Faustus

by Friedrich Maximilian Klinger

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 Cæsar, 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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar remains a cardinal, than they would have been if yon feeble driveller had lived. Only from Cæsar 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. Cæsar 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; Cæsar 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 Cæsar

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. Cæsar 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 Cæsar 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.