FAUSTUS. Sweet Mephistophilis, thou pleasest me. Whilst I am here on earth, let me be cloy'd With all things that delight the heart of man: My four-and-twenty years of liberty I'll spend in pleasure and in dalliance, That Faustus' name, whilst(111) this bright frame doth stand, May be admir'd thorough(112) the furthest land.
MEPHIST. 'Tis well said, Faustus. Come, then, stand by me, And thou shalt see them come immediately.
FAUSTUS. Nay, stay, my gentle Mephistophilis, And grant me my(113) request, and then I go. Thou know'st, within the compass of eight days We view'd the face of heaven, of earth, and hell; So high our dragons soar'd into the air, That, looking down, the earth appear'd to me No bigger than my hand in quantity; There did we view the kingdoms of the world, And what might please mine eye I there beheld. Then in this show let me an actor be, That this proud Pope may Faustus' cunning(114) see.
MEPHIST. Let it be so, my Faustus. But, first, stay, And view their triumphs as they pass this way; And then devise what best contents thy mind, By cunning in thine art to cross the Pope, Or dash the pride of this(115) solemnity; To make his monks and abbots stand like apes, And point like antics at(116) his triple crown; To beat the beads about the friars' pates, Or clap huge horns upon the Cardinals' heads; Or any villany thou canst devise; And I'll perform it,(117) Faustus. Hark! they come: This day shall make thee be admir'd in Rome.
Enter the CARDINALS and BISHOPS, some bearing crosiers, some the pillars; MONKS and FRIARS, singing their procession; then the POPE, RAYMOND king of Hungary, the ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS, BRUNO led in chains, and ATTENDANTS.
POPE. Cast down our footstool.
RAYMOND. Saxon Bruno, stoop, Whilst on thy back his Holiness ascends Saint Peter's chair and state pontifical.
BRUNO. Proud Lucifer, that state belongs to me; But thus I fall to Peter, not to thee.
POPE. To me and Peter shalt thou grovelling lie, And crouch before the Papal dignity.-- Sound trumpets, then; for thus Saint Peter's heir, )From Bruno's back, ascends Saint Peter's chair. [A flourish while he ascends.] Thus, as the gods creep on with feet of wool, Long ere with iron hands they punish men, So shall our sleeping vengeance now arise, And smite with death thy hated enterprise.(118)-- Lord Cardinals of France and Padua, Go forthwith to our(119) holy consistory, And read, amongst the statutes decretal, What, by the holy council held at Trent, The sacred synod hath decreed for him That doth assume the Papal government Without election and a true consent: Away, and bring us word with speed.
CARDINAL OF FRANCE. We go, my lord. [Exeunt CARDINALS of France and Padua.]
POPE. Lord Raymond. [They converse in dumb show.]
FAUSTUS. Go, haste thee, gentle Mephistophilis, Follow the cardinals to the consistory; And, as they turn their superstitious books, Strike them with sloth and drowsy idleness, And make them sleep so sound, that in their shapes Thyself and I may parley with this(120) Pope, This proud confronter of the Emperor; And, in despite of all his holiness, Restore this Bruno to his liberty, And bear him to the states of Germany.
MEPHIST. Faustus, I go.
FAUSTUS. Despatch it soon: The Pope shall curse, that Faustus came to Rome. [Exeunt FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHILIS.]
BRUNO. Pope Adrian, let me have right(121) of law: I was elected by the Emperor.
POPE. We will depose the Emperor for that deed, And curse the people that submit to him: Both he and thou shall(122) stand excommunicate, And interdict from church's privilege And all society of holy men. He grows too proud in his authority, Lifting his lofty head above the clouds, And, like a steeple, overpeers the church: But we'll pull down his haughty insolence; And, as Pope Alexander, our progenitor, Trod on the neck of German Frederick, Adding this golden sentence to our praise, "That Peter's heirs should tread on Emperors, And walk upon the dreadful adder's back, Treading the lion and the dragon down, And fearless spurn the killing basilisk," So will we quell that haughty schismatic, And, by authority apostolical, Depose him from his regal government.