Christopher Marlowe

“ Faustus, these bookes, thy wit, and our experience,
Shall make all nations canonize us,
As Indian Moores obey their Spanish Lords:
So shall the Spirits of every Element,
Be alwaies serviceable to us three:
Like Lions shall they guard us when we please.
Like Almaine Rutters with their horsemens staves,
Or Lopland Gyants trotting by our sides.
Sometimes like women or unwedded maids,
Shadowing more beauty in their ayrie browes
Than have the white brests of the Queene of Love. ”

“ He that loves pleasure, must for pleasure fall:
And so I leave thee Faustus till anon. ”

“ O, if my soule must suffer for my sinne,
Impose some end to my incessant paine:
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand yeares,
A hundred thousand, and at the last be sav'd:
No end is limited to damned soules.
Why wert thou not a creature wanting soule? ”

“ Nay, and thy hornes hold, 'tis no matter for thy head, for that's arm'd sufficiently.
Faust.
Why how now sir Knight? what hang'd by the hornes? this most horrible: fie, fie, pull in your head for shame, let not all the world wonder at you.
Ben.
Zounds Doctor, is this your villainy?
Faust.
O say not so sir: the Doctor has no skill,
No Art, no cunning, to present these Lords,
Or bring before this royall Emperour
The mighty Monarch, warlike Alexander. ”

“ But gracious Lady, it may bee, 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 doe long for things are rare and
dainty.
Lady.
True Master Doctor, and since I find you so kind, I will make knowne 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 is gone, regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendfull fortune may exhort the wise
Only to wonder at unlawfull things:
Whose deepnesse doth intice such forward wits,
To practise more than heavenly power permits. ”

“ Already Faustus hath hazarded that for thee.
Meph.
But now thou must bequeath it solemnly,
And write a Deed of Gift with thine owne blood:
For that security craves Lucifer.
If thou deny it I must backe to Hell.
Faust.
Stay, Mephostophilis, and tell me,
What good will my soule do thy Lord?
Meph.
Enlarge his Kingdome.
Faust.
Is that the reason why he tempts us thus?
Meph.
Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
Faust.
Why, have you any paine that torture others?
Meph.
As great as have the humane soules of men.
But tell me Faustus, shall I have thy soule? ”

“ Those soules which sinne seales the blacke sonnes of hell,
'Mong which as chiefe, Faustus we come to thee,
Bringing with us lasting damnation,
To wait upon thy soule; the time is come
Which makes it forfeit. ”

“ Who kills him shall have gold and endlesse love.
Exit Frederick with the Souldiers.
Ben.
My head is lighter than it was by th'hornes,
But yet my heart's more ponderous then my head,
And pants until I see the Conjuror dead.
Mart.
Where shall we place our selves Benvolio?
Ben.
Heere will we stay to bide the first assault,
O were that damned hell-hound but in place,
Thou soone shouldst see me quit my foule disgrace.
Enter Frederick.
Fred.
Close, close, the Conjuror is at hand,
And all alone comes walking in his gowne:
Be ready, then, and strike the Peasant downe. ”

“ Hell, O Hell for ever. Sweet friends, what shall become of Faustus being in Hell for ever?
2
Yet Faustus call on God.
Faust.
On God, whom Faustus hath abjur'd? On God, whom Faustus hath blasphem'd? O my God, I would weepe, but the Devill drawes in my teares. Gush forth bloud in stead of teares, yea life and soule: Oh he staies my tongue: I would lift up my hands, but see they hold 'em, they hold 'em?
All.
Who Faustus?
Faust.
Why Lucifer and Mephostophilis, O Gentlemen,
I gave them my soule for my cunning. ”

“ For him, and the succeeding Popes of Rome,
To hold the Emperors their lawfull Lords.
Pope.
Pope Julius did abuse the churches rites,
And therefore none of his decrees can stand.
Is not all power on earth bestow'd on us? ”

“ Do as thou wilt Faustus, I give thee leave.
Faust.
I thanke your grace.
Enter the Clown, Dick, Carter, and
Horse-courser.
Why how now my good friends?
Faith you are too outrageous, but come neere,
I have procur'd your pardons: welcome all.
Clow.
Nay sir we will be welcome for our mony, and we will pay for what we take: What ho, give's half a dozen of Beere here, and be hang'd. ”

“ That I may haveun unto my Paramour,
That heavenly Hellen which I saw of late,
Whose sweet embraces may extinguish cleare
Those thoughts that do disswade me from my vow,
And keepe my vow I made to Lucifer. ”

“ I doe confesse it Faustus, and rejoyce
'Twas I, that when thou wert i'th way to heaven,
Dam'd up thy passage, when thou tookst the booke,
To view the Scriptures, then I turn'd the leaves,
And led thine eie.
What weep'st thou? 'tis too late: despaire. Farewell.
Fooles that will laugh on earth, most weepe in Hell. ”

“ Yet, yet, thou hast an amiable soule,
If sinne by custome grow not into nature,
Then (Faustus) will repentance come too late,
Then thou art banisht from the sight of heaven;
No Mortall can expresse the paines of hell. ”

“ Jeromes Bible Faustus, view it well:
Stipendium peccati mors est: ha! Stipendium, &c.
The reward of sinne is death? thats hard:
Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, & nulla est in nobis veritas:
If we say that we have no sinne
We deceive our selves, and there is no truth in us. ”

“ There are live quarters broiling on the Coles,
That ne're can die: this ever-burning chaire,
Is for o're tortured soules to rest them in.
These that are fed with sops of flaming fire,
Were gluttons, and lov'd only delicates,
And laught to see the poore starve at their gates:
But yet all these are nothing, thou shalt see
Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be. ”

“ Sound Trumpets then, for thus Saint Peters heyre,
From Bruno's backe ascends Saint Peters Chaire.
A Flourish while he ascends.
Thus, as the gods creepe on with feet of wooll,
Long ere with iron hands they punish men,
So shall our sleeping vengeance now arise. ”

“ M. Doctor Faustus, since our conference about faire Ladies, which was the beautifullest in all the world, wee have determined with our selves that Helen of Greece was the admirablest Lady that ever liv'd: therefore M. Doctor, if you will do us so much favour as to let us see that peerlesse dame of Greece, whom all the world admires for Majesty, we should thinke our selves much beholding unto you. ”

“ Now Faustus, question them of their names and dispositions.
Fau.
That shall I soone. What art thou the first?
Pride.
I am Pride; I disdaine to have any parents. I am like to Ovids Flea, I can creep into every corner of a wench: Sometimes like a Periwigge, I sit upon her Brow: next, like a Necke-lace, I hang about her Necke: Then, like a Fanne of Feathers, I kisse her: and then turning my selfe to a wrought smocke doe what I list. But fie, what a smell is here? Ile not speake a word more for a kings Ransome, unlesse the ground bee perfumed and covered with cloth of Aras. ”

“ I cannot reade, and therefore wish all bookes burned. I am leane 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'de be. ”

“ Twas thine owne seeking Faustus, thanke thy selfe.
But thinkst thou Heaven such a glorious thing?
I tell thee Faustus, it is not halfe so faire
As thou or any man that breaths on earth.
Faust.
How prov'st thou that?
Meph.
Twas made for man, then hee's more excellent.
Faust.
If heaven was made for man, twas made for mee:
I will renounce this Magicke and repent.
Enter the two Angels.
Good An.
Faustus repent, yet God will pityy thee.
Bad A.
Thou art a Spirit; God cannot pitty thee. ”

“ I leapt out of a Lyons mouth when I was scarce an houre old, and have ever since have runne up and downe the world with these case of Rapiers, wounding my selfe when I could get none to fight withall: I was borne in Hell, and looke to it, for some of you shall be my Father. ”

“ Nor will Faustus henceforth, pardon him for this,
And Faustus vowes never to looke to Heaven.
Lucif.
So shalt thou shew thy selfe an obedient servant,
And wee will highly gratifie thee for it.
Belz.
Faustus, wee are come from Hell in Person to shew thee some pastime: Sit downe and thou shalt behold the seaven deadly sinnes appeare to thee in their owne proper shapes and likenesse. ”

“ Horse.
Now sirs, you shall heare how villainously he serv'd mee: I went to him yesterday to buy a horse of him, and hee would by no meanes sell him under forty Dollers; 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 Faustus bade me ride him night and day, and spare him no time: but, quoth hee, in any case ride him not into the water. ”

“ I'le make you feele some thing anon if my Art faile me not.
My Lord, I must forewarne your Majesty,
That when my Spirits present the royall shapes
Of Alexander and his Paramour,
Your Grace demand no questions of the King,
But in dumbe silence let them come and goe.
Emp.
Be it as Faustus please, we are content.
Ben.
I, I, and I am content too: and thou bring Alexander and his Paramour before the Emperour. I'le be Acteon, and turne my selfe to a Stagge.
Faust.
And I'le play Diana, and send you the hornes presently.
Senit. Enter at one doore the Emperour Alexander, at the other
Darius ”

“ Now go not backe Faustus, be resolute.
Waverst thou? O something soundeth in mine eare,
Abjure this Magicke, turne to God againe.
Why he loves thee not: The God thou serv'st is thine owe appetite,
Wherein is fixt the love of Belzebub:
To him Ile build an Altar and a Church,
And offer luke-warme blood of new-borne babes.
Enter the two Angels.
Evill An.
Go forward Faustus in that most famous Art,
Good An. ”

“ Nay and this be hell, Ile 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. ”

“ What might the staying of my blood portend?
It is unwilling I should write this bill,
Why streames it not that I may write a fresh?
Faustus gives to thee his soule: O there it staid.
Why shouldst thou not? is not thy soule thine owne?
Then write againe: Faustus gives to thee his
Enter Mephostophilis, with the Chafer of fire. ”

“ His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And melting, heavens conspir'd his overthrow:
For falling to a devilish exercise,
And glutted now with learnings golden gifts,
He surfets on the curst Necromancy. ”

“ I have a Castle joyning near these woods,
And thither weele repaire and live obscure,
Till time shall alter these our brutish shapes:
Sith blacke disgrace hath thus ecclipst our fame,
Weele rather die with griefe, then live with shame. ”

“ I, I, he dos not stand much upon that.
Faust.
No faith, not much upon a woodden leg.
Cart.
Good Lord, that flesh and blood should be so fraile with your Worship: Doe not you remember a Horse-courser you sold a horse to? ”

“ This makes me wonder more than all the rest, that at this time of the yeare when every tree is barren of his fruit, from whence you had these ripe grapes.
Faust.
Please it your Grace, the yeare 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 lye farre East, where they have fruit twice a yeare. ”

“ Ile raise a kennell of Hounds shall hunt him so,
And all his footmanship shall scarce prevaile,
To keepe his Carkasse from their bloudy phangs.
Ho, Belimote, Argiron, Asterote.
Ben.
Hold, hold: Zounds hee'le raise up a kennell of Divels, I think anon: good my lord, intreat for me! s'bloud I am never able to endure these torments.
Emp.
Then good M. Doctor,
Let me intreat you to remove his hornes,
He has done Pennance now sufficiently. ”

“ Faustus strikes the doore, and enter a Divell playing on a drum, after him another bearing an Ensigne: and divers with weapons, Mephostophilis with fireworks; they set upon the Souldiers and drive them out. ”

“ Do but speake what thou'lt have mee to doe, and Ile do't: If thou'lt dance naked, put off thy clothes, and Ile conjure thee about presently: Or if thou'lt go but to the Taverne with me, Ile give thee White-wine, Red wine, Claret-wine, Sacke, Muskkadine, Malmesey and Whippincrust, hold belly hold, and wee'll not pay one penny for it. ”

“ 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 hornes: Mephostophilis, transforme him; and hereafter sir, looke you speake well of Schollers.
Ben.
Speake well of yee? 's blood, and Schollers be such Cuckold-makers to clap hornes of honest mens heads o' this order, I'le nere trust smooth faces, and small ruffes more. But
an I be not revenged for this, would I might bee turned to a gaping Oyster and drinke nothing but salt water. ”

“ This deed of thine in setting Bruno free,
From his and our professed enemy,
Shal adde more excellence unto thine Art,
Then if by powerfull Necromanticke spels,
Thou couldst command the worlds obedience:
Forever be belov'd of Carolus. ”

“ I John Faustus of Wittemberg, Doctor, by these presents, doe give both body and soule to Lucifer, Prince of the East, and his Minister, Mephostophilis, and furthermore grant unto them that foure and twenty yeares being expired, and these Articles above written being inviolate, full power to fetch or carry the said John Faustus body and soule, flesh and blood, into their habitation wheresoever. ”