Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger Read Free Book Online Page B

him at London. Well, ’tis not mine own pleasure, but many of my bishops could not say as much.”
    Then to Merlin, King Arthur said, “Have this toad quartered, then burned. Then have his bishops flayed alive.”
    “Sire,” said Merlin, “I would speak with you alone, as so often I spake with your father, in the privacy which befits the graveness of the theme.”
    Therefore the young king drew aside with the old magician, saying, “Methinks I know thee, but as if in a dream.”
    “I am Merlin,” said the same, “and we were companions in your infancy.... Now, as to the Church, it is a very complicated business. Certes, its leaders are caitiffs, and what you have commanded is not nearly such condign punishment as they deserve. Yet as an institution Christianity doth provide a containment for the mob as the banks of a stream a channel for the water, and as a faith it doth meet the universal requirement of men for that which is beyond the evident, the which is often vile. And the Nazarene, by taking upon himself the guilt for all human pollution, hath proved the most cunning god of the many to which mortals have resorted.”
    “Merlin,” said King Arthur, “in thy special situation thou hast special privileges, but blasphemy (which is to be expected from the son of an imp) is never one of them. I shall be a Christian king because Christ was Our Saviour, and not because of expediency, political or spiritual. Loving and fearing God, I shall display no device but His Cross, and around me I shall gather, at a circular table at which no seat is more favored than the next, a body of knights as devout as they are brave. Our purpose shall be solely to serve the Right, by destroying the Wrong. There shall be no material magnificence, no personal aggrandizements, and no wars except in defense. Indeed, we shall offer our hand even unto all paynims, who will have nought to fear from us unless they reply with the sword, in which case we shall serve as God’s instrument and strike them down.
    “Our brotherhood shall be as chaste as it is pious. Concupiscence, gluttony, vanity, covetousness, envy, and sloth we do proscribe utterly, and those who practice these sins, unless in innocent ignorance, are our sworn enemies.”
    “Your list,” said Merlin, “is wanting only in Anger, perhaps because you are, yourself, angry at this moment. I do counsel you to remember the four cardinal virtues, for not even a Christian king can rule long on the seven negations. Prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. Three of these, omitting justice, should be applied in this matter of the Church, which you distinguish (correctly, perhaps, though I am not the one to speak with authority of this) from the Faith. Mountebank, charlatan, rogue that he is, Canterbury yet controlleth that institution in Britain. If he is deposed at this time by you, you will run afoul of the pope, who is notably jealous in this regard. Then, too, the archbishop might well transfer his fealty to the detestable Saxons and serve Masses for their barbarous deity Wotan.”
    Now the young king did scowl. “’Tis true, Merlin, that I am yet a novice at ruling, but must I accept thy cynicism? Is it not a poor beginning?”
    “’Tis rather a rich one, methinks,” said Merlin, “if at the outset you see power clearly.”
    “Then what wouldst have us do with this filthy old man?” asked King Arthur.
    “Have him crown you,” said Merlin, and while Arthur waxed incredulous the wizard continued in this wise. “And with all ceremony and, despite your distaste for display, much pomp. When seated firmly on the throne you may do as you wish, but first you would be wise to do what others expect. Precedent may be mostly rubbish, but timorous mankind looks with less fear on that which is oft repeated, even if evil, than on the new, even if good.”
    “One thing we know as a kingly principle,” said Arthur, “and that is that no monarch may hesitate for long. We shall