Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!
Thou Fortune’s champion that dost never fight
But when her humorous ladyship is by
To teach thee safety!—thou art perjur’d too,
And sooth’st up greatness. What a fool art thou,
A ramping fool, to brag, and stamp. and swear
Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side?
Been sworn my soldier? bidding me depend
Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength?
And dost thou now fall over to my foes?
Thou wear a lion’s hide! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs!
AUSTRIA.
O that a man should speak those words to me!
BASTARD.
And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA.
Thou dar’st not say so, villain, for thy life.
BASTARD.
And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.
KING JOHN.
We like not this: thou dost forget thyself.
KING PHILIP.
Here comes the holy legate of the Pope.
[Enter PANDULPH.]
PANDULPH.
Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!—
To thee, King John, my holy errand is.
I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,
And from Pope Innocent the legate here,
Do in his name religiously demand
Why thou against the church, our holy mother,
So wilfully dost spurn; and, force perforce
Keep Stephen Langton, chosen Archbishop
Of Canterbury, from that holy see?
This, in our foresaid holy father’s name,
Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.
KING JOHN.
What earthly name to interrogatories
Can task the free breath of a sacred king?
Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous,
To charge me to an answer, as the pope.
Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England
Add thus much more,—that no Italian priest
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions:
But as we under heaven are supreme head,
So, under him, that great supremacy,
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the assistance of a mortal hand:
So tell the pope, all reverence set apart
To him and his usurp’d authority.
KING PHILIP.
Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.
KING JOHN.
Though you and all the kings of Christendom
Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,
Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
Who in that sale sells pardon from himself;
Though you and all the rest, so grossly led,
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish;
Yet I, alone, alone do me oppose
Against the pope, and count his friends my foes.
PANDULPH.
Then by the lawful power that I have,
Thou shalt stand curs’d and excommunicate:
And blessed shall he be that doth revolt
From his allegiance to an heretic;
And meritorious shall that hand be call’d,
Canonized, and worshipp’d as a saint,
That takes away by any secret course
Thy hateful life.
CONSTANCE.
O, lawful let it be
That I have room with Rome to curse awhile!
Good father Cardinal, cry thou amen
To my keen curses: for without my wrong
There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
PANDULPH.
There’s law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
CONSTANCE.
And for mine too: when law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here;
For he that holds his kingdom holds the law:
Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,
How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?
PANDULPH.
Philip of France, on peril of a curse,
Let go the hand of that arch-heretic,
And raise the power of France upon his head,
Unless he do submit himself to Rome.
ELINOR.
Look’st thou pale, France; do not let go thy hand.
CONSTANCE
Look to that, devil; lest that France repent
And, by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul.
AUSTRIA.
King Philip, listen to the cardinal.
BASTARD.
And hang a calf’s-skin on his recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA.
Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs,
Because—
BASTARD.
Your breeches best may carry them.
KING JOHN.
Philip, what say’st thou to the cardinal?
CONSTANCE.
What should he say, but as the cardinal?
LOUIS.
Bethink you, father; for the difference
Is, purchase of a heavy curse from Rome,
Or the light loss of England for a friend:
Forgo the easier.
BLANCH.
That’s the curse of Rome.
CONSTANCE.
O Louis, stand fast! The devil tempts thee here
In likeness of a new uptrimmed bride.
BLANCH.
The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith,
But from her need.
CONSTANCE.
O, if thou grant my need,
Which only lives but by