The Works of Lord Byron Volume V Part 37

_Doge_. Pitied! None Shall ever use that base word, with which men Cloak their soul's h.o.a.rded triumph, as a fit one To mingle with my name; that name shall be, As far as _I_ have borne it, what it was 150 When I received it.

_Mar._ But for the poor children Of him thou canst not, or thou wilt not save, You were the last to bear it.

_Doge_. Would it were so!

Better for him he never had been born; Better for me.--I have seen our house dishonoured.

_Mar._ That's false! A truer, n.o.bler, trustier heart, More loving, or more loyal, never beat Within a human breast. I would not change My exiled, persecuted, mangled husband, Oppressed but not disgraced, crushed, overwhelmed, 160 Alive, or dead, for Prince or Paladin In story or in fable, with a world To back his suit. Dishonoured!--_he_ dishonoured!

I tell thee, Doge, 'tis Venice is dishonoured; His name shall be her foulest, worst reproach, For what he suffers, not for what he did.

'Tis ye who are all traitors, Tyrant!--ye!

Did you but love your Country like this victim Who totters back in chains to tortures, and Submits to all things rather than to exile, 170 You'd fling yourselves before him, and implore His grace for your enormous guilt.

_Doge_. He was Indeed all you have said. I better bore The deaths of the two sons[52] Heaven took from me, Than Jacopo's disgrace.

_Mar._ That word again?

_Doge_. Has he not been condemned?

_Mar._ Is none but guilt so?

_Doge_. Time may restore his memory--I would hope so.

He was my pride, my----but 'tis useless now-- I am not given to tears, but wept for joy When he was born: those drops were ominous. 180

_Mar._ I say he's innocent! And were he not so, Is our own blood and kin to shrink from us In fatal moments?

_Doge_. I shrank not from him: But I have other duties than a father's; The state would not dispense me from those duties; Twice I demanded it, but was refused:[53]

They must then be fulfilled.

_Enter an Attendant_.

_Att._ A message from "The Ten."

_Doge_. Who bears it?

_Att._ n.o.ble Loredano.

_Doge_. He!--but admit him. [_Exit Attendant_.

_Mar._ Must I then retire?

_Doge_. Perhaps it is not requisite, if this 190 Concerns your husband, and if not----Well, Signor, [_To_ LOREDANO _entering_.

Your pleasure?

_Lor._ I bear that of "the Ten."

_Doge_. They Have chosen well their envoy.

_Lor._ 'Tis _their_ choice Which leads me here.

_Doge_. It does their wisdom honour, And no less to their courtesy.--Proceed.

_Lor._ We have decided.

_Doge_. We?

_Lor._ "The Ten" in council.

_Doge_. What! have they met again, and met without Apprising me?

_Lor._ They wished to spare your feelings, No less than age.

_Doge_. That's new--when spared they either?

I thank them, notwithstanding.

_Lor._ You know well 200 That they have power to act at their discretion, With or without the presence of the Doge.

_Doge_. 'Tis some years since I learned this, long before I became Doge, or dreamed of such advancement.

You need not school me, Signor; I sate in That Council when you were a young patrician.

_Lor._ True, in my father's time; I have heard him and The Admiral, his brother, say as much.

Your Highness may remember them; they both Died suddenly.[54]

_Doge_. And if they did so, better 210 So die than live on lingeringly in pain.

_Lor._ No doubt: yet most men like to live their days out.

_Doge_. And did not they?

_Lor._ The Grave knows best: they died, As I said, suddenly.

_Doge_. Is that so strange, That you repeat the word emphatically?

_Lor._ So far from strange, that never was there death In my mind half so natural as theirs.

Think _you_ not so?

_Doge_. What should I think of mortals?

_Lor._ That they have mortal foes.

_Doge_. I understand you; Your sires were mine, and you are heir in all things. 220

_Lor._ You best know if I should be so.

_Doge_. I do.

Your fathers were my foes, and I have heard Foul rumours were abroad; I have also read Their epitaph, attributing their deaths To poison. 'Tis perhaps as true as most Inscriptions upon tombs, and yet no less A fable.

_Lor._ Who dares say so?

_Doge_. I!----'Tis true Your fathers were mine enemies, as bitter As their son e'er can be, and I no less Was theirs; but I was _openly_ their foe: 230 I never worked by plot in Council, nor Cabal in commonwealth, nor secret means Of practice against life by steel or drug.