_Doge_. You overrate my power, which is a pageant.
This Cap is not the Monarch"s crown; these robes Might move compa.s.sion, like a beggar"s rags; Nay, more, a beggar"s are his own, and these But lent to the poor puppet, who must play Its part with all its empire in this ermine.
_I. Ber_. Wouldst thou be King?
_Doge_. Yes--of a happy people.
_I. Ber_. Wouldst thou be sovereign lord of Venice?
_Doge_. Aye, If that the people shared that sovereignty, So that nor they nor I were further slaves 420 To this o"ergrown aristocratic Hydra,[394]
The poisonous heads of whose envenomed body Have breathed a pestilence upon us all.
_I. Ber_. Yet, thou wast born, and still hast lived, patrician.
_Doge_. In evil hour was I so born; my birth Hath made me Doge to be insulted: but I lived and toiled a soldier and a servant Of Venice and her people, not the Senate; Their good and my own honour were my guerdon.
I have fought and bled; commanded, aye, and conquered; 430 Have made and marred peace oft in emba.s.sies, As it might chance to be our country"s "vantage; Have traversed land and sea in constant duty, Through almost sixty years, and still for Venice, My fathers" and my birthplace, whose dear spires, Rising at distance o"er the blue Lagoon, It was reward enough for me to view Once more; but not for any knot of men, Nor sect, nor faction, did I bleed or sweat!
But would you know why I have done all this? 440 Ask of the bleeding pelican why she Hath ripped her bosom? Had the bird a voice, She"d tell thee "twas for _all_ her little ones.
_I. Ber_. And yet they made thee Duke.
_Doge_. _They made_ me so; I sought it not, the flattering fetters met me Returning from my Roman emba.s.sy, And never having hitherto refused Toil, charge, or duty for the state, I did not, At these late years, decline what was the highest Of all in seeming, but of all most base 450 In what we have to do and to endure: Bear witness for me thou, my injured subject, When I can neither right myself nor thee.
_I. Ber_. You shall do both, if you possess the will; And many thousands more not less oppressed, Who wait but for a signal--will you give it?
_Doge_. You speak in riddles.
_I. Ber_. Which shall soon be read At peril of my life--if you disdain not To lend a patient ear.
_Doge_. Say on.
_I. Ber_. Not thou, Nor I alone, are injured and abused, 460 Contemned and trampled on; but the whole people Groan with the strong conception of their wrongs: The foreign soldiers in the Senate"s pay Are discontented for their long arrears; The native mariners, and civic troops, Feel with their friends; for who is he amongst them Whose brethren, parents, children, wives, or sisters, Have not partook[395] oppression, or pollution, From the patricians? And the hopeless war Against the Genoese, which is still maintained 470 With the plebeian blood, and treasure wrung From their hard earnings, has inflamed them further: Even now--but, I forget that speaking thus, Perhaps I pa.s.s the sentence of my death!
_Doge_. And suffering what thou hast done--fear"st thou death?
Be silent then, and live on, to be beaten By those for whom thou hast bled.
_I. Ber_. No, I will speak At every hazard; and if Venice" Doge Should turn delator, be the shame on him, And sorrow too; for he will lose far more 480 Than I.
_Doge_. From me fear nothing; out with it!
_I. Ber_. Know then, that there are met and sworn in secret A band of brethren, valiant hearts and true; Men who have proved all fortunes, and have long Grieved over that of Venice, and have right To do so; having served her in all climes, And having rescued her from foreign foes, Would do the same from those within her walls.
They are not numerous, nor yet too few For their great purpose; they have arms, and means, 490 And hearts, and hopes, and faith, and patient courage.
_Doge_. For what then do they pause?
_I. Ber_. An hour to strike.
_Doge_ (_aside_). Saint Mark"s shall strike that hour![396]
_I. Ber_. I now have placed My life, my honour, all my earthly hopes Within thy power, but in the firm belief That injuries like ours, sprung from one cause, Will generate one vengeance: should it be so, Be our Chief now--our Sovereign hereafter.
_Doge_. How many are ye?
_I. Ber_. I"ll not answer that Till I am answered.
_Doge_. How, sir! do you menace? 500
_I. Ber_. No; I affirm. I have betrayed myself; But there"s no torture in the mystic wells Which undermine your palace, nor in those Not less appalling cells, the "leaden roofs,"
To force a single name from me of others.
The Pozzi[397] and the Piombi were in vain; They might wring blood from me, but treachery never.
And I would pa.s.s the fearful "Bridge of Sighs,"
Joyous that mine must be the last that e"er Would echo o"er the Stygian wave which flows 510 Between the murderers and the murdered, washing The prison and the palace walls: there are Those who would live to think on"t, and avenge me.
_Doge_. If such your power and purpose, why come here To sue for justice, being in the course To do yourself due right?
_I. Ber_. Because the man, Who claims protection from authority, Showing his confidence and his submission To that authority, can hardly be Suspected of combining to destroy it. 520 Had I sate down too humbly with this blow, A moody brow and muttered threats had made me A marked man to the Forty"s inquisition; But loud complaint, however angrily It shapes its phrase, is little to be feared, And less distrusted. But, besides all this, I had another reason.
_Doge_. What was that?
_I. Ber_. Some rumours that the Doge was greatly moved By the reference of the Avogadori Of Michel Steno"s sentence to the Forty 530 Had reached me. I had served you, honoured you, And felt that you were dangerously insulted, Being of an order of such spirits, as Requite tenfold both good and evil: "twas My wish to prove and urge you to redress.
Now you know all; and that I speak the truth, My peril be the proof.
_Doge_. You have deeply ventured; But all must do so who would greatly win: Thus far I"ll answer you--your secret"s safe.
_I. Ber_. And is this all?
_Doge_. Unless with all intrusted, 540 What would you have me answer?
_I. Ber_. I would have you Trust him who leaves his life in trust with you.
_Doge_. But I must know your plan, your names, and numbers; The last may then be doubled, and the former Matured and strengthened.
_I. Ber_. We"re enough already; You are the sole ally we covet now.
_Doge_. But bring me to the knowledge of your chiefs.
_I. Ber_. That shall be done upon your formal pledge To keep the faith that we will pledge to you.
_Doge_. When? where?
_I. Ber_. This night I"ll bring to your apartment 550 Two of the princ.i.p.als: a greater number Were hazardous.
_Doge_. Stay, I must think of this.-- What if I were to trust myself amongst you, And leave the palace?
_I. Ber_. You must come alone.
_Doge_. With but my nephew.
_I. Ber_. Not were he your son!