FREE SPEECH. It is a true saying: The gift of silence brings no danger. I think that no one was more acceptable to the realm of the gods than Harpocrates; Pammachius wants his work to be so praised and so accepted without any contradiction. Because I scarcely muttered, my head has flowered with bumps. Poor me, my hair has also been torn out and my face has been defiled with mud. These are the rewards I bring. O impious sophists, wicked heads, do you teach in this way and act with such arrogance, to bridle the tongues of all?
TRUTH. Hello, Free Speech, what ornament is that, I ask you? You must have fallen into the mud somewhere.
FREE SPEECH. Not at all, Lady. A crowd of sophists put this decoration on me.
TRUTH. For what reason?
FREE SPEECH. Ah, you ask that? I am Free Speech. I do not put up with it, if anyone acts or teaches evilly.
TRUTH. Yet I warned you not to open your mouth when you were alone.
FREE SPEECH. I agree. But even a log could not bear such folly.
TRUTH. You've heard foolish plans then?
FREE SPEECH. I can't tell you what foolish, absurd, wicked, and impious plans I've happened to see and hear today, so that I'd prefer to be burned seven times than to approve them by my silence.
TRUTH. Was Satan presiding by any chance?
FREE SPEECH. No, Ma'am, but Pammachius.
TRUTH. What? Pammachius is teaching wickedness?
FREE SPEECH. He both does wicked acts and teaches them.
TRUTH. What are you saying? He, the Bishop?
FREE SPEECH. As far as I understand from his words and deeds today, there will be no need for Satan to put out our faith. The bishops and the Sophists are bearing down on it so strongly that the people will not know of the good deeds of Christ, and the sincerity of their former faith will not remain. When I heard this, I refuted them with scarcely three words. For my three words I'm now carrying six hundred lashes.
TRUTH. Clean away the mud and tell me more clearly what is happening.
FREE SPEECH. I will finish in a few words. The bishops are leaving their duties and aspiring to military glory. Pammachius especially, as the artificer of this wickedness, is also giving birth to new doctrines and producing a new church without faith and with ceremonials only. He sits in the temple of God and wishes to be adored and feared as a god in the hearts of mankind. He has great power but not his own power. The kings fear him, for him the princes fight. Nay, he has even trodden on Caesar's neck with his feet and he has Caesar under oath to follow his opinion. Besides, he has created new burdens for the world--men who bravely suck the blood out of the poor by selling them for gold and silver their own dung, and who, provided that things are well with themselves and their bellies swell with large paunches, do not care a hair for the ruin of poor mortals through their wicked doctrines.
TRUTH. Cease, I beseech you, Free Speech. What great evil are you reporting?
FREE SPEECH. It is greater than anyone could explain with words. But to sum it up, the temples are the meeting places for lies; the roads and all places are full of them, and no wonder indeed, since you've been absent. Men live, as if they were likely to live forever and as if they might do what they like with impunity.
TRUTH. O, how poor and lost are mortals when I'm not there! Did you see some of them deploring this miserable state of affairs and yearning for me and looking for better things?
FREE SPEECH. Ma'am, to tell the truth, very few, scarce ten out of a thousand. They are also now weary of living. For you they sigh but dare not utter a word. They pray to God silently at least, so that he may not be willing to destroy them in the same way as Sodom and Babylon.
TRUTH. Is Rome then Sodom and Babylon or some place worse than Babylon?
FREE SPEECH. Certainly, in this state of affairs.
TRUTH. What then do we do? Surely you do not think that our place is to assist on earth.
FREE SPEECH. From this danger of mine, learn a lesson. I do not know what it should be otherwise in so many kingdoms. The Roman Curia does not yield a place to you. Nay, alas, the Italians, the Illyrians, the Scots, the Hungarians, the Spanish, the French, the English, the Germans, the Russians, the Poles and the Danes--all fear the Roman idol.
TRUTH. Alas, poor me. You are announcing my perpetual exile.
FREE SPEECH. By no means, Ma'am, if you prefer to burn a thousand times.
TRUTH. Surely they would not burn an immortal?
FREE SPEECH. So it will be seen. Men prepare evils for mortals and immortals and repeat the old example of the Giants.
TRUTH. You terrify me in vain. It is my pleasure to be among men.
FREE SPEECH. Well, do what is dangerous, if you wish.
TRUTH. Some place must be sought, where I may live freely among men. I shall have my old home. I will go there, to Asia.
FREE SPEECH. Unless Satan occupies all of it.
TRUTH. How do you know? I think he has enough to do in Europe.
FREE SPEECH. I did not see Satan in Europe, but now the emanation of his rage alone devastates all lands.
TRUTH. To whom do you refer?
FREE SPEECH. Pammachius. Therefore, I think that Satan has led his troops into Asia, that he may destroy even the traces and remains of yours, if any are still there.
TRUTH. Where am I to turn, I do not know. Why have I, poor wretch, deserved such a fate, that there is no place on earth for me? Follow me. I shall go straight to Christ, to whom I shall explain all this situation and ask him to give me a better home than this vast desert.
SATAN. Listen to my words, my best fellow warriors. A happy victory has been won over Christ. Trophies have been erected. I think we should now consult together so that we may look after our own skins from the spoils of our enemies, spending all our days merrily. Let no one work, but let holidays go on for ever. Let us play, dance, drink in succession and let no one lay aside the offered cup before he has drained it three or four times. If anyone shows that he is a strong drinker even after vomiting, let us deck his sacred head with folded vine-tendrils. And if the days should be too short for celebrating all this our joy, let part of the nights be added. Let us leave nothing out which pertains to our luxurious living. Both the dead and the living shall supply our riches, so that without worry at my table you may be filled with food and drink even, if you like, up to nausea. Hey, come on, sit down. Come here, Pammachius, and you, Porphyrius. You, Planus, keep close to Pammachius' right side and you, Cremius, to his left. Let Stasiades be next to Porphyrius. Umm ... where are the rest of the guests, Dromo?
DROMO. Who are they?
SATAN. You ask? The canons, the monks, the cardinals, the officials, the bishops and those of the princes who decided to favour our side.
DROMO. They are here with open mouths. Now the company of those who were formerly monks is here to eat with slackened girdles.
SATAN. Right. Let each choose for himself the place he wants.
DROMO. Hem, the monks are choosing their places by blows.
SATAN. Ha, ha, he. Bring oak clubs for them, Dromo. Just so are things sacred wont to stand firm. Do not spare them: fight and drink. Let the drinks be brought and let the party echo with uproars, quarrels, shouting. Would you like me to bring an elegant whore for each of you? I see you would. Bring, Dromo, as many as possible. There are no complete joys without women.
DROMO. Once again the battle grows savage.
SATAN. Now, Dromo, bring the pans of good food. Look, here was a prince who wished to take thought for his soul through you. Take care for his good; eat up, everyone. Why, Pammachius? Why are you not tearing apart this capon? Why are you not driving away your raging hunger? Do so and so advise the other guests to feast. Bring another roast, Dromo, for sure. These have been eaten up. Enjoy yourselves now. That is the corpse of a rich man whom I ordered them to prepare as a bequest for you.
DROMO. O, they are fighting again.
SATAN. Right. Pour larger drinks. As you see, this corpse is very fat. Take it away and bring another. This is the widow of a house who wished to have a share in your prayers. She's a rich piece of goods. Eat her piece by piece and spare neither the top nor the bottom.
DROMO. Hem. All the dishes are snatched away when they've scarcely been put onto the table and some are wounded.
SATAN. I want such guests. Bring another course. Why are the wine bowls not going around? Why are the guests so silent?
DROMO. As if they could say anything with full throats and were not striving to defeat each other by eating.
SATAN. Those puddings have been made with great skill from the marrows and blood of miserable men.
DROMO. They rip them up of their own accord and eat them with full cheeks.
SATAN. Over and above this let everyone drain a full cup. Bravely done, by God. All follow me. Now, Dromo, bring on the fifth act.
DROMO. Look, you have it.
SATAN. For anyone who has been negligent so far, my fellow drinkers, it is right for him to sate himself in this the last round of food. Tomorrow I will give a most sumptuous banquet. Here is a merchant's bag full of money. Put your hands into it.
DROMO. This course is not without fighting. Those are the customs of the Lapithae.
SATAN. Why are you not fighting with clubs or stakes? Those fist fights are puerile. Do it thus, reverend fathers. O good men, you are renewing for us the example of Philoxenius, the friend of strangers. As I live, he's the only one who has seized it with the right violence.
DROMO. By God, I'd rather be hungry than stuff myself in this way.
SATAN. Right. You are leaving nothing undone. Bring on the dessert, Dromo. These desserts are finer than those of Attica. Mortal sins of every kind, from which each may take for himself as many as he likes. They all are of benefit and they please the palate wonderfully. There is no sin so light that it doesn't bring some advantage to your fare. Carry on therefore, actively. Let his own share be entrusted to each.
DROMO. They in no way need Melissa. For, as I see it, when the rest have been left out, they desire this one thing most highly.
SATAN. Do you know what you must do now, Dromo?
DROMO. I shall know, if you tell me.
SATAN. In the interval, while we are feasting, let this be your task. Go round all the provinces. Smell them out carefully to see whether they are all peaceful, lest anything evil should arise while we are drinking ourselves to drunkenness. Should trouble arise, report it immediately. In this way you will free us from our worries, so that our drinking and all our other pleasures may continue perpetually.
DROMO. I will do it after I have first drained three cups.
SATAN. You have seen now, my best fellow warriors, what I propose for you, also in what a festive way I administer all my realms, so that no other prince could do the same. Therefore I hope that you will be very faithful to me, since I am feasting you with the fattest things. Let Christ be strong in foul poverty, with torments, punishments, labours, cares, prisons, dangers. Do you take no care for what the late evening may bring. Live in such a way that the world may know you have lived. You shall lack nothing while I govern the business of the world and am present in all things.
CHRIST. Have none of the angels reported to you what is happening on earth?
PAUL. None. But we ask you, Master, to tell your apostles.
CHRIST. The appearance of things is remarkable.
PETER. Oh.
CHRIST. Satan rules far and wide, and at his nod all things are changed and turned about.
PETER. Ah, me.
CHRIST. He has broken up all the churches and corrupted them by heresy. There are scarcely seven thousand people left in the world who have not accepted the brand of the Roman beast, who do not believe the lies and who have not yielded at the first rage of Satan.
PAUL. O miserable wretches.
CHRIST. In sum, as I have long said, the affairs of the wicked prosper thus. He is thought to be best, who knows how to do the worse deeds. Those finding new idols are praised; he who attacks the new cult is added to the rolls of the saints. But here comes Truth, bringing some news, I think.
PETER. What you've told us is enough, even if she brings no other news.
CHRIST. Come, rise, Truth. What do you want? What are you asking for?
TRUTH. Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest power over heavenly and earthly affairs has been given to you. Why do you not look at human affairs and at me who am most unhappy and an exile? The wicked are in control; Satan reigns everywhere; things are so bad that they cannot be worse. You know all this and yet you shut your eyes at it. How long, I ask you, must this continue?
CHRIST. Why are you weeping?
TRUTH. You ordered to me to come back from the earth and to leave my usual human places of fellowship, so that the area for Satan's reign might be wider. I have obeyed; I have come away and left my dear home, which he had prepared for me alone in the hearts of men; now for a long time I have been living in a vast desert.
Yet in the meantime, touched by a deep love for my former home and wishing to know whether I could find what I well deserved from mortals, I ordered my servant to go to earth to see. She reported that neither your word nor mine is cherished anywhere, Satan has so overturned everything. She went to Rome to see whether there would be respect for you there, but, lo, Pammachius has made all a desert. There lying, pomp and pride and unheard of crimes reign. As the situation shows, their sound minds being utterly lost, men worship Pammachius, drink from his cup and, thus drunken, fill all lands with their vomit.
CHRIST. See, it is what I said about Pammachius.
PAUL. O wicked scoundrel.
TRUTH. They do not allow the cup to be torn from their hands easily. So they laugh at the imposture; so the falseness pleases them; so nothing sane is left; so a doctrine polluted with human dung finds willing ears. Men do not only approve of this new doctrine devised by Pammachius, but they also name the foulest deeds of justice, since they have been falsely persuaded that Pammachius and his assistants cannot err. I believe, as the event shows, that he cannot do anything rightly or if he has done anything rightly he corrects it as an error.
Because you ordered all men to restore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, Pammachius so took care for this that he trod on Caesar's neck with his feet, and refuses to Caesar tribute and honour and obedience. He himself holds Caesar's rights and has left nothing else to Caesar, now bound by an oath, except the name of Caesar. When Free Speech saw and heard this, she took it with indignation as she usually does and though she offered hardly three words against it, she received a bruised head, had her hair torn out, her mouth smashed and smeared with mud. And, not content with these punishments, they threaten fires in addition, and let me say that they write down as heretics anyone they please, so that I have no hope that hereafter I shall be able to please men and they will send me into exile.
Must I then be exiled for ever? Is it such a fine thing that Satan has crushed what for so long and with so much effort your apostles have taught? Or are you willing to lose the whole world to their lies? Certainly, I know that some of your followers survive, in whom a love of justice and truth resides and who still with perfect hearts pant for you. Have pity on them, Christ; or do you allow the wicked to have this power also, that they may work for destruction for themselves but may also at the same time destroy the godly? You are called Saviour: save your followers, whom the Father gave to you, who believe that they have been redeemed by your blood and faith. Are they neglecting the promises of your death by their faith in Satan? Send me to them; they will accept me and find me a place, lest I perish in this fearful solitude.
CHRIST. Do you hear now what the state of affairs in the world is?
PAUL. Master, I am completely terrified as I listen to this account.
PETER. Take counsel for their afflictions, Master, and set aside a place for Truth, so that Pammachius may not attack mortals, hand them over to everlasting slavery, give trouble to those of us in heaven and bring this business to heaven and up to the sacred spaces of your realm.
TRUTH. Certainly, Peter, I think that is to be feared, for as far as I understand, he seems to be devising that and not in vain does he boast about the keys of heaven.
PETER. Perhaps his keys are counterfeit? For I have the first and true keys. Nonetheless, Master, I vote that the lock be changed and that a strong adamantine bolt be placed across the door.
CHRIST. There is no need to fear, Peter. I will not allow Satan or any Pammachius to ascend to heaven however much they boast about the keys of heaven; let them go to that place where there is no need of keys, where day and night the door is open wide, and where they also send forward their indulgences. They will be thrust there with all the Giants who dared to attack gods and men. Therefore, Truth, keep a very calm mind. There are many more evils than those you've narrated and they are not done without my knowing. I shall also see to it that they do not proceed further than it has been decreed and that evil shall not prevail for ever, on account of my followers, any one of whom is dearer to me than all the Pammachiuses and than all the tribes of Satan.
Fear not, that the wicked shall destroy the just or remove them from my grace. Whenever they are oppressed and thrown down, nothing perishes from their inheritance with me. These are sons, these are heirs, although a mob of evil men roar around them on all sides. You should bear with me the things that have to be borne. Further, you ask that a place be given you somewhere on earth and cannot endure exile further; it will scarcely be to your advantage, if I know Satan. You will stir up dissensions and very great political disturbances. They will war against you with full flutes, swords, fire and water and in a thousand wars will wish that you were rubbed out. As there can be no agreement between wolves and lambs, so no treaties stand firm between you and their lies; the war will be perpetual and without a treaty. I forewarn you of this, lest you be ignorant of the future, that again and again you may think over rightly what you are doing. You will not come to peace or to dances or to joys, but to the filthy sea of all evils.
TRUTH. I am immortal. Just show me the place. I shall easily endure the rages of Satan and Pammachius.
CHRIST. As you wish. Since in any case it is time that the reign of Satan should be overthrown and since Nemesis is not tolerating his prosperous advances any more, I will show you the place.
TRUTH. I beg you, Lord, that you should be willing to do this.
CHRIST. Do you see Germany?
TRUTH. I do.
CHRIST. Look towards the north.
TRUTH. Alas, surely you don't also wish to torture me with cold?
CHRIST. Trust me. You'll be more than warm enough. See where the Elbe flows?
TRUTH. I do. There from Bohemia by a wide channel through the plains of Mysia and through the doughty Saxons it rolls along into the German Ocean.
CHRIST. Right. As you go from here across the Elbe there lies a state twice as long as it is wide. In part it is a fortress, which looks back to the west; it was established by the Saxon leader who was first converted to the faith.
TRUTH. What after that? You bid me to trek to that corner?
CHRIST. Certainly. Off you go.
TRUTH. To whom?
CHRIST. To Theophilus. Teach him your ways, so that he may lay bare all the ulcers of the papacy, that he may rouse the sleepy Germans and that he may drive from the temple again the money changers, who think the Church is a robbers' cave, who take both wealth and souls for their indulgences, who mock all mortals as if they were mushrooms. Theophilus will receive you eagerly, I know, and will prepare a more ample space for you in all lands.
TRUTH. It is good, Lord, that you thus look to the interests of helpless mortals. Yet as a suppliant I still ask for one thing from you.
CHRIST. What is that?
TRUTH. Give me Paul as a companion of my journey, I beg you, that with him present my faith may be greater than my words and that I may not be living alone amid such fierce nations.
CHRIST. So, Paul, show Truth the way and help her, so that once again the glory of my name may grow, even if the flanks of Satan and Pammachius creak.
PAUL. I go, Master, safe now from dangers. But if I had to endure what once as a mortal I endured, I should scarce have the daring to go. Let us go now, Truth, lest night overwhelm us.
CHRIST. Go. But wait. Remember to arm Theophilus strongly with word and writings, so that he may not fear to confront Pammachius, whom up to now no one has been able to resist, but he has wickedly oppressed all. Let him foretell my coming; let him command me; let him love me; and let Satan and Pammachius be an abomination to him. I will protect him and will give him a wall of copper.
PAUL. It is enough, Master. It shall be attended to carefully.
DROMO. O hellish boy! What great evils are here. I can scarce catch my breath. Hem, what's this? No one will listen? You are asleep? Oho. Isn't there one of you sober? What am I to say? All the tables and benches are awash with vomit. The last trumpet would scarce rouse them. O, Satan, don't you hear? Have you even learned to snore?
SATAN. Hey, who's calling me? Why are you shouting, villain?
DROMO. Why am I shouting? Because you are asleep at the time of great danger.
SATAN. What are you saying?
DROMO. O, I'm telling of war and arms! Get up.
PORPHYRIUS. O, I can scarcely open my eyes.
PAMMACHIUS. Who's that rousing me from such a sweet sleep with his shouts?
SATAN. What's the trouble?
PAMMACHIUS. Hello, Dromo, you've returned? What do you bring? What's the news?
DROMO. I am now certainly the messenger of bad news.
SATAN. You're joking, Dromo.
DROMO. To show that I would not joke in such a serious situation, I will report to you what I have seen and heard.
PAMMACHIUS. Good.
DROMO. Very powerful enemies have revolted against you.
SATAN. O, what are you saying?
DROMO. The facts.
SATAN. Stop. Rouse the bishops, the monks, the canons, the cardinals and the others.
PAMMACHIUS. Come on, get up. Get up all of you.
DROMO. How difficult it is for them to be able to cease thoroughly from snoring out yesterday's gluttonous feast.
SATAN. Tell your news clearly.
DROMO. What more clearly do you want? Very powerful enemies have stood up against you and want your kingdom very badly.
PAMMACHIUS. Who are they? Where are they? Who's the leader of the rebellion and what are the reasons? When? With what strength? With what army?
DROMO. O, I was coming to that. The Saxons live towards the north and among them I have seen a new learned man who, with the encouragement of Truth and Paul, rouses all the Germans against you because of your doctrine and your tyranny, which he strongly urges must not be tolerated any longer. And, indeed, not only the Saxons, but also almost all the Germans are casting off your yoke. They curse you foully as impostors.
SATAN. You hear this, Pammachius?
PAMMACHIUS. Oh, I am completely burnt up with rage and with perplexity of mind. If anyone were now to hand over to me Truth and Paul and at the same time that infamous doctor, in a moment I could chew them all up clothes and all.
SATAN. Alas, it would have been better to have stayed awake and not to have passed all our days in sensuality, sleep and gluttony.
PAMMACHIUS. O heretics, O schismatics, O traitors, who are building these plans for the destruction of the Roman See.
PORPHYRIUS. Tell me, Dromo, what are they teaching? What are their dogmas?
DROMO. They are teaching that men are justified by faith alone.
PORPHYRIUS. What a crass error!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas for our bellies.
DROMO. That salvation is held in the name of Christ alone.
PORPHYRIUS. What heretics!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas, alas for my official posts.
DROMO. They teach that the Pope is not the head of the church. PORPHYRIUS. To the fire with them, to the fire!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas for my triple crown.
DROMO. They teach that the law cannot be fulfilled by our own strength, much less can it be done any more by any person.
PORPHYRIUS. What folly!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas for my creations.
DROMO. They teach that sacraments without faith are of no benefit. And that no one is justified by works done.
PORPHYRIUS. What deformed men!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas for my doctrine.
DROMO. They teach that mass is not needed because by his exertions Christ wins for the living and the dead forgiveness of sins and that another form of worship is not rightly withdrawn from the people.
PORPHYRIUS. What Lollardy!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas, alas, for our merchandise.
DROMO. Likewise they reject the mysteries of your confession and the many other burdens of conscience.
PORPHYRIUS. What unheard of malice!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas for our money bags.
DROMO. They do not think that the gods should be called upon for help nor that travelling, fasts, all the works of mankind, however good they are, can produce remission of sins.
PORPHYRIUS. What clearly sinful men!
PAMMACHIUS. Alas for our ceremonials.
DROMO. And they say that your indulgences are not required for salvation. Nor do certain hairs have any effect.
PORPHYRIUS. O, have they also treacherously surrendered that?
PAMMACHIUS. Alas for our sales! What do we do now, Satan?
SATAN. What? Immolate, kill with earth, air, fire and water all those of this view whom you shall chance to fall in with. On what should I feed you, if these dogmas were to take away my income? To this the situation is coming as I see it. Now every stone must be moved; now put forth your strength. Now, now is the time to enrol a new army.
PORPHYRIUS. Thus the hunting of Pammachius will not succeed. Our carriage is still laden with indulgences.
PAMMACHIUS. If anyone could give the leader of this doctrine to me, I would tear him apart into small pieces with my teeth. Is any mortal preparing this revolution? Does he, I ask you, so scorn the vicar of Christ?
SATAN. Well, gather all our leaders here soon that each may say what should be done in his opinion. At times of such great danger we must not delay. I think that this heresy should be suppressed while it is still a green shoot, lest it grow strong and demand more labour and more danger.
SATAN. Sit down. You have heard what evils are attacking us. Who our enemies are, what their dogmas, and what a rebellion is rising against us from certain traitors, so that I fear not only for myself but more for you; for myself indeed I fear because the worship of Christ is rising, which I have for a long time with your aid almost wiped out; it is not in your interest that Christianity should grow. This is not a common danger that is coming against your money bags and against all your supplies. Nay, a great dispute is being aimed at your taxes through these dogmas, so that your affairs may be facing a Sagontinian famine.
For you know that your financial success comes from masses and ceremonies, from relics and from the worship of divine objects, from good works and from fastings, from masses for the souls of the dead, from indulgences, and from confession and penitence. Therefore if our enemies should throw all these traditions into disorder and turn men from them, so that thereafter they were not conditioned for your profit, with what am I to feed you when you are at leisure? Or with what will you be able to nourish your horses, your whores and your dogs? Or with what will you fashion your royal processions? We must see to it with all our efforts that it should not come to this pass. Let each of you now give his opinion as to by what means help can be brought to our troubled affairs. Speak, Pammachius.
PAMMACHIUS. Against them, my lord, I shall arm the emperor and the kings of all the lands who have sworn fealty to us, who are always our loved sons, who up to now worship us. And I shall order the bishops and all who have the power even of one fly, that they should destroy, kill, strangle, and exterminate without court, without law and without pity all those who have taught these dogmas against me before they are indeed touched by the bolts of heaven.
SATAN. Good. Porphyrius, speak next.
PORPHYRIUS. I suggest that the universities be led on by great promises for academic affairs, so that they may also condemn these doctrines by their votes, so that it may easily become known to the whole world that all those who embrace these doctrines are wandering lost in sins, and deservedly are to be ejected from human society and rightly are to be punished by everlasting fires. Next, the books about such perverted doctrines should be burned with sacred curses. Let the swine grunt, the dogs bark, the asses bray, the oxen bellow to heaven. Let the very useless, stupid sophists--goats, eels, weasels and snails that they are--write their books and hope for great rewards from us. The heretics will be attacked by the mob and their mouths will be easily stopped even against their wishes.
SATAN. Splendid. Speak, Planus.
PLANUS. It seems best to me to see to it that they not remain of one mind for long but that they should fight and quarrel with each other. Accordingly, I shall erect other doctrines far worse than these, but, nevertheless, as if they have arisen out of these, so that they may swiftly arouse the hatred of the people, and for us the entry to the fight may be easier.
SATAN. Beautiful. Speak, Stasiades.
STASIADES. My lord, in order that the parts of the doctrines which have been devised for the death of the Papacy may be less applauded and receive less favour, I will soon bring over from Asia my whole army, that the vagrant countrymen under the pretext of that doctrine may be moved to rebellion and may seriously try to strike off the yoke of their masters. When men of spirit see that others, who up to now have lived peacefully under the Papacy and who do not rejoice in new ideas however better they are, they will detest those new doctrines and they will embrace more keenly our reign of peace.
SATAN. Well spoken. Speak, Chremius.
CHREMIUS. If, Chief, I knew well my gifts and my arts, I am quite sure that there will be many who, corrupted by money and a supply of gold, will remain in fealty to us. For I see that hardly anyone can be drawn to these new doctrines without putting into dangers his life and all his possessions. I do not think that there will be many with such courage. Most men will laugh when they see the money and will believe what each tax gatherer or giver wishes and they will not allow the pill to be snatched from their jaws.
SATAN. You have all given your advice. Very well; and though it is different, nevertheless it all leads to one aim, namely, that these rising doctrines must be laid low and that the Papacy should continue to flourish with all its honours and that the glory of Christ should not be proclaimed so loudly. Accordingly now, immediately begin to carry out the advice given. For each of you let his own suggestion be his commission. You arm the bishops, princes and emperor. You keep the learned and the ignorant busy that they may sedulously oppose these doctrines. You sow heresies and bad doctrines. You prepare wars and rebellions in the country. You weaken strong minds with money.
So act that you may be seen to be worthy of Satan. Our state does not allow the attacks of this trivial band. Act, rise, overthrow all with furious spirit. Remember your youthful anger. Eyes, teeth, tongue, hands and mouths must be armed with swords and with the poisons of Colchus. I do not wish to spare the adherents of this doctrine any more than rabid dogs or wolves. That man, the leader of the enemy, will now meet me and I will sate myself to nausea with his blood.
Do not expect now, good spectators, that a fifth act is to be added to this play. Christ will act that out one day at his own time. Meanwhile the plots of the fourth act move our affairs to and fro as is well seen at the present time. The whole business of Satan is now making a loud noise. The Papacy is defended and so is the worship of what is wicked. There is strenuous opposition to the glory of Christ. Because of the superstitions and ceremonies which fight against the scriptures and the word of God, every day there is much shedding of Christian blood, as if that finally is the true worship of God and as if he is dedicated to holiness who has caused many deaths and has for his delight the destruction of men. The Turks rage fiercely against us; we rage no less strongly against our own selves, so that it is troublesome for Christians to live and to see perpetually the tragedies of Satan. Nor must we hope that in human affairs things will be better, unless God shall put an end to that tragedy by the arrival of his son who shall carry off from the world his own, as gold out of dung, and shall hand over the wicked to the everlasting fires, this will be the dénouement of this play.
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