In early life its foe, but, in his manhood, Its saviour first, then victim.

Barb. Ah! that seems
The penalty of saving cities. He
Whom we now act against not only saved
Our own, but added others to her sway.
Lored. The Romans (and we ape them)
gave a crown

To him who took a city; and they gave
A crown to him who saved a citizen
In battle: the rewards are equal. Now,
If we should measure forth the cities taken
By the Doge Foscari, with citizens
Destroy'd by him, or through him, the

account

Were fearfully against him, although narrow'd

To private havoc, such as between him
And my dead father.

Barb. Are you then thus fix'd?
Lored. Why, what should change me?
Barb. That which changes me:
But you, I know, are marble to retain
A feud. But when all is accomplish'd, when
The old man is deposed, his name degraded,
His sons all dead, his family depress'd,
And you and yours triumphant, shall you
sleep?

Lored. More soundly.

Barb. That's an error, and you'll find it Ere you sleep with your fathers.

Lored. They sleep not

In their accelerated graves, nor will,
Till Foscari fills his. Each night I see them
Stalk frowning round my couch, and, point-
ing towards

The ducal palace, marshal me to vengeance. Barb. Fancy's distemperature! There is no passion

More spectral or fantastical than hate;
Not even its opposite, Love, so peoples air
With phantoms, as this madness of the heart. |

Doge. True-true-true: I crave your pardon. I

Begin to fail in apprehension, and
Wax very old-old almost as my years.
Till now I fought them off, but they begin
To overtake me.

Enter the Deputation, consisting of six of the
Signory, and the Chief of the Ten.
Noble men, your pleasure!

Chief of the Ten. In the first place, the
Council doth condole

With the Doge on his late and private grief.
Doge. No more—no more of that.
Chief of the Ten. Will not the Duke
Accept the homage of respect?
Doge. I do

Accept it as 'tis given-proceed.
Chief of the Ten. The Ten,

With a selected Giunta from the senate
Of twenty-five of the best-born patricians,
Having deliberated on the state

Of the republic, and the o'erwhelming cares
Which, at this moment, doubly must oppress
Your years, so long devoted to your country,
Have judged it fitting, with all reverence,
Now to solicit from your wisdom (which
Upon reflection must accord in this)
The resignation of the ducal ring,
Which you have worn so long and venerably;
And, to prove that they are not ungrateful nor
Cold to your years and services, they add
An appanage of twenty hundred golden

Doge.

When I twice before reiterated

My wish to abdicate, it was refused me;
And not alone refused, but ye exacted
An oath from me that I would never more
Renew this instance. I have sworn to die
In full exertion of the functions which
My country call'd me here to exercise,
According to my honour and my conscience-
I cannot break my oath.

Chief of the Ten. Reduce us not
To the alternative of a decree,
Instead of your compliance.
Doge. Providence

Prolongs my days to prove and chasten me;
But ye have no right to reproach my length
Of days, since every hour has been the
country's.

I am ready to lay down my life for her,
As I have laid down dearer things than life:
But for my dignity-I hold it of
The whole republic; when the general will
Is manifest, then you shall all be answer'd.
Chief of the Ten. We grieve for such an
answer; but it cannot

Avail you aught.

Doge. I can submit to all things, But nothing will advance ; no, not a moment. What you decree-decree.

Chief of the Ten. With this, then, must we Return to those who sent us?

Doge. You have heard me.

Chief of the Ten. With all due reverence

we retire.

[Exeunt the Deputation etc.

Enter an Attendant.

Attendant. My lord,

The noble dame Marina craves an audience. Doge. My time is hers.

Enter MARINA.

Marina. My lord, if I intrude-
Perhaps you fain would be alone?
Doge. Alone!

Alone, come all the world around me, I
Am now and evermore. But we will bear it.
Marina. We will; and for the sake of
those who are,
Endeavour Oh my husband!
Doge. Give it way;

1 cannot comfort thee.

Marina. He might have lived, So form'd for gentle privacy of life, So loving, so beloved; the native of Another land, and who so blest and blessing As my poor Foscari? Nothing was wanting Unto his happiness and mine save not To be Venetian.

Doge. Or a prince's son.

Marina. Yes; all things which conduce to other men's

Imperfect happiness or high ambition, By some strange destiny to him proved deadly.

The country and the people whom he loved,
The prince of whom he was the elder born,
And-

Doge. Soon may be a prince no longer.
Marina. How?

Doge. They have taken my son from me,
and now aim

At my too long worn diadem and ring.
Let them resume the gewgaws!
Marina. Oh the tyrants!

In such an hour too!

Doge. Tis the fittest time:
An hour ago I should have felt it.
Marina. And

Will you not now resent it?-Oh for vengeance!

But he, who, had he been enough protected, Might have repaid protection in this moment, Cannot assist his father.

Doge. Nor should do so Against his country, had he a thousand lives Instead of that—

Marina. They tortured from him. This May be pure patriotism. I am a woman: To me my husband and my children were Country and home. I loved him-how I

loved him!

I have seen him pass through such ordeal as The old martyrs would have shrunk from: he is gone,

And I, who would have given my blood for him,

Have nought to give but tears! But could I compass

The retribution of his wrongs!—Well, well;

I have sons who shall be men.

Doge. Your grief distracts you. Marina. I thought I could have borne it, when I saw him Bow'd down by such oppression; yes, 1 thought

That I would rather look upon his corse Than his prolong'd captivity: I am punish d For that thought now. Would I were in his grave!

Doge. I must look on him once more. Marina. Come with me!

Doge. Is he—

Marina. Our bridal bed is now his bier.

Doge. And he is in his shroud?

Marina. Come, come, old man!

[Exeunt the Doge and Marina

Attendant. This instant retired hence With the illustrious lady his son's widow. Lored. Where?

Attendant. To the chamber where the body lies.

Barb. Let us return then.

Lored. You forget, you cannot. We have the implicit order of the Giunta To await their coming here, and join them in

Their office: they'll be here soon after us. Barb. And will they press their answer on the Doge?

Lored. Twas his own wish that all should be done promptly.

He answer'd quickly, and must so be answer'd;

His dignity is look'd to, his estate
Cared for what would he more?

Barb. Die in his robes.

He could not have lived long; but I have done

My best to save his honours, and opposed This proposition to the last, though vainly. Why would the general vote compel me hither?

Lored. Twas fit that some one of such different thoughts

From ours should be a witness, lest false tongues

Should whisper that a harsh majority Dreaded to have its acts beheld by others. Barb. And not less, I must needs think,

for the sake

Of humbling me for my vain opposition.
You are ingenious, Loredano, in
Your modes of vengeance, nay, poetical,
A very Ovid in the art of hating;
'Tis thus (although a secondary object,
Yet hate has microscopic eyes) to you
I owe, by way of foil to the more zealous,
This undesired association in
Your Giunta's duties.

Lored. How! - my Giunta!
Barb. Yours!

They speak your language, watch your nod, approve

Your plans, and do your work. Are they not yours?

Lored. You talk unwarily. Twere best they hear not This from you.

Barb. Oh! they'll hear as much one day From louder tongues than mine: they have gone beyond

Even their exorbitance of power; and when This happens in the most contemn'd and abject

States, stung humanity will rise to check it.
Lored. You talk but idly.
Barb. That remains for proof.
Here come our colleagues.

Barb. The Duke is with his son. Chief of the Ten. If it be so, We will remit him till the rites are over. Let us return. 'Tis time enough to-morrow. Lored. (aside to Barb.) Now the rich

man's hell-fire upon your tongue, Unquench'd, unquenchable! I'll have it torn From its vile babbling roots, till you shall

utter

Doge. I have obey'd your summons. Chief of the Ten. We come once more to urge our past request. Doge. And I to answer. Chief of the Ten. What? Doge. My only answer. You have heard it.

Chief of the Ten. Hear you then the last decree,

Definitive and absolute!
Doge. To the point-

To the point! I know of old the forms of office,

And gentle preludes to strong acts-Go on! Chief of the Ten. You are no longer Doge;

you are released

From your imperial oath as sovereign;
Your ducal robes must be put off; but for
Your services, the state allots the appanage
Already mention'd in our former congress.
Three days are left you to remove from
hence,

Under the penalty to see confiscated
All your own private fortune.

Doge. That last clause,

I am proud to say, would not enrich the treasury.

Chief of the Ten. Your answer, Duke!
Lored. Your answer, Francis Foscari!
Doge. If I could have foreseen that my
old age

Was prejudicial to the state, the chief
Of the republic never would have shown
Himself so far ungrateful as to place
His own high dignity before his country;
But this life having been so many years
Not useless to that country, I would fain
Have consecrated my last moments to her.
But the decree being render'd, I obey.

Chief of the Ten. If you would have the
three days named extended,
We willingly will lengthen them to eight,
As sign of our esteem.

Doge. Not eight hours, signor,

Nor even eight minutes.-There's the ducal ring, [Taking off his ring and cap. And there the ducal diadem. And so The Adriatic's free to wed another. Chief of the Ten. quickly.

Doge. I am old, sir,

And even to move but slowly must begin To move betimes. Methinks I see amongst

Do you regret a traitor?
Doge. No-I merely
Envy the dead.

Chief of the Ten. My lord, if you indeed
Are bent upon this rash abandonment
Of the state's palace, at the least retire
By the private staircase, which conducts
you towards

The landing-place of the canal.
Doge. No. I

Will now descend the stairs by which I mounted

To sovereignty-the Giant's Stairs, on whose
Broad eminence I was invested duke.
My services have call'd me up those steps,
The malice of my foes will drive me down
them.

There five and thirty years ago was I Install'd, and traversed these same halls from which

harm

But I will look to that myself.

Barb. He means

The body of his son.

Doge. And call Marina,

My daughter!

Enter MARINA.

Doge. Get thee ready, we must mourn Elsewhere.

Marina. And every where.
Doge. True; but in freedom,
Without these jealous spies upon the great.
Signors, you may depart: what would you
more?

We are going: do you fear that we shall bear
The palace with us? Its old walls, ten times
As old as I am, and I'm very old,
Have served you, so have I, and I and they
Could tell a tale; but I invoke them not
To fall upon you! else they would, as erst
The pillars of stone Dagon's temple on
The Israelite and his Philistine foes.
Such power I do believe there might exist
In such a curse as mine, provoked by such
As you; but I curse not. Adicu, good signors!
May the next duke be better than the present!
Lored. The present duke is Paschal
Malipiero.

you well know it,

Else you dare not deal thus by them or me.
There is a populace, perhaps, whose looks
May shame you; but they dare not groan
nor curse you,
Save with their hearts and eyes.

Chief of the Ten. You speak in passion, Else

Doge. You have reason. I have spoken much

More than my wont: it is a foible which
Was not of mine, but more excuses you,
Inasmuch as it shows that I approach
A dotage which may justify this deed
Of yours, although the law does not,nor will
Farewell, sirs!

Barb. You shall not depart without An escort fitting past and present rank. We will accompany, with due respect, The Doge unto his private palace. Say! My brethren, will we not?