_A corridor leading from the prisons._
_Enter_ FOSCARINI, _fettered and guarded_--_the_ DOGE, _and_ BELTRAMO.
FOSCARINI.
_To_ BELTRAMO.] If it may be,
Loose me these fetters;--for the last time here
I fain would pass unchained.
BELTRAMO.
I should be forced
To wear them.
FOSCARINI.
Pardon! I forgot that here
Pity was death!
DOGE.
I grieve to see you thus!
FOSCARINI.
Why? my arrest, my punishment, methinks,
Should mark me out for envy--since the bolt
Of vengeance from the state in this resembles
Heaven’s winged lightnings--that it ever strikes
The proudest head!
DOGE.
Your judges would be gentle.
Why not reveal your secret--and afford
Room for their mercy?
FOSCARINI.
No! I scorn their mercy!
DOGE.
A word may save your life----
FOSCARINI.
And blast that life
With infamy eternal!
DOGE.
Then the secret
Involves deep guilt?
FOSCARINI.
It doth not. Urge no more--
My doom is fixed--and fixed is my resolve.
DOGE.
Have you considered it--the deep disgrace
Your fate will stamp on all you love?
FOSCARINI.
Alas!
There is the sting! ’tis not enough in darkness
To doom the offender, and to take from him
Life with its joys and hopes--but they pursue
Beyond the grave, and load the senseless dust
With calumny! To what hath not risen
This monstrous power? Oh! well indeed had’st thou
Thy cradle ’midst the clay of thy lagunes,
Base city, which hast borne it!
_Enter_ MEMMO.
MEMMO (_to_ DOGE.)
Sir--the council
Await your attendance. [_Exeunt._