by Lord Byron
Aside the dignities which I have borne,
‘Tis not to put on others, but to be
Mate to my fellows — but now to the point:
Israel has stated to me your whole plan —
‘Tis bold, but feasible if I assist it,
And must be set in motion instantly.
Cal. E’en when thou wilt. Is it not so, my friends?
I have disposed all for a sudden blow;
When shall it be then?
Doge. At sunrise.
Ber. So soon? 230
Doge. So soon? — so late — each hour accumulates
Peril on peril, and the more so now
Since I have mingled with you; — know you not
The Council, and “the Ten?” the spies, the eyes
Of the patricians dubious of their slaves,
And now more dubious of the Prince they have made one?
I tell you, you must strike, and suddenly,
Full to the Hydra’s heart — its heads will follow.
Cal. With all my soul and sword, I yield assent;
Our companies are ready, sixty each, 240
And all now under arms by Israel’s order;
Each at their different place of rendezvous,
And vigilant, expectant of some blow;
Let each repair for action to his post!
And now, my Lord, the signal?
Doge. When you hear
The great bell of Saint Mark’s, which may not be
Struck without special order of the Doge
(The last poor privilege they leave their Prince),
March on Saint Mark’s!
I. Ber. And there? —
Doge. By different routes
Let your march be directed, every sixty 250
Entering a separate avenue, and still
Upon the way let your cry be of War
And of the Genoese Fleet, by the first dawn
Discerned before the port; form round the palace,
Within whose court will be drawn out in arms
My nephew and the clients of our house,
Many and martial; while the bell tolls on,
Shout ye, “Saint Mark! — the foe is on our waters!”
Cal. I see it now — but on, my noble Lord.
Doge. All the patricians flocking to the Council, 260
(Which they dare not refuse, at the dread signal
Pealing from out their Patron Saint’s proud tower,)
Will then be gathered in unto the harvest,
And we will reap them with the sword for sickle.
If some few should be tardy or absent, them,
‘Twill be but to be taken faint and single,
When the majority are put to rest.
Cal. Would that the hour were come! we will not scotch,
But kill.
Ber. Once more, sir, with your pardon, I
Would now repeat the question which I asked 270
Before Bertuccio added to our cause
This great ally who renders it more sure,
And therefore safer, and as such admits
Some dawn of mercy to a portion of
Our victims — must all perish in this slaughter?
Cal. All who encounter me and mine — be sure,
The mercy they have shown, I show.
Consp. All! all!
Is this a time to talk of pity? when
Have they e’er shown, or felt, or feigned it?
I. Ber. Bertram,
This false compassion is a folly, and 280
Injustice to thy comrades and thy cause!
Dost thou not see, that if we single out
Some for escape, they live but to avenge
The fallen? and how distinguish now the innocent
From out the guilty? all their acts are one —
A single emanation from one body,
Together knit for our oppression! ‘Tis
Much that we let their children live; I doubt
If all of these even should be set apart:
The hunter may reserve some single cub 290
From out the tiger’s litter, but who e’er
Would seek to save the spotted sire or dam,
Unless to perish by their fangs? however,
I will abide by Doge Faliero’s counsel:
Let him decide if any should be saved.
Doge. Ask me not — tempt me not with such a question —
Decide yourselves.
I. Ber. You know their private virtues
Far better than we can, to whom alone
Their public vices, and most foul oppression,
Have made them deadly; if there be amongst them 300
One who deserves to be repealed, pronounce.
Doge. Dolfino’s father was my friend, and Lando
Fought by my side, and Marc Cornaro shared
My Genoese embassy: I saved the life
Of Veniero — shall I save it twice?
Would that I could save them and Venice also!
All these men, or their fathers, were my friends
Till they became my subjects; then fell from me
As faithless leaves drop from the o’erblown flower,
And left me a lone blighted thorny stalk, 310
Which, in its solitude, can shelter nothing;
So, as they let me wither, let them perish!
Cal. They cannot co-exist with Venice’ freedom!
Doge. Ye, though you know and feel our mutual mass
Of many wrongs, even ye are ignorant
What fatal poison to the springs of Life,
To human ties, and all that’s good and dear,
Lurks in the present institutes of Venice:
All these men were my friends; I loved them, they
Requited honourably my regards; 320
We served and fought; we smiled and wept in concert;
We revelled or we sorrowed side by side;
We made alliances of blood and marriage;
We grew in years and honours fairly, — till
Their own desire, not my ambition, made
Them choose me for their Prince, and then farewell!
Farewell all social memory! all thoughts
In common! and sweet bonds which link old friendships,
When the survivors of long years and actions,
Which now belong to history, soothe the days 330
Which yet remain by treasuring each other,
And never meet, but each beholds the mirror
Of half a century on his brother’s brow,
And sees a hundred beings, now in earth,
Flit round them whispering of the days gone by,
And seeming not all dead, as long as two
Of the brave, joyous, reckless, glorious band,
Which once were one and many, still retain
A breath to sigh for them, a tongue to speak
Of deeds that else were silent, save on marble — — 340
Oimé Oimé! — and must I do this deed?
I. Ber. My Lord, you are much moved: it is not now
That such things must be dwelt upon.
Doge. Your patience
A moment — I recede not: mark with me
The gloomy vices of this government.
From the hour they made me Doge, the Doge they made me —
Farewell the past! I died to all that had been,
Or rather they to me: no friends, no kindness,
No privacy of life — all were cut off:
They came not near me — such approach gave umbrage; 350
They could not love me — such was not the law;
They thwarted me — ’twas the state’s policy;
They baffled me — ’twas a patrician’s duty;
They wronged me, for such was to right the state;
They could not right me — that would give suspicion;
So that I was a slave to my own subjects;
So that I was a foe to my own friends;
Begirt with spies for guards, with robes for power,
With pomp for freedom, gaolers for a council,
Inquisitors for friends, and Hell for life! 360
I had only one fount of quiet left,
And that they poisoned! My pure household gods
Were shivered on my hearth, and o’er their shrine
Sate grinning Ribaldry, and sneering Scorn.
I. Ber. You have been deeply wronged, and now shall be
Nobly avenged before another night.
Doge. I had borne all — it hurt me, but I bore it —
Till this last running over of the cup
Of bitterness — until this last loud insult,
Not only unredressed, but sanctioned; then, 370
And thus, I cast all further feelings from me —
The feelings which they crushed for me, long, long
Before, even in their oath of false allegiance!
Even in that very hour and vow, they abjured
Their friend and made a Sovereign, as boys make
Playthings, to do their pleasure — and be broken!
I from that hour have seen but Senators
In dark suspicious conflict with the Doge,
Brooding with him in mutual hate and fear;
They dreading he should snatch the tyranny 380
From out their grasp, and he abhorring tyrants.
To me, then, these men have no private life,
Nor claim to ties they have cut off from others;
As Senators for arbitrary acts
Amenable, I look on them — as such
Let them be dealt upon.
Cal. And now to action!
Hence, brethren, to our posts, and may this be
The last night of mere words: I’d fain be doing!
Saint Mark’s great bell at dawn shall find me wakeful!
I. Ber. Disperse then to your posts: be firm and vigilant; 390
Think on the wrongs we bear, the rights we claim.
This day and night shall be the last of peril!
Watch for the signal, and then march. I go
To join my band; let each be prompt to marshal
His separate charge: the Doge will now return
To the palace to prepare all for the blow.
We part to meet in Freedom and in Glory!
Cal. Doge, when I greet you next, my homage to you
Shall be the head of Steno on this sword!
Doge. No; let him be reserved unto the last, 400
Nor turn aside to strike at such a prey,
Till nobler game is quarried: his offence
Was a mere ebullition of the vice,
The general corruption generated
By the foul Aristocracy: he could not —
He dared not in more honourable days
Have risked it. I have merged all private wrath
Against him in the thought of our great purpose.
A slave insults me — I require his punishment
From his proud master’s hands; if he refuse it, 410
The offence grows his, and let him answer it.
Cal. Yet, as the immediate cause of the alliance
Which consecrates our undertaking more,
I owe him such deep gratitude, that fain
I would repay him as he merits; may I?
Doge. You would but lop the hand, and I the head;
You would but smite the scholar, I the master;
You would but punish Steno, I the Senate.
I cannot pause on individual hate,
In the absorbing, sweeping, whole revenge, 420
Which, like the sheeted fire from Heaven, must blast
Without distinction, as it fell of yore,
Where the Dead Sea hath quenched two Cities’ ashes.
I. Ber. Away, then, to your posts! I but remain
A moment to accompany the Doge
To our late place of tryst, to see no spies
Have been upon the scout, and thence I hasten
To where my allotted band is under arms.
Cal. Farewell, then, — until dawn!
I. Ber. Success go with you!
Consp. We will not fail — Away! My Lord, farewell! 430
[The Conspirators salute the Doge and Israel Bertuccio, and retire, headed by Philip Calendaro.
The Doge and Israel Bertuccio remain.
I. Ber. We have them in the toil — it cannot fail!
Now thou’rt indeed a Sovereign, and wilt make
A name immortal greater than the greatest:
Free citizens have struck at Kings ere now;
Cæsars have fallen, and even patrician hands
Have crushed dictators, as the popular steel
Has reached patricians: but, until this hour,
What Prince has plotted for his people’s freedom?
Or risked a life to liberate his subjects?
For ever, and for ever, they conspire 440
Against the people, to abuse their hands
To chains, but laid aside to carry weapons
Against the fellow nations, so that yoke
On yoke, and slavery and death may whet,
Not glut, the never-gorged Leviathan!
Now, my Lord, to our enterprise; — ’tis great,
And greater the reward; why stand you rapt?
A moment back, and you were all impatience!
Doge. And is it then decided! must they die?
I. Ber. Who?
Doge. My own friends by blood and courtesy, 450
And many deeds and days — the Senators?
I. Ber. You passed their sentence, and it is a just one.
Doge. Aye, so it seems, and so it is to you;
You are a patriot, a plebeian Gracchus —
The rebel’s oracle, the people’s tribune —
I blame you not — you act in your vocation;
They smote you, and oppressed you, and despised you;
So they have me: but you ne’er spake with them;
You never broke their bread, nor shared their salt;
You never had their wine-cup at your lips: 460
You grew not up with them, nor laughed, nor wept,
Nor held a revel in their company;
Ne’er smiled to see them smile, nor claimed their smile
In social interchange for yours, nor trusted
Nor wore them in your heart of hearts, as I have:
These hairs of mine are grey, and so are theirs,
The elders of the Council: I remember
When all our locks were like the raven’s wing,
As we went forth to take our prey around
The isles wrung from the false Mahometan; 470
And can I see them dabbled o’er with blood?
Each stab to them will seem my suicide.
I. Ber. Doge! Doge! this vacillation is unworthy
A child; if you are not in second childhood,
Call back your nerves to your own purpose, nor
Thus shame yourself and me. By Heavens! I’d rather
Forego even now, or fail in our intent,
Than see the man I venerate subside
From high resolves into such shallow weakness!
You have seen blood in battle, shed it, both 480
Your own and that of others; can you shrink then
From a few drops from veins of hoary vampires,
Who but give back what they have drained from millions?
Doge. Bear with me! Step by step, and blow on blow,
I will divide with you; think not I waver:
Ah! no; it is the certainty of all
Which I must do doth make me tremble thus.
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But let these last and lingering thoughts have way,
To which you only and the night are conscious,
And both regardless; when the Hour arrives, 490
‘Tis mine to sound the knell, and strike the blow,
Which shall unpeople many palaces,
And hew the highest genealogic trees
Down to the earth, strewed with their bleeding fruit,
And crush their blossoms into barrenness:
This will I — must I — have I sworn to do,
Nor aught can turn me from my destiny;
But still I quiver to behold what I
Must be, and think what I have been! Bear with me.
I. Ber. Re-man your breast; I feel no such remorse, 500
I understand it not: why should you change?
You acted, and you act, on your free will.
Doge. Aye, there it is — you feel not, nor do I,
Else I should stab thee on the spot, to save
A thousand lives — and killing, do no murder;
You feel not — you go to this butcher-work
As if these high-born men were steers for shambles:
When all is over, you’ll be free and merry,
And calmly wash those hands incarnadine;
But I, outgoing thee and all thy fellows 510
In this surpassing massacre, shall be,
Shall see and feel — oh God! oh God! ‘tis true,
And thou dost well to answer that it was
“My own free will and act,” and yet you err,
For I will do this! Doubt not — fear not; I
Will be your most unmerciful accomplice!
And yet I act no more on my free will,
Nor my own feelings — both compel me back;
But there is Hell within me and around,
And like the Demon who believes and trembles 520
Must I abhor and do. Away! away!
Get thee unto thy fellows, I will hie me
To gather the retainers of our house.
Doubt not, St. Mark’s great bell shall wake all Venice,
Except her slaughtered Senate: ere the Sun
Be broad upon the Adriatic there
Shall be a voice of weeping, which shall drown
The roar of waters in the cry of blood!
I am resolved — come on.
I. Ber. With all my soul!
Keep a firm rein upon these bursts of passion; 530
Remember what these men have dealt to thee,
And that this sacrifice will be succeeded
By ages of prosperity and freedom
To this unshackled city: a true tyrant
Would have depopulated empires, nor
Have felt the strange compunction which hath wrung you
To punish a few traitors to the people.
Trust me, such were a pity more misplaced
Than the late mercy of the state to Steno.