by Lord Byron
Save this. Thou must not die! and think how dear
Thy life is, when I risk so many lives,
Nay, more, the Life of lives, the liberty
Of future generations, not to be 310
The assassin thou miscall’st me: — once, once more
I do adjure thee, pass not o’er thy threshold!
Lioni. It is in vain — this moment I go forth.
Ber. Then perish Venice rather than my friend!
I will disclose — ensnare — betray — destroy —
Oh, what a villain I become for thee!
Lioni. Say, rather thy friend’s saviour and the State’s! —
Speak — pause not — all rewards, all pledges for
Thy safety and thy welfare; wealth such as
The State accords her worthiest servants; nay, 330
Nobility itself I guarantee thee,
So that thou art sincere and penitent.
Ber. I have thought again: it must not be — I love thee —
Thou knowest it — that I stand here is the proof,
Not least though last; but having done my duty
By thee, I now must do it by my country!
Farewell — we meet no more in life! — farewell!
Lioni. What, ho! — Antonio — Pedro — to the door!
See that none pass — arrest this man! — —
Enter Antonio and other armed Domestics, who seize Bertram.
Lioni (continues). Take care
He hath no harm; bring me my sword and cloak, 330
And man the gondola with four oars — quick —
[Exit Antonio.
We will unto Giovanni Gradenigo’s,
And send for Marc Cornaro: — fear not, Bertram;
This needful violence is for thy safety,
No less than for the general weal.
Ber. Where wouldst thou
Bear me a prisoner?
Lioni. Firstly to “the Ten;”
Next to the Doge.
Ber. To the Doge?
Lioni. Assuredly:
Is he not Chief of the State?
Ber. Perhaps at sunrise —
Lioni. What mean you? — but we’ll know anon.
Ber. Art sure?
Lioni. Sure as all gentle means can make; and if 340
They fail, you know “the Ten” and their tribunal,
And that St. Mark’s has dungeons, and the dungeons
A rack.
Ber. Apply it then before the dawn
Now hastening into heaven. — One more such word,
And you shall perish piecemeal, by the death
You think to doom to me.
Re-enter Antonio.
Ant. The bark is ready,
My Lord, and all prepared.
Lioni. Look to the prisoner.
Bertram, I’ll reason with thee as we go
To the Magnifico’s, sage Gradenigo. [Exeunt.
Scene II. — The Ducal Palace — The Doge’s Apartment.
The Doge and his Nephew Bertuccio Faliero.
Doge. Are all the people of our house in muster?
Ber. F. They are arrayed, and eager for the signal,
Within our palace precincts at San Polo:
I come for your last orders.
Doge. It had been
As well had there been time to have got together,
From my own fief, Val di Marino, more
Of our retainers — but it is too late.
Ber. F. Methinks, my Lord,’tis better as it is:
A sudden swelling of our retinue
Had waked suspicion; and, though fierce and trusty, 10
The vassals of that district are too rude
And quick in quarrel to have long maintained
The secret discipline we need for such
A service, till our foes are dealt upon.
Doge. True; but when once the signal has been given,
These are the men for such an enterprise;
These city slaves have all their private bias,
Their prejudice against or for this noble,
Which may induce them to o’erdo or spare
Where mercy may be madness; the fierce peasants, 20
Serfs of my county of Val di Marino,
Would do the bidding of their lord without
Distinguishing for love or hate his foes;
Alike to them Marcello or Cornaro,
A Gradenigo or a Foscari;
They are not used to start at those vain names,
Nor bow the knee before a civic Senate;
A chief in armour is their Suzerain,
And not a thing in robes.
Ber. F. We are enough;
And for the dispositions of our clients 30
Against the Senate I will answer.
Doge. Well,
The die is thrown; but for a warlike service,
Done in the field, commend me to my peasants:
They made the sun shine through the host of Huns
When sallow burghers slunk back to their tents,
And cowered to hear their own victorious trumpet.
If there be small resistance, you will find
These Citizens all Lions, like their Standard;
But if there’s much to do, you’ll wish, with me,
A band of iron rustics at our backs. 40
Ber. Thus thinking, I must marvel you resolve
To strike the blow so suddenly.
Doge. Such blows
Must be struck suddenly or never. When
I had o’ermastered the weak false remorse
Which yearned about my heart, too fondly yielding
A moment to the feelings of old days,
I was most fain to strike; and, firstly, that
I might not yield again to such emotions;
And, secondly, because of all these men,
Save Israel and Philip Calendaro, 50
I know not well the courage or the faith:
To-day might find ‘mongst them a traitor to us,
As yesterday a thousand to the Senate;
But once in, with their hilts hot in their hands,
They must on for their own sakes; one stroke struck,
And the mere instinct of the first-born Cain,
Which ever lurks somewhere in human hearts,
Though Circumstance may keep it in abeyance,
Will urge the rest on like to wolves; the sight
Of blood to crowds begets the thirst of more, 60
As the first wine-cup leads to the long revel;
And you will find a harder task to quell
Than urge them when they have commenced, but till
That moment, a mere voice, a straw, a shadow,
Are capable of turning them aside. —
How goes the night?
Ber. F. Almost upon the dawn.
Doge. Then it is time to strike upon the bell.
Are the men posted?
Ber. F. By this time they are;
But they have orders not to strike, until
They have command from you through me in person. 70
Doge. ‘Tis well. — Will the morn never put to rest
These stars which twinkle yet o’er all the heavens?
I am settled and bound up, and being so,
The very effort which it cost me to
Resolve to cleanse this Commonwealth with fire,
Now leaves my mind more steady. I have wept,
And trembled at the thought of this dread duty;
But now I have put down all idle passion,
And look the growing tempest in the face,
As doth the pilot of an Admiral Galley: 80
Yet (wouldst thou think it, kinsman?) it hath been
A greater struggle to me, than when nations
Beheld their fate merged in the approaching fight,
Thousands were sure to perish — Yes, to spill
The rank polluted current from the veins
Of a few bloated despots needed more
To steel me to a purpose such as made
Timoleon immortal, than to face
The toils and dangers of a life of war. 90
Ber. F. It gladdens me to see your former wisdom
Subdue the furies which so wrung you ere
You were decided.
Doge. It was ever thus
With me; the hour of agitation came
In the first glimmerings of a purpose, when
Passion had too much room to sway; but in
The hour of action I have stood as calm
As were the dead who lay around me: this
They knew who made me what I am, and trusted
To the subduing power which I preserved 100
Over my mood, when its first burst was spent.
But they were not aware that there are things
Which make revenge a virtue by reflection,
And not an impulse of mere anger; though
The laws sleep, Justice wakes, and injured souls
Oft do a public right with private wrong,
And justify their deeds unto themselves. —
Methinks the day breaks — is it not so? look,
Thine eyes are clear with youth; — the air puts on
A morning freshness, and, at least to me, 110
The sea looks greyer through the lattice.
Ber. F. True,
The morn is dappling in the sky.
Doge. Away then!
See that they strike without delay, and with
The first toll from St. Mark’s, march on the palace
With all our House’s strength; here I will meet you;
The Sixteen and their companies will move
In separate columns at the self-same moment:
Be sure you post yourself at the great Gate:
I would not trust “the Ten” except to us —
The rest, the rabble of patricians, may 120
Glut the more careless swords of those leagued with us.
Remember that the cry is still “Saint Mark!
The Genoese are come — ho! to the rescue!
Saint Mark and Liberty!” — Now — now to action!
Ber. F. Farewell then, noble Uncle! we will meet
In freedom and true sovereignty, or never!
Doge. Come hither, my Bertuccio — one embrace;
Speed, for the day grows broader; send me soon
A messenger to tell me how all goes
When you rejoin our troops, and then sound — sound 130
The storm-bell from St. Mark’s!
[Exit Bertuccio Faliero.
Doge (solus). He is gone,
And on each footstep moves a life. ‘Tis done.
Now the destroying Angel hovers o’er
Venice, and pauses ere he pours the vial,
Even as the eagle overlooks his prey,
And for a moment, poised in middle air,
Suspends the motion of his mighty wings,
Then swoops with his unerring beak. Thou Day!
That slowly walk’st the waters! march — march on —
I would not smite i’ the dark, but rather see 140
That no stroke errs. And you, ye blue sea waves!
I have seen you dyed ere now, and deeply too,
With Genoese, Saracen, and Hunnish gore,
While that of Venice flowed too, but victorious:
Now thou must wear an unmixed crimson; no
Barbaric blood can reconcile us now
Unto that horrible incarnadine,
But friend or foe will roll in civic slaughter.
And have I lived to fourscore years for this?
I, who was named Preserver of the City? 150
I, at whose name the million’s caps were flung
Into the air, and cries from tens of thousands
Rose up, imploring Heaven to send me blessings,
And fame, and length of days — to see this day?
But this day, black within the calendar,
Shall be succeeded by a bright millennium.
Doge Dandolo survived to ninety summers
To vanquish empires, and refuse their crown;
I will resign a crown, and make the State
Renew its freedom — but oh! by what means? 160
The noble end must justify them. What
Are a few drops of human blood? ‘tis false,
The blood of tyrants is not human; they,
Like to incarnate Molochs, feed on ours,
Until ‘tis time to give them to the tombs
Which they have made so populous. — Oh World!
Oh Men! what are ye, and our best designs,
That we must work by crime to punish crime?
And slay as if Death had but this one gate,
When a few years would make the sword superfluous? 170
And I, upon the verge of th’ unknown realm,
Yet send so many heralds on before me? —
I must not ponder this. [A pause.
Hark! was there not
A murmur as of distant voices, and
The tramp of feet in martial unison?
What phantoms even of sound our wishes raise!
It cannot be — the signal hath not rung —
Why pauses it? My nephew’s messenger
Should be upon his way to me, and he
Himself perhaps even now draws grating back 180
Upon its ponderous hinge the steep tower portal,
Where swings the sullen huge oracular bell,
Which never knells but for a princely death,
Or for a state in peril, pealing forth
Tremendous bodements; let it do its office,
And be this peal its awfullest and last
Sound till the strong tower rock! — What! silent still?
I would go forth, but that my post is here,
To be the centre of re-union to
The oft discordant elements which form 190
Leagues of this nature, and to keep compact
The wavering of the weak, in case of conflict;
For if they should do battle,’twill be here,
Within the palace, that the strife will thicken:
Then here must be my station, as becomes
The master-mover. — Hark! he comes — he comes,
My nephew, brave Bertuccio’s messenger. —
What tidings? Is he marching? hath he sped?
They here!-all’s lost-yet will I make an effort.
Enter a Signor of the Night, with Guards, etc., etc.
Sig. Doge, I arrest thee of high treason!
Doge. Me! 200
Thy Prince, of treason? — Who are they that dare
Cloak their own treason under such an order?
Sig. (showing his order).
Behold my order from the assembled Ten.
Doge. And where are they, and why assembled? no
Such Council can be lawful, till the Prince
Preside there, and that duty’s mine: on thine
I charge thee, give me way, or marshal me
To the Council chamber.
Sig. Duke! it may not be:
Nor are they in the wonted Hall of Council,
But sitting in the convent of Saint Saviour’s. 210
Doge. You dare to disobey me, then?
Sig. I serve
The State, and needs must serve it faithfully;
My warrant is the will of those who rule it.
Doge. And till that warrant has my signature
It is illegal, and, as now applied,
Rebellious. Hast thou weighed well thy life’s worth,
; That thus you dare assume a lawless function?
Sig. ‘Tis not my office to reply, but act —
I am placed here as guard upon thy person,
And not as judge to hear or to decide. 220
Doge (aside).
I must gain time. So that the storm-bell sound,
All may be well yet. Kinsman, speed — speed — speed! —
Our fate is trembling in the balance, and
Woe to the vanquished! be they Prince and people,
Or slaves and Senate —
[The great bell of St. Mark’s tolls.
Lo! it sounds — it tolls!
Doge (aloud).
Hark, Signor of the Night! and you, ye hirelings,
Who wield your mercenary staves in fear,
It is your knell. — Swell on, thou lusty peal!
Now, knaves, what ransom for your lives?
Sig. Confusion!
Stand to your arms, and guard the door — all’s lost 230
Unless that fearful bell be silenced soon.
The officer hath missed his path or purpose,
Or met some unforeseen and hideous obstacle,
Anselmo, with thy company proceed
Straight to the tower; the rest remain with me.
[Exit part of the Guard.
Doge. Wretch! 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;