Part 3 (1/2)
_Faustus_. The fury of a lion inflames me, and, if h.e.l.l were to yawn beneath my foot, I would spring beyond the limits of humanity.
He sprang out of the circle, and cried,
”I am thy lord.”
_Devil_. Yes; as long as thy time runs. I lead a mighty man by the hand, and am proud to be his slave.
CHAPTER II.
On the following morning the devil Leviathan came with all the pomp and retinue of a n.o.bleman to the inn where Faustus sojourned. He alighted from his richly caparisoned steed, and asked the host whether the famous Faustus sojourned there?
The host replied by a reverential bow, and ushered him into the house.
The Devil then advanced to Faustus, and said to him, in the presence of the host:
”Your renown, your great talents, and, above all, your mighty invention, have induced me to make a wide circuit in my journey in order to become acquainted with so remarkable a man, whom the world, in spite of its lukewarmness, knows how to value. I came, likewise, to request your company in the tour of Europe, and shall be happy to accede to whatever stipulations you may choose to make, for I am perfectly aware that such a pleasure is above all price.”
Faustus played his part agreeably to that of the Devil; and the host hurried out in order to relate the adventure to his household. The rumour was immediately spread, by a thousand channels, through all Frankfort; and the arrival of the distinguished stranger was soon known, from the sentinel at the city-gate to his most wors.h.i.+pful the mayor himself. Away ran the magistrates, as if the Devil drove them, to the senate-house, leaving all the weighty affairs of state to remain unsettled whilst they consulted about this unexpected apparition. The senior alderman, a patrician, who was particularly expert in deciphering the meaning of the signs which occasionally appeared in the political horizon, and had thereby obtained a powerful ascendency in the council, pressed his fat chin into furrows, and his narrow brow into wrinkles, and, with reflection in his little eyes, a.s.sured his sapient brethren that ”This distinguished stranger was nothing else than a secret envoy of his imperial majesty, who was come into Germany to observe attentively the situation, the comparative strength, the disagreements, and the alliances, of the various states and princes; so that the high and mighty court, at the opening of the approaching Diet, might know how to comport itself. And since the imperial court had always kept a watchful eye upon their republic, they must now endeavour to convince this distinguished visitor of the fiery zeal which they had always entertained for the high imperial house, and not let him depart without winning him over to the interest of the state. That they must, in so doing, take as their pattern the prudent senate of Venice, who never failed to show the greatest friends.h.i.+p and honour towards him whom they intended to deceive.”
The subordinate members of the a.s.sembly affirmed that the alderman had spoken like the Doge of Venice himself; but the mayor, who bore the alderman a secret grudge, because the latter, like a true patrician, hated the democratic form of government, and was accustomed to say, whenever he was outvoted, ”Ha, thus it goes when tradesmen and shopkeepers are made statesmen,” quickly took up the cudgels against him in these words:
”Truly laudable and excellent, most sapient masters, seems to me that which our most prudent and politic brother has now advanced, were it not for one single circ.u.mstance which unhappily spoils all. I, indeed, do not make a boast of possessing the deep visual penetration of the alderman,--a penetration, my brethren, which can spy out a storm before it arises; nevertheless, whether it be from chance or reflection, I have long foreseen, and have long foretold, that which is now gathering around us. You must all remember, that at each of our sittings I advised you not to treat this Faustus so contemptuously, but to purchase his Latin Bible for the small sum he demanded. Even my wife, who is a mere woman, like all other women, has frequently said that, although we ourselves neither understood nor could use the book, we ought nevertheless to have it; and, on account of the beautiful letters in the t.i.tle-page, and of the curious invention, to make a show of it, as we do of our golden bull, and attract strangers from all parts. It was likewise fitting that a free and rich state like ours should protect the arts, and give them a helping hand. But I know very well what was in your minds; 'twas envy--sheer envy. You could not brook that my name should be rendered immortal. You could not digest that posterity should read in the chronicle, '_Sub consulatu_ . . . a Latin Bible was bought from Faustus of Mayence for two hundred gold guilders.' Yes, yes; 'twas that stuck in your gizzards; but, as you have brewed, so may you drink: Faustus is a devilish wild fellow, and a very strange hand to deal with; I saw that proved yesterday. And now that the imperial envoy has travelled hither merely on his account, merely on account of him whom we have treated worse than a poor cobbler, think ye not he will blow us up with the envoy out of revenge, and all our sc.r.a.pings and grimaces will serve for nothing but to make us appear ridiculous before the citizens? But he who has driven his cart into the mire may draw it out again. I wash my hands of the whole business, and, like Pilate, am innocent of Israel's blindness and destruction.”
Here followed a deep silence. The b.l.o.o.d.y battle of Cannae, which threatened Rome with ruin, did not terrify her senate more than did this eloquent philippic the enlightened magistracy of Frankfort. Already the mayor triumphed in proud antic.i.p.ation: he thought even that he had hurled the alderman entirely out of his saddle; when the latter, collecting his political wisdom and heroic strength, hastened to the a.s.sistance of the sinking state, and bellowing aloud, _ad majora_, undauntedly proposed ”immediately to send an emba.s.sy from the council to the hotel, in order to welcome the distinguished guest, and to offer Faustus four hundred gold guilders for his Latin Bible, and thereby to appease him, and to make him favourable to the state.”
The mayor scoffed at the idea of giving four hundred gold guilders for a thing which the day before they might, in all probability, have had for one hundred; but his jeers and his scoffs availed nothing. ”_Salus populi suprema lex_,” cried the alderman; and, with the approbation of the council, he commanded the mayor to entertain Faustus and the envoy in the most sumptuous manner, at the expense of the state.
This circ.u.mstance consoled his wors.h.i.+p, who willingly displayed his wealth, partly on account of his defeat by the alderman, while the concluding words, ”at the expense of the state,” put him in good humour.
The junior alderman immediately set out with one of the four syndics, and the mayor sent to his house to order every thing proper for the festival.
The devil Leviathan was engaged with Faustus in a deep discourse when these amba.s.sadors were announced. They were instantly admitted. They welcomed, with all humility, in the name of the senate, the distinguished guest, and gave him to understand that his n.o.ble person, as well as his important errand, were well known to them; a.s.suring him at the same time, in set terms, of their zeal and devotion for the high imperial house.
The Devil, upon this, screwed up his features, turned to Faustus, took him by the hand, and a.s.sured the speakers that nothing had brought him to their town but the desire of removing from it this great man, whom he had no doubt they knew how to prize. The amba.s.sadors were now somewhat disturbed; however, they soon recollected themselves, and continued thus:
”It rejoiced them highly that they could give him on the spot a convincing proof of the respect which the magistracy entertained for so great a man, as they were authorised to tender to Faustus four hundred gold guilders for his Latin Bible, which they had long been anxious to possess, and preserve as a precious treasure. The ill.u.s.trious magistracy would also be most happy to enrol him, if it were agreeable, among the number of citizens, and thereby open to him the way to glory and emolument.”
This last stroke was added by their own political wisdom; a proof that they, as skilful negotiators, knew how to supply and fill up every vacuum which had been at first overlooked.
Faustus started up in a fury, stamped on the ground, and cried:
”Base, lying, deceitful pack! How long did I not fawn upon you, from the proud patrician down to the shoemaker and the pepper-seller, around whose necks you hang the magisterial insignia, like halters around a.s.ses? And did ye not permit me to wait at your dirty thresholds without deigning me a single look? And now that you hear this n.o.ble personage sees that in me which you did not, you come and would pay me back in my own coin. But see, here is gold; for which you would barter the Holy Roman Empire, provided you could find fools gross enough to buy the huge, monstrous carca.s.s, without head, sense, or proportion.”
The Devil highly enjoyed the rage of Faustus and the downcast looks of the young senators; but they, who had never read Roman history, were not so high-spirited as to fling Faustus a declaration of war from beneath their closely-folded robes of office; on the contrary, they communicated the invitation to the mayor's festival in as unconcerned a tone as if nothing had happened,--a new proof of their expertness in negotiation.
Had they, for example, replied to the insult, they would thereby have acknowledged that they felt the force of it; but when they let it fall flat upon the ground, as if it were nothing to any of them, it lost all its power, and a.s.sumed the colour of an unfair reproach. Genius alone is capable in such critical moments of like discrimination.
At the word ”mayor,” Faustus p.r.i.c.ked up his ears, and the Devil gave him a significant side-glance. Faustus thereupon took the Bible from the casket, handed it over to the senators, and said, with some degree of complaisance,
”That, upon due consideration, he was determined to make the city a present of his Bible, on condition that they showed the sentence which he marked under, and of which he wrote a German translation on the margin, to the a.s.sembled magistrates; and, in remembrance of him, caused it to be written in letters of gold on the wall of the council-chamber.”
The senators hastened back to their brethren, as delighted as envoys who, after a ruinous war, return with an advantageous peace. They were received with great joy, and, the Bible being opened at the appointed place, they read--