im 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 Francisco
Borgia, Duke of Candia; his murderer is his brother, and what thou seest
now is only the prelude to actions which will astonish hell 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 passed my solitary existence, with a palm-tree for my
shelter, and with Nature for my god!"

The body of Francisco being found in the Tiber, his assassination 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."

_Van