by Lord Byron
Not by me, but by the ungrateful nobles
We fought to make our equals, not our lords:
And chiefly thou, Ordelafo the brave,
Who perished in the field, where I since conquered,
Battling at Zara, did the hecatombs
Of thine and Venice’ foes, there offered up
By thy descendant, merit such acquittance? 40
Spirits! smile down upon me! for my cause
Is yours, in all life now can be of yours, —
Your fame, your name, all mingled up in mine,
And in the future fortunes of our race!
Let me but prosper, and I make this city
Free and immortal, and our House’s name
Worthier of what you were — now and hereafter!
Enter Israel Bertuccio.
I. Ber. Who goes there?
Doge. A friend to Venice.
I. Ber. ’Tis he.
Welcome, my Lord, — you are before the time.
Doge. I am ready to proceed to your assembly. 50
I. Ber. Have with you. — I am proud and pleased to see
Such confident alacrity. Your doubts
Since our last meeting, then, are all dispelled?
Doge. Not so — but I have set my little left
Of life upon this cast: the die was thrown
When I first listened to your treason. — Start not!
That is the word; I cannot shape my tongue
To syllable black deeds into smooth names,
Though I be wrought on to commit them. When
I heard you tempt your Sovereign, and forbore 60
To have you dragged to prison, I became
Your guiltiest accomplice: now you may,
If it so please you, do as much by me.
I. Ber. Strange words, my Lord, and most unmerited;
I am no spy, and neither are we traitors.
Doge. We — We! — no matter — you have earned the right
To talk of us. — But to the point. — If this
Attempt succeeds, and Venice, rendered free
And flourishing, when we are in our graves,
Conducts her generations to our tombs, 70
And makes her children with their little hands
Strew flowers o’er her deliverers’ ashes, then
The consequence will sanctify the deed,
And we shall be like the two Bruti in
The annals of hereafter; but if not,
If we should fail, employing bloody means
And secret plot, although to a good end,
Still we are traitors, honest Israel; — thou
No less than he who was thy Sovereign
Six hours ago, and now thy brother rebel. 80
I. Ber. ‘Tis not the moment to consider thus,
Else I could answer. — Let us to the meeting,
Or we may be observed in lingering here.
Doge. We are observed, and have been.
I. Ber. We observed!
Let me discover — and this steel — — –
Doge. Put up;
Here are no human witnesses: look there —
What see you?
I. Ber. Only a tall warrior’s statue
Bestriding a proud steed, in the dim light
Of the dull moon.
Doge. That Warrior was the sire
Of my sire’s fathers, and that statue was 90
Decreed to him by the twice rescued city: —
Think you that he looks down on us or no?
I. Ber. My Lord, these are mere fantasies; there are
No eyes in marble.
Doge. But there are in Death.
I tell thee, man, there is a spirit in
Such things that acts and sees, unseen, though felt;
And, if there be a spell to stir the dead,
‘Tis in such deeds as we are now upon.
Deem’st thou the souls of such a race as mine
Can rest, when he, their last descendant Chief, 100
Stands plotting on the brink of their pure graves
With stung plebeians?
I. Ber. It had been as well
To have pondered this before, — ere you embarked
In our great enterprise. — Do you repent?
Doge. No — but I feel, and shall do to the last.
I cannot quench a glorious life at once,
Nor dwindle to the thing I now must be,
And take men’s lives by stealth, without some pause:
Yet doubt me not; it is this very feeling,
And knowing what has wrung me to be thus, 110
Which is your best security. There’s not
A roused mechanic in your busy plot
So wronged as I, so fall’n, so loudly called
To his redress: the very means I am forced
By these fell tyrants to adopt is such,
That I abhor them doubly for the deeds
Which I must do to pay them back for theirs.
I. Ber. Let us away — hark — the Hour strikes.
Doge. On — on —
It is our knell, or that of Venice. — On.
I. Ber. Say rather, ‘tis her Freedom’s rising peal 120
Of Triumph. This way — we are near the place.
[Exeunt.
Scene II. — The House where the Conspirators meet.
Dagolino, Doro, Bertram, Fedele Trevisano, Calendaro, Antonio Delle Bende, etc., etc.
Cal. (entering). Are all here?
Dag. All with you; except the three
On duty, and our leader Israel,
Who is expected momently.
Cal. Where’s Bertram?
Ber. Here!
Cal. Have you not been able to complete
The number wanting in your company?
Ber. I had marked out some: but I have not dared
To trust them with the secret, till assured
That they were worthy faith.
Cal. There is no need
Of trusting to their faith; who, save ourselves
And our more chosen comrades, is aware 10
Fully of our intent? they think themselves
Engaged in secret to the Signory,
To punish some more dissolute young nobles
Who have defied the law in their excesses;
But once drawn up, and their new swords well fleshed
In the rank hearts of the more odious Senators,
They will not hesitate to follow up
Their blow upon the others, when they see
The example of their chiefs, and I for one
Will set them such, that they for very shame 20
And safety will not pause till all have perished.
Ber. How say you? all!
Cal. Whom wouldst thou spare?
Ber. I spare?
I have no power to spare. I only questioned,
Thinking that even amongst these wicked men
There might be some, whose age and qualities
Might mark them out for pity.
Cal. Yes, such pity
As when the viper hath been cut to pieces,
The separate fragments quivering in the sun,
In the last energy of venomous life,
Deserve and have. Why, I should think as soon 30
Of pitying some particular fang which made
One in the jaw of the swoln serpent, as
Of saving one of these: they form but links
Of one long chain; one mass, one breath, one body;
They eat, and drink, and live, and breed together,
Revel, and lie, oppress, and kill in concert, —
So let them die as one!
Dag. Should one survive,
He would be dangerous as the whole; it is not
Their number, be it tens or thousands, but
<
br /> The spirit of this Aristocracy 40
Which must be rooted out; and if there were
A single shoot of the old tree in life,
‘Twould fasten in the soil, and spring again
To gloomy verdure and to bitter fruit.
Bertram, we must be firm!
Cal. Look to it well
Bertram! I have an eye upon thee.
Ber. Who
Distrusts me?
Cal. Not I; for if I did so,
Thou wouldst not now be there to talk of trust:
It is thy softness, not thy want of faith,
Which makes thee to be doubted.
Ber. You should know 50
Who hear me, who and what I am; a man
Roused like yourselves to overthrow oppression;
A kind man, I am apt to think, as some
Of you have found me; and if brave or no,
You, Calendaro, can pronounce, who have seen me
Put to the proof; or, if you should have doubts,
I’ll clear them on your person!
Cal. You are welcome,
When once our enterprise is o’er, which must not
Be interrupted by a private brawl.
Ber. I am no brawler; but can bear myself 60
As far among the foe as any he
Who hears me; else why have I been selected
To be of your chief comrades? but no less
I own my natural weakness; I have not
Yet learned to think of indiscriminate murder
Without some sense of shuddering; and the sight
Of blood which spouts through hoary scalps is not
To me a thing of triumph, nor the death
Of man surprised a glory. Well — too well
I know that we must do such things on those 70
Whose acts have raised up such avengers; but
If there were some of these who could be saved
From out this sweeping fate, for our own sakes
And for our honour, to take off some stain
Of massacre, which else pollutes it wholly,
I had been glad; and see no cause in this
For sneer, nor for suspicion!
Dag. Calm thee, Bertram,
For we suspect thee not, and take good heart.
It is the cause, and not our will, which asks
Such actions from our hands: we’ll wash away 80
All stains in Freedom’s fountain!
Enter Israel Bertuccio, and the Doge, disguised.
Dag. Welcome, Israel.
Consp. Most welcome. — Brave Bertuccio, thou art late —
Who is this stranger?
Cal. It is time to name him.
Our comrades are even now prepared to greet him
In brotherhood, as I have made it known
That thou wouldst add a brother to our cause,
Approved by thee, and thus approved by all,
Such is our trust in all thine actions. Now
Let him unfold himself.
I. Ber. Stranger, step forth!
[The Doge discovers himself.
Consp. To arms! — we are betrayed — it is the Doge! 90
Down with them both! our traitorous captain, and
The tyrant he hath sold us to.
Cal. (drawing his sword). Hold! hold!
Who moves a step against them dies. Hold! hear
Bertuccio — What! are you appalled to see
A lone, unguarded, weaponless old man
Amongst you? — Israel, speak! what means this mystery?
I. Ber. Let them advance and strike at their own bosoms,
Ungrateful suicides! for on our lives
Depend their own, their fortunes, and their hopes.
Doge. Strike! — If I dreaded death, a death more fearful 100
Than any your rash weapons can inflict,
I should not now be here: Oh, noble Courage!
The eldest born of Fear, which makes you brave
Against this solitary hoary head!
See the bold chiefs, who would reform a state
And shake down senates, mad with wrath and dread
At sight of one patrician! Butcher me!
You can, I care not. — Israel, are these men
The mighty hearts you spoke of? look upon them!
Cal. Faith! he hath shamed us, and deservedly, 110
Was this your trust in your true Chief Bertuccio,
To turn your swords against him and his guest?
Sheathe them, and hear him.
I. Ber. I disdain to speak.
They might and must have known a heart like mine
Incapable of treachery; and the power
They gave me to adopt all fitting means
To further their design was ne’er abused.
They might be certain that who e’er was brought
By me into this Council had been led
To take his choice — as brother, or as victim. 120
Doge. And which am I to be? your actions leave
Some cause to doubt the freedom of the choice.
I. Ber. My Lord, we would have perished here together,
Had these rash men proceeded; but, behold,
They are ashamed of that mad moment’s impulse,
And droop their heads; believe me, they are such
As I described them. — Speak to them.
Cal. Aye, speak;
We are all listening in wonder.
I. Ber. (addressing the conspirators). You are safe,
Nay, more, almost triumphant — listen then,
And know my words for truth.
Doge. You see me here, 130
As one of you hath said, an old, unarmed,
Defenceless man; and yesterday you saw me
Presiding in the hall of ducal state,
Apparent Sovereign of our hundred isles,
Robed in official purple, dealing out
The edicts of a power which is not mine,
Nor yours, but of our masters — the patricians.
Why I was there you know, or think you know;
Why I am here, he who hath been most wronged,
He who among you hath been most insulted, 140
Outraged and trodden on, until he doubt
If he be worm or no, may answer for me,
Asking of his own heart what brought him here?
You know my recent story, all men know it,
And judge of it far differently from those
Who sate in judgement to heap scorn on scorn.
But spare me the recital — it is here,
Here at my heart the outrage — but my words,
Already spent in unavailing plaints,
Would only show my feebleness the more, 150
And I come here to strengthen even the strong,
And urge them on to deeds, and not to war
With woman’s weapons; but I need not urge you.
Our private wrongs have sprung from public vices,
In this — I cannot call it commonwealth,
Nor kingdom, which hath neither prince nor people,
But all the sins of the old Spartan state
Without its virtues — temperance and valour.
The Lords of Lacedæmon were true soldiers,
But ours are Sybarites, while we are Helots, 160
Of whom I am the lowest, most enslaved;
Although dressed out to head a pageant, as
The Greeks of yore made drunk their slaves to form
A pastime for their children. You are met
To overthrow this Monster of a state,
This mockery of a Government, this spectre,
Which must be exorcised with blood, — and then
We will renew the times of Truth and Justice,
Condensing in a fair free commonwealth
>
Not rash equality but equal rights, 170
Proportioned like the columns to the temple,
Giving and taking strength reciprocal,
And making firm the whole with grace and beauty,
So that no part could be removed without
Infringement of the general symmetry.
In operating this great change, I claim
To be one of you — if you trust in me;
If not, strike home, — my life is compromised,
And I would rather fall by freemen’s hands
Than live another day to act the tyrant 180
As delegate of tyrants: such I am not,
And never have been — read it in our annals;
I can appeal to my past government
In many lands and cities; they can tell you
If I were an oppressor, or a man
Feeling and thinking for my fellow men.
Haply had I been what the Senate sought,
A thing of robes and trinkets, dizened out
To sit in state as for a Sovereign’s picture;
A popular scourge, a ready sentence-signer, 190
A stickler for the Senate and “the Forty,”
A sceptic of all measures which had not
The sanction of “the Ten,” a council-fawner,
A tool — a fool — a puppet, — they had ne’er
Fostered the wretch who stung me. What I suffer
Has reached me through my pity for the people;
That many know, and they who know not yet
Will one day learn: meantime I do devote,
Whate’er the issue, my last days of life —
My present power such as it is, not that 200
Of Doge, but of a man who has been great
Before he was degraded to a Doge,
And still has individual means and mind;
I stake my fame (and I had fame) — my breath —
(The least of all, for its last hours are nigh)
My heart — my hope — my soul — upon this cast!
Such as I am, I offer me to you
And to your chiefs; accept me or reject me, —
A Prince who fain would be a Citizen
Or nothing, and who has left his throne to be so. 210
Cal. Long live Faliero! — Venice shall be free!
Consp. Long live Faliero!
I. Ber. Comrades! did I well?
Is not this man a host in such a cause?
Doge. This is no time for eulogies, nor place
For exultation. Am I one of you?
Cal. Aye, and the first among us, as thou hast been
Of Venice — be our General and Chief.
Doge. Chief! — General! — I was General at Zara,
And Chief in Rhodes and Cyprus, Prince in Venice:
I cannot stoop — that is, I am not fit 220
To lead a band of — patriots: when I lay