Wherein thou hast given thy soul to Lucifer.
FAUSTUS
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?
Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives’ tales.
MEPHISTOPHELES
But, Faustus, I am an instance to prove the contrary,
For I am damnèd and am now in hell.
FAUSTUS How? Now in hell? Nay, an this be hell, I’ll willingly
140 be damned here. What? Walking, disputing, etc.? But leaving
off this, let me have a wife, the fairest maid in Germany, for
I am wanton and lascivious and cannot live without a wife.
MEPHISTOPHELES How, a wife? I prithee, Faustus, talk not of a wife.
FAUSTUS Nay, sweet Mephistopheles, fetch me one, for I will have one.
MEPHISTOPHELES Well, thou wilt have one. Sit there till I come. I’ll fetch thee a wife, in the devil’s name.
[Exit MEPHISTOPHELES, then re-]enter with a DEVIL dressed like a woman, with fireworks.
MEPHISTOPHELES Tell, Faustus, how dost thou like thy wife?
150
FAUSTUS A plague on her for a hot whore!
MEPHISTOPHELES Tut, Faustus, marriage is but a ceremonial toy.
If thou lovest me, think no more of it.
[Exit DEVIL.]
I’ll cull thee out the fairest courtesans
And bring them ev’ry morning to thy bed.
She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall have,
Be she as chaste as was Penelope,
As wise as Saba, or as beautiful
As was bright Lucifer before his fall.
[Presenting a book]
Hold, take this book. Peruse it thoroughly.
160 The iterating of these lines brings gold;
The framing of this circle on the ground
Brings whirlwinds, tempests, thunder, and lightning.
Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thyself,
And men in armour shall appear to thee,
Ready to execute what thou desir’st.
FAUSTUS Thanks, Mephistopheles. Yet fain would I have a book wherein I might behold all spells and incantations, that I might raise up spirits when I please.
170 MEPHISTOPHELES Here they are in this book. (There turn to them)
FAUSTUS Now would I have a book where I might see all characters and planets of the heavens, that I might know their motions and dispositions.
MEPHISTOPHELES Here they are too. (Turn to them)
FAUSTUS Nay, let me have one book more, and then I have done, wherein I might see all plants, herbs, and trees that grow upon the earth.
MEPHISTOPHELES Here they be.
FAUSTUS O, thou art deceived.
180 MEPHISTOPHELES Tut, I warrant thee. (Turn to them)
[Exeunt.]
[Scene 6]
Enter ROBIN the ostler with a book in his hand.
ROBIN O, this is admirable! Here I ha’ stol’n one of Doctor Faustus’ conjuring books, and, i’faith, I mean to search some circles for my own use. Now will I make all the maidens in our parish dance at my pleasure stark naked before me, and so by that means I shall see more than e’er I felt or saw yet.
Enter RAFE, calling ROBIN.
RAFE Robin, prithee, come away. There a gentleman tarries to have his horse, and he would have his things rubbed and made clean; he keeps such a chafing with my mistress about it, and she has sent me to look thee out. Prithee, come away.
10 ROBIN Keep out, keep out, or else you are blown up, you are dismembered, Rafe! Keep out, for I am about a roaring piece of work.
RAFE Come, what dost thou with that same book? Thou canst not read.
ROBIN Yes, my master and mistress shall find that I can read – he for his forehead, she for her private study. She’s born to bear with me, or else my art fails.
RAFE Why, Robin, what book is that?
ROBIN What book? Why the most intolerable book for conjuring
that e’er was invented by any brimstone devil.
20
RAFE Canst thou conjure with it?
ROBIN I can do all these things easily with it: first, I can make thee drunk with hippocras at any tavern in Europe for nothing. That’s one of my conjuring works.
RAFE Our Master Parson says that’s nothing.
ROBIN True, Rafe, and more, Rafe, if thou hast any mind to Nan Spit, our kitchen maid, then turn her and wind her to thy own use as often as thou wilt, and at midnight.
RAFE O brave Robin! Shall I have Nan Spit, and to mine own
use? On that condition I’ll feed thy devil with horse-bread as
30 long as he lives, of free cost.
ROBIN No more, sweet Rafe. Let’s go and make clean our boots, which lie foul upon our hands, and then to our conjuring, in the devil’s name.
Exeunt.
[Scene 7]
[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
Why Faustus,
Think’st thou heaven is such a glorious thing?
I tell thee, ’tis not half so fair as thou
Or any man that breathes on earth.
FAUSTUS How provest thou that?
MEPHISTOPHELES
It was made for man, therefore is man more excellent.
FAUSTUS
If it were made for man, ’twas made for me.
10 I will renounce this magic and repent.
Enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL.
GOOD ANGEL
Faustus, repent yet, God will pity thee.
EVIL ANGEL
Thou art a spirit, God cannot pity thee.
FAUSTUS
Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit?
Be I a devil, yet God may pity me;
Ay, God will pity me if I repent.
EVIL ANGEL
Ay, but Faustus never shall repent.
Exeunt [ANGELS].
FAUSTUS
My heart’s so hardened I cannot repent.
Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven,
20 But fearful echoes thunders in mine ears:
‘Faustus, thou art damned!’ Then swords and knives,
Poison, guns, halters, and envenomed steel
Are laid before me to dispatch myself;
And long ere this I should have slain myself
Had not sweet pleasure conquered deep despair.
Have not I made blind Homer sing to me
Of Alexander’s love and Oenone’s death?
And hath not he that built the walls of Thebes
With ravishing sound of his melodious harp
30 Made music with my Mephistopheles?
Why should I die, then, or basely despair?
I am resolved Faustus shall ne’er repent.
Come, Mephistopheles, let us dispute again
And argue of divine astrology.
Tell me, are there many heavens above the moon?
Are all celestial bodies but one globe,
As is the substance of this centric earth?
MEPHISTOPHELES
As are the elements, such are the spheres,
Mutually folded in each other’s orb;
40 And, Faustus, all jointly move upon one axletree,
Whose terminine is termed the world’s wide pole.
Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter
Feigned, but are erring stars.
FAUSTUS But tell me, have they all one motion, both situ et tempore?
MEPHISTOPHELES All jointly move from east to west in four-and-twenty hours upon the poles of the world, but differ in their motion upon the poles of the zodiac.
FAUSTUS
Tush, these slender trifles Wagner c
an decide.
Hath Mephistopheles no greater skill?
50 Who knows not the double motion of the planets?
The first is finished in a natural day,
The second thus, as Saturn in thirty years,
Jupiter in twelve, Mars in four, the sun, Venus, and Mercury
in a year, the moon in twenty-eight days. Tush, these are
freshmen’s suppositions. 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
60 the empyreal heaven.
FAUSTUS Well, resolve me in this question: why have we not conjunctions, oppositions, aspects, eclipses all at one time, but in some years we have more, in some less?
MEPHISTOPHELES Per inaequalem motum respectu totius.
FAUSTUS Well, I am answered. Tell me who made the world.
MEPHISTOPHELES I will not.
FAUSTUS Sweet Mephistopheles, tell me.
MEPHISTOPHELES Move me not, for I will not tell thee.
FAUSTUS Villain, have I not bound thee to tell me anything?
70
MEPHISTOPHELES Ay, that is not against our kingdom, but this is. Think thou on hell, Faustus, for thou art damned.
FAUSTUS Think, Faustus, upon God, that made the world.
MEPHISTOPHELES Remember this.
Exit [MEPHISTOPHELES].
FAUSTUS
Ay, go, accursèd spirit, to ugly hell!
’Tis thou hast damned distressèd Faustus’ soul.
Is’t not too late?
Enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL [ANGEL].
EVIL ANGEL
Too late.
GOOD ANGEL
Never too late, if Faustus can repent.
EVIL ANGEL
80 If thou repent, devils shall tear thee in pieces.
GOOD ANGEL
Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin.
Exeunt [ANGELS].
FAUSTUS
Ah, Christ, my Saviour,
Seek to save distressèd Faustus’ soul!
Enter LUCIFER, BEELZEBUB, and MEPHISTOPHELES.
LUCIFER
Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just.
There’s none but I have int’rest in the same.
FAUSTUS
O, who art thou that look’st so terrible?
LUCIFER
I am Lucifer,
And this is my companion prince in hell.
FAUSTUS
O Faustus, they are come to fetch away thy soul!
LUCIFER
90 We come to tell thee thou dost injure us.
Thou talk’st of Christ, contrary to thy promise.
Thou shouldst not think of God. Think of the devil,
And of his dame, too.
FAUSTUS
Nor will I henceforth. Pardon me in this,
And Faustus vows never to look to heaven,
Never to name God or to pray to him,
To burn his Scriptures, slay his ministers,
And make my spirits pull his churches down.
LUCIFER
Do so, and we will highly gratify thee.
Faustus, we are come from hell to show thee some pastime.
100 Sit down, and thou shalt see all the Seven Deadly Sins appear in their proper shapes.
FAUSTUS That sight will be as pleasing unto me as paradise was to Adam, the first day of his creation.
LUCIFER Talk not of paradise nor creation, but mark this show.
Talk of the devil, and nothing else. Come away!
Enter the SEVEN DEADLY SINS.
Now, Faustus, examine them of their several names and dispositions.
FAUSTUS What art thou, the first?
PRIDE I am Pride. I disdain to have any parents. I am like to
110 Ovid’s flea: I can creep into every corner of a wench. Sometimes
like a periwig I sit upon her brow, or like a fan of
feathers I kiss her lips. Indeed I do. What do I not? But fie,
what a scent is here! I’ll not speak another word except the
ground were perfumed and covered with cloth of arras.
FAUSTUS What art thou, the second?
COVETOUSNESS I am Covetousness, begotten of an old churl
in an old leathern bag; and might I have my wish, I would
desire that this house and all the people in it were turned
to gold, that I might lock you up in my good chest. O my
120 sweet gold!
FAUSTUS What art thou, the third?
WRATH I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother. I leaped out of a lion’s mouth when I was scarce half an hour old, and ever since I have run up and down the world with this case of rapiers, wounding myself when I had nobody to fight withal. I was born in hell, and look to it, for some of you shall be my father.
FAUSTUS What art thou, the fourth?
ENVY I am Envy, begotten of a chimney-sweeper and an oyster-
130 wife. I cannot read, and therefore wish all books were
burnt. I am lean with seeing others eat. O, that there
would come a famine through all the world, that all might
die, and I live alone! Then thou shouldst see how fat I would
be. But must thou sit and I stand? Come down, with a vengeance!
FAUSTUS Away, envious rascal! What art thou, the fifth?
GLUTTONY Who, I, sir? I am Gluttony. My parents are all dead,
and the devil a penny they have left me but a bare pension,
140 and that is thirty meals a day, and ten bevers – a small
trifle to suffice nature. O, I come of a royal parentage. My
grandfather was a gammon of bacon, my grandmother a
hogshead of claret wine. My godfathers were these: Peter
Pickle-herring and Martin Martlemas-beef. O, but my godmother,
she was a jolly gentlewoman, and well beloved in
every good town and city; her name was Mistress Margery
March-beer. Now, Faustus, thou hast heard all my progeny,
wilt thou bid me to supper?
FAUSTUS No, I’ll see thee hanged. Thou wilt eat up all my
150 victuals.
GLUTTONY Then the devil choke thee!
FAUSTUS Choke thyself, glutton! What art thou, the sixth?
SLOTH I am Sloth. I was begotten on a sunny bank, where I have lain ever since, and you have done me great injury to bring me from thence. Let me be carried thither again by Gluttony and Lechery. I’ll not speak another word for a king’s ransom.
FAUSTUS What are you, Mistress Minx, the seventh and last?
LECHERY Who, I, sir? I am one that loves an inch of raw mutton
160 better than an ell of fried stockfish, and the first letter of my
name begins with Lechery.
LUCIFER Away, to hell, to hell!
Exeunt the SINS.
Now, Faustus, how dost thou like this?
FAUSTUS O, this feeds my soul!
LUCIFER Tut, Faustus, in hell is all manner of delight.
FAUSTUS O, might I see hell and return again, how happy were I then!
LUCIFER Thou shalt. I will send for thee at midnight. [Presenting
a book] In meantime, take this book, peruse it throughly, and
170 thou shalt turn thyself into what shape thou wilt.
FAUSTUS [taking the book] Great thanks, mighty Lucifer. This will I keep as chary as my life.
LUCIFER Farewell, Faustus, and think on the devil.
FAUSTUS Farewell, great Lucifer. Come, Mephistopheles.
Exeunt.
[Chorus 2]
Enter WAGNER alone.
WAGNER
Learnèd Faustus,
To know the secrets of astronomy
Graven in the book of Jove’s high firmament,
Did mount himself to scale Olympus’ top,
Drawn by the strength of yoky dragons’ necks.
He now is gone to prove cosmography,
And, as I guess, will first arrive at Rome
To see the Pope and manner of his court,
And take some part of holy Peter’s feast
10 That to this day is highly solemnized.
Exit WAGNER.
[Scene 8]
Enter FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHELES.
FAUSTUS
Having now, my good Mephistopheles,
Passed with delight the stately town of Trier,
Environed round with airy mountain tops,
With walls of flint and deep entrenchèd lakes,
Not to be won by any conquering prince;
From Paris next, coasting the realm of France,
We saw the river Maine fall into Rhine,
Whose banks are set with groves of fruitful vines.
Then up to Naples, rich Campania,
10 Whose buildings, fair and gorgeous to the eye,
The streets straight forth and paved with finest brick,
Quarters the town in four equivalents,
There saw we learnèd Maro’s golden tomb,
The way he cut an English mile in length
Thorough a rock of stone in one night’s space.
From thence to Venice, Padua, and the rest,
In midst of which a sumptuous temple stands
That threats the stars with her aspiring top.
Thus hitherto hath Faustus spent his time.
20 But tell me now, what resting place is this?
Hast thou, as erst I did command,
Conducted me within the walls of Rome?
MEPHISTOPHELES Faustus, I have; and because we will not be unprovided, I have taken up his holiness’ privy chamber for our use.
FAUSTUS I hope his holiness will bid us welcome.
MEPHISTOPHELES Tut, ’tis no matter, man, we’ll be bold with his good cheer.
And now, my Faustus, that thou mayst perceive
30 What Rome containeth to delight thee with,
Know that this city stands upon seven hills
That underprops the groundwork of the same.
Just through the midst runs flowing Tiber’s stream,
With winding banks that cut it in two parts,
Over the which four stately bridges lean,
That makes safe passage to each part of Rome.
Upon the bridge called Ponte Angelo
Erected is a castle passing strong,
Within whose walls such store of ordnance are,
The Complete Plays Page 36