Have won with false dice.-Who hath been our | Proud Genoa's prouder rival. 'Tis to sap

Doge. Yes, and our spirits, which shall yet go To brave your judges to postpone the sentence? forth,

I. Ber. Do you be brief as I am, and believe me,

And do what our frail clay, thus clogg'd, hath I shall prefer that mercy to your pardon.

Stand good in law?

Ben.

Assuredly.

Cal.

Whoe'er

The culprit be whom I accuse of treason?

[Exeunt ISRAEL BERTUCCIO and PHILIP CAL ENDARO, Guards, &c.

Ben. Now that these criminals have been disposed of,

Ben. Without doubt, he will be brought up to "Tis time that we proceed to pass our sentence trial.

Cal. And on this testimony would he perish? Ben. So your confession be detail'd and full, He will stand here in peril of his life.

Cal. Then look well to thy proud self, President, For by the eternity which yawns before me,

I swear that thou, and only thou, shalt be

The traitor I denounce upon that rack,

If I be stretch'd there for the second time.

Upon the greatest traitor upon record

In any annals, the Doge Faliero!

The proofs and process are complete; the time
And crime require a quick procedure: shall
He now be call'd in to receive the award?
The Giunta. Ay, ay.
Ben.

Avogadori, order that the Doge
Be brought before the Council.
One of the Giunta.

One of the Giunta. Lord President, 'twere best When shall they be brought up?

proceed to judgment;

There is no more to be drawn from these men.

Ben. Unhappy men! prepare for instant death. The nature of your crime-our law-and peril

And the rest,

Ben.
When all the chiefs
Have been disposed of. Some have fled to Chiozza;
But there are thousands in pursuit of them,
And such precaution ta'en on terra firma,

The state now stands in, leave not an hour's respite-As well as in the islands, that we hope

Guards! lead them forth, and upon the balcony
Of the red columns, where, on festal Thursday,
The Doge stands to behold the chase of bulls,
Let them be justified; and leave exposed
Their wavering relics, in the place of judgment,
To the full view of the assembled people!-
And heaven have mercy on their souls!
The Giunta.

Amen!

I. Ber. Signors, farewell! we shall not all again Meet in one place.

Ben.

None will escape to utter in strange lands
His libellous tale of treason 'gainst the senate.
Enter the DOGE as Prisoner, with Guards, &c., &c.

Ben. Doge for such still you are, and by the law
Must be consider'd, till the hour shall come
When you must doff the ducal bonnet from
That head, which could not wear a crown more
noble

Than empires can confer, in quiet honor,
But it must plot to overthrow your peers,
Who made you what you are, and quench in blood
A city's glory-we have laid already
Before you in your chamber at full length,
What! must we By the Avogadori, all the proofs

And lest they should essay
To stir up the distracted multitude-
Guards! let their mouths be gagg'd, even in the act
Of execution. Lead them hence!
Cal.

Not even say farewell to some fond friend,
Nor leave a last word with our confessor ?
Ben. A priest is waiting in the antechamber;
But, for your friends, such interviews would be
Painful to them, and useless all to you.

Cal. I knew that we were gagg'd in life; at least
All those who had not heart to risk their lives
Upon their open thoughts; but still I deem'd
That, in the last few moments, the same idle
Freedom of speech accorded to the dying,
Would not now be denied to us; but since

1. Ber. Even let them have their way, brave Cal-
endaro !

What matter a few syllables? let's die
Without the slightest show of favor from them;
So shall our blood more readily arise
To heaven against them, and more testify
To their atrocities, than could a volume
Spoken or written of our dying words!
They tremble at our voices-nay, they dread
Our very silence-let them live in fear!-
Leave them unto their thoughts, and let us now
Address our own above!-Lead on; we are ready.
Cal. Israel, hadst thou but hearken'd unto me
It had not now been thus; and yon pale villain,
The coward Bertram, would―

I. Ber.
Peace, Calendaro!
What brooks it now to ponder upon this?

Your chief accomplices
Having confess'd, there is no hope for you.
Doge. And who be they?

Ben.

In number many; but
The first now stands before you in the court,
Bertram, of Bergamo,-would you question him?
Doge, (looking at him contemptuously.) No.
Ben.
And two others, Israel Bertuccio,
And Philip Calendaro, have admitted
Their fellowship in treason with the Doge!
Doge. And where are they?
Ben.
Gone to their place, and now
Answering to Heaven for what they did on earth.
Doge. Ah! the plebeian Brutus, is he gone?
And the quick Cassius of the arsenal?—
How did they meet their doom?

Can recognize your legal power to try me
Show me the law!

Ben.

On great emergencies,

The law must be remodell'd or amended:
Our fathers had not fix'd the punishment
Of such a crime, as on the old Roman tables
The sentence against parricide was left
In pure forgetfulness; they could not render
That penal, which had neither name nor thought
In their great bosoms: who would have foreseen
That nature could be filed to such a crime

The price of such success would have been glory,
Vengeance, and victory, and such a name
As would have made Venetian history
Rival to that of Greece and Syracuse

When they were freed, and flourish'd ages after,
And mine to Gelon and to Thrasybulus :--
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;

As sons 'gainst sires, and princes 'gainst their My life is staked upon a mighty hazard,
realms ?

Your sin hath made us make a law which will
Become a precedent 'gainst such haught traitors,
As would with treason mount to tyranny;
Not even contented with a sceptre, till
They can convert it to a two-edged sword!
Was not the place of Doge sufficient for ye?
What's nobler than the signory of Venice?

Doge. The signory of Venice! You betray'd
You-you, who sit there, traitors as ye are !
From my equality with you in birth,
And my superiority in action,
You drew me from my honorable toils

In distant lands-on flood-in field-in cities-
You singled me out like a victim to

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.
Ben. You do confess, then, and adinit the justice
Of our tribunal ?

Doge.
I confess to have fail'd;
Fortune is female: from my youth her favore
me-Were not withheld; the fault was mine to hope
Her former smiles again at this late hour.

Stand crown'd, but bound and helpless, at the altar
Where you alone could minister. I knew not-
I sought not-wish'd not-dream'd not the election,
Which reach'd me first at Rome, and I obey'd;
But found on my arrival, that, besides
The jealous vigilance which always led you
To mock and mar your sovereign's best intents,
You had, even in the interregnum of
My journey to the capital, curtail'd
And mutilated the few privileges

Yet left the duke: all this I bore, and would
Have borne, until my very hearth was stain'd
By the pollution of your ribaldry,
And he, the ribald, whom I see among you-
Fit judge in such tribunal!-

Ben. (interrupting him.) Michel Steno
Is here in virtue of his office, as
One of the Forty; "the Ten" having craved
A Giunta of patricians from the senate
To aid our judgment in a trial arduous
And novel as the present: he was set
Free from the penalty pronounced upon him,
Because the Doge, who should protect the law,
Seeking to abrogate all law, can claim
No punishment of others by the statutes
Which he himself denies and violates!

Doge. His PUNISHMENT! I rather see him there,
Where he now sits, to glut him with my death,
T'han in the mockery of castigation,
Which your foul, outward, juggling show of justice
Decreed as sentence! Base as was his crime,
'Twas purity compared with your protection.

Ben. And can it be, that the great Doge of Venice,
With three parts of a century of years
And honors on his head, could thus allow
His fury, like an angry boy's, to master
All feeling, wisdom, faith, and fear, on such
A provocation as a young man's petulance?

Doge. A spark creates the flame-'tis the last drop
Which makes the cup run over, and mine was full
Already: you oppress'd the prince and people;
I would have freed both, and have fail'd in both :

Ben. You do not then in aught arraign our equity?
Doge. Noble Venetians! stir me not with

questions.

I am resign'd 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

There were no other way for truth to o'erleap them,
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,
And oftentimes avenge them; bury mine,
If ye would fain survive me: take this counsel,
And though too oft ye made 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.
Doge. The torture! you have put me there already
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. Noble Venetians! Duchess Faliero
Requests admission to the Giunta's presence.
Ben. Say, conscript fathers,8 shall she be ad-
mitted?

One of the Giunta. She may have revelations of
importance

Is this the general will?

Unto the state, to justify compliance
With her request.
Ben.
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 honor, 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.

Ang.

Alas!

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-
The mighty in the field, the sage in council;
Unsay the words of this man!-Thou art silent!
Ben. He hath already own'd to his own guilt,
Nor, as thou see'st, doth he deny it now.

Ang. Ay, 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 lustres crowded with brave acts.
Ben. His doom must be fulfill'd without remission
Of time or penalty-'tis a decree.

Ang. (turning to the Doge.) Then die, Faliero !
since it must be so;

But with the spirit of my father's friend.
Thou hast been guilty of a great offence,
Half cancell'd by the harshness of these men.

I would have sued to them-have pray'd to them-
Have begg'd as famish'd mendicants for bread-
Have wept as they will cry unto their God
For mercy,
and be answer'd 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.
Then, as a prince, address thee to thy doom!

Doge. I have lived too long not to know how to

A word with thee, and with this noble lady,
Whom I have grievously offended. Would
Sorrow, or shame, or penance on my part,
Could cancel the inexorable past!

But since that cannot be, as Christians let us
Say farewell, and in peace: with full contrition
I crave, not pardon, but compassion from you,
And give, however weak, my prayers for both.

Ang. Sage Benitende, now chief judge of Venice,
I speak to thee in answer to yon signor.
Inform the ribald Steno, that his words
Ne'er weigh'd in mind with Loredano's daughter
Further than to create a moment's pity
For such as he is: would that others had
Despised him as I pity! I prefer
My honor to a thousand lives, could such
Be multiplied in mine, but would not have
A single life of others lost for that
Which nothing human can impugn—the sense
Of virtue, looking not to what is call'd
A good name for reward, but to itself.

Ang. He hath been guilty, but there may be To me the scorner's words were as the wind

Unto the rock but as there are-alas!
Spirits more sensitive, on which such things
Alas! signor, Light as the whirlwind on the waters; souls
To whom dishonor's shadow is a substance