And hold his own against you, as he may? "Jac. Nay't was an oversight Not waiting till the proper warrant came : Luria's removal and your own advance, "Puc. Accept what? muster-rolls of soldiers' names ? An army upon paper? - I want men, Their hearts as well as hands— and where's a heart I come from walking thro' by Luria's side? Who kept his own place and kept theirs alike,- Best, do No at the best it is! Are left that know the secret? That you think? But felt the quiet patient hero there Was wronged, nor in the moveless ranks an eye Of that convicted silent knot of spies Who passed thro' them to Florence- they might pass "Jac. And by mistake catch up along with him Puccio, no doubt, compelled in self-despite Or is this the end even? Can I stop? You, Lady, with the woman's stand apart, Had you a further end in all you spoke, “Domiz. I am a daughter of the Traversari, Sister of Porzio and of Berto both. I have foreseen all that has come to pass : Luria banishes Braccio from the camp. The missive from the Seigniory at Florence, calling Luria home to take his trial, is expected, but has not yet come. Braccio confers upon Puccio the command to be left vacant by the recall of Luria. Puccio, a kind of Bernal Diaz, who has been unable to refrain from criticizing the generalship of Luria all along, and whose criticisms have been made, without his knowledge, the groundwork of the charges against his commander, accepts the office at first from the mere habit of obedience natural to him as a soldier. "Puc. What Luria will do? Ah, 't is yours, fair Sir, Your and your subtle-witted master's part To tell me that; I tell you what he can. "Jac. Friend, you mistake my station! I observe The game, watch how my betters play, no more. "Puc. But mankind are not pieces. . there's your fault! You cannot push them, and, the first move made, Lean back to study what the next should be, In confidence that when 't is fixed at length, You'll find just where you left them, blacks and whites: You build, I notice, firm on Luria's faith This whole time, firmlier than I choose to build, With Luria in his ordinary mind: But now, oppression makes the wise man mad Wide, deep to live upon, in feeling now, And after, in remembrance, year by year- pleasure have! Their vaunted intellect that gilds our sense, They blend with life to show it better by, How think'st thou ?—I have turned that light on them! From life, they said, and leave a tranquil world: defeat, Their dupe? That hour is past! [Exit HUSAIN. "DOMIZIA (advancing from the background.) Not from the motives these have urged on thee, Neither from low revenge, nor selfishness, Thou hast arisen: second not to him Safe from the thunder henceforth 'neath their arms To still continue Second in Command! “Puc. No, Sir, no second nor so fortunate! Your tricks succeed with me too well for that! I am as you have made me, and shall die A mere trained fighting hack to serve your end; With words, you laugh at while they leave your mouth, Duty have I to do, and faith to keep, And praise to earn, and blame to guard against, If backed by his indignant troops he turns He pardons you, and simply seeks his friends Resolve to fight against one false to us, Sir, chronicling the rest, omit not this!"- pp. 14, 15. Husain and Domizia both urge Luria to revenge his wrongs, but from different motives. “Hus. Both armies against Florence! Take revenge! faculties of his mind, the reflective and ideal qualities of character begin in turn to predominate. His revenge must not be of a physical and animal type. It will be based more on impulse than reason, but it must be intellectual and heroic. He accordingly takes poison, and dies just as Braccio returns from Florence, whither Tiburzio has gone with a generous rival's admiration of his magnanimity to testify in his favor, with the news of his acquittal. Up to the fifth act, the characters have been kept entirely distinct, each within his own limited personality, and absorbed in his own aims. But now every thing centres toward Luria. His unselfish grandeur magnetizes all the rest. The true human soul in each breaks through its artificial barriers, reaching towards and doing fealty to the enthusiasm of the greater spirit which attracts and absorbs their own. There is something in this not only natural, but nobly so. We see in it an appreciation of the true elements of tragedy, not dependent on any overthrow of outward fortune, but on the simple, broad humanity common to us all. We must gratify ourselves by giving the conclusion almost entire. "Lur. My own East! Is felt there; Now it is, as it was Then ; All changes at His instantaneous will, Not by the operation of a law Whose maker is elsewhere at other work! Man's praise can forward it, Man's prayer suspend, The world, erase old things and make them new, Is quick and transient comes, and lo, is gone- |