_I. Ber_. You shall do both, if you possess the will; And many thousands more not less oppressed, Who wait but for a signal--will you give it?
_I. Ber_. Which shall soon be read At peril of my life--if you disdain not To lend a patient ear.
_I. Ber_. Not thou, Nor I alone, are injured and abused, 460 Contemned and trampled on; but the whole people Groan with the strong conception of their wrongs: The foreign soldiers in the Senate's pay Are discontented for their long arrears; The native mariners, and civic troops, Feel with their friends; for who is he amongst them Whose brethren, parents, children, wives, or sisters, Have not partook[395] oppression, or pollution, From the patricians? And the hopeless war Against the Genoese, which is still maintained 470 With the plebeian blood, and treasure wrung From their hard earnings, has inflamed them further: Even now--but, I forget that speaking thus, Perhaps I pass the sentence of my death!
_Doge_. And suffering what thou hast done--fear'st thou death? Be silent then, and live on, to be beaten By those for whom thou hast bled.
_I. Ber_. No, I will speak At every hazard; and if Venice' Doge Should turn delator, be the shame on him, And sorrow too; for he will lose far more 480 Than I.
_Doge_. From me fear nothing; out with it!
_I. Ber_. Know then, that there are met and sworn in secret A band of brethren, valiant hearts and true; Men who have proved all fortunes, and have long Grieved over that of Venice, and have right To do so; having served her in all climes, And having rescued her from foreign foes, Would do the same from those within her walls. They are not numerous, nor yet too few For their great purpose; they have arms, and means, 490 And hearts, and hopes, and faith, and patient courage.
_Doge_ (_aside_). Saint Mark's shall strike that hour![396]
_I. Ber_. I now have placed My life, my honour, all my earthly hopes Within thy power, but in the firm belief That injuries like ours, sprung from one cause, Will generate one vengeance: should it be so, Be our Chief now--our Sovereign hereafter.
_I. Ber_. I'll not answer that Till I am answered.
_I. Ber_. No; I affirm. I have betrayed myself; But there's no torture in the mystic wells Which undermine your palace, nor in those Not less appalling cells, the "leaden roofs," To force a single name from me of others. The Pozzi[397] and the Piombi were in vain; They might wring blood from me, but treachery never. And I would pass the fearful "Bridge of Sighs," Joyous that mine must be the last that e'er Would echo o'er the Stygian wave which flows 510 Between the murderers and the murdered, washing The prison and the palace walls: there are Those who would live to think on't, and avenge me.