and Lombard bishops will sign with me the act of deposition of Gregory VII.! No Pope at all! Just a false monk! ORDULPH (_with the other three_). Majesty! Majesty! In God's name!... HAROLD (_inviting him to put on the sackcloth again_). Listen to what he says, Majesty! LANDOLPH. Monsignor is here with the Duchess to intercede in your favor. (_Makes secret signs to the Doctor to say something at once_). DOCTOR (_foolishly_). Ah yes ... yes ... we are here to intercede.... HENRY IV. (_repeating at once, almost terrified, allowing the three to put on the sackcloth again, and pulling it down over him with his own hands_). Pardon ... yes ... yes ... pardon, Monsignor: forgive me, my Lady ... I swear to you I feel the whole weight of the anathema. (_Bends himself, takes his face between his hands, as though waiting for something to crush him. Then changing tone, but without moving, says softly to Landolph, Harold and Ordulph_): But I don't know why I cannot be humble before that man there! (_indicates Belcredi_). LANDOLPH (_sottovoce_). But why, Majesty, do you insist on believing he is Peter Damiani, when he isn't, at all? HENRY IV. (_looking at him timorously_). He isn't Peter Damiani? HAROLD. No, no, he is a poor monk, Majesty. HENRY IV. (_sadly with a touch of exasperation_). Ah! None of us can estimate what we do when we do it from instinct.... You perhaps, Madam, can understand me better than the others, since you are a woman and a Duchess. This is a solemn and decisive moment. I could, you know, accept the assistance of the Lombard bishops, arrest the Pope, lock him up here in the castle, run to Rome and elect an anti-Pope; offer alliance to Robert Guiscard--and Gregory VII. would be lost! I resist the temptation; and, believe me, I am wise in doing so. I feel the atmosphere of our times and the majesty of one who knows how to be what he ought to be! a Pope! Do you feel inclined to laugh at me, seeing me like this? You would be foolish to do so; for you don't understand the political wisdom which makes this penitent's sack advisable. The parts may be changed tomorrow. What would you do then? Would you laugh to see the Pope a prisoner? No! It would come to the same thing: I dressed as a penitent, today; he, as prisoner tomorrow! But woe to him who doesn't know how to wear his mask, be he king or Pope!--Perhaps he is a bit too cruel! No! Yes, yes, maybe!--You remember, my Lady, how your daughter Bertha, for whom, I repeat, my feelings have changed (_turns to Belcredi and shouts to his face as if he were being contradicted by him_)--yes, changed on account of the affection and devotion she showed me in that terrible moment ... (_then once again to the Marchioness_) ...