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    Contents:
  • The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (1604)
  • Scene 1
  • Scene 2
  • Scene 3
  • Scene 4
  • Scene 5
  • Scene 7
  • Scene 8
  • Scene 9
  • Scene 10
  • Scene 11
  • Scene 12
  • Scene 13
  • Scene 14

    • Christopher Marlowe, The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (A text) (ed. Hilary Binda)

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    Table of ContentsGo to Next

    to

      Dramatis Personae

    • Chorus
    • Faustus
    • Wagner
    • Good Angel
    • Evil Angel
    • Valdes
    • Cornelius
    • First Scholar
    • Second Scholar
    • Mephostophilis
    • Robin, a Clown
    • Lucifer
    • Beelzebub

        • Sins

      • Pride
      • Covetousness
      • Wrath
      • Gluttony
      • Envy
      • Sloth
      • Lechery
    • The Pope
    • The Cardinal of Lorraine
    • a Friar
    • Ralph, a clown
    • a Vintner
    • The Emperor
    • a Knight
    • Alexander
    • his Paramour
    • a Horse-corser
    • The Duke of Vanholt
    • Duchess
    • Third Scholar
    • Helen (of Greece)
    • an Old Man
    • Devils
    • Friars
    • Attendants

    The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (1604)


    Enter Chorus.
    Not marching now in fields of Thracimene,
    Where Mars did mate the Carthaginians,
    Nor sporting in the dalliance of loue,
    In courts of Kings where state is ouerturnd,
    Nor in the pompe of prowd audacious deedes,
    Intends our Muse to daunt his heauenly verse:
    Onely this (Gentlemen) we must performe,
    The forme of Faustus fortunes good or bad.
    To patient Iudgements we appeale our plaude,
    And speake for Faustus in his infancie:
    Now is he borne, his parents base of stocke,
    In Germany, within a towne calld Rhodes:
    Of riper yeeres to Wertenberg he went,
    Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him vp,
    So soone tree profites in Diuinitie,
    The fruitfull plot of Scholerisme grac't,
    That shortly he was grac't with Doctors name,
    Excelling all, whose sweete delight disputes
    In heauenly matters of Theologie,
    Till swolne with cunning of a selfe conceit,
    His waxen wings did mount aboue his reach,
    And melting heauens conspirde his ouerthrow.
    For falling to a diuelish exercise,
    And glutted more with learnings golden gifts,
    He surffets vpon cursed Negromancy,
    Nothing so sweete as magicke is to him
    Which he preferres before his chiefest blisse,
    And this the man that in his study sits. Exit.

    Sc. 1 Enter Faustus in his Study.
    Faustus
    Settle thy studies Faustus, and beginne
    To sound the deapth of that thou wilt professe:
    Hauing commencde, be a Diuine in shew,
    Yet leuell at the end of euery Art,
    And liue and die in Aristotles workes:
    Sweete Anulatikes tis thou hast rauisht me,
    Bene disserere est finis logicis,
    Is, to dispute well, Logickes chiefest end
    Affoords this Art no greater myracle:
    Then reade no more, thou hast attaind the end:
    A greater subiect fitteth Faustus wit,
    Bid Oncaymaeon farewell, Galen come:
    Seeing, vbi desinit philosophus, ibi incipit medicus.
    Be a physition Faustus, heape vp golde,
    And be eternizde for some wondrous cure,
    Summum bonum medicinae sanitas,
    The end of physicke is our bodies health:
    Why Faustus, hast thou not attaind that end?
    Is not thy common talke sound Aphorismes?
    Are not thy billes hung vp as monuments,
    whereby whole Citties haue escapt the plague,
    And thousand desprate maladies beene easde,
    Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man
    wouldst thou make man to liue eternally?
    Or being dead, raise them to life againe?
    Then this profession were to be esteemd.
    Physicke farewell, where is Iustinian?
    Si vna eademq'3 res legatus duobus,
    Alter rem alter valorem rei, &c.
    A pretty case of paltry legacies:
    Ex haereditari filium non potest pater nisi:
    Such is the subiect of the institute
    And vniuersall body of the Church:
    His study fittes a mercenary drudge,
    who aimes at nothing but externall trash,
    The deuill and illiberall for me :
    when all is done, Diuinitie is best.
    Ieromes Bible, Faustus, view it well.
    Stipendium peccati mors est: ha, Stipendium, &c.
    The reward of sinne is death: thats hard.
    Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, & nulla est in nobis veritas.
    If we say that we haue no sinne,
    We deceiue our selues, and theres no truth in vs.
    Why then belike we must sinne,
    And so consequently die.
    I, we must die an euerlasting death:
    What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera,
    What wil be, shall be? Diuinitie, adieu,
    These Metaphisickes of Magicians,
    And Negromantike bookes are heauenly
    Lines, circles, sceanes, letters and characters:
    I, these are those that Faustus most desires.
    O what a world of profit and delight,
    Of power, of honor, of omnipotence
    Is promised to the studious Artizan?
    All things that mooue betweene the quiet poles
    Shalbe at my commaund, Emperours and Kings,
    Are but obeyd in their seuerall prouinces:
    Nor can they raise the winde, or rend the cloudes:
    But his dominion that exceedes in this,
    Stretcheth as farre as doth the minde of man.
    A sound Magician is a mighty god:
    Heere Faustus trie thy braines to gaine a deitie.

    Enter Wagner.
    Wagner, commend me to my deerest friends,
    The Germaine Valdes, and Cornelius,
    Request them earnestly to visite me.
    Wag.
    I wil sir. exit.

    Fau.
    Their conference will be a greater help to me,
    Thn all my labours, plodde I nere so fast.

    Enter the good Angell and the euill Angell.
    Good. A.
    O Faustus, lay that damned booke aside,
    And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soule,
    And heape Gods heauy wrath vpon thy head,
    Reade, reade the scriptures, that is blasphemy.
    Euill A.
    Go forward Faustus in that famous art,
    Wherein all natures treasury is containd:
    Be thou on earth as Ioue is in the skie,
    Lord and commaunder of these Elements. Exeunt.

    Fau.
    How am I glutted with conceit of this?
    Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
    Resolue me of all ambiguities,
    Performe what desperate enterprise I will?
    Ile haue them flye to India for gold,
    Ransacke the Ocean for orient pearle,
    And search all corners of the new found world
    For pleasant fruites and princely delicates:
    Ile haue them reade mee straunge philosophie,
    And tell the secrets of all forraine kings,
    Ile haue them wall all Iermany with brasse,
    And make swift Rhine circle faire Wertenberge
    Ile haue them fill the publike schooles with skill.
    Wherewith the students shalbe brauely clad:
    Ile leuy souldiers with the coyne they bring,
    And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
    And raigne sole king of all our prouinces:
    Yea stranger engines for the brunt of warre,
    Then was the fiery keele at Antwarpes bridge,
    Ile make my seruile spirits to inuent:
    Come Germaine Valdes and Cornelius,
    And make me blest with your sage conference,
    Valdes,sweete Valdes, and Cornelius,

    Enter Valdes and Cornelius.
    Know that your words haue woon me at the last,
    To practice Magicke and concealed arts:
    Yet not your words onely, but mine owne fantasie,
    That will receiue no object for my head,
    But ruminates on Negromantique skill,
    Philosophy is odious and obscure,
    Both Law and Phisicke are for pettie wits,
    Diuinitie is basest of the three,
    Vnpleasant, harsh, contemptible and vilde,
    Tis Magicke, Magicke that hath rauisht mee,
    Then gentle friends ayde me in this attempt,
    And I that haue with Consissylogismes
    Graueld the Pastors of the Germaine Church,
    And made the flowring pride of Wertenberge
    Swarme to my Problemes as the infernall spirits
    On sweet Musoeus when he came to hell,
    Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
    Whose shadowes made all Europe honor him.
    Vald.
    Faustus, these bookes thy wit and our experience
    Shall make all nations to canonize vs,
    As Indian Moores obey their Spanish Lords,
    So shall the subiects of euery element
    Be alwaies seruiceable to vs three,
    Like Lyons shall they guard vs when we please,
    Like Almaine Rutters with their horsemens staues,
    Or Lapland Gyants trotting by our sides,
    Sometimes like women, or vnwedded maides,
    Shadowing more beautie in their ayrie browes,
    Then in their white breasts of the queene of Loue:
    For Venice shall they dregge huge Argoces,
    And from America the golden fleece,
    That yearely stuffes olde Philips treasury
    If learned Faustus will be resolute.
    Fau.
    Valdes as resolute am I in this
    As thou to liue, therefore obiect it not.
    Corn.
    The myracles that Magicke will performe,
    Will make thee vow to studie nothing else,
    He that is grounded in Astrologie,
    Inricht with tongues well seene minerals,
    Hath all the principles Magicke doth require,
    Then doubt not (Faustus) but to be renowmd,
    And more frequented for this mystery,
    Then heretofore the Dolphian Oracle.
    The spirits tell me they can drie the sea,
    And fetch the treasure of all forraine wrackes,
    I, all the wealth that our forefathers hid
    Within the massie entrailes of the earth.
    Then tell me Faustus, what shal we three want?
    Fau.
    Nothing Cornelius, O this cheares my soule,
    Come shewe me some demonstrations magicall,
    That I may conjure in some lustie groue,
    And haue these ioyes in full possession.
    Val.
    Then haste thee to some solitary groue,
    And beare wise Bacons and Albanus workes,
    The Hebrew Psalter, and new Testament,
    And whatsoeuer else is requisit
    Wee will enforme thee ere our conference cease.
    Cor.
    Valdes, first let him know the words of art,
    And then all other ceremonies learnd,
    Faustus may trie his cunning by himselfe.
    Val.
    First Ile instruct thee in the rudiments,
    And then wilt thou be perfecter then I.
    Fau.
    Then come and dyne with me, and after meate
    We'le canuas euery quidditie thereof:
    For ere I sleepe Ile trie what I can do,
    This night I'le coniure though I die therefore.

    Exeunt.



    Tufts University provided support for entering this text.

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    OCLC: 921140


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