_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_. n.o.ble 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_. n.o.ble Venetians! d.u.c.h.ess 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_ d.u.c.h.eSS _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 G.o.d! this is the silence of the grave!
_Ben_. (_after a pause_). Spare us, and spare thyself the repet.i.tion 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 l.u.s.tres 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 p.r.o.nounce 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 G.o.d 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!