The Works of Lord Byron Volume V Part 38

The proof is--your existence.

_Lor._ I fear not.

_Doge_. You have no cause, being what I am; but were I That you would have me thought, you long ere now Were past the sense of fear. Hate on; I care not.

_Lor._ I never yet knew that a n.o.ble's life In Venice had to dread a Doge's frown, That is, by open means.

_Doge_. But I, good Signor, 240 Am, or at least _was_, more than a mere duke, In blood, in mind, in means; and that they know Who dreaded to elect me, and have since Striven all they dare to weigh me down: be sure, Before or since that period, had I held you At so much price as to require your absence, A word of mine had set such spirits to work As would have made you nothing. But in all things I have observed the strictest reverence; Not for the laws alone, for those _you_ have strained 250 (I do not speak of _you_ but as a single Voice of the many) somewhat beyond what I could enforce for my authority, Were I disposed to brawl; but, as I said, I have observed with veneration, like A priest's for the High Altar, even unto The sacrifice of my own blood and quiet, Safety, and all save honour, the decrees, The health, the pride, and welfare of the State.

And now, sir, to your business.

_Lor._ 'Tis decreed, 260 That, without further repet.i.tion of The Question, or continuance of the trial, Which only tends to show how stubborn guilt is, ("The Ten," dispensing with the stricter law Which still prescribes the Question till a full Confession, and the prisoner partly having Avowed his crime in not denying that The letter to the Duke of Milan's his), James Foscari return to banishment, And sail in the same galley which conveyed him. 270

_Mar._ Thank G.o.d! At least they will not drag him more Before that horrible tribunal. Would he But think so, to my mind the happiest doom, Not he alone, but all who dwell here, could Desire, were to escape from such a land.

_Doge_. That is not a Venetian thought, my daughter.

_Mar._ No, 'twas too human. May I share his exile?

_Lor._ Of this "the Ten" said nothing.

_Mar._ So I thought!

That were too human, also. But it was not Inhibited?

_Lor._ It was not named.

_Mar. (to the Doge_). Then, father, 280 Surely you can obtain or grant me thus much: [_To_ LOREDANO.

And you, sir, not oppose my prayer to be Permitted to accompany my husband.

_Doge_. I will endeavour.

_Mar._ And you, Signor?

_Lor._ Lady!

'Tis not for me to antic.i.p.ate the pleasure Of the tribunal.

_Mar._ Pleasure! what a word To use for the decrees of----

_Doge_. Daughter, know you In what a presence you p.r.o.nounce these things?

_Mar._ A Prince's and his subject's.

_Lor._ Subject!

_Mar._ Oh!

It galls you:--well, you are his equal, as 290 You think; but that you are not, nor would be, Were he a peasant:--well, then, you're a Prince, A princely n.o.ble; and what then am I?

_Lor._ The offspring of a n.o.ble house.

_Mar._ And wedded To one as n.o.ble. What, or whose, then, is The presence that should silence my free thoughts?

_Lor._ The presence of your husband's Judges.

_Doge_. And The deference due even to the lightest word That falls from those who rule in Venice.

_Mar._ Keep Those maxims for your ma.s.s of scared mechanics, 300 Your merchants, your Dalmatian and Greek slaves, Your tributaries, your dumb citizens, And masked n.o.bility, your sbirri, and Your spies, your galley and your other slaves, To whom your midnight carryings off and drownings, Your dungeons next the palace roofs, or under The water's level;[55] your mysterious meetings, And unknown dooms, and sudden executions, Your "Bridge of Sighs," your strangling chamber, and Your torturing instruments, have made ye seem 310 The beings of another and worse world!

Keep such for them: I fear ye not. I know ye;[be]

Have known and proved your worst, in the infernal Process of my poor husband! Treat me as Ye treated him:--you did so, in so dealing With him. Then what have I to fear _from_ you, Even if I were of fearful nature, which I trust I am not?

_Doge_. You hear, she speaks wildly.

_Mar._ Not wisely, yet not wildly.

_Lor._ Lady! words Uttered within these walls I bear no further 320 Than to the threshold, saving such as pa.s.s Between the Duke and me on the State's service.

Doge! have you aught in answer?

_Doge_. Something from The Doge; it may be also from a parent.

_Lor._ My mission _here_ is to the _Doge_.

_Doge_. Then say The Doge will choose his own amba.s.sador, Or state in person what is meet; and for The father----

_Lor._ I remember _mine_.--Farewell!

I kiss the hands of the ill.u.s.trious Lady, And bow me to the Duke. [_Exit_ LOREDANO.

_Mar._ Are you content? 330

_Doge_. I am what you behold.

_Mar._ And that's a mystery.

_Doge_. All things are so to mortals; who can read them Save he who made? or, if they can, the few And gifted spirits, who have studied long That loathsome volume--man, and pored upon Those black and b.l.o.o.d.y leaves, his heart and brain,[bf]

But learn a magic which recoils upon The adept who pursues it: all the sins We find in others, Nature made our own; All our advantages are those of Fortune; 340 Birth, wealth, health, beauty, are her accidents, And when we cry out against Fate, 'twere well We should remember Fortune can take nought Save what she _gave_--the rest was nakedness, And l.u.s.ts, and appet.i.tes, and vanities, The universal heritage, to battle With as we may, and least in humblest stations,[bg]

Where Hunger swallows all in one low want,[bh]

And the original ordinance, that man Must sweat for his poor pittance, keeps all pa.s.sions 350 Aloof, save fear of famine! All is low, And false, and hollow--clay from first to last, The Prince's urn no less than potter's vessel.

Our Fame is in men's breath, our lives upon Less than their breath; our durance upon days[bi]

Our days on seasons; our whole being on Something which is not _us_![56]--So, we are slaves, The greatest as the meanest--nothing rests Upon our will; the will itself no less[bj]

Depends upon a straw than on a storm; 360 And when we think we lead, we are most led,[57]

And still towards Death, a thing which comes as much Without our act or choice as birth, so that Methinks we must have sinned in some old world, And _this_ is h.e.l.l: the best is, that it is not Eternal.

_Mar._ These are things we cannot judge On earth.

_Doge_. And how then shall we judge each other, Who are all earth, and I, who am called upon To judge my son? I have administered My country faithfully--victoriously-- 370 I dare them to the proof, the _chart_ of what She was and is: my reign has doubled realms; And, in reward, the grat.i.tude of Venice Has left, or is about to leave, _me_ single.

_Mar._ And Foscari? I do not think of such things, So I be left with him.

_Doge_. You shall be so; Thus much they cannot well deny.

_Mar._ And if They should, I will fly with him.