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The Complete Plays

Page 34

by Christopher Marlowe


  100 Without fresh men to rig and furnish them.

  CALYMATH

  Tush, governor, take thou no care for that.

  My men are all aboard,

  And do attend my coming there by this.

  FERNEZE

  Why, heard’st thou not the trumpet sound a charge?

  CALYMATH

  Yes, what of that?

  FERNEZE Why, then the house was fired,

  Blown up, and all thy soldiers massacred.

  CALYMATH

  O, monstrous treason!

  FERNEZE A Jew’s courtesy;

  For he that did by treason work our fall,

  By treason hath delivered thee to us.

  110 Know, therefore, till thy father hath made good

  The ruins done to Malta and to us,

  Thou canst not part; for Malta shall be freed,

  Or Selim ne’er return to Ottoman.

  CALYMATH

  Nay, rather, Christians, let me go to Turkey,

  In person there to meditate your peace.

  To keep me here will naught advantage you.

  FERNEZE

  Content thee, Calymath, here thou must stay,

  And live in Malta prisoner; for, come all the world

  To rescue thee, so will we guard us now,

  120 As sooner shall they drink the ocean dry

  Than conquer Malta or endanger us.

  So, march away, and let due praise be given

  Neither to fate nor fortune, but to heaven.

  [Exeunt.]

  EPILOGUE [SPOKEN AT COURT]

  It is our fear, dread sovereign, we have been

  Too tedious; neither can’t be less than sin

  To wrong your princely patience. If we have,

  Thus low dejected, we your pardon crave;

  And if aught here offend your ear or sight,

  5 We only act, and speak, what others write.

  EPILOGUE

  In graving with Pygmalion to contend,

  Or painting with Apelles, doubtless the end

  Must be disgrace. Our actor did not so;

  He only aimed to go, but not outgo.

  5 Nor think that this day any prize was played;

  Here were no bets at all, no wagers laid.

  All the ambition that his mind doth swell

  Is but to hear from you (by me) ’twas well.

  DOCTOR FAUSTUS

  [Dramatis Personae

  THE CHORUS

  DOCTOR JOHN FAUSTUS

  WAGNER

  GOOD ANGEL

  EVIL ANGEL

  VALDES

  CORNELIUS

  THREE SCHOLARS

  MEPHISTOPHELES

  ROBIN, the Clown

  RAFE

  LUCIFER

  BEELZEBUB

  CALYPHAS/AMYRAS/CELEBINUS/Tamburlaine’sons

  THE POPE

  THE CARDINAL OF LORRAINE

  FRIARS

  A VINTNER

  THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY, Charles V

  A KNIGHT

  PRIDE/COVETOUSNESS/WRATH/ENVY/GLUTTONY/SLOTH/LECHERY/the seven deadly sins

  A HORSE-COURSER

  THE DUKE OF VANHOLT

  THE DUCHESS OF VANHOLT

  HELEN OF TROY, a Spirit

  AN OLD MAN

  DEVILS

  ATTENDANTS]/Spirit

  [PROLOGUE]

  Enter CHORUS.

  CHORUS

  Not marching now in fields of Trasimene

  Where Mars did mate the Carthaginians,

  Nor sporting in the dalliance of love

  In courts of kings where state is overturned,

  Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,

  Intends our muse to vaunt his heavenly verse.

  Only this, gentlemen: we must perform

  The form of Faustus’ fortunes, good or bad.

  To patient judgements we appeal our plaud,

  And speak for Faustus in his infancy.

  10 Now is he born, his parents base of stock,

  In Germany, within a town called Rhode.

  Of riper years to Wittenberg he went,

  Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.

  So soon he profits in divinity,

  The fruitful plot of scholarism graced,

  That shortly he was graced with doctor’s name,

  Excelling all whose sweet delight disputes

  In heavenly matters of theology,

  Till, swoll’n with cunning of a self-conceit,

  20 His waxen wings did mount above his reach,

  And melting heavens conspired his overthrow.

  For, falling to a devilish exercise,

  And glutted more with learning’s golden gifts,

  He surfeits upon 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.

  [Scene 1]

  Enter 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 the end.

  10 A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit.

  Bid On kai me on farewell. Galen, come!

  Seeing ubi desinit philosophus, ibi incipit medicus,

  Be a physician, Faustus. Heap up gold,

  And be eternized 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?

  Is not thy common talk sound aphorisms?

  Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,

  20 Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague

  And thousand desp’rate maladies been eased?

  Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.

  Wouldst thou make man to live eternally,

  Or, being dead, raise them to life again,

  Then this profession were to be esteemed.

  Physic, farewell. Where is Justinian?

  [He reads] ‘Si una eademque res legatur duobus,

  Alter rem, alter valorem rei’, etc.

  30 A pretty 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,

  His 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!

  40 ‘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’s no truth in us.

  Why then belike we must sin,

  And so consequently die.

  Ay, we must die an everlasting death.

  What doctrine call you this? Che serà, serà,

  50 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, schemes, letters, and characters –

  Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.

 
O, what a world of profit and delight,

  Of power, of honour, of omnipotence

  Is promised to the studious artisan!

  All things that move between the quiet poles

  Shall be at my command. Emperors and kings

  60 Are but obeyed in their several provinces,

  Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds;

  But his dominion that exceeds in this

  Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.

  A sound magician is a mighty god.

  Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity.

  Wagner!

  Enter WAGNER.

  Commend me to my dearest friends,

  The German Valdes and Cornelius.

  Request them earnestly to visit me.

  WAGNER I will, Sir.

  Exit [WAGNER].

  FAUSTUS

  Their conference will be a greater help to me

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

  Enter the GOOD ANGEL and the EVIL 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.

  EVIL ANGEL

  Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art

  Wherein all nature’s treasury is contained.

  Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,

  Lord and commander of these elements.

  Exeunt [ANGELS].

  FAUSTUS

  How am I glutted with conceit of this!

  80 Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,

  Resolve me of all ambiguities,

  Perform what desperate enterprise I will?

  I’ll have them fly to India for gold,

  Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,

  And search all corners of the new-found world

  For pleasant fruits and princely delicates.

  I’ll have them read me strange philosophy

  And tell the secrets of all foreign kings.

  I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass

  90 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,

  And reign sole king of all our provinces;

  Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war

  Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge

  I’ll make my servile spirits to invent.

  100 Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,

  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 –

  Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy,

  That will receive no object, for my head

  But ruminates on necromantic skill.

  Philosophy is odious and obscure;

  Both law and physic are for petty wits;

  110 Divinity is basest of the three,

  Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile.

  ’Tis magic, magic that hath ravished me.

  Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt,

  And I, that have with concise syllogisms

  Gravelled the pastors of the German Church,

  And made the flow’ring pride of Wittenberg

  Swarm to my problems as the infernal spirits

  On sweet Musaeus when he came to hell,

  Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,

  120 Whose shadows made all Europe honour him.

  VALDES

  Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience

  Shall make all nations to canonize us.

  As Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords,

  So shall the subjects of every element

  Be always serviceable to us three.

  Like lions shall they guard us when we please,

  Like Almain 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

  130 Than in the white breasts of the Queen of Love.

  From Venice shall they drag huge argosies,

  And from America the golden fleece

  That yearly stuffs old Philip’s treasury,

  If learnèd Faustus will be resolute.

  FAUSTUS

  Valdes, as resolute am I in this

  As thou to live. Therefore object it not.

  CORNELIUS

  The miracles that magic will perform

  Will make thee vow to study nothing else.

  He that is grounded in astrology,

  140 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

  Than heretofore the Delphian oracle.

  The spirits tell me they can dry the sea

  And fetch the treasure of all foreign wracks –

  Ay, all the wealth that our forefathers hid

  Within the massy entrails of the earth.

  150 Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want?

  FAUSTUS

  Nothing, Cornelius. O, this cheers my soul!

  Come, show me some demonstrations magical,

  That I may conjure in some lusty grove

  And have these joys in full possession.

  VALDES

  Then haste thee to some solitary grove,

  And bear wise Bacon’s and Albanus’ works,

  The Hebrew Psalter, and New Testament;

  And whatsoever else is requisite,

  We will inform thee ere our conference cease.

  CORNELIUS

  160 Valdes, first let him know the words of art,

  And then, all other ceremonies learned,

  Faustus may try his cunning by himself.

  VALDES

  First I’ll instruct thee in the rudiments,

  And then wilt thou be perfecter than I.

  FAUSTUS

  Then come and dine with me, and after meat

  We’ll canvass every quaddity there of,

  For ere I sleep I’ll try what I can do.

  This night I’ll conjure, though I die therefore.

  Exeunt.

  [Scene 2]

  Enter two SCHOLARS.

  FIRST SCHOLAR I wonder what’s become of Faustus, that was wont to make our schools ring with ‘sic probo’.

  SECOND SCHOLAR That shall we know, for see, here comes his boy.

  Enter WAGNER, [carrying wine].

  FIRST SCHOLAR How now, sirrah, where’s thy master?

  WAGNER God in heaven knows.

  SECOND SCHOLAR Why, dost not thou know?

  WAGNER Yes, I know, but that follows not.

  FIRST SCHOLAR Go to, sirrah! Leave your jesting, and tell us

  10 where he is.

  WAGNER That follows not necessary by force of argument

  that you, being licentiate, should stand upon’t. Therefore,

  acknowledge your error, and be attentive.

  SECOND SCHOLAR Why, didst thou not say thou knew’st?

  WAGNER Have you any witness on’t?

  FIRST SCHOLAR Yes, sirrah, I heard you.

  WAGNER Ask my fellow if I be a thief.

  SECOND SCHOLAR Well, you will not tell us.

  WAGNER Yes, sir, I will tell you. Yet if you were not dunces,

  you would never ask me such a question. For is not he corpus

  20 naturale? And is not that mobile? Then, wherefore should

  you ask me su
ch a question? But that I am by nature phlegmatic,

  slow to wrath, and prone to lechery – to love, I would

  say – it were not for you to come within forty foot of the place

  of execution, although I do not doubt to see you both hanged

  the next sessions. Thus, having triumphed over you, I will set

  my countenance like a precisian and begin to speak thus:

  Truly, my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner with

  Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, it would

  inform your worships. And so the Lord bless you,

  30 preserve you, and keep you, my dear brethren, my dear

  brethren.

  Exit [WAGNER].

  FIRST SCHOLAR Nay, then, I fear he is fall’n into that damned art for which they two are infamous through the world.

  SECOND SCHOLAR Were he a stranger, and not allied to me,

  yet should I grieve for him. But come, let us go and inform

  the Rector, and see if he, by his grave counsel, can reclaim

  him.

  FIRST SCHOLAR O, but I fear me nothing can reclaim him.

  SECOND SCHOLAR Yet let us try what we can do.

  40

  Exeunt.

  [Scene 3]

  Enter FAUSTUS to conjure.

  FAUSTUS

  Now that the gloomy shadow of the earth,

  Longing to view Orion’s drizzling look,

  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 hast prayed and sacrificed to them.

  Within this circle is Jehovah’s name,

  Forward and backward anagrammatized,

  10 The breviated names of holy saints,

  Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,

  And characters of signs and erring stars,

  By which the spirits are enforced to rise.

  Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute,

  And try the uttermost magic can perform.

  Sint mihi dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen triplex

  Jehovae! Ignei, aerii, aquatici, spiritus, salvete! Orientis

  princeps, Beelzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et

  Demogorgon, propitiamus vos, ut appareat et surgat

  20 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

  dicatis Mephistopheles!

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

  Enter a DEVIL [MEPHISTOPHELES].

  I charge thee to return and change thy shape,

  Thou art too ugly to attend on me.

 

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