[Two Senators pass over the stage, as in their way to "the Hall of the Council of Ten." You see the number is complete. Follow me. [Exit Loredano. Bar. (solus). Follow thee! I have follow'd long Thy path of desolation, as the wave Sweeps after that before it, alike whelming The wreck that creaks to the wild winds, and wretch Who shrieks within its riven ribs, as gush The waters through them; but this son and sire Must I on hardily like them-Oh! would I could as blindly and remorselessly! Lo, where he comes! Be still, my heart! they are Enter Guards, with young Foscari as prisoner, &c. And the chief judge, the Doge? And might be the last, did they No-he, With more than Roman fortitude, is ever Lor. His last. True true Bar. Will nothing move you? Bar. He shows it not. Lor. Bar. (advancing to the Guard). There is one who does : Yet fear not; I will neither be thy judge Nor thy accuser; though the hour is past, Feels he, think you? Even by my presence: when the last call sounds, I have mark'd that the wretch! Lor. Lor. When the Doge declared that he The brothers sicken'd shortly: he is sovereign. What should they be who make But did the Doge make you so? Yes. Bar. What solid proofs ? 1 Composed at Ravenna, between the 11th of June and the 10th of July, 1821, and published with "Sardanapalus" in the following December.-E. 2" Veneno sublatus." The tomb is in the church of Santa Elena.-E. Jac. Fos. What voice is that?-Tis Barbarigo's! Our house's foe, and one of my few judges. Bar. To balance such a foe, if such there be, True, Then deem not the laws too harsh Which yield so much indulgence to a sire, Jac. Fos. And his son's. I'm faint; Let me approach, I pray you, for a breath Of air, yon window which o'erlooks the waters. Enter an Officer, who whispers Barbarigo. Further than thus: I have transgress'd my duty [Exit Barbarigo. Open-How feel you? Like a boy - Ob Venice! limbs ? Guard. And your Bounding o'er yon blue tide, as I have skimm'd And, masqued as a young gondolier, amidst Raced for our pleasure, in the pride of strength; Jac. Fos. (looking from the lattice). My beautiful, my own, My only Venice-this is breath! Thy breeze, I see the colour comes And the rack will be spared you. Jac. Fos. Confess, I confess'd Once- twice before: both times they exiled me. Let them do so, And the cold drops strain through my brow, as if - ocean, The brightness of our city, and her domes, Its merry hum of nations pierces here, [Exeunt Jacopo Foscari, Officer, &c. Enter Memmo and another Senator. Mem. He's gone we are too late: - think you "the Ten" Will sit for any length of time to-day? Sen. They say the prisoner is most obdurate, Persisting in his first avcwal; but More I know not. Mem. And tha, is much; the secrets Of you terrific chamber are as hidden' From us, the premier nobles of the state, As from the people. Sen. Save the wonted rumours, Which like the tales of spectres, that are rife Near ruin'd buildings never have been proved, Nor wholly disbelieved: men know as little Of the state's real acts as of the grave's Unfathom'd mysteries. Mem. But with length of time We gain a step in knowledge, and I look Forward to be one day of the decemvirs. Sen. Or Doge? Mem. Why, no; not if I can avoid it. Sen. T is the first station of the state, and may Be lawfully desired, and lawfully Attain'd by noble aspirants. Mem. To such I leave it; though born noble, my ambition Of an united and imperial "Ten," Enter Marina, with a female Attendant. two; But they are senators. Mem. Command us. Mar. Most noble lady, I command! - Alas! my life Has been one long entreaty, and a vain one. Mem. I understand thee, but I must not answer. Mar. (fiercely). True-none dare answer here save on the rack, Or question save those Mem. (interrupting her). Higa-oorn dame!1 bcthink thee Where thou now art. Mar. Where I now am! It was My husband's father's palace. Mem. The Duke's palace. Mar. And his son's prison!- True, I have not for. got it; And if there were no other nearer, bitterer 1 She was a Contarini "A daughter of the house that now among On the occasion of her marriage with the younger Foscari, the Bucentaur came out in its splendour; and a bridge of boats was thrown across the Canal Grande for the bridegroom, and his retinue of three hundred horse. According to Sanuto, the tournaments in the place of St. Mark lasted three days. E. Remembrances, would thank the illustrious Memmo Mem. Whose duty 't is to do so. 'Tis their duty Mar. (looking up towards heaven). I am; but oh, To trample on all human feelings, all thou eternal God! Canst thou continue so with such a world? Mem. Thy husband yet may be absolved. Mar. He is, He does not, there are those will sentence both. They Ties which bind man to man, to emulate Mar. That shall be tried. Despair defies even despotism: there is That in my heart would make its way through hosts Of the Duke's son, the innocent Duke's son, Mem. What And with them power and will are one Are judges who give way to anger? they In wickedness:- my husband's lost! Justice is judge in Venice. Not so; If it were so, There now would be no Venice. But let it Live on, so the good die not, till the hour Of nature's summons; but " the Ten's" is quicker, And we must wait on 't. Ah! a voice of wail! [A faint cry within. Sen. Even if she be so, cannot save her husband. But, see, the officer re urns. [The Officer passes over the stage with another person. Mem. I hardly 'T was a cry of Thought that "the Ten" had even this touch of pity, No, no; not my husband's Or would permit assistance to this sufferer. Sen. Hark! Sen. Pity! Is 't pity to recall to feeling Mem. I marvel they condemn him not at once. Mem. Circumstance Confirms his crimes, but he avows them not. Sen. None, save the Letter, which he says was written, Address'd to Milan's duke, in the full knowledge Though they sweep both the Doge and son from life; And thus he should be re-convey'd to Venice. 1 The extraordinary sentence pronounced against him, still existing among the archives of Venice, runs thus: --"Giacopo Foscari, accused of the murder of Hermolao Donato, has been arrested and examined; and, from the testimony, evidence, and documents exhibited, it distinctly appears that he is guilty of the aforesaid crime: nevertheless, on account of his obstinacy, and of enchantments and spells, in his possession, of which there are manifest proofs, it has not been possible to extract from him the truth, which is clear from parole and written evidence; for, while he was on the cord. he uttered neither word nor groan, but only murmured something to himself indistinctly and under his breath; therefore, as the honour of the state requires, he is condemned to a more distant banishment in Candia." Will it be credited, that a distinct proof of his innocence, obtained by the discovery of the real assassin, wrought no change in his unjust and cruel sentence? See Venetian Sketches, vol. ii. p. 97.-E. The apparent crimes of the accused disclose- Enter Loredano and Barbarigo. The hall of our tribunal, and beheld Bar. (addressing Lor.) That were too much: be- With lesser retribution than he thirsts for, lieve me, 't was not meet The trial should go further at this moment. And I would mitigate his deeper hatred Lor. And so the Council must break up, and Justice Has a short hourly respite, granted at Bar. No, That's not the cause; you saw the prisoner's state. Bar. Upon the least renewal. Lor. To relapse 'T was not tried. Bar. 'Tis vain to murmur; the majority In council were against you. Lor. Thanks to you, sir, The worthy voices which o'er-ruled my own. Makes me wish Lor. Bar. As I do always. What? A Hall in the Doge's Palace. Sen. Is it your pleasure to sign the report That you would sometimes feel, Now, or postpone it till to morrow? Lor. Bar. No tears. He shed It must have way, my lord: I have too many duties towards you In your commission? Sen. Doge. Was this Of things you know not: but the treaty 's sign'd; child- The sire's destruction would not save the son; For all that yet is past, as many years I trust, His Candiote exile, I had hopeshe has quench'd them He must return. Mar. Doge. To exile? You well know I have said it. Of your lord renders them still more austere. You know not And feel it nothing. Doge. You know it well, Oh, no doubt! I have borne so much, You have seen your son's blood flow, and your flesh And after that, what are a woman's words? No more than woman's tears, that they should shake you. Doge. Woman, this clamorous grief of thine, I tell Is no more in the balance weigh'd with that Mar. Pity my husband, or I cast it from me; 'Tis not upon thy brow, You behold me: Nor in thine eyes, nor in thine acts,-- where then I cannot weep-I would I could; but if This ducal ring with which I wed the waves Mar. With less he surely might be saved. Alas! how should you? she knows not herself, Mar. Dege. In the earth? Mar. Doge. Shall ever use that Are you, then, Pitied! None base, with which men ded triumph, as a fit one |