[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. [Exit LOREDANO.
Bar. (solus). Follow thee! I have follow'd 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, &c.
Guard.
Let him rest.
I thank thee, friend, I 'm feeble; But thou may'st stand reproved. Guard. I'll stand the hazard. Jac. Fos. That's kind:-I meet some pity, but no This is the first. [mercy; Guard. Who rule behold us. Bar. (advancing to the Guard). There is one who Yet fear not; I will neither be thy judge [does: 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?-T is Barbarigo's! Our house's foe, and one of my few judges. [Ah! Bar. To balance such a foe, if such there be, Thy father sits amongst thy judges.
And might be the last, did they
Jac. Fos. 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.
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 transgress'd 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, 't is
Open.-How feel you?
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.com.pr/books/content?id=aFsCAAAAQAAJ&output=html_text&pg=PA371&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=%2522ng,+humming,+Guitars,+and+every+other+sort+of+tramming.+III.+And+there+are+dresses+splendid,+but%2522&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U0phDZP8yjYVN2yl3a8LxiuZ8chvw&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=439,134,473,47)
Jac. Fos. Limbs! how often have they borne me Bounding o'er yon blue tide, as I have skimm'd 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, cheer'd 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 roughen'd; with a swimmer's stroke
Flinging the billows back from my drench'd hair,
And laughing from my lip the audacious brine,
Which kiss'd 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 wax'd fearful; then
Returning with my grasp full of such tokens
As show'd that I had search'd the deep: exulting,
With a far-dashing stroke, and drawing deep
The long-suspended breath, again I spurn'd
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
Of manhood's strength.
[need
Jac. Fos. (looking from the lattice). My beautiful,
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 [bear
Back to your cheek: Heaven send you strength to
What more may be imposed!-I dread to think on 't.
Jac. Fos. They will not banish me again ?-No-
Let them wring on; I am strong yet.
Guard.
And the rack will be spared you.
Jac. Fos.
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
Jac. Fos. The soil!-Oh no, it is the seed of the Which persecutes me; but my native earth [soil 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!
Signor, you hear the order. | Than shine a lonely though a gilded cipher.—
Whom have we here? the wife of Foscari?
Jac. Fos. Ay, I am used to such a summons: 't is
The third time they have tortured me :-then lend
Thine arm.
[me [To the Guard. Take mine, sir; 't is my duty to Be nearest to your person.
Who yesterday presided o'er my pangs-
Away-I'll walk alone.
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
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 't is 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?
With his wonted aspect.
Jac. Fos. So does the earth, and sky, the blue of
The brightness of our city, and her domes, [ocean,
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 unnumber'd
Judged and destroy'd 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, &c.
Enter MARINA, with a female Attendant.
Mar. What, no one?-I am wrong, there still
But they are senators.
[are two;
Most noble lady,
In heaven. I pray you, signor 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.
Mar.
But if
He does not, there are those will sentence both.
Mem. They can..
And with them power and will are one In wickedness:-my husband 's lost!
Justice is judge in Venice.
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.
Mar.
Not Foscari's.
Why, no; not if I can avoid it.
Sen. T is the first station of the state, and may Be lawfully desired, and lawfully
Attain'd by noble aspiranta.
I leave it; though born noble, my ambition
Is limited: I'd rather be an unit
Of an united and imperial "Ten,"
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
I have endured as much in giving life [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 shriek'd,
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.
Even if she be so, cannot save her husband. But see, the officer returns.
[The Officer passes over the stage with another person.
Mem. Thought that "the Ten" had even this touch of Or would permit assistance to this sufferer. [pity, 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 Because he fears not death; and banish him, [live, 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.
Confirms his crimes, but he avows them not.
Sen. None, save the Letter, which he says was written,
Address'd to Milan's duke, in the full knowledge
That it would fall into the senate's hands,
And thus he should be re-convey'd 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 annull'd by the death-bed confession
Of Nicolas Erizzo, who slew the late
Chief of " the Ten."
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.com.pr/books/content?id=aFsCAAAAQAAJ&output=html_text&pg=PA373&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=%2522ng,+humming,+Guitars,+and+every+other+sort+of+tramming.+III.+And+there+are+dresses+splendid,+but%2522&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U0_a35_DOL-Jwd5ZOwjSDGpCQHazg&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=414,822,510,95)
Was slain by Erizzo for private vengeance. Mem. There must be more in this strange process than
The apparent crimes of the accused discloseBut 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, 't was not meet
The trial should go further at this moment.
Lor. And so the Council must break up, and Jus-
Pause in her full career, because a woman [tice
Breaks in on our deliberations?
Stole down the hurrying stream beneath the star[light;
But she said nothing.
Sar.
Than she has said!
"T is now too late to feel.
Your feelings cannot cancel a sole pang:
To change them, my advices bring sure tidings
That the rebellious Medes and Chaldees, marshall'd
By their two leaders, are already up
In arms again; and, serrying their ranks,
Prepare to attack: they have apparently
Been join'd by other satraps.
Fal.
That were hardly prudent
Now, though it was our first intention. If
By noon to-morrow we are join'd by those
I've sent for by sure messengers, we shall be
In strength enough to venture an attack,
Ay, and pursuit too; but, till then, my voice
Is to await the onset.
Sar.
That waiting; though it seems so safe to fight
Behind high walls, and hurl down foes into
Deep fosses, or behold them sprawl on spikes
Strew'd to receive them, still I like it not-
My soul seems lukewarm; but when I set on them,
Though they were piled on mountains, I would have
A pluck at them, or perish in hot blood!-
Let me then charge.
SCENE I.-The same Hall in the Palace.
MYRRHA and BALEA.
Myr. (at a window). The day at last has broken.
What a night
Hath usher'd it! how beautiful in heaven!
Though varied with a transitory storm,
More beautiful in that variety!
How hideous upon earth! where peace and hope,
And love and revel, in an hour were trampled
What! more rebels? By human passions to a human chaos,
Not yet resolved to separate elements-
'Tis warring still! And can the sun so rise,
So bright, so rolling back the clouds into
Vapours more lovely than the unclouded sky,
With golden pinnacles, and snowy mountains,
And billows purpler than the ocean's, making
In heaven a glorious mockery of the earth,
So like we almost deem it permanent;
So fleeting, we can scarcely call it aught
Beyond a vision, 't is so transiently
Scatter'd along the eternal vault: and yet
It dwells upon the soul, and soothes the soul,
And blends itself into the soul, until
Sunrise and sunset form the haunted epoch
Of sorrow and of love; which they who mark not,
Know not the realms where those twin genii
(Who chasten and who purify our hearts,
So that we would not change their sweet rebukes,
For all the boisterous joys that ever shook
The air with clamour) build the palaces
Where their fond votaries repose and breathe
Briefly-but in that brief cool calm inhale
Enough of heaven to enable them to bear
The rest of common, heavy, human hours,
And dream them through in placid sufferance,
Though seemingly employ'd like all the rest
Of toiling breathers in allotted tasks
Sal.
You talk like a young soldier.
Sar. I am no soldier, but a man: speak not
Of soldiership, I loathe the word, and those
Who pride themselves upon it; but direct me
Where I may pour upon them.
Sal.
To expose your life too hastily: 't is not
Like mine or any other subject's breath;
The whole war turns upon it-with it; this
Alone creates it, kindles, and may quench it-
Prolong it-end it.
Sar.
Then let us end both!
'T were better thus, perhaps, than prolong either;
I'm sick of one, perchance of both.
[4 trumpet sounds without.
Hark!
Of pain or pleasure, two names for one feeling,
Which our internal, restless agony
Would vary in the sound, although the sense
Escapes our highest efforts to be happy.
Bal. You muse right calmly and can you so
The sunrise which may be our last?
[watch
Myr.
It is
Therefore that I so watch it, and reproach
Those eyes, which never may behold it more,
For having look'd upon it oft, too oft,
Without the reverence and the rapture due
To that which keeps all earth from being as fragile
As I am in this form. Come, look upon it,
The Chaldee's god, which when I gaze upon
I grow almost a convert to your Baal.
Bal. As now he reigns in heaven, so once on earth
He sway'd.
Myr. He sways it now far more, then; never Had earthly monarch half the power and glory Which centres in a single ray of his.
Bal. Surely he is a god!
Myr.
So we Greeks deem too;
And yet I sometimes think that gorgeous orb
Must rather be the abode of gods than one
That is false.
Hew down the slave who says so, if a soldier.
Myr. Spare him-he 's none: a mere court but-
That flutters in the pageant of a monarch. [terfly,
Sal. Let him live on, then.
Myr.
So wilt thou, I trust.
Sal. I fain would live this hour out, and the event,
But doubt it. Wherefore did ye bear me here?
Sol. By the king's order. When the javelin struck
you,
You fell and fainted: 't was his strict command
To bear you to this hall.
Hold! no, no, it cannot be.
Sal. I am sped, then! Myr.
With the blood that fast must follow The extracted weapon, I do fear thy life. [you Sal. And I not death. Where was the king when Convey'd me from the spot where I was stricken? Sol. Upon the same ground, and encouraging With voice and gesture the dispirited troops Who had seen you fall, and falter'd back. Sal.
Named next to the command?
Sal. Fly then, and tell him, 't was my last request That Zames take my post until the junction, So hoped for, yet delay'd, of Ofratanes, Satrap of Susa. Leave me here: our troops Are not so numerous as to spare your absence. Sol. But, prince-
Hence, I say! Here's a courtier and A woman, the best chamber company. As you would not permit me to expire Upon the field, I'll have no idle soldiers About my sick couch. Hence! and do my bidding! [Excunt the Soldiers. Myr. Gallant and glorious spirit! must the earth So soon resign thee? Sal. Gentle Myrrha, 't is The end I would have chosen, had I saved The monarch or the monarchy by this; As 't is, I have not outlived them.
Myr. Sal. Your hand; this broken weapon but prolongs My pangs, without sustaining life enough To make me useful: I would draw it forth And my life with it, could I but hear how The fight goes.
Enter SARDANAPALUS and Soldiers. My best brother!
Sar. (despondingly). You see me here.
For secming slain in that cold dizzy trance,
The sight might shake our soldiers-but-'t is vain,
Sar. Pania yet lives: but Sfero 's fled or captive.
|