CARLOMAN.
Then we start at once.
ASTOLPH.
[checking him]
No, stay a little. Are you still the friend
Of Zacharias?
CARLOMAN.
He is great.
ASTOLPH.
No doubt—
And most sagacious, for he seeks your brother
To win him with the bribe of sacred oil
As vassal and ally against myself.
I started here from Rome the hour I heard
That Zacharias had crept out by night
To travel northward and defeat my hopes.
You must arrive before him! I am come
Sure, from report, that you will help my cause,
You, who have been a ruler. I contend
No supernatural power should have control
Of lands and cities, troops and civil rights,
Matters distinct from God, as from the world
The service he requires. Life is so easy
If we will keep it human—quarrel, murder,
And then make friends: we have so short a time
To sin together ... but this hate deferred,
These pestilential menaces!—
CARLOMAN.
The Pope
Shall never injure France!