Scene I.—A Street.
Enter Belvidera and Jaffier, L.
Jaf. (L. C.) Where dost thou lead me? Ev'ry step I move,
Methinks I tread upon some mangled limb
Of a racked friend. Oh, my dear, charming ruin!
Whare are we wandering?

Bel. (R. C.) To eternal honour!
To do a deed, shall chronicle thy name
Among the glorious legends of those few
That have saved sinking nations. Every street
Shall be adorned with statues to thy honour:
And, at thy feet, this great inscription written—
"Remember him, thai propped the fall of Venice!"

Jaf. Rather, remember him, who, after all
The sacred bonds of oaths, and holier friendship,
In fond compassion to a woman's tears,
Forgot his manhood, virtue, truth, and honour,
To sacrifice the bosom that relieved him.
Why wilt thou damn me?

Bel. Oh, inconstant man!
How will you promise! how will you deceive!
Do, return back, replace me in my bondage,
Tell all thy friends how dangerously thou lov'st me,
And let thy dagger do its bloody office.
Or, if thou think'st it nobler, let me live,
Till I'm a victim to the hateful will
Of that infernal devil!
Last night, my love—

Jaf. Name, name it not again:
Destruction, swift destruction,
Fall on my coward head, if
I forgive him!

Bel. Delay no longer, then, but to the senate,
And tell the dismal'st story ever uttered;
Tell them what bloodshed, rapines, desolations,
Have been prepared;—how near's the fatal hour.
Save thy poor country, save the rev'rend blood
Of all its nobles, which to-morrow's dawn
Must else see shed!

Jaf. Oh!

Bel. Think what then may prove
My lot: the ravisher may then come safe,
And, 'midst the terror of the public ruin,
Do a damned deed.

Jaf. By all Heav'n's powers, prophetic truth dwells in thee!
For every word thou speak'st, strikes through my heart,
Like a new light, and shows it how't has wandered—
Just what thou'st made me, take me, Belvidera,
And lead me to the place, where I'm to say
This bitter lesson; where I must betray
My truth, my virtue, constancy, and friends.
Must I betray my friends? Ah! take me quickly,
Secure me well before that thought's renewed;
If I relapse once more, all's lost forever.

Bel. Hast thou a friend more dear than Belvidera?

Jaf. No: Thou'rt my soul itself; wealth, friendship,
honour!
All present joys, and earnest of all future,
Are summed in thee. [Going, R.
Enter Captain and Guards, R. S. E.
Capt. Stand! who goes there?

Bel. Friends.

Capt. But what friends are you?

Bel. Friends to the senate, and the state of Venice.

Capt. My orders are, to seize on all I find
At this late hour, and bring them to the council,
Who are now sitting.

Jaf. Sir, you shall be obeyed.
Now the lot's cast, and, fate, do what thou wilt.

[Exeunt Jaffier and Belvidera, guarded.

Scene II.—The Senate House.
The Duke of Venice, Priuli, and other Senators
discovered, sitting.
Duke. Antony, Priuli, senators of Venice,
Speak—Why are we assembled here this night?
What have you to inform us of, concerns
The state of Venice' honour, or its safety?

Priuli. (R.) Could words express the story I've to tell you,
Fathers, these tears were useless, these sad tears
That fall from my old eyes; but there is cause
We all should weep, tear off these purple robes,
And wrap ourselves, in sackcloth, sitting down
On the sad earth, and cry aloud to heaven:
Heav'n knows, if yet there be an hour to come,
Ere Venice be no more.

Duke. How!

Priuli. Nay, we stand
Upon the very brink of gaping ruin.
Within this city's formed a dark conspiracy
To massacre us all, our wives and children,
Kindred and friends; our palaces and temples
To lay in ashes: nay, the hour, too, fixed;
The swords, for aught I know, drawn ev'n this moment,
And the wild waste begun. From unknown hands
I had this warning: but, if we are men,
Let's not be tamely butchered, but do something
That may inform the world in after ages,
Our virtue was not ruined, though we were.

[A noise within, L.
Capt. [Within] Room, room, make room there for some
prisoners!

Enter Officer, L.
Duke. Speak, speak, there! What disturbance?
Officer. A prisoner have the guards seized in the street,
Who says, he comes to inform this reverend council
About the present danger.

Enter Officer, Jaffier Captain, and Guards, L.
All. Give him entrance.—[Exit Officer.] Well, who ate
you?

Jaf. (L.) A villain!
Would, every man that hears me,
Would deal so honestly, and own his title!

Duke. 'Tis rumored, that a plot has been contrived
Against the state, and you've a share in't, too.
If you're a villain, to redeem your honour,
Unfold the truth, and be restored with mercy.

Jaf. Think not, that I to save my life came hither;
I know its value better; but in pity
To all those wretches, whose unhappy dooms
Are fixed and sealed. You see me here before you,
The sworn and covenanted foe of Venice:
But use me as my dealings may deserve,
And I may prove a friend.

Duke. The slave capitulates;
Give him the tortures.

Jaf. That, you dare not do:
Your fears won't let you, nor the longing itch
To hear a story, which you dread the truth of:
Truth, which the fear of smart shall ne'er'get from me.
Cowards are scared with threat'nings; boys are whipped
Into confessions: but a steady mind
Acts of itself, ne'er asks the body counsel.
Give him the tortures!—name but such a thing
Again, by heav'n, I'll shut these lips forever!
Nor all your racks, your engines, or your wheels,
Shall force a groan away, that you may guess at!

[Crosses, M.
Duke. Name your conditions.

Jaf. (R.) For myself, full pardon,
Besides, the lives of two-and-twenty friends,
Whose names I have enrolled—Nay, let their crimes
Be ne'er so monstrous, I must have the oaths,
And sacred promise, of this reverend council,
That, in a full assembly of the senate,
The thing I ask be ratified. Swear this,
And I'll unfold the secrets of your danger.

Duke. Propose the oath.

Jaf. (C.) By all the hopes
You have of peace and happiness hereafter,
Swear!

Duke. We swear.

Jaf. And, as ye keep the oath,
May you and your posterity be blessed,
Or cursed, forever!

Duke. Else be cursed forever

Jaf. Then here's the list, and with't, the full disclosure

[Delivers two papers to the Officer, who delivers them to
the Duke.
Of all that threaten you.
Now, Fate, thou hast caught me!

Duke. Give order, that all diligent search be made
To seize these men—their characters are public.
The paper intimates their rendezvous
To be at the house of the famed Grecian courtesan,
Called Aquilina; see that place secured.
You, Jaffier, must with patience bear till morning
To be our prisoner.

Jaf. Would the chains of death
Had bound me fast, ere I had known this minute!

Duke. C

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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