The Works of Lord Byron Volume IV Part 73

Thy suing to these men were but the bleating Of the lamb to the butcher, or the cry Of seamen to the surge: I would not take A life eternal, granted at the hands Of wretches, from whose monstrous villanies I sought to free the groaning nations!

_Michel Steno_. Doge, A word with thee, and with this n.o.ble lady, Whom I have grievously offended. Would 400 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 compa.s.sion from you, And give, however weak, my prayers for both.

_Ang_. Sage Benintende, now chief Judge of Venice, I speak to thee in answer to yon Signor.

Inform the ribald Steno, that his words Ne'er weighed in mind with Loredano's daughter, 410 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 honour 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 called A good name for reward, but to itself.

To me the scorner's words were as the wind 420 Unto the rock: but as there are--alas!

Spirits more sensitive, on which such things Light as the Whirlwind on the waters; souls To whom Dishonour's shadow is a substance More terrible than Death, here and hereafter; Men whose vice is to start at Vice's scoffing, And who, though proof against all blandishments Of pleasure, and all pangs of Pain, are feeble When the proud name on which they pinnacled Their hopes is breathed on, jealous as the eagle 430 Of her high aiery;[459] let what we now[fj]

Behold, and feel, and suffer, be a lesson To wretches how they tamper in their spleen With beings of a higher order. Insects Have made the lion mad ere now; a shaft I' the heel o'erthrew the bravest of the brave; A wife's Dishonour was the bane of Troy; A wife's Dishonour unkinged Rome for ever; An injured husband brought the Gauls to Clusium, And thence to Rome, which perished for a time; 440 An obscene gesture cost Caligula[460]

His life, while Earth yet bore his cruelties; A virgin's wrong made Spain a Moorish province; And Steno's lie, couched in two worthless lines, Hath decimated Venice, put in peril A Senate which hath stood eight hundred years, Discrowned a Prince, cut off his crownless head, And forged new fetters for a groaning people!

Let the poor wretch, like to the courtesan[461]

Who fired Persepolis, be proud of this, 450 If it so please him--'twere a pride fit for him!

But let him not insult the last hours of Him, who, whate'er he now is, _was_ a Hero, By the intrusion of his very prayers; Nothing of good can come from such a source, Nor would we aught with him, nor now, nor ever: We leave him to himself, that lowest depth Of human baseness. Pardon is for men, And not for reptiles--we have none for Steno, And no resentment: things like him must sting, 460 And higher beings suffer; 'tis the charter Of Life. The man who dies by the adder's fang May have the crawler crushed, but feels no anger: 'Twas the worm's nature; and some men are worms In soul, more than the living things of tombs.[462]

_Doge_ (_to Ben._).

Signor! complete that which you deem your duty.[fk]

_Ben_. Before we can proceed upon that duty, We would request the Princess to withdraw; 'Twill move her too much to be witness to it.

_Ang_. I know it will, and yet I must endure it, 470 For 'tis a part of mine--I will not quit, Except by force, my husband's side--Proceed!

Nay, fear not either shriek, or sigh, or tear; Though my heart burst, it shall be silent.--Speak!

I have that within which shall o'ermaster all.

_Ben_. Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Count of Val di Marino, Senator, And some time General of the Fleet and Army, n.o.ble Venetian, many times and oft Intrusted by the state with high employments, 480 Even to the highest, listen to the sentence.

Convict by many witnesses and proofs, And by thine own confession, of the guilt Of Treachery and Treason, yet unheard of[fl]

Until this trial--the decree is Death-- Thy goods are confiscate unto the State, Thy name is razed from out her records, save Upon a public day of thanksgiving For this our most miraculous deliverance,[fm]

When thou art noted in our calendars 490 With earthquakes, pestilence, and foreign foes, And the great Enemy of man, as subject Of grateful ma.s.ses for Heaven's grace in s.n.a.t.c.hing Our lives and country from thy wickedness.

The place wherein as Doge thou shouldst be painted With thine ill.u.s.trious predecessors, is To be left vacant, with a death-black veil Flung over these dim words engraved beneath,-- "This place is of Marino Faliero, Decapitated for his crimes."[463]

_Doge_. "His _crimes_!"[464]500 But let it be so:--it will be in vain.

The veil which blackens o'er this blighted name, And hides, or seems to hide, these lineaments, Shall draw more gazers than the thousand portraits Which glitter round it in their pictured trappings-- _Your_ delegated slaves--the people's tyrants!

"Decapitated for his crimes!"--_What_ crimes?

Were it not better to record the facts, So that the contemplator might approve, Or at the least learn _whence_ the crimes arose? 510 When the beholder knows a Doge conspired, Let him be told the cause--it is your history.

_Ben_. Time must reply to that; our sons will judge Their fathers' judgment, which I now p.r.o.nounce.

As Doge, clad in the ducal robes and Cap, Thou shalt be led hence to the Giants' Staircase, Where thou and all our Princes are invested; And there, the Ducal Crown being first resumed Upon the spot where it was first a.s.sumed, Thy head shall be struck off; and Heaven have mercy 520 Upon thy soul!

_Doge_. Is this the Giunta's sentence?

_Ben_. It is.

_Doge_. I can endure it.--And the time?

_Ben_. Must be immediate.--Make thy peace with G.o.d: Within an hour thou must be in His presence.

_Doge_. I am _already_; and my blood will rise To Heaven before the souls of those who shed it.

Are all my lands confiscated?[465]

_Ben_. They are; And goods, and jewels, and all kind of treasure, Except two thousand ducats--these dispose of.

_Doge_. That's harsh.--I would have fain reserved the lands 530 Near to Treviso, which I hold by investment From Laurence the Count-bishop of Ceneda,[fn]

In fief perpetual to myself and heirs, To portion them (leaving my city spoil, My palace and my treasures, to your forfeit) Between my consort and my kinsmen.

_Ben_. These Lie under the state's ban--their Chief, thy nephew, In peril of his own life; but the Council Postpones his trial for the present. If Thou will'st a state unto thy widowed Princess, 540 Fear not, for we will do her justice.

_Ang_. Signors, I share not in your spoil! From henceforth, know I am devoted unto G.o.d alone, And take my refuge in the cloister.

_Doge_. Come!

The hour may be a hard one, but 'twill end.

Have I aught else to undergo save Death?[fo]

_Ben_. You have nought to do, except confess and die.

The priest is robed, the scimitar is bare, And both await without.--But, above all, Think not to speak unto the people; they 550 Are now by thousands swarming at the gates, But these are closed: the Ten, the Avogadori, The Giunta, and the chief men of the Forty, Alone will be beholders of thy doom, And they are ready to attend the Doge.

_Doge_. The Doge!

_Ben_. Yes, Doge, thou hast lived and thou shalt die A Sovereign; till the moment which precedes The separation of that head and trunk, That ducal crown and head shall be united.

Thou hast forgot thy dignity in deigning 560 To plot with petty traitors; not so we, Who in the very punishment acknowledge The Prince. Thy vile accomplices have died The dog's death, and the wolf's; but them shall fall As falls the lion by the hunters, girt By those who feel a proud compa.s.sion for thee, And mourn even the inevitable death Provoked by thy wild wrath, and regal fierceness.

Now we remit thee to thy preparation: Let it be brief, and we ourselves will be 570 Thy guides unto the place where first we were United to thee as thy subjects, and Thy Senate; and must now be parted from thee As such for ever, on the self-same spot.

Guards! form the Doge's escort to his chamber.

[_Exeunt_.

SCENE II.--_The Doge's Apartment_.

_The_ DOGE _as Prisoner, and the_ d.u.c.h.eSS _attending him_.

_Doge_. Now, that the priest is gone, 'twere useless all To linger out the miserable minutes; But one pang more, the pang of parting from thee, And I will leave the few last grains of sand, Which yet remain of the accorded hour, Still falling--I have done with Time.

_Ang_. Alas!

And I have been the cause, the unconscious cause; And for this funeral marriage, this black union, Which thou, compliant with my father's wish, Didst promise at _his_ death, thou hast sealed thine own. 10

_Doge_. Not so: there was that in my spirit ever Which shaped out for itself some great reverse; The marvel is, it came not until now-- And yet it was foretold me.

_Ang_. How foretold you?

_Doge_. Long years ago--so long, they are a doubt[466]

In memory, and yet they live in annals: When I was in my youth, and served the Senate And Signory as Podesta and Captain Of the town of Treviso, on a day Of festival, the sluggish Bishop who 20 Conveyed the Host aroused my rash young anger, By strange delay, and arrogant reply To my reproof: I raised my hand and smote him, Until he reeled beneath his holy burthen;[fp]

And as he rose from earth again, he raised His tremulous hands in pious wrath towards Heaven.

Thence pointing to the Host, which had fallen from him, He turned to me, and said, "The Hour will come When he thou hast o'erthrown shall overthrow thee: The Glory shall depart from out thy house, 30 The Wisdom shall be shaken from thy soul, And in thy best maturity of Mind A madness of the heart shall seize upon thee;[fq]

Pa.s.sion shall tear thee when all pa.s.sions cease In other men, or mellow into virtues; And Majesty which decks all other heads, Shall crown to leave thee headless; honours shall But prove to thee the heralds of Destruction, And h.o.a.ry hairs of Shame, and both of Death, But not such death as fits an aged man."40 Thus saying, he pa.s.sed on.--That Hour is come.

_Ang_. And with this warning couldst thou not have striven To avert the fatal moment, and atone, By penitence, for that which thou hadst done?

_Doge_. I own the words went to my heart, so much That I remembered them amid the maze Of Life, as if they formed a spectral voice, Which shook me in a supernatural dream; And I repented; but 'twas not for me To pull in resolution:[467] what must be 50 I could not change, and would not fear.--Nay more, Thou can'st not have forgot, what all remember, That on my day of landing here as Doge,[468]

On my return from Rome, a mist of such Unwonted density went on before The Bucentaur, like the columnar cloud Which ushered Israel out of Egypt, till The pilot was misled, and disembarked us Between the Pillars of Saint Mark's, where 'tis The custom of the state to put to death 60 Its criminals, instead of touching at The Riva della Paglia, as the wont is,-- So that all Venice shuddered at the omen.

_Ang_. Ah! little boots it now to recollect Such things.