ll 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 the