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_ It cannot be but they will do you justice.

_Doge_. Aye, such as the Avogadori[382] did,
Who sent up my appeal unto the Forty
To try him by his peers, his own tribunal.

_Ber. F. _ His peers will scarce protect him; such an act
Would bring contempt on all authority.

_Doge_. Know you not Venice? Know you not the Forty?
But we shall see anon.

_Ber. F. _ (_addressing_ VINCENZO, _then entering_. )
How now--what tidings?

_Vin_.
I am charged to tell his Highness that the court
Has passed its resolution, and that, soon 10
As the due forms of judgment are gone through,
The sentence will be sent up to the Doge;
In the mean time the Forty doth salute
The Prince of the Republic, and entreat
His acceptation of their duty.

_Doge_. Yes--
They are wond'rous dutiful, and ever humble.
Sentence is passed, you say?

_Vin_. It is, your Highness:
The President was sealing it, when I
Was called in, that no moment might be lost
In forwarding the intimation due 20
Not only to the Chief of the Republic,
But the complainant, both in one united.

_Ber. F. _ Are you aware, from aught you have perceived,
Of their decision?

_Vin_. No, my Lord; you know
The secret custom of the courts in Venice.

_Ber. F. _ True; but there still is something given to guess,
Which a shrewd gleaner and quick eye would catch at;
A whisper, or a murmur, or an air
More or less solemn spread o'er the tribunal.
The Forty are but men--most worthy men, 30
And wise, and just, and cautious--this I grant--
And secret as the grave to which they doom
The guilty: but with all this, in their aspects--
At least in some, the juniors of the number--
A searching eye, an eye like yours, Vincenzo,
Would read the sentence ere it was pronounced.

_Vin_.