Something
from
The Doge; it may be also from a parent.
The Doge; it may be also from a parent.
Byron
_ Keep
Those maxims for your mass of scared mechanics, 300
Your merchants, your Dalmatian and Greek slaves,
Your tributaries, your dumb citizens,
And masked nobility, your sbirri, and
Your spies, your galley and your other slaves,
To whom your midnight carryings off and drownings,
Your dungeons next the palace roofs, or under
The water's level;[55] your mysterious meetings,
And unknown dooms, and sudden executions,
Your "Bridge of Sighs," your strangling chamber, and
Your torturing instruments, have made ye seem 310
The beings of another and worse world!
Keep such for them: I fear ye not. I know ye;[be]
Have known and proved your worst, in the infernal
Process of my poor husband! Treat me as
Ye treated him:--you did so, in so dealing
With him. Then what have I to fear _from_ you,
Even if I were of fearful nature, which
I trust I am not?
_Doge_. You hear, she speaks wildly.
_Mar. _ Not wisely, yet not wildly.
_Lor. _ Lady! words
Uttered within these walls I bear no further 320
Than to the threshold, saving such as pass
Between the Duke and me on the State's service.
Doge! have you aught in answer?
_Doge_.
Something from
The Doge; it may be also from a parent.
_Lor. _ My mission _here_ is to the _Doge_.
_Doge_. Then say
The Doge will choose his own ambassador,
Or state in person what is meet; and for
The father----
_Lor. _ I remember _mine_. --Farewell!
I kiss the hands of the illustrious Lady,
And bow me to the Duke. [_Exit_ LOREDANO.
_Mar. _ Are you content? 330
_Doge_. I am what you behold.
_Mar. _ And that's a mystery.
_Doge_.
Those maxims for your mass of scared mechanics, 300
Your merchants, your Dalmatian and Greek slaves,
Your tributaries, your dumb citizens,
And masked nobility, your sbirri, and
Your spies, your galley and your other slaves,
To whom your midnight carryings off and drownings,
Your dungeons next the palace roofs, or under
The water's level;[55] your mysterious meetings,
And unknown dooms, and sudden executions,
Your "Bridge of Sighs," your strangling chamber, and
Your torturing instruments, have made ye seem 310
The beings of another and worse world!
Keep such for them: I fear ye not. I know ye;[be]
Have known and proved your worst, in the infernal
Process of my poor husband! Treat me as
Ye treated him:--you did so, in so dealing
With him. Then what have I to fear _from_ you,
Even if I were of fearful nature, which
I trust I am not?
_Doge_. You hear, she speaks wildly.
_Mar. _ Not wisely, yet not wildly.
_Lor. _ Lady! words
Uttered within these walls I bear no further 320
Than to the threshold, saving such as pass
Between the Duke and me on the State's service.
Doge! have you aught in answer?
_Doge_.
Something from
The Doge; it may be also from a parent.
_Lor. _ My mission _here_ is to the _Doge_.
_Doge_. Then say
The Doge will choose his own ambassador,
Or state in person what is meet; and for
The father----
_Lor. _ I remember _mine_. --Farewell!
I kiss the hands of the illustrious Lady,
And bow me to the Duke. [_Exit_ LOREDANO.
_Mar. _ Are you content? 330
_Doge_. I am what you behold.
_Mar. _ And that's a mystery.
_Doge_.