What matter a few
syllables?
Byron
if thou wouldst have thy vile life, implore it;
It is not now a lease of sixty seconds.
Aye, send thy miserable ruffians forth;
They never shall return.
_Sig_. So let it be!
They die then in their duty, as will I. 240
_Doge_. Fool! the high eagle flies at nobler game
Than thou and thy base myrmidons,--live on,
So thou provok'st not peril by resistance,
And learn (if souls so much obscured can bear
To gaze upon the sunbeams) to be free.
_Sig_. And learn thou to be captive. It hath ceased,
[_The bell ceases to toll_.
The traitorous signal, which was to have set
The bloodhound mob on their patrician prey--
The knell hath rung, but it is not the Senate's!
_Doge_ (_after a pause_).
All's silent, and all's lost!
_Sig_. Now, Doge, denounce me 250
As rebel slave of a revolted Council!
Have I not done my duty?
_Doge_. Peace, thou thing!
Thou hast done a worthy deed, and earned the price
Of blood, and they who use thee will reward thee.
But thou wert sent to watch, and not to prate,
As thou said'st even now--then do thine office,
But let it be in silence, as behoves thee,
Since, though thy prisoner, I am thy Prince.
_Sig_. I did not mean to fail in the respect
Due to your rank: in this I shall obey you. 260
_Doge_ (_aside_). There now is nothing left me save to die;
And yet how near success! I would have fallen,
And proudly, in the hour of triumph, but
To miss it thus! ----
_Enter other_ SIGNORS OF THE NIGHT, _with_
BERTUCCIO FALIERO _prisoner_.
_2nd Sig_. We took him in the act
Of issuing from the tower, where, at his order,
As delegated from the Doge, the signal
Had thus begun to sound.
_1st Sig_. Are all the passes
Which lead up to the palace well secured?
_2nd Sig_. They are--besides, it matters not; the Chiefs
Are all in chains, and some even now on trial-- 270
Their followers are dispersed, and many taken.
_Ber. F. _ Uncle!
_Doge_. It is in vain to war with Fortune;
The glory hath departed from our house.
_Ber. F. _ Who would have deemed it? --Ah! one moment sooner!
_Doge_. That moment would have changed the face of ages;
_This_ gives us to Eternity--We'll meet it
As men whose triumph is not in success,
But who can make their own minds all in all,
Equal to every fortune. Droop not,'tis
But a brief passage--I would go alone, 280
Yet if they send us, as 'tis like, together,
Let us go worthy of our sires and selves.
_Ber. F. _ I shall not shame you, Uncle.
_1st Sig_. Lords, our orders
Are to keep guard on both in separate chambers,
Until the Council call ye to your trial.
_Doge_. Our trial! will they keep their mockery up
Even to the last? but let them deal upon us,
As we had dealt on them, but with less pomp.
'Tis but a game of mutual homicides,
Who have cast lots for the first death, and they 290
Have won with false dice. --Who hath been our Judas?
_1st Sig_. I am not warranted to answer that.
_Ber. F. _ I'll answer for thee--'tis a certain Bertram,
Even now deposing to the secret Giunta.
_Doge_. Bertram, the Bergamask! With what vile tools[448]
We operate to slay or save! This creature,
Black with a double treason, now will earn
Rewards and honours, and be stamped in story
With the geese in the Capitol, which gabbled
Till Rome awoke, and had an annual triumph, 300
While Manlius, who hurled down the Gauls, was cast[ez]
From the Tarpeian.
_1st Sig_. He aspired to treason,
And sought to rule the State.
_Doge_. He saved the State,
And sought but to reform what he revived--
But this is idle--Come, sirs, do your work.
_1st Sig_. Noble Bertuccio, we must now remove you
Into an inner chamber.
_Ber. F. _ Farewell, Uncle!
If we shall meet again in life I know not,
But they perhaps will let our ashes mingle.
_Doge_. Yes, and our spirits, which shall yet go forth, 310
And do what our frail clay, thus clogged, hath failed in!
They cannot quench the memory of those
Who would have hurled them from their guilty thrones,
And such examples will find heirs, though distant.
ACT V.
SCENE 1. --_The Hall of the Council of Ten assembled with the additional
Senators, who, on the Trials of the Conspirators for the Treason of_
MARINO FALIERO, _composed what was called the Giunta,--Guards, Officers,
etc. , etc. _ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _and_ PHILIP CALENDARO _as Prisoners_.
BERTRAM, LIONI, _and Witnesses, etc. _
_The Chief of the Ten_, BENINTENDE. [fa][449]
_Ben_. There now rests, after such conviction of
Their manifold and manifest offences,
But to pronounce on these obdurate men
The sentence of the Law:--a grievous task
To those who hear, and those who speak. Alas!
That it should fall to me! and that my days
Of office should be stigmatised through all
The years of coming time, as bearing record
To this most foul and complicated treason
Against a just and free state, known to all 10
The earth as being the Christian bulwark 'gainst
The Saracen and the schismatic Greek,
The savage Hun, and not less barbarous Frank;
A City which has opened India's wealth
To Europe; the last Roman refuge from
O'erwhelming Attila; the Ocean's Queen;
Proud Genoa's prouder rival! 'Tis to sap
The throne of such a City, these lost men
Have risked and forfeited their worthless lives--
So let them die the death.
_I. Ber_. We are prepared; 20
Your racks have done that for us. Let us die.
_Ben_. If ye have that to say which would obtain
Abatement of your punishment, the Giunta
Will hear you; if you have aught to confess,
Now is your time,--perhaps it may avail ye.
_I. Ber_. We stand to hear, and not to speak.
_Ben_. Your crimes
Are fully proved by your accomplices,
And all which Circumstance can add to aid them;
Yet we would hear from your own lips complete
Avowal of your treason: on the verge 30
Of that dread gulf which none repass, the truth
Alone can profit you on earth or Heaven--
Say, then, what was your motive?
_I. Ber_. Justice! [fb]
_Ben_. What
Your object?
_I. Ber_. Freedom!
_Ben_. You are brief, sir.
_I. Ber_. So my life grows: I
Was bred a soldier, not a senator.
_Ben_. Perhaps you think by this blunt brevity
To brave your judges to postpone the sentence?
_I. Ber_. Do you be brief as I am, and believe me,
I shall prefer that mercy to your pardon. 40
_Ben_. Is this your sole reply to the Tribunal?
_I. Ber_. Go, ask your racks what they have wrung from us,
Or place us there again; we have still some blood left,
And some slight sense of pain in these wrenched limbs:
But this ye dare not do; for if we die there--
And you have left us little life to spend
Upon your engines, gorged with pangs already--
Ye lose the public spectacle, with which
You would appal your slaves to further slavery!
Groans are not words, nor agony assent, 50
Nor affirmation Truth, if Nature's sense
Should overcome the soul into a lie,
For a short respite--must we bear or die?
_Ben_. Say, who were your accomplices?
_I. Ber_. The Senate.
_Ben_. What do you mean?
_I. Ber_. Ask of the suffering people,
Whom your patrician crimes have driven to crime.
_Ben_. You know the Doge?
_I. Ber_. I served with him at Zara
In the field, when _you_ were pleading here your way
To present office; we exposed our lives,
While you but hazarded the lives of others, 60
Alike by accusation or defence;
And for the rest, all Venice knows her Doge,
Through his great actions, and the Senate's insults.
_Ben_. You have held conference with him?
_I. Ber_. I am weary--
Even wearier of your questions than your tortures:
I pray you pass to judgment.
_Ben_. It is coming.
And you, too, Philip Calendaro, what
Have you to say why you should not be doomed?
_Cal_. I never was a man of many words,
And now have few left worth the utterance. 70
_Ben_. A further application of yon engine
May change your tone.
_Cal_. Most true, it _will_ do so;
A former application did so; but
It will not change my words, or, if it did--
_Ben_. What then?
_Cal_. Will my avowal on yon rack
Stand good in law?
_Ben_. Assuredly.
_Cal_. Whoe'er
The culprit be whom I accuse of treason?
_Ben_. Without doubt, he will be brought up to trial.
_Cal_. And on this testimony would he perish?
_Ben_. So your confession be detailed and full, 80
He will stand here in peril of his life.
_Cal_. Then look well to thy proud self, President!
For by the Eternity which yawns before me,
I swear that _thou_, and only thou, shall be
The traitor I denounce upon that rack,
If I be stretched there for the second time.
_One of the Giunta_. Lord President,'twere best proceed to judgment;
There is no more to be drawn from these men. [fc]
_Ben_. Unhappy men! prepare for instant death.
The nature of your crime--our law--and peril 90
The State now stands in, leave not an hour's respite.
Guards! lead them forth, and upon the balcony
Of the red columns, where, on festal Thursday,[450]
The Doge stands to behold the chase of bulls,
Let them be justified: and leave exposed
Their wavering relics, in the place of judgment,
To the full view of the assembled people!
And Heaven have mercy on their souls!
_The Giunta_. Amen!
_I. Ber_. Signors, farewell! we shall not all again
Meet in one place.
_Ben_. And lest they should essay 100
To stir up the distracted multitude--
Guards! let their mouths be gagged[451] even in the act
Of execution. Lead them hence!
_Cal_. What! must we
Not even say farewell to some fond friend,
Nor leave a last word with our confessor?
_Ben_. A priest is waiting in the antechamber;
But, for your friends, such interviews would be
Painful to them, and useless all to you.
_Cal_. I knew that we were gagged in life; at least
All those who had not heart to risk their lives 110
Upon their open thoughts; but still I deemed
That in the last few moments, the same idle
Freedom of speech accorded to the dying,
Would not now be denied to us; but since----
_I. Ber_. Even let them have their way, brave Calendaro!
What matter a few syllables? let's die
Without the slightest show of favour from them;
So shall our blood more readily arise
To Heaven against them, and more testify
To their atrocities, than could a volume 120
Spoken or written of our dying words!
They tremble at our voices--nay, they dread
Our very silence--let them live in fear!
Leave them unto their thoughts, and let us now
Address our own above! --Lead on; we are ready.
_Cal_. Israel, hadst thou but hearkened unto me
It had not now been thus; and yon pale villain,
The coward Bertram, would----
_I. Ber_. Peace, Calendaro!
What brooks it now to ponder upon this?
_Bert_. Alas! I fain you died in peace with me: 130
I did not seek this task; 'twas forced upon me:
Say, you forgive me, though I never can
Retrieve my own forgiveness--frown not thus!
_I. Ber_. I die and pardon thee!
_Cal_. (_spitting at him_). [452] I die and scorn thee!
[_Exeunt_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _and_ PHILIP CALENDARO, _Guards, etc_.
_Ben_. Now that these criminals have been disposed of,
'Tis time that we proceed to pass our sentence
Upon the greatest traitor upon record
In any annals, the Doge Faliero!
The proofs and process are complete; the time
And crime require a quick procedure: shall 140
He now be called in to receive the award?
_The Giunta_. Aye, aye.
_Ben_. Avogadori, order that the Doge
Be brought before the Council.
_One of the Giunta_. And the rest,
When shall they be brought up?
_Ben_. When all the Chiefs
Have been disposed of. Some have fled to Chiozza;
But there are thousands in pursuit of them,
And such precaution ta'en on terra firma,
As well as in the islands, that we hope
None will escape to utter in strange lands
His libellous tale of treasons 'gainst the Senate. 150
_Enter the_ DOGE _as Prisoner, with Guards, etc. , etc. _
_Ben_. Doge--for such still you are, and by the law
Must be considered, till the hour shall come
When you must doff the Ducal Bonnet from
That head, which could not wear a crown more noble
Than Empires can confer, in quiet honour,
But it must plot to overthrow your peers,
Who made you what you are, and quench in blood
A City's glory--we have laid already
Before you in your chamber at full length,
By the Avogadori, all the proofs 160
Which have appeared against you; and more ample
Ne'er reared their sanguinary shadows to
Confront a traitor. What have you to say
In your defence?
_Doge_. What shall I say to ye,
Since my defence must be your condemnation?
You are at once offenders and accusers,
Judges and Executioners! --Proceed
Upon your power.
_Ben_. Your chief accomplices
Having confessed, there is no hope for you.
_Doge_. And who be they?
_Ben_. In number many; but 170
The first now stands before you in the court,
Bertram of Bergamo,--would you question him?
_Doge_ (_looking at him contemptuously_). No.
_Ben_. And two others, Israel Bertuccio,
And Philip Calendaro, have admitted
Their fellowship in treason with the Doge!
_Doge_. And where are they?
_Ben_. Gone to their place, and now
Answering to Heaven for what they did on earth.
_Doge_. Ah! the plebeian Brutus, is he gone?
And the quick Cassius of the arsenal? --
How did they meet their doom?
_Ben_. Think of your own: 180
It is approaching. You decline to plead, then? [fd]
_Doge_. I cannot plead to my inferiors, nor
Can recognise your legal power to try me.
Show me the law!
_Ben_. On great emergencies,
The law must be remodelled or amended:
Our fathers had not fixed the punishment
Of such a crime, as on the old Roman tables
The sentence against parricide was left
In pure forgetfulness; they could not render
That penal, which had neither name nor thought 190
In their great bosoms; who would have foreseen
That Nature could be filed to such a crime[453]
As sons 'gainst sires, and princes 'gainst their realms?
Your sin hath made us make a law which will
Become a precedent 'gainst such haught traitors,
As would with treason mount to tyranny;
Not even contented with a sceptre, till
They can convert it to a two-edged sword!
Was not the place of Doge sufficient for ye?
What's nobler than the signory[454] of Venice? 200
_Doge_. The signory of Venice! You betrayed me--
_You--you_, who sit there, traitors as ye are!
From my equality with you in birth,
And my superiority in action,
You drew me from my honourable toils
In distant lands--on flood, in field, in cities--
_You_ singled me out like a victim to
Stand crowned, but bound and helpless, at the altar
Where you alone could minister. I knew not,
I sought not, wished not, dreamed not the election, 210
Which reached me first at Rome, and I obeyed;
But found on my arrival, that, besides
The jealous vigilance which always led you
To mock and mar your Sovereign's best intents,
You had, even in the interregnum[455] of
My journey to the capital, curtailed
And mutilated the few privileges
Yet left the Duke: all this I bore, and would
Have borne, until my very hearth was stained
By the pollution of your ribaldry, 220
And he, the ribald, whom I see amongst you--
Fit judge in such tribunal! ----
_Ben_. (_interrupting him_). Michel Steno
Is here in virtue of his office, as
One of the Forty; "the Ten" having craved
A Giunta of patricians from the Senate
To aid our judgment in a trial arduous
And novel as the present: he was set
Free from the penalty pronounced upon him,
Because the Doge, who should protect the law,
Seeking to abrogate all law, can claim 230
No punishment of others by the statutes
Which he himself denies and violates!
_Doge_. _His_ punishment! I rather see him _there_,
Where he now sits, to glut him with my death,
Than in the mockery of castigation,
Which your foul, outward, juggling show of justice
Decreed as sentence! Base as was his crime,
'Twas purity compared with your protection.
_Ben_. And can it be, that the great Doge of Venice,
With three parts of a century of years 240
And honours on his head, could thus allow
His fury, like an angry boy's, to master
All Feeling, Wisdom, Faith and Fear, on such
A provocation as a young man's petulance?
_Doge_. A spark creates the flame--'tis the last drop
Which makes the cup run o'er, and mine was full
Already: you oppressed the Prince and people;
I would have freed both, and have failed in both:
The price of such success would have been glory,
Vengeance, and victory, and such a name 250
As would have made Venetian history
Rival to that of Greece and Syracuse
When they were freed, and flourished ages after,
And mine to Gelon and to Thrasybulus:[456]
Failing, I know the penalty of failure
Is present infamy and death--the future
Will judge, when Venice is no more, or free;
Till then, the truth is in abeyance. Pause not;
I would have shown no mercy, and I seek none;
My life was staked upon a mighty hazard, 260
And being lost, take what I would have taken!
I would have stood alone amidst your tombs:
Now you may flock round mine, and trample on it,
As you have done upon my heart while living. [457]
_Ben_. You do confess then, and admit the justice
Of our Tribunal?
_Doge_. I confess to have failed;
Fortune is female: from my youth her favours
Were not withheld, the fault was mine to hope
Her former smiles again at this late hour.
_Ben_. You do not then in aught arraign our equity? 270
_Doge_. Noble Venetians! stir me not with questions.
I am resigned to the worst; but in me still
Have something of the blood of brighter days,
And am not over-patient. Pray you, spare me
Further interrogation, which boots nothing,
Except to turn a trial to debate.
I shall but answer that which will offend you,
And please your enemies--a host already;
'Tis true, these sullen walls should yield no echo:
But walls have ears--nay, more, they have tongues; and if 280
There were no other way for Truth to o'erleap them,[fe]
You who condemn me, you who fear and slay me,
Yet could not bear in silence to your graves
What you would hear from me of Good or Evil;
The secret were too mighty for your souls:
Then let it sleep in mine, unless you court
A danger which would double that you escape.
Such my defence would be, had I full scope
To make it famous; for true _words_ are _things_,
And dying men's are things which long outlive, 290
And oftentimes avenge them; bury mine,
If ye would fain survive me: take this counsel,
And though too oft ye make me live in wrath,
Let me die calmly; you may grant me this;
I deny nothing--defend nothing--nothing
I ask of you, but silence for myself,
And sentence from the Court!
_Ben_. This full admission
Spares us the harsh necessity of ordering
The torture to elicit the whole truth. [ff]
_Doge_. The torture! you have put me there already, 300
Daily since I was Doge; but if you will
Add the corporeal rack, you may: these limbs
Will yield with age to crushing iron; but
There's that within my heart shall strain your engines.
_Enter an_ OFFICER.
_Officer_. Noble Venetians! Duchess Faliero[fg]
Requests admission to the Giunta's presence.
_Ben_. Say, Conscript Fathers,[458] shall she be admitted?
_One of the Giunta_. She may have revelations of importance
Unto the state, to justify compliance
With her request.
_Ben_. Is this the general will? 310
_All_. It is.
_Doge_. Oh, admirable laws of Venice!
Which would admit the wife, in the full hope
That she might testify against the husband.
What glory to the chaste Venetian dames!
But such blasphemers 'gainst all Honour, as
Sit here, do well to act in their vocation.
Now, villain Steno! if this woman fail,
I'll pardon thee thy lie, and thy escape,
And my own violent death, and thy vile life.
_The_ DUCHESS _enters_.
_Ben_. Lady! this just Tribunal has resolved, 320
Though the request be strange, to grant it, and
Whatever be its purport, to accord
A patient hearing with the due respect
Which fits your ancestry, your rank, and virtues:
But you turn pale--ho! there, look to the Lady!
Place a chair instantly.
_Ang_. A moment's faintness--
'Tis past; I pray you pardon me,--I sit not
In presence of my Prince and of my husband,
While he is on his feet.
_Ben_. Your pleasure, Lady?
_Ang_. Strange rumours, but most true, if all I hear 330
And see be sooth, have reached me, and I come
To know the worst, even at the worst; forgive
The abruptness of my entrance and my bearing.
Is it--I cannot speak--I cannot shape
The question--but you answer it ere spoken,
With eyes averted, and with gloomy brows--
Oh God! this is the silence of the grave!
_Ben_. (_after a pause_). Spare us, and spare thyself the repetition
Of our most awful, but inexorable
Duty to Heaven and man!
_Ang_. Yet speak; I cannot-- 340
I cannot--no--even now believe these things.
Is _he_ condemned?
_Ben_. Alas!
_Ang_. And was he guilty?
_Ben_. Lady! the natural distraction of
Thy thoughts at such a moment makes the question
Merit forgiveness; else a doubt like this
Against a just and paramount tribunal
Were deep offence. But question even the Doge,
And if he can deny the proofs, believe him
Guiltless as thy own bosom.
_Ang_. Is it so?
My Lord, my Sovereign, my poor father's friend, 350
The mighty in the field, the sage in Council,
Unsay the words of this man! --thou art silent!
_Ben_. He hath already owned to his own guilt,[fh]
Nor, as thou see'st, doth he deny it now.
_Ang_. Aye, but he must not die! Spare his few years,
Which Grief and Shame will soon cut down to days!
One day of baffled crime must not efface
Near sixteen lustres crowned with brave acts.
_Ben_. His doom must be fulfilled without remission
Of time or penalty--'tis a decree. 360
_Ang_. He hath been guilty, but there may be mercy.
_Ben_. Not in this case with justice.
_Ang_. Alas! Signor,
He who is only just is cruel; who
Upon the earth would live were all judged justly?
_Ben_. His punishment is safety to the State.
_Ang_. He was a subject, and hath served the State;
He was your General, and hath saved the State;
He is your Sovereign, and hath ruled the State. [fi]
_One of the Council_. He is a traitor, and betrayed the State.
_Ang_. And, but for him, there now had been no State 370
To save or to destroy; and you, who sit
There to pronounce the death of your deliverer,
Had now been groaning at a Moslem oar,
Or digging in the Hunnish mines in fetters!
_One of the Council_. No, Lady, there are others who would die
Rather than breathe in slavery!
_Ang_. If there are so
Within _these_ walls, _thou_ art not of the number:
The truly brave are generous to the fallen! --
Is there no hope?
_Ben_. Lady, it cannot be.
_Ang_. (_turning to the Doge_).
Then die, Faliero! since it must be so; 380
But with the spirit of my father's friend.
Thou hast been guilty of a great offence,
Half cancelled by the harshness of these men.
I would have sued to them, have prayed to them.
Have begged as famished mendicants for bread,
Have wept as they will cry unto their God
For mercy, and be answered as they answer,--
Had it been fitting for thy name or mine,
And if the cruelty in their cold eyes
Had not announced the heartless wrath within. 390
Then, as a Prince, address thee to thy doom!
_Doge_. I have lived too long not to know how to die!
Thy suing to these men were but the bleating
Of the lamb to the butcher, or the cry
Of seamen to the surge: I would not take
A life eternal, granted at the hands
Of wretches, from whose monstrous villanies
I sought to free the groaning nations!
_Michel Steno_. Doge,
A word with thee, and with this noble lady,
Whom I have grievously offended.
It is not now a lease of sixty seconds.
Aye, send thy miserable ruffians forth;
They never shall return.
_Sig_. So let it be!
They die then in their duty, as will I. 240
_Doge_. Fool! the high eagle flies at nobler game
Than thou and thy base myrmidons,--live on,
So thou provok'st not peril by resistance,
And learn (if souls so much obscured can bear
To gaze upon the sunbeams) to be free.
_Sig_. And learn thou to be captive. It hath ceased,
[_The bell ceases to toll_.
The traitorous signal, which was to have set
The bloodhound mob on their patrician prey--
The knell hath rung, but it is not the Senate's!
_Doge_ (_after a pause_).
All's silent, and all's lost!
_Sig_. Now, Doge, denounce me 250
As rebel slave of a revolted Council!
Have I not done my duty?
_Doge_. Peace, thou thing!
Thou hast done a worthy deed, and earned the price
Of blood, and they who use thee will reward thee.
But thou wert sent to watch, and not to prate,
As thou said'st even now--then do thine office,
But let it be in silence, as behoves thee,
Since, though thy prisoner, I am thy Prince.
_Sig_. I did not mean to fail in the respect
Due to your rank: in this I shall obey you. 260
_Doge_ (_aside_). There now is nothing left me save to die;
And yet how near success! I would have fallen,
And proudly, in the hour of triumph, but
To miss it thus! ----
_Enter other_ SIGNORS OF THE NIGHT, _with_
BERTUCCIO FALIERO _prisoner_.
_2nd Sig_. We took him in the act
Of issuing from the tower, where, at his order,
As delegated from the Doge, the signal
Had thus begun to sound.
_1st Sig_. Are all the passes
Which lead up to the palace well secured?
_2nd Sig_. They are--besides, it matters not; the Chiefs
Are all in chains, and some even now on trial-- 270
Their followers are dispersed, and many taken.
_Ber. F. _ Uncle!
_Doge_. It is in vain to war with Fortune;
The glory hath departed from our house.
_Ber. F. _ Who would have deemed it? --Ah! one moment sooner!
_Doge_. That moment would have changed the face of ages;
_This_ gives us to Eternity--We'll meet it
As men whose triumph is not in success,
But who can make their own minds all in all,
Equal to every fortune. Droop not,'tis
But a brief passage--I would go alone, 280
Yet if they send us, as 'tis like, together,
Let us go worthy of our sires and selves.
_Ber. F. _ I shall not shame you, Uncle.
_1st Sig_. Lords, our orders
Are to keep guard on both in separate chambers,
Until the Council call ye to your trial.
_Doge_. Our trial! will they keep their mockery up
Even to the last? but let them deal upon us,
As we had dealt on them, but with less pomp.
'Tis but a game of mutual homicides,
Who have cast lots for the first death, and they 290
Have won with false dice. --Who hath been our Judas?
_1st Sig_. I am not warranted to answer that.
_Ber. F. _ I'll answer for thee--'tis a certain Bertram,
Even now deposing to the secret Giunta.
_Doge_. Bertram, the Bergamask! With what vile tools[448]
We operate to slay or save! This creature,
Black with a double treason, now will earn
Rewards and honours, and be stamped in story
With the geese in the Capitol, which gabbled
Till Rome awoke, and had an annual triumph, 300
While Manlius, who hurled down the Gauls, was cast[ez]
From the Tarpeian.
_1st Sig_. He aspired to treason,
And sought to rule the State.
_Doge_. He saved the State,
And sought but to reform what he revived--
But this is idle--Come, sirs, do your work.
_1st Sig_. Noble Bertuccio, we must now remove you
Into an inner chamber.
_Ber. F. _ Farewell, Uncle!
If we shall meet again in life I know not,
But they perhaps will let our ashes mingle.
_Doge_. Yes, and our spirits, which shall yet go forth, 310
And do what our frail clay, thus clogged, hath failed in!
They cannot quench the memory of those
Who would have hurled them from their guilty thrones,
And such examples will find heirs, though distant.
ACT V.
SCENE 1. --_The Hall of the Council of Ten assembled with the additional
Senators, who, on the Trials of the Conspirators for the Treason of_
MARINO FALIERO, _composed what was called the Giunta,--Guards, Officers,
etc. , etc. _ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _and_ PHILIP CALENDARO _as Prisoners_.
BERTRAM, LIONI, _and Witnesses, etc. _
_The Chief of the Ten_, BENINTENDE. [fa][449]
_Ben_. There now rests, after such conviction of
Their manifold and manifest offences,
But to pronounce on these obdurate men
The sentence of the Law:--a grievous task
To those who hear, and those who speak. Alas!
That it should fall to me! and that my days
Of office should be stigmatised through all
The years of coming time, as bearing record
To this most foul and complicated treason
Against a just and free state, known to all 10
The earth as being the Christian bulwark 'gainst
The Saracen and the schismatic Greek,
The savage Hun, and not less barbarous Frank;
A City which has opened India's wealth
To Europe; the last Roman refuge from
O'erwhelming Attila; the Ocean's Queen;
Proud Genoa's prouder rival! 'Tis to sap
The throne of such a City, these lost men
Have risked and forfeited their worthless lives--
So let them die the death.
_I. Ber_. We are prepared; 20
Your racks have done that for us. Let us die.
_Ben_. If ye have that to say which would obtain
Abatement of your punishment, the Giunta
Will hear you; if you have aught to confess,
Now is your time,--perhaps it may avail ye.
_I. Ber_. We stand to hear, and not to speak.
_Ben_. Your crimes
Are fully proved by your accomplices,
And all which Circumstance can add to aid them;
Yet we would hear from your own lips complete
Avowal of your treason: on the verge 30
Of that dread gulf which none repass, the truth
Alone can profit you on earth or Heaven--
Say, then, what was your motive?
_I. Ber_. Justice! [fb]
_Ben_. What
Your object?
_I. Ber_. Freedom!
_Ben_. You are brief, sir.
_I. Ber_. So my life grows: I
Was bred a soldier, not a senator.
_Ben_. Perhaps you think by this blunt brevity
To brave your judges to postpone the sentence?
_I. Ber_. Do you be brief as I am, and believe me,
I shall prefer that mercy to your pardon. 40
_Ben_. Is this your sole reply to the Tribunal?
_I. Ber_. Go, ask your racks what they have wrung from us,
Or place us there again; we have still some blood left,
And some slight sense of pain in these wrenched limbs:
But this ye dare not do; for if we die there--
And you have left us little life to spend
Upon your engines, gorged with pangs already--
Ye lose the public spectacle, with which
You would appal your slaves to further slavery!
Groans are not words, nor agony assent, 50
Nor affirmation Truth, if Nature's sense
Should overcome the soul into a lie,
For a short respite--must we bear or die?
_Ben_. Say, who were your accomplices?
_I. Ber_. The Senate.
_Ben_. What do you mean?
_I. Ber_. Ask of the suffering people,
Whom your patrician crimes have driven to crime.
_Ben_. You know the Doge?
_I. Ber_. I served with him at Zara
In the field, when _you_ were pleading here your way
To present office; we exposed our lives,
While you but hazarded the lives of others, 60
Alike by accusation or defence;
And for the rest, all Venice knows her Doge,
Through his great actions, and the Senate's insults.
_Ben_. You have held conference with him?
_I. Ber_. I am weary--
Even wearier of your questions than your tortures:
I pray you pass to judgment.
_Ben_. It is coming.
And you, too, Philip Calendaro, what
Have you to say why you should not be doomed?
_Cal_. I never was a man of many words,
And now have few left worth the utterance. 70
_Ben_. A further application of yon engine
May change your tone.
_Cal_. Most true, it _will_ do so;
A former application did so; but
It will not change my words, or, if it did--
_Ben_. What then?
_Cal_. Will my avowal on yon rack
Stand good in law?
_Ben_. Assuredly.
_Cal_. Whoe'er
The culprit be whom I accuse of treason?
_Ben_. Without doubt, he will be brought up to trial.
_Cal_. And on this testimony would he perish?
_Ben_. So your confession be detailed and full, 80
He will stand here in peril of his life.
_Cal_. Then look well to thy proud self, President!
For by the Eternity which yawns before me,
I swear that _thou_, and only thou, shall be
The traitor I denounce upon that rack,
If I be stretched there for the second time.
_One of the Giunta_. Lord President,'twere best proceed to judgment;
There is no more to be drawn from these men. [fc]
_Ben_. Unhappy men! prepare for instant death.
The nature of your crime--our law--and peril 90
The State now stands in, leave not an hour's respite.
Guards! lead them forth, and upon the balcony
Of the red columns, where, on festal Thursday,[450]
The Doge stands to behold the chase of bulls,
Let them be justified: and leave exposed
Their wavering relics, in the place of judgment,
To the full view of the assembled people!
And Heaven have mercy on their souls!
_The Giunta_. Amen!
_I. Ber_. Signors, farewell! we shall not all again
Meet in one place.
_Ben_. And lest they should essay 100
To stir up the distracted multitude--
Guards! let their mouths be gagged[451] even in the act
Of execution. Lead them hence!
_Cal_. What! must we
Not even say farewell to some fond friend,
Nor leave a last word with our confessor?
_Ben_. A priest is waiting in the antechamber;
But, for your friends, such interviews would be
Painful to them, and useless all to you.
_Cal_. I knew that we were gagged in life; at least
All those who had not heart to risk their lives 110
Upon their open thoughts; but still I deemed
That in the last few moments, the same idle
Freedom of speech accorded to the dying,
Would not now be denied to us; but since----
_I. Ber_. Even let them have their way, brave Calendaro!
What matter a few syllables? let's die
Without the slightest show of favour from them;
So shall our blood more readily arise
To Heaven against them, and more testify
To their atrocities, than could a volume 120
Spoken or written of our dying words!
They tremble at our voices--nay, they dread
Our very silence--let them live in fear!
Leave them unto their thoughts, and let us now
Address our own above! --Lead on; we are ready.
_Cal_. Israel, hadst thou but hearkened unto me
It had not now been thus; and yon pale villain,
The coward Bertram, would----
_I. Ber_. Peace, Calendaro!
What brooks it now to ponder upon this?
_Bert_. Alas! I fain you died in peace with me: 130
I did not seek this task; 'twas forced upon me:
Say, you forgive me, though I never can
Retrieve my own forgiveness--frown not thus!
_I. Ber_. I die and pardon thee!
_Cal_. (_spitting at him_). [452] I die and scorn thee!
[_Exeunt_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO _and_ PHILIP CALENDARO, _Guards, etc_.
_Ben_. Now that these criminals have been disposed of,
'Tis time that we proceed to pass our sentence
Upon the greatest traitor upon record
In any annals, the Doge Faliero!
The proofs and process are complete; the time
And crime require a quick procedure: shall 140
He now be called in to receive the award?
_The Giunta_. Aye, aye.
_Ben_. Avogadori, order that the Doge
Be brought before the Council.
_One of the Giunta_. And the rest,
When shall they be brought up?
_Ben_. When all the Chiefs
Have been disposed of. Some have fled to Chiozza;
But there are thousands in pursuit of them,
And such precaution ta'en on terra firma,
As well as in the islands, that we hope
None will escape to utter in strange lands
His libellous tale of treasons 'gainst the Senate. 150
_Enter the_ DOGE _as Prisoner, with Guards, etc. , etc. _
_Ben_. Doge--for such still you are, and by the law
Must be considered, till the hour shall come
When you must doff the Ducal Bonnet from
That head, which could not wear a crown more noble
Than Empires can confer, in quiet honour,
But it must plot to overthrow your peers,
Who made you what you are, and quench in blood
A City's glory--we have laid already
Before you in your chamber at full length,
By the Avogadori, all the proofs 160
Which have appeared against you; and more ample
Ne'er reared their sanguinary shadows to
Confront a traitor. What have you to say
In your defence?
_Doge_. What shall I say to ye,
Since my defence must be your condemnation?
You are at once offenders and accusers,
Judges and Executioners! --Proceed
Upon your power.
_Ben_. Your chief accomplices
Having confessed, there is no hope for you.
_Doge_. And who be they?
_Ben_. In number many; but 170
The first now stands before you in the court,
Bertram of Bergamo,--would you question him?
_Doge_ (_looking at him contemptuously_). No.
_Ben_. And two others, Israel Bertuccio,
And Philip Calendaro, have admitted
Their fellowship in treason with the Doge!
_Doge_. And where are they?
_Ben_. Gone to their place, and now
Answering to Heaven for what they did on earth.
_Doge_. Ah! the plebeian Brutus, is he gone?
And the quick Cassius of the arsenal? --
How did they meet their doom?
_Ben_. Think of your own: 180
It is approaching. You decline to plead, then? [fd]
_Doge_. I cannot plead to my inferiors, nor
Can recognise your legal power to try me.
Show me the law!
_Ben_. On great emergencies,
The law must be remodelled or amended:
Our fathers had not fixed the punishment
Of such a crime, as on the old Roman tables
The sentence against parricide was left
In pure forgetfulness; they could not render
That penal, which had neither name nor thought 190
In their great bosoms; who would have foreseen
That Nature could be filed to such a crime[453]
As sons 'gainst sires, and princes 'gainst their realms?
Your sin hath made us make a law which will
Become a precedent 'gainst such haught traitors,
As would with treason mount to tyranny;
Not even contented with a sceptre, till
They can convert it to a two-edged sword!
Was not the place of Doge sufficient for ye?
What's nobler than the signory[454] of Venice? 200
_Doge_. The signory of Venice! You betrayed me--
_You--you_, who sit there, traitors as ye are!
From my equality with you in birth,
And my superiority in action,
You drew me from my honourable toils
In distant lands--on flood, in field, in cities--
_You_ singled me out like a victim to
Stand crowned, but bound and helpless, at the altar
Where you alone could minister. I knew not,
I sought not, wished not, dreamed not the election, 210
Which reached me first at Rome, and I obeyed;
But found on my arrival, that, besides
The jealous vigilance which always led you
To mock and mar your Sovereign's best intents,
You had, even in the interregnum[455] of
My journey to the capital, curtailed
And mutilated the few privileges
Yet left the Duke: all this I bore, and would
Have borne, until my very hearth was stained
By the pollution of your ribaldry, 220
And he, the ribald, whom I see amongst you--
Fit judge in such tribunal! ----
_Ben_. (_interrupting him_). Michel Steno
Is here in virtue of his office, as
One of the Forty; "the Ten" having craved
A Giunta of patricians from the Senate
To aid our judgment in a trial arduous
And novel as the present: he was set
Free from the penalty pronounced upon him,
Because the Doge, who should protect the law,
Seeking to abrogate all law, can claim 230
No punishment of others by the statutes
Which he himself denies and violates!
_Doge_. _His_ punishment! I rather see him _there_,
Where he now sits, to glut him with my death,
Than in the mockery of castigation,
Which your foul, outward, juggling show of justice
Decreed as sentence! Base as was his crime,
'Twas purity compared with your protection.
_Ben_. And can it be, that the great Doge of Venice,
With three parts of a century of years 240
And honours on his head, could thus allow
His fury, like an angry boy's, to master
All Feeling, Wisdom, Faith and Fear, on such
A provocation as a young man's petulance?
_Doge_. A spark creates the flame--'tis the last drop
Which makes the cup run o'er, and mine was full
Already: you oppressed the Prince and people;
I would have freed both, and have failed in both:
The price of such success would have been glory,
Vengeance, and victory, and such a name 250
As would have made Venetian history
Rival to that of Greece and Syracuse
When they were freed, and flourished ages after,
And mine to Gelon and to Thrasybulus:[456]
Failing, I know the penalty of failure
Is present infamy and death--the future
Will judge, when Venice is no more, or free;
Till then, the truth is in abeyance. Pause not;
I would have shown no mercy, and I seek none;
My life was staked upon a mighty hazard, 260
And being lost, take what I would have taken!
I would have stood alone amidst your tombs:
Now you may flock round mine, and trample on it,
As you have done upon my heart while living. [457]
_Ben_. You do confess then, and admit the justice
Of our Tribunal?
_Doge_. I confess to have failed;
Fortune is female: from my youth her favours
Were not withheld, the fault was mine to hope
Her former smiles again at this late hour.
_Ben_. You do not then in aught arraign our equity? 270
_Doge_. Noble Venetians! stir me not with questions.
I am resigned to the worst; but in me still
Have something of the blood of brighter days,
And am not over-patient. Pray you, spare me
Further interrogation, which boots nothing,
Except to turn a trial to debate.
I shall but answer that which will offend you,
And please your enemies--a host already;
'Tis true, these sullen walls should yield no echo:
But walls have ears--nay, more, they have tongues; and if 280
There were no other way for Truth to o'erleap them,[fe]
You who condemn me, you who fear and slay me,
Yet could not bear in silence to your graves
What you would hear from me of Good or Evil;
The secret were too mighty for your souls:
Then let it sleep in mine, unless you court
A danger which would double that you escape.
Such my defence would be, had I full scope
To make it famous; for true _words_ are _things_,
And dying men's are things which long outlive, 290
And oftentimes avenge them; bury mine,
If ye would fain survive me: take this counsel,
And though too oft ye make me live in wrath,
Let me die calmly; you may grant me this;
I deny nothing--defend nothing--nothing
I ask of you, but silence for myself,
And sentence from the Court!
_Ben_. This full admission
Spares us the harsh necessity of ordering
The torture to elicit the whole truth. [ff]
_Doge_. The torture! you have put me there already, 300
Daily since I was Doge; but if you will
Add the corporeal rack, you may: these limbs
Will yield with age to crushing iron; but
There's that within my heart shall strain your engines.
_Enter an_ OFFICER.
_Officer_. Noble Venetians! Duchess Faliero[fg]
Requests admission to the Giunta's presence.
_Ben_. Say, Conscript Fathers,[458] shall she be admitted?
_One of the Giunta_. She may have revelations of importance
Unto the state, to justify compliance
With her request.
_Ben_. Is this the general will? 310
_All_. It is.
_Doge_. Oh, admirable laws of Venice!
Which would admit the wife, in the full hope
That she might testify against the husband.
What glory to the chaste Venetian dames!
But such blasphemers 'gainst all Honour, as
Sit here, do well to act in their vocation.
Now, villain Steno! if this woman fail,
I'll pardon thee thy lie, and thy escape,
And my own violent death, and thy vile life.
_The_ DUCHESS _enters_.
_Ben_. Lady! this just Tribunal has resolved, 320
Though the request be strange, to grant it, and
Whatever be its purport, to accord
A patient hearing with the due respect
Which fits your ancestry, your rank, and virtues:
But you turn pale--ho! there, look to the Lady!
Place a chair instantly.
_Ang_. A moment's faintness--
'Tis past; I pray you pardon me,--I sit not
In presence of my Prince and of my husband,
While he is on his feet.
_Ben_. Your pleasure, Lady?
_Ang_. Strange rumours, but most true, if all I hear 330
And see be sooth, have reached me, and I come
To know the worst, even at the worst; forgive
The abruptness of my entrance and my bearing.
Is it--I cannot speak--I cannot shape
The question--but you answer it ere spoken,
With eyes averted, and with gloomy brows--
Oh God! this is the silence of the grave!
_Ben_. (_after a pause_). Spare us, and spare thyself the repetition
Of our most awful, but inexorable
Duty to Heaven and man!
_Ang_. Yet speak; I cannot-- 340
I cannot--no--even now believe these things.
Is _he_ condemned?
_Ben_. Alas!
_Ang_. And was he guilty?
_Ben_. Lady! the natural distraction of
Thy thoughts at such a moment makes the question
Merit forgiveness; else a doubt like this
Against a just and paramount tribunal
Were deep offence. But question even the Doge,
And if he can deny the proofs, believe him
Guiltless as thy own bosom.
_Ang_. Is it so?
My Lord, my Sovereign, my poor father's friend, 350
The mighty in the field, the sage in Council,
Unsay the words of this man! --thou art silent!
_Ben_. He hath already owned to his own guilt,[fh]
Nor, as thou see'st, doth he deny it now.
_Ang_. Aye, but he must not die! Spare his few years,
Which Grief and Shame will soon cut down to days!
One day of baffled crime must not efface
Near sixteen lustres crowned with brave acts.
_Ben_. His doom must be fulfilled without remission
Of time or penalty--'tis a decree. 360
_Ang_. He hath been guilty, but there may be mercy.
_Ben_. Not in this case with justice.
_Ang_. Alas! Signor,
He who is only just is cruel; who
Upon the earth would live were all judged justly?
_Ben_. His punishment is safety to the State.
_Ang_. He was a subject, and hath served the State;
He was your General, and hath saved the State;
He is your Sovereign, and hath ruled the State. [fi]
_One of the Council_. He is a traitor, and betrayed the State.
_Ang_. And, but for him, there now had been no State 370
To save or to destroy; and you, who sit
There to pronounce the death of your deliverer,
Had now been groaning at a Moslem oar,
Or digging in the Hunnish mines in fetters!
_One of the Council_. No, Lady, there are others who would die
Rather than breathe in slavery!
_Ang_. If there are so
Within _these_ walls, _thou_ art not of the number:
The truly brave are generous to the fallen! --
Is there no hope?
_Ben_. Lady, it cannot be.
_Ang_. (_turning to the Doge_).
Then die, Faliero! since it must be so; 380
But with the spirit of my father's friend.
Thou hast been guilty of a great offence,
Half cancelled by the harshness of these men.
I would have sued to them, have prayed to them.
Have begged as famished mendicants for bread,
Have wept as they will cry unto their God
For mercy, and be answered as they answer,--
Had it been fitting for thy name or mine,
And if the cruelty in their cold eyes
Had not announced the heartless wrath within. 390
Then, as a Prince, address thee to thy doom!
_Doge_. I have lived too long not to know how to die!
Thy suing to these men were but the bleating
Of the lamb to the butcher, or the cry
Of seamen to the surge: I would not take
A life eternal, granted at the hands
Of wretches, from whose monstrous villanies
I sought to free the groaning nations!
_Michel Steno_. Doge,
A word with thee, and with this noble lady,
Whom I have grievously offended.
