here sat the Doge Barberigo and the Council
of Ten; unannounced, he rushed into their midst, the very moment after
they had heard of Caesar's outrage.

"Most serene lords," he cried, "I am come to bid you farewell, for I am
resolved to sacrifice my life to my private vengeance, though indeed
I had hoped to devote it to the service of the republic. I have been
wounded in the soul's noblest part--in my honour. The dearest thing I
possessed, my wife, has been stolen from me, and the thief is the
most treacherous, the most impious, the most infamous of men, it is
Valentinois! My lords, I beg you will not be offended if I speak thus of
a man whose boast it is to be a member of your noble ranks and to enjoy
your protection: it is not so; he lies, and his loose and criminal life
has made him unworthy of such honours, even as he is unworthy of the
life whereof my sword shall deprive him. In truth, his very birth was a
sacrilege; he is a fratricide, an usurper of the goods of other men, an
oppressor of the innocent, and a highway assassin; he is a man who will
violate every law, even, the law of hospitality respected by the veriest
barbarian, a man who will do violence to a virgin who is passing through
his own country, where she had every right to expect from him not only
the consideration due to her sex and condition, but also that which is
due to the most serene republic, whose condottiere I am, and which is
insulted in my person and in the dishonouring of my bride; this man, I
say, merits indeed to die by another hand than mine. Yet, since he who
ought to punish him is not for him a prince and judge, but only a father
quite as guilty as the son, I myself will seek him out, and I will
sacrifice my own life, not only in avenging my own injury and the blood
of so many innocent beings, but also in promoting the welfare of the
most serene republic, on which it is his ambition to trample when he has
accomplished the ruin of the other princes of Italy."

The doge and the senators, who, as we said, were already apprised of
the event that had brought Carracciuolo before them, listened with
great interest and profound indignation; for they, as he told them, were
themselves insulted in the person of their general: they all swore, on
their honour, that if he would put the matter in their hands, and not
yield to his rage, which could only work his own undoing, either his
bride should be rendered up to him without a smirch upon her bridal