What
phantoms
even of sound our wishes raise!
Byron
But this day, black within the calendar,
Shall be succeeded by a bright millennium.
Doge Dandolo survived to ninety summers
To vanquish empires, and refuse their crown;[444]
I will resign a crown, and make the State
Renew its freedom--but oh! by what means? 160
The noble end must justify them. What
Are a few drops of human blood? 'tis false,
The blood of tyrants is not human; they,
Like to incarnate Molochs, feed on ours,
Until 'tis time to give them to the tombs
Which they have made so populous. --Oh World!
Oh Men! what are ye, and our best designs,
That we must work by crime to punish crime?
And slay as if Death had but this one gate,
When a few years would make the sword superfluous? 170
And I, upon the verge of th' unknown realm,
Yet send so many heralds on before me? --
I must not ponder this. [_A pause. _
Hark! was there not
A murmur as of distant voices, and
The tramp of feet in martial unison?
What phantoms even of sound our wishes raise!
It cannot be--the signal hath not rung--
Why pauses it? My nephew's messenger
Should be upon his way to me, and he
Himself perhaps even now draws grating back 180
Upon its ponderous hinge the steep tower portal,
Where swings the sullen huge oracular bell,[ev]
Which never knells but for a princely death,
Or for a state in peril, pealing forth
Tremendous bodements; let it do its office,
And be this peal its awfullest and last
Sound till the strong tower rock! --What! silent still?
I would go forth, but that my post is here,
To be the centre of re-union to
The oft discordant elements which form 190
Leagues of this nature, and to keep compact
The wavering of the weak, in case of conflict;
For if they should do battle,'twill be here,
Within the palace, that the strife will thicken:
Then here must be my station, as becomes
The master-mover. --Hark! he comes--he comes,
My nephew, brave Bertuccio's messenger. --
What tidings? Is he marching? hath he sped?
_They_ here! -all's lost-yet will I make an effort.
_Enter a_ SIGNOR OF THE NIGHT,[445] _with Guards, etc. , etc. _
_Sig_.
