The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe (affordable ebook reader .txt) 📗

of the heavens, that I might know their motions and dispositions. Mephistopheles

Here they are too. Turns 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. Mephistopheles

Tut, I warrant thee.

Turns to them. Exeunt. Scene VI Enter Faustus and Mephistopheles.36 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,
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?

Mephistopheles

’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; 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,
But fearful echoes thunder in mine ears
“Faustus, thou art damned!” Then swords, and knives,
Poison, gun, halters, and envenomed steel
Are laid before me to despatch 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 Oenon’s death?
And hath not he that built the walls of Thebes
With ravishing sound of his melodious harp,
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,
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 twenty-four 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?
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 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 inoequalem 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?

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. Faustus

Ay, go, accursed spirit, to ugly hell.
’Tis thou hast damned distressed Faustus’ soul.
Is’t not too late?

Re-enter Good Angel and Evil Angel. Evil Angel

Too late.

Good Angel

Never too late, if Faustus can repent.

Evil Angel

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 distressed Faustus’ soul!

Enter Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephistopheles. 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 should’st not think of God: think of the Devil.37

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: 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 Ovid’s flea:38 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 sweet gold!