The Doge!

DOGE.

igh

BENINTENDE.

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
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 thou shalt

fall

As falls the lion by the hunters, girt

By those who feel a proud compassion 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

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 DUCHESS attending him.

DOGE.

Now that the priest is gone, 't were 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.

ANGIOLINA.

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 seal'd thine

own.

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.

ANGIOLINA.

How foretold you?

DOGE.

Long years ago-so long, they are a doubt

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

Convey'd 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 reel'd beneath his holy burthen;

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 turn'd to me, and said, « The hour will come « When he thou hast o'erthrown shall overthrow

« The wisdom shall be shaken from thy soul,

་་

And in thy best maturity of mind

« A madness of the heart shall seize upon thee;

« Passion shall tear thee when all passions 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 hoary hairs of shame, and both of death, << But not such death as fits an aged man. » Thus saying, he pass'd on.-That hour is come.

ANGIOLINA.

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 remember'd them amid the maze
Of life as if they form'd a spectral voice,
Which shook me in a supernatural dream;
And I repented; but 'twas not for me
To pull in resolution; what must be

I could not change, and would not fear.-Nay

more,

Thou canst not have forgot, what all remember,

That on my day of landing here as Doge,
On my return from Rome, a mist of such
Unwonted density went on before

The bucentaur like the columnar cloud
Which usher'd Israel out of Egypt, till
The pilot was misled, and disembark'd us
Between the pillars of Saint Mark's, where 'tis
The custom of the state to put to death
Its criminals, instead of touching at
The Riva della Paglia, as the wont is,-
So that all Venice shudder'd at the omen.

ANGIOLINA.

Ah! little boots it now to recollect

Such things.

DOGE.

And yet I find a comfort in

The thought that these things are the work of Fate; For I would rather yield to gods than men,

Or cling to any creed of destiny,

Rather than deem these mortals, most of whom