You are welcome,
When once our enterprise is o'er, which must not
Be interrupted by a private brawl.
When once our enterprise is o'er, which must not
Be interrupted by a private brawl.
Byron
Yes, such pity
As when the viper hath been cut to pieces,
The separate fragments quivering in the sun,
In the last energy of venomous life,
Deserve and have. Why, I should think as soon 30
Of pitying some particular fang which made
One in the jaw of the swoln serpent, as
Of saving one of these: they form but links
Of one long chain; one mass, one breath, one body;
They eat, and drink, and live, and breed together,
Revel, and lie, oppress, and kill in concert,--
So let them die as _one! _[do]
_Dag_. Should _one_ survive,
He would be dangerous as the whole; it is not
Their number, be it tens or thousands, but
The spirit of this Aristocracy 40
Which must be rooted out; and if there were
A single shoot of the old tree in life,
'Twould fasten in the soil, and spring again
To gloomy verdure and to bitter fruit.
Bertram, we must be firm!
_Cal_. Look to it well
Bertram! I have an eye upon thee.
_Ber_. Who
Distrusts me?
_Cal_. Not I; for if I did so,
Thou wouldst not now be there to talk of trust:
It is thy softness, not thy want of faith,
Which makes thee to be doubted.
_Ber_. You should know 50
Who hear me, who and what I am; a man
Roused like yourselves to overthrow oppression;
A kind man, I am apt to think, as some
Of you have found me; and if brave or no,
You, Calendaro, can pronounce, who have seen me
Put to the proof; or, if you should have doubts,
I'll clear them on your person!
_Cal_.
You are welcome,
When once our enterprise is o'er, which must not
Be interrupted by a private brawl.
_Ber_. I am no brawler; but can bear myself 60
As far among the foe as any he
Who hears me; else why have I been selected
To be of your chief comrades? but no less
I own my natural weakness; I have not
Yet learned to think of indiscriminate murder
Without some sense of shuddering; and the sight
Of blood which spouts through hoary scalps is not
To me a thing of triumph, nor the death
Of man surprised a glory. Well--too well
I know that we must do such things on those 70
Whose acts have raised up such avengers; but
If there were some of these who could be saved
From out this sweeping fate, for our own sakes
And for our honour, to take off some stain
Of massacre, which else pollutes it wholly,
I had been glad; and see no cause in this
For sneer, nor for suspicion!
_Dag_. Calm thee, Bertram,
For we suspect thee not, and take good heart.
It is the cause, and not our will, which asks
Such actions from our hands: we'll wash away 80
All stains in Freedom's fountain!
_Enter_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO, _and the_ DOGE, _disguised_.
_Dag_. Welcome, Israel.
_Consp_. Most welcome. --Brave Bertuccio, thou art late--
Who is this stranger?
_Cal_. It is time to name him.
As when the viper hath been cut to pieces,
The separate fragments quivering in the sun,
In the last energy of venomous life,
Deserve and have. Why, I should think as soon 30
Of pitying some particular fang which made
One in the jaw of the swoln serpent, as
Of saving one of these: they form but links
Of one long chain; one mass, one breath, one body;
They eat, and drink, and live, and breed together,
Revel, and lie, oppress, and kill in concert,--
So let them die as _one! _[do]
_Dag_. Should _one_ survive,
He would be dangerous as the whole; it is not
Their number, be it tens or thousands, but
The spirit of this Aristocracy 40
Which must be rooted out; and if there were
A single shoot of the old tree in life,
'Twould fasten in the soil, and spring again
To gloomy verdure and to bitter fruit.
Bertram, we must be firm!
_Cal_. Look to it well
Bertram! I have an eye upon thee.
_Ber_. Who
Distrusts me?
_Cal_. Not I; for if I did so,
Thou wouldst not now be there to talk of trust:
It is thy softness, not thy want of faith,
Which makes thee to be doubted.
_Ber_. You should know 50
Who hear me, who and what I am; a man
Roused like yourselves to overthrow oppression;
A kind man, I am apt to think, as some
Of you have found me; and if brave or no,
You, Calendaro, can pronounce, who have seen me
Put to the proof; or, if you should have doubts,
I'll clear them on your person!
_Cal_.
You are welcome,
When once our enterprise is o'er, which must not
Be interrupted by a private brawl.
_Ber_. I am no brawler; but can bear myself 60
As far among the foe as any he
Who hears me; else why have I been selected
To be of your chief comrades? but no less
I own my natural weakness; I have not
Yet learned to think of indiscriminate murder
Without some sense of shuddering; and the sight
Of blood which spouts through hoary scalps is not
To me a thing of triumph, nor the death
Of man surprised a glory. Well--too well
I know that we must do such things on those 70
Whose acts have raised up such avengers; but
If there were some of these who could be saved
From out this sweeping fate, for our own sakes
And for our honour, to take off some stain
Of massacre, which else pollutes it wholly,
I had been glad; and see no cause in this
For sneer, nor for suspicion!
_Dag_. Calm thee, Bertram,
For we suspect thee not, and take good heart.
It is the cause, and not our will, which asks
Such actions from our hands: we'll wash away 80
All stains in Freedom's fountain!
_Enter_ ISRAEL BERTUCCIO, _and the_ DOGE, _disguised_.
_Dag_. Welcome, Israel.
_Consp_. Most welcome. --Brave Bertuccio, thou art late--
Who is this stranger?
_Cal_. It is time to name him.
