Classic Poem

SCENE 13

[ Enter FAUSTUS with the SCHOLARS .] FAUSTUS
Ah, gentlemen! 1 SCHOLAR
What ails Faustus? FAUSTUS
Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow, had I lived with thee, then had I lived still; but now I die eternally. Look, comes he not, comes he not? 2 SCHOLAR
What means Faustus? 3 SCHOLAR
Belike he is grown into some sickness by being over-solitary. 1 SCHOLAR
If it be so, we'll have physicians to cure him; 'tis but a surfeit: never fear, man. FAUSTUS
A surfeit of deadly sin, that hath damned both body and soul. 2 SCHOLAR
Yet Faustus, look up to heaven; remember God's mercies are infinite. FAUSTUS
But Faustus' offense can ne'er be pardoned! The serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus. Ah gentlemen, hear me with patience, and tremble not at my speeches, though my heart pants and quivers to remember that I have been a student here these thirty years — O would I had never seen Wittenberg, never read book — and what wonders I have done, all Wittenberg 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 forever — hell, ah, hell forever! Sweet friends, what shall become of Faustus, being in hell forever? 3 SCHOLAR
Yet Faustus, call on God. FAUSTUS
On God, whom Faustus hath abjured? On God, whom Faustus hath blasphemed? Ah my God — I would weep, but the devil draws in my tears! gush forth blood, instead of tears — yea, life and soul! O, he stays my tongue! I would lift up my hands, but see, they hold them, they hold them! ALL
Who, Faustus? FAUSTUS
Lucifer and Mephastophilis! Ah gentlemen, I gave them my soul for my cunning. ALL
God forbid! FAUSTUS
God forbade it indeed, but Faustus hath done it: for the 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, the time will come, and he will fetch me. 1 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 both body and soul, if I once gave ear to divinity; and now 'tis too late. Gentlemen away, lest you perish with me! 2 SCHOLAR
O what shall we do to save Faustus? 3 SCHOLAR
God will strengthen me. I will stay with Faustus. 1 SCHOLAR
Tempt not God, sweet friend, but let us into the next room, and there pray for him. FAUSTUS
Ay, pray for me, pray for me; and what noise soever ye hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me. 2 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 .]
[ 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.
O 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 — O 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! O no, it will not harbor 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 laboring 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.
O 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.
O 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 thy self, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
[ The clock striketh twelve .]
O it strikes, it strikes! Now body, turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.
[ Thunder and lightning .]
O soul, be changed into little water drops,
And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found.
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me!
[ Enter DEVILS .]
Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile!
Ugly hell gape not! Come not, Lucifer!
I'll burn my books — ah, Mephastophilis!
[ Exeunt with him .]