win sympathy; and even his consuming ambition is so invested with a
glamour of romantic enthusiasm that it is difficult to reckon him among
the dangerous tyrants. If he is false to his better nature, we at any
rate see that he has a better nature. One is thus tempted to regard
Verrina's act as that of a madman who cares more for form than for
substance and sees danger where there is none.

For Verrina, who plays the part of Brutus to his country's Caesar and
seems to represent the sternest type of republican virtue, is a
repulsive fanatic. The horrible curse that he pronounces upon his
daughter when he hears that she has been outraged is significant at once
for his character and for the young Schiller's notion of tragic pathos.
Throwing a black veil over her head he vociferates thus:

Be blind! Accursed be the air that fans your cheek! Accursed be the
sleep that refreshes you! Accursed be every human trace that is
welcome to your misery! Go down into the deepest dungeon of my
house! Moan! Howl! Drag out the time with your woe. Let your life be
the slimy writhing of the dying worm,--the obstinate, crushing
struggle between being and not-being. And this curse shall rest upon
you until Gianettino has gasped out his last breath.

After this it is difficult to look up to Verrina as a competent savior
of society, however much one may sympathize with him in his private
feud. His cynical tergiversation at the end makes his previous conduct
ridiculous. It seems to say that he has been participating in a tragic
farce which is now ended. One might almost get the impression that the
whole play is only a satire upon republican clap-trap.

Satire, however, was very far from Schiller's thoughts. His enthusiasm