get his place or fortune: I scorn to flatter
A blown-up fool above me, or crush the wretch beneath me,
Yet, Jaffeir, for all this, I am a villain!

Jaff. A villain—

Pierr. Yes, a most notorious villain:
To see the suff’rings of my fellow-creatures,
And own myself a man: to see our senators
Cheat the deluded people with a show
Of Liberty, which yet they ne’er must taste of;
They say, by them our hands are free from fetters,
Yet whom they please they lay in basest bonds;
Bring whom they please to Infamy and Sorrow;
Drive us like wracks down the rough tide of power,
Whilst no hold’s left to save us from destruction;
All that bear this are villains; and I one,
Not to rouse up at the great call of nature,
And check the growth of these domestic spoilers,
That makes us slaves and tells us ’tis our charter.

Jaff. O Aquilina! Friend, to lose such beauty,
The dearest purchase of thy noble labours;
She was thy right by conquest, as by love.

Pierr. O Jaffeir! I’d so fixed my heart upon her,
That wheresoe’er I framed a scheme of life
For time to come, she was my only joy
With which I wished to sweeten future cares;
I fancied pleasures, none but one that loves
And dotes as I did can imagine like ’em:
When in the extremity of all these hopes,
In the most charming hour of expectation,
Then when our eager wishes soar the highest,
Ready to stoop and grasp the lovely game,
A haggard owl, a worthless kite of prey,
With his foul wings sailed in and spoiled my quarry.

Jaff. I know the wretch, and scorn him as thou hat’st him

Pierr. Curse on the common good that’s so protected!
Where every slave that heaps up wealth enough
To do much wrong, becomes a lord of right:
I, who believed no ill could e’er come near me,
Found in the embraces of my Aquilina
A wretched old but itching senator;
A wealthy fool, that had bought out my title,
A rogue, that uses beauty like a lambskin,
Barely to keep him warm: that filthy cuckoo too
Was in my absence crept into my nest,
And spoiling all my brood of noble pleasure.

Jaff. Didst thou not chase him thence?

Pierr. I did, and drove
The rank old bearded Hirco stinking home:
The matter was complained of in the Senate,
I summoned to appear, and censured basely,
For violating something they call privilege—
This was the recompense of my service:
Would I’d been rather beaten by a coward!
A soldier’s mistress Jaffeir’s his religion,
When that’s profaned, all other ties are broken;
That even dissolves all former bonds of service,
And from that hour I think myself as free
To be the foe as e’er the friend of Venice.—
Nay, dear Revenge, whene’er thou call’st I’m ready.

Jaff. I think no safety can be here for virtue,
And grieve, my friend, as much as thou to live
In such a wretched state as this of Venice;
Where all agree to spoil the public good,
And villains fatten with the brave man’s labours.

Pierr. We have neither safety, unity, nor peace,
For the foundation’s lost of common good;
Justice is lame as well as blind amongst us;
The laws (corrupted to their ends that make ’em)
Serve but for instruments of some new tyranny,
That every day starts up to enslave us deeper:
Now could this glorious cause but find out friends
To do it right! O Jaffeir! then might’st thou
Not wear these seals of woe upon thy face,
The proud Priuli should be taught humanity,
And learn to value such a son as thou art.
I dare not speak! But my heart bleeds this moment!

Jaff. Cursed be the cause, though I thy friend be part on’t:
Let me partake the troubles of thy bosom,
For I am used to misery, and perhaps
May find a way to sweeten ’t to thy spirit.

Pierr. Too soon it will reach thy knowledge—