Christopher Marlowe

“ FAUSTUS. Ah, Christ, my Saviour, Seek to save distressed Faustus' soul! Enter LUCIFER, BELZEBUB, and MEPHISTOPHILIS. LUCIFER. Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just: There's none but I have interest 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. 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 dam too. ”

“ FAUSTUS. Already Faustus hath hazarded that for thee.
MEPHIST. 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. Stay, Mephistophilis, and tell me, what good will my
soul do thy lord?
MEPHIST. Enlarge his kingdom.
FAUSTUS. Is that the reason why he tempts us thus?
MEPHIST. Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
FAUSTUS. Why, have you any pain that torture others?
MEPHIST. As great as have the human souls of men.
But, tell me, Faustus, shall I have thy soul? ”

“ Is not all power on earth bestow'd on us?
And therefore, though we would, we cannot err.
Behold this silver belt, whereto is fix'd
Seven golden seals, fast sealed with seven seals,
In token of our seven-fold power from heaven,
To bind or loose, lock fast, condemn or judge,
Resign or seal, or what so pleaseth us:
Then he and thou, and all the world, shall stoop,
Or be assured of our dreadful curse,
To light as heavy as the pains of hell.
Re-enter FAUSTUS and MEPHISTOPHILIS, in the shapes of the
CARDINALS of France and Padua.
MEPHIST. Now tell me, Faustus, are we not fitted well? ”

“ WAGNER. Sir, the Duke of Vanholt doth earnestly entreat your company. FAUSTUS. The Duke of Vanholt! an honourable gentleman, to whom I must be no niggard of my cunning.—Come, Mephistophilis, let's away to him. [Exeunt.] Enter the DUKE OF VANHOLT, the DUCHESS, and FAUSTUS. DUKE. Believe me, Master Doctor, this merriment hath much pleased me. FAUSTUS. My gracious lord, I am glad it contents you so well. —But it may be, madam, you take no delight in this. I have heard that great-bellied women do long for some dainties or other: what is it, madam? ”

“ OLD MAN. I go, sweet Faustus; but with heavy cheer, Fearing the ruin of thy hopeless soul. [Exit.] FAUSTUS. Accursed Faustus, where is mercy now? I do repent; and yet I do despair: Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast: What shall I do to shun the snares of death? MEPHIST. Thou traitor, Faustus, I arrest thy soul For disobedience to my sovereign lord: Revolt, or I'll in piece-meal tear thy flesh. FAUSTUS. Sweet Mephistophilis, entreat thy lord To pardon my unjust presumption, And with my blood again I will confirm My former vow I made to Lucifer. ”

“ EVIL ANGEL. Rather illusions, fruits of lunacy, That make men foolish that do trust them most. GOOD ANGEL. Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things. EVIL ANGEL. No, Faustus; think of honour and of wealth. [Exeunt ANGELS.] FAUSTUS. Of wealth! Why, the signiory of Embden shall be mine. When Mephistophilis shall stand by me, What god can hurt thee, Faustus? thou art safe Cast no more doubts.—Come, Mephistophilis, And bring glad tidings from great Lucifer;— Is't not midnight?—come, Mephistophilis, Veni, veni, Mephistophile! Enter MEPHISTOPHILIS. Now tell me what says Lucifer, thy lord? ”

“ RALPH. O, brave, Robin! shall I have Nan Spit, and to mine own use? On that condition I'll feed thy devil with horse-bread as long as he lives, of free cost. ROBIN. No more, sweet Ralph: 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.] Enter ROBIN and RALPH with a silver goblet. ROBIN. Come, Ralph: did not I tell thee, we were for ever made by this Doctor Faustus' book? ecce, signum! here's a simple purchase for horse-keepers: our horses shall eat no hay as long as this lasts. RALPH. But, Robin, here comes the Vintner. ”

“ Go and return to mighty Lucifer, And meet me in my study at midnight, And then resolve me of thy master's mind. MEPHIST. I will, Faustus. [Exit.] FAUSTUS. Had I as many souls as there be stars, I'd give them all for Mephistophilis. By him I'll be great emperor of the world, And make a bridge thorough the moving air, To pass the ocean with a band of men; 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. ”

“ ROBIN. How, into an ape! that's brave: I'll have fine sport with the boys; I'll get nuts and apples enow. RALPH. And I must be a dog. ROBIN. I'faith, thy head will never be out of the pottage-pot. [Exeunt.] Enter EMPEROR,131 FAUSTUS, and a KNIGHT, with ATTENDANTS. EMPEROR. Master Doctor Faustus,132 I have heard strange report of thy knowledge in the black art, how that none in my empire nor in the whole world can compare with thee for the rare effects of magic: they say thou hast a familiar spirit, by whom thou canst accomplish what thou list. ”

“ FAUSTUS. When I behold the heavens, then I repent, And curse thee, wicked Mephistophilis, Because thou hast depriv'd me of those joys. MEPHIST. Why, Faustus, Thinkest 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 prov'st thou that? MEPHIST. 'Twas made for man, therefore is man more excellent. FAUSTUS. If it were made for man, 'twas made for me: 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 ”

“ Enter a HORSE-COURSER. HORSE-COURSER. I have been all this day seeking one Master Fustian: mass, see where he is!—God save you, Master Doctor! FAUSTUS. What, horse-courser! you are well met. HORSE-COURSER. Do you hear, sir? I have brought you forty dollars for your horse. FAUSTUS. I cannot sell him so: if thou likest him for fifty, take him. HORSE-COURSER. Alas, sir, I have no more!—I pray you, speak for me. MEPHIST. I pray you, let him have him: he is an honest fellow, and he has a great charge, neither wife nor child. ”

“ Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib'd In one self place; for where we are is hell, And where hell is, there must we ever be: And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be hell that are not heaven. FAUSTUS. Come, I think hell's a fable. MEPHIST. Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind. FAUSTUS. Why, think'st thou, then, that Faustus shall be damn'd? MEPHIST. Ay, of necessity, for here's the scroll Wherein thou hast given thy soul to Lucifer. ”

“ Invisible to all are here:
The planets seven, the gloomy air,
Hell, and the Furies' forked hair,
Pluto's blue fire, and Hecat's tree,
With magic spells so compass thee,
That no eye may thy body see!
So, Faustus, now, for all their holiness,
Do what thou wilt, thou shalt not be discern'd.
FAUSTUS. Thanks, Mephistophilis.--Now, friars, take heed,
Lest Faustus make your shaven crowns to bleed.
MEPHIST. Faustus, no more: see, where the Cardinals come!
Re-enter the CARDINALS of France and Padua with a book. ”

“ For I tell thee I am damn'd and now in hell.
FAUSTUS. Nay, an this be hell, I'll willingly be damn'd:
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.
MEPHIST. Well, Faustus, thou shalt have a wife.
[MEPHISTOPHILIS fetches in a WOMAN-DEVIL.]
FAUSTUS. What sight is this?
MEPHIST. Now, Faustus, wilt thou have a wife?
FAUSTUS. Here's a hot whore, indeed: no, I'll no wife. ”

“ Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven, That time may cease, and midnight never come; Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make Perpetual day; or let this hour be but A year, a month, a week, a natural day, That Faustus may repent and save his soul! O lente,172 lente currite, noctis equi! The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn'd. O, I'll leap up to my God!—Who pulls me down?— See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament! ”

“ Why shouldst thou not? is not thy soul shine own? Then write again, FAUSTUS GIVES TO THEE HIS SOUL. Re-enter MEPHISTOPHILIS with a chafer of coals. MEPHIST. Here's fire; come, Faustus, set it on. FAUSTUS. So, now the blood begins to clear again; Now will I make an end immediately. [Writes.] MEPHIST. O, what will not I do to obtain his soul? [Aside.] FAUSTUS. Consummatum est; this bill is ended, And Faustus hath bequeath'd his soul to Lucifer. But what is this inscription on mine arm? Homo, fuge: whither should I fly? If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell. ”

“ And I, that have with concise syllogisms Gravell'd the pastors of the German church, And made the flowering pride of Wertenberg Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits On sweet Musaeus when he came to hell, Will be as cunning as Agrippa was, Whose shadow 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 spirits of every element Be always serviceable to us three; Like lions shall they guard us when we please ”

“ But, tell me, hath every sphere a dominion or intelligentia? MEPHIST. Ay. FAUSTUS. How many heavens or spheres are there? MEPHIST. Nine; the seven planets, the firmament, and 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? MEPHIST. Per inoequalem motum respectu totius. FAUSTUS. Well, I am answered. Tell me who made the world? MEPHIST. I will not. FAUSTUS. Sweet Mephistophilis, tell me. ”

“ Though my heart pants and quivers to remember that I have been a student here these thirty years, O, would I had never seen Wertenberg, never read book! and what wonders I have done, all Germany can witness, yea, all the world; for which Faustus hath lost both Germany and the world, yea, heaven itself, heaven, the seat of God, the throne of the blessed, the kingdom of joy; and must remain in hell for ever, hell, ah, hell, for ever! ”

“ FAUSTUS. What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate For being deprived of the joys of heaven? Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude, And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess. Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer: Seeing Faustus hath incurr'd 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, Letting him live in all voluptuousness ”

“ Enter an OLD MAN. OLD MAN. Ah, Doctor Faustus, that I might prevail To guide thy steps unto the way of life, By which sweet path thou mayst attain the goal That shall conduct thee to celestial rest! Break heart, drop blood, and mingle it with tears, Tears falling from repentant heaviness Of thy most vile and loathsome filthiness, The stench whereof corrupts the inward soul With such flagitious crimes of heinous sin As no commiseration may expel, But mercy, Faustus, of thy Saviour sweet, Whose blood alone must wash away thy guilt. ”

“ That holy shape becomes a devil best. [Exit MEPHISTOPHILIS.] I see there's virtue in my heavenly words. Who would not be proficient in this art? How pliant is this Mephistophilis, Full of obedience and humility! Such is the force of magic and my spells. Re-enter MEPHISTOPHILIS like a Franciscan friar. MEPHIST. Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do? FAUSTUS. I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live, To do whatever Faustus shall command, Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere, Or the ocean to overwhelm the world. ”

“ The spirits tell me they can dry the sea, And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks, Ay, all the wealth that our forefathers hid Within the massy entrails of the earth: Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want? FAUSTUS. Nothing, Cornelius. O, this cheers my soul! Come, shew 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 Albertus' works, The Hebrew Psalter, and New Testament ”