Think not to speak unto the people; they Are now by thousands swarming at the gates,

But these are closed: the Ten, the Avogadori,

The Giunta, and the chief men of the Forty,
Alone will be beholders of thy doom,
And they are ready to attend the Doge.
Doge. The Doge!

Ben. Yes, Doge, thou hast lived and thou shalt die

A sovereign; till the moment which precedes The separation of that head and trunk, 559 That ducal crown and head shall be united. Thou hast forgot thy dignity in deigning To plot with petty traitors; not so we, Who in the very punishment acknowledge The prince. Thy vile accomplices have died The dog's death, and the wolf's; but thou shalt fall

As falls the lion by the hunters, girt

anger,

thee,

And mourn even the inevitable death Provoked by thy wild wrath and regal fierceness.

Now we remit thee to thy preparation: 570 Let it be brief, and we ourselves will be Thy guides unto the place where first we

To my reproof; I raised my hand and smote him,

599

Until he reel'd beneath his holy burthen; And as he rose from earth again, he raised His tremulous hands in pious wrath towards Heaven.

Thence pointing to the Host, which had fallen from him,

He turn'd to me, and said, 'The hour will

Ang. And with this warning couldst thou not have striven

To avert the fatal moment, and atone
By penitence for that which thou hadst

SCENE III

The Court of the Ducal Palace: the outer gates are shut against the people. The DOGE enters in his ducal robes, in procession with the Council of Ten and other Patricians, attended by the Guards, till they arrive at the top of the 'Giants' Staircase' (where the Doges took the oaths); the Executioner is stationed there with his sword. On arriving, a Chief of the Ten takes off the ducal cap from the Doge's head.

Doge. So now the Doge is nothing, and at last

I am again Marino Faliero:

'Tis well to be so, though but for a moment. Here was I crown'd, and here, bear witness, Heaven!

700

With how much more contentment I resign
That shining mockery, the ducal bauble,
Than I received the fatal ornament.
One of the Ten. Thou tremblest, Faliero!
Doge.
'Tis with age, then.

Ben. Faliero! hast thou aught further to commend,

Compatible with justice, to the senate ? Doge. I would commend my nephew to their mercy,

My consort to their justice; for methinks My death, and such a death, might settle all Between the state and me.

1

In publishing the following Tragedies 1 I have only to repeat, that they were not composed with the most remote view to the stage. On the attempt made by the Managers in a former instance, the public opinion has been already expressed. With regard to my own private feelings, as it seems that they are to stand for nothing, I shall say nothing.

For the historical foundation of the following compositions the reader is referred to the Notes. The Author has in one instance attempted to preserve, and in the other to approach, the 'unities;' conceiving that with any very distant departure from them, there may be poetry, but can be no drama. He is aware of the unpopularity of this notion in present English literature; but it is not a system of his own, being merely an opinion, which, not very long ago, was the law of literature throughout the world, and is still so in the more civilised part of it. But nous avons changé tout cela,' and are reaping the advantages of the change. The writer is far from conceiving that any thing he can adduce by personal precept or example can at all approach his regular, or even irregular predecessors; he is merely giving a reason why he preferred the more regular formation of a structure, however feeble, to an entire abandonment of all rules whatsoever. Where he has failed, the failure is in the architect, and not in the art.

1 [Sardanapalus originally appeared in the same volime with The Two Foscari and Cain.]

SARDANAPALUS, King of Nineveh and Assyria, etc. ARBACES, the Mede who aspired to the Throne.

BELESES, a Chaldean and Soothsayer.

SALEMENES, the King's Brother-in-law.

ALTADA, an Assyrian Officer of the Palace.

PANIA.

ZAMES.

SPERO.

BALEA.

ZARINA, the Queen.

WOMEN

MYRRHA, an Ionian female Slave, and the Favourite of SARDANAPALUS.

Women composing the Harem of SARDANAPALUS, Guards, Attendants, Chaldean Priests, Medes, etc., etc.

Scene - a Hall in the Royal Palace of Nineveh.

In this tragedy it has been my intention to follow the account of Diodorus Siculus; reducing it, however, to such dramatic regularity as I best could, and trying to approach the unities. I therefore suppose the rebellion to explode and succeed in one day by a sudden conspiracy, instead of the long war of the history.

ACT I

SCENE I

A Hall in the Palace.

Salemenes (solus). He hath wrong'd his queen, but still he is her lord; He hath wrong'd my sister, still he is my brother;

He hath wrong'd his people, still he is their sovereign,

And I must be his friend as well as subject:
He must not perish thus. I will not see
The blood of Nimrod and Semiramis
Sink in the earth, and thirteen hundred years
Of empire ending like a shepherd's tale;
He must be roused. In his effeminate heart
There is a careless courage which corrup-