The Complete Plays (51 page)

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
.]

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
.

[
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 can 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!