The horrible death of the Pope, and the frightful figure of the Devil,
whom Faustus had hitherto only seen majestic and comely, made so strong
an impression upon him, that he hastened from the villa to Rome; and,
having packed up his things, instantly departed, with perturbed mind and
beating heart. His spirit had become so weak from all that he had seen
and heard, that he who once dared to defy the Eternal in thought scarcely
ventured now to look Satan in the face, though he still had absolute
dominion over him. Hatred and contempt for men, cruel doubt,
indifference to every thing which occurred around him, murmurings at the
insufficiency of his moral and physical powers, were the rewards of his
experience and the fruits of his life; yet he consoled himself with the
idea that what he had witnessed authorised in him these gloomy
sentiments, and confirmed him in the opinion, that there either existed
on earth no connexion between man and his Creator, or that, if any did
exist, such connexion ran so confusedly and equivocally through the
labyrinth of life, that it was impossible for the eye of man to follow
it. He yet flattered himself with the delusion, that his crimes, when
added to the vast mass of earthly wickedness, would be like a drop of
water falling into the ocean. The Devil willingly permitted him to
repose in this dream, in order that the blow he intended for him might
fall with greater violence. Faustus resembled those men of the world who
abandon themselves to their pleasures without thinking of the
consequences; and at length, worn out and dejected, look morosely on the
world, and judge of the human race according to their own sad experience,
without reflecting that they have only trodden the worst paths of life,
and seen the worst part of the creation. In a word, he was on the point
of becoming a philosopher of the species of Voltaire, who, whenever he
found the _bad_, always held it forth to public view; and, with
unexampled industry, always endeavoured to keep the _good_ in the
background.
Faustus was lying in a sweet morning slumber on the frontiers of Italy,
when a portentous dream depicted itself to his soul in the liveliest
colours; and this dream was followed by a frightful apparition. He saw
the Genius of Man, whom he had once before seen. He saw him upon a vast
and blooming island, surrounded by a stormy sea, wandering up and down,
and looking very anxiously upon the raging billows. The ocean was
covered with innumerable barks, in which men, aged and young, children,
women, and maidens, of all the nations of the world, were struggling
against the tempest, in order to reach the island. When they arrived
there, their first care was to bring to land different building
materials, which they flung together confusedly. After an immense number
had gained the shore, the Genius marked out, upon the most elevated part
of the island, the plan of a vast edifice; and each of the crowd, young
and old, weak or strong, took, according to his or her strength, a piece
from the mass of materials, and, directed by those whom the Genius had
chosen, carried it, and deposited it at the proper place. All worked
with pleasure, with courage, and without relaxation; and the fabric had
already risen high above the ground, when they were suddenly attacked by
numerous foes, who advanced out of a dark ambush in three columns. At
the head of each of these columns stood a general. The first bore a
glittering crown upon his head; on his brazen shield was written the word
_Power_; and in his right hand he held a sceptre, which, like the rod of
Mercury, had a snake and a scourge twisted round it. Before him went a
fierce hyena, holding in its jaws a book, on the back of which was
written _My Word_. His troops were armed with swords, spears, and other
implements of destruction. The second column was commanded by a majestic
matron, whose noble figure was clothed in a sacerdotal robe. On her
right stood _Superstition_, a gloomy-eyed spectre, bearing in his hand a
bow formed from the bones of the dead, and on his back a quiver filled
with poisoned arrows. On her left hovered a wild, fantastically clothed
figure, called _Fanaticism_, bearing a blazing torch. These two
phantoms, with menacing gestures and frightful grimaces, led the noble
matron in chains, like a prisoner. Before them went _Ambition_, whose
head was adorned with a triple crown; in his hand was an episcopal staff,
and on his mailed breast shone the word _Religion_. Fanaticism and
Superstition waited, with the utmost impatience, until Religion should
give them the signal to vent their fury, which they could scarcely
restrain. The army was a confused and howling rabble, and each soldier
carried a dagger and a flaming torch. The chief of the third column
advanced with bold and haughty steps; he was clothed in the simple dress
of the sages, and was called _Philosophy_. He bore in his hand, as did
all his followers, a golden cup, filled with foaming and intoxicating
liquor. These two last armies howled and screamed so frightfully, that
even the bellowing of the waters and the roar of the tempest were no
longer audible.
When the three columns arrived near the labourers, they united, by the
directions of their generals, and attacked them furiously with their
murderous weapons. The most courageous of the workmen flung away their
implements of labour, and drew their swords, which hung at their belts,
in order to drive their foes back. The others, in the mean time,
endeavoured, with redoubled zeal, to complete the fabric they had begun.
The Genius protected his brave warriors and his industrious labourers
with a huge glittering shield, which was handed to him from the sky; but
he could not cover the whole of the countless multitude. He saw with
deep sorrow thousands of his people sink to the earth beneath the swords
and poisoned darts of their adversaries. Many allowed themselves to be
ensnared by the invitations and allurements of those who offered them the
enchanted cup to refresh themselves with; and, in their intoxication,
they soon destroyed the laborious work of their hands.
Those who bore torches made their way with their daggers, and hurled the
torches into the unfinished edifice, when the flames, rearing up,
threatened to reduce it to ashes. The Genius looked mournfully upon the
slain, and on those who had been intoxicated by the deceitful beverage;
but he encouraged the rest, and inspired them, by his firmness and his
dignity, with strength and patience. They extinguished the flames;
replaced what the others had overturned; and laboured, amid death and
destruction, with so much zeal, that, in spite of the fury and malignity
of their foes, they raised at length a vast and sublime temple. The
Genius then healed the wounded, comforted the weary, praised the bold
warriors, and conducted them all, amid songs of triumph, into the temple.
The foes stood confounded at the enormous work; and, after they had in
vain attempted to shatter its solidity, they retreated, with rage in
their hearts. Faustus now found himself upon the island. The field
around the majestic building was covered with dead bodies of all ages and
of both sexes; and those who had tasted of the enchanted cup walked
coolly among the corpses, disputed with each other, and laughed at and
criticised the structure of the temple. Faustus went past them, and as
he approached the edifice he read over the entrance the following words:
"Mortal, if thou hast bravely struggled, and hast remained faithful,
enter, and learn to know thy noble destiny."
At these words he felt his heart leap with joy, and he hoped to be now
able to penetrate the obscurity which had so long tormented him. With
bold and daring pace he ran up the lofty steps, and caught a glimpse of
the interior of the edifice, which seemed filled with the roseate colours
of morning. He heard the soft voice of the Genius, and was about to
enter; but the gate of brass closed before him with a harsh sound, and he
recoiled in terror. His desire to penetrate into the secrets of the
temple was increased by the impossibility. All of a sudden he felt
wings, and rising high into the air, he precipitated himself furiously
against the brazen gate, was hurled back, and started out of his sleep
just as he was on the point of touching the ground. He opened his eyes
in dismay. A ghastly figure, wrapped in a winding-sheet, drew back the
curtains of his bed. He recognised the features of his old father, who,
gazing upon him for a moment, said, in a lamentable voice:
"Faustus! Faustus! never yet did father beget a more unfortunate son; and
in this feeling I have just died. For ever--ah! for ever!--must the gulf
of damnation lie between thee and me."
The portentous dream and this horrible apparition filled the soul of
Faustus with affright. He sprang from his bed, and opened the window to
inhale the fresh air. Before him lay the enormous Alps, whose tops were
just gilded by the rising sun. He surveyed them for some time, and at
last fell into a profound reverie. He trembled as he thought of his
nocturnal vision, and was endeavouring to explain to himself its most
prominent passages, when, falling anew into his cruel doubts, he
exclaimed:
"Whence came those monsters who attacked the industrious labourers? By
whom were they authorised to disturb and destroy them while engaged in
their noble occupation? Who permitted it? Was he who permitted it
unable, or did he not wish, to hinder it? And why did the Supreme Genius
protect and save only a part of them who were assailed by those
cannibals? Were some predestined to perish, in order that the others
might triumph and taste repose? Who, then, will dare to tell me that I
am not one of those who are born with destruction for their lot? What
evil had those unfortunates committed, and why should those be esteemed
criminal who, pressed by a burning thirst, endeavoured to quench it by
tasting the enchanted cup?"
Faustus wandered for a long time in a maze of doubt; but, remembering the
apparition of his father, it brought back to his mind his long-forgotten
family. He instantly determined to return to them; to become again a
member of society; to resume his business; and to get rid of his infernal
companion. He pursued his journey towards home like many others, who,
mistaking the ardour of insensate youth for genius, enter upon the career
of the world with high pretensions, and, having quickly exhausted the
little fire which their souls possess, soon find themselves a burden to
their kindred and their friends, at the very place from whence they
started. Faustus brooded over all this, while he rode silently and
moodily by the side of the Devil.
The latter left him to his reflections, laughed inwardly at his
resolution, and shortened the time with the sweet idea of soon being able
to breathe the pleasant vapours of hell. He determined to have a bitter
laugh at Satan, who had represented to him as a man of superior strength
of mind this Faustus, whom he now saw completely dejected even before he
knew the horrors of his fate. He compared his present downcast and timid
looks with the haughty and bold glances he had cast upon him when he
first made him appear before his magic circle. His hatred against him
increased, and he rejoiced in his black soul when he saw Worms lie before
them in the plain.
They rode towards the celebrated city; and when they were about half a
mile distant from it, they perceived a gibbet, to which was suspended a
tall, slender youth. Faustus lifted up his eyes and gazed upon him. The
evening wind blew freshly among his long hair, which half-concealed his
face, and swung his body to and fro. Faustus burst into tears at this
spectacle, and cried, with trembling voice:
"Poor youth! hanging at the cursed tree before thou hadst reached the
flower of life! What sin hast thou committed, which induced the tribunal
of men to cut thee off so soon?"
_Devil_ (_in a solemn and impressive tone_). Faustus, this is thy work.
_Faustus_. My work!
_Devil_. Thy work. Look at him closer. He is thy eldest son.
Faustus looked up, recognised him, and sunk from his horse.
_Devil_. Cry and groan! The hour approaches in which I must remove the
thick veil from before thine eyes, and blow away, with a single breath,
the labyrinth in which thou hast so long wandered. I will fling light
upon the moral world, and show thee how thou hast outraged it by each of
thy actions. I, a devil, will show thee what are the consequences when a
worm like thyself dares to stop the wheel of so exact and so enormous a
machine. Dost thou remember the youth whom I, at our departure from
Mayence, saved from drowning by thy command? I gave thee warning, but
thou wouldst obey the rash impulse of thy heart. If thou hadst permitted
that miscreant to perish, thy son would not now be rotting on yon gibbet.
He on whose account thou didst change the order of things, insinuated
himself, shortly after thy departure, into the society of thy young wife.
The glitter of the gold which we had left her in such abundance,
attracted him much more than her youth and beauty. It was no difficult
thing for him to win the affections of her who had been forsaken by thee;
and in a short time he gained such influence over her, that she delivered
up herself and all she possessed to his will and control. Thy old father
endeavoured to oppose his shameless sway; but the young man insulted him
and beat him: the poor old man sought an asylum in the workhouse, where
he died, a few days ago, of grief for thee and thy family. Thy son,
having taken his grandfather's part, and threatened the life of his
mother's seducer, was by him turned out of the house also. The boy
wandered among the woods and wildernesses till he was half famished.
Arriving at length in this city, and being ashamed to beg, he stole a few
pence from the poor-box in a church, in order to assuage his hunger; but
he committed this theft so artlessly, that several people perceived him,
and the most worshipful magistrate, in consideration of his youth,
sentenced him only to be hanged: he was accordingly hanged; although he
protested, with tears, that for the last four days he had swallowed
nothing but grass. Thy daughter is at Frankfort, where she subsists upon
the earnings of vice; thy second son is in the profligate service of an
infamous prelate. The young man whom thou didst save from death robbed
thy wife not long ago of her last stiver; thy friend whom we preserved
from beggary refused thy old father the slightest assistance, and spurned
thy children from his door when they came to him for bread. And I will
now show thee thy family, in order that thou mayest see to what a state
thou hast reduced them. I will then bring thee here again, and hold
reckoning with thee; for I am no longer thy slave--thou art mine. The
worm of despair begins to gnaw within thee; thou art no longer fit to
live, and hell only is fit to receive thee.
The Devil seized the wretched man, flew with him to Mayence, and showed
him his wife and two youngest children sitting at the gate of the
Franciscan convent in expectation of the remnant of the monks' supper.
When the mother beheld Faustus, she screamed, "O Heaven! Faustus! your
father--" then, covering her eyes with her hands, she fell into a swoon.
The children ran to him, clung about him, and cried for bread.
_Faustus_. Devil, decide upon my fate: let it be more frightful than the
heart of man can support or conceive, but supply these unfortunate
creatures with bread, and rescue them from misery and hunger.
_Devil_. I have plundered for thee the earth of its treasures; thou hast
sacrificed them to thy infamous pleasures, without once thinking of these
wretches. Feel now thy folly; thou hast spun the web of their destiny,
and thy hungry, beggarly, miserable brood will transmit to their remotest
posterity the misery of which thou art the cause. Thou didst beget
children--wherefore hast thou not been a father to them? Wherefore hast
thou sought happiness where mortal never yet found it? Look at them once
more. In hell thou shalt see them again; and they will there curse thee
for the inheritance which thou didst entail upon them.
He tore him from his miserable family at the moment the wife was about to
embrace his knees, and to ask his pardon. Faustus wished to comfort her;
but the Devil grasped him, and placed him once more beneath the gibbet at
Worms.
Night sunk dark upon the earth. Faustus stood gazing on the remains of
his unfortunate son; madness glowed in his brain, and he cried, in the
wild tone of despair:
"Devil, let me bury this poor victim; take then my life, and bear me to
hell, where I shall never again see men in flesh and bone. I have learnt
to know them; I am disgusted with them, with their destination, with the
world, and with life. Since one good action brings on my head such
inexpressible evils, I have reason to believe that the wicked only have a
right to happiness. If such be the order of things in this world, hurl
me at once into hell. Its darkness is a thousand times preferable to the
light of day.
_Devil_. Not so fast, Faustus. In the first place, I take away from
thee thy mighty magic rod, and confine thee in the narrow circle which I
draw around thee. Here shalt thou listen to me, and howl and tremble. I
will unfold to thee the consequences of thy deeds, and will assassinate
thee through downright despair.
"Fool! thou sayest thou hast learnt to know man! Where? How and when
hast thou attained this knowledge? Hast thou ever sounded his nature?
Hast thou separated from him that which he has acquired, and which is
foreign to him? Hast thou distinguished that which proceeds from his
heart, from that which is merely the affect of an imagination corrupted
by artifice? Hast thou compared the wants and the desires resulting from
his nature, with those which he owes to civilisation? Hast thou
considered man in his proper shape, where each of his movements bears the
stamp of his inward disposition? _Thou hast taken the mask of society
for his natural figure_; _and thou hast only known that man whom his
titles_, _his rank_, _his riches_, _his power_, _and his acquirements
have corrupted_. _Thou hast only known him who has sacrificed his nature
to thy own idol_,--_to vanity_. Thou hast merely frequented palaces and
courts, where men spurn away the unfortunate, and laugh at the complaints
of the oppressed, whilst they are dissipating in revel-rout and roar that
which they have robbed them of. Thou hast seen the sovereigns of the
world; thou hast seen tyrants surrounded by their parasites and their
infamous courtesans; and thou hast seen priests who make use of religion
as an instrument of oppression. Such are the men thou hast seen, and not
him who groans under the heavy yoke, and comforts himself with the hope
of futurity. Thou hast passed by with disdain the hut of the poor and
simple man, who does not even know your artificial wants by name, who
gains his bread by the sweat of his brow, shares it faithfully with his
wife and children, and rejoices, at the last moment of his life, in
having completed his long and laborious task. If thou hadst opened his
door, thou wouldst not indeed have found a vain ideal of heroic and
over-refined virtue, which is only the offspring of your vices and your
crimes; but thou wouldst have seen a man who, in meekness and resigned
magnanimity, shows more force of soul, than do your renowned heroes in
their blood-stained fields of battle, or your ministers in their
perfidious cabinets. If it were not for these, and for your priests, and
above all for your false philosophers, the gates of hell would soon be
closed. Canst thou say that thou knowest man, when thou hast only sought
for him in the paths of vice and crime? Dost thou know thyself? I will
make your wounds yet deeper, and pour poison into them. But if I had a
thousand human tongues, and were to keep thee here confined for as many
years, I should still be unable to enumerate to thee all the frightful
consequences of thy actions and thy temerity. Know now the result of thy
life, and remember, that I have scarcely fulfilled one of thy insensate
desires without having forewarned thee to check it. It is by thy command
that I have interrupted the course of things, and committed crimes which
I myself could scarcely have imagined; so that, devil as I am, I am not
so bad as thyself.
"Dost thou remember the nun Clara, and the voluptuous night which thou
didst pass with her? But how canst thou have forgotten her? Listen now
to the consequences. A short time after thy departure, the Bishop, who
was her friend and protector, died; and she, having become a mother, was
condemned, as an object of public horror, to be starved with her child in
a dark dungeon. In her ravenous hunger she fell upon the newly-born, ate
of thy flesh and her own, and prolonged her existence as long as there
was a bone for her to gnaw. In what had she sinned?--she who did not
comprehend her crime; she who did not know, or even suspect, the author
of her ignominy and her frightful death. Feel now the result of one
single moment of pleasure, and tremble! Hast thou not strengthened the
delusion which condemned her? Must not hell now bear the reproach of thy
crime? Those people condemned the child as the spawn of Satan, and
murdered the mother under the idea that she had been possessed by him;
and through this thy deed thou hast bewildered their minds, and those of
their posterity.
"Thou wast not more fortunate with the Prince Bishop. He caused, it is
true, Hans Ruprecht to be buried, and provided for his family. He
likewise, by the trick I played him, lost his fat, and became the most
mild and merciful of princes; but he so relaxed the band of social order
by his over-indulgence, that his subjects soon became a horde of
drunkards, sluggards, ruffians, and highwaymen. The present Bishop is
obliged to be their executioner, and to disperse and destroy a hundred
families, in order that the rest, terrified by their example, may again
become humanised, and submit to the laws. The furies themselves could
not do half the injury to these people which those now do to whom the
Bishop has been obliged to intrust the sword of justice and the power of
vengeance.
"Doctor Robertus, the renowned champion of freedom, the man after thine
own heart, was from his earliest youth an enemy to the Minister, whom he
hated on account of his talents. Envy and jealousy caused his
independence of spirit; and if he had been in the situation of the other,
he would have adopted with pleasure the most cruel principles of
despotism, for which his wild and ferocious heart was only formed. The
honest man was the Minister; Robertus was a monster, who would have set
the whole world in a blaze, and has done it partly, in order to satisfy
his boundless ambition. Thou didst oblige me to rescue him, and to
furnish him with a large sum of money. He made such good use of his
freedom, his gold, and the enthusiasm which his miraculous escape had
caused among the people, that he soon succeeded in stirring up a dreadful
rebellion. He armed the peasants; they murdered the nobility, and
desolated the whole land. The noble Minister fell a victim to his
revenge; and Robertus, the friend of liberty, the champion of the
oppressed, is the author of the calamitous war of the peasants, which by
degrees will spread over the whole of Germany, and will ravage it.
Murders, assassinations, robberies, and sacrilege are now committed with
impunity; and thy noble hero stands at the head of a furious rabble, and
threatens to make Germany the cemetery of the human race. Satan himself
could not have laboured more effectually for the destruction of mankind,
than thou didst when I was forced by thee to rescue this madman from the
stroke of justice.
"Let us now return to the court of the German prince, where thou so
audaciously didst make thyself the avenger of virtue and oppressed
innocence. That prince and his favourite affected virtues which they did
not possess; but their actions contributed to the good of the people,
because both had sense enough to perceive that the happiness of the
people constitutes that of the prince. Does the thirsty traveller know,
or does he care, if the spring of which he drinks gushes out of a
mountain filled with poison, provided he cools his hot blood without
receiving any harm? That hypocrite displeased thee because he did not
answer to thy preconceived high opinion, which thou, for certain reasons,
didst wish to thrust upon me; and I was compelled to strangle him by thy
orders. His infant son was destined to succeed him in the government.
His tutors harassed and oppressed the people, once happy under the
dominion of his father; they corrupted the heart and the mind of the
future regent, who having enervated his body through early pleasure, they
rule him now he is come of age, and are his and his people's tyrants.
Hadst thou not compelled me to murder the father, he would have brought
up his son in his own maxims; he would have developed his faculties, and
have made him a man fit to govern a nation. The numerous subjects who
are now groaning beneath iron-handed oppression, and whose misery is all
to be imputed to thee, would then have been the happiest in Germany. Let
their tears, their despair, and the horrors of an approaching
insurrection, reward thee for having rashly exercised the duty of a
judge.
"Madman! in obedience to thy command, I burnt the castle of the fierce
Wildgrave, with all its inhabitants, with his wife and his infant. What
crime had they committed? It was a moment of delight to me. If the
infant was consumed on the breast of the mother, it was thy work. If the
Wildgrave attacked a neighbouring nobleman as the cause of the
conflagration, set fire to his house, and ignominiously whipped him, it
was thy work. Thousands have already fallen beneath their reciprocal
vengeance, and tranquillity will not be restored to that part of Germany
until the hostile families shall be completely exhausted and annihilated.
And thus, poor worm, hast thou avenged the innocent; thou, who all thy
life hast been wallowing in the grossest sensuality; thou, who didst pull
me out of hell merely to satiate thy lusts. Groan and weep; but I will
overwhelm thee with fresh horrors.
"By thy order I infused the poison of lust into the heart of the innocent
Angelica, she who was the ornament of her sex and of the world. Thou
didst enjoy her in the wild intoxication of thy senses, and she scarcely
knew what had happened to her. Shudder at the consequences! I, who find
pleasure in evil and destruction, think with pity and compassion on her
end. She fled from her native place, and a feeling of shame forced her
to conceal the state in which she found herself, and to which thou hadst
reduced her. Alone, in solitude, and without help, amid agonising throes
and deadly pains, she became a mother. The child died as soon as it saw
the light of day. She, the wretched victim of thy momentary pleasure,
was cast into prison, and publicly executed as an infanticide. Thou
shouldst have seen her in the last moments of her life; thou shouldst
have seen her pure blood spouting high into the air, when the sword of
the executioner separated her lovely neck."
Faustus gave a loud groan. Despair was raging in his heart.
_Devil_. The daughter of the miser in France, whom thou didst seduce,
and in whose bosom thou didst cause slumbering desire to awake, became
shortly afterwards the mistress of the youthful king. She ruled him
entirely, and in order that he might not disturb her in her intercourse
with another lover, she urged him to the disastrous expedition into
Italy, and brought misfortunes upon France which many future reigns will
not be able to heal. The flower of the French nobility, and the heroes
of the kingdom, are rotting on the sun-scorched plains of Italy; and the
king has returned home overwhelmed with shame and ignominy. Thus,
wherever thou hast wandered, thou hast scattered around thee the seeds of
misery, which have sprung up, and will bear fruit to all eternity.
"Thou didst not pay attention to the look I gave thee when I tore down
the house upon the cruel physicians at Paris. I had previously told thee
that, by my destructive hand, thou didst mangle the moral world worse
than they did the flesh of their fellow-creatures. Thou didst pay no
attention to that look--hear now the cause of it. Those wretches deserve
to perish beneath the ruins of their laboratory; but what evil had the
poor people committed who lodged in the lower part of the house, and who
were totally ignorant of what was going forward above their heads? Why
should an innocent, happy family be crushed along with those monsters?
To satisfy thy blind vengeance, I was forced to bury them beneath stones
and falling timbers. Judge and avenger at the same time, thou hadst not
thought of this. Consider now all the consequences of thy delirium and
thy folly; cast thine eyes along the whole chain, extending to the
remotest posterity, and then sink beneath the terrible survey. Did I not
once tell thee that man is much more rash in his decisions and in his
vengeance, than the Devil is in the accomplishment of wickedness?"
Faustus opened his haggard eyes, and looked towards heaven.
_Devil_. It is deaf to thee. Be proud of having lived a moment when thy
atrocity was so great that it almost made the deeds of the devils
themselves forgotten. I speak of that moment when thou didst command me
to withdraw the veil which concealed the Eternal from thy sight. The
angel whose charge it was to register thy sins averted his face, and
struck thy name from the Book of Life.
_Faustus_ (_springing up_). Cursed be thou; cursed be myself; cursed be
the hour of my birth; cursed be he who begot me; cursed be the breast
which I sucked!
_Devil_. O the delightful moment! Precious reward of my toils! Hell
rejoices at thy curses, and expects a yet more frightful one from thee.
Fool! wast thou not born free? Didst thou not bear in thy breast, like
all who live in flesh, the instinct of good as well as of evil? Why
didst thou transgress, with so much temerity, the bounds which had been
prescribed to thee? Why didst thou endeavour to try thy strength with
and against Him who is not to be reached? Did not God create you in such
a manner, that you were as much elevated above the devils as above the
beasts of the earth? Did he not grant you the perceptive faculty of good
and evil? Were not your will and choice free? We wretches are without
choice, without will; we are the slaves of evil and of imperious
necessity; constrained and condemned to all eternity to wish nothing but
evil, we are the instruments of revenge and punishment upon you. Ye are
kings of the creation, free beings, masters of your destiny, which ye fix
yourselves; masters of the future, which only depends upon your actions.
It is on account of these prerogatives that we detest you, and rejoice
when, by your follies, your impatience, and your crimes, you cease to be
masters of yourselves. It is only in resignation, Faustus, that present
or future happiness consists. Hadst thou remained what thou wast, and
had not doubt, pride, vanity, and voluptuousness torn thee out of the
happy and limited sphere for which thou wast born, thou mightst have
followed an honourable employment, and have supported thy wife and
children; and thy family, which is now sunk into the refuse of humanity,
would have been blooming and prosperous; lamented by them, thou wouldst
have died calmly on thy bed, and thy example would have guided thy
posterity along the thorny path of life.
_Faustus_. Ah, the greatest torment of the damned is, no doubt, to hear
the devil preach penitence.
_Devil_. It is pleasant enough that you force us to moralise; but,
wretch, if the voice of truth and of penitence were to echo down from
heaven, you would close your ears to it.
_Faustus_. Destroy me at once, and do not kill me by thy prattling,
which tears my heart without convincing my spirit. Pour out thy venom,
and do not distil it upon me drop by drop. I am not to blame if, having
sown the seeds of good, bad has arisen from them. A good action has
caused the ignominious death of my son, and a good action has
precipitated my family into the most profound misery.
_Devil_. Why dost thou boast to me of thy good deed? How does it
deserve that name? I suppose because thou didst give me a command,
which, by the by, did not cost thee much. To have made the action
meritorious, thou shouldst have cast thyself into the water, and have
saved the young man at the risk of thine own life. I brought him to the
shore, and disappeared; he would have known thee, and, moved by
gratitude, would probably have become the protector, instead of the
destroyer, of thy family.
_Faustus_. Thou canst torment me, Devil; but thou canst not, from
stupidity, or thou wilt not, from wickedness, dispel my doubts. Never
have they torn my heart more venomously than at this moment, when I
consider the miseries of my existence and of my after-destination. Is
human life any thing else than a tissue of crimes, torments, pains,
hypocrisy, contradictions, and false virtues? What are free agency,
choice, will, and that so much vaunted faculty of distinguishing good
from evil, if the passions drown the feeble voice of reason, as the roar
of the sea drowns the voice of the pilot whose vessel is about to be
dashed against the rocks? Is it possible for man to destroy and root out
of his breast the germ of evil which has been designedly introduced
there? I hate, more bitterly than ever, the world, my fellow-creatures,
and myself. Destined to suffer, why was I born with the desire of being
happy? Born for darkness, why was I filled with the desire of seeing
light? Why had the slave the thirst for freedom? Why had the worm the
wish to fly? Why had I a boundless imagination, the teeming mother of
bold desires, daring wishes and thoughts? Tear from my uncertain and
doubtful soul the flesh which envelops it; destroy in it all remembrance
of its ever having animated a human body: I wish to become henceforward
one of you, and only to live in the desire of evil. Ah, Devil, this is
not so pleasant to thy ears as the hissing, howling song of despair which
thou didst expect. But loosen the enchantment which fetters me in this
circle; and let me perform my last sad duty. I will not attempt to
escape from thee; if I could, I would not, for the pain of hell cannot be
greater than that which I now feel.
_Devil_. Faustus, I am pleased with thy courage, and I would sooner hear
what thou hast said than the wild shriek of despair. Be proud that the
force of thy spirit has carried thee even to madness and blasphemy, for
which the pain of hell awaits thee. Step out of thy circle; bury that
wretched youth; thy part will then be played here, and thou must begin
another, which will never end.
Faustus climbed the gibbet, and cut the rope from the neck of his son.
He then bore him into a neighbouring field which the plough had lately
turned up, and scratching a grave with his hands, he buried the body of
the unfortunate youth. He then returned to the Devil, and said, in a
wild tone:
"The measure of my wretchedness is full; break now the vase which can
hold nothing more; but I have yet courage to struggle with thee for my
life. I will not perish like the slave who yields without resistance to
the might of his master. Appear to me under whatever form thou wilt, and
I will grapple with thee. For freedom, for independence, I once drew
thee out of hell; on its verge I will yet assert my right to both; on the
verge of the frightful gulf I will use my strength, and remember that I
once saw thee tremble before my magic circle, when I threatened to
scourge thee with my rod. The tears which thou seest in my eyes ore
tears of indignation, of hate, and of disgust. Not the fiend, but my own
heart, triumphs over me.
_Devil_. Insipid braggart! With this form I tear off the mask which
belied my courage. Vengeance is at hand, and Leviathan is himself once
more!
He stood in gigantic stature before him. His eyes glowed like full-laden
thunder-clouds, which reflect the rays of the descending sun. The noise
of his breath was like the rushing of the tempest-blast. The earth
groaned beneath his iron feet. The storm rustled in his hair, which
waved round his head like the tail from the threatening comet. Faustus
lay before him like a worm; for the horrible sight had deprived him of
his senses and his strength. The Devil uttered a contemptuous laugh,
which hissed over the surface of the earth; and seizing the trembling
being, he tore him to pieces, as a capricious boy would tear an insect.
He strewed the bloody members with fury and disgust about the field, and
plunged with the soul into the depths of hell.
The devils were assembled round Satan, who was consulting with his
princes concerning the punishments which should be inflicted upon Pope
Alexander the Sixth. His crimes, and the last moments of his life, had
been unparalleled, so that even the worst devils found themselves at a
loss to allot him a punishment suitable to his deserts. The Pope stood
before his judges, who treated him as contemptuously as a tribunal of
princes treats an accused person who has nothing else to recommend him
than his being a man. All of a sudden Leviathan rushed triumphantly into
the midst, held the soul of Faustus on high, and then hurled it with
violence upon the table, saying:
"There you have Faustus!"
He was received with so loud a bellow of joy, that the damned trembled in
their pools: "Welcome, Prince Leviathan! There is Faustus! There is
Faustus!"
_Satan_. Welcome, prince of hell. Welcome, Faustus; we have heard
enough of you here.
_Leviathan_. There he is, Satan; see him yourself. He has plagued me
not a little, but he has been a good recruit for us, and I hope that thou
art contented with my long sojourn upon earth. But I entreat thee, for
many centuries to come, to send me no more on such errands; for I am
quite weary of the human race. I must, however, acknowledge that this
fellow did not badly support the last hour of his life, hard as it was;
but that arose, I suppose, from his having applied himself in his youth
to that philosophy which thou hast taught mankind.
_Satan_. I thank thee, Prince Leviathan; and I promise thee that thou
shalt long continue with me among the sweet vapours of this place, and
scourge the shades of the great princes of the earth for thy pastime.
Hem! a fine fellow, and seems to have had quite enough of men and things.
Despair, audacity, hate, rancour, agony, and pride, have torn deep
furrows in his soul. He looks even at us and hell without trembling.
Faustus, art thou become dumb of a sudden?
_Faustus_. Not from fear, I assure thee. I have been bold to one much
mightier than thyself, and therefore am I here.
_Satan_. Hey! carry the saucy hound to the pool of the damned; and after
being soused therein, let him be well scourged by a legion of my most
active pages, in order that he may become a little acquainted with the
rules of these regions.
A devil dragged Faustus to the pool; the legion swarmed after him.
_Leviathan_ (_perceiving the Pope_). Ah! welcome, Pope Alexander. I
hope you no longer feel any desire to make a Ganymede of the Devil.
_Pope_ (_sighing_). No, alas!
_Satan_. Ha, ha, ha! This is now a good specimen of the men who at
present ravage the earth; but let them once get to the new world, and
they will make it a theatre of crimes which will put the old one to
shame.
_Pope_. Would that I could be there too!
_Satan_. A wish truly worthy of a pope; but console thyself,--thy
countrymen will murder millions of men for their gold.
_Pope_. What will men not do for gold?
Faustus came back with his fiendish attendants.
_Satan_. Well, Faustus, how do you like your bath, and those that rubbed
you dry?
_Faustus_. Maddening and intolerable thought, that the noble and
ethereal part of man must expiate the sins of a body formed of clay!
The devils laughed till the vaults reechoed.
_Satan_. Bravo, Faustus! I am convinced, from thy words and behaviour,
that thou art too good for a man. I am, besides, much indebted to thee
for having invented Printing, that art which is so singularly useful to
us.
_Pope_. What, a printer! He gave himself out at my court for a
gentleman, and won my daughter Lucretia!
_Faustus_. Silence, proud Spaniard. I paid her richly; and thou wouldst
have prostituted thyself to me for a like sum, if I had been one of thine
own stamp. My noble invention will sow more good, and will be more
profitable to the human race, than all the popes from St. Peter down to
thyself.
_Satan_. Thou art mistaken, Faustus. In the first place, men will rob
thee of the honour of having invented this art.
_Faustus_. That is worse than damnation.
_Satan_. Observe now this man: he stands before me, the ruler here, and
holds everlasting torments as nothing when compared with the loss of his
fame and glory, those chimeras of his overheated brain. In the second
place, Faustus, the shades will descend by hundreds of thousands, will
fall upon thee, and overwhelm thee with curses, for having converted the
little stream which poisoned the human mind into a monstrous flood. I,
who am the ruler here, and shall gain by it, am therefore thy debtor; and
if thou wilt curse the Eternal, who either could not or would not make
thee better, thou shalt escape the torments of this place, and I will
make thee a prince of my dark kingdom.
_Pope_. Let me be the first to curse, O Satan; as a pope, I have an
undoubted right to the precedence.
_Satan_. Observe these men, ye devils, and see how they outdo ye. No,
Pope; thou didst it when thy lips kissed the feet of my Leviathan.
Choose, Faustus.
Faustus stepped forward; raging despair was engraven in frightful
characters on his shadowy face. He--! Who can express what he said?
The devils trembled at his words, and were astonished at his audacity.
Since hell first existed, no such stillness had reigned in the dark,
frightful kingdom, the abode of eternal misery. Faustus broke it, and
required Satan to fulfil his promise.
_Satan_. Fool! how canst thou imagine that I, ruler of hell, will keep
my word, as there is no example of a prince of earth ever having kept his
word when he got nothing by so doing? If thou canst forget that thou art
a man, forget not that thou standest before the Devil. My fiendish
subjects turned pale at thy temerity; thy horrid words made my firm and
imperishable throne tremble; and I thought for a moment that I had risked
too much. Away! thy presence makes me uneasy; and thou art a proof that
man can do more than the Devil can bear. Drag him, ye fiends, into the
most frightful corner; let him there languish in solitude, and madden at
the recollection of his deeds, and of this moment, which he can never
atone for. Let no shade approach him. Go, thou accursed one, and hover
alone and abandoned in that land where neither hope, comfort, nor sleep
are found. Those doubts which have tormented thee in life shall for ever
gnaw thy soul, and no one shall explain to thee that mystery, the pursuit
of which has brought thee here. This is the most painful punishment of
all to a philosopher like thee. Drag him away, I repeat; torture him.
Seize that Pope, and plunge him into the hottest pool; for their equals
are not to be found in hell.
After their departure, Satan said to himself, smiling:
"When men wish to represent any thing abominable, they paint the Devil:
let us, therefore, in revenge, when we wish to represent any thing
infamous, depict man; and philosophers, popes, priests, conquerors,
ministers, and authors, shall serve us as models."
Footnotes:
{134} It is not out of fear that I refrain from giving the names of the
German princes who appear in this work, but because, having discovered
the secret springs of their actions, I should too often have to
contradict their lying, flattering, ignorant historians; and men who
willingly allow themselves to be deceived, might perhaps doubt the truth
of my assertions. Hercules himself could not clear away all the ordure
which these historians have heaped up.--_Original_.
{249} See _Taxae Cancellariae Apostolicae_, &c., printed at Rome and
Paris.