Part 5 (1/2)
The hermit was at first shocked, and at last confused; and he had scarcely power to struggle with the temptation. The pilgrim tore herself, ashamed and angry, from the arms of Leviathan, to seek protection by the side of the hermit, which he could not refuse her.
The Devil and Faustus now pretended to be intoxicated and overwhelmed with sleep; but before they took repose the Devil placed, in the presence of the hermit, a weighty purse of money under the straw, and deposited his own rich rings and those of Faustus in a casket, which the latter laid close beside him. On the table they placed their swords and daggers, and then flung themselves down and soon snored.
The pilgrim softly approached the table, and poured out with her delicate and snow-white hands a goblet of foaming wine. She just touched the rim with her rosy lips, and then offered it to the hermit. He stood like one amazed; and in his confusion emptied it, and another besides, and greedily swallowed the luxurious morsels which the tempter, one after another, held up to his mouth. She then led him out, and bursting into tears, entreated his pardon for having been forced to outrage his holy eyes. She then looked mournful and inconsolable, pressed his hand warmly, and at last fell down on her knees before him. At this instant the silvery moon beamed upon her bosom, over which the gentle night-wind moved her dark, dishevelled locks. The hermit sank upon this dazzling bosom, without knowing whether he was dead or alive. At length the pilgrim said, ”That she would yield herself entirely to his wishes, if he would revenge her first on those daring reprobates, and take possession of their treasure, which would enable him and her to live happily to the end of their days.”
The hermit, at these words, recovered in some degree from his intoxication, and asked her, in a trembling voice, what she meant, and what she would have him do.
Amongst broken exclamations of rapture she murmured, ”Their daggers lie on the table: do you murder the one; I will manage the other. Then dress yourself in their clothes, and seize their treasure. We will then set the hermitage on fire, and fly to France together.”
The horrible idea of murder made the hermit shudder. He hesitated, was undecided, looked on the charms of the siren; he saw that he could make himself master of her and of the treasure without danger; and, all his virtue yielding, he forgot heaven and his oft-repeated vows. The pilgrim dragged the reeling miscreant into the hut; each seized a dagger; and just as he was about to aim a blow at Faustus, the Devil burst into the fiendish scorn-laugh; and Faustus saw the hermit, with a lifted dagger, standing by his side.
_Faustus_. Cursed monster, who, under the mask of religion, wouldst murder thy guest!
The hermit sunk trembling to the earth. The pilgrim, a phantom of h.e.l.l, appeared to him in a frightful form, and then vanished.
Faustus commanded Leviathan to set fire to the hut, and burn it to ashes, along with the hypocrite. The Devil obeyed with joy. The following morning the peasants shed many tears for the fate of the righteous man; and, having collected his bones, they preserved them as precious relics.
Faustus and the Devil arrived early the next day at Mayence, and alighted at the dwelling of the former. His young wife fell with a cry of joy upon his neck, embraced him, and then burst into tears of sorrow. The children clung sobbing to his knees, and greedily examined his pockets, to see whether he had brought them any thing. His old gray-headed father next staggered towards him, and shook him mournfully by the hand. The heart of Faustus was moved, and his eyes began to moisten, while he trembled, and looked angrily upon the Devil. When he asked his wife why she wept, she wrung her hands, and replied, ”Ah, Faustus, do you not perceive how the hungry ones examine your pockets for bread? How can I see that without tears? They have eaten nothing for a long time; we have been unfortunate, and all thy friends have forsaken us; but now I see thee again, it is to me as though I saw the countenance of an angel. I and thy father have suffered more on thy account than on our own. We have had such frightful dreams and visions; and when my eyes, weary with weeping, have closed for a few hours, I saw thee torn from us by force, and all was dark and horrible.”
_Faustus_. Thy dream, love, is about to be partly fulfilled. This gentleman here will reward thy husband for those talents which his ungrateful country overlooked or despised. I have agreed to travel with him far and wide.
_Old Faustus_. ”My son, stay at home and support thyself honourably,”
says Scripture.
_Faustus_. And die of hunger, says Experience.
The wife began to weep yet more bitterly, and the children screamed for bread. Faustus gave the Devil a sign, and he called to his servant, who presently afterwards brought into the room a heavy coffer. Faustus unlocked it, and flung a large bag of gold upon the table; which being opened, and the yellow coin appearing, a lively flush of joy was instantly diffused over the melancholy countenances of the family. He then took out magnificent clothes and jewels, which he delivered to his wife. Her tears vanished, and vanity at once dried them up, as the sun-rays dry up the morning dew. The Devil smiled, and Faustus muttered to himself, ”O magic of gold and of vanity! I may now go to the antipodes, and no other tears than those of hypocrisy will be shed.”
Then, aloud, ”Well, wife, these are the fruits of my journey, reaped in advance. Is not this better than staying at home with you and starving?”
But the wife heard him not; for she stood with her rich robes and jewels before the looking-gla.s.s to see how they became her. The little girls frolicked around her, took up the clothes and ornaments she had laid aside, and aped the mother. In the mean time a servant brought in a substantial breakfast, the children fell upon it, cried and shouted with joy; but the mother had, in the mean time, forgotten her hunger.
The old father took Faustus aside, and said, ”If thou hast obtained all these things by honourable means, let us thank G.o.d, my son, and enjoy his bounty; but for some nights past I have had horrible dreams, although I hope they were merely caused by our necessities.”
This remark of the old man sank deep into the heart of Faustus; but the pleasure of seeing his children eat so heartily, and of observing with what love and thankfulness his eldest son and favourite looked at him; the thought of having relieved them from their misery; and, above all, an inward longing for pleasure,--considerably damped the impression. The Devil added a large sum to the money in the bag, presented the young wife with a costly necklace, gave each of the children a trifle, and a.s.sured the family that he would bring back Faustus to them safe, sound, and wealthy at no very distant period.
Faustus, attended by the Devil, now went to see a friend, whom he found much dejected. He asked him the cause of his unhappiness, and the other replied:
”This afternoon the law-suit which you have often heard me speak of is to be determined; and I am certain of losing it, although justice is on my side. In short, Master Faustus, nothing remains for me to do but to beg, or drown myself in the deepest part of the Rhine.”
_Faustus_. How can you be certain that you will lose your cause, if justice is for you, as you say it is?
_Friend_. But the five hundred gold guilders which my opponent has given the Judge are against me; and if I cannot outbid him, I must fall to the ground.
_Faustus_. Pooh! does it merely depend on that? Come, lead me to the Judge. I have a friend here who willingly a.s.sists people out of such difficulties.
They found the Judge to be a proud, inflated man, who would scarcely deign to honour a poor client with a look. Faustus had long known him for what he was. When they entered the room, the Judge, in an imperious tone, thus addressed Faustus's friend, ”Why do you come to trouble me?
Do you not know that tears never interrupt the course of justice?”
The unhappy friend looked humbly to the ground.