The
Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. As it hath bene Acted by the
Right Honorable the Earl of Nottingham his servants.
Written
by Christopher Marlow. LONDON Printed by Valentine Simmes for Thomas
Bushell. 1604.
tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
CHORUS.
marching now in fields of Thracimene,
Where
Mars did mate the Carthaginians,
Nor
sporting
in the dalliance of love,
In
courts of kings where state
is overturned,
Nor
in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends
our Muse
to daunt his heavenly verse:
Only
this, gentlemen, we must
perform,
The
form of Faustus’
fortunes good
or bad.
To
patient judgements we appeal our plaud,
And
speak for Faustus
in his infancy:
Now
is he born, his parents base
of stock,
In
Germany, within a town called Rhodes:
Of
riper years to Wertenberg
he went,
Whereas
his kinsmen
chiefly brought him up;
So
soon
he profits in divinity,
The
fruitful plot of scholarism
graced,
That
shortly
he was graced with doctor’s name,
Excelling
all, whose sweet
delight disputes
In
heavenly matters of theology,
Till
swoll’n
with cunning of a self-conceit,
His
waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And
melting heavens conspired
his overthrow.
For
falling to a devilish
exercise,
And
glutted more with learning’s golden gifts,
He surfeits
upon cursed
negromancy;
Nothing
so
sweet
as magic is to him
Which he prefers before his chiefest
bliss,
And
this the man that in his study
sits.
FAUSTUS
in his study.
thy studies Faustus,
and begin
To sound
the depth of that thou wilt profess:
Having
commenced, be a divine in show,
Yet level at the end of every
art,
And live and die in Aristotle’s
works.
Sweet
Analytics,
’tis thou hast
ravished
me:
Bene
disserere
est
finis logicis;
Is
to dispute
well logic’s chiefest
end?
Affords
this art no greater miracle?
Then read no more, thou hast
attained the end:
A greater subject
fitteth Faustus’
wit;
Bid oncaymaeon
farewell,
Galen come:
Seeing, ubi
desinit
philosophus,
ibi incipit medicus,
Be
a physician
Faustus,
heap up gold,
And be eternized for some
wondrous cure;
Summum
bonum medicinae sanitas,
The
end of physic
is our bodies health:
Why Faustus,
hast
thou not attained that end?
Is not thy common talk sound
aphorisms?
Are
not thy bills hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole cities have
escaped
the plague,
And thousand
desprate
maladies been eased,
Yet
art thou still but Faustus,
and a man.
Wouldst
thou make man to live eternally?
Or being dead, raise
them to life again?
Then this profession
were to be esteemed.
Physic
farewell; where is Justinian?
Si
una eademque
res legatus duobus,
Alter
rem alter valorem rei, etc.
A
pretty case
of paltry legacies!
Ex
haereditari
filium non potest
pater
nisi:
Such
is the subject
of the Institute
And
universal
body of the Church:
His
study fits a mercenary drudge,
Who aims at nothing but external
trash,
The
devil
and
illiberal for me:
When all is done, divinity is best.
Jerome’s
Bible, Faustus,
view it well.
Stipendium
peccati mors est:
ha,
Stipendium, etc.
The
reward of sin
is death: that’s hard.
Si
peccasse
negamus, fallimur, & nulla est
in nobis veritas.
If
we say
that we have no sin,
We
deceive ourselves,
and there’s no truth in us.
Why then belike we must
sin,
And
so
consequently
die.
Ay, we must
die an everlasting
death:
What doctrine call you this, Che
sera,
sera,
What
will be, shall
be? Divinity, adieu,
These
metaphysics
of magicians,
And negromantic books are heavenly.
Lines,
circles, scenes,
letters and characters:
Ay, these
are those
that Faustus
most
desires.
O
what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honor, of
omnipotence
Is promised
to the studious
artisan?
All things that move
between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command. Emperors and
Kings
Are but obeyed in their several
provinces:
Nor can they raise
the wind, or rend the clouds;
But his dominion that exceeds in
this,
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.
A sound
magician is a mighty god:
Here, Faustus,
try thy brains to gain a deity.
WAGNER.
commend me to my dearest
friends,
The German Valdes, and Cornelius;
Request
them earnestly
to visit
me.
I will sir.
Their
conference will be a greater help to me,
Than all my labours,
plod I ne’er so
fast.
the GOOD
ANGEL
and the EVIL
ANGEL.
ANGEL
O Faustus, lay
that damned
book
aside,
And
gaze not on it, lest
it tempt thy soul,
And
heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head;
Read, read the
scriptures,
that
is
blasphemy.
ANGEL
Go forward Faustus
in that famous art,
Wherein all nature’s treasury
is contained:
Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,
Lord
and commander of these
elements.
How
am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits
fetch me what I please,
Resolve
me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate
enterprise
I will?
I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack
the ocean for orient pearl,
And search
all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant
fruits and princely delicates:
I’ll have them read me strange
philosophy,
And
tell the secrets
of all foreign kings;
I’ll have them wall all Germany with
brass,
And
make swift
Rhine circle faire Wertenberg;
I’ll have them fill the public
schools
with skill,
Wherewith
the students
shall
be
bravely clad:
I’ll levy soldiers
with the coin they bring,
And chase
the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole
king of all our provinces:
Yea stranger
engines for the brunt of war,
Then was the fiery keel at
Antwerp’s bridge,
I’ll
make my servile
spirits
to invent:
Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,
And make me
blest
with your sage
conference;
Valdes, sweet
Valdes, and Cornelius,
VALDES
and CORNELIUS.
that your words have won
me at the last,
To
practice
magic and concealed
arts:
Yet
not your words only, but mine own fantasy,
That
will receive no object for my head,
But ruminates on negromantic
skill;
Philosophy
is odious and obscure,
Both
law and physic
are for petty wits,
Divinity is basest
of the three,
Unpleasant,
harsh,
contemptible and vile,
’Tis magic, magic that hath ravished
me;
Then gentle friends aid me in this attempt,
And I, that
have with concise
syllogisms
Graveled
the pastors
of the German Church,
And made the flowring
pride
of Wertenberg
Swarm to my problems as the infernal spirits
On
sweet
Musaeus
when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa
was,
Whose
shadows
made all Europe honor him.
Faustus,
these
books,
thy wit and our experience
Shall make all nations to canonize
us;
As Indian moors
obey their Spanish
lords,
So
shall
the subjects
of every element
Be always serviceable
to us three:
Like lions shall
they guard us when we please,
Like
Almaine rutters
with
their horsemen’s
staves,
Or
Lapland giants trotting by our sides,
Sometimes
like women, or unwedded maids,
Shadowing more beauty in their
airy brows,
Then in their white breasts
of the Queen of Love:
For Venice shall
they drag huge Argoses,
And from America the golden
fleece,
That
yearly stuffs
old Philip’s
treasury
If
learned Faustus
will be resolute.
FAUSTUS
Valdes,
as
resolute
am I in this
As thou to live, therefore object it
not.
CORNELIUS
The
miracles that magic will perform,
Will make thee vow to study
nothing else;
He
that is grounded in astrology,
Enriched
with tongues, well seen
minerals,
Hath
all the principles magic doth require:
Then doubt not, Faustus,
but to be renowned,
And more frequented for this mystery,
Then
heretofore the Delphian oracle.
The
spirits
tell me they can dry the sea,
And
fetch the treasure
of all foreign wracks,
Ay, all the wealth that our forefathers
hid
Within the massy entrails of the earth.
Then tell me
Faustus,
what shall
we three want?
FAUSTUS
Nothing, Cornelius; O this cheers my
soul!
Come
show
me some
demonstrations
magical,
That I may conjure in some
lusty
grove,
And have these
joys in full possession.
VALDES
Then
haste
thee to some
solitary
grove,
And bear wise
Bacon’s and Albanus’ works,
The
Hebrew Psalter, and New Testament,
And
whatsoever
else
is requisite
We
will inform thee ere our conference cease.
CORNELIUS
Valdes,
first
let him know the words of art,
And then all other ceremonies
learned,
Faustus
may try his cunning by himself.
VALDES
First
I’ll instruct
thee in the rudiments,
And then wilt thou be perfecter than
I.
FAUSTUS
Then come and dine with me, and after meat
We’ll
canvas every quiddity thereof:
For ere I sleep
I’ll try what I can do;
This night I’ll conjure though I die
therefore.
two SCHOLARS.
SCHOLAR I wonder what’s become of Faustus,
that was wont to make our schools ring with sic
probo.
SCHOLAR That
shall
we know, for see
here comes his boy.
WAGNER.
1
SCHOLAR How now sirrah,
where’s thy master?
WAGNER
God in heaven knows.
2
SCHOLAR Why, dost
not thou know?
WAGNER
Yes,
I know, but that follows not.
1
SCHOLAR Go
to
sirrah, leave your jesting,
and tell us where he is.
WAGNER
That
follows not necessary
by force of argument, that you being licentiate
should
stand
upon’t, therefore acknowledge your error, and be attentive.
2
SCHOLAR Why,
didst
thou not say
thou knew’st?
WAGNER
Have
you any witness
on’t?
1
SCHOLAR Yes, sirrah,
I heard you.
WAGNER
Ask
my fellow if I be a thief.
2
SCHOLAR Well, you will not tell us.
WAGNER
Yes sir, I will tell you, yet if you were not dunces you would never
ask
me such a question, for is not he corpus
naturale,
and is not that mobile,
then wherefore should
you ask
me such
a question? But that I am by nature phlegmatic, slow to wrath, and
prone to lechery (to love I would say),
it were not for you to come within forty foot
of the place of execution, although I do not doubt to see
you both hanged the next sessions.
Thus having triumphed over you, I will set my countenance like a
precisian,
and begin to speak
thus: truly my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner with
Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine if it could speak,
it would inform your worships,
and so
the Lord bless
you, preserve
you, and keep you, my dear brethren, my dear brethren.
1
SCHOLAR Nay then I fear he is fallen into that damned art, for which
they two are infamous through the world.
2
SCHOLAR Were he a stranger,
and not allied to me, yet should
I grieve for him: but come let us go and inform the Rector, and see
if he by his grave counsel
can reclaim him.
SCHOLAR O but I fear me nothing can reclaim him.
SCHOLAR Yet let us try what we can do.
FAUSTUS
to conjure.
Now
that the gloomy
shadow
of the earth,
Longing to view Orion’s drizzling
look,
from th’Antarctic world unto the sky,
And
dims the welkin with her pitchy breath:
Faustus,
begin thine incantations,
And try if devils will obey thy
hest,
Seeing
thou hast
prayed and sacrificed
to them.
Within this circle is Jehovah’s name,
Forward
and backward, and agramithist,
The
’breviated names of holy saints,
Figures of every adjunct to
the heavens,
And characters of signs
and erring stars,
By
which the spirits
are enforced
to rise.
Then
fear not, Faustus,
but be resolute,
And
try the uttermost
magic can perform.
mihi dei Acherontis propitii, valeat numen triplex Iehovae,
ignei, aerii, aquatani
spiritus
salvete.
Orientis princeps Belsibub,
inferni ardentis monarcha et Demigorgon, propitiamus vos, ut apariat
et surgat
Mephastophilis,
quòd tumeraris,
per
Iehovam, Gehennam et consecratam
aquam quam nunc spargo,
signúmque
crucis quodnunc facio, et per vota nostra ipse
nunc surgat
nobis dicatis Mephastophilis.
a Devil.
charge thee to return and change thy shape:
Thou
art too
ugly to attend on me.
Go and return an old Franciscan
friar;
That holy shape
becomes a devil best.
devil.
see
there’s virtue in my heavenly words;
Who would not be
proficient in this art?
How pliant is this Mephastophilis!
Full
of obedience and humility,
Such is the force of magic and my
spells;
No,
Faustus,
thou art conjurer laureate
That
canst
command great Mephastophilis,
Quin
regis Mephastophilis
fratris imagine.
MEPHASTOPHILIS.
Now,
Faustus,
what wouldst
thou have me do?
I
charge thee wait upon me whilst
I live,
do whatever Faustus
shall
command,
Be it to make the moon
drop from her sphere,
Or
the ocean to overwhelm the world.
I
am a servant to great Lucifer,
And may not follow thee without
his leave;
No more then he commands must
we perform.
Did
not he charge thee to appear to me?
No,
I came now hither of mine own accord.
Did
not my conjuring speeches
raise
thee? Speak.
That
was the cause,
but yet per
accident,
For
when we hear one rack the name of God,
Abjure the scriptures,
and his Saviour Christ,
We
fly, in hope to get his glorious soul,
Nor
will we come, unless
he use
such
means
Whereby he is in danger to be damned:
Therefore the
shortest
cut for conjuring
Is stoutly
to abjure the Trinity,
And pray devoutly to the prince of hell.
So
Faustus
hath already done, and holds this principle:
There is no chief
but only Beelzebub,
To
whom Faustus
doth dedicate himself;
This
word, damnation, terrifies not him,
For he confounds hell in
Elysium;
His ghost
be with the old Philosophers.
But
leaving these
vain trifles of men’s souls,
Tell
me what is that Lucifer thy lord?
Arch-regent
and commander of all spirits.
Was
not that Lucifer an angel once?
Yes,
Faustus,
and most dearly loved of God.
How
comes it then that he is prince of devils?
O
by aspiring
pride and insolence,
For which God threw him from the face of
heaven.
And
what are you that live with Lucifer?
Unhappy
spirits
that fell with Lucifer,
Conspired against
our God with Lucifer,
And are forever damned with Lucifer.
Where
are you damned?
In hell.
How
comes it then that thou art out of hell?
Why
this is hell, nor am I out of it:
Think’st
thou that I who saw
the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am
not tormented with ten thousand
hells,
In being deprived of everlasting
bliss?
O
Faustus,
leave these
frivolous demands,
Which strike
a terror to my fainting soul.
What,
is great Mephastophilis
so
passionate,
For
being deprived
of the joys of heaven?
Learn thou of Faustus
manly fortitude,
And scorn
those
joys thou never shalt
possess.
Go
bear those
tidings to great Lucifer,
Seeing Faustus
hath incurred eternal death,
By desprate
thoughts
against
Jove’s deity:
Say, he surrenders
up to him his soul,
So
he will spare
him four and twenty years,
Letting him live in all
voluptuousness,
Having
thee ever to attend on me,
To give me whatsoever
I shall ask,
To
tell me whatsoever
I demand,
To slay
mine enemies, and aid my friends,
And always be obedient to my
will:
Go and return to mighty Lucifer,
And meet me in my
study
at midnight,
And then resolve
me of thy master’s mind.
I
will, Faustus.
Had
I as many souls
as there be stars,
I’d
give them all for Mephastophilis:
By him I’ll be great Emp’ror of the world,
And make a
bridge through the moving
air,
To pass
the ocean with a band of men,
I’ll join the hills that bind
the Affric shore,
And
make that land continent to Spain
And both contributory to my
crown:
The Emp’ror shall
not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany:
Now
that I have obtained what I desire,
I’ll
live in speculation
of this art,
Til Mephastophilis
return again.
WAGNER
and the CLOWN.
Sirrah boy, come hither.
CLOWN
How, boy? ’Swowns
boy, I hope you have seen
many boys with such
pickadevaunts
as
I have. Boy, quotha?
Tell me sirrah,
hast
thou any comings in?
Ay, and goings out too,
you may see
else.
WAGNER
Alas poor
slave,
see
how poverty jesteth
in his nakedness!
The villain is bare, and out of service,
and so
hungry, that I know he would give his soul
to the Devil for a shoulder
of mutton, though it were blood
raw.
CLOWN
How, my soul
to the Devil for a shoulder
of mutton though ’twere blood
raw? Not so
good
friend, burlady
I had need have it well roasted,
and good sauce
to it, if I pay so
dear.
Well, wilt thou serve
me, and I’ll make thee go like Qui
mihi discipulus?
How, in verse?
No sirrah,
in beaten silk
and stavesacre.
CLOWN
How, how, knaves acre? Ay, I thought that was all the land his father
left him. Do ye hear, I would be sorry
to rob you of your living.
Sirrah, I say
in stavesacre.
Oho, oho, stavesacre,
why then belike, if I were your man, I should
be full of vermin.
WAGNER
So thou shalt,
whether thou beest
with me, or no: but sirrah,
leave your jesting,
and bind yourself
presently
unto me for seven
years, or I’ll turn all the lice about thee into familiars, and
they shall
tear thee in pieces.
CLOWN
Do you hear sir?
You may save
that labour, they are too
familiar with me already; ’swowns
they are as bold with my flesh,
as if they had paid for my meat and drink.
Well, do you hear sirrah?
Hold, take these
guilders.
Gridirons, what be they?
Why,
French crowns.
CLOWN
Mass,
but for the name of French crowns a man were as good
have as many English
counters; and what should
I do with these?
WAGNER
Why,
now sirrah
thou art at an hour’s warning whensoever
or wheresoever
the devil shall
fetch thee.
No,
no, here take your gridirons again.
Truly
I’ll none of them.
CLOWN
Truly
but you shall.
WAGNER
Bear
witness
I gave them him.
CLOWN
Bear
witness
I give them you again.
WAGNER
Well,
I will cause
two devils presently
to fetch thee away: Baliol and Belcher.
CLOWN
Let
your Baliol and your Belcher come here, and I’ll knock them, they
were never so
knocked since
they were devils; say
I should
kill one of them, what would folks say?
Do ye see
yonder tall fellow in the round slop,
he has killed the devil, so
I should
be called kill-devil all the parish
over.
two devils, and the CLOWN
runs
up and down crying.
Baliol
and Belcher, spirits
away.
CLOWN
What,
are they gone? A vengeance on them, they have vile long nails; there
was a he devil and a she
devil: I’ll tell you how you shall
know them, all he devils has horns, and all she
devils had clifts and cloven feet.
WAGNER
Well
sirrah
follow me.
CLOWN
But
do you hear? If I should
serve
you, would you teach me
to raise
up Banios and Belcheos?
WAGNER
I will teach thee to turn thyself to anything: to a dog, or a cat, or
a mouse, or a rat, or anything.
CLOWN
How? A
Christian
fellow to a dog or a cat, a mouse
or a rat? No,
no sir,
if you turn me into anything, let it be in the likeness
of a little pretty frisking
flea,
that I may be here and there and everywhere. O I’ll tickle the
pretty wenches’ plackets! I’ll be amongst
them i’faith.
WAGNER
Well
sirrah,
come.
CLOWN
But
do you hear Wagner?
WAGNER
How,
Baliol and Belcher!
CLOWN
O
Lord I pray sir,
let Banio and Belcher go sleep.
WAGNER
Villain, call me Master Wagner, and let thy left eye be diametarily
fixed upon my right heel, with quasi
vestigias nostras insistere.
God
forgive me, he speaks
Dutch fustian:
well, I’ll follow him, I’ll serve
him, that’s flat.
FAUSTUS
in
his study.
Now
Faustus
must
thou needs be damned,
And canst
thou not be saved?
What
boots
it then to think of God or heaven?
Away with such
vain fancies and despair,
Despair
in God, and trust
in Beelzebub:
Now
go not backward: no Faustus,
be resolute,
Why
waverest
thou? O something
soundeth
in mine ears:
Abjure this magic, turn to God again;
Ay and
Faustus
will turn to God again.
To God? He loves thee not,
The god
thou servest
is thine own appetite,
Wherein is fixed the love of
Beelzebub;
To
him I’ll build an altar and a church,
And offer luke-warm
blood
of new-born babes.
GOOD
ANGEL,
and EVIL.
ANGEL
Sweet Faustus,
leave that execrable art.
Contrition,
prayer, repentance: what of them?
ANGEL
they are means to bring thee unto heaven.
ANGEL
illusions,
fruits of lunacy,
That makes men foolish
that do trust
them most.
ANGEL
Faustus
think of heaven, and heavenly things.
ANGEL
Faustus,
think of honor and wealth.
wealth,
[ANGELS].
the signory
of Emden
shall
be
mine;
When Mephastophilis
shall
stand
by me,
What God can hurt thee Faustus?
Thou art safe,
Cast
no more doubts, come Mephastophilis,
And
bring glad tidings from great Lucifer:
Is't
not midnight? Come Mephastophilis,
Veni
veni Mephastophile!
MEPHASTOPHILIS.
tell, what says Lucifer thy lord?
That
I shall
wait on Faustus
whilst I live,
So
he will buy my service
with his soul.
Faustus
hath hazarded that for thee.
Faustus,
thou must
bequeath it solemnly,
And
write a deed of gift with thine own blood,
For
that security
craves great Lucifer:
If thou deny it, I will back to hell.
Mephastophilis,
and tell me, what good
will my soul
do thy lord?
his kingdom.
that the reason
he tempts us thus?
miseris
socios
habuisse
doloris.
you any pain that tortures others?
great as have the human souls
of men:
But tell me Faustus,
shall
I have thy soul?
And
I will be thy slave,
and wait on thee,
And give thee more than thou hast
wit to ask.
Mephastophilis,
I give it thee.
stab
thine arm courageously,
And
bind thy soul,
that at some
certain day
Great Lucifer may claim it as his own,
And then
be thou as great as Lucifer.
Mephastophilis,
for love of thee,
I cut mine arm, and with my proper
blood
Assure
my soul
to be great Lucifer’s,
Chief lord and regent of perpetual
night:
View here the blood
that trickles from mine arm,
And let it be propitious for my
wish.
Faustus,
thou must
write it in manner of a deed of gift.
so
I will, but Mephastophilis
my blood congeals and I can write no more.
fetch thee fire to dissolve
it straight.
What
might the staying
of my blood portend?
Is it unwilling I should
write this bill?
Why streams
it not, that I may write afresh?
Faustus
gives to thee his soul:
ah there it stayed!
Why
shouldst
thou not? Is not thy soul
thine own?
Then write again, Faustus
gives to thee his soul.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
with a chafer of coals.
Here’s
fire; come Faustus,
set
it on.
now the blood begins to clear again,
Now will I make an end
immediately.
what will not I do to obtain his soul?
est,
this bill is ended,
And Faustus
hath bequeathed his soul
to Lucifer.
But what is this inscription
on mine arm?
Homo
fuge;
whither should
I fly?
If unto God he’ll throw thee down to hell:
My
senses
are deceived, here’s nothing writ;
I see
it plain, here in this place is writ,
Homo
fuge,
yet shall
not Faustus
fly.
fetch him somewhat
to delight his mind.
with devils, giving crowns and rich apparel to FAUSTUS,
and dance, and then depart.
Speak
Mephastophilis,
what means this show?
Faustus,
but to delight thy mind withal,
And to show
thee what magic can perform.
may I raise up spirits
when I please?
Faustus,
and do greater things than these.
there’s enough for a thousand
souls:
Here,
Mephastophilis,
receive this scroll,
A
deed of gift of body and of soul;
But
yet conditionally, that thou perform
All articles prescribed
between us both.
I swear
by hell and Lucifer
To effect all promises
between us made.
Then hear me read them: on these
conditions following.
that Faustus
may be a spirit
in form and substance.
that Mephastophilis
shall
be his servant,
and at his command.
that Mephastophilis
shall
do for him, and bring him whatsoever.
that he shall
be in his chamber or house
invisible.
that he shall
appear to the said
John Faustus
at all times, in what form or shape
soever
he please.
I,
John Faustus
of Wertenberg, Doctor, by these
presents,
do give both body and soul
to Lucifer, Prince of the East,
and his minister
Mephastophilis,
and furthermore grant unto them, that 24 years being expired, the
articles above written inviolate, full power to fetch or carry the
said
John Faustus
body and soul,
flesh, blood, or goods, into their habitation wheresoever.
me, John Faustus.
Faustus,
do you deliver this as your deed?
take it, and the devil give thee good
on’t.
Now Faustus
ask
what thou wilt.
will I question
with thee about hell:
Tell me, where is the place that men call
hell?
the heavens.
Ay,
but whereabout?
the bowels of these
elements,
Where we are tortured and remain forever;
Hell
hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self
place, for where we are is hell,
And where hell is, must
we ever be:
And to conclude, when all the world dissolves,
And
every creature shall
be
purified,
All places shall
be hell that is not heaven.
Come, I think hell’s a fable.
think so
still,
till experience change thy mind.
Thinkst
thou then that Faustus shall
be damned?
of necessity,
for here’s the scroll,
Wherein
thou hast
given thy soul
to Lucifer.
and body too,
but what of that?
Thinkst
thou that Faustus
is so
fond,
To
imagine, that after this life there is any pain?
Tush,
these
are trifles and mere old wives’ tales.
Faustus
I am an instance
to prove the contrary
For I am damned, and am now in hell.
How? Now in hell? Nay, and
this be hell, I’ll willingly be damned here: what, walking,
disputing,
etc.?
But leaving off this, let me have a wife, the fairest
maid in Germany, for I am wanton and lascivious,
and cannot live without a wife.
How, a wife? I prithee Faustus
talk not of a wife.
Nay sweet
Mephastophilis
fetch me one, for I will have one.
Well,
thou wilt have one; sit
there till I come, I’ll fetch thee a wife in the devil’s name.
with a devil dressed like a woman, with fireworks.
Tell
Faustus,
how dost
thou like thy wife?
A plague on her for a hot whore.
Tut Faustus,
marriage is but a ceremonial toy, if
Thou lovest
me, think more of it.
cull thee out the fairest
courtesans,
And bring them ev’ry morning to thy bed,
She
whom thine eye shall
like, thy heart shall
have,
Be she
as chaste
as was Penelope,
As
wise
as Saba,
or
as beautiful
As was bright Lucifer before his fall.
Hold,
take this book,
peruse
it thoroughly:
The iterating of these
lines brings gold,
The framing of this circle on the
ground,
Brings whirlwinds, tempests,
thunder and lightning.
Pronounce this thrice devoutly to
thyself,
And
men in armour shall
appear to thee,
Ready to execute what thou desir’st.
Thanks
Mephastophilis,
yet fain would I have a book
wherein I might behold all spells
and incantations, that I might raise
up spirits
when I please.
Here they are in this book.
turn to them.
FAUSTUS
Now
would I have a book
where I might see
all characters and planets of the heavens, that I might know their
motions and dispositions.
Here
they are too.
to them.
FAUSTUS
Nay
let me have one book
more, and then I have done, wherein I might see
all plants, herbs and trees that grow upon the earth.
Here
they be.
O thou art deceived.
Tut, I warrant thee.
to them.
When
I behold the heavens, then I repent,
And curse
thee wicked Mephastophilis,
Because
thou hast
deprived me of those
joys.
Faustus,
Thinkst
thou heaven is such
a glorious thing?
I tell thee ’tis not half so
faire as thou,
Or any man that breathes on earth.
provest
thou that?
was made for man, therefore is man more excellent.
it were made for man, ’twas made for me:
I will renounce this
magic, and repent.
GOOD
ANGEL,
and EVIL
ANGEL.
ANGEL
Faustus,
repent yet, God will pity thee.
ANGEL
art a spirit,
God cannot pity thee.
buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit?
Be
I a devil, yet God may pity me;
Ay God will pity me, if I
repent.
ANGEL
Ay
but Faustus
never shall
repent.
[ANGELS].
My
heart’s so
hardened I cannot repent;
Scarce
can I name salvation,
faith, or heaven,
But fearful echoes thunders in mine
ears,
Faustus,
thou art damned; then swords
and knives,
Poison,
guns, halters, and envenomed steel
Are
laid before me to dispatch
myself,
And
long ere this I should
have slain
myself,
Had
not sweet
pleasure
conquered deep despair.
Have
not I made blind Homer sing
to me,
Of Alexander’s love, and Enons death,
And
hath not he that built the walls of Thebes,
With ravishing
sound
of his melodious harp
Made
music
with my Mephastophilis?
Why
should
I die then, or basely
despair?
I
am resolved
Faustus
shall
ne’er repent;
Come Mephastophilis,
let us dispute
again,
And argue of divine astrology,
Tell
me, are there many heavens above the moon?
Are
all celestial
bodies but one globe,
As is the substance
of this centric earth?
are the elements, such
are the spheres,
Mutually
folded in each other’s orb,
And, Faustus,
all jointly move upon one axletree,
Whose terminine
is termed the world’s wide pole,
Nor are the names of Saturn,
Mars, or Jupiter
Feigned, but are erring stars.
But tell me, have they all one motion? Both situ
et
tempore.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
All jointly move from east
to west
in 24 hours upon the poles of the world, but differ in their motion
upon the poles of the zodiac.
these
slender
trifles Wagner can decide,
Hath Mephastophilus
no greater skill?
Who
knows not the double motion of the planets?
The first
is finished
in a natural day,
The
second
thus, as Saturn in thirty years, Jupiter in twelve, Mars in four, the
Sun, Venus, and Mercury in a year: the Moon
in 28 days. Tush,
these
are freshmen’s
suppositions;
but tell me, hath every sphere
a dominion or Intelligentii?
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Ay.
FAUSTUS
How
many heavens or spheres
are there?
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Nine; the seven
planets, the firmament, and the imperial heaven.
FAUSTUS
Well,
resolve
me in this question:
why have we not conjunctions, oppositions,
aspects,
eclipses,
all at one time, but in some
years we have more, in some
less?
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Per
inaequalem motum respectu
totius.
FAUSTUS
Well, I am answered;
tell me who made the world?
MEPHASTOPHILIS
I
will not.
FAUSTUS
Sweet
Mephastophilis
tell me.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Move me not, for I will not tell thee.
FAUSTUS
Villain,
have I not bound thee to tell me anything?
Ay,
that is not against
our kingdom, but this is,
Think thou on hell, Faustus,
for thou art damned.
Think
Faustus
upon God that made the world.
Remember this.
Ay,
go accursed
spirit
to ugly hell,
’Tis thou hast
damned distressed
Faustus’
soul:
Is’t
not too
late?
GOOD
ANGEL
and EVIL.
ANGEL
late.
ANGEL
Never
too
late, if Faustus
can repent.
ANGEL
thou repent devils shall
tear thee in pieces.
ANGEL
and they shall
never raze thy skin.
[ANGELS].
Ah,
Christ
my Saviour, seek
to save
distressed
Faustus’
soul!
LUCIFER,
BEELZEBUB,
and MEPHASTOPHILIS.
Christ
cannot save
thy soul,
for he is just;
There’s
none but I have intrest
in
the same.
who art thou that look’st
so
terrible?
am Lucifer, and this is my companion prince in hell.
Faustus,
they are come to fetch away thy soul.
come to tell thee thou dost
injure us,
Thou talk’st
of Christ,
contrary to thy promise:
Thou
shouldst
not think of God, think of the devil,
And of his dame too.
will I henceforth: pardon me in this,
And Faustus
vows never to look
to heaven,
Never to name God, or to pray to him,
To burn
his Scriptures, slay
his ministers,
And
make my spirits
pull his churches down.
so,
and we will highly gratify thee:
Faustus,
we are come from hell to shew
thee some
pastime:
sit
down, and thou shalt
see
all the seven
deadly sins
appear in their proper shapes.
FAUSTUS
That sight
will be as pleasing
unto me, as paradise
was to Adam, the first
day of his creation.
LUCIFER
Talk not of paradise,
nor creation, but mark this show;
talk of the Devil, and nothing else:
come away.
the
SEVEN DEADLY SINS.
Now
Faustus,
examine them of their several
names and dispositions.
FAUSTUS
What
art thou? The first.
PRIDE
I
am Pride, I disdain to have any parents, I am like to Ovid’s flea,
I can creep into every corner of a wench, sometimes
like a periwig,
I sit upon her brow, or like a fan of feathers, I kiss
her lips, indeed I do, what do I not? But fie, what a scent
is here? I’ll not speak
another word, except the ground were perfumed and covered with cloth
of arras.
FAUSTUS
What art thou? The second.
COVETOUSNESS
I
am Covetousness,
begotten of an old churl, in an old leathern bag: and might I have my
wish,
I would desire,
that this house,
and all the people in it were turned to gold, that I might lock you
up in my good
chest,
O my sweet
gold.
FAUSTUS
What
art thou? The third.
WRATH
I
am Wrath, I had neither father nor mother, I leapt out of a lion’s
mouth, when I was scarce
half an hour old, and ever since
I have run up and down the world with this case
of rapiers, wounding myself,
when I had nobody to fight withal: I was born in hell, and look
to it, for some
of you shall
be
my father.
FAUSTUS
What art thou? The fourth.
ENVY
I
am Envy, begotten of a Chimney-sweeper,
and an Oyster
wife; I cannot read, and therefore wish
all books
were burnt: I am lean with seeing
others eat. O that there would come a famine through all the world,
that all might die, and I live alone, then thou shouldst
see
how fat I would be: but must
thou sit
and I stand? Come down with a vengeance.
FAUSTUS
Away envious rascal:
what art thou? The fifth.
GLUTTONY
Who
I sir, I am Gluttony, my parents are all dead, and the devil a penny
they have left me, but a bare pension, and that is thirty meals a
day, and ten beavers,
a small
trifle to suffice
nature. O I come of a royal parentage: my grandfather was a gammon of
bacon, my grandmother a hogshead of claret-wine. My godfathers were
these,
Peter Pickle-herring, and Martin Martlemas-beef. O but my godmother
she
was a jolly gentlewoman, and well-beloved in every good town and
city, her name was Mistress
Margery March-beer: now Faustus,
thou hast
heard all my progeny, wilt thou bid me to supper?
FAUSTUS
No,
I’ll see
thee hanged, thou wilt eat up all my victuals.
GLUTTONY
Then
the devil choke thee.
FAUSTUS
Choke
thyself
glutton: what art thou? The sixth.
SLOTH
I am Sloth,
I was begotten on a sunny
bank, where I have lain ever since,
and you have done me great injury to bring me from thence; let me be
carried thither again by Gluttony and Lechery, I’ll not speak
another word for a king’s ransom.
FAUSTUS
What
are you mistress
minkes? The seventh
and last.
LETCHERY
Who I sir? I am one that loves an inch of raw Mutton better than an
ell of fried
stock-fish,
and the first
letter of my name begins with lechery.
to hell, to hell.
the
SINS.
LUCIFER
Now
Faustus,
how dost
thou like this?
FAUSTUS
O
this feeds my soul.
LUCIFER
Tut
Faustus,
in hell is all manner of delight.
FAUSTUS
O
might I see
hell, and return again, how happy were I then?
LUCIFER
Thou
shalt,
I will send
for thee at midnight; in mean time take this book,
peruse
it throughly, and thou shalt
turn thy self
into what shape
thou wilt.
FAUSTUS
Great thanks mighty Lucifer, this will I keep as chary as my life.
LUCIFER
Farewell Faustus,
and think on the Devil.
Farewell great Lucifer; come Mephastophilis.
omnes.
WAGNER
solus.
Learned
Faustus,
To
know the secrets
of astronomy,
Graven
in the book
of Jove’s high firmament,
Did mount himself
to scale Olympus’ top,
Being seated
in a chariot burning bright,
Drawn by the strength
of yoky dragons’ necks;
He
now is gone to prove
cosmography,
And
as I guess,
will first
arrive at Rome,
To see
the Pope, and manner of his court,
And take some
part of holy Peter’s feast,
That
to this day is highly solemnized.
WAGNER.
FAUSTUS
and
MEPHASTOPHILIS.
Having
now, my good
Mephastophilis,
Passed
with delight the stately
town of Trier,
Environed
round with airy mountain tops,
With walls of flint, and deep
entrenched
lakes,
Not
to be won by any conquering prince;
From Paris next coasting
the realm of France,
We saw
the river Maine fall into Rhine,
Whose
banks are set
with groves of fruitful vines.
Then up to Naples, rich
Campania,
Whose
buildings faire and gorgeous to the eye,
The streets
straight
forth, and paved with finest
brick,
Quarters the town in four equivalence.
There saw
we learned
Maro’s
golden tomb,
The way he cut an English
mile in length,
Thorough a rock of stone
in one night’s space.
From
thence to Venice, Padua, and the rest,
In
midst
of which a sumptuous
temple stands,
That threats the stars
with her aspiring
top.
Thus hitherto hath Faustus
spent
his time;
But tell me now, what resting
place is this?
Hast
thou as erst
I did command,
Conducted me within the walls of Rome?
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Faustus
I have, and because
we will not be unprovided, I have taken up his Holiness’s
privy chamber for our use.
I hope his Holiness
will bid us welcome.
’tis no matter man, we’ll be bold with his good
cheer;
And now my Faustus,
that thou mayst
perceive
What Rome containeth to delight thee with,
Know
that this city stands
upon seven
hills
That underprops the groundwork of the same,
Over
the which four stately
bridges lean,
That makes safe
passage
to each part of Rome.
Upon the bridge called Ponto
Angelo,
Erected is a castle
passing
strong,
Within
whose
walls such
store
of ordinance are,
And double canons, framed of carved
brass,
As
match the days within one complete year,
Besides
the gates and high pyramides,
Which Julius Caesar
brought from Africa.
by the kingdoms of infernal rule,
Of Styx, Acheron, and the
fiery lake
Of ever-burning Phlegiton
I swear,
That
I do long to see
the monuments
And situation
of bright splendent
Rome;
Come therefore let’s away.
Faustus
stay,
I know you’d fain see
the Pope,
And take some
part of holy Peter’s feast,
Where
thou shalt
see
a troupe of bald-pate friars,
Whose
summum
bonum
is
in belly-cheer.
I am content to compass
then some
sport,
And by their folly make us merriment;
charm me that I may be invisible,
to do what I please
unseen
of any whilst
I stay in Rome.
So Faustus,
now do what thou wilt, thou shalt
not be discerned.
a sonnet, enter the POPE
and the CARDINAL
of Lorraine to the banquet, with FRIARS
attending.
My
Lord of Lorraine, wilt please
you draw near.
Fall
to,
and the Devil choke you and
you
spare.
How
now, who’s
that which spake?
Friars look
about.
Here’s
nobody, if it like your Holiness.
My
lord, here is a dainty dish
was sent
me from the Bishop
of Millaine.
I
thank you sir.
it.
How now, who’s
that which snatched
the meat from me? Will no man look?
My
lord, this dish
was sent
me from the Cardinal of Florence.
You
say
true, I’ll ha’t.
What, again? My lord, I’ll drink to your Grace.
I’ll
pledge your Grace.
My
lord, it may be some
ghost
newly crept out of purgatory come to beg a pardon of your Holiness.
It
may be so.
Friars, prepare a dirge to lay the fury of this ghost;
once again my lord fall to.
POPE
crosseth
himself.
What,
are you crossing
of yourself?
Well,
use
that trick no more, I would advise
you.
again.
Well,
there’s the second
time; aware the third,
I give you fair warning.
again, and FAUSTUS
hits
him a box of the ear, and they all run away.
Come
on Mephastophilis,
what shall
we do?
Nay
I know not, we shall
be
curst
with bell, book,
and candle.
How?
Bell, book,
and candle, candle, book,
and bell,
Forward and backward, to curse
Faustus
to hell.
you shall hear a hog grunt, a calf bleat, and an ass
bray, because it is St Peter’s holy day.
all the FRIARS
to
sing the Dirge.
Come
brethren, let’s about our business
with good
devotion.
this.
be he that stole
away his holiness’
meat from the table.
dominus.
be he that strook
his holiness
a blow on the face.
dominus.
be he that took Friar Sandelo
a blow on the pate.
&c.
be he that disturbeth
our holy dirge.
&c.
be he that took away his Holiness’
wine.
dominus.
omnes sancti. Amen.
the FRIARS,
and fling fireworks among them, and so
exeunt.
CHORUS.
When
Faustus
had with pleasure
ta’en the view
Of rarest
things, and royal courts of kings,
He stayed
his course,
and so
returned
home,
Where
such
as bear his absence,
but with grief,
I mean his friends and nearest
companions,
Did gratulate his safety
with kind words,
And in their conference of what
befell,
Touching his journey through the world and air,
They
put forth questions
of astrology,
Which
Faustus
answered
with such
learned
skill,
As
they admired and wondered at his wit.
Now is his fame spread
forth in every land;
Amongst
the rest
the Emperor is one,
Carolus the Fifth,
at
whose
palace now
Faustus
is feasted
’mongst
his noblemen.
What there he did in trial of his art,
I
leave untold; your eyes shall
see
performed.
ROBIN
the ostler with a book in his hand.
ROBIN
O this is admirable! Here I ha’ stolen
one of Doctor Faustus’
conjuring books,
and i’faith I mean to search
some
circles for my own use:
now will I make all the maidens in our parish
dance at my pleasure
stark
naked before me, and so
by that means I shall
see
more than e’er I felt, or saw
yet.
RAFE
calling
ROBIN.
RAFE
Robin, prithee come away, there’s a gentleman tarries to have his
horse,
and he would have his things rubbed and made clean: he keeps such
a chafing with my mistress
about it, and she
has sent
me to look thee out; prithee come away.
ROBIN
Keep out, keep out, or else
you are blown up, you are dismembered
Rafe, keep out, for I am about a roaring piece of work.
RAFE
Come, what doest
thou with that same
book
thou canst not read?
ROBIN
Yes, my master and mistress
shall
find that I can read, he for his forehead, she
for her private study;
she’s
born to bear with me, or else
my art fails.
RAFE
Why Robin what book
is that?
ROBIN
What book?
Why the most
intolerable book
for conjuring that e’er was invented by any brimstone
devil.
RAFE
Canst
thou conjure with it?
ROBIN
I can do all these
things easily
with it: first,
I can make thee drunk with ’ippocras
at
any tavern in Europe for nothing, that’s one of my conjuring works.
RAFE
Our Master Parson
says
that’s nothing.
ROBIN
True Rafe, and more Rafe, if thou hast
any mind to Nan Spit our kitchen maid, then turn her and wind her to
thy own use,
as often as thou wilt, and at midnight.
RAFE
O brave Robin, shall
I have Nan Spit, and to mine own use?
On that condition I’ll feed thy devil with horse-bread
as long as he lives, of free cost.
ROBIN
No more sweet
Rafe, let’s go and make clean our boots
which lie foul upon our hands, and then to our conjuring in the
devil’s name.
ROBIN
and RAFE
with a silver
goblet.
ROBIN
Come, Rafe, did not I tell thee we were for ever made by this Doctor
Faustus’
book?
Ecce
signum,
here’s a simple
purchase
for horse-keepers;
our horses
shall
eat no hay as long as this lasts.
the VINTNER.
RAFE
But Robin, here comes the vintner.
ROBIN
Hush,
I’ll gull him supernaturally.
Drawer, I hope all is paid. God be with you; come, Rafe.
VINTNER
Soft, sir,
a word with you. I must
yet have a goblet paid from you ere you go.
ROBIN
I a goblet, Rafe, I a goblet? I scorn you: and you are but a etc.
I a goblet? Search
me.
VINTNER
I mean so
sir
with your favor.
ROBIN
How say
you now?
VINTNER
I must
say
somewhat
to your fellow; you, sir.
RAFE
Me sir,
me sir,
search
your fill: now sir,
you may be ashamed
to burden honest
men with a matter of truth.
VINTNER
Well, t’one of you hath this goblet about you.
ROBIN
You lie, drawer, ’tis afore me: sirrah
you, I’ll teach ye to impeach honest
men: stand
by, I’ll scour
you for a goblet, stand
aside
you had best,
I charge you in the name of Beelzebub: look
to the goblet Rafe.
VINTNER
What mean you sirrah?
ROBIN
I’ll tell you what I mean.
reads.
Periphrasticon:
nay I’ll tickle you Vintner, look
to the goblet Rafe, Polypragmos
Belseborams
framanto
pacostiphos
tostu
Mephastophilis, etc.
MEPHASTOPHILIS:
sets
squibs
at their backs: they run about.
O
nomine Domine,
what
meanest
thou, Robin? Thou hast
no goblet.
Peccatum
peccatorum,
here’s
thy goblet, good
Vintner.
Misericordia
pro nobis
what
shall
I do? Good
devil forgive me now, and I’ll never rob thy library more.
to them MEPHASTOPHILIS.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Vanish
villains, th’ one like an ape, another like a bear, the third an
asse,
for doing this enterprise.
of hell, under whose
black survey
Great
potentates do kneel with awful fear,
Upon whose
altars thousand
souls
do lie,
How am I vexed
with
these
villains’ charms?
From Constantinople
am I hither come,
Only for pleasure
of these
damned
slaves.
ROBIN
How, from Constantinople?
You have had a great journey; will you take sixpence
in your purse
to pay for your supper,
and be gone?
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Well villains, for your presumption,
I transform
thee into an ape, and thee into a dog, and so
be gone.
How, into an ape? That’s brave, I’ll have fine sport
with the boys, I’ll get nuts and apples enow.
And I must
be a dog.
I’faith thy head will never be out of the potage pot.
EMPEROR, FAUSTUS,
and a KNIGHT,
with Attendants.
EMPEROR
Master
Doctor Faustus,
I have heard strange
report of thy knowledge in the black art, how that none in my Empire,
nor in the whole world can compare with thee, for the rare effects of
magic: they say
thou hast
a familiar spirit,
by whom thou canst
accomplish
what thou list;
this therefore is my request,
that thou let me see
some
proof
of thy skill,
that mine eyes may be witnesses
to confirm what mine ears have heard reported, and here I swear
to thee, by the honor of mine imperial crown, that whatever thou
doest,
thou shalt
be no ways prejudiced or endamaged.
KNIGHT
aside.
I’faith
he looks
much like a conjurer.
FAUSTUS
My
gracious sovereign, though I must
confess
myself
far inferior to the report men have published,
and nothing answerable
to the honor of your imperial Majesty, yet for that love and duty
binds me thereunto, I am content to do whatsoever
your Majesty shall
command me.
EMPEROR
Then Doctor Faustus,
mark what I shall
say.
As I was sometime
solitary
set
within my closet,
sundry
thoughts arose,
about the honour of mine ancestors,
how they had won by prowess
such
exploits, got such
riches, subdued
so
many kingdoms, as we that do succeed,
or they that shall
hereafter possess
our throne, shall
(I fear me) never attain to that degree of high renown and great
authority, amongst
which kings is Alexander the Great,
chief spectacle
of the world’s preeminence,
bright shining
of whose
glorious acts
Lightens the world with his reflecting beams,
As
when I hear but motion made of him,
It grieves my soul
I never saw
the man:
If therefore thou, by cunning of thine art,
Canst
raise
this man from hollow vaults below,
Where lies entombed this
famous conqueror,
And bring with him his beauteous
paramour,
Both in their right shapes,
gesture,
and attire
They used
to wear during their time of life,
Thou shalt
both satisfy
my just
desire,
And
give me cause
to praise
thee whilst
I live.
FAUSTUS
My gracious lord, I am ready to accomplish
your request,
so
far forth as by art and power of my spirit
I am able to perform.
KNIGHT
aside.
I’faith that’s just nothing at all.
FAUSTUS
But
if it like your Grace, it is not in my ability to present
before your eyes, the true substantial
bodies of those
two deceased
princes which long since
are consumed
to dust.
KNIGHT
aside.
Ay marry Master
Doctor, now there’s a sign
of grace in you, when you will confess
the truth.
FAUSTUS
But
such
spirits
as can lively resemble
Alexander and his paramour, shall
appear before your Grace, in that manner that they best
lived in, in their most flourishing
estate,
which I doubt not shall
sufficiently
content your imperial Majesty.
EMPEROR
Go to Master Doctor, let me see
them presently.
KNIGHT
Do you hear Master Doctor? You bring Alexander and his paramour
before the Emperor?
FAUSTUS
How then sir?
KNIGHT
I’faith that’s as true as Diana turned me to a stag.
FAUSTUS
No sir,
but when Acteon died, he left the horns for you: Mephastophilis,
be gone.
MEPHASTOPHILIS.
Nay,
and
you go to conjuring, I’ll be gone.
KNIGHT.
I’ll
meet with you anon for interrupting me so:
here they are my gracious lord.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
with ALEXANDER
and
his PARAMOUR.
EMPEROR
Master
Doctor, I heard this lady while she
lived had a wart or mole in her neck; how shall
I know whether it be so
or no?
Your highness may boldly go and see.
ALEXANDER.
EMPEROR
Sure
these
are no spirits,
but the true substantial
bodies of those
two deceased
princes.
FAUSTUS
Wilt please
your highness now to send
for the knight that was so
pleasant
with me here of late?
EMPEROR
One of you call him forth.
the KNIGHT
with
a pair of horns on his head.
EMPEROR
How now sir
knight? Why I had thought thou hadst
been a bachelor, but now I see
thou hast
a wife, that not only gives thee horns, but makes thee wear them:
feel on thy head.
Thou damned
wretch, and execrable dog,
Bred in the concave of some
monstrous
rock:
How dar’st
thou thus abuse
a gentleman?
Villain I say,
undo what thou hast
done.
FAUSTUS
O not so
fast
sir,
there’s no haste
but good;
are you remembered how you crossed
me in my conference with the emperor? I think I have met with you for
it.
EMPEROR
Good
Master Doctor, at my entreaty release
him, he hath done penance sufficient.
FAUSTUS
My gracious lord, not so
much for the injury he offered me here in your presence,
as to delight you with some
mirth, hath Faustus
worthily requited this injurious knight, which being all I desire,
I am content to release
him of his horns: and sir
knight, hereafter speak
well of scholars. Mephastophilis,
transform
him strait.
Now my good
Lord having done my duty, I humbly take my leave.
EMPEROR
Farewell
Master Doctor; yet ere you go, expect from me a bounteous reward.
EMPEROR.
Now
Mephastophilis,
the restless
course
that time doth run with calm and silent
foot,
my
days and thread of vital life,
Calls for the payment of my
latest
years:
sweet
Mephastophilis,
let us make haste
to Wertenberg.
will you go on horse-back,
or on foot?
Nay,
till I am past
this faire and pleasant
green, I’ll walk on foot.
a HORSE-COURSER.
HORSE-COURSER
I
have been all this day seeking
one Master Fustian:
mass,
see
where he is! God save
you Master Doctor.
What, horse-courser,
you are well met.
Do
you hear sir?
I have brought you forty dollars for your horse.
I cannot sell
him so:
if thou likest
him for fifty, take him.
Alas
sir,
I have no more; I pray you speak
for me.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
I pray you let him have him; he is an honest
fellow, and he has a great charge, neither wife nor child.
FAUSTUS
Well, come give me your money, my boy will deliver him to you: but I
must
tell you one thing before you have him, ride him not into the water
at any hand.
HORSE-COURSER
Why
sir,
will he not drink of all waters?
FAUSTUS
O yes, he will drink of all waters, but ride him not into the water;
ride him over hedge or ditch, or where thou wilt, but not into the
water.
HORSE-COURSER
Well,
sir.
Now am I made man forever; I’ll not leave my horse
for forty: if he had but the quality of hey ding, ding, hey, ding,
ding, I’d make a brave living on him; he has a buttock as slick
as an eel: well god buy sir,
your boy will deliver him me: but hark ye sir,
if my horse
be sick,
or ill at ease,
if I bring his water to you you’ll tell me what it is?
HORSE-COURSER.
FAUSTUS
Away you villain: what, dost
think I am a horse-doctor?
What art thou Faustus
but a man condemned to die?
fatal time doth draw to final end,
Despair
doth drive distrust
unto my thoughts;
Confound these
passions
with a quiet sleep:
Tush,
Christ
did call the thief upon the cross,
Then
rest
thee Faustus
quiet in conceit.
in his chair.
HORSE-COURSER
all
wet, crying.
HORSE-COURSER
Alas,
alas, Doctor Fustian
quotha, mass Doctor Lopus
was never such
a doctor, h’as given me a purgation, h’as purged me of forty
dollars, I shall
never see
them more: but yet like an ass
as I was, I would not be ruled by him, for he bade me I should
ride him into no water; now, I thinking my horse
had had some
rare quality that he would not have had me known of, I like a
venturous youth, rid him into the deep pond at the town’s end; I
was no sooner
in the middle of the pond, but my horse
vanished
away, and I sat
upon a bottle of hay, never so
near drowning in my life: but I’ll seek
out my doctor, and have my forty dollars again, or I’ll make it the
dearest
horse!
O yonder is his snipper-snapper:
do you hear? You, hey, pass,
where’s your master?
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Why sir,
what would you? You cannot speak
with him.
HORSE-COURSER
But
I will speak
with him.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Why he’s fast
asleep;
come some
other time.
HORSE-COURSER
I’ll
speak
with him now, or I’ll break his glass-windows
about his ears.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
I tell thee he has not slept
this eight nights.
HORSE-COURSER
And
he
have not slept
this eight weeks I’ll speak
with him.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
See
where he is fast
asleep.
HORSE-COURSER
Ay, this is he. God save
ye Master Doctor, Master Doctor, Master Doctor Fustian,
forty dollars, forty dollars for a bottle of hay.
MEPHASTOPHILIS
Why,
thou seest
he hears thee not.
HORSE-COURSER
So,
ho, ho: so,
ho, ho.
in his ear.
will you not wake? I’ll make you wake ere I go.
him by the leg, and pull it away.
I am undone, what shall
I do?
O my leg, my leg, help, Mephastophilis,
call the officers, my leg, my leg!
Come, villain, to the Constable.
O Lord sir,
let me go, and I’ll give you forty dollars more.
Where
be they?
I have none about me, come to my hostry
and I’ll give them you.
Be gone quickly.
runs away.
FAUSTUS
What,
is he gone? Farewell he; Faustus
has his leg again, and the horse-courser,
I take it, a bottle of hay for his labour; well, this trick shall
cost
him forty dollars more.
WAGNER.
How
now Wagner, what’s the news with thee?
WAGNER
Sir,
the Duke of Vanholt doth earnestly
entreat your company.
FAUSTUS
The
Duke of Vanholt! An honourable gentleman, to whom I must
be no niggard of my cunning; come Mephastophilis,
let’s away to him.
to them the DUKE,
and the DUCHESS;
the DUKE
speaks.
DUKE
Believe
me, Master Doctor, this merriment hath much pleased
me.
FAUSTUS
My
gracious lord, I am glad if contents you so
well: but it may be madame, you take no delight in this. I have heard
that great-bellied women do long for some
dainties or other; what is it, madame? Tell me, and you shall
have it.
DUCHESS
Thanks,
good
Master Doctor,
And
for I see
your courteous intent to pleasure
me, I will not hide from you the thing my heart desires:
and were it now summer,
as it is January, and the dead time of the winter, I would desire
no better meat than a dish
of ripe grapes.
FAUSTUS
Alas
madame, that’s nothing; Mephastophilis,
be gone:
MEPHASTOPHILIS.
it a greater thing then this, so
it would content you, you should
have it
MEPHASTOPHILIS
with the grapes.
here
they be madam, wilt please
you taste
on them.
DUKE
Believe
me Master
Doctor, this makes me wonder above the rest,
that being in the dead time of winter, and in the month of January,
how you should
come by these
grapes.
FAUSTUS
If
it like your grace, the year is divided into two
circles
over the whole world, that when it is here winter with us, in the
contrary circle it is summer
with them, as in India, Saba,
and farther countries in the East,
and by means of a swift
spirit
that I have, I had them brought hither, as ye see:
how do you like them madame, be they good?
DUCHESS
Believe me Master Doctor, they be the best
grapes that e’er I tasted
in my life before.
FAUSTUS
I
am glad they content you so
madam.
DUKE
Come
madame, let us in, where you must
well reward this learned man for the great kindness he hath showed
to you.
And
so
I will my lord, and whilst
I live,
Rest
beholding for this curtesy.
I
humbly thank your Grace.
Come,
Master Doctor, follow us, and receive your reward.
WAGNER
solus.
I
think my master means to die shortly,
For
he hath given to me all his goods;
And yet methinks, if that death were near,
He would not
banquet, and carouse,
and swill
Amongst
the students, as even now he doth,
Who are at supper
with such
belly-cheer,
As Wagner ne’er beheld in all his life.
See
where they come: belike the feast
is ended.
FAUSTUS
with two or three SCHOLARS.
1
SCHOLAR Master
Doctor Faustus,
since
our conference about fair ladies, which was the beautifulst
in all the world, we have determined with ourselves,
that Helen of Greece
was
the admirablest
lady that ever lived: therefore Master
Doctor, if you will do us that favor, as to let us see
that peerless
dame of Greece, whom all the world admires for majesty, we should
think ourselves
much beholding unto you.
FAUSTUS
Gentlemen,
for that I know your friendship
is unfeigned, and Faustus’
custom
is not to deny the just requests
of those
that wish
him well, you shall
behold that peerless
dame of Greece, no otherways for pomp and majesty,
then when Sir
Paris crossed
the seas
with her, and brought the spoils
to rich Dardania.
Be
silent
then, for danger is in words.
sounds,
and HELEN
passeth
over the stage.
SCHOLAR
Too
simple
is my wit to tell her praise,
Whom
all the world admires for majesty.
SCHOLAR
No
marvel though the angry Greeks pursued
With
ten years war the rape of such
a queen,
Whose
heavenly beauty passeth
all compare.
SCHOLAR
we have seen
the pride of Nature’s works,
And only paragon of excellence,
an
OLD MAN.
us depart, and for this glorious deed
Happy and blest
be Faustus
evermore.
Gentlemen
farewell, the same
I wish
to you.
SCHOLARS.
MAN
Ah
Doctor Faustus,
that I might prevail,
To guide thy steps
unto the way of life,
By which sweet
path thou mayst
attain the goal
That shall
conduct thee to celestial
rest.
Break
heart, drop blood, and mingle it with tears,
Tears falling from
repentant heaviness
Of
thy most
vile and loathsome
filthiness,
The
stench
whereof corrupts the inward soul
With
such
flagitious crimes of heinous sins,
As
no commiseration
may expel,
But mercy, Faustus,
of thy Saviour sweet,
Whose
blood alone must
wash
away thy guilt.
art thou Faustus?
Wretch what hast
thou done?
Damned art thou Faustus,
damned, despair
and die,
Hell calls for right, and with a roaring voice
Says,
Faustus
come, thine hour is come,
gives him a dagger.
Faustus will come to do thee right.
MAN
stay,
good
Faustus,
stay
thy desperate
steps,
I
see
an angel hovers o’er thy head,
And with a vial full of
precious grace,
Offers to pour the same
into thy soul,
Then
call for mercy and avoid despair.
my sweet
friend, I feel thy words
To comfort my distressed
soul;
Leave
me a while to ponder on my sins.
MAN
go, sweet
Faustus,
but with heavy cheer,
Fearing the ruin of thy hopeless
soul.
Faustus,
where is mercy now?
I do repent, and yet I do despair:
Hell
strives
with grace for conquest
in my breast;
What
shall
I do to shun
the snares
of death?
traitor Faustus,
I arrest
thy soul
For
disobedience
to my sovereign
Lord:
Revolt, or I’ll in piece-meal tear thy flesh.
Mephastophilis,
entreat thy Lord
To pardon my unjust
presumption,
And
with my blood
again I will confirm
My former vow I made to Lucifer.
it then quickly, with unfeigned
heart,
Lest
greater danger do attend thy drift.
sweet
friend, that base
and crooked
age,
That durst
dissuade
me from thy Lucifer,
With greatest
torments that our hell affords.
faith is great; I cannot touch his soul,
But
what I may afflict his body with,
I will attempt, which is but
little worth.
thing, good
servant,
let me crave of thee
To glut the longing of my heart’s
desire:
That
I might have unto my paramour,
That heavenly Helen which I saw
of late,
Whose
sweet
embracings may extinguish
clean
These
thoughts that do dissuade
me from my vow,
And keep mine oath I made to Lucifer.
this, or what else
thou shalt
desire,
Shall
be performed in twinkling of an eye.
HELEN.
Was
this the face that launched a thousand
ships?
And
burnt the topless
towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss:
Her
lips sucks
forth my soul,
see
where it flies:
Come, Helen, come give me my soul
again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these
lips,
And all is dross
that is not Helena:
OLD
MAN.
will be Paris, and for love of thee,
Instead of Troy shall
Wertenberg be sacked,
And
I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my
plumed
crest:
Yea
I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And
then return to Helen for a kiss.
O
thou art fairer then the evening air,
Clad in the beauty of a
thousand
stars,
Brighter
art thou then flaming Jupiter,
When he appeared to hapless
Semele,
More
lovely then the monarch of the sky
In
wanton Arethusa’s
azured
arms,
And
none but thou shalt
be my paramour.
MAN
Accursed
Faustus,
miserable
man,
That from thy soul
exclud’st
the grace of heaven,
And fliest
the throne of his tribunal seat,
the DEVILS.
begins to sift
me with his pride,
As in this furnace God shall
try my faith,
My faith, vile hell, shall
triumph over thee,
Ambitious fiends, see
how the heavens smiles
At
your repulse,
and laughs your state
to scorn;
Hence
hell, for hence I fly unto my God.
FAUSTUS
with
the SCHOLARS.
FAUSTUS
Ah Gentlemen!
1
SCHOLAR What ails Faustus?
FAUSTUS
Ah my sweet
chamber-fellow! Had I lived with thee, then had I lived still,
but now I die eternally: look,
comes he not? Comes he not?
2
SCHOLAR What means Faustus?
3
SCHOLAR Belike he is grown into some
sickness,
by being over solitary.
1
SCHOLAR If it be so,
we’ll have physicians
to cure him; ’tis but a surfeit,
never fear man.
FAUSTUS
A surfeit
of deadly sin
that hath damned both body and soul.
2
SCHOLAR
Yet
Faustus
look
up to heaven; remember God’s mercies are infinite.
But
Faustus’ offence can ne’er be pardoned;
The
Serpent that tempted Eve may be saved,
But
not Faustus:
Ah Gentlemen, hear me with patience, and tremble not at my speeches,
though my heart pants and quivers to remember that I have been a
student
here these
thirty years. O would I had never seen
Wertenberg, never read book!
And what wonders I have done, all Germany can witness, yea all the
world, for which Faustus
hath lost both
Germany, and the world – yea heaven itself,
heaven the seat
of God, the throne of the blessed,
the kingdom of joy – and must
remain in hell forever, hell, ah hell forever! Sweet
friends,
what shall
become of Faustus,
being in hell forever?
3
SCHOLAR Yet Faustus
call on God.
FAUSTUS
On God whom Faustus hath abjured, on God, whom Faustus hath
blasphemed – ah my God, I would weep, but the devil draws in my
tears; gush forth
blood, instead
of tears, yea life and soul! Oh he stays my tongue, I would lift up
my hands, but see, they hold them, they hold them.
ALL
Who,
Faustus?
FAUSTUS
Lucifer
and Mephastophilis.
Ah
Gentlemen! I gave them my soul
for my cunning.
ALL
God
forbid.
FAUSTUS
God
forbade it indeed, but Faustus
hath done it: for vain pleasure
of 24 years, hath Faustus
lost
eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with mine own blood; the
date is expired, the time will come, and he will fetch me.
1
SCHOLAR Why did not Faustus
tell us of this before, that divines might have prayed for thee?
FAUSTUS
Oft have I thought to have done so,
but the devil threatened to tear me in pieces, if I named God, to
fetch both body and soul,
if I once gave ear to divinity: and now ’tis too
late! Gentlemen away, lest
you perish
with me.
2
SCHOLAR O what shall
we do to Faustus?
FAUSTUS
Talk
not of me, but save
yourselves,
and depart.
3
SCHOLAR
God
will strengthen
me; I will stay
with Faustus.
1
SCHOLAR Tempt not God, sweet
friend, but let us into the next room,
and there pray for him.
FAUSTUS
Ay pray for me, pray for me, and what noise
soever
ye hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue
me.
2
SCHOLAR
Pray
thou, and we will pray that God may have mercy upon thee.
FAUSTUS
Gentlemen
farewell; if I live till morning, I’ll visit
you: if not, Faustus
is gone to hell.
ALL
Faustus,
farewell.
SCHOLARS.
clock strikes
eleven.
Ah
Faustus,
Now
hast
thou but one bare hour to live,
And
then thou must
be damned perpetually:
Stand
still
you ever-moving
spheres
of heaven,
That
time may cease,
and midnight never come:
Fair
Nature’s eye, rise,
rise
again, and make
Perpetual
day, or let this hour be but a year,
A
month, a week, a natural day,
That
Faustus
may repent and save
his soul,
O
lente lente currite noctis equi:
The
stars
move
still,
time runs, the clock will strike,
The
devil will come, and Faustus
must
be damned.
O
I’ll leap up to my God: who pulls me down?
See, see
where Christ’s
blood
streams
in the firmament;
One drop would save
my soul,
half a drop, ah my Christ
–
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ,
Yet
will I call on him; oh spare
me Lucifer!
Where is it now? ’Tis gone:
And
see
where God stretcheth
out his arm,
And
bends his ireful brows:
Mountains
and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
And
hide me from the heavy wrath of God.
No
no, then will I headlong run into the earth:
Earth
gape! O no, it will not harbour me:
You
stars
that reigned at my nativity,
Whose
influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now
draw up Faustus
like a foggy mist,
Into
the entrails of yon lab’ring
cloud,
That
when you vomit forth
into the air,
My
limbs may issue
from your smoky
mouths,
So
that my soul
may but ascend
to heaven:
Ah,
half the hour is past:
watch strikes.
all be past anon:
Oh
God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul,
Yet
for Christ’s
sake,
whose
blood hath ransomed
me,
Impose
some
end to my incessant
pain:
Let
Faustus
live in hell a thousand
years,
A
hundred thousand,
and at last
be saved.
O,
no end is limited to damned souls;
Why
wert thou not a creature wanting soul?
Or,
why is this immortal that thou hast?
Ah
Pythagoras’ metempsychosis,
were that true,
This soul
should
fly from me, and I be changed
Unto some
brutish
beast:
all beasts
are happy, for when they die,
Their souls
are soon
dissolved
in elements,
But mine must
live still
to be plagued in hell:
Curst
be the parents that engendred me!
No Faustus,
curse
thyself,
curse
Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven:
clock striketh
twelve.
it strikes,
it strikes,
now body turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell:
and lightning.
soul,
be changed into little water drops,
And
fall into the ocean, ne’er be found:
My
God, my God, look
not so
fierce on me:
DEVILS.
and serpents, let me breathe a while:
Ugly
hell gape not, come not Lucifer,
I’ll
burn my books,
ah Mephastophilis!
with
him.
CHORUS.
Cut
is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And
burned
is Apollo’s laurel bough,
That
sometime
grew within this learned
man:
Faustus
is gone; regard his hellish
fall,
Whose
fiendful fortune may exhort the wise
Only
to wonder at unlawful things,
Whose
deepness
doth entice
such
forward wits
To
practice
more than heavenly power permits.
hora diem, terminat Author opus.