Faustus Part 11

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 a.s.sist 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sured 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 a.s.sume 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 a.s.sa.s.sin 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 hoa.r.s.e 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 part.i.tion. 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 sanct.i.ty 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, superst.i.tious, 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 languis.h.i.+ng 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 n.o.blemen 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 a.s.sistant 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 t.i.tles. In h.e.l.l there is very little respect paid to these gloomy islanders, who would suck the marrow from all the carca.s.ses 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 d.a.m.ned 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 pa.s.sably 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 a.s.sa.s.sins loudly beseeching St. Stephen and St. Ambrose to inspire them with the courage necessary for so n.o.ble 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 a.s.sist 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 a.s.sembled 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 h.e.l.l, would give the finis.h.i.+ng blow to the hara.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sa.s.sination, or open war, to deprive all the Italian n.o.blemen of their property, in order that he might convert their castles and domains into princ.i.p.alities 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 a.s.sembled 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 a.s.sist 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 repet.i.tion.

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 a.s.sistance. 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 n.o.blemen, 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 pa.s.sion, 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; Francis...o...b..rgia, 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 n.o.ble 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 surpa.s.sed 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 h.e.l.l 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 a.s.sa.s.sinated 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 aggrandis.e.m.e.nt of his family. The Cardinal, who had always certain a.s.sa.s.sins in his pay, sent for his faithful Dom Michelotto, and thus addressed him:

"Brave and honest Michelotto, five years have already pa.s.sed 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 superst.i.tious 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 relations.h.i.+p--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 n.o.ble 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 a.s.sa.s.sinate 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 a.s.sist, 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 a.s.signation 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, a.s.sured him of his fidelity, and went his way in order to get some of his companions to a.s.sist 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 a.s.sistants flung into the stream the corpse of the murdered Francisco. Faustus would have attacked the a.s.sa.s.sins, 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 Francis...o...b..rgia, Duke of Candia; his murderer is his brother, and what thou seest now is only the prelude to actions which will astonish h.e.l.l 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 pa.s.sed my solitary existence, with a palm-tree for my shelter, and with Nature for my G.o.d!"

The body of Francis...o...b..ing found in the Tiber, his a.s.sa.s.sination 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 a.s.sa.s.sinated? 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.