36 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
idea is nowhere so apparent as in The Two Foscari, which
was published in 1821. In Marino Faliero Byron had con-
demned a cause which had gone too far and resulted in
tyranny, the evil which it fought. In The Two Foscari he
condemned a blind obedience which obviates the possibility
of fighting for any cause at all.
The elder Foscari, Doge of Venice, is compelled by the
Council of Ten to sit in judgment on his only son, who is
accused of treason. Tossing aside all bonds of parenthood,
the old man watches as his son is put to torture in order that
a confession might be wrung from him. The father is not un-
moved by the trial, but his oath of allegiance to the state,
he feels, compels him to witness and condone it. The son is
equally adamant, in that his great love for Venice will not
let him explain that he is guilty of a betrayal which he
thought was for the good of the city. Confession would mean
exile. In the absence of the Doge, the council finds Foscari
guilty and orders that he be banished. It is also decided that
the Doge must be removed from office, even though he has
been loyal to the city and has won her many conquests. This
final action is too much for the old man, who dies of a broken
heart.
The Cotmcil of Ten of this drama is the same council
against which Marino Faliero revolted. Venice, presumably,
is a republic, but Byron makes clear here, as in Marino
Faliero, that the populace of the city is not free in any re-
spect, and that, though the Doge or prince is not the su-
preme ruler of the city, he might as well be, for totalitarianism
already is represented by the dreaded Cotmcfi of Ten. These
men have become as tyrannical as any monarch. Thus, we
have the expression of the idea which he first stated in the
journal of 1814, viz., “One establishment is no better for a