The Works of Lord Byron Volume IV Part 65

Without its virtues--temperance and valour.

The Lords of Lacedaemon were true soldiers,[ds]

But ours are Sybarites, while we are Helots, 160 Of whom I am the lowest, most enslaved; Although dressed out to head a pageant, as The Greeks of yore made drunk their slaves to form A pastime for their children. You are met To overthrow this Monster of a state, This mockery of a Government, this spectre, Which must be exorcised with blood,--and then We will renew the times of Truth and Justice, Condensing in a fair free commonwealth Not rash equality but equal rights, 170 Proportioned like the columns to the temple, Giving and taking strength reciprocal, And making firm the whole with grace and beauty, So that no part could be removed without Infringement of the general symmetry.

In operating this great change, I claim To be one of you--if you trust in me; If not, strike home,--my life is compromised, And I would rather fall by freemen's hands Than live another day to act the tyrant 180 As delegate of tyrants: such I am not, And never have been--read it in our annals; I can appeal to my past government In many lands and cities; they can tell you If I were an oppressor, or a man Feeling and thinking for my fellow men.

Haply had I been what the Senate sought, A thing of robes and trinkets,[423] dizened out To sit in state as for a Sovereign's picture; A popular scourge, a ready sentence-signer, 190 A stickler for the Senate and "the Forty,"

A sceptic of all measures which had not The sanction of "the Ten,"[424] a council-fawner, A tool--a fool--a puppet,--they had ne'er Fostered the wretch who stung me. What I suffer Has reached me through my pity for the people; That many know, and they who know not yet Will one day learn: meantime I do devote, Whate'er the issue, my last days of life-- My present power such as it is, not that 200 Of Doge, but of a man who has been great Before he was degraded to a Doge, And still has individual means and mind; I stake my fame (and I had fame)--my breath-- (The least of all, for its last hours are nigh) My heart--my hope--my soul--upon this cast!

Such as I am, I offer me to you And to your chiefs; accept me or reject me,-- A Prince who fain would be a Citizen Or nothing, and who has left his throne to be so. 210

_Cal_. Long live Faliero!--Venice shall be free!

_Consp_. Long live Faliero!

_I. Ber_. Comrades! did I well?

Is not this man a host in such a cause?

_Doge_. This is no time for eulogies, nor place For exultation. Am I one of you?

_Cal_. Aye, and the first among us, as thou hast been Of Venice--be our General and Chief.

_Doge_. Chief!--General!--I was General at Zara, And Chief in Rhodes and Cyprus,[425] Prince in Venice: I cannot stoop--that is, I am not fit 220 To lead a band of--patriots: when I lay Aside the dignities which I have borne, 'Tis not to put on others, but to be Mate to my fellows--but now to the point: Israel has stated to me your whole plan-- 'Tis bold, but feasible if I a.s.sist it, And must be set in motion instantly.

_Cal_. E'en when thou wilt. Is it not so, my friends?

I have disposed all for a sudden blow; When shall it be then?

_Doge_. At sunrise.

_Ber_. So soon? 230

_Doge_. So soon?--so late--each hour acc.u.mulates Peril on peril, and the more so now Since I have mingled with you;--know you not The Council, and "the Ten?" the spies, the eyes Of the patricians dubious of their slaves, And now more dubious of the Prince they have made one?

I tell you, you must strike, and suddenly, Full to the Hydra's heart--its heads will follow.

_Cal_. With all my soul and sword, I yield a.s.sent; Our companies are ready, sixty each, 240 And all now under arms by Israel's order; Each at their different place of rendezvous, And vigilant, expectant of some blow; Let each repair for action to his post!

And now, my Lord, the signal?

_Doge_. When you hear The great bell of Saint Mark's, which may not be Struck without special order of the Doge (The last poor privilege they leave their Prince), March on Saint Mark's!

_I. Ber_. And there?--

_Doge_. By different routes Let your march be directed, every sixty 250 Entering a separate avenue, and still Upon the way let your cry be of War And of the Genoese Fleet, by the first dawn Discerned before the port; form round the palace, Within whose court will be drawn out in arms My nephew and the clients of our house, Many and martial; while the bell tolls on, Shout ye, "Saint Mark!--the foe is on our waters!"

_Cal_. I see it now--but on, my n.o.ble Lord.

_Doge_. All the patricians flocking to the Council, 260 (Which they dare not refuse, at the dread signal Pealing from out their Patron Saint's proud tower,) Will then be gathered in unto the harvest, And we will reap them with the sword for sickle.

If some few should be tardy or absent, them, 'Twill be but to be taken faint and single, When the majority are put to rest.

_Cal_. Would that the hour were come! we will not scotch,[426]

But kill.

_Ber_. Once more, sir, with your pardon, I Would now repeat the question which I asked 270 Before Bertuccio added to our cause This great ally who renders it more sure, And therefore safer, and as such admits Some dawn of mercy to a portion of Our victims--must all perish in this slaughter?

_Cal_. All who encounter me and mine--be sure, The mercy they have shown, I show.

_Consp_. All! all!

Is this a time to talk of pity? when Have they e'er shown, or felt, or feigned it?

_I. Ber_. Bertram, This false compa.s.sion is a folly, and 280 Injustice to thy comrades and thy cause!

Dost thou not see, that if we single out Some for escape, they live but to avenge The fallen? and how distinguish now the innocent From out the guilty? all their acts are one-- A single emanation from one body, Together knit for our oppression! 'Tis Much that we let their children live; I doubt If all of these even should be set apart: The hunter may reserve some single cub 290 From out the tiger's litter, but who e'er Would seek to save the spotted sire or dam, Unless to perish by their fangs? however, I will abide by Doge Faliero's counsel: Let him decide if any should be saved.

_Doge_. Ask me not--tempt me not with such a question-- Decide yourselves.

_I. Ber_. You know their private virtues Far better than we can, to whom alone Their public vices, and most foul oppression, Have made them deadly; if there be amongst them 300 One who deserves to be repealed, p.r.o.nounce.

_Doge_. Dolfino's father was my friend, and Lando Fought by my side, and Marc Cornaro shared[dt][427]

My Genoese emba.s.sy: I saved the life[du]

Of Veniero--shall I save it twice?

Would that I could save them and Venice also!

All these men, or their fathers, were my friends Till they became my subjects; then fell from me As faithless leaves drop from the o'erblown flower, And left me a lone blighted th.o.r.n.y stalk, 310 Which, in its solitude, can shelter nothing; So, as they let me wither, let them perish!

_Cal_. They cannot co-exist with Venice' freedom!

_Doge_. Ye, though you know and feel our mutual ma.s.s Of many wrongs, even ye are ignorant[dv]

What fatal poison to the springs of Life, To human ties, and all that's good and dear, Lurks in the present inst.i.tutes of Venice: All these men were my friends; I loved them, they Requited honourably my regards; 320 We served and fought; we smiled and wept in concert; We revelled or we sorrowed side by side; We made alliances of blood and marriage; We grew in years and honours fairly,--till Their own desire, not my ambition, made Them choose me for their Prince, and then farewell!

Farewell all social memory! all thoughts In common! and sweet bonds which link old friendships, When the survivors of long years and actions, Which now belong to history, soothe the days 330 Which yet remain by treasuring each other, And never meet, but each beholds the mirror Of half a century on his brother's brow, And sees a hundred beings, now in earth, Flit round them whispering of the days gone by, And seeming not all dead, as long as two Of the brave, joyous, reckless, glorious band, Which once were one and many, still retain A breath to sigh for them, a tongue to speak Of deeds that else were silent, save on marble---- 340 _Oime Oime!_[428]--and must I do this deed?

_I. Ber_. My Lord, you are much moved: it is not now That such things must be dwelt upon.

_Doge_. Your patience A moment--I recede not: mark with me The gloomy vices of this government.

From the hour they made me Doge, the _Doge_ they _made_ me-- Farewell the past! I died to all that had been, Or rather they to me: no friends, no kindness, No privacy of life--all were cut off: They came not near me--such approach gave umbrage; 350 They could not love me--such was not the law; They thwarted me--'twas the state's policy; They baffled me--'twas a patrician's duty; They wronged me, for such was to right the state; They could not right me--that would give suspicion; So that I was a slave to my own subjects; So that I was a foe to my own friends; Begirt with spies for guards, with robes for power, With pomp for freedom, gaolers for a council, Inquisitors for friends, and h.e.l.l for life! 360 I had only one fount of quiet left, And _that_ they poisoned! My pure household G.o.ds[429]

Were shivered on my hearth, and o'er their shrine Sate grinning Ribaldry, and sneering Scorn.[dw]

_I. Ber_. You have been deeply wronged, and now shall be n.o.bly avenged before another night.

_Doge_. I had borne all--it hurt me, but I bore it-- Till this last running over of the cup Of bitterness--until this last loud insult, Not only unredressed, but sanctioned; then, 370 And thus, I cast all further feelings from me-- The feelings which they crushed for me, long, long[dx]

Before, even in their oath of false allegiance!

Even in that very hour and vow, they abjured Their friend and made a Sovereign, as boys make _Playthings_, to do their pleasure--and be broken![dy]

I from that hour have seen but Senators In dark suspicious conflict with the Doge, Brooding with him in mutual hate and fear; They dreading he should s.n.a.t.c.h the tyranny 380 From out their grasp, and he abhorring tyrants.

To me, then, these men have no _private_ life, Nor claim to ties they have cut off from others; As Senators for arbitrary acts Amenable, I look on them--as such Let them be dealt upon.

_Cal_. And now to action!

Hence, brethren, to our posts, and may this be The last night of mere words: I'd fain be doing!

Saint Mark's great bell at dawn shall find me wakeful!

_I. Ber_. Disperse then to your posts: be firm and vigilant; 390 Think on the wrongs we bear, the rights we claim.

This day and night shall be the last of peril!

Watch for the signal, and then march. I go To join my band; let each be prompt to marshal His separate charge: the Doge will now return To the palace to prepare all for the blow.

We part to meet in Freedom and in Glory!

_Cal_. Doge, when I greet you next, my homage to you Shall be the head of Steno on this sword!

_Doge_. No; let him be reserved unto the last, 400 Nor turn aside to strike at such a prey,[dz]