SCENE I.--_An Antechamber in the Ducal Palace_.

SCENE I.--An Antechamber in the Ducal Palace.

            PIETRO _speaks, in entering, to_ BATTISTA.

_Pie_. Is not the messenger returned?[cv]

_Bat_.                                   Not yet;
I have sent frequently, as you commanded,
But still the Signory[380] is deep in council,
And long debate on Steno's accusation.

_Pie_. Too long--at least so thinks the Doge.

_Bat_.                                       How bears he
These moments of suspense?

_Pie_.                    With struggling patience.[cw]
Placed at the Ducal table, covered o'er
With all the apparel of the state--petitions,
Despatches, judgments, acts, reprieves, reports,--
He sits as rapt in duty; but whene'er[cx]                           10
He hears the jarring of a distant door,
Or aught that intimates a coming step,[cy]
Or murmur of a voice, his quick eye wanders,
And he will start up from his chair, then pause,
And seat himself again, and fix his gaze
Upon some edict; but I have observed
For the last hour he has not turned a leaf.

_Bat_. 'Tis said he is much moved,--and doubtless 'twas
Foul scorn in Steno to offend so grossly.

_Pie_. Aye, if a poor man: Steno's a patrician,                     20
Young, galliard, gay, and haughty.[cz]

_Bat_.                                Then you think
He will not be judged hardly?

_Pie_.                       'Twere enough
He be judged justly; but 'tis not for us
To anticipate the sentence of the Forty.

_Bat_. And here it comes.--What news, Vincenzo?

                            _Enter_ VINCENZO.

_Vin_.                                           'Tis
Decided; but as yet his doom's unknown:
I saw the President in act to seal
The parchment which will bear the Forty's judgment
Unto the Doge, and hasten to inform him.
[_Exeunt_.