Classic Poem

SCENE ONE

Enter FAUSTUS in his study, and MEPHOSTOPHILIS . FAUSTUS :
When I behold the heavens then I repent,
And curse thee, wicked Mephostophilis,
Because thou hast deprived me of those joys. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
'Twas thine own seeking, Faustus, thank thyself.
But thinkst thou heaven is such a glorious thing?
I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fair
As thou or any man that breathes on earth. FAUSTUS :
How prov'st thou that? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
'Twas made for man; then he's more excellent. FAUSTUS :
If heaven was made for man, 'twas made for me.
I will renounce this magic and repent.
Enter the GOOD and EVIL ANGELS . 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.
Yea, God will pity me if I repent. EVIL ANGEL :
Ay, but Faustus never shall repent.
Exeunt . FAUSTUS :
My heart's so hardened I cannot repent.
Scarce can I name salvation, faith or heaven,
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 done the deed,
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 Mephostophilis?
Why should I die then, or basely despair?
I am resolved, Faustus shall not repent.
Come, Mephostophilis, let us dispute again,
And reason of divine astrology.
Speak, are there many spheres above the moon?
Are all celestial bodies but one globe,
As is the substance of this centric earth? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
As are the elements, such are the heavens,
Even from the moon unto the empyrial orb,
Mutually folded in each other's spheres,
And jointly move upon one axle-tree,
Whose termine is termed the world's wide pole.
Nor are the names of Saturn, Mars or Jupiter
Feigned, but are erring stars. FAUSTUS :
But have they all one motion, both situ et tempore ? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
All move from east to west in four and twenty hours upon the poles of the world, but differ in their motions upon the poles of the zodiac. FAUSTUS :
Tush, these slender trifles Wagner can decide. Hath Mephostophilis no greater skill? Who knows not the double motion of the planets? That 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 twenty-eight days. Tush, these are freshmen's suppositions. But tell me, hath every sphere a dominion or intelligentia ? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Ay. FAUSTUS :
How many heavens or spheres are there? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Nine, the seven planets, the firmament, and the empyrial heaven. FAUSTUS :
But is there not coelum igneum et cristallinum ? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
No, Faustus, they be but fables. FAUSTUS :
Resolve me then in this one question. Why are not conjunctions, oppositions, aspects, eclipses, all at one time, but in some years we have more, in some less? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Per inaequalem motum, respectu totius. FAUSTUS :
Well, I am answered. Now tell me, who made the world? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
I will not. FAUSTUS :
Sweet Mephostophilis, tell me. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Move me not, Faustus. FAUSTUS :
Villain, have not I bound thee to tell me anything? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Ay, that is not against our kingdom, but this is.
Think on hell, Faustus, for thou art damned. FAUSTUS :
Think, Faustus, upon God, that made the world. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Remember this ÔÇô
Exit. FAUSTUS :
Ay, go, accursed spirit to ugly hell.
'Tis thou hast damned distressed Faustus' soul.
Is't not too late?
Enter the GOOD and EVIL ANGELS . EVIL ANGEL :
Too late. GOOD ANGEL :
Never too late, if Faustus will repent. EVIL ANGEL :
If thou repent devils will tear thee in pieces. GOOD ANGEL :
Repent, and they shall never rase thy skin.
Exeunt ANGELS . FAUSTUS :
Ah, Christ my saviour,
Seek to save distressed Faustus' soul.
Enter LUCIFER , BELZEBUB and MEPHOSTOPHILIS . LUCIFER :
Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just.
There's none but I have interest in the same. FAUSTUS :
Oh what art thou that look'st so terribly? LUCIFER :
I am Lucifer, and this is my companion prince in hell. FAUSTUS :
Oh Faustus, they are come to fetch away thy soul. BELZEBUB :
We are come to tell thee thou dost injure us. LUCIFER :
Thou call'st on Christ contrary to thy promise. BELZEBUB :
Thou shouldst not think on God. LUCIFER :
Think on the devil. BELZEBUB :
And his dam 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. BELZEBUB :
Faustus, we are come from hell in person to show thee some pastime. Sit down and thou shalt behold the seven deadly sins appear to thee in their own proper shapes and likeness. FAUSTUS :
That sight will be as pleasant to me as Paradise was to Adam the first day of his creation. LUCIFER :
Talk not of Paradise or Creation, but mark this show. Talk of the devil and nothing else. Go, Mephostophilis, fetch them in.
Enter the SEVEN DEADLY SINS . BELZEBUB :
Now, Faustus, question them of their names and dispositions. FAUSTUS :
That shall I soon. What art thou, the first? PRIDE :
I am Pride. I disdain to have any parents. I am like to Ovid's flea. I can creep into every corner of a wench. Sometimes like a periwig I sit upon her brow. Next, like a necklace I hang about her neck. Then, like a fan of feathers, I kiss her. And then turning myself to a wrought smock do what I list. But fie, what a smell is here! I'll not speak a word for a king's ransome, unless the ground be perfumed and covered with cloth of Arras. FAUSTUS :
Thou art a proud knave indeed. What art thou, the second? COVETOUSNESS :
I am Covetousness. Begotten of an old churl in a leather bag. And might I now obtain my wish, this house, you and all, should turn to gold, that I might Jock you safe into my chest. Oh, my sweet gold! FAUSTUS :
And what art thou, the third? ENVY :
I am envy, begotten of a chimney-sweeper and an oyster-wife. I cannot read and therefore wish all books were burnt. I am lean with seeing others eat. Oh, that there would come a famine over all the world, that all might die, and I live alone, then thou should'st see how fat I'd be. But must thou sit and I stand? Come down, with a vengeance! FAUSTUS :
Out, envious wretch. But what art thou, the fourth? WRATH :
I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother. I leapt out of a lion's mouth when I was scarce an hour old, and ever since have run up and down the world with this case of rapiers, wounding myself when I could get none to fight withal. I was born in hell, and look to it, for some of you shall be my father. FAUSTUS :
And what art thou, the fifth? GLUTTONY :
I am Gluttony. My parents are all dead, and the devil a penny they have left me, but a small pension and that buys me thirty meals a day and ten bevers: a small trifle to suffice nature. I come of a royal pedigree; my father was a gammon of bacon and my mother was a hog's head of claret wine. My godfathers were these: Peter Pickle-herring and Martin Martlemas-beef. But my godmother, oh, she was an ancient 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 victuals. GLUTTONY :
Then the devil choke thee. FAUSTUS :
Choke thyself, Glutton. What art thou, the sixth? SLOTH :
Hey ho, 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 :
And what are you, Mistress Minx, the seventh and last? LECHERY :
Who, I, sir? I am one that loves an inch of raw mutton better than an ell of fried stockfish, and the first letter of my name begins with Lechery. FAUSTUS :
Away to hell! Away, on, piper!
Exeunt the SEVEN DEADLY SINS . LUCIFER :
Now, Faustus, how dost thou like this? FAUSTUS :
Oh, this feeds my soul. LUCIFER :
Tut, Faustus, in hell is all manner of delight. FAUSTUS :
Oh, might I see hell and return again safe, how happy were I then! LUCIFER :
Faustus, thou shalt. At midnight I will send for thee. Meanwhile, peruse this book and view it throughly, and thou shalt turn thyself into what shape thou wilt. FAUSTUS :
Thanks, mighty Lucifer. This will I keep as chary as my life. LUCIFER :
Now, Faustus, farewell, and think on the devil. FAUSTUS :
Farewell, great Lucifer. Come, Mephostophilis.
Exeunt omnes, several ways .

SCENE TWO

Enter the CLOWN . CLOWN :
What, Dick, look to the horses there till I come again. I have gotten one of Doctor Faustus' conjuring books, and now we'll have such knavery as't passes.
Enter DICK . DICK :
What, Robin, you must come away and walk the horses. ROBIN :
I walk the horses? I scorn't, faith. I have other matters in hand. Let the horses walk themselves and they will. A per se a, t.h.e. the: o per se o deny orgon, gorgon . Keep further from me, o thou illiterate and unlearned hostler. DICK :
'Snails! What hast thou got there? A book? Why, thou canst not tell ne'er a word on't. ROBIN :
That thou shalt see presently. Keep out of the circle, I say, lest I send you into the ostry with a vengeance. DICK :
That's like, faith. You had best leave your foolery, for, an my master come, he'll conjure you, faith! ROBIN :
My master conjure me? I'll tell thee what, an my master come here, I'll clap as fair a pair of horns on's head as e'er thou sawest in thy life. DICK :
Thou need'st not do that, for my mistress hath done it. ROBIN :
Ay, there be of us here, that have waded as deep into matters as other men, if they were disposed to talk. DICK :
A plague take you! I thought you did not sneak up and down after her for nothing. But I prithee tell me, in good sadness, Robin, is that a conjuring book? ROBIN :
Do but speak what thou't have me to do, and I'll do't. If thou't dance naked, put off thy clothes and I'll conjure thee about presently. Or if thou't go but to the tavern with me, I'll give thee white wine, red wine, claret wine, sack, muskadine, malmesey and whippincrust. Hold, belly, hold; and we'll not pay one penny for it. DICK :
Oh brave! Prithee, let's to it presently, for I am as dry as a dog. ROBIN :
Come, then, let's away.
Exeunt .