_Mar._ But oppresses 280 Men: howsoever let him have _my_ thanks For the only boon I would have asked or taken From him or such as he is. _Lor._ He receives them As they are offered. _Mar._ May they thrive with him So much!--no more. _Jac. Fos._ Is this, sir, your whole mission? Because we have brief time for preparation, And you perceive your presence doth disquiet This lady, of a house noble as yours. _Mar._ Nobler! _Lor._ How nobler? _Mar._ As more generous! We say the "generous steed" to express the purity 290 Of his high blood. Thus much I've learnt, although Venetian (who see few steeds save of bronze),[67] From those Venetians who have skirred[68] the coasts Of Egypt and her neighbour Araby: And why not say as soon the "_generous man_?" If race be aught, it is in qualities More than in years; and mine, which is as old As yours, is better in its product, nay-- Look not so stern--but get you back, and pore Upon your genealogic tree's most green 300 Of leaves and most mature of fruits, and there Blush to find ancestors, who would have blushed For such a son--thou cold inveterate hater! _Jac. Fos._ Again, Marina! _Mar._ Again! _still_, Marina. See you not, he comes here to glut his hate With a last look upon our misery? Let him partake it! _Jac. Fos._ That were difficult. _Mar._ Nothing more easy. He partakes it now-- Aye, he may veil beneath a marble brow And sneering lip the pang, but he partakes it. 310 A few brief words of truth shame the Devil's servants No less than Master; I have probed his soul A moment, as the Eternal Fire, ere long, Will reach it always. See how he shrinks from me! With death, and chains, and exile in his hand, To scatter o'er his kind as he thinks fit; They are his weapons, not his armour, for I have pierced him to the core of his cold heart. I care not for his frowns! We can but die, And he but live, for him the very worst 320 Of destinies: each day secures him more His tempter's. _Jac. Fos._ This is mere insanity. _Mar._ It may be so; and _who_ hath made us _mad_? _Lor._ Let her go on; it irks not me.