Abellino received the instruments of death, but his hand shook as it

grasped them.

"Possessed of such unfailing weapons, of what immense sums must your

robberies have made you master!"

"Scoundrel!" interrupted Matteo, frowning and offended, "amongst us

robbery is unknown. What? Dost take us for common plunderers, for

mere thieves, cut-purses, housebreakers, and villains of that low,

miserable stamp?"

"Perhaps what you wish me to take you for is something worse; for,

to speak openly, Matteo, villains of that stamp are contented within

plundering a purse or a casket, which can easily be filled again;

but that which we take from others is a jewel which a man never has

but once, and which stolen can never be replaced. Are we not, then,

a thousand times more atrocious plunderers?"

"By the house at Loretto, I think you have a mind to moralise,

Abellino?"

"Hark ye, Matteo, only one question. At the Day of Judgment, which

think you will hold his head highest, the thief or the assassin?"

"Ha! ha! ha!"

"Think not that Abellino speaks thus from want of resolution. Speak

but the word, and I murder half the senators of Venice; but still--"

"Fool! know, the bravo must be above crediting the nurse's

antiquated tales of vice and virtue. What is virtue? What is vice?

Nothing but such things as forms of government, custom, manners, and

education have made sacred: and that which men are able to make

honourable at one time, it is in their power to make dishonourable

at another, whenever the humour takes them; had not the senate

forbidden us to give opinions freely respecting the politics of

Venice, there would have been nothing wrong in giving such opinions;

and were the senate to declare that it is right to give such

opinions, that which to-day is thought a crime would be thought

meritorious to-morrow. Then, prithee, let us have no more of such

doubts as these. We are men, as much as the Doge and his senators,

and have reasons as much as THEY have to lay down the law of right

and wrong, and to alter the law of right and wrong, and to decree

what shall be vice, and what shall be virtue."

Abellino laughed. Matteo proceeded with increased animation "Perhaps you will tell me that your trade is DISHONOURABLE! And

what, then, is the thing called HONOUR! 'Tis a word, an empty

sound, a mere fantastic creature of the imagination! Ask, as you

traverse some frequented street, in what honour consists? The

usurer will answer--'To be honourable is to be rich, and he has most

honour who can heap up the greatest quantity of sequins.' 'By no

means,' cries the voluptuary; 'honour consists in being beloved by a

very handsome woman, and finding no virtue proof against your

attacks.' 'How mistaken!' interrupts the general; 'to conquer whole

cities, to destroy whole armies, to ruin all provinces, THAT indeed

brings REAL honour.' The man of learning places his renown in the

number of pages which he has either written or read; the tinker, in

the number of pots and kettles which he has made or mended; the nun,

in the number of GOOD things which she has done, or BAD things which

she has resisted; the coquette, in the list of her admirers; the

Republic, in the extent of her provinces; and thus, my friend, every

one thinks that honour consists in something different from the

rest. And why, then, should not the bravo think that honour

consists in reaching the perfection of his trade, and in guiding a

dagger to the heart of an enemy with unerring aim?"




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