When Faustus and the Devil entered upon the fertile soil of France, it
was groaning beneath the oppression of that cruel and cowardly tyrant
Louis the Eleventh, who was the first that ever styled himself "the most
Christian king." The Devil had determined not to give Faustus the
slightest information beforehand concerning this prince. He had resolved
to drive him to despair, and then overwhelm him with the most frightful
blow a mortal can receive who has rebelliously transgressed the bounds
which a powerful hand has drawn around him.
The Devil had learnt from one of his spies that the most Christian king
was meditating a masterpiece of state policy; or, in other words, was on
the point of getting rid of his brother, the Duke de Berry, in order that
a province which had been granted to him might revert to the crown. The
malicious fiend resolved to make Faustus a spectator of this horrid
scene. They rode through a wood of oaks contiguous to a castle, and saw
among the trees a Benedictine monk, who seemed to be telling his rosary.
The Devil rejoiced inwardly at this sight; for he read upon the
countenance of the monk that he was imploring the Mother of God to assist
him in the great enterprise which his abbot had intrusted him with, and
likewise to save him from all danger. This monk was Faber Vesois,
confessor of the king's brother. The Devil did not disturb him in his
pious meditations, but went on to the castle with Faustus. They were
received with all the respect generally shown to persons of distinction
who come to visit a prince. The duke passed his days here in the company
of his beloved Monserau, thinking of no harm, and expecting no
misfortune. His agreeable manners soon gained him the good-will of
Faustus, who was delighted to see a scion of royalty think and act like a
man; for he had been accustomed to see among the German princes nothing
but pride, coldness, and that foolish ceremony which is only intended to
make visitors appear contemptible in their own eyes. Some days were very
pleasantly spent in hunting and other amusements, and the prince gained
more and more upon the heart of Faustus. The only thing that displeased
him in the prince was the weakness he displayed in regard to his
confessor, the Benedictine. He loaded him with so much tenderness, and
submitted with so much complaisance to his will, and the monk always
looked so studiously devout, that Faustus could not conceive how a man so
frank himself could prize such a hypocrite. The Devil, however, soon let
him into the secret by informing him of the duke's connexion with
Monserau. His love for this fair lady was equalled by his fear of hell;
and, Madame de Monserau having a husband still living, he was not
altogether easy in respect to his amours with her. As he neither wished
to renounce her nor expose himself to eternal punishment, he greedily
caught at the baits which the monks hang out in order to make themselves
masters of the minds of men; and when the dread of hell tormented him too
much, he allayed his fears by receiving absolution for his sins; while he
thought it impossible for him to be too grateful to a man who encouraged
him to enjoy the present, and tranquillised him in respect to the future.
"Thou seest, O Faustus," said the Devil, "what men have made of religion.
Its abuse has often been associated with crimes and horrors, but is
nevertheless used by the wicked to cajole and appease their rebellious
consciences."
The conduct of the prince in this respect did him little honour in the
opinion of Faustus, who had long ago parted with his own conscience, and
this last remark of the Devil's operated strongly upon his mind; however,
he permitted things to go on in their own way, and chiefly thought of
passing his time pleasantly.
They were one evening at table in excellent humour; the Devil was
diverting the company with his pleasant stories, and Faustus was employed
in saying soft things to a pretty French widow, who listened to him very
complaisantly; when all of a sudden, Death, in his most frightful shape,
came to disturb the festival. The Benedictine caused a basket of
extraordinarily large peaches, which he had just received as a present,
to be brought in at dessert; and, selecting one of the finest, he offered
it to the prince with a smiling and benignant air. The prince divided it
with his beloved, and both ate of the peach without the slightest
suspicion. They then rose from table; the monk gave his benediction to
all, and hurried away. The Devil was about to commence a new story, when
Madame de Monserau uttered a loud shriek. Her lovely features were
distorted, her lips became blue, and the paleness of death covered her
countenance. The prince rushed to her assistance; but the terrible
poison began likewise to operate upon him; he fell at her feet, and
cried, "Listen, O Heaven: my brother, my cruel brother, has assassinated
me by the hand of that monster. He who caused his father to die of
hunger in order to avoid being poisoned, has now bribed the minister of
religion to poison me."
Faustus ran out of the room to seize the confessor, but he had fled; a
troop of horse were waiting for him in the forest, and accompanied him in
his flight. Faustus returned; but Death had seized his victims, and they
had ceased to struggle with him. Faustus and the fiend instantly quitted
the place.
_Devil_. Well, Faustus, what think you of the deed committed by the
Benedictine in the name of the most Christian king?
_Faustus_. I am almost inclined to believe that our bodies are animated
by fiendish spirits, and that we are only their instruments.
_Devil_. What a debasing employment for an immortal spirit to have to
animate such an ill-contrived machine! Although I am a haughty demon,
yet, believe me, I would rather animate a swine that wallows in the mire
than one of ye, who roll in all manner of vice, and yet have the
confidence to call yourselves images of the Most High.
Faustus was silent; for the adventures he was every day compelled to
witness forced him, against his inclination, to believe in the moral
worthlessness of man. They travelled forward, and found every where
hideous monuments of the cruelty of Louis the Eleventh. Faustus
frequently made use of the Devil's gold and treasure to stop the bleeding
wounds which the hand of the tyrant had inflicted.
At length they arrived at Paris. Upon entering the city they found every
thing in commotion. The people were rushing in crowds down one
particular street; they followed the populace, and arrived in front of a
scaffold covered with black cloth, and which communicated, by means of a
door, with an adjoining building. Faustus asked what was the cause of
all this; and he was told "that the rich Duke of Nemours was just going
to be executed." "And for what?" "The king has commanded it: there is a
report, indeed, that he had hostile designs against the royal house, and
that he intended to murder the dauphin; but as he has only been tried in
his dungeon by judges named by the king, we know nothing for certain."
"Say, rather," exclaimed another of the bystanders, "that it is his
property which costs him his life; for our sovereign, in order to make us
a great and celebrated nation, cuts off the heads of all our wealthy men,
and would serve us in the same manner if we were to find fault with his
proceedings."
The Devil left the horses at the nearest inn, and then led Faustus
through the crowd. They saw the duke, accompanied by his children, enter
a chamber hung round with black, where a monk waited to receive his last
confession. The father had his eyes fixed upon his sons, and could not
look to heaven. After he had confessed himself, he laid his trembling
hands upon the heads of the children, who were sobbing, and said, "May
the blessing of an unhappy father, who falls a victim to tyranny and
avarice, be your safeguard through life; but, alas, ye are the heirs of
misfortune. Your rights and pretensions will infallibly doom you to long
sufferings; ye are born for misery, and I shall die in this conviction."
He wished to say something more; but the guards silenced him, and hurried
him out upon the scaffold.
The tyrannical king had given orders that the duke's children should be
placed under the scaffold, so that the blood of their father might drop
through the boards upon their white robes. The cries which the wretched
parent uttered at the moment his darlings were torn from him struck
terror to the hearts of all around. Tristan alone, who was the
executioner, and the king's most intimate friend, looked on with perfect
coolness, and felt the sharpness of the axe. Faustus imagined that the
groans of the unhappy parent would excite Heaven to avenge outraged
humanity. He lifted his tearful eyes towards the bright blue sky, which
seemed to smile upon the horrid scene. For a moment he felt himself
strongly tempted to command the Devil to rescue the duke from the hands
of the executioner; but his troubled and agitated mind was incapable of
coming to any resolution. The duke fell upon his knees; he heard the
shrieks and lamentations of his children who were beneath the scaffold;
his own infamous death no longer occupied his mind; he felt for the last
time, and felt only for these unfortunates; big tears hung in his eyes,
his lips trembled; the executioner gave the fatal blow, and the boiling
blood of the father trickled down upon the trembling children. Bathed
with paternal gore, they were then led upon the scaffold. They were
shown the livid headless trunk, were made to kiss it, and then
re-conducted to their prison, where they were chained up against the damp
wall, so that whenever they took repose the whole weight of their bodies
rested on the galling fetters. To increase their misery, their teeth
were torn out from time to time.
Faustus, overwhelmed by the frightful scene he had witnessed, returned
shuddering to the inn, and commanded the Devil to annihilate the tyrant
who thus made a sport of human suffering.
_Devil_. I will not annihilate him, for that would be against the
interest of hell; and why should the Devil put a stop to his cruelties
when by some they are viewed with patience? If I were to further the
projects of thy blind rage, who would escape thy vengeance?
_Faustus_. Should I not be performing a noble part, if, like unto
another Hercules, I were to roam the world, and purge its thrones of such
monsters?
_Devil_. Short-sighted man, does not your own corrupt nature prove that
you must have these kings? And would not new monsters arise out of their
ashes? There would then be no end of murder; the people would be
divided, and thousands would fall the victims of civil war. You see here
millions of bipeds like yourself, who suffer a man like themselves to
despoil them of their property, to flay them alive, and to murder them at
his pleasure. Did not they witness the execution of this duke, who died
innocent as any lamb? Did they not gaze with pleasure, mingled with
agony and grief, upon the tragic spectacle? Does not that prove they
deserve their lot, and are unworthy of a better? Could they not crush
the tyrant at a blow? If they have the power of relieving themselves in
their own hands, wherefore should we pity their sufferings?
Here the disputation ceased.
Faustus shortly afterwards became acquainted with a gentleman of sense
and education, who had an excellent character for probity. Faustus and
the Devil pleased him so much, that he invited them to come and pass some
days with him on his estate at a short distance from Paris, where he
lived with his family, which consisted of his wife and his daughter, who
was about sixteen years old, and lovely as an angel. At the sight of
this divine object Faustus was like one enchanted, and felt, for the
first time, the sweet torments of delicate love. He confided his
sufferings to the Devil, who instantly offered to assist him, and laughed
at the pretended delicacy of his sentiments. Faustus owned that it was
repugnant to his feelings to violate the laws of hospitality. The Devil
replied: "Well, Faustus, if you wish to have the gentleman's consent, I
will engage to procure it. For what do you take him?"
_Faustus_. For an honest man.
_Devil_. It is a great pity, O Faustus, that you are so liable to
deception. And so you really believe him to be an honest man! I admit
that all Paris is of the same opinion. What do you think he loves best
in the world?
_Faustus_. His daughter.
_Devil_. I know something which he loves more.
_Faustus_. And what is that?
_Devil_. Gold; and you ought to have seen that long ago. But since I
have been obliged to open to thee the treasures of the earth, and thou
hast had them at thy disposal, thou hast resembled the torrent which
inundates the fields, caring very little where its waters flow, or where
they are received. How much hast thou lost at play with this gentleman?
_Faustus_. Let them reckon who care more for the dross than I.
_Devil_. He who tricked you can tell to a ducat.
_Faustus_. Tricked!
_Devil_. Yes, tricked you. He saw how little you cared for money, and
has made a noble harvest out of you. Think not that the table of this
miser would be so well provided, and that he would be so prodigal of the
richest wines, and that thou wouldst see so many guests around him,
provided thy gold did not work these miracles. At every moment he
trembles lest we should leave his house. I see by thy astonishment that
thou hast been a spendthrift all thy life, and that thou hast never felt
this thirst for gold, which can extinguish all the desires of the heart,
and even the most pressing wants of nature. Follow me, but tread softly.
They descended a staircase, went through several subterranean passages,
and came at last to an iron door. The Devil then said to Faustus: "Look
through the key-hole." Faustus perceived in a vault, illumined by the
feeble light of a lamp, the gentleman seated by the side of a strong-box,
in which were many sacks of money, which he was looking at with
tenderness. He then flung the money he had won from Faustus into another
box, and wept because he saw there was not sufficient to fill it. The
Devil said softly to Faustus: "For the sum which is wanting to fill that
box, he will sell thee his daughter."
Faustus was incredulous. The Devil waxed wroth, and said impatiently:
"I will show thee that gold has such irresistible power over the minds of
men, that even at this moment some fathers and mothers belonging to the
village are in the neighbouring wood selling for money their babes and
sucklings to the emissaries of the king, although they are well aware
that the poor little things are destined to be slaughtered, in order that
the king may drink their blood, with the foolish hope of renovating and
refreshing the corrupt tide which flows in his own veins.
_Faustus_ (_with a shudder_). Then the world is worse than hell, and I
shall quit it without regret. But I will be convinced with my own eyes
before I credit any thing so horrible.
They now went into the wood, and concealed themselves among the bushes,
where they perceived the emissaries of the king in conference with some
men and women, and the priest of the parish. Four little children were
stretched upon the grass, one of them crying pitiably. The mother lifted
it up and gave it pap, in order to quiet it; whilst the others crept upon
the ground, and played with the flowers. The emissaries counted money
into the hands of the husbands; the priest had his share, and the
children were delivered up. The echoes of the wood repeated for a long
time the cries of the little wretches as they were carried away. The
mothers groaned; but the men said to them, "Here is gold; let us go to
the public-house and buy wine, and drink to a fresh offspring. It is
better that the king should eat the brats now they are young than flay
them when they are old, or tie them up in a sack and fling them into the
Seine. It would have been much better for us if we had been devoured as
soon as we were born."
The priest comforted them, and said:
"They had done a meritorious act, and one which was pleasing to the
Mother of God, to whom the king was entirely devoted." He added, "that
subjects were born for the king; and that, as he reigned upon earth as
Heaven's vicegerent, he had a right to dispose of them according to his
pleasure, and that they were bound to revere the slightest of his fancies
as a sacred law."
The peasants then went to the public-house, where they spent half the
blood-money in drink, and kept the rest to pay the king's taxes.
The Devil now looked at Faustus with an air of mockery, and said, "Hast
thou still doubts whether the gentleman will sell thee his daughter?
Thou at least wilt not eat her."
_Faustus_. I swear by the black hell which at this moment appears to me
a paradise when compared with the earth, that I will henceforward give
boundless scope to all my passions, and, by ravaging and destroying,
believe that I am acting consistently to such a monster as man. Fly, and
purchase me his daughter: she is doomed to destruction, as is every thing
that breathes.
This was exactly the disposition in which the Devil had long been
desirous to see Faustus, in order that he might precipitate him to the
end of his career, and thereby ease himself of a grievous burden, and
cease to be the slave of a thing so contemptible as man was in his eyes.
That very evening he began to sound the father; and the next morning,
whilst they walked together, he made proposals to him, and showed him
gold and jewels, which the miser gazed at with rapture; but which,
however, he would not take until he had made a parade of his virtue. At
every objection the old hypocrite started, the Devil augmented the sum;
and at last he bade so high that the miser accepted it, after much
ceremony, laughing secretly at the madman who flung away his gold so
foolishly. The contract was made, and the father led Faustus to his
daughter; and as he could prove that her parent was a consenting party,
she fell a willing victim.
The father in the mean time went with his gold and a lamp to the vault
where he kept his treasure, and which was known to none of his family.
He was overjoyed in having obtained sufficient to fill his second
strong-box. From fear of being followed, he closed the door hastily
behind him, forgetting that it went with a spring-lock, and that he had
left the key on the outside. The lamp was extinguished by the wind of
the door, and he found himself suddenly involved in profound darkness.
The air of the vault was thick and damp, and he soon felt a difficulty in
his respiration. He now first perceived that he had not the key with
him, and death-like anguish shot coldly through his heart. He had still
strength and instinct sufficient to find his box; he laid the gold in it,
and staggered back to the door, where he considered whether he should cry
out or not. He was cruelly agitated by the alternative of discovering
his secret, or of making this vault his tomb. But his cries would have
been to no purpose; for the cavern had no connexion with the inhabited
part of the house, and he had always so well chosen his time, that no one
had ever yet seen him when he crept to the worship of his idol. After
having for a long time struggled with himself, without coming to any
resolution, the terrible images which assailed his imagination, joined to
the thickness of the air, totally disordered his brain. He sunk to the
earth, and rolling himself to the spot where his box stood, he hugged it
in his arms, and became raving mad. He struggled with despair and death
at the moment of the ruin of his daughter, whose innocence he had
bartered for gold. Some days after, when all the corners of the house
had been closely searched, chance led a servant to the cavern; it was
opened, and the unfortunate wretch was found lying, a blue and ghastly
corpse, upon his dear-bought treasure. The Devil informed Faustus upon
their return to Paris of the issue of this affair, and Faustus believed
that, on this occasion, Providence had justified itself.
The fiend having learnt that the Parliament were about to decide upon a
case unexampled and disgraceful to humanity, he thought it advisable that
Faustus should hear it. The fact was this: a surgeon, returning late one
night to Paris with his faithful servant, heard, not far from the
highway, the groans and lamentations of a man. His heart led him to the
spot, where he found a murderer broken alive upon the wheel, who conjured
him, in the name of God, to put an end to his existence. The surgeon
shuddered with horror and fright; but recovering himself, he thought
whether it would not be possible for him to reset the bones of this
wretch, and preserve his life. He spoke a few words to his servant, took
the murderer from the wheel, and laid him gently in the chaise. He then
carried him to his house, where he undertook his cure, which he at last
accomplished. He had been informed that the Parliament had offered a
reward of one hundred louis-d'ors to any one who would discover the
person who had taken the assassin from the wheel. He told the murderer
of this when he sent him away, and, giving him money, he advised him not
to stay in Paris. The very first thing which this monster did was to go
to the Parliament and betray his benefactor, for the sake of the hundred
louis-d'ors. The cheeks of the judges, which so seldom change colour,
became pallid at this denunciation; for he informed them with the
greatest effrontery that he was the very assassin, who, having been
broken alive upon the place where he had committed the murder, had been
saved by the compassion of the surgeon. The latter was sent for; and the
Devil conducted Faustus into the hall of judgment exactly at the moment
he appeared. The attorney-general informed the surgeon of what he was
accused; but the surgeon, being certain of his servant's fidelity,
stoutly denied the charge. He was advised to confess, because a most
convincing witness could be brought against him. He bade them produce
him. A side-door opened, and the murderer stepped coolly into the court,
and, looking the surgeon full in the face, undauntedly repeated his
accusation, without forgetting a single circumstance. The surgeon
shrieked, "O monster! what can have urged thee to this horrible
ingratitude?"
_Murderer_. The hundred louis-d'ors, which you told me of when you sent
me away. Did you think that I was satisfied with merely recovering the
use of my limbs? I was broken alive on the wheel for a murder which I
committed for ten crowns, and I was not fool enough to lose gaining a
hundred louis without running any risk.
_Surgeon_. Thou wretch! thy cries and groans touched my heart. I took
thee down from the wheel, comforted thee, and bound up thy wounds. I fed
thee with mine own hand, till thou couldst use thy shattered joints. I
gave thee money, which thou canst not yet have spent. I discovered to
thee, from regard to thy own safety, the reward which had been offered by
the Parliament; and I swear to thee, by Heaven above, that if thou hadst
told me of thy devilish intention, I would have sold my last rag, and
have furnished thee with the sum, in order that so horrible a piece of
ingratitude might remain for ever unknown to the world. Gentlemen, judge
between me and him; I confess myself guilty.
_President_. You have grievously offended justice by endeavouring to
preserve the life of him whom the law, for the common safety, had
condemned to die; but for this once strict justice shall be silent, and
humanity only shall sit in judgment. The hundred louis-d'ors shall be
yours, and the murderer shall be again broken upon the wheel.
Faustus, who during the whole of this strange trial had been snorting
like a madman, gave now such a thundering huzza, that the whole gallery
echoed. The Devil, who observed that the last impression was about to
destroy the first, soon led him to another scene.
Some surgeons, doctors of medicine, and naturalists had formed a secret
society, for the purpose of inquiring into the mechanism of the human
body, and the effect of the soul upon matter. In order to satisfy their
curiosity, they inveigled, under all sorts of pretences, poor men and
women into a house at some distance from the city, the upper part of
which was constructed in such a manner that it was impossible to discover
from without what was going forward within. Having tied their victims
with strong cords down upon a long table, and having placed a gag in
their mouths, they then removed their skin and their flesh, and laid bare
their muscles, their nerves, their hearts, and their brains. In order to
come at what they sought, they fed the wretches with strengthening
broths, and caused them to die slowly under the slashing of their knives
and lancets. The Devil knew that they intended this night to assemble,
and said to Faustus, "Thou hast seen a surgeon, who, for the sake of
humanity, or for love of his art, cured an assassin whom justice had
broken on the wheel; I will now show thee physicians, who, in pursuit of
secrets which they will not discover, skin their fellow-creatures alive.
Thou appearest incredulous! Follow me, and I will convince thee. We
will represent two doctors."
He led him to a solitary house. They entered the laboratory, which the
rays of the sun never penetrated. Here they saw the surgeons dissecting
a miserable being, whose flesh quivered beneath their fratricidal hands,
and whose bosom heaved with the most painful agony. They were so engaged
with their object, that they never once perceived the Devil and Faustus.
The latter, feeling his nerves thrill with horror, rushed out, struck his
forehead with his hand, and commanded the fiend to tear down the house
upon their heads, and bury them and their deed beneath its ruins.
_Devil_. Why this rage, O Faustus? Dost thou not perceive that thou art
acting, in respect to the moral world, in the same manner as they act in
regard to the physical world? They mangle the flesh of the living; and
thou, by my destructive hand, exercisest thy fury upon the whole
creation.
_Faustus_. Outcast fiend! dost thou think my heart is made of stone?
Dost thou think that I can see unmoved the torments of yon poor flayed
and butchered wretch? But if I can neither dry his tears nor cure his
wounds, I can avenge him, and put him out of pain. Away! away! do as I
have bid thee, or dread my wrath!
The Devil obeyed with pleasure. He shook the house to its foundation,
and down it toppled with a hideous noise, and overwhelmed the wicked
doctors. Faustus hurried to Paris, without attending to the look of wild
exultation which the Devil cast upon him.
Faustus, having heard much talk of the prisons which the most Christian
king had caused to be built for the purpose of receiving those whom he
dreaded, had a strong desire to see the interior of them. The Devil
willingly undertook to satisfy his curiosity; and although the guards
were forbidden, under pain of death, to permit any strangers to enter
these habitations of horror, yet the golden arguments which the Devil
used procured him and his companion a ready admittance. They saw there
cages of iron, in which it was impossible for a man to stand upright, or
sit down, or place himself in any easy posture. The wretches who were
compelled to tenant these iron dwellings had their limbs galled by heavy
chains. The keeper said, confidentially, that when the king was in good
health, he frequently walked in the gallery, in order to enjoy the song
of his nightingales; for thus did he call these wretched victims.
Faustus asked some of the unfortunates the cause of their captivity; and
he heard stories which pierced him to the heart. At last, coming to a
cage wherein was a venerable-looking old man, he put the same question to
him, and the prisoner answered, in a plaintive tone:
"Whoever you are, let my sad story serve you as a warning never to assist
a tyrant in his cruelties. You behold in me the Bishop of Verdun, who
first gave to the king the idea of these horrible cages, and was the very
first to be shut up in one of them after they were completed. Here have
I, for fourteen years, done penance for my sins, praying daily to God to
end my torments by death."
_Faustus_. Ha, ha! Your excellence, then, like another Perillus, has
found a Phalaris. Do you know that story? You shake your head. Well, I
will tell it you.
"This Perillus, who was neither a bishop nor a Christian, constructed a
brazen bull, which he showed to the tyrant Phalaris as a masterpiece of
invention, and assured him that it was constructed in such a manner,
that, if his majesty would shut up a man in it, and then heat it red-hot
by a fire laid beneath it, the shrieks of the tormented man would exactly
resemble the bellowings of a bull, which would doubtless afford his
majesty great pleasure. 'My dear Perillus,' said the tyrant, 'I am much
indebted to you; but it is right that the artist should prove his own
work.' He then made Perillus creep into the beast's belly; and when the
fire was laid beneath it, he did in reality bellow like a bull. Thus did
Phalaris, a thousand years ago, play very much the same part with
Perillus which the most Christian king has been playing with you, most
reverend Bishop of Verdun."
_Bishop_. I wish I had heard this story twenty years ago; I should then
have taken warning from it.
_Faustus_. You see that history may sometimes be useful, even to a
bishop. I weep for the fate of your companions in misery; but I laugh at
yours.
Faustus wished now to see this king, whose horrible deeds had so heated
his imagination, that he could hardly represent him to himself under a
human figure. The Devil told him that it would be impossible for them in
their present forms to enter the Castle of Plessis du Parc, where
cowardice and fear kept the tyrant a prisoner. He added, that no one,
with the exception of some necessary domestics, the physician, the
confessor, and one or two astrologers, could enter without a particular
order.
_Faustus_. Then let us assume other figures and dresses.
_Devil_. Good; I will instantly remove two of his guards, and we will do
their duty. This is an excellent time to see the tyrant. The fear of
death is already avenging upon his cowardly spirit the thousands whom he
has slaughtered. Day and night he only thinks of putting off the moment
which is to terminate his existence, and death seems to him more hideous
every second. I will make you a witness of his torments.
The Devil instantly put his project into execution, and they found
themselves standing sentinels in the interior of the castle, where
reigned the mournful silence of the tomb. Thither had he, before whom
millions trembled, banished himself, in order to escape from the
vengeance of the relations of the murdered. Although he could thus fly
from the sight of his subjects, he could not escape the cutting remorse
of his own heart, nor the pains of his emaciated body. In vain did he
implore Heaven to grant him health and repose; in vain did he attempt to
bribe it by presents to saints, to priests, and to churches; in vain did
he cover himself with relics from all parts of the world: that frightful
sentence, _thou shall die_, seemed always ringing in his ears. He
scarcely ventured to move out of his chamber, lest he should find an
assassin in one of those whom he might meet. If anguish drove him into
the free air, he went armed with lance and dagger, just as if he had
strength to use either. Four hundred guards watched day and night around
the stronghold of the half-dead monster; three times every hour did their
hoarse calls, echoing from post to post, break the solemn stillness, and
remind the tyrant of the flight of time. All around his castle gibbets
were erected; and the hangman, Tristan, his only true friend, went about
the country every day, and returned at night with fresh victims, in
order, by their execution, to diminish the fears of the tyrant, who from
time to time would walk in an apartment which was only separated from the
torture-room by a thin partition. There he listened to the groans and
shrieks of the wretches on the rack, and found in the sufferings of
others a slight alleviation of his own. Wearing on his hat a leaden
image of the Virgin,--his pretended protectress,--he drank the blood of
murdered sucklings, and allowed himself to be tormented by his physician,
whom he requited with ten thousand crowns a month.
This was the wretch whom Faustus saw; and his heart rejoiced when he
contemplated the paleness of his cheeks, and the farrows which anguish
and despair had made in his brow. He was on the point of leaving this
abode of monotonous horror, when the Devil whispered him to remain until
the next day, and he would see a singular spectacle. The king had heard
that a hermit lived in Calabria, who was honoured as a saint through all
Sicily. This fool had, from his fourteenth to his fortieth year, dwelt
upon a naked rock, where, exposed to the rains and tempests of heaven, he
martyred his body by stripes and fasting, and refused his mind all
cultivation. But, the rays of sanctity concealing his stupidity, he soon
saw the prince and the peasant at his feet. Louis had requested the King
of Sicily to send him this creature, because he hoped to be cured by him.
The hermit was now on the road; and as he brought with him the holy oil
of Rheims, to anoint the tyrant's body, the latter imagined that all his
disorders would soon vanish, and he should become young again. The happy
day arrived: the Calabrian boor approached the castle; the king received
him at the gate, fell at his feet, and asked him for life and health.
The Calabrian played his part in so ridiculous a manner, that Faustus
could not avoid laughing aloud at the farce. Tristan and his myrmidons
were advancing to seize him, and he would doubtlessly have paid for
laughing with his life, had not the Devil rescued him from their claws,
and flown away with him. When they arrived at Paris, Faustus said:
"Is it by this contemptible, superstitious, tottering object, that the
bold sons of France allow themselves to be enslaved? He is a mere
skeleton in purple, who can scarcely cough out of his asthmatic throat
the desire to live; yet they tremble before him, as if he were a giant,
whose terrible arms could encircle the whole earth. When the lion,
enfeebled by age, lies languishing in his den, the most insignificant
beasts of the forests are not afraid of him, but approach and mock the
fallen tyrant."
_Devil_. It is this which chiefly distinguishes the king of men from the
king of beasts. The latter is only formidable as long as he can use his
own strength; but the former, who binds the strength of his slaves to his
will, is as powerful when lying on the bed of sickness, as when, in the
vigour of health, he is at the head of his armies. Are you not now
convinced that men are only guided by folly, which dooms them to be
slaves? Break their chains to-day, and they would forge themselves
others to-morrow. Do what you can, they will always go on in the same
eternal circle, and are condemned for ever to seize the shadow for the
reality.
The Devil, having shown Faustus all that was remarkable in and about the
capital of France, took him to Calais; and, crossing the Channel, they
arrived in London at the very moment that hideous abortion, the Duke of
Gloucester, made himself Protector of the kingdom, and was endeavouring
to take away the crown from the children of his brother, the late king.
He had removed the father by means of poison, and had already persuaded
the queen (who, upon the first discovery of his projects, had fled for
refuge, with her children, to Westminster Sanctuary) to deliver up to him
the youthful heir of the throne, together with his brother York. Faustus
was present when Doctor Shaw, by the command of the Protector, informed
the astonished people from the pulpit, that the yet living mother of the
duke and the deceased king had admitted various lovers; that the late
king was the offspring of such adultery; and that no one of the royal
line, except the Protector, could boast of a legitimate birth. He saw
those noblemen executed who would not accede to the execrable plot; and
the Devil conducted him into the Tower at the very moment when Tyrrell
and his assistant murdered the lawful king and his brother, and buried
them beneath the threshold of the dungeon. He was a witness of the base
submission of the Parliament, and of the coronation of the frightful
tyrant. He witnessed the negotiation of the queen to support the
murderer of her sons in his usurped throne, by giving him the hand of her
eldest daughter, in order that she herself might still retain a shadow of
sovereignty; although at the same time she had entered into a secret
alliance with the Earl of Richmond, who was destined to be her avenger.
Faustus felt himself so enraged, that not all the charms of the blooming
Englishwomen could keep him any longer in this cursed isle, which he
quitted with hatred and disgust; for neither in Germany nor in France had
he seen crimes committed with so much coolness and impunity. When they
were on the point of embarking, the Devil said to him:
"These people will groan for a time beneath the yoke of despotism; they
will then sacrifice one of their kings upon the scaffold of freedom, in
order that they may sell themselves to his successors for gold and
titles. In hell there is very little respect paid to these gloomy
islanders, who would suck the marrow from all the carcasses in the
universe, if they thought to find gold in the bones. They boast of their
morality, and despise all other nations; yet if you were to place what
you call virtue in one scale, and vice, with twopence, in the other, they
would forget their morality, and pocket the money. They talk of their
honour and integrity, but never enter into a treaty but with a firm
resolution of breaking it as soon as a farthing is to be gained by so
doing. After death, they inhabit the most pestilential marsh of the
kingdom of darkness, and their souls are scourged without mercy. None of
the other damned will have any communication with them. If the
inhabitants of the Continent could do without sugar and coffee, the sons
of proud England would soon return to the state in which they were when
Julius Caesar, Canute of Denmark, or William the Conqueror, did them the
honour to invade their island."
_Faustus_. For a devil, thou knowest history passably well.
Hereupon he led him to Milan, where they saw the Duke Galeas Sforza
murdered on St. Stephen's day in the cathedral; Faustus having previously
heard the assassins loudly beseeching St. Stephen and St. Ambrose to
inspire them with the courage necessary for so noble a deed.
In Florence, the seat of the Muses, they saw the nephew of the great
Cosmo, the father of his country, murdered in the church of Santa
Reparata, at the altar, just at the moment when the priest raised the
host in his hands; for the Archbishop of Florence, Salviati, had informed
the murderers that this was to be the signal. He had been bribed to
assist in this enterprise by the Pope, who was determined to annihilate
the Medicis, in order to rule sole sovereign in Italy.
In the north of Europe they saw wild barbarians and drunken ruffians
murdering and pillaging like the more civilised Europeans. In Spain they
found upon the throne deceit and hypocrisy wearing the mask of religion.
They saw, at an _auto-da-fe_, men and women immolated in the flames to
the mild Deity of the Christians; and they heard the grand inquisitor,
Torquemada, boast to Ferdinand and Isabella that, since the establishment
of the holy tribunal, it had tried eighty thousand suspected persons, and
had burnt six thousand convicted heretics. When Faustus first saw the
ladies and cavaliers assembled in the grand square, dressed in their
richest habits, he imagined that he had come just in time for some joyous
festival; but when he heard the condemned wretches howling and lamenting
in the midst of a mob of monks who were at their devotions, he was
convinced that religion, when misused, makes man the most execrable
monster on the earth. He, however, began to imagine that all these
horrors were the necessary consequences of man's nature, who is an animal
that must either tear his fellow-creatures to pieces, or be torn to
pieces by them.
The Devil, perceiving that Faustus was amazed and confounded by these
scenes, said to him:
"Thou seest how the courts of Europe resemble each other in wickedness
and crime. Let us now go to Rome, and see whether the ecclesiastical
government goes on better."
The malicious Leviathan flattered himself that Alexander the Sixth, who
wore at that time the triple crown, and held in his hands the keys of
heaven and of hell, would give the finishing blow to the harassed spirit
of Faustus, and would enable him to return below with his victim. For a
long time he had been weary of staying on the earth; for although he had
in the course of many thousand years so often traversed it, he still saw
merely the same beings and the same actions. From this we may learn that
there is something so annoying in uniformity, that even the wild horrors
of Satan's hall are to be preferred to it.
On the way to Rome they passed by two hostile armies encamped face to
face. The one was commanded by Malatesta of Rimini, the other by a papal
general. The crafty Alexander was now endeavouring, either by poisoning,
secret assassination, or open war, to deprive all the Italian noblemen of
their property, in order that he might convert their castles and domains
into principalities for his illegitimates. He began with the weakest,
and had despatched this little army to eject Malatesta from his fief of
Rimini. Faustus and the Devil, riding along the road, perceived upon an
eminence contiguous to the papal camp two men, magnificently dressed,
engaged in a furious combat. Moved by curiosity, Faustus advanced to the
spot; the fiend followed him; and they perceived, by the rage of the
antagonists, that nothing less than the death of one of them would end
the struggle. But what appeared to Faustus most extraordinary was a
milk-white goat, adorned with ribbons of various colours, which a page
seemed to hold as the prize of victory, as he stood, with the utmost
coolness, near the two raging warriors. Many cavaliers had assembled
upon the height, and awaited the issue of the affair. Faustus approached
one of them, and asked, with his German simplicity, whether the gentlemen
were fighting for that handsome goat. He had observed that the two
champions, whenever they paused to take breath, looked at the goat with
much tenderness, and each seemed, according to knightly custom, to
entreat it to assist him in his danger. The Italian, turning to Faustus,
coolly answered, "Yes, certainly; and I hope our general will punish with
death the audacious knight who dared to remove from his tent the
handsomest goat in the world, at the time he was gone to reconnoitre the
enemy's camp." Faustus stepped back, shook his head, and scarcely knew
whether he was dreaming or awake. The Devil let him remain for some time
in this perplexity; he then took him aside, and whispered certain things
in his ear, which made Faustus blush, and which will not bear repetition.
The duel in the mean time went on as hotly as ever, until the sword of
the papal general found an opening in the knight's mail, and laid him
wallowing in blood upon the ground. He yielded up his soul amidst curses
and imprecations, and took, with his last look, a tender farewell of the
pretty animal. The general was congratulated by the surrounders, and the
page delivered him the goat. He called it "his dearest, his
best-beloved," and loaded it with the most tender caresses.
Faustus departed from the place of combat, and was hesitating between a
desire to laugh and a feeling of disgust, when the Devil said to him:
"This duel has made thee acquainted with the papal general; but he who
commands the hostile army does not deserve thy attention less. The one
has risked his life for love of a white goat; and the other has already
poisoned and strangled with his own hand, in order that he might get
possession of their property, two of his wives, sprung from the best
families in Italy. He is now on the point of marrying a third; and she
will, in all probability, experience the same fate. Both of these
personages are otherwise very religious men,--attend processions, make
vows to Heaven, and implore it for assistance. For which side do you
think it will now declare?"
Faustus gave the Devil a wild look, and left the malicious question
unanswered; but the Devil, who wished to punish him for having formerly
boasted of the moral worth of man, failed not to make some bitter jokes
upon the amours of the papal general and the conjugal tenderness of
Malatesta of Rimini.
The sight of Rome and its majestic ruins, over which the mighty spirit of
the old Romans seemed yet to hover, filled Faustus with wonder; and, as
he was well acquainted with the history of those lords of the ancient
world, the remembrance of their heroic actions elevated his soul to a
pitch of enthusiasm. But the modern inhabitants of this celebrated city
soon inspired him with very different sentiments. By the Devil's advice,
they announced themselves as German noblemen, whom curiosity to see the
magnificence of Rome had brought there. But their retinue, their pomp,
and their demeanour, caused a suspicion to be entertained that they were
of more consequence than they pretended to be. Friars and matrons,
quacks and harlequins, flocked to them, as soon as the noise of their
arrival had echoed through all the haunts of those who get their
livelihood by administering to the crimes and the weaknesses of men.
They offered them their several female relations, and depicted their
charms and various attractions with such fiery eloquence, that Faustus,
besieged on every side, knew not which to prefer. As these wretches
uttered religious maxims in the same breath with the most stimulant
descriptions of voluptuousness, Faustus imagined himself authorised in
believing that they merely made use of religion to appease the cravings
of passion, revolted by their shameful deeds and wickedness.
The next day after their arrival, Faustus and the Devil were invited to
dinner by the Cardinal Caesar Borgia, one of the many illegitimates of
the Pope. He received them in the most splendid manner, and promised to
introduce them to his holiness. They went on horseback, attended by a
retinue of servants, to the Vatican, and Faustus and the Devil kissed the
toe of the Pope: the German performed this act of devotion with all the
fervour of a good Christian Catholic; but the Devil muttered to himself,
"If Alexander knew who I am, I should, most probably, see him at my own
feet." After the usual ceremonies were over, the Pope invited them into
his private apartments, where he spoke to them very freely, and made them
acquainted with his other illegitimates, the famous Lucretia; Francisco
Borgia, Duke of Candia, &c.
The Pope found the society of the handsome and well-made Leviathan so
much to his liking, that, from the first interview, he showed him
particular favour, which grew at length, as we shall see, to the closest
intimacy. Faustus attached himself to Cardinal Borgia, who gave him such
a glowing description of the pleasures and temptations of Rome, that he
hardly knew whether he was in the Vatican or in the Temple of Venus. The
Cardinal made him more nearly acquainted with his sister, who was married
to Alphonso of Arragon. This siren displayed voluptuousness and
sensuality in a form and face so attractive and charming, that Faustus
stood before her like one enchanted.
Faustus and the Devil went one evening to the Vatican to see a play,
which astonished the young German more than any thing he had yet seen at
the papal court. It was the _Mandragola_ which was represented. The
noble Machiavel had composed this licentious and satirical piece, in
order to lay before the eyes of the court of Rome a striking picture of
the boundless corruption of the clergy, and to prove that to be the sole
cause of the dissolute lives of the laity. But he deceived himself in
his honourable design: the _Mandragola_ was applauded, not on account of
its morality, which was not understood, but of its licentiousness.
Faustus heard the Pope and the cardinals, the nuns and the ladies,
praising certain things which, in his opinion, the most dissolute of the
Roman emperors would not have permitted upon their theatre. But real
scenes yet more abominable soon put an end to his astonishment; and he
perceived that the actions of Alexander and his children infinitely
surpassed all that which the annals of the human race had hitherto
consigned to infamy and abhorrence. Lucretia was pleased yet more by
Faustus's rich presents than his fine face and form. By this intimate
connexion with her, he discovered her incestuous intercourse with her two
brothers, the Cardinal and Francisco; which she also extended to the Pope
her father. The only one whom she treated ill was Alphonso, who had the
honour to be her spouse. Faustus now guessed the cause of the implacable
hatred which the Cardinal entertained against his brother Francisco: it
arose from jealousy at his sister's preferring the latter to himself; and
he often swore to take vengeance upon his brother.
It was the custom of Faustus, after having the whole day wallowed in the
shameful pleasures of the court and city, to pester the Devil's ears with
complaints of the wickedness of men. He was shocked at their crimes,
although he himself had neither strength nor desire to resist any of his
inclinations. He generally concluded his sermonising by asking, "How
could such a monster ever have been elected Pope?"
The Devil, who perfectly knew how that event had been brought about (for
one of the princes of hell had been at the election), would tell him how
"Alexander bought up the votes of the cardinals by magnificent promises;
and being called upon, after his installation, to fulfil them, he either
banished or caused to be privately assassinated all those who had any
claims upon him."
_Faustus_. I can easily conceive that the cardinals were sufficiently
corrupt to make him Pope; but how the people can submit to his decrees is
beyond my comprehension.
_Devil_. The Romans are perfectly content with him. He protects the
populace, and ravages and pillages the great. Can they wish for a better
Pope than one who sanctifies their crimes by his own example; and who,
besides the indulgences he distributes, shows by his actions that men
have no reason to be terrified at any crime?
The Pope having, at a consistorial court, elevated his eldest
illegitimate, Francisco, to the dignity of General of the Papal See, the
Cardinal instantly formed the Christian resolution of putting his brother
out of the way, and thereby opening a more extensive field to his own
ambition. Vanosa, his mother, had informed him that the Pope intended to
raise a throne for Francisco upon the ruin of the Italian princes; and
through him, as his eldest-born, execute all the projects which he had
formed for the prosperity and aggrandisement of his family. The
Cardinal, who had always certain assassins in his pay, sent for his
faithful Dom Michelotto, and thus addressed him:
"Brave and honest Michelotto, five years have already passed since the
accession of my father to the papal chair, and I am not yet what I might
have been, had I acted with less delicacy and more prudence. He first
made me an archbishop, and now I am become a cardinal; but what is that
for a spirit which burns with a desire to distinguish itself, and which
aspires to glory! My revenues scarcely supply me with absolute
necessaries, and it is impossible for me to reward, according to the wish
of my heart, those friends who have rendered me essential services. Art
thou not, O Michelotto, a striking example of it thyself? Have I been
able to acquit myself towards thee in the manner which my obligations to
thee demand? But shall we always languish in this shameful inactivity;
and shall we wait till fortune or chance do something for those who will
do nothing for themselves? Dost thou think that the monotonous life I
lead in the conclave and in the church was intended for a spirit like
mine? Am I born for all these ridiculous and superstitious ceremonies?
If nature had not by foolish caprice brought my brother into the world
before me, would not all those situations, all those honours, by which
men are alone enabled to perform great actions, have fallen to my lot?
Does my brother know how to profit by the advantages which the Pope and
blind Fortune fling in his way? Let me once occupy his place, and my
name shall soon resound through all Europe. Nature stamped me for a
hero, and him for a priest; therefore I must seek to repair the
negligence of Fortune if I wish to fulfil my destiny. Compare him and
me, and who will say we are sprung from the same father? But be he my
brother--and it little matters; for the man who wishes to rise above the
rest should forget tenderness and relationship--those puny bonds of
nature--and should not hesitate to dip his hands in the sacrifice of any
one whose existence may be an obstacle to his noble views. It is thus
that all great men act; it is thus that the founder of immortal Rome
acted. In order that Rome might arrive at the height of grandeur to
which his genius wished to carry it, he did not hesitate to stab his
brother; and, in order that Caesar Borgia may attain immortality, his
brother Francisco must bleed beneath thy knife, most courageous
Michelotto. Yes; for although it would be easy for me, in the darkness
of the night, to assassinate him myself and remain unsuspected, I reserve
for thee this deed, in order that thou mayst have a greater right to
share with me my grandeur and my future fortunes. To-morrow I shall go
to Naples to assist, in quality of legate, at the coronation of the king.
Vanosa, my mother, who, between you and me, is weary of seeing her
enterprising Caesar a cardinal, gives this evening a supper to myself, my
brother, and a few friends. Francisco will go late at night to an
assignation in which he and I mutually share; and I ill know Michelotto
if ever he finds his way back to his palace. My name is Caesar, and I
will be all or nothing."
Michelotto grasped the cardinal's hand, thanked him for his confidence,
assured him of his fidelity, and went his way in order to get some of his
companions to assist him in the affair.
Faustus and the Devil were also invited to the supper. Gaiety reigned
among the guests. The good-natured Francisco loaded his brother with
caresses, which, however, did not shake his resolution. When they rose
from table, Caesar took leave of his mother, and said he must now go to
the Pope and receive his orders for Naples. The two brothers walked with
each other a little way, followed by Faustus and the Devil. Francisco
soon took leave of his brother, having first told him where he was going.
The Cardinal, with a smiling air, wished him much pleasure: hurrying to
the Vatican, he finished his business there, and then went to the
rendezvous, where he found Michelotto and his ruffians, whom he directed
how to proceed. Faustus had not the slightest suspicion of what was
going forward; but the Devil, who knew when the horrible drama was to
conclude, transported him to the banks of the Tiber at the very moment
Michelotto and his assistants flung into the stream the corpse of the
murdered Francisco. Faustus would have attacked the assassins, though he
was still ignorant who their victim was; but the Devil prevented him, and
said:
"Do not approach; keep thyself quiet, and let none of those people see
thee; they swarm so at Rome and at the Vatican, that thou wouldst not be
safe, even at my side, if they were to perceive that thou didst observe
them. The murdered man whom they flung into the water is Francisco
Borgia, Duke of Candia; his murderer is his brother, and what thou seest
now is only the prelude to actions which will astonish hell itself and
make it tremble."
He then discovered to him the whole of the plot, and repeated to him the
Cardinal's conversation with Michelotto. Faustus replied, with more
coolness than the Devil expected:
"Their deeds will not astonish me, however infamous they may be; for what
else can we expect from a family where the father lives in incest with
his daughter, and the brothers with their sister? But henceforth I will
never suffer any one to boast in my presence of the moral worth of man;
for, in comparison with man, especially if he be a priest, the worst
fiend is innocent as an angel. Oh, why was I not born in happy Arabia,
where I might have passed my solitary existence, with a palm-tree for my
shelter, and with Nature for my god!"
The body of Francisco being found in the Tiber, his assassination was
soon noised about Rome and through all Italy. The Pope was so afflicted
at the intelligence, that he abandoned himself to the most frightful
despair, and remained three days without eating or drinking; but he did
not forget to offer immense rewards for the discovery of the murderers.
His daughter, who guessed from whence the blow came, gave her mother
intelligence of the severe intentions of the Pope; and Vanosa, at dead of
night, went to the Vatican. The Devil, who, in quality of favourite, had
remained alone with his holiness whilst his affliction was at its height,
hastened away upon the appearance of Vanosa; and having found Faustus,
who was consoling the lovely Lucretia, he led him to the door of the
Pope's apartment, where they heard the following dialogue.
"A fratricide! a cardinal!--and thou, mother of them both, dost tell me
this with as much coolness as if Caesar had merely poisoned one of the
Colonnas or Orsinis. He has, in murdering his brother, destroyed his own
fame, and has undermined the foundation of that monument of grandeur
which I was about to raise. But the monster shall not escape punishment;
he shall feel my vengeance."
_Vanosa_. Rodrigo Borgia, thou hast shared the couch of my mother and
myself, and wast the first that dishonoured Lucretia, my daughter and
thine. Who can number all those whom thou hast secretly poisoned and
assassinated? Yet thou art not less a pope. Rome trembles before thee,
and all Christianity adores thee. Every thing depends upon the situation
in which men are when they commit crimes. I am the mother of both,
Rodrigo, and I knew that Caesar would murder Francisco.
_Pope_. Thou wretch!
_Vanosa_. Am I? If I be, I have become so in thy school. It was right
that the timorous and gentle Francisco should give place to the fiery,
the enterprising Caesar, in order that the glittering hopes may be
fulfilled which thou didst confide to me upon thy elevation to the papal
chair. Francisco was intended by nature to be a monk; my Caesar to be a
conqueror--and I call him so already in prophetic spirit. He alone has
power to annihilate the great and petty tyrants of Italy, and to win
himself a crown. Appoint him standard-bearer to the papal see, and he
will make the Borgias kings of the Italian realms. Is not this thy most
ardent wish? All thy poisonings and murders will have been to no more
purpose if Caesar remains a cardinal, than they would have been if yon
feeble driveller had lived. Only from Caesar can I expect protection
when thou art no more. He loves his mother; but the other boy neglected
me, and only flattered thee, from whom he expected his greatness. Caesar
feels that a woman like me, who could bring forth a hero, can likewise
point out to him the way to immortal deeds. Brighten up, Rodrigo, and be
wise; for know that the hand which dispatched thy favourite was directed
by a daring spirit, who would not hesitate to take thy own life wert thou
to remove the veil which has been flung over this deed of necessity.
_Pope_. The solidity of thy arguments restores me to myself, and thy
eloquence exalts my soul, although it makes me shudder. Francisco is
dead; Caesar lives: let him live, and take his brother's place, since
fate will have it so.
He rang the bell, caused refreshments to be brought, and was in excellent
spirits.
Francisco was forgotten, and the Pope thought of nothing else than to
open to the daring Caesar a wider field in which he might exercise his
dangerous talents. The latter, in the mean time, crowned the King of
Naples, with hands yet reeking with fraternal blood. He returned to
Rome; and Faustus saw, with a malicious laugh, the cardinals and the
ambassadors of Spain and Venice receive the fratricide, whom they knew
for such, at the city-gate, and then conduct him in triumph to the Pope,
who embraced him with great tenderness. Vanosa laid aside her mourning,
and celebrated the day of his return by a festival, at which appeared all
the grandees of Rome. Caesar shortly afterwards changed his cardinal's
hat for a helmet, and was with much pomp and magnificence consecrated
Gonfalonier, or Standard-bearer of the Holy See.
The Devil saw, with much pleasure, Faustus endeavouring, by the wildest
excesses, to escape the pangs by which his heart was now torn. He
remarked how every new scene of horror he was doomed to witness galled
his soul, and that he was becoming more and more convinced that all he
saw or heard had its origin in the nature of man. The Devil supported
him in this idea by sophisms, which later philosophers have worked up
into systems. He ransacked the earth of its treasures, and showered gold
and precious gems upon his victim; and Faustus, dishonouring the wives
and daughters of Rome, believed that he could not sufficiently corrupt
the human family, which, in his opinion, was doomed to misfortune and
destruction. The lessons he had learnt from Lucretia had long since
poisoned his senses. All the sweet ties of humanity, which had so long
fettered his heart, were now totally destroyed. He represented the world
to himself as a stormy sea, on which the human race is cast, and is
tossed here and there by the wind, which drives this man upon a rock,
where he is dashed to pieces, and blows the other happily to his haven.
But what seemed to Faustus most incomprehensible was, that the
shipwrecked mariner should be punished in an after-state for not having
guided his vessel better; when the rudder which had been given him to
shape his course by was so weak that any extraordinary billow could not
fail to shatter it.
A new scene now presented itself. Alexander had determined on taking the
amusements of the chase at Ostia. He was accompanied thither by a vast
throng of cardinals, bishops, ladies, and nuns; the latter being summoned
from their cloisters, and, by their beauty, rendering the cavalcade a
glorious spectacle. The Devil was constantly by the side of the Pope,
and Faustus and Lucretia were inseparable. Every one abandoned himself
at Ostia to pleasure, and in the course of a few days excesses were
committed there from which even Tiberius and Nero might have learnt
something. Faustus had now an excellent opportunity of examining man in
his nakedness, as the Devil had expressively termed it; but what were all
these scenes of wickedness when compared with the plans which the Pope
formed with his bastards, by way of relaxation, in the presence of
Faustus and the Devil? It was here determined that Alphonso of Arragon,
the husband of Lucretia, should be assassinated, in order that they might
give the King of France a proof that they were willing to break entirely
with the King of Naples, and to assist the former in his usurpation of
the crown of Sicily. Louis the Twelfth had already, with the approbation
of Alexander, invaded Italy, and the Borgias thereby saw all their
projects ripening. Lucretia intrusted this bloody deed to the management
of her brother, and already considered herself as a widow. The plan of
the ensuing campaign was then adjusted in a very expeditious manner; for
it was merely to take possession of all the towns, castles, and domains
of the noblemen of Italy, who were one and all of them to be murdered,
together with their offspring and relations, in order that not a soul
might remain alive who had the slightest claim upon the property, and who
might therefore trouble the assassins with future conspiracies. To
support the army in the interim, the Pope and Caesar dictated to Lucretia
a list of rich cardinals and prelates, who were to be poisoned
successively, and their goods to be taken possession of by the right of
inheritance vested in the papal chair.
When this secret council was broken up, the members of it repaired to the
grand hall, where supper awaited them. The Pope was so contented with
his schemes, and the certainty of their accomplishment, that he
committed, in his joy, the most shameful extravagances, and by his
example incited his guests to actions similar to what we have read of in
the pages of Petronius Arbiter, and other writers of the same character.
He, nevertheless, did not entirely forget the cares of the state; for he
suddenly asked those present how the revenues of the papal see might be
increased, so as to support its numerous army during the approaching
campaign. After various projects, Ferrara of Modena, Bishop of Patria,
Alexander's worthy minister, by whom he caused the benefices of the
Church to be disposed of to the highest bidder, proposed that indulgences
should be sold through Europe, under the pretence of an approaching war
with the Turks; adding, like a true papal financier, "that the foolish
idea which men entertained, of being able to wash away their sins by
means of gold, was the surest source from which the income of a pope
arose."
Lucretia, who lay on the lap of her father, and played with Faustus's
yellow looks, incidentally remarked, with a smile,
"The present list of indulgences contains such insipid, antiquated, and
absurd crimes, that it is impossible to turn it to much account. It was
composed in stupid and barbarous times; and it is now highly necessary to
make a new tariff of sin, for which Rome herself can furnish the most
important articles."
The company, hot with wine, and reeking from their abominations, eagerly
caught up this sally of female wantonness; and the Pope commanded each
one present to propose some particular sin, and to tax it; recommending
them, above all, to choose those which were most in vogue, and which
would consequently bring in the most wealth.
_Borgia_. Holy father, leave this to the cardinals and prelates; they
are better versed in crime than any other people.
Ferrara of Modena sat down to fulfil the office of secretary.
_A Cardinal_. Absolution to each and every priest who commits
fornication, let it be with whom it may; with permission to perform all
the duties of the Church, and to receive and hold new benefices, provided
he pay into the papal treasury nine gold ducats.
_Pope_. Write down nine gold ducats, Bishop; and then let us drink
absolution to those priests who shall pay the sum.
Each guest filled his glass, and exclaimed in chorus, "Absolutio!
dispensatio!"
* * * * *
_A Nun_. Ha; what means all this? Will no one think of us? Holy
father, have we alone no claim to your paternal favour? I entreat you to
let us be taxed also, in order that we may sin in peace.
_Pope_. Right, my daughter; and you shall not be dealt with more hardly
than the priests. Bishop, write down: Absolution for each nun who shall
commit carnal sin, be it with whom it may, within or out of the circle of
the cloister; with fall capacity of assuming any conventual dignity when
called upon so to do: nine ducats.
_Chorus_. Absolutio! dispensatio!
_A Bishop_. Absolution and dispensation to each priest who publicly
keeps a mistress: five ducats.
Lucretia then interposed: "Absolution for carnal knowledge, the enormity
of which is indicated by fifteen ducats."
Faustus, whom this scene had horribly mortified, on account of the
triumph which it afforded the Devil over him, but who, nevertheless,
wished to have a hit at Borgia, exclaimed, with a voice of thunder,
"Absolution to any parricide, matricide, or fratricide, for three
ducats."
_Pope_. Ho, ho, friend; what are you aiming at now? Will you tax murder
lower than fornication?
_Caesar Borgia_. Holy father, he does not wish, by too high a penalty,
to deter men from the commission of the crime.
_Devil_. You are well aware, gentlemen, that the poor are incapable of
receiving benefit from any of the above-named absolutions and
dispensations.
_Chorus_ (_amidst shouts of laughter_). Damnation to him who has no
money!
_Caesar Borgia_. Whoever commits theft, be it sacrilege or not, shall
have his soul secured from damnation, upon depositing in the papal
treasury three parts of what he has stolen.
_Chorus_. Absolution to all thieves, sacrilegious or not, provided they
share their booty with the Pope.
_Pope_. Thou hast opened a rich mine, Caesar. Write that down, Bishop.
_Faustus_. Absolution to any one who shall practise magic, or enter into
an alliance with the Devil. How high shall I tax that, father?
_Pope_. My son, you will not, by this last article, enrich the papal
treasury. The fiend does not understand his own advantage; we call upon
him in vain.
_Faustus_. But provided that should so happen, how high, I repeat?
_Pope_. For rarity's sake, one hundred ducats.
_Faustus_. Here they are; and now write me out an absolution, that I may
be able to shake it in the face of the Devil, provided I ever sell myself
to him.
_Chorus_. Absolution to him who shall sell himself to the fiend.
_A Nun_. Most reverend Bishop, since you are writing out the absolution
for the magician, be so good as to furnish me with a paper likewise,--you
know for what. Here is my rosary; it is worth fifteen ducats; I shall
have, therefore, something in bank until another absolution becomes
necessary.
Ferrara wrote, and the Pope signed his name beneath.
_Devil_. Does your holiness imagine that Satan will pay any regard to
these scraps of paper?
The grand inquisitor snatched his hand out of the bosom of an abbess, and
screamed, with stammering tongue:
"I smell heresy! Who is the atheist? who has uttered that blasphemy?"
The Pope pressed his forefinger softly upon the mouth of the Devil, and
said, "Cavalier, these are state secrets: handle them not; for if you do,
I myself, with all my authority, shall not be able to protect you."
Every male in the assembly now opened his purse, either from a wish to
pay his court to the Pope, or to quiet his conscience. The Bishop had so
many applications, that he was soon obliged to call in other secretaries,
to assist him in expediting absolutions. Each applicant took away his
particular license, and each sought and found an opportunity of using it
during the remainder of the night. Never were sins committed with more
quiet minds.
Ferrara of Modena, the next day, caused this tariff to be fairly copied;
he then sent it to the press, {249} and caused it to be secretly
circulated throughout Christendom.
Caesar Borgia did not forget the promise which he had made to his sister.
Alphonso of Arragon was dispatched on the steps of the Gonfalonier's
palace, at the moment he was about to enter, in order to be present at a
play to which all the nobility of Rome had been invited, and which
represented the victories of the great Caesar, whom Borgia intended
henceforward to imitate, if not excel. This latter personage shortly
after marched out of Rome with his army; and, within the space of a few
months, the Devil purloined from the Pope's pocket the following letter,
which he gave Faustus to read:
"REVEREND FATHER,--
"I kiss the feet of your holiness. Victory and fortune have followed
my steps, and I drag them behind my car like slaves. I hope now that
Caesar is worthy of his name; for I also can say, _Veni_, _vidi_,
_vici_. The Duke of Urbino has fallen into the snare which I laid
for him. By virtue of your holiness' letter, I asked him for his
artillery to fight your enemies with. Dazzled by the marks of
friendship and affection which I showed him, and which flattered his
self-love, he sent to me a gentleman with his consent in writing.
Having thus a very decent pretence, I instantly despatched some
thousands of men to Urbino, who, by my commands, took possession of
that city and of the whole duchy. The duke, unfortunately, escaped;
but I revenged myself for his flight upon the powerful and dangerous
family of Montefeltro, and annihilated their whole race. Vitelozzo
was fool enough to join me, with all his troops, near Camerino. I
deceived Caesar di Varono by promising him honourable conditions if
he would evacuate Camerino, and I attacked the city at the very
moment he was engaged in signing the articles of capitulation. I had
hoped to have exterminated the whole family at once; but the father
found means to elude me. However, I strangled his wife, and cut the
throats of his two sons; and I flatter myself that despair and grief
will soon send the old fellow after them. I left Camerino, and
despatched Paul Orsino, Vitelozzo, and Oliverotto, to Sinegaglia,
with orders to take the town by storm, so that they might prepare
their future grave with their own hands. When I saw them all in the
net, I sent forward my trusty Michelotto and his associates, with
directions to seize the fools when I should give the signal. I then
put myself upon the march, and Orsino, Vitelozzo, and Oliverotto came
to meet me, and pay me their respects. They had left all the troops
behind them, according to my expectations. I received them with
caresses, and went with them into the city; and at the very moment my
people fell upon their straggling soldiers, Michelotto and his
comrades each seized his man. Thus I made myself master of the
domains and fortresses of those whom we deceived by pretending to
assist them in subduing their enemies. The following night I caused
them to be slaughtered in their dungeons. Michelotto, to whom I
intrusted this business, told me, with much laughter, that all the
mercy Vitelozzo prayed for was, _that he might not be murdered until
he had received_, _from your holiness_, _absolution for his sins_.
Who now will tell me that it requires much art to make oneself master
of the minds of men? As soon as your holiness shall have put out of
the way the Orsinis and the rest, I will send the Pagolas, the Duke
of Gravina, and my other prisoners, to bear them company. If
Carraccioli, General of the Venetians, whose lovely wife I seized
upon her journey, and who now sweetens my labour, should come to Rome
with his _complaint_, send him Michelotto's brother to be his
physician. I hear that he is a turbulent, hot-headed fellow, and
therefore it will be as well to get rid of him. The tumult of arms
has not made me forget my sister's widowhood: the envoy of the eldest
son of the Duke of Este is already on the way to marry her, in his
name. We have now massacred the most dangerous of our foes; if we
can win over or exterminate (which is almost the same thing) the
houses of Este and Medici, who will then have the audacity to oppose
the Borgias in Italy? I kiss the feet of your holiness.
"CAESAR BORGIA, Gonfalonier."
Faustus, after reading this letter, looked angrily upward; but the Devil,
without giving him time to moralise, led him to the Vatican, where they
found the Pope overjoyed at the success which had attended his weapons.
He had already ordered the remaining Orsinis, Alvianis, Santa Croces, and
the other cardinals and archbishops, to be arrested, and awaited the
event with impatience. All Rome hastened to congratulate him. Those who
were marked out for destruction were seized in the Vatican, conducted
into different prisons, and privately executed; whilst the myrmidons of
the Pope plundered their palaces. The Cardinal Orsini alone was sent to
the Castle of Saint Angelo, and was permitted, for a few days, to be
supplied with food from his mother's kitchen; but the Pope, having heard
that he possessed a pearl, very precious on account of its extraordinary
size, retracted this favour. The mother of the once mighty and
flourishing Orsinis went to the Vatican, and offered the Pope the pearl
and two thousand crowns if he would liberate her son; when he seized the
pearl and the money with one hand, and with the other gave the sign for
the cardinal's execution.
When Caesar Borgia learnt that the Pope had accomplished his design, he
instantly commanded all his own prisoners to be assassinated; and,
entering Rome in triumph, shared, with his holiness and the other
illegitimates, the booty he had brought with him; and, in return,
received his dividend of the confiscated property of the slaughtered
cardinals and ecclesiastics.
The marriage of Lucretia was soon afterwards celebrated with more than
Asiatic pomp, and the Romans contributed to render it as brilliant as
possible. The bells pealed from the churches; the artillery thundered
from Saint Angelo; there were bull-fights; the most immoral and indecent
comedies were performed; and the delighted populace shouted before the
Vatican, "Long live Pope Alexander! long live Lucretia, Duchess of Este!"
Faustus huzzaed with the best of them, and said to the Devil: "If these
acclamations ascend to heaven with the groans of the assassinated, which
will the Eternal believe?" The fiend bowed himself to the earth, and was
silent.
In order to crown the festivities of the marriage, Alexander and his
daughter commanded a spectacle which must for ever stand unparalleled in
the annals of human infamy. The Pope sat, with his daughter, upon a
couch, in a vast illuminated hall. Faustus, the Devil, and others who
had been invited to this scene, stood around them. Suddenly the doors
opened, and in rushed fifty nude courtesans,--more beautiful than the
houris in Mahomet's paradise,--and performed, to the voluptuous sound of
flutes and other instruments, a dance which decency forbids us to
describe, although it was a Pope who designed the figure. When the dance
was ended, his Holiness gave the signal for a combat which we are still
less permitted to depict,--he himself holding the prize of victory. They
proclaimed Faustus to be the conqueror. Lucretia overwhelmed him with
kisses, and crowned him with laurels; while the Pope delivered to him the
prize,--a golden goblet, on which Lucretia had caused to be engraven the
School of Pleasure. Faustus gave it the very next day to a Venetian
monk, in whose possession Aretino saw it a long time afterwards, and
illustrated some of its incidents in his sonnets.
The Pope, on the day of his daughter's marriage, had made an election of
cardinals, choosing only the richest prelates for that dignity. Caesar
Borgia, being in want of large sums of money for the next campaign,
determined to send some of the newly-elected into the other world, at a
festival which his father intended to give at one of his villas. [The
details of these marriage-festivities are omitted; inasmuch as the
grossness of the spectacle renders it unfit for the general reader. The
conduct of Lucretia Borgia has been the subject of much obloquy, which
her defenders maintain rests chiefly on inferences from her living in a
flagitious court, where she witnessed the most profligate scenes. It is
asserted that some of the accusations have no better foundation than the
epigrams of Pontano, and other Neapolitan poets, the natural enemies of
her family.--_Transl_.] The Pope went in a coach, with his daughter, the
Devil, Faustus, Borgia, and the wife of the Venetian general. Here,
after witnessing a gross spectacle, Lucretia retired with Faustus; and
Borgia went with the Venetian; and the Pope remained alone with the
Devil. His holiness now made to the fiend certain proposals, which so
exasperated the Devil that he appeared under a form which no mortal eye
had ever yet been able to sustain. The Pope, who knew him immediately,
uttered a cry of joy.
"Ah, ben venuto Signor Diavolo! You could not have come to me at a more
seasonable time than the present; I have long wished to see you, for I
know perfectly well what a deal of use might be made of so powerful a
spirit as yourself. Ha, ha, ha! you please me now much better than you
did before, you rogue, you! Come, be my friend; assume your former
figure, and I will make you a cardinal; for you only can raise me at once
to the height which I wish to attain. I entreat you to destroy my foes,
procure me money, and drive the French out of Italy, since I have no
further occasion for them. This to you will merely be the work of a
moment; and you may then ask me for any reward you please. But by all
means do not discover yourself to my son Caesar: he is so great a wretch,
that I verily believe he would poison me, his father, in order to become,
by thy help, King of Italy and Pope at the same time."
The Devil, who had at first been a little mortified that his frightful
exterior had produced no greater effect, was now unable to refrain from
laughing; for what he saw and heard surpassed every thing which had as
yet come to the knowledge of hell. But recovering himself, he said, with
a serious air, "Pope Alexander, Satan once showed to the Son of the
Eternal all the kingdoms of the world, and offered him them, if he would
fall down and worship him."
_Pope_. I understand you. He was a God, and wanted nothing; had he been
a man, and a pope, he would have done what I will now do.
He fell upon his knees, and kissed the fiend's feet.
The Devil stamped upon the floor, so that the whole villa trembled.
Faustus and Lucretia, Caesar and the Venetian, saw through the door,
which had been burst open by the shock, the Pope kneeling with clasped
hands before the frightful figure of the Devil, who seized the trembling
miscreant, strangled him, and gave his soul to an attendant spirit to be
conveyed to hell. Borgia fell to the ground in an agony of terror; and
the horrible spectacle brought upon him an illness, which soon sent him
after his father. The body of the Pope, frightfully disfigured, was
buried with much pomp; and his historians, who are not well acquainted
with his tragic end, invented the story, which is partly founded on
truth, that he and his son having drunk, by the cupbearer's mistake, some
poisoned wine which had been intended for the cardinals, were thus caught
in their own net.