our Venetian crystal has",
"Such pure antipathy to poisons as",
"To burst, if aught of venom touches it.",
"You bore this goblet, and it is not broken.",
"",
"_Lor._ Well, sir!",
"",
"_Doge_. Then it is false, or you are true.",
"For my own part, I credit neither; 'tis",
"An idle legend.",
"",
"_Mar._ You talk wildly, and",
"Had better now be seated, nor as yet",
"Depart. Ah! now you look as looked my husband!",
"",
"_Bar._ He sinks!--support him!--quick--a chair--support him!",
"",
"_Doge_. The bell tolls on!--let's hence--my brain's on fire!",
"",
"_Bar._ I do beseech you, lean upon us!",
"",
"_Doge_. No!",
"A Sovereign should die standing. My poor boy!",
"Off with your arms!--_That bell!_",
" [_The_ DOGE _drops down and dies_.",
"",
"_Mar._ My God! My God!",
"",
"_Bar._ (_to Lor._). Behold! your work's completed!",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Is there then",
"No aid? Call in assistance!",
"",
"_Att._ 'Tis all over.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. If it be so, at least his obsequies",
"Shall be such as befits his name and nation,",
"His rank and his devotion to the duties",
"Of the realm, while his age permitted him",
"To do himself and them full justice. Brethren,",
"Say, shall it not be so?",
"",
"_Bar._ He has not had",
"The misery to die a subject where",
"He reigned: then let his funeral rites be princely.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. We are agreed, then?",
"",
"_All, except Lor., answer,_ Yes.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Heaven's peace be with him!",
"",
"_Mar._ Signers, your pardon: this is mockery.",
"Juggle no more with that poor remnant, which,",
"A moment since, while yet it had a soul,",
"(A soul by whom you have increased your Empire,",
"And made your power as proud as was his glory),",
"You banished from his palace and tore down",
"From his high place, with such relentless coldness;",
"And now, when he can neither know these honours,",
"Nor would accept them if he could, you, Signors,",
"Purpose, with idle and superfluous pomp,",
"To make a pageant over what you trampled.",
"A princely funeral will be your reproach,",
"And not his honour.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Lady, we revoke not",
"Our purposes so readily.",
"",
"_Mar._ I know it,",
"As far as touches torturing the living.",
"I thought the dead had been beyond even _you_,",
"Though (some, no doubt) consigned to powers which may",
"Resemble that you exercise on earth.",
"Leave him to me; you would have done so for",
"His dregs of life, which you have kindly shortened:",
"It is my last of duties, and may prove",
"A dreary comfort in my desolation.",
"Grief is fantastical, and loves the dead,",
"And the apparel of the grave.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Do you",
"Pretend still to this office?",
"",
"_Mar._ I do, Signor.",
"Though his possessions have been all consumed",
"In the State's service, I have still my dowry,",
"Which shall be consecrated to his rites,",
"And those of---- [_She stops with agitation_.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Best retain it for your children.",
"",
"_Mar._ Aye, they are fatherless, I thank you.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. We",
"Cannot comply with your request. His relics",
"Shall be exposed with wonted pomp, and followed",
"Unto their home by the new Doge, not clad",
"As _Doge_, but simply as a senator.",
"",
"_Mar._ I have heard of murderers, who have interred",
"Their victims; but ne'er heard, until this hour,",
"Of so much splendour in hypocrisy",
"O'er those they slew. I've heard of widows' tears--",
"Alas! I have shed some--always thanks to you!",
"I've heard of _heirs_ in sables--you have left none",
"To the deceased, so you would act the part",
"Of such. Well, sirs, your will be done! as one day,",
"I trust, Heaven's will be done too!",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. Know you, Lady,",
"To whom ye speak, and perils of such speech?",
"",
"_Mar._ I know the former better than yourselves;",
"The latter--like yourselves; and can face both.",
"Wish you more funerals?",
"",
"_Bar._ Heed not her rash words;",
"Her circumstances must excuse her bearing.",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. We will not note them down.",
"",
"_Bar._ (_turning to Lor., who is writing upon his tablets_).",
" What art thou writing,",
"With such an earnest brow, upon thy tablets?",
"",
"_Lor._ (_pointing to the Doge's body_). That _he_ has paid me!",
"",
"_Chief of the Ten_. What debt did he owe you?",
"",
"_Lor._ A long and just one; Nature's debt and _mine_.",
" [_Curtain falls_"
],
"title": "The Two Foscari"
}
],
"success": true
}