Classic Poem

SCENE ONE

Thunder and lightning. Enter devils with covered dishes . MEPHOSTOPHILIS leads them into FAUSTUS ' study. Then enter WAGNER . WAGNER :
I think my master means to die shortly.
He hath made his will, and given me his wealth,
His house, his goods, and store of golden plate,
Besides two thousand ducats ready coined.
And yet methinks, if that death were near,
He would not banquet and carouse and swill
Amongst the students, as even now he doth,
Who are at supper with such belly-cheer
As Wagner ne'er beheld in all his life.
See where they come; belike the feast is ended.
Exit.
Enter FAUSTUS , MEPHOSTOPHILIS and two or three SCHOLARS . FIRST SCHOLAR :
Master Doctor Faustus, since our conference about fair ladies, which was the beautifullest in all the world, we have determined with ourselves that Helen of Greece was the admirablest lady that ever lived. Therefore Master Doctor, if you will do us so much favour, as to let us see that peerless dame of Greece, whom all the world admires for majesty, we should think ourselves much beholding unto you. FAUSTUS :
Gentlemen, for that I know your friendship is unfeigned,
It is not Faustus' custom to deny
The just request of those that wish him well.
You shall behold that peerless dame of Greece,
No otherwise for pomp or majesty,
Than when Sir Paris crossed the seas with her,
And brought the spoils to rich Dardania.
Be silent then, for danger is in words.
Music sounds . MEPHOSTOPHILIS brings in HELEN ; she passeth over the stage . SECOND SCHOLAR :
Was this fair Helen, whose admired worth
Made Greece with ten years wars afflict poor Troy? THIRD SCHOLAR :
Too simple is my wit to tell her worth
Whom all the world admires for majesty. FIRST SCHOLAR :
Now we have seen the pride of nature's work,
We'll take our leaves, and for this blessed sight
Happy and blest be Faustus evermore.
Enter an OLD MAN . FAUSTUS :
Gentlemen, farewell: the same wish I to you.
Exeunt SCHOLARS . OLD MAN :
Oh gentle Faustus, leave this damned art,
This magic, that will charm thy soul to hell,
And quite bereave thee of salvation.
Though thou hast now offended like a man,
Do not persever in it like a devil.
Yet, yet, thou hast an amiable soul,
If sin by custom grow not into nature:
Then, Faustus, will repentance come too late,
Then thou art banished from the sight of heaven;
No mortal can express the pains of hell.
It may be this my exhortation
Seems harsh and all unpleasant; let it not,
For, gentle son, I speak it not in wrath,
Or envy of thee, but in tender love,
And pity of thy future misery.
And so have hope, that this my kind rebuke,
Checking thy body, may amend thy soul. FAUSTUS :
Where art thou, Faustus? Wretch, what hast thou done?
Damned art thou, Faustus, damned: despair and die.
Hell claims his right, and with a roaring voice
Says 'Faustus, come, thine hour is almost come'
( MEPHOSTOPHILIS gives him a dagger .)
And Faustus now will come to do thee right. OLD MAN :
Oh stay, good Faustus, stay thy desperate steps.
I see an angel hover o'er thy head,
And with a vial full of precious grace,
Offers to pour the same into thy soul.
Then call for mercy and avoid despair. FAUSTUS :
Ah my sweet friend, I feel thy words
To comfort my distressed soul.
Leave me awhile to ponder on my sins. OLD MAN :
I leave thee, but with grief of heart,
Fearing the ruin of thy hopeless soul. Exit. FAUSTUS :
Accursed Faustus, wretch, what hast thou done?
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? MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Thou traitor, Faustus, I arrest thy soul
For disobedience to my sovereign lord.
Revolt, or I'll in piecemeal tear thy flesh. FAUSTUS :
I do repent I e'er offended him.
Sweet Mephostophilis, entreat thy lord
To pardon my unjust presumption,
And with my blood again I will confirm
The former vow I made to Lucifer. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Do it then, Faustus, with unfeigned heart,
Lest greater dangers do attend thy drift. FAUSTUS :
Torment, sweet friend, that base and crooked age
That durst dissuade me from thy Lucifer,
With greatest torment that our hell affords. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
His faith is great: I cannot touch his soul.
But what I may afflict his body with
I will attempt, which is but little worth. FAUSTUS :
One thing, good servant, let me crave of thee,
To glut the longing of my heart's desire,
That I may have unto my paramour
That heavenly Helen which I saw of late,
Whose sweet embraces may extinguish clear
Those thoughts that do dissuade me from my vow,
And keep my vow I made to Lucifer. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
This, or what else my Faustus shall desire,
Shall be performed in twinkling of an eye.
Enter HELEN again, passing over between two CUPIDS . FAUSTUS :
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul: see where it flies.
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in those lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.
Enter ENTER OLD MAN .
I will be Paris, and for love of thee
Instead of Troy shall Wittenberg be sacked,
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest.
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
Oh, thou art fairer than the evening's air,
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter,
When he appeared to hapless Semele:
More lovely than the monarch of the sky,
In wanton Arethusa's azure arms,
And none but thou shalt be my paramour.
Exeunt. OLD MAN :
Accursed Faustus, miserable man,
That from thy soul exclud'st the grace of heaven,
And fliest the throne of his tribunal seat.
Enter the DEVILS .
Satan begins to sift me with his pride,
As in this furnace God shall try my faith.
My faith, vile hell, shall triumph over thee.
Ambitious fiends, see how the heavens smiles
At your repulse, and laughs your state to scorn.
Hence, hell, for hence I fly unto my God.
Exeunt .

SCENE TWO

Thunder. Enter LUCIFER , BELZEBUB and MEPHOSTOPHILIS . LUCIFER :
Thus from infernal Dis do we ascend
To view the subjects of our monarchy,
Those souls which sin seals the black sons of hell,
'Mong which as chief, Faustus, we come to thee,
Bringing with us lasting damnation
To wait upon thy soul. The time is come
Which makes it forfeit. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
And this gloomy night,
Here in this room will wretched Faustus be. BELZEBUB :
And here we'll stay,
To mark him how he doth demean himself. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
How should he, but in desperate lunacy?
Fond worldling, now his heart blood dries with grief.
His conscience kills it, and his labouring brain
Begets a world of idle fantasies
To overreach the devil. But all in vain:
His store of pleasures must be sauced with pain.
He and his servant Wagner are at hand.
Both come from drawing Faustus' latest will.
See where they come.
Enter FAUSTUS and WAGNER . FAUSTUS :
Say, Wagner, thou hast perused my will:
How dost thou like it? WAGNER :
Sir, so wondrous well
As in all humble duty I do yield
My life and lasting service for your love.
Enter the SCHOLARS . FAUSTUS :
Gramercies, Wagner. Welcome, gentlemen. FIRST SCHOLAR :
Now, worthy Faustus, methinks your looks are changed. FAUSTUS :
Oh gentlemen! SECOND SCHOLAR :
What ails Faustus? FAUSTUS :
Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow, had I lived with thee
Then had I lived still, but now must die eternally.
Look, sirs, comes he not? Comes he not? FIRST SCHOLAR :
Oh, my dear Faustus, what imports this fear? SECOND SCHOLAR :
Is all our pleasure turned to melancholy? THIRD SCHOLAR :
He is not well with being over-solitary. SECOND SCHOLAR :
If it be so, we'll have physicians, and Faustus shall be cured. THIRD SCHOLAR :
'Tis but a surfeit, sir; fear nothing. FAUSTUS :
A surfeit of deadly sin, that hath damned both body and soul. SECOND SCHOLAR :
Yet Faustus, look up to heaven, and remember mercy is infinite. FAUSTUS :
But Faustus' offence can ne'er be pardoned, The serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, But not Faustus. Oh gentlemen, hear with patience and tremble not at my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver to remember that I have been a student here these thirty years, oh would I had never seen Wittenberg, 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, oh hell for ever. Sweet friends, what shall become of Faustus, being in hell for ever? SECOND SCHOLAR :
Yet Faustus, call on God. FAUSTUS :
On God, whom Faustus hath abjured? On God, whom Faustus hath blasphemed? Oh my God, I would weep, but the devil draws in my tears. Gush forth blood instead of tears, yea, life and soul. Oh, he stays my tongue. I would lift up my hands, but see, they hold them, they hold them. ALL :
Who, Faustus? FAUSTUS :
Why, Lucifer and Mephostophilis:
Oh gentlemen, I gave them my soul for my cunning. ALL :
Oh, God forbid. FAUSTUS :
God forbade it indeed, but Faustus hath done it. For vain pleasure of four and twenty years hath Faustus lost eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with mine own blood, the date is expired: this is the time, and he will fetch me. FIRST SCHOLAR :
Why did not Faustus tell us of this before, that divines might have prayed for thee? FAUSTUS :
Oft have I thought to have done so, but the devil threatened to tear me in pieces if I named God; to fetch me body and soul if I once gave ear to divinity, and now 'tis too late. Gentlemen, away, lest you perish with me. SECOND SCHOLAR :
Oh what may we do to save Faustus? FAUSTUS :
Talk not of me, but save yourselves and depart. THIRD SCHOLAR :
God will strengthen me. I will stay with Faustus. FIRST SCHOLAR :
Tempt not God, sweet friend, but let us into the next room and pray for him. FAUSTUS :
Ay, pray for me, pray for me. And what noise soever you hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me. SECOND SCHOLAR :
Pray thou, and we will pray, that God may have mercy upon thee. FAUSTUS :
Gentlemen, farewell. If I live till morning, I'll visit you. If not, Faustus is gone to hell. ALL :
Faustus, farewell.
Exeunt SCHOLARS . MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
Ay, Faustus, now thou hast no hope of heaven,
Therefore despair, think only upon hell,
For that must be thy mansion, there to dwell. FAUSTUS :
Oh, thou bewitching fiend, 'twas thy temptation
Hath robbed me of eternal happiness. MEPHOSTOPHILIS :
I do confess it, Faustus, and rejoice.
'Twas I that, when thou were't i' the way to heaven,
Dammed up thy passage; when thou took'st the book
To view the scriptures, then I turned the leaves
And led thine eye.
What, weep'st thou? 'Tis too late, despair. Farewell.
Fools that will laugh on earth, must weep in hell.
Exit .
Enter the GOOD and the EVIL ANGEL at several doors . GOOD ANGEL :
Oh Faustus, if thou hadst given ear to me
Innumerable joys had followed thee.
But thou didst love the world. EVIL ANGEL :
Gave ear to me,
And now must taste hell's pains perpetually. GOOD ANGEL :
Oh, what will all thy riches, pleasures, pomps,
Avail thee now? EVIL ANGEL :
Nothing but vex thee more,
To want in hell, that had on earth such store.
Music while the throne descends . GOOD ANGEL :
Oh, thou hast lost celestial happiness,
Pleasures unspeakable, bliss without end.
Hadst thou affected sweet divinity,
Hell, or the devil, had had no power on thee.
Hadst thou kept on that way, Faustus, behold
In what resplendent glory thou hadst sat
In yonder throne, like those bright shining saints,
And triumphed over hell. That thou hast lost,
And now, poor soul, must thy good angel leave thee:
The jaws of hell are open to receive thee.
Exit.
Hell is discovered. EVIL ANGEL :
Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with horror stare
Into that vast perpetual torture-house.
There are the furies tossing damned souls
On burning forks. Their bodies broil in lead.
There are live quarters broiling on the coals
That ne'er can die. This ever-burning chair
Is for o'er-tortured souls to rest them in.
These, that are fed with sops of flaming fire,
Were gluttons, and loved only delicates,
And laughed to see the poor starve at their gates.
But yet all these are nothing. Thou shalt see
Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be. FAUSTUS :
Oh, I have seen enough to torture me. EVIL ANGEL :
Nay, thou must feel them, taste the smart of all:
He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall.
And so I leave thee, Faustus, till anon.
Then wilt thou tumble in confusion.
Exit.
The clock strikes eleven. FAUSTUS :
Ah Faustus,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,
And then thou must be damned perpetually.
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, lente, currite noctis equi.
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike.
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
Oh, I'll leap up to my God: who pulls me down?
See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament.
One drop would save my soul, half a drop. Ah, my Christ!
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!
Yet will I call on him. Oh, spare me, Lucifer!
Where is it now? 'Tis gone:
And see where God stretcheth out his arm,
And bends his ireful brows.
Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God.
No, no. Then will I headlong run into the earth.
Earth, gape! Oh no, it will not harbour me.
You stars that reigned at my nativity,
Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist
Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud,
That when you vomit forth into the air
My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,
So that my soul may but ascend to heaven.
The watch strikes.
Ah! half the hour is past,
'Twill all be past anon.
Oh God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul,
Yet, for Christ's sake whose blood hath ransomed me,
Impose some end to my incessant pain.
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.
Oh, no end is limited to damned souls.
Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?
Or why is this immortal that thou hast?
Ah, Pythagoras' metempsychosis , were that true
This soul should fly from me, and I be changed
Unto some brutish beast.
All beasts are happy, for when they die
Their souls are soon dissolved in elements,
But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.
Cursed be the parents that engendered me!
No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
The clock strikes twelve.
Oh, it strikes, it strikes! Now body turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.
Thunder and lightning.
Oh soul, be changed into little water drops
And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found.
Thunder. Enter the DEVILS .
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me.
Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile.
Ugly hell, gape not, come not, Lucifer!
I'll burn my books. Ah, Mephostophilis!
Exeunt with him.

SCENE THREE

Enter the SCHOLARS . FIRST SCHOLAR :
Come, gentlemen, let us go visit Faustus,
For such a dreadful night was never seen
Since first the world's creation did begin.
Such fearful shrieks and cries were never heard.
Pray heaven the Doctor have escaped the danger. SECOND SCHOLAR :
Oh help us, heaven! See, here are Faustus' limbs,
All torn asunder by the hand of death. THIRD SCHOLAR :
The devils whom Faustus served have torn him thus:
For twixt the hours of twelve and one, methought
I heard him shriek and call aloud for help,
At which self time the house seemed all on fire
With dreadful horror of these damned fiends. SECOND SCHOLAR :
Well, gentlemen, though Faustus' end be such
As every Christian heart laments to think on,
Yet, for he was a scholar once admired
For wondrous knowledge in our German schools,
We'll give his mangled limbs due burial,
And all the students clothed in mourning black
Shall wait upon his heavy funeral.
Exeunt .