Myr. Hold! no, no, it cannot be. Sal. I am sped, then! Myr. With the blood that fast must follow The extracted weapon, I do fear thy life. Sal. And I not death. Where was the king when you Convey'd me from the spot where I was stricken? Sol. Upon the same ground, and encouraging With voice and gesture the dispirited troops Who had seen you fall, and falter'd back. Sal. Named next to the command? Sol. Whom heard ye I did not hear. Sal. Fly, then, and tell him, 'twas my last request That Zames take my post until the junction, So hoped for, yet delay'd, of Ofratanes, Satrap of Susa. Leave me here: our troops Are not so numerous as to spare your absence. Sol. But prince Sal. Hence, I say! Here's a courtier and A woman, the best chamber company. Upon the field, I'll have no idle soldiers About my sick couch. Hence! and do my bidding! [Exeunt the Soldiers. Myr. Gallant and glorious spirit! must the earth So soon resign thee? Sal. Gentle Myrrha, 'tis The end I would have chosen had I saved The monarch or the monarchy by this; As 'tis, I have not outlived them. You wax paler. Myr. My pangs, without sustaining life enough, To make me useful: I would draw it forth, And my life with it, could I but hear how Sar. (despondingly). You see me here. Sal. I'd rather see you thus! [He draws out the weapon from the wound, and dies. DEATH OF JACOPO FOSCARI. (Two FOSCARI, Act iv. Scene 1.) To JACOPO FOSCARI, MARINA, and the DOGE, Offi. Signor the boat is at the shore-the wind Jac. Fos. And I to be attended. Your hand! Once more, father, Doge. Take it. Alas! how thine own trembles ! Jac. Fos. No-you mistake; 'tis yours that shakes, my father, Farewell! Let me support you-paler-ho! some aid there! Jac. Fos. My eyes swim strangely-where's the door? Mar. Now, I'm ready— Away! Let me support him-my best love! Oh, God! Is it the light?—I am faint. The light! [Officer presents him with water. He will be better, Your hands. Mar. There's death in that damp clammy grasp. Oh, God !-My Foscari, how fare you? There must be life yet in that heart-he could not Thus leave me. Doge. Mar. Daughter! Hold thy peace, old man! I am no daughter now-thou hast no son. Oh, Foscari ! Offi. We must remove the body. Mar. Touch it not, dungeon miscreants! your base office Ends with his life, and goes not beyond murder, Even by your murderous laws. Leave his remains Offi. While he lived, he was theirs, as fits a subject- Mar. And I must live! Doge. [Exit Officer. Your children live, Marina. Mar. My children! true-they live, and I must live To bring them up to serve the state, and die As died their father. Oh! what best of blessings Were barrenness in Venice! Would my mother Had been so ! Doge. My unhappy children! What! You feel it then at last-you!-Where is now Doge (throwing himself down by the body). Here! CAIN AND LUCIFER IN THE ABYSS (CAIN, Act ii. Scene 1.) Cain. Oh, god, or demon, or whate'er thou art, Yon small blue circle, swinging in far ether, With an inferior circlet near it still, Which looks like that which lit our earthly night? Is this our Paradise? Where are its walls, And they who guard them? Like sunbeams onward, it grows small and smaller, Gathers a halo round it, like the light Which shone the roundest of the stars, when I Beheld them from the skirts of Paradise : Methinks they both, as we recede from them, Appear to join the innumerable stars Which are around us; and, as we move on, Lucifer. And if there should be Worlds greater than thine own, inhabited |