The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus

Edición filológica utilizada:
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (B-Text), in Cristopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus and other plays, David Bevington y Eric Rasmussen (eds.), Oxford U.P., 1995
Procedencia:
Texto base

Edición digital a cargo de:

Bautista Boned, Luis (Artelope)

Act I

[Prologue]

Enter CHORUS.

Chorus

Not marching in the fields of Trasimene

Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens,

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 vaunt his heavenly verse.

Only this, gentles: we must now perform

The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad.

And now to patient judgements we appeal,

And speak for Faustus in his infancy.

Now is he born, of parents base of stock,

In Germany, within a town called Rhode.

At riper years to Wittenberg he went,

Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.

So much he profits in divinity

That shortly he was graced with doctor's name,

Excelling all, and sweetly can dispute

In th'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 now with learning's golden gifts,

He surfeits upon cursèd necromancy;

Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,

Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss.

And this the man that in his study sits.

[Exit.]

[I.i]

FAUSTUS in his study.

Faustus

Settle 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!

[He reads.]

Bene disserere est finis logices.

Is to dispute well logic's chiefest end?

Affords this art no greater miracle?

Then read no more; thou hast attained that end.

A greater subject fitteth Faustus's wit.

Bid Oeconomy farewell, and Galen, come!

Be a physician, Faustus. Heap up gold,

And be eternised for some wondrous cure.

[He reads.]

Summum bonum medicinae sanitas:

The end of physic is our body's health.

Why Faustus, hast thou not attained that end?

Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,

Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague

And thousand desperate maladies been cured?

Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.

Couldst thou make men to live eternally,

Or, being dead, raise them to life again,

Then this profession were to be esteemed.

Physic, farewell! Where is Justinian?

[He reads.]

Si una eademque res legatur duobus,

Alter rem, alter valorem rei, etc.

A petty case of paltry legacies!

[He reads.]

Exhaereditare filium non potest pater nisi—

Such is the subject of the Institute

And universal body of the law.

This study fits a mercenary drudge

Who aims at nothing but external trash—

Too servile and illiberal for me.

When all is done, divinity is best.

Jerome's Bible, Faustus, view it well.

[He reads.]

Stipendium peccati mors est. Ha!

Stipendium, etc.

The reward of sin is death? That's hard.

[He reads.]

Si peccasse negamus, fallimur

Et nulla est in nobis veritas.

If we say that we have no sin,

We deceive ourselves, and there is 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 serà, serà:

What will be, shall be. Divinity, adieu!

[He picks up a book of magic]

These metaphysics of magicians

And necromantic books are heavenly,

Lines, circles, letters, characters—

Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.

O, what a world of profit and delight,

Of power, of honour, and 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,

But his dominion that exceeds in this

Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.

A sound magician is a demigod.

Here, tire my brains to get a deity.

Wagner!

Enter WAGNER

Commend me to my dearest friends,

The German Valdes and Cornelius.

Request them earnestly to visit me.

Wagner

I will, sir.

Exit.

Faustus

Their conference will be a greater help to me

Than all my labours, plod I ne'er so fast.

Enter the [GOOD] ANGEL and SPIRIT, [the BAD ANGEL].

Good Angel

O Faustus, lay that damnèd 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.

Bad Angel

100

Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art

Wherein all nature's treasure is contained.

Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,

Lord and commander of these elements.

Exeunt ANGELS.

Faustus

How am I glutted with conceit of this!

105

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,

110

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

115

And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg.

I'll have them fill the public schools with silk,

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,

120

And reign sole king of all the provinces;

Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war

Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp bridge

I'll make my servile spirits to invent.

Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,

125

And make me blest with your sage conference!

Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS.

Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,

Know that your words have won me at the last

To practise magic and concealèd arts.

Philosophy is odious and obscure;

130

Both law and physic are for petty wits;

'Tis magic, magic that hath ravished me.

Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt,

And I, that have with subtle syllogisms

Gravelled the pastors of the German Church

135

And made the flow'ring pride of Wittenberg

Swarm to my problems as th'infernal spirits

On sweet Musaeus when he came to hell,

Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,

Whose shadow made all Europe honour him.

Valdes

140

Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience

Shall make all nations to canonise us.

As Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords,

So shall the spirits of every element

Be always serviceable to us three.

145

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

150

Than has the white breasts of the Queen of Love.

From Venice shall they drag huge argosies,

And from America the golden fleece

That yearly stuffed old Philip's treasury,

If learnèd Faustus will be resolute.

Faustus

155

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.

Faustus may try his cunning by himself.

160

He that is grounded in astrology,

Enriched with tongues, well seen in minerals,

Hath all the principles magic doth require.

Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renowned

And more frequented for this mystery

165

Than heretofore the Delphian oracle.

The spirits tell me they can dry the sea

And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks—

Yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hid

Within the massy entrails of the earth.

170

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 bushy grove

And have these joys in full possession.

Valdes

175

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

180

Valdes, first let him know the words of art,

And then, all other ceremonies learned,

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

185

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.

Exeunt omnes.

[I.ii]

Enter two SCHOLARS.

First Scholar

I wonder what's become of Faustus, that

was wont to make our schools ring with 'sic probo'.

Enter WAGNER, [carrying wine].

Second Scholar

That shall we presently know. Here comes

his boy.

First Scholar

How now, sirrah, where's thy master?

Wagner

God in heaven knows.

Second Scholar

Why, dost not thou know, then?

Wagner

Yes, I know, but that follows not.

First Scholar

Go to, sirrah! Leave your jesting, and

tell us where he is.

Wagner

That follows not by force of argument, which

you, being licentiates, should stand upon. Therefore,

acknowledge your error, and be attentive.

Second Scholar

Then you will not tell us?

Wagner

You are deceived, for 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 but 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,

would inform your worships. And so the Lord

bless you, preserve you, and keep you, my dear

brethren.

Exit.

First Scholar

O Faustus,

Then I fear that which I have long suspected,

190

That thou art fall'n into that damnèd art

For which they two are infamous through the world.

Second Scholar

Were he a stranger, not allied to me,

The danger of his soul would make me mourn.

But come, let us go and inform the Rector.

195

It may be his grave counsel may reclaim him.

First Scholar

I fear me nothing will reclaim him now.

Second Scholar

Yet let us see what we can do.

Exeunt.

[I.iii]

Thunder. Enter LUCIFER and four Devils [above], FAUSTUS to them with this speech. [He holds a book.]

Faustus

Now that the gloomy shadow of the night,

Longing to view Orion's drizzling look,

200

Leaps 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 has prayed and sacrificed to them.

[He draws a circle.]

205

Within this circle is Jehovah's name

Forward and backward anagrammatised,

Th'abbreviated names of holy saints,

Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,

And characters of signs and erring stars,

210

By which the spirits are enforced to rise.

Then fear not, Faustus, to be resolute,

And try the utmost magic can perform.

(Thunder.)

Sint mihi dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat

numen triplex Jehovae! Ignei, aerii, aquatici,

terreni, spiritus, salvete! Orientis princeps

Lucifer, Beelzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et

Demogorgon, propitiamus vos, ut appareat et

surgat, Mephistopheles! Quid tu moraris?

Per Jehovam, Gehennam, et consecratam aquam quam

nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per

vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus

Mephistopheles!

[Faustus sprinkles holy water and makes a sign of the cross.]

Enter a Devil [MEPHISTOPHELES, in the shape of a] dragon.

I charge thee to return and change thy shape.

Thou art too ugly to attend on me.

215

Go, and return an old Franciscan friar;

That holy shape becomes a devil best.

Exit Devil [MEPHISTOPHELES].

I see there's virtue in my heavenly words.

Who would not be proficient in this art?

How pliant is this Mephistopheles,

220

Full of obedience and humility!

Such is the force of magic and my spells.

Enter MEPHISTOPHELES [disguised as a friar].

Mephistopheles

Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do?

Faustus

I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live,

To do whatever Faustus shall command,

225

Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere

Or the ocean to overwhelm the world.

Mephistopheles

I am a servant to great Lucifer

And may not follow thee without his leave.

No more than he commands must we perform.

Faustus

230

Did not he charge thee to appear to me?

Mephistopheles

No, I came now hither of mine own accord.

Faustus

Did not my conjuring raise thee? Speak.

Mephistopheles

That was the cause, but yet per accidens.

For when we hear one rack the name of God,

235

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

240

Is stoutly to abjure all godliness

And pray devoutly to the prince of hell.

Faustus

So Faustus hath

Already done, and holds this principle:

There is no chief but only Beelzebub,

245

To whom Faustus doth dedicate himself.

This word 'damnation' terrifies not me,

For I confound hell in Elysium.

My ghost be with the old philosophers!

But leaving these vain trifles of mens' souls,

250

Tell me, what is that Lucifer, thy lord?

Mephistopheles

Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.

Faustus

Was not that Lucifer an angel once?

Mephistopheles

Yes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.

Faustus

How comes it then that he is prince of devils?

Mephistopheles

255

O, by aspiring pride and insolence,

For which God threw him from the face of heaven.

Faustus

And what are you that live with Lucifer?

Mephistopheles

Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer,

Conspired against our God with Lucifer,

260

And are for ever damned with Lucifer.

Faustus

Where are you damned?

Mephistopheles

In hell.

Faustus

How comes it then that thou art out of hell?

Mephistopheles

Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.

265

Think'st thou that I, that 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,

270

Which strikes a terror to my fainting soul!

Faustus

What, is great Mephistopheles so passionate

For being deprivèd of the joys of heaven?

Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,

And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.

275

Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer:

Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death

By desperate thoughts against Jove's deity,

Say he surrenders up to him his soul,

So he will spare him four-and-twenty years,

280

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 to aid my friends

285

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.

Mephistopheles

I will, Faustus.

Exit.

Faustus

290

Had I as many souls as there be stars,

I'd give them all for Mephistopheles.

By him I'll be great emperor of the world

And make a bridge through the moving air

To pass the ocean; with a band of men

295

I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore

And make that country continent to Spain,

And both contributory to my crown.

The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,

Nor any potentate of Germany.

300

Now that I have obtained what I desired,

I'll live in speculation of this art

Till Mephistopheles return again.

Exit [FAUSTUS below; exeunt LUCIFER and others Devils above].

[I.iv]

Enter WAGNER and [ROBIN,] the CLOWN.

Wagner

Come hither, sirrah boy.

Robin

'Boy'? O, disgrace to my person! Zounds, 'boy'

in your face! You have seen many boys with beards,

I am sure.

Wagner

Sirrah, hast thou no comings in?

Robin

Yes, and goings out too, you may see, sir.

Wagner

Alas, poor slave, see how poverty jests in his

nakedness! I know the villain's 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.

Robin

Not so, neither. I had need to have it well roasted,

and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear, I can tell you.

Wagner

Sirrah, wilt thou be my man and wait on me? And

I will make thee go like Qui mihi discipulus.

Robin

What, in verse?

Wagner

No, slave, in beaten silk and stavesacre.

Robin

Stavesacre? That's good to kill vermin. Then

belike if I serve you, I shall be lousy.

Wagner

Why, so thou shalt be, whether thou dost it or no;

for, sirrah, if thou dost not presently bind thyself

to me for seven years, I'll turn all the lice about

thee into familiars and make them tear thee in pieces.

Robin

Nay, sir, you may save yourself a labour, for they

are as familiar with me as if they paid for their

meat and drink, I can tell you.

Wagner

Well, sirrah, leave your jesting, and take these

guilders.

[Offering money.]

Robin

Yes, marry, sir, and I thank you, too.

Wagner

So, now thou art to be at an hour's warning

whensoever and wheresoever the devil shall fetch thee.

Robin

Here, take your guilders. I'll none of 'em.

[He attempts to return the money.]

Wagner

Not I. Thou art pressed. Prepare thyself, for I

will presently raise up two devils to carry thee

away.— Banio! Belcher!

Robin

Belcher? An Belcher come here, I'll belch him.

I am not afraid of a devil.

Enter two Devils.

Wagner

[To Robin.] How now, sir, will you serve me now?

Robin

Ay, good Wagner. Take away the devil, then.

Wagner

Spirits, away!

[Exeunt Devils.]

Now, sirrah, follow me.

Robin

I will, sir. But hark you, master, will you teach

me this conjuring occupation?

Wagner

Ay, sirrah, I'll teach thee to turn thyself to a

dog, or a cat, or a mouse, or a rat, or anything.

Robin

A dog, or a cat, or a mouse, or a rat? O brave,

Wagner!

Wagner

Villain, call me Master Wagner, and see that you

walk attentively, and let your right eye be always

diametrally fixed upon my left heel, that thou mayst

quasi vestigias nostras insistere.

Robin

Well, sir, I warrant you.

Exeunt.

Act II

[II.i]

Enter FAUSTUS in his study.

Faustus

Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned?

Canst thou not be saved?

305

What boots it then to think on God or heaven?

Away with such vain fancies, and despair!

Despair in God and trust in Beelzebub.

Now go not backward; Faustus, be resolute.

Why waver'st thou? O, something soundeth in mine ear:

310

' Abjure this magic, turn to God again!'

Why, he loves thee not.

The god thou serv'st is thine own appetite,

Wherein is fixed the love of Beelzebub

To him I'll build an altar and a church,

315

And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes.

Enter the two ANGELS.

Bad Angel

Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art.

Good Angel

Sweet Faustus, leave that execrable art.

Faustus

Contrition, prayer, repentance—what of these?

Good Angel

O, they are means to bring thee unto heaven.

Bad Angel

320

Rather illusions, fruits of lunacy,

That make them foolish that do use them most.

Good Angel

Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things.

Bad Angel

No, Faustus, think of honour and of wealth.

Exeunt ANGELS.

Faustus

Wealth?

325

Why, the seigniory of Emden shall be mine.

When Mephistopheles shall stand by me,

What power can hurt me? Faustus, thou art safe;

Cast no more doubts. Mephistopheles, come,

And bring glad tidings from great Lucifer.

330

Is't not midnight? Come, Mephistopheles!

Veni, veni, Mephistophile!

Enter MEPHISTOPHELES.

Now tell me what saith Lucifer thy lord.

Mephistopheles

That I shall wait on Faustus whilst he lives,

So he will buy my service with his soul.

Faustus

335

Already Faustus hath hazarded that for thee.

Mephistopheles

But now thou must bequeath it solemnly

And write a deed of gift with thine own blood,

For that security craves Lucifer.

If thou deny it, I must back to hell.

Faustus

340

Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me,

What good will my soul do thy lord?

Mephistopheles

Enlarge his kingdom.

Faustus

Is that the reason why he tempts us thus?

Mephistopheles

Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.

Faustus

345

Why, have you any pain, that torture other?

Mephistopheles

As 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.

Faustus

350

Ay, Mephistopheles, I'll give it him.

Mephistopheles

Then, Faustus, 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.

Faustus

355

[Cutting his arm.]

Lo, Mephistopheles, for love of thee

Faustus hath cut his arm, and with his proper blood

Assures his soul to be great Lucifer's,

Chief lord and regent of perpetual night.

View here this blood that trickles from mine arm,

360

And let it be propitious for my wish.

Mephistopheles

But Faustus,

Write it in manner of a deed of gift.

Faustus

Ay, so I do.

[He writes.]

But Mephistopheles,

My blood congeals, and I can write no more.

Mephistopheles

365

I'll fetch thee fire to dissolve it straight.

Exit.

Faustus

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'—O, there it stayed!

370

Why shouldst thou not? Is not thy soul thine own?

Then write again: 'Faustus gives to thee his soul.'

Enter MEPHISTOPHELES with the chafer of fire.

Mephistopheles

See, Faustus, here is fire. Set it on.

Faustus

So. Now the blood begins to clear again.

Now will I make an end immediately.

[He writes.]

Mephistopheles

375

[Aside.]

What will not I do to obtain his soul?

Faustus

Consummatum 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?

380

If unto heaven, he'll throw me down to hell.—

My senses are deceived; here's nothing writ.—

O, yes, I see it plain. Even here is writ

'Homo, fuge!' Yet shall not Faustus fly.

Mephistopheles

[Aside.]

I'll fetch him somewhat to delight his mind.

Exit.

Enter Devils, giving crowns and rich apparel to Faustus, they dance, and then depart.

Enter MEPHISTOPHELES.

Faustus

385

What means this show? Speak, Mephistopheles.

Mephistopheles

Nothing, Faustus, but to delight thy mind

And let thee see what magic can perform.

Faustus

But may I raise such spirits when I please?

Mephistopheles

Ay, Faustus, and do greater things than these.

Faustus

390

Then Mephistopheles, receive this scroll,

A deed of gift of body and of soul—

But yet conditionally that thou perform

All covenants and articles between us both.

Mephistopheles

Faustus, I swear by hell and Lucifer

395

To effect all promises between us both.

Faustus

Then hear me read it, Mephistopheles.

'On these conditions following:

First, that Faustus may be a spirit in form and

substance.

Secondly, that Mephistopheles shall be his servant,

and be by him commanded.

Thirdly, that Mephistopheles shall do for him and

bring him whatsoever.

Fourthly, that he shall be in his chamber or house

invisible.

Lastly, that he shall appear to the said John Faustus

at all times in what shape and form soever he

please.

I, John Faustus of Wittenberg, Doctor, by these

presents, do give both body and soul to Lucifer,

Prince of the East, and his minister Mephistopheles;

and furthermore grant unto them that four-and-

twenty years being expired, and these articles

above written being inviolate, full power to fetch or

carry the said John Faustus, body and soul, flesh,

blood, into their habitation wheresoever.

By me, John Faustus.'

Mephistopheles

Speak, Faustus. Do you deliver this as your

deed?

Faustus

[Giving the deed.] Ay. Take it, and the devil

give thee good of it.

Mephistopheles

So. Now, Faustus, ask me what thou wilt.

Faustus

First I will question thee about hell.

Tell me, where is the place that men call hell?

Mephistopheles

400

Under the heavens.

Faustus

Ay, so are all things else. But whereabouts?

Mephistopheles

Within the bowels of these elements,

Where we are tortured and remain for ever.

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed

405

In one self place, but where we are is hell,

And where hell is there must we ever be.

And, to be short, when all the world dissolves,

And every creature shall be purified,

All places shall be hell that is not heaven.

Faustus

410

I think hell's a fable.

Mephistopheles

Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.

Faustus

Why, dost thou think that Faustus shall be damned?

Mephistopheles

Ay, of necessity, for here's the scroll

In which thou hast given thy soul to Lucifer.

Faustus

415

Ay, and body too. But what of that?

Think'st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine

That after this life there is any pain?

No, these are trifles and mere old wives' tales.

Mephistopheles

But I am an instance to prove the contrary,

420

For I tell thee I am damned and now in hell.

Faustus

Nay, an this be hell, I'll willingly be damned.

What? Sleeping, eating, walking, and disputing?

But leaving this, let me have a wife, the fairest

maid in Germany, for I am wanton and lascivious

and cannot live without a wife.

Mephistopheles

Well, Faustus, thou shalt have a wife.

He fetches in a woman devil.

Faustus

What sight is this?

Mephistopheles

Now, Faustus, wilt thou have a wife?

Faustus

Here's a hot whore indeed! No, I'll no wife.

Mephistopheles

Marriage is but a ceremonial toy.

425

An if thou lovest me, think no more of it.

[Exit Devil.]

I'll cull thee out the fairest courtesans

And bring them every morning to thy bed.

She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall have,

Were she as chaste as was Penelope,

430

As wise as Saba, or as beautiful

As was bright Lucifer before his fall.

[Presenting a book.]

Here, take this book and peruse it well.

The iterating of these lines brings gold;

The framing of this circle on the ground

435

Brings thunder, whirlwinds, storm, and lightning.

Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thyself,

And men in harness shall appear to thee

Ready to execute what thou command'st.

Faustus

Thanks, Mephistopheles, for this sweet book.

440

This will I keep as chary as my life.

Exeunt.

[II.ii]

Enter [ROBIN] the CLOWN [with a conjuring book].

Robin

[Calling offstage.] What, Dick, look to the horses

there till I come again.—I have gotten one of Doctor

Faustus's conjuring books, and now we'll have such

knavery as't passes.

Enter DICK.

Dick

What, Robin, you must come away and walk the horses.

Robin

I walk the horses? I scorn't, 'faith. I have

other matters in hand. Let the horses walk themselves

an they will. [He reads.] 'A' per se; ’a’ 't', 'h',

'e', 'the'; 'o' per se 'o'; 'deny orgon, gorgon'.—

Keep further from me, O thou illiterate and unlearned

ostler.

Dick

'Snails, what hast thou got there, a book? Why,

thou canst not tell ne'er a word on't.

Robin

That thou shalt see presently.

[He draws a circle.]

Keep out of the circle, I say, lest I send you into

the hostry, with a vengeance.

Dick

That's like, 'faith! You had best leave your foolery,

for an my master come he'll conjure you, 'faith.

Robin

My master conjure me? I'll tell thee what: an my

master come here, I'll clap as fair a pair of horns

on's head as e'er thou sawest in thy life.

Dick

Thou need'st not do that, for my mistress hath done it.

Robin

Ay, there be of us here that have waded as deep into

matters as other men, if they were disposed to talk.

Dick

A plague take you! I thought you did not sneak up

and down after her for nothing. But I prithee tell me

in good sadness, Robin, is that a conjuring book?

Robin

Do but speak what thou'lt have me to do, and I'll

do't. If thou'lt dance naked, put off thy clothes,

and I'll conjure thee about presently. Or if thou'lt

go but to the tavern with me, I'll give thee white wine,

red wine, claret wine, sack, muscadine, malmsey, and

whippincrust, hold belly hold, and we'll not pay one

penny for it.

Dick

O brave! Prithee let's to it presently, for I am

as dry as a dog.

Robin

Come, then, let's away.

Exeunt.

[II.iii]

Enter FAUSTUS in his study, and MEPHISTOPHELES.

Faustus

When I behold the heavens, then I repent

And curse thee, wicked Mephistopheles,

Because thou hast deprived me of those joys.

Mephistopheles

'Twas thine own seeking, Faustus. Thank thyself.

445

But think'st thou heaven is such a glorious thing?

I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fair

As thou or any man that breathes on earth.

Faustus

How prov'st thou that?

Mephistopheles

'Twas made for man; then he's more excellent.

Faustus

450

If heaven was made for man, 'twas made for me.

I will renounce this magic and repent.

Enter the two ANGELS.

Good Angel

Faustus, repent! Yet God will pity thee.

Bad Angel

Thou art a spirit. God cannot pity thee.

Faustus

Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit?

455

Be I a devil, yet God may pity me;

Yea, God will pity me if I repent.

Bad Angel

Ay, but Faustus never shall repent.

Exeunt ANGELS.

Faustus

My heart is hardened; I cannot repent.

Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven.

460

Swords, poison, halters, and envenomed steel

Are laid before me to dispatch myself;

And long ere this I should have done the deed,

Had not sweet pleasure conquered deep despair.

Have not I made blind Homer sing to me

465

Of Alexander's love and Oenone's death?

And hath not he that built the walls of Thebes

With ravishing sound of his melodious harp

Made music with my Mephistopheles?

Why should I die, then, or basely despair?

470

I am resolved, Faustus shall not repent.

Come, Mephistopheles, let us dispute again

And reason of divine astrology.

Speak. Are there many spheres above the moon?

Are all celestial bodies but one globe,

475

As is the substance of this centric earth?

Mephistopheles

As are the elements, such are the heavens,

Even from the moon unto the empyreal orb,

Mutually folded in each others' spheres,

And jointly move upon one axletree,

480

Whose terminè is termed the world's wide pole.

Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter

Feigned, but are erring stars.

Faustus

But have they all one motion, both situ et tempore?

Mephistopheles

All move from east to west in four-and-

twenty hours upon the poles of the world, but

differ in their motions upon the poles of the zodiac.

Faustus

These slender questions Wagner can decide.

485

Hath Mephistopheles no greater skill?

Who knows not the double motion of the planets?

That the first is finished in a natural day,

The second thus: Saturn in thirty years,

Jupiter in twelve, Mars in four, the Sun, Venus, and

490

Mercury in a year, the moon in twenty-eight days.

These are freshmen's questions. But tell me, hath

every sphere a dominion or intelligentia?

Mephistopheles

Ay.

Faustus

How many heavens or spheres are there?

Mephistopheles

Nine: the seven planets, the firmament,

and the empyreal heaven.

Faustus

But is there not coelum igneum et crystallinum?

Mephistopheles

No, Faustus, they be but fables.

Faustus

Resolve me then in this one question: why are

not conjunctions, oppositions, aspects, eclipses

all at one time, but in some years we have more,

in some less?

Mephistopheles

Per inaequalem motum respectu totius.

Faustus

Well, I am answered. Now tell me who made the world.

Mephistopheles

I will not.

Faustus

Sweet Mephistopheles, tell me.

Mephistopheles

Move me not, Faustus.

Faustus

Villain, have not I bound thee to tell me anything?

Mephistopheles

Ay, that is not against our kingdom.

This is. Thou art damned. Think thou of hell.

Faustus

Think, Faustus, upon God, that made the world.

Mephistopheles

Remember this.

Exit.

Faustus

Ay, go, accursèd spirit, to ugly hell!

'Tis thou hast damned distressèd Faustus' soul.

Is't not too late?

Enter the two ANGELS.

Bad Angel

Too late.

Good Angel

495

Never too late, if Faustus will repent.

Bad Angel

If thou repent, devils will tear thee in pieces.

Good Angel

Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin.

Exeunt ANGELS.

Faustus

O Christ, my Saviour, my Saviour,

Help to save distressèd Faustus' soul!

Enter LUCIFER, BEELZEBUB, and MEPHISTOPHELES.

Lucifer

500

Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just.

There's none but I have int'rest in the same.

Faustus

O, what art thou that look'st so terribly?

Lucifer

I am Lucifer,

And this is my companion prince in hell.

Faustus

505

O, Faustus, they are come to fetch thy soul!

Beelzebub

We are come to tell thee thou dost injure us.

Lucifer

Thou call'st on Christ, contrary to thy promise.

Beelzebub

Thou shouldst not think on God.

Lucifer

Think on the devil.

Beelzebub

510

And his dam, too.

Faustus

Nor will Faustus henceforth. Pardon him for this,

and Faustus vows never to look to heaven.

Lucifer

So shalt thou show thyself an obedient servant,

and we will highly gratify thee for it.

Beelzebub

Faustus, we are come from hell in person to show

thee some pastime. Sit down, and thou shalt behold the

Seven Deadly Sins appear to thee in their own proper shapes and likeness.

Faustus

That sight will be as pleasant to me as

paradise was to Adam the first day of his creation.

Lucifer

Talk not of paradise or creation, but mark

the show. Go, Mephistopheles, fetch them in.

[Faustus sits.]

[MEPHISTOPHELES fetches the SINS.]Enter the SEVEN DEADLY SINS.

Beelzebub

Now, Faustus, question them of their names and

dispositions.

Faustus

That shall I soon.—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; next, like a necklace I hang about her neck;

then, like a fan of feathers I kiss her, and then, turning

myself to a wrought smock, do what I list. But fie,

what a smell is here! I'll not speak a word more

for a king's ransom, unless the ground be perfumed

and covered with cloth of arras.

Faustus

Thou art a proud knave, indeed.—What art thou, the

second?

Covetousness

I am Covetousness, begotten of an old churl

in a leather bag; and might I now obtain my wish,

this house, you, and all should turn to gold, that I might

lock you safe into my chest. O my sweet gold!

Faustus

And what art thou, the third?

Envy

I am Envy, begotten of a chimney-sweeper and an oyster-

wife. I cannot read, and therefore wish all books

burnt. I am lean with seeing others eat. O,

that there would come a famine over all the world,

that all might die and I live alone! Then thou

shouldst see how fat I'd be. But must thou sit

and I stand? Come down, with a vengeance!

Faustus

Out, envious wretch!— But what are thou, the fourth?

Wrath

I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother. I leaped

out of a lion's mouth when I was scarce an hour old,

and ever since have run up and down the world with these

case of rapiers, wounding myself when I could get

none to fight withal. I was born in hell, and look to

it, for some of you shall be my father.

Faustus

And what art thou, the fifth?

Gluttony

I am Gluttony. My parents are all dead, and the

devil a penny they have left me but a small pension,

and that buys me thirty meals a day, and ten bevers—

a small trifle to suffice nature. I come of a royal

pedigree. My father was a gammon of bacon, and my

mother was a hogshead of claret wine. My godfathers

were these: Peter Pickled-herring and Martin Martlemas-

beef. But my godmother, O, she was an ancient gentlewoman;

her name was Margery March-beer. Now, Faustus, thou

hast heard all my progeny, wilt thou bid me to supper?

Faustus

Not I.

Gluttony

Then the devil choke thee!

Faustus

Choke thyself, glutton!—What art thou, the sixth?

Sloth

Heigh-ho. I am Sloth. I was begotten on a sunny bank.

Heigh-ho. I'll not speak a word more for a king's ransom.

Faustus

And what are you, Mistress Minx, the seventh and last?

Lechery

Who, I? I, sir? I am one that loves an inch of raw

mutton better than an ell of fried stockfish, and the

first letter of my name begins with Lechery.

Lucifer

Away, to hell, away! On, piper!

Exeunt the SEVEN SINS.

Faustus

O, how this sight doth delight my soul!

Lucifer

But Faustus, in hell is all manner of delight.

Faustus

O, might I see hell and return again safe, how

happy were I then!

Lucifer

Faustus, thou shalt. At midnight I will send

for thee. [Presenting a book.] Meanwhile, peruse

this book, and view it throughly, and thou shalt

turn thyself into what shape thou wilt.

Faustus

[Taking the book.] Thanks, mighty Lucifer.

This will I keep as chary as my life.

Lucifer

Now, Faustus, farewell.

Faustus

Farewell, great Lucifer. Come, Mephistopheles.

Exeunt omnes, several ways.

Act III

Enter the CHORUS.

Chorus

Learnèd Faustus,

To find the secrets of astronomy

Graven in the book of Jove's high firmament,

Did mount him up to scale Olympus' top,

515

Where, sitting in a chariot burning bright

Drawn by the strength of yokèd dragons' necks,

He views the clouds, the planets, and the stars,

The tropics, zones, and quarters of the sky,

From the bright circle of the hornèd moon

520

Even to the height of Primum Mobile;

And, whirling round with this circumference

Within the concave compass of the pole,

From east to west his dragons swiftly glide

And in eight days did bring him home again.

525

Not long he stayed within his quiet house

To rest his bones after his weary toil,

But new exploits do hale him out again,

And, mounted then upon a dragon's back,

That with his wings did part the subtle air,

530

He now is gone to prove cosmography,

That measures coasts and kingdoms of the earth,

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,

535

The which this day is highly solemnised.

Exit.

[III.i]

Enter FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES.

Faustus

Having now, my good Mephistopheles,

Passed with delight the stately town of Trier,

Environed round with airy mountaintops,

With walls of flint and deep intrenchèd lakes,

540

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,

545

Whose buildings, fair and gorgeous to the eye,

The streets straight forth and paved with finest brick.

There saw we learnèd Maro's golden tomb,

The way he cut an English mile in length

Through a rock of stone in one night's space.

550

From thence to Venice, Padua, and the east,

In one of which a sumptuous temple stands

That threats the stars with her aspiring top,

Whose frame is paved with sundry coloured stones,

And roofed aloft with curious work in gold.

555

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?

Mephistopheles

I have, my Faustus, and for proof thereof

560

This is the goodly palace of the Pope;

And 'cause we are no common guests

I choose his privy chamber for our use.

Faustus

I hope his Holiness will bid us welcome.

Mephistopheles

All's one, for we'll be bold with his venison.

565

But now, my Faustus, that thou mayst perceive

What Rome contains for to delight thine eyes,

Know that this city stands upon seven hills

That underprop the groundwork of the same.

Just through the midst runs flowing Tiber's stream,

570

With winding banks that cut it in two parts,

Over the which two stately bridges lean,

That make safe passage to each part of Rome.

Upon the brid ge called Ponte Angelo

Erected is a castle passing strong,

575

Where thou shalt see such store of ordinance

As that the double cannons, forged of brass,

Do match the number of the days contained

Within the compass of one complete year—

Beside the gates and high pyramides

580

That Julius Caesar brought from Africa.

Faustus

Now, by the kingdoms of infernal rule,

Of Styx, of Acheron, and the fiery lake

Of ever-burning Phlegethon, I swear

That I do long to see the monuments

585

And situation of bright splendent Rome.

Come, therefore, let's away!

Mephistopheles

Nay stay, my Faustus. I know you'd see the Pope

And take some part of holy Peter's feast,

The which this day with high solemnity

590

This day is held through Rome and Italy

In honour of the Pope's triumphant victory.

Faustus

Sweet Mephistopheles, thou pleasest me.

Whilst I am here on earth, let me be cloyed

With all things that delight the heart of man.

595

My four-and-twenty years of liberty

I'll spend in pleasure and in dalliance,

That Faustus' name, whilst this bright frame doth stand,

May be admirèd through the furthest land.

Mephistopheles

'Tis well said, Faustus. Come, then, stand by me,

600

And thou shalt see them come immediately.

Faustus

Nay, stay, my gentle Mephistopheles,

And grant me my request, and then I go.

Thou know'st within the compass of eight days

We viewed the face of heaven, of earth, and hell.

605

So high our dragons soared into the air

That, looking down, the earth appeared to me

No bigger than my hand in quantity.

There did we view the kingdoms of the world,

And what might please mine eye I there beheld.

610

Then in this show let me an actor be,

That this proud pope may Faustus' cunning see.

Mephistopheles

Let it be so, my Faustus. But first stay

And view their triumphs as they pass this way,

And then devise what best contents thy mind,

615

By cunning in thine art, to cross the Pope

Or dash the pride of this solemnity—

To make his monks and abbots stand like apes

And point like antics at his triple crown,

To beat the beads about the friars' pates

620

Or clap huge horns upon the cardinals' heads,

Or any villainy thou canst devise,

And I'll perform it, Faustus. Hark, they come.

This day shall make thee be admired in Rome.

[They stand aside.]

Enter the CARDINALS [of France and Padua] and BISHOPS [of Lorraine and Rheims], some bearing crosiers, some the pillars; MONKS and FRIARS singing their procession. Then the POPE [ADRIAN] and RAYMOND, KING OF HUNGARY, with BRUNO [the rival Pope] led in chains. [Bruno's papal crown is borne in.]

Pope

Cast down our footstool.

Raymond

Saxon Bruno, stoop,

625

Whilst on thy back his Holiness ascends

Saint Peter's chair and state pontifical.

Bruno

Proud Lucifer, that state belongs to me!

But thus I fall to Peter, not to thee.

[He kneels in front of the throne.]

Pope

To me and Peter shalt thou grovelling lie

630

And crouch before the papal dignity.

Sound trumpets, then, for thus Saint Peter's heir

From Bruno's back ascends Saint Peter's chair.

A flourish while he ascends.

Thus, as the gods creep on with feet of wool

Long ere with iron hands they punish men,

635

So shall our sleeping vengeance now arise

And smite with death thy hated enterprise.

Lord Cardinals of France and Padua,

Go forthwith to our holy consistory

And read amongst the statutes decretal

640

What, by the holy council held at Trent,

The sacred synod hath decreed for him

That doth assume the papal government

Without election and a true consent.

Away, and bring us word with speed.

First Cardinal

645

We go, my lord.

Exeunt CARDINALS.

Pope

Lord Raymond—

[Pope Adrian and Raymond converse apart.]

Faustus

[Aside.]

Go haste thee, gentle Mephistopheles.

Follow the cardinals to the consistory,

And as they turn their superstitious books

650

Strike them with sloth and drowsy idleness,

And make them sleep so sound that in their shapes

Thyself and I may parley with this Pope,

This proud confronter of the Emperor,

And in despite of all his holiness

655

Restore this Bruno to his liberty

And bear him to the states of Germany.

Mephistopheles

Faustus, I go.

Faustus

Dispatch it soon.

The Pope shall curse that Faustus came to Rome.

Exeunt FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES.

Bruno

660

Pope Adrian, let me have some right of law.

I was elected by the Emperor.

Pope

We will depose the Emperor for that deed

And curse the people that submit to him.

Both he and thou shalt stand excommunicate

665

And interdict from Church's privilege

And all society of holy men.

He grows too proud in his authority,

Lifting his lofty head above the clouds,

And like a steeple overpeers the Church

670

But we'll pull down his haughty insolence.

And as Pope Alexander, our progenitor,

Trod on the neck of German Frederick,

Adding this golden sentence to our praise,

'That Peter's heirs should tread on emperors

675

And walk upon the dreadful adder's back,

Treading the lion and the dragon down,

And fearless spurn the killing basilisk',

So will we quell that haughty schismatic

And by authority apostolical

680

Depose him from his regal government.

Bruno

Pope Julius swore to princely Sigismund,

For him and the succeeding popes of Rome,

To hold the emperors their lawful lords.

Pope

Pope Julius did abuse the Church's rights,

685

And therefore none of his decrees can stand.

Is not all power on earth bestowed on us?

And therefore, though we would, we cannot err.

Behold this silver belt, whereto is fixed

Seven golden keys fast sealed with seven seals

690

In token of our sevenfold power from heaven,

To bind or loose, lock fast, condemn, or judge,

Resign, or seal, or whatso pleaseth us.

Then he and thou and all the world shall stoop,

Or be assurèd of our dreadful curse

695

To light as heavy as the pains of hell.

Enter FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES, [dressed] like the cardinals.

Mephistopheles

[Aside.]

Now tell me, Faustus, are we not fitted well?

Faustus

[Aside.]

Yes, Mephistopheles, and two such cardinals

Ne'er served a holy pope as we shall do.

But whilst they sleep within the consistory,

700

Let us salute his reverend Fatherhood.

Raymond

[To the Pope]

Behold, my lord, the cardinals are returned.

Pope

Welcome, grave fathers. Answer presently:

What have our holy council there decreed

Concerning Bruno and the Emperor,

705

In quittance of their late conspiracy

Against our state and papal dignity?

Faustus

Most sacred patron of the Church of Rome,

By full consent of all the synod

Of priests and prelates, it is thus decreed:

710

That Bruno and the German Emperor

Be held as Lollards and bold schismatics

And proud disturbers of the Church's peace.

And if that Bruno by his own assent,

Without enforcement of the German peers,

715

Did seek to wear the triple diadem

And by your death to climb Saint Peter's chair,

The statutes decretal have thus decreed:

he shall be straight condemned of heresy

And on a pile of faggots burnt to death.

Pope

720

It is enough. Here, take him to your charge,

And bear him straight to Ponte Angelo,

And in the strongest tower enclose him fast.

Tomorrow, sitting in our consistory

With all our college of grave cardinals,

725

We will determine of his life or death.

Here, take his triple crown along with you

And leave it in the Church's treasury.

[Bruno's papal crown is given to Faustus and Mephistopheles.]

Make haste again, my good lord cardinals,

And take our blessing apostolical.

Mephistopheles

730

[Aside.]

So, so, was never devil thus blest before!

Faustus

[Aside.]

Away, sweet Mephistopheles, begone.

The cardinals will be plagued for this anon.

Exeunt FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES [with BRUNO].

Pope

Go presently and bring a banquet forth,

That we may solemnise Saint Peter's feast

735

And with Lord Raymond, King of Hungary,

Drink to our late and happy victory.

Exeunt.

[III.ii]

A sennet while the banquet is brought in. [Seats are provided at the banquet. Exeunt Attendants,] and then enter FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES in their own shapes.

Mephistopheles

Now, Faustus, come, prepare thyself for mirth.

The sleepy cardinals are hard at hand

To censure Bruno, that is posted hence

740

And on a proud-paced steed, as swift as thought,

Flies o'er the Alps to fruitful Germany,

There to salute the woeful Emperor.

Faustus

The Pope will curse them for their sloth today,

That slept both Bruno and his crown away.

745

But now, that Faustus may delight his mind

And by their folly make some merriment,

Sweet Mephistopheles, so charm me here

That I may walk invisible to all

And do whate'er I please, unseen of any.

Mephistopheles

750

Faustus, thou shalt. Then kneel down presently,

[Faustus kneels.]

Whilst on thy head I lay my hand

And charm thee with this magic wand.

[Presenting a magic girdle.]

First wear this girdle; then appear

Invisible to all are here.

755

The planets seven, the gloomy air,

Hell, and the Furies' forkèd hair,

Pluto's blue fire, and Hecate's tree

With magic spells so compass thee

That no eye may thy body see.

[Faustus rises.]

760

So, Faustus, now, for all their holiness,

Do what thou wilt, thou shalt not be discerned.

Faustus

Thanks, Mephistopheles. Now, friars, take heed

Lest Faustus make your shaven crowns to bleed.

Mephistopheles

Faustus, no more. See where the cardinals come.

Enter POPE and all the lords: [RAYMOND, KING OF HUNGARY, the ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS, etc., Friars and Attendants.] Enter the [two] CARDINALS [of France and Padua] with a book.

Pope

765

Welcome, lord cardinals. Come, sit down.

[They sit.]

Lord Raymond, take your seat. Friars, attend,

And see that all things be in readiness,

As best beseems this solemn festival.

First Cardinal

First, may it please your sacred Holiness

770

To view the sentence of the reverend synod

Concerning Bruno and the Emperor?

Pope

What needs this question? Did I not tell you

Tomorrow we would sit i'th'consistory

And there determine of his punishment?

775

You brought us word even now, it was decreed

That Bruno and the cursèd Emperor

Were by the holy council both condemned

For loathèd Lollards and base schismatics.

Then wherefore would you have me view that book?

First Cardinal

780

Your Grace mistakes. You gave us no such charge.

Raymond

Deny it not. We are all witnesses

That Bruno here was late delivered you,

With his rich triple crown to be reserved

And put into the Church's treasury.

Both Cardinals

785

By holy Paul, we saw them not.

Pope

By Peter, you shall die

Unless you bring them forth immediately.—

Hale them to prison. Lade their limbs with gyves!—

False prelates, for this hateful treachery

790

Curst be your souls to hellish misery.

[Exeunt Attendants with the two CARDINALS.]

Faustus

[Aside.]

So, they are safe. Now, Faustus, to the feast.

the Pope had never such a frolic guest.

Pope

Lord Archbishop of Rheims, sit down with us.

Archbishop

[Sitting.]

I thank your Holiness.

Faustus

795

Fall to. The devil choke you an you spare.

Pope

Who's that spoke? Friars, look about.

Lord Raymond, pray fall to. I am beholding

To the Bishop of Milan for this so rare a present.

Faustus

[Snatching the meat.]

I thank you, sir.

Pope

800

How now? Who snatched the meat from me?

Villains, why speak you not?—

My good Lord Archbishop, here's a most dainty dish

Was sent me from a Cardinal in France.

Faustus

[Snatching the dish.]

I'll have that, too.

Pope

805

What Lollards do attend our Holiness,

That we receive such great indignity?

Fetch me some wine.

[Wine is brought.]

Faustus

[Aside.]

Ay, pray do, for Faustus is adry.

Pope

Lord Raymond, I drink unto your Grace.

Faustus

810

[Snatching the cup.]

I pledge your Grace.

Pope

My wine gone, too? Ye lubbers, look about

And find the man that doth this villany,

Or by our sanctitude you all shall die!—

I pray, my lords, have patience at this troublesome

banquet.

Archbishop

Please it your Holiness, I think it be some

ghost crept out of purgatory and now is come unto

your Holiness for his pardon.

Pope

It may be so.

815

Go, then, command our priests to sing a dirge

To lay the fury of this same troublesome ghost.

[Exit one.]

[The Pope crosses himself.]

Faustus

How now? Must every bit be spicèd with a cross?

[The Pope crosses himself again.]

Nay, then, take that!

[Faustus gives the Pope a blow on the head.]

Pope

O, I am slain! Help me, my lords.

820

O, come and help to bear my body hence.

Damned be this soul for ever for this deed!

Exeunt the POPE and his train.

Mephistopheles

Now, Faustus, what will you do now? For I

can tell you you'll be cursed with bell, book, and candle.

Faustus

Bell, book, and candle; candle, book, and bell,

Forward and backward, to curse Faustus to hell.

Enter the FRIARS with bell, book, and candle, for the dirge.

First Friar

Come, brethren, let's about our business with

good devotion.

[The Friars chant.]

Cursèd be he that stole his Holiness' meat from the table.

825

Maledicat Dominus!

Cursèd be he that struck his Holiness a blow on the face.

Maledicat Dominus!

Cursèd be he that struck Friar Sandelo a blow on the pate.

Maledicat Dominus!

830

Cursèd be he that disturbeth our holy dirge.

Maledicat Dominus!

Cursèd be he that took away his Holiness' wine.

Maledicat Dominus!

[FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES] beat the FRIARS, fling firework among them, and exeunt.

[III.iii]

Enter CLOWN [ROBIN], and DICK with a cup.

Dick

Sirrah Robin, we were best look that your devil can

answer the stealing of this same cup, for the Vintner's

boy follows us at the hard heels.

Robin

'Tis no matter. Let him come. An he follow us, I'll

so conjure him as he was never conjured in his life,

I warrant him. Let me see the cup.

Enter VINTNER.

Dick

[Giving the cup to Robin.] Here 'tis. Yonder he comes. Now, Robin, now or never show thy cunning.

Vintner

O, are you here? I am glad I have found you. You

are a couple of fine companions! Pray, where's the

cup you stole from the tavern?

Robin

How, how? We steal a cup? Take heed what you say.

We look not like cup-stealers, I can tell you.

Vintner

Never deny't, for I know you have it, and I'll

search you.

Robin

Search me? Ay, and spare not.

[Aside to Dick, giving him the cup.] Hold the cup, Dick.

[To the Vintner]

Come, come, search me, search me.

[The Vintner searches Robin.]

Vintner

[To Dick.] Come on, sirrah, let me search you now.

Dick

Ay, ay, do, do.

[Aside to Robin, giving him the cup.] Hold the cup, Robin. [To the Vintner.] I fear not your searching. We scorn to steal your cups, I can tell you.

[The Vintner searches Dick.]

Vintner

Never outface me for the matter, for sure the cup

is between you two.

Vintner

A plague take you! I thought 'twas your knavery

to take it away. Come, give it me again.

Robin

Ay, much! When, can you tell? Dick, make me a

circle, and stand close at my back, and stir not for thy

life. [Dick makes a circle.] Vintner, you shall have your

cup anon. Say nothing, Dick. 'O' per se 'o', Demogorgon,

Belcher, and Mephistopheles!

Enter MEPHISTOPHELES.

[Exit the VINTNER, running.]

Robin

[Brandishing the cup.] Nay, there you lie. 'Tis beyond us both.

Mephistopheles

You princely legions of infernal rule,

835

How am I vexèd by these villains' charms!

From Constantinople have they brought me now

Only for pleasure of these damnèd slaves.

Robin

By Lady, sir, you have had a shrewd journey of it.

Will it please you to take a shoulder of mutton to

supper and a tester in your purse, and go back again?

Dick

Ay, I pray you heartily, sir, for we called you but

in jest, I promise you.

Mephistopheles

To purge the rashness of this cursèd deed,

[To Dick.]

First, be thou turnèd to this ugly shape,

840

For apish deeds transformèd to an ape.

Robin

O brave, an ape! I pray, sir, let me have the

carrying of him about to show some tricks.

Mephistopheles

And so thou shalt. Be thou transformed

to a dog, and carry him upon thy back. Away, begone!

Robin

A dog? That's excellent. Let the maids look well

to their porridge pots, for I'll into the kitchen

presently. Come, Dick, come.

Exeunt the two CLOWNS [with Dick on Robin's back].

Mephistopheles

Now with the flames of ever-burning fire

I'll wing myself and forthwith fly amain

Unto my Faustus, to the Great Turk's court.

Exit.

Act IV

[IV.i]

Enter MARTINO and FREDERICK [with other Officers and Gentlemen] at several doors.

Martino

What ho, officers, gentlemen!

845

Hie to the presence to attend the Emperor.

Good Frederick, see the rooms be voided straight;

His Majesty is coming to the hall.

Go back, and see the state in readiness.

[Exeunt some.]

Frederick

But where is Bruno, our elected pope,

850

That on a Fury's back came post from Rome?

Will not his Grace consort the Emperor?

Martino

O, yes, and with him comes the German conjurer,

The learnèd Faustus, fame of Wittenberg,

The wonder of the world for magic art;

855

And he intends to show great Carolus

The race of all his stout progenitors,

And bring in presence of his Majesty

The royal shapes and warlike semblances

Of Alexander and his beauteous paramour.

Frederick

860

Where is Benvolio?

Martino

Fast asleep, I warrant you.

He took his rouse with stoups of Rhenish wine

So kindly yesternight to Bruno's health

That all this day the sluggard keeps his bed.

Frederick

865

See, see, his window's ope. We'll call to him.

Martino

What ho, Benvolio!

Enter BENVOLIO above at a window, in his nightcap, buttoning.

Benvolio

What a devil ail you two?

Martino

Speak softly, sir, lest the devil hear you;

For Faustus at the court is late arrived,

870

And at his heels a thousand Furies wait

To accomplish whatsoever the doctor please.

Benvolio

What of this?

Martino

Come, leave thy chamber first, and thou shalt see

This conjurer perform such rare exploits

875

Before the Pope and royal Emperor

As never yet was seen in Germany.

Benvolio

Has not the Pope enough of conjuring yet?

He was upon the devil's back late enough;

An if he be so far in love with him,

880

I would he would post with him to Rome again.

Frederick

Speak, wilt thou come and see this sport?

Benvolio

Not I.

Martino

Wilt thou stand in thy window and see it, then?

Benvolio

Ay, an I fall not asleep i'th'meantime.

Martino

The Emperor is at hand, who comes to see

885

What wonders by black spells may compassed be.

Benvolio

Well, go you attend the Emperor. I am

content for this once to thrust my head out at a

window, for they say if a man be drunk overnight

the devil cannot hurt him in the morning. If

that be true, I have a charm in my head shall

control him as well as the conjurer, I warrant you.

Exeunt [FREDERICK and MARTINO BENVOLIO remains at his window].

A sennet. [Enter] CHARLES THE GERMAN EMPEROR, BRUNO, [THE DUKE OF] SAXONY, FAUSTUS, MEPHISTOPHELES, FREDERICK, MARTINO, and Attendants. [The Emperor sits in his throne.]

Emperor

Wonder of men, renowned magician,

Thrice-learnèd Faustus, welcome to our court.

This deed of thine, in setting Bruno free

From his and our professèd enemy,

890

Shall add more excellence unto thine art

Than if by powerful necromantic spells

Thou couldst command the world's obedience.

For ever be beloved of Carolus.

And if this Bruno thou hast late redeemed

895

In peace possess the triple diadem

And sit in Peter's chair, despite of chance,

Thou shalt be famous through all Italy

And honoured of the German Emperor.

Faustus

These gracious words, most royal Carolus,

900

Shall make poor Faustus to his utmost power

Both love and serve the German Emperor

And lay his life at holy Bruno's feet.

For proof whereof, if so your Grace be pleased,

The doctor stands prepared by power of art

905

To cast his magic charms, that shall pierce through

The ebon gates of ever-burning hell

And hale the stubborn Furies from their caves

To compass whatsoe'er your Grace commands.

Benvolio

[Aside, at the window.] Blood, he speaks terribly.

But for all that, I do not greatly believe him. He

looks as like a conjurer as the Pope to a costermonger.

Emperor

Then, Faustus, as thou late didst promise us,

910

We would behold that famous conqueror

Great Alexander and his paramour

In their true shapes and state majestical,

That we may wonder at their excellence.

Faustus

Your Majesty shall see them presently.—

915

[Aside to Mephistopheles]

Mephistopheles, away,

And with a solemn noise of trumpet's sound

Present before this royal Emperor

Great Alexander and his beauteous paramour.

Mephistopheles

[Aside to Faustus.]

Faustus, I will.

[Exit.]

Benvolio

[At the window.] Well, Master Doctor, an your

devils come not away quickly, you shall have me asleep

presently. Zounds, I could eat myself for anger to

think I have been such an ass all this while, to stand

gaping after the devil's governor and can see nothing.

Faustus

[Aside.] I'll make you feel something anon, if my

art fail me not.—

[To Emperor]

920

My lord, I must forewarn your Majesty

That when my spirits present the royal shapes

Of Alexander and his paramour,

Your Grace demand no questions of the king,

But in dumb silence let them come and go.

Emperor

925

Be it as Faustus please. We are content.

Benvolio

[At the window.] Ay, ay, and I am content too.

An thou bring Alexander and his paramour before the

Emperor, I'll be Actaeon and turn myself to a stag.

Faustus

[Aside.] And I'll play Diana and send you the horns

presently.

[Enter MEPHISTOPHELES]

A sennet. Enter at one [door] the Emperor ALEXANDER, at the other DARIUS. They meet; Darius is thrown down. Alexander kills him, takes off his crown, and, offering to go out, his PARAMOUR meets him. He embraceth her and sets Darius' crown upon her head; and, coming back, both salute the [German] Emperor, who, leaving his state, offers to embrace them, which Faustus seeing suddenly stays him.

Then trumpets cease and music sounds.

My gracious lord, you do forget yourself.

These are but shadows, not substantial.

Emperor

O, pardon me. My thoughts are so ravishèd

With sight of this renownèd emperor

930

That in mine arms I would have compassed him.

But Faustus, since I may not speak to them

To satisfy my longing thoughts at full,

Let me this tell thee: I have heard it said

That this fair lady, whilst she lived on earth,

935

Had on her neck a little wart or mole.

How may I prove that saying to be true?

Faustus

Your Majesty may boldly go and see.

Emperor

[Making an inspection.]

Faustus, I see it plain,

And in this sight thou better pleasest me

940

Than if I gained another monarchy.

Faustus

[To the spirits.]

Away, begone!

Exit Show.

See, see, my gracious lord, what strange beast is

yon, that thrusts his head out at window.

[Benvolio is seen to have sprouted horns.]

Emperor

O wondrous sight! See, Duke of Saxony,

Two spreading horns most strangely fastenèd

Upon the head of young Benvolio.

Saxony

What, is he asleep, or dead?

Faustus

He sleeps, my lord, but dreams not of his horns.

Emperor

This sport is excellent. We'll call and wake him.—

What ho, Benvolio!

Benvolio

A plague upon you! Let me sleep a while.

Emperor

I blame thee not to sleep much, having such a

head of thine own.

Saxony

Look up, Benvolio. 'Tis the Emperor calls.

Benvolio

The Emperor? Where? O, zounds, my head!

Emperor

Nay, an thy horns hold, 'tis no matter for thy

head, for that's armed sufficiently.

Faustus

Why, how now, sir knight? What, hanged by the

horns? This is most horrible. Fie, fie, pull in

your head, for shame. Let not all the world wonder

at you.

Benvolio

945

Zounds, doctor, is this your villainy?

Faustus

O, say not so, sir. The doctor has no skill,

No art, no cunning to present these lords

Or bring before this royal emperor

The mighty monarch, warlike Alexander.

950

If Faustus do it, you are straight resolved

In bold Actaeon's shape to turn a stag.—

And therefore, my lord, so please your Majesty,

I’ll raise a kennel of hounds shall hunt him so

As all his footmanship shall scarce prevail

955

To keep his carcass from their bloody fangs.

Ho, Belimoth, Argiron, Ashtaroth!

Benvolio

Hold, hold! Zounds, he'll raise up a kennel of

devils, I think, anon.—Good my lord, entreat for me.—

[Benvolio is attacked by devils.]

'Sblood, I am never able to endure these torments.

Emperor

Then, good Master Doctor,

Let me entreat you to remove his horns.

He has done penance now sufficiently.

Faustus

My gracious lord, not so much for injury done to

me as to delight your Majesty with some mirth hath

Faustus justly requited this injurious knight; which

being all I desire, I am content to remove his horns.—

Mephistopheles, transform him.

[Mephistopheles removes the horns.]

And hereafter, sir, look you speak well of scholars.

Benvolio

[Aside.] Speak well of ye? 'Sblood, an scholars

be such cuckold-makers to clap horns of honest men's

heads o' this order, I'll ne'er trust smooth faces and

small ruffs more. But, an I be not revenged for this,

would I might be turned to a gaping oyster and drink

nothing but salt water.

[Exit from the window.]

Emperor

960

Come, Faustus. While the Emperor lives,

In recompense of this thy high desert

Thou shalt command the state of Germany

And live beloved of mighty Carolus.

Exeunt omnes.

[IV.ii]

Enter BENVOLIO, MARTINO, FREDERICK, and Soldiers.

Martino

Nay, sweet Benvolio, let us sway thy thoughts

965

From this attempt against the conjurer.

Benvolio

Away! You love me not, to urge me thus.

Shall I let slip so great an injury

When every servile groom jests at my wrongs

And in their rustic gambols proudly say,

970

'Benvolio's head was graced with horns today'?

O, may these eyelids never close again

Till with my sword I have that conjurer slain!

If you will aid me in this enterprise,

then draw your weapons and be resolute.

975

If not, depart. Here will Benvolio die

But Faustus' death shall quit my infamy.

Frederick

Nay, we will stay with thee, betide what may,

And kill that doctor if he come this way.

Benvolio

Then, gentle Frederick, hie thee to the grove,

980

And place our servants and our followers

Close in an ambush there behind the trees.

By this, I know, the conjurer is near;

I saw him kneel and kiss the Emperor's hand

And take his leave, laden with rich rewards.

985

Then, soldiers, boldly fight. If Faustus die,

Take you the wealth; leave us the victory.

Frederick

Come, soldiers, follow me unto the grove.

Who kills him shall have gold and endless love.

Exit FREDERICK with the Soldiers.

Benvolio

My head is lighter than it was by th'horns,

990

But yet my heart's more ponderous than my head

And pants until I see that conjurer dead.

Martino

Where shall we place ourselves, Benvolio?

Benvolio

Here will we stay to bide the first assault.

O, were that damnèd hellhound but in place,

995

Thou soon shouldst see me quit my foul disgrace.

Enter FREDERICK.

Frederick

Close, close! The conjurer is at hand

And all alone comes walking in his gown.

Be ready, then, and strike the peasant down.

Benvolio

Mine be that honour, then. Now, sword, strike home!

1000

For horns he gave, I'll have his head anon.

Enter FAUSTUS, with the false head.

Martino

See, see, he comes.

Benvolio

No words. This blow ends all

Hell take his soul! His body thus must fall

[He strikes Faustus.]

Faustus

[Falling.]

Frederick

Groan you, Master Doctor?

Benvolio

1005

Break may his heart with groans! Dear Frederick, see,

Thus will I end his griefs immediately.

Martino

Strike with a willing hand.

[Benvolio strikes off Faustus's false head.]

His head is off!

Benvolio

The devil's dead. The Furies now may laugh.

Frederick

Was this that stern aspect, that awful frown,

1010

Made the grim monarch of infernal spirits

Tremble and quake at his commanding charms?

Martino

Was this that damnèd head whose heart conspired

Benvolio's shame before the Emperor?

Benvolio

Ay, that's the head, and here the body lies,

1015

Justly rewarded for his villainies.

Frederick

Come, let's devise how we may add more shame

To the black scandal of his hated name.

Benvolio

First, on his head, in quittance of my wrongs,

I'll nail huge forkèd horns and let them hang

1020

Within the window where he yoked me first,

That all the world may see my just revenge.

Martino

What use shall we put his beard to?

Benvolio

We'll sell it to a chimney-sweeper. It will

wear out ten birchen brooms, I warrant you.

Frederick

What shall his eyes do?

Benvolio

We'll put out his eyes, and they shall serve for

buttons to his lips to keep his tongue from catching cold.

Martino

An excellent policy. And now, sirs, having

divided him, what shall the body do?

[Faustus rises.]

Benvolio

Zounds, the devil's alive again!

Frederick

Give him his head, for God's sake!

Faustus

1025

Nay, keep it. Faustus will have heads and hands,

Ay, all your hearts, to recompense this deed.

Knew you not, traitors, I was limited

For four-and-twenty years to breathe on earth?

And had you cut my body with your swords,

1030

Or hewed this flesh and bones as small as sand,

Yet in a minute had my spirit returned,

And I had breathed a man made free from harm.

But wherefore do I dally my revenge?

Ashtaroth, Belimoth, Mephistopheles!

Enter MEPHISTOPHELES and other Devils [BELIMOTH and ASHTAROTH].

1035

Go horse these traitors on your fiery backs,

And mount aloft with them as high as heaven;

Thence pitch them headlong to the lowest hell.

Yet stay. The world shall see their misery,

And hell shall after plague their treachery.

1040

Go, Belimoth, and take this caitiff hence,

And hurl him is some lake of mud and dirt.

[To Ashtaroth.]

Take thou this other; drag him through the woods

Amongst the pricking thorns and sharpest briers,

Whilst with my gentle Mephistopheles

1045

This traitor flies unto some steepy rock

That, rolling down, may break the villain's bones

As he intended to dismember me.

Fly hence. Dispatch my charge immediately.

Frederick

Pity us, gentle Faustus. Save our lives!

Faustus

1050

Away!

Frederick

He must needs go that the devil drives.

Exeunt Spirits with the KNIGHTS [on their backs].

Enter the ambushed SOLDIERS.

First Soldier

Come, sirs. Prepare yourselves in readiness;

Make haste to help these noble gentlemen.

I heard them parley with the conjurer.

Second Soldier

1055

See where he comes. Dispatch, and kill the slave.

Faustus

What's here? An ambush to betray my life?

Then, Faustus, try thy skill. Base peasants, stand!

[Trees come between Faustus and the Soldiers.]

For lo, these trees remove at my command

And stand as bulwarks 'twixt yourselves and me

1060

To shield me from your hated treachery.

Yet to encounter this your weak attempt,

Behold an army comes incontinent.

FAUSTUS strikes the door, and enter a Devil playing on a drum, after him another bearing an ensign, and divers with weapons; MEPHISTOPHELES with fireworks. They set upon the SOLDIERS and drive them out.

[Exit FAUSTUS.]

[IV.iii]

Enter at several doors BENVOLIO, FREDERICK, and MARTINO, their heads and faces bloody and besmeared with mud and dirt, all having horns on their heads.

Martino

What ho, Benvolio!

Benvolio

Here. What, Frederick, ho!

Frederick

O, help me, gentle friend. Where is Martino?

Martino

1065

Dear Frederick, here,

Half smothered in a lake of mud and dirt

Through which the Furies dragged me by the heels.

Frederick

Martino, see! Benvolio's horns again.

Martino

O misery! How now, Benvolio?

Benvolio

1070

Defend me, heaven. Shall I be haunted still?

Martino

Nay, fear not, man. We have no power to kill.

Benvolio

My friends transformèd thus! O hellish spite!

Your heads are all set with horns.

Frederick

You hit it right.

It is your own you mean. Feel on your head.

Benvolio

1075

[Feeling his head.]

Zounds, horns again!

Martino

Nay, chafe not, man, we all are sped.

Benvolio

What devil attends this damned magician,

That, spite of spite, our wrongs are doublèd?

Frederick

What may we do, that we may hide our shames?

Benvolio

1080

If we should follow him to work revenge,

He'd join long asses' ears to these huge horns

And make us laughing-stocks to all the world.

Martino

What shall we then do, dear Benvolio?

Benvolio

I have a castle joining near these woods,

1085

And thither we'll repair and live obscure

Till time shall alter this our brutish shapes.

Sith black disgrace hath thus eclipsed our fame,

We'll rather die with grief than live with shame.

Exeunt omnes.

[IV.iv]

Enter FAUSTUS, and the HORSE-CORSER, and MEPHISTOPHELES.

Horse-corser

[Offering money.] I beseech your worship, accept

of these forty dollars.

Faustus

Friend, thou canst not buy so good a horse for so

small a price. I have no great need to sell him, but if

thou likest him for ten dollars more, take him, because

I see thou hast a good mind to him.

Horse-corser

I beseech you, sir, accept of this. I am a

very poor man and have lost very much of late by

horseflesh, and this bargain will set me up again.

Faustus

Well, I will not stand with thee. Give me the

money. [He takes the money.] Now, sirrah, I must

tell you that you may ride him o'er hedge and ditch,

and spare him not. But do you hear? In any case ride

him not into the water.

Horse-corser

How, sir, not into the water? Why, will he

not drink of all waters?

Faustus

Yes, he will drink of all waters. But ride him

not into the water. O'er hedge and ditch, or where

thou wilt, but not into the water. Go bid the

ostler deliver him unto you, and remember what I say.

Horse-corser

I warrant you, sir. O, joyful day! Now am I

a made man for ever.

Exit.

Faustus

What art thou, Faustus, but a man condemned to die?

1090

Thy fatal time draws to a final end.

Despair doth drive distrust into 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.

He sits to sleep.

Enter the HORSE-CORSER, wet.

Horse-corser

O, what a cozening doctor was this! I,

riding my horse into the water, thinking some hidden

mystery had been in the horse, I had nothing under me

but a little straw and had much ado to escape drowning.

Well, I'll go rouse him and make him give me my forty

dollars again.—Ho, sirrah doctor, you cozening scab!

Master Doctor, awake, and rise, and give me my money

again, for your horse is turned to a bottle of hay.

Master Doctor! (He pulls off his leg.) Alas, I am

undone! What shall I do? I have pulled off his leg.

Faustus

O, help, help! The villain hath murdered me.

Horse-corser

Murder or not murder, now he has but one leg

I'll outrun him and cast this leg into some ditch or

other.

[Exit with the leg.]

Faustus

Stop him, stop him, stop him!— Ha, ha, ha! Faustus

hath his leg again, and the Horse-corser a bundle of hay

for his forty dollars.

Enter WAGNER

How now, Wagner, what news with thee?

Wagner

If it please you, the Duke of Vanholt doth earnestly

entreat your company and hath sent some of his men to

attend you with provision fit for your journey.

Faustus

The Duke of Vanholt's an honourable gentleman,

and one to whom I must be no niggard of my cunning.

Come away.

Exeunt.

[IV.v]

Enter CLOWN [ROBIN], DICK, HORSE-CORSER, and a CARTER

Carter

Come, my masters, I'll bring you to the best beer

in Europe.—What ho, Hostess!—Where be these whores?

Enter HOSTESS.

Hostess

How now, what lack you? What, my old guests,

welcome!

Robin

[Aside to Dick] Sirrah Dick, dost thou know why I

stand so mute?

Dick

[Aside to Robin] No, Robin, why is't?

Robin

[Aside to Dick] I am eighteen pence on the score.

But say nothing. See if she have forgotten me.

Hostess

[Seeing Robin] Who's this that stands so solemnly

by himself? [To Robin.] What, my old guest?

Robin

O, Hostess, how do you? I hope my score stands still.

Hostess

Ay, there's no doubt of that, for methinks you make

no haste to wipe it out.

Dick

Why, Hostess, I say, fetch us some beer.

Hostess

You shall, presently.—Look up into th' hall

there, ho!

Exit.

Dick

Come, sirs, what shall we do now till mine Hostess

comes?

Carter

Marry, sir, I'll tell you the bravest tale how a

conjurer served me. You know Doctor Fauster?

Horse-corser

Ay, a plague take him! Here's some on's have

cause to know him. Did he conjure thee, too?

Carter

I'll tell you how he served me. As I was going to

Wittenberg t'other day with a load of hay, he met me

and asked me what he should give me for as much hay as

he could eat. Now, sir, I thinking that a little

would serve his turn, bade him take as much as he would

for three farthings. So he presently gave me my money

and fell to eating; and, as I am a cursen man, he never

left eating till he had eat up all my load of hay.

All

O monstrous! Eat a whole load of hay!

Robin

Yes, yes, that may be, for I have heard of one that

has eat a load of logs.

Horse-corser

Now, sirs, you shall hear how villainously he

served me. I went to him yesterday to buy a horse of

him, and he would by no means sell him under forty

dollars. So, sir, because I knew him to be such a

horse as would run over hedge and ditch and never tire,

I gave him his money. So when I had my horse, Doctor

Fauster bade me ride him night and day and spare him no 40

time. 'But', quoth he, 'in any case ride him not into

the water.' Now, sir, I, thinking the horse had had

some quality that he would not have me know of, what

did I but rid him into a great river? And when I came

just in the midst, my horse vanished away, and I sat

straddling upon a bottle of hay.

All

O brave doctor!

Horse-corser

But you shall hear how bravely I served him

for it. I went me home to his house, and there I found

him asleep. I kept a halloing and whooping in his ears,

but all could not wake him. I, seeing that, took him

by the leg and never rested pulling till I had pulled

me his leg quite off, and now 'tis at home in mine

hostry.

Robin

And has the doctor but one leg, then? That's

excellent, for one of his devils turned me into the

likeness of an ape's face.

Carter

Some more drink, Hostess!

Robin

Hark you, we'll into another room and drink a while,

and then we'll go seek out the doctor.

Exeunt omnes.

[IV.vi]

Enter the DUKE OF VANHOLT, his [pregnant] DUCHESS, FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES [and Servants].

Duke

Thanks, Master Doctor, for these pleasant sights. Nor

know I how sufficiently to recompense your great deserts

in erecting that enchanted castle in the air, the sight

whereof so delighted me as nothing in the world could

please me more.

Faustus

I do think myself, my good lord, highly recompensed

in that it pleaseth your Grace to think but well of that

which Faustus hath performed.—But, gracious lady, it may

be that you have taken no pleasure in those sights.

Therefore, I pray you tell me what is the thing you

most desire to have; be it in the world, it shall be yours.

I have heard that great-bellied women do long for things

are rare and dainty.

Duchess

True, Master Doctor, and, since I find you so kind,

I will make known unto you what my heart desires to

have. And were it now summer, as it is January, a dead

time of the winter, I would request no better meat than

a dish of ripe grapes.

Faustus

This is but a small matter.

[Aside to Mephistopheles] Go, Mephistopheles, away!

Exit MEPHISTOPHELES.

Madam, I will do more than this for your content.

Enter MEPHISTOPHELES again with the grapes.

Here. Now taste ye these. They should be good, for

they come from a far country, I can tell you.

[The Duchess tastes the grapes.]

Duke

This makes me wonder more than all the rest, that at

this time of the year, when every tree is barren of

his fruit, from whence you had these ripe grapes.

Faustus

Please it your Grace, the year is divided into two

circles over the whole world, so that, when it is winter

with us, in the contrary circle it is likewise summer

with them, as in India, Saba, and such countries that

lie far east, where they have fruit twice a year. From

whence, by means of a swift spirit that I have, I had

these grapes brought, as you see.

Duchess

And, trust me, they are the sweetest grapes that

e'er I tasted.

The CLOWN[S] bounce at the gate, within.

Duke

1095

What rude disturbers have we at the gate?

Go pacify their fury. Set it ope,

And then demand of them what they would have.

They knock again and call out to talk with Faustus.

[A Servant goes to the gate.]

Servant

Why, how now, masters, what a coil is there!

What is the reason you disturb the duke?

Dick

[Offstage.] We have no reason for it. Therefore, a

fig for him!

Servant

Why, saucy varlets, dare you be so bold?

Horse-corser

[Offstage.] I hope, sir, we have wit enough to

be more bold than welcome.

Servant

It appears so. Pray be bold elsewhere, and

trouble not the Duke.

Duke

[To the Servant.] What would they have?

Servant

They all cry out to speak with Doctor Faustus.

Carter

[Offstage.] Ay, and we will speak with him.

Duke

Will you, sir?—Commit the rascals.

Dick

[Offstage.] Commit with us? He were as good commit

with his father as commit with us.

Faustus

I do beseech your Grace, let them come in.

They are good subject for a merriment.

Duke

Do as thou wilt, Faustus. I give thee leave.

Faustus

I thank your Grace.

[The Servant opens the gate.]

Enter the CLOWN [ROBIN], DICK, CARTER, and HORSE-CORSER.

Why, how now, my good friends?

'Faith, you are too outrageous. But come near;

I have procured your pardons. Welcome all!

Robin

Nay, sir, we will be welcome for our money, and we

will pay for what we take.—What ho! Give's half a

dozen of beer here, and be hanged.

Faustus

Nay, hark you, can you tell me where you are?

Carter

Ay, marry, can I. We are under heaven.

Servant

Ay, but, sir saucebox, know you in what place?

Horse-corser

Ay, ay, the house is good enough to drink in.

Zounds, fill us some beer, or we'll break all the barrels

in the house and dash out all your brains with your

bottles.

Faustus

Be not so furious. Come, you shall have beer.—

My lord, beseech you give me leave a while.

I'll gage my credit 'twill content your Grace.

Duke

With all my heart, kind doctor. Please thyself.

Our servants and our court's at thy command.

Faustus

I humbly thank your Grace.—Then fetch some beer.

Horse-corser

Ay, marry, there spake a doctor indeed, and,

'faith, I'll drink a health to thy wooden leg for that

word.

Faustus

My wooden leg? What dost thou mean by that?

Carter

Ha, ha, ha! Dost hear him, Dick? He has forgot

his leg.

Horse-corser

Ay, ay. He does not stand much upon that.

Faustus

No, 'faith, not much upon a wooden leg.

Carter

Good Lord, that flesh and blood should be so frail

with your worship! Do not you remember a Horse-corser

you sold a horse to?

Faustus

Yes, I remember I sold one a horse.

Carter

And do you remember you bid he should not ride

into the water?

Faustus

Yes, I do very well remember that.

Carter

And do you remember nothing of your leg?

Faustus

No, in good sooth.

Carter

Then, I pray, remember your curtsy.

Faustus

[Making a curtsy.] I thank you, sir.

Carter

'Tis not so much worth. I pray you tell me one

thing.

Faustus

What's that?

Carter

Be both your legs bedfellows every night together?

Faustus

Wouldst thou make a Colossus of me, that thou

askest me such questions?

Carter

No, truly, sir, I would make nothing of you. But

I would fain know that.

Enter HOSTESS with drink.

Faustus

Then, I assure thee, certainly they are.

Carter

I thank you. I am fully satisfied.

Faustus

But wherefore dost thou ask?

Carter

For nothing, sir. But methinks you should have

a wooden bedfellow of one of 'em.

Horse-corser

Why, do you hear, sir? Did not I pull off one

of your legs when you were asleep?

Faustus

But I have it again now I am awake. Look you

here, sir.

[He shows them his legs.]

All

O, horrible! Had the doctor three legs?

Carter

Do you remember, sir, how you cozened me and eat up

my load of—

Faustus charms him dumb.

Dick

Do you remember how you made me wear an apes's—

[Faustus charms him dumb.]

Horse-corser

You whoreson conjuring scab, do you remember

how you cozened me with a ho—

[Faustus charms him dumb.]

Robin

Ha' you forgotten me? You think to carry it away

with your 'hey-pass' and 'repass'. Do you remember

the dog's fa—

[Faustus charms him dumb.]

Exeunt CLOWNS.

Hostess

Who pays for the ale? Hear you, Master Doctor,

now you have sent away my guests, I pray, who shall pay

me for my a—

[Faustus charms her dumb.]

Exit HOSTESS

Duchess

[To the Duke] My lord,

we are much beholding to this learnèd man.

Duke

So are we, madam, which we will recompense

With all the love and kindness that we may.

1100

His artful sport drives all sad thoughts away.

Exeunt.

Act V

[V.i]

Thunder and lightning. Enter Devils with covered dishes. MEPHISTOPHELES leads them into Faustus's study.

Then enter WAGNER.

Wagner

I think my master means to die shortly.

He has made his will and given me his wealth:

His house, his goods, and store of golden plate,

Besides two thousand ducats ready coined.

1105

I wonder what he means. If death were nigh,

He would not frolic thus. He's now at supper

With the scholars, where there's such belly-cheer

As Wagner in his life ne'er saw the like.

And see where they come. Belike the feast is done.

Exit.

Enter FAUSTUS, MEPHISTOPHELES, and two or three SCHOLARS.

First Scholar

Master Doctor Faustus, since our conference

about fair ladies—which was the beautifullest 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

so much favour 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

1110

Gentlemen,

For that I know your friendship is unfeigned,

It is not Faustus' custom to deny

The just request of those that wish him well:

You shall behold that peerless dame of Greece,

1115

No otherwise for pomp or majesty

Than when Sir Paris crossed the seas with her

And brought the spoils to rich Dardania.

Be silent then, for danger is in words.

[MEPHISTOPHELES goes to the door.]

Music sound. MEPHISTOPHELES brings in HELEN. She passeth over the stage.

Second Scholar

Was this fair Helen, whose admirèd worth

1120

Made Greece with ten years' wars afflict poor Troy?

Third Scholar

Too simple is my wit to tell her worth,

Whom all the world admires for majesty.

First Scholar

Now we have seen the pride of nature's work,

We'll take our leaves, and for this blessèd sight

1125

Happy and blest be Faustus evermore.

Faustus

Gentlemen, farewell. The same wish I to you.

Exeunt SCHOLARS.

Enter an OLD MAN.

Old Man

O gentle Faustus, leave this damnèd art,

This magic, that will charm thy soul to hell

And quite bereave thee of salvation!

1130

Though thou hast now offended like a man,

Do not persever in it like a devil.

Yet, yet thou hast an amiable soul,

If sin by custom grow not into nature.

Then, Faustus, will repentance come too late;

1135

Then thou art banished from the sight of heaven.

No mortal can express the pains of hell.

It may be this my exhortation

Seems harsh and all unpleasant. Let it not,

For, gentle son, I speak it not in wrath

1140

Or envy of thee, but in tender love

And pity of thy future misery;

And so have hope that this my kind rebuke,

Checking thy body, may amend thy soul.

Faustus

Where art thou, Faustus? Wretch, what hast thou done?

1145

Hell claims his right, and with a roaring voice

Says, 'Faustus, come! Thine hour is almost come.'

Mephistopheles gives him a dagger.

And Faustus now will come to do thee right.

[Faustus prepares to stab himself.]

Old Man

O, stay, good Faustus, stay thy desperate steps!

I see an angel hover o'er thy head,

1150

And with a vial full of precious grace

Offers to pour the same into thy soul.

Then call for mercy and avoid despair.

Faustus

O friend, I feel thy words to comfort my distressèd soul.

Leave me a while to ponder on my sins.

Old Man

1155

Faustus, I leave thee, but with grief of heart,

Fearing the enemy of thy hapless soul.

Exit.

Faustus

Accursèd Faustus, wretch, what hast thou done?

I do repent, and yet I do despair.

Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast.

1160

What shall I do to shun the snares of death?

Mephistopheles

Thou traitor, Faustus, I arrest thy soul

For disobedience to my sovereign lord.

Revolt, or I'll in piecemeal tear thy flesh.

Faustus

I do repent I e'er offended him.

1165

Sweet Mephistopheles, entreat thy lord

To pardon my unjust presumption,

And with my blood again I will confirm

The former vow I made to Lucifer.

Mephistopheles

Do it then, Faustus, with unfeignèd heart,

1170

Lest greater dangers do attend thy drift.

[Faustus cuts his arm and writes with his blood.]

Faustus

Torment, sweet friend, that base and agèd man

That durst dissuade me from thy Lucifer,

With greatest torment that our hell affords.

Mephistopheles

His faith is great. I cannot touch his soul.

1175

But what I may afflict his body with

I will attempt, which is but little worth.

Faustus

One thing, good servant, let me crave of thee

To glut the longing of my heart's desire:

That I may have unto my paramour

1180

That heavenly Helen, which I saw of late,

Whose sweet embraces may extinguish clear

These thoughts that do dissuade me from my vow,

And keep my vow I made to Lucifer.

Mephistopheles

This, or what else my Faustus shall desire,

1185

Shall be performed in twinkling of an eye.

Enter HELEN again [brought in by MEPHISTOPHELES], passing over between two Cupids.

Faustus

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.

[They kiss.]

Her lips suck forth my soul. See where it flies!

1190

Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.

[They kiss again.]

Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,

And all is dross that is not Helena.

I will be Paris, and for love of thee

Instead of Troy shall Wittenberg be sacked,

1195

And I will combat with weak Menelaus,

And wear thy colours on my plumèd crest.

Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel

And then return to Helen for a kiss.

O, thou art fairer than the evening's air,

1200

Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.

Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter

When he appeared to hapless Semele,

More lovely than the monarch of the sky

In wanton Arethusa's azure arms;

1205

And none but thou shalt be my paramour.

Exeunt.

[V.ii]

Thunder. Enter LUCIFER, BEELZEBUB, and MEPHISTOPHELES [above].

Lucifer

Thus from infernal Dis do we ascend

To view the subjects of our monarchy,

Those souls which sin seals the black sons of hell,

'Mong which as chief, Faustus, we come to thee,

1210

Bringing with us lasting damnation

To wait upon thy soul. The time is come

Which makes it forfeit.

Mephistopheles

And this gloomy night

Here in this room will wretchèd Faustus be.

Beelzebub

And here we'll stay

1215

To mark him how he doth demean himself.

Mephistopheles

How should he, but in desperate lunacy?

Fond worldling, now his heart-blood dries with grief;

His conscience kills it, and his labouring brain

Begets a world of idle fantasies

1220

To overreach the devil. But all in vain.

His store of pleasures must be sauced with pain.

He and his servant Wagner are at hand,

Both come from drawing Faustus' latest will.

See where they come.

Enter FAUSTUS and WAGNER.

Faustus

1225

Say, Wagner. Thou hast perused my will;

How dost thou like it?

Wagner

Sir, so wondrous well

As in all humble duty I do yield

My life and lasting service for your love.

Enter the SCHOLARS.

Faustus

Gramercies, Wagner.—Welcome, gentlemen.

[Exit WAGNER.]

First Scholar

Now, worthy Faustus, methinks your looks

are changed.

Faustus

O gentlemen!

Second Scholar

What ails Faustus?

Faustus

Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow! Had I lived with thee,

then had I lived still, but now must die eternally.

Look sirs, comes he not? Comes he not?

First Scholar

O my dear Faustus, what imports this fear?

Second Scholar

Is all our pleasure turned to melancholy?

Third Scholar

[To the other Scholars.] He is not well with

being over-solitary.

Second Scholar

If it be so, we'll have physicians, and

Faustus shall be cured.

Third Scholar

[To Faustus.] 'Tis but a surfeit, sir. Fear nothing.

Faustus

A surfeit of deadly sin, that hath damned both

body and soul.

Second Scholar

Yet, Faustus, look up to heaven, and remember

mercy is infinite.

Faustus

But Faustus's offence can ne'er be pardoned. The

serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus.

O gentlemen, hear with patience, and tremble not

at my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver to

remember that I have been a student here these thirty

years, O, would I had never seen Wittenberg, 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 for ever.

Hell, O, hell for ever! Sweet friends, what shall

become of Faustus, being in hell for ever?

Second Scholar

Yet, Faustus, call on God.

Faustus

On God, whom Faustus hath abjured? On God, whom

Faustus hath blasphemed? O my God, I would weep,

but the devil draws in my tears. Gush forth blood

instead of tears, yea, life and soul. O, he stays

my tongue! I would lift up my hands, but see, they

hold 'em, they hold 'em.

All

Who, Faustus?

Faustus

Why, Lucifer and Mephistopheles. O gentlemen,

I gave them my soul for my cunning.

All

O, God forbid!

Faustus

God forbade it indeed, but Faustus hath done it.

For the vain pleasure of four-and-twenty years hath Faustus

lost eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with

mine own blood. The date is expired. This is the

time, and he will fetch me.

First 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 me body and soul if I once gave ear to divinity.

And now 'tis too late. Gentlemen, away, lest you

perish with me.

Second Scholar

O, what may we do to save Faustus?

Faustus

Talk not of me, but save yourselves and depart.

Third Scholar

God will strengthen me. I will stay with

Faustus.

First Scholar

[To the Third Scholar] Tempt not God, sweet friend, but let us into the next room and pray for him.

Faustus

Ay, pray for me, pray for me! And what noise

soever you hear, come not unto me, for nothing can

rescue me.

Second 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.

Exeunt SCHOLARS.

Mephistopheles

1230

Ay, Faustus, now thou hast no hope of heaven;

Therefore despair. Think only upon hell,

For that must be thy mansion, there to dwell.

Faustus

O thou bewitching fiend, 'twas thy temptation

Hath robbed me of eternal happiness.

Mephistopheles

1235

I do confess it, Faustus, and rejoice.

'Twas I that, when thou wert i'the way to heaven,

Dammed up thy passage. When thou took'st the book

To view the Scriptures, then I turned the leaves

And led thine eye.

1240

What, weep'st thou? 'Tis too late. Despair, farewell!

Fools that will laugh on earth must weep in hell.

Exit.

Enter the GOOD ANGEL and the BAD ANGEL at several doors.

Good Angel

O Faustus, if thou hadst given ear to me,

Innumerable joys had followed thee.

But thou didst love the world.

Bad Angel

Gave ear to me,

1245

And now must taste hell's pains perpetually.

Good Angel

O, what will all thy riches, pleasures, pomps

Avail thee now?

Bad Angel

Nothing but vex thee more,

To want in hell, that had on earth such store.

Music while the throne descends.

Good Angel

O, thou hast lost celestial happiness,

1250

Pleasures unspeakable, bliss without end.

Hadst thou affected sweet divinity,

Hell or the devil had had no power on thee.

Hadst thou kept on that way, Faustus, behold

In what resplendent glory thou hadst set

1255

In yonder throne, like those bright shining saints,

And triumphed over hell. That hast thou lost.

And now, poor soul, must thy good angel leave thee.

The jaws of hell are open to receive thee.

[The throne ascends.] Exit [GOOD ANGEL].

Hell is discovered.

Bad Angel

Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with horror stare

1260

Into that vast perpetual torture-house.

There are the Furies tossing damnèd souls

On burning forks; their bodies boil in lead.

There are live quarters broiling on the coals,

That ne'er can die. This ever-burning chair

1265

Is for o'er-tortured souls to rest them in.

These that are fed with sops of flaming fire

Were gluttons, and loved only delicates,

And laughed to see the poor starve at their gates.

But yet all these are nothing. Thou shalt see

1270

Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be.

Faustus

O, I have seen enough to torture me!

Bad Angel

Nay, thou must feel them, taste the smart of All.

He that loves pleasure must for pleasure of All.

And so I leave thee, Faustus, till anon;

1275

Then wilt thou tumble in confusion.

Exit.

The clock strikes eleven.

Faustus

O 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,

1280

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!

1285

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 heaven! Who pulls me down?

One drop of blood will save me. O, my Christ!

1290

Rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!

Yet will I call on him. O, spare me, Lucifer!

Where is it now? 'Tis gone;

And see a threat'ning arm, an angry brow.

Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,

1295

And hide me from the heavy wrath of heaven!

No? Then will I headlong run into the earth.

Gape, earth! O, no, it will not harbour me.

You stars that reigned at my nativity,

Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,

1300

Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist

Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud,

That when you vomit forth into the air,

My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,

But let my soul mount and ascend to heaven.

The watch strikes.

1305

O, half the hour is past! 'Twill all be past anon.

O, if my soul must suffer for my sin,

Impose some end to my incessant pain.

Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,

A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.

1310

No end is limited to damnèd souls.

Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?

Or why is this immortal that thou hast?

O, Pythagoras' metempsychosis, were that true,

This soul should fly from me and I be changed

1315

Into 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 engendered me!

1320

No, Faustus, curse thyself. Curse Lucifer

That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.

The clock strikes twelve.

It strikes, it strikes! Now, body, turn to air,

Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.

O soul, be changed into small waterdrops,

1325

And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found!

Thunder, and enter the Devils.

O, mercy, heaven, look not so fierce on me!

Adders and serpents, let me breathe a while!

Ugly hell, gape not. Come not, Lucifer!

I'll burn my books. O, Mephistopheles!

Exeunt.

[V.iii]

Enter the SCHOLARS.

First Scholar

1330

Come, gentlemen, let us go visit Faustus,

For such a dreadful night was never seen

Since first the world's creation did begin.

Such fearful shrieks and cries were never heard.

Pray heaven the doctor have escaped the danger.

Second Scholar

1335

O, help us, heaven! See, here are Faustus' limbs,

All torn asunder by the hand of death.

Third Scholar

The devils whom Faustus served have torn him thus.

For, twixt the hours of twelve and one, methought

I heard him shriek and call aloud for help,

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At which self time the house seemed all on fire

With dreadful horror of these damnèd fiends.

Second Scholar

Well, gentlemen, though Faustus' end be such

As every Christian heart laments to think on,

Yet, for he was a scholar, once admired

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For wondrous knowledge in our German schools,

We'll give his mangled limbs due burial;

And all the students, clothed in mourning black,

Shall wait upon his heavy funeral.

Exeunt.

Enter CHORUS.

Chorus

Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,

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And burnèd is Apollo's laurel bough

That sometime grew within this learnèd man.

Faustus is gone. Regard his hellish fall,

Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise

Only to wonder at unlawful things,

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Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits

To practise more than heavenly power permits.

[Exit.]

Terminat hora diem; terminat author opus.