Are these infatuate too!--Oh! who hath known
A people e’er by guilt’s vain triumph blest?
The wrong’d, the vanquish’d, suffer not alone,
Brief is that joy that swells th’ oppressor’s breast.
What though not yet his day of pride be flown,
Though yet heaven’s vengeance spare his haughty crest,
Well hath it mark’d him--and decreed the hour,
When his last sigh shall own the terror of its power.
Are we not creatures of one hand divine,
Form’d in one mould, to one redemption born?
Kindred alike where’er our skies may shine,
Where’er our sight first drank the vital morn?
Brothers! one bond around our souls should twine,
And woe to him by whom that bond is torn!
Who mounts by trampling broken hearts to earth,
Who bows down spirits of immortal birth!
The third act, which passes entirely in the tent of the Count, is
composed of long discourses between Carmagnola and the Venetian envoys.
One of these requires him to pursue the fugitives after his victory,
which he haughtily refuses to do, declaring that he will not leave the
field until he has gained possession of the surrounding fortresses.
Another complains that the Condottieri and the soldiers have released
their prisoners, to which he replies, that it is an established
military custom; and, sending for the remaining four hundred captives,
he gives them their liberty also. This act, which terminates with the
suspicious observations of the envoys on Carmagnola’s conduct, is
rather barren of interest, though the episode of the younger Pergola,
which we shall lay before our readers, is happily imagined.
As the prisoners are departing, the Count observes the younger Pergola,
and stops him.
_Car._ Thou art not, youth!
One to be number’d with the vulgar crowd.
Thy garb, and more, thy towering mien, would speak
Of nobler parentage. Yet with the rest
Thou minglest, and art silent!
_Per._ Silence best,
O chief! befits the vanquish’d.
_Car._ Bearing up
Against thy fate thus proudly, thou art proved
Worthy a better star. Thy name?
_Per._ ’Tis one
Whose heritage doth impose no common task
On him that bears it; one which to adorn
With brighter blazonry were hard emprise:
My name is Pergola.
_Car._ And art thou, then,
That warrior’s son?
_Per._ I am.
_Car._ Approach! embrace
Thy father’s early friend! What thou art now
I was when first we met. Oh! thou dost bring
Back on my heart remembrance of the days,
The young, and joyous, and adventurous days,
Of hope and ardour. And despond not thou!
My dawn, ’tis true, with brighter omens smiled,
But still fair Fortune’s glorious promises
Are for the brave; and, though delay’d awhile,
She soon or late fulfils them. Youth! salute
Thy sire for me; and say, though not of _thee_
I ask’d it, yet my heart is well assured
He counsell’d not this battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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