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 Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF means of 4to 1604.—I have made no use of the compara-
DOCTOR FAUSTUS tively modern edition, 4to 1663.
BY
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
FROM THE QUARTO OF 1616.
THE POPE.
THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY.
EDITED BY THE REV. ALEXANDER DYCE.
RAYMOND, king of Hungary.
DUKE OF SAXONY.
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor
BRUNO.
Faustus. Written by Ch. Mar. London, Printed for John
DUKE OF VANHOLT.
Wright, and are to be sold at his shop without Newgate, at
MARTINO,
the signe of the Bible, 1616, 4to[quorto–ed.].
FREDERICK, gentlemen.
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor
BENVOLIO,
Faustus. With new Additions. Written by Ch. Mar. Printed
FAUSTUS.
at London for John Wright, and are to be sold at his shop
VALDES, friends to FAUSTUS.
without Newgate, 1624, 4to.
CORNELIUS,
The Tragicall Historie of the Life and Death of Doctor
WAGNER, servant to FAUSTUS.
Faustus. With new Additions. Written by Ch. Mar. Printed
Clown.
at London for John Wright, and are to be sold at his shop
ROBIN.
without Newgate, 1631, 4to.
DICK.
In a few places I have amended the text of this play by
3

Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

Vintner.
Horse-courser. THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF
Carter. DOCTOR FAUSTUS
An Old Man. FROM THE QUARTO OF 1616.
Scholars, Cardinals, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS, Bish-
ops, Monks, Friars, Soldiers, and Attendants. Enter CHORUS.

DUCHESS OF VANHOLT. CHORUS. Not marching in the fields of Thrasymene,

Hostess. Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens;
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,
LUCIFER. In courts of kings where state is overturn’d;
BELZEBUB. Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
MEPHISTOPHILIS. Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly verse:
Good Angel. Only this, gentles,—we must now perform
Evil Angel. The form of Faustus’ fortunes, good or bad:
The Seven Deadly Sins. And now to patient judgments we appeal,
Devils. And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Spirits in the shapes of ALEXANDER THE GREAT, of his Now is he born of parents base of stock,
Paramour, of DARIUS, and of HELEN. In Germany, within a town call’d Rhodes:
At riper years, to Wittenberg he went,
Chorus. Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.

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 Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

So much he profits in divinity, Yet level at the end of every art,

That shortly he was grac’d with doctor’s name, And live and die in Aristotle’s works.
Excelling all, and sweetly can dispute Sweet Analytics, ’tis thou hast ravish’d me!
In th’ heavenly matters of theology; Bene disserere est finis logices.
Till swoln with cunning, of a self-conceit, Is, to dispute well, logic’s chiefest end?
His waxen wings did mount above his reach, Affords this art no greater miracle?
And, melting, heavens conspir’d his overthrow; Then read no more; thou hast attain’d that end:
For, falling to a devilish exercise, A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit:
And glutted now with learning’s golden gifts, Bid Economy farewell, and Galen come:
He surfeits upon cursed necromancy; Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold,
Nothing so sweet as magic is to him, And be eterniz’d for some wondrous cure:
Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss: Summum bonum medicinoe sanitas,
And this the man that in his study sits. The end of physic is our body’s health.
Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain’d that end?
[Exit.] Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole cities have escap’d the plague,
FAUSTUS discovered in his study. And thousand desperate maladies been cur’d?
Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.
FAUSTUS. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin Couldst thou make men to live eternally,
To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess: Or, being dead, raise them to life again,
Having commenc’d, be a divine in show, Then this profession were to be esteem’d.

Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

Physic, farewell! Where is Justinian? [Reads.]

[Reads.] Stipendium peccati mors est.

Ha!
Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem, Stipendium, &c.
alter valorem rei, &c.
The reward of sin is death: that’s hard.
A petty case of paltry legacies!
[Reads.]
[Reads.]
Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas;
Exhoereditare filium non potest pater, nisi, &c.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
Such is the subject of the institute, there is no truth in us. Why, then, belike we must sin, and
And universal body of the law: so consequently die:
This study fits a mercenary drudge, Ay, we must die an everlasting death.
Who aims at nothing but external trash; What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera,
Too servile and illiberal for me. What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu!
When all is done, divinity is best: These metaphysics of magicians,
Jerome’s Bible, Faustus; view it well. And necromantic books are heavenly;
Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters;

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 Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires. FAUSTUS. Their conference will be a greater help to me
O, what a world of profit and delight, Than all my labours, plod I ne’er so fast.
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,
Is promis’d to the studious artizan! Enter GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL.
All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command: emperors and kings GOOD ANGEL. O, Faustus, lay that damned book aside,
Are but obeyed in their several provinces; And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul,
But his dominion that exceeds in this, And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head!
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man; Read, read the Scriptures:—that is blasphemy.
A sound magician is a demigod:
Here tire, my brains, to gain a deity. EVIL ANGEL. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art
Wherein all Nature’s treasure is contain’d:
Enter WAGNER. Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,
Lord and commander of these elements.
Wagner, commend me to my dearest friends,
The German Valdes and Cornelius; [Exeunt ANGELS.]
Request them earnestly to visit me.
FAUSTUS. How am I glutted with conceit of this!
WAGNER. I will, sir. Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
[Exit.] Perform what desperate enterprise I will?

Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

I’ll have them fly to India for gold, Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl, Know that your words have won me at the last
And search all corners of the new-found world To practice magic and concealed arts.
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates; Philosophy is odious and obscure;
I’ll have them read me strange philosophy, Both law and physic are for petty wits:
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings; ’Tis magic, magic that hath ravish’d me.
I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass, Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wertenberg; And I, that have with subtle syllogisms
I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk, Gravell’d the pastors of the German church,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad; And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, Swarm to my problems, as th’ infernal spirits
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land, On sweet Musaeus when he came to hell,
And reign sole king of all the provinces; Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war, Whose shadow made all Europe honour him.
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp-bridge,
I’ll make my servile spirits to invent. VALDES. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience,
Shall make all nations to canonize us.
Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS. As Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords,
So shall the spirits of every element
Come, German Valdes, and Cornelius, Be always serviceable to us three;
And make me blest with your sage conference. Like lions shall they guard us when we please;

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 Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

Like Almain rutters with their horsemen’s staves, The spirits tell me they can dry the sea,
Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides; And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks,
Sometimes like women, or unwedded maids, Yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hid
Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows Within the massy entrails of the earth:
Than have the white breasts of the queen of love: Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want?
From Venice shall they drag huge argosies,
And from America the golden fleece FAUSTUS. Nothing, Cornelius. O, this cheers my soul!
That yearly stuffs old Philip’s treasury; Come, shew me some demonstrations magical,
If learned Faustus will be resolute. That I may conjure in some bushy grove,
And have these joys in full possession.
FAUSTUS. Valdes, as resolute am I in this
As thou to live: therefore object it not. VALDES. Then haste thee to some solitary grove,
And bear wise Bacon’s and Albertus’ works,
CORNELIUS. The miracles that magic will perform The Hebrew Psalter, and New Testament;
Will make thee vow to study nothing else. And whatsoever else is requisite
He that is grounded in astrology, We will inform thee ere our conference cease.
Enrich’d with tongues, well seen in minerals,
Hath all the principles magic doth require: CORNELIUS. Valdes, first let him know the words of art;
Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renowm’d, And then, all other ceremonies learn’d,
And more frequented for this mystery Faustus may try his cunning by himself.
Than heretofore the Delphian oracle.

Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

VALDES. First I’ll instruct thee in the rudiments, WAGNER. God in heaven knows.
And then wilt thou be perfecter than I.
SECOND SCHOLAR. Why, dost not thou know, then?
FAUSTUS. Then come and dine with me, and, after meat,
We’ll canvass every quiddity thereof; WAGNER. Yes, I know; but that follows not.
For, ere I sleep, I’ll try what I can do:
This night I’ll conjure, though I die therefore. FIRST SCHOLAR. Go to, sirrah! leave your jesting, and
tell us where he is.
[Exeunt.]
WAGNER. That follows not by force of argument, which
Enter two SCHOLARS. you, being licentiates, should stand upon: therefore acknowl-
edge your error, and be attentive.
FIRST SCHOLAR. I wonder what’s become of Faustus, that
was wont to make our schools ring with sic probo. SECOND SCHOLAR. Then you will not tell us?

SECOND SCHOLAR. That shall we presently know; here WAGNER. You are deceived, for I will tell you: yet, if you
comes his boy. were not dunces, you would never ask me such a question;
for is he not corpus naturale? and is not that mobile? then
Enter WAGNER. wherefore should you ask me such a question? But that I am
by nature phlegmatic, slow to wrath, and prone to lechery
FIRST SCHOLAR. How now, sirrah! where’s thy master? (to love, I would say), it were not for you to come within

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 Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

forty foot of the place of execution, although I do not doubt FIRST SCHOLAR. I fear me nothing will reclaim him now.
but to see you both hanged the next sessions. Thus having
triumphed over you, I will set my countenance like a SECOND SCHOLAR. Yet let us see what we can do.
precisian, and begin to speak thus:—Truly, my dear breth-
ren, my master is within at dinner, with Valdes and Cornelius, [Exeunt.]
as this wine, if it could speak, would inform your worships:
and so, the Lord bless you, preserve you, and keep you, my Enter FAUSTUS.
dear brethren!
FAUSTUS. Now that the gloomy shadow of the night,
[Exit.] Longing to view Orion’s drizzling look,
Leaps from th’ antartic world unto the sky,
FIRST SCHOLAR. O Faustus! And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath,
Then I fear that which I have long suspected, Faustus, begin thine incantations,
That thou art fall’n into that damned art And try if devils will obey thy hest,
For which they two are infamous through the world. Seeing thou hast pray’d and sacrific’d to them.
Within this circle is Jehovah’s name,
SECOND SCHOLAR. Were he a stranger, not allied to Forward and backward anagrammatiz’d,
me, Th’ abbreviated names of holy saints,
The danger of his soul would make me mourn. Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,
But, come, let us go and inform the Rector: And characters of signs and erring stars,
It may be his grave counsel may reclaim him. By which the spirits are enforc’d to rise:

11

Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

Then fear not, Faustus, to be resolute, I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words.
And try the utmost magic can perform. Who would not be proficient in this art?
How pliant is this Mephistophilis,
[Thunder.] Full of obedience and humility!
Such is the force of magic and my spells.
Sint mihi dii Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen triplex Jehovoe!
Ignei, aerii, aquatani spiritus, salvete! Orientis princeps Re-enter MEPHISTOPHILIS like a Franciscan friar.
Belzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et Demogorgon,
propitiamus vos, ut appareat et surgat Mephistophilis Dragon, MEPHIST. Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do?
quod tumeraris: per Jehovam, Gehennam, et consecratam aquam
quam nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per FAUSTUS. I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live,
vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus Mephistophilis! To do whatever Faustus shall command,
Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere,
Enter MEPHISTOPHILIS. Or the ocean to overwhelm the world.

I charge thee to return, and change thy shape; MEPHIST. I am a servant to great Lucifer,
Thou art too ugly to attend on me: And may not follow thee without his leave:
Go, and return an old Franciscan friar; No more than he commands must we perform.
That holy shape becomes a devil best.
FAUSTUS. Did not he charge thee to appear to me?
[Exit MEPHISTOPHILIS.]

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 Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

MEPHIST. No, I came hither of mine own accord. My ghost be with the old philosophers!
But, leaving these vain trifles of men’s souls,
FAUSTUS. Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee? Tell me what is that Lucifer thy lord?
speak!
MEPHIST. Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.
MEPHIST. That was the cause, but yet per accidens;
For, when we hear one rack the name of God, FAUSTUS. Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour Christ,
We fly, in hope to get his glorious soul; MEPHIST. Yes, Faustus, and most dearly lov’d of God.
Nor will we come, unless he use such means
Whereby he is in danger to be damn’d. FAUSTUS. How comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?
Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring
Is stoutly to abjure all godliness, MEPHIST. O, by aspiring pride and insolence;
And pray devoutly to the prince of hell. For which God threw him from the face of heaven.

FAUSTUS. So Faustus hath FAUSTUS. And what are you that live with Lucifer?
Already done; and holds this principle,
There is no chief but only Belzebub; MEPHIST. Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer,
To whom Faustus doth dedicate himself. Conspir’d against our God with Lucifer,
This word “damnation” terrifies not me, And are for ever damn’d with Lucifer.
For I confound hell in Elysium:

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Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

FAUSTUS. Where are you damn’d? Say, he surrenders up to him his soul,
So he will spare him four and twenty years,
MEPHIST. In hell. Letting him live in all voluptuousness;
Having thee ever to attend on me,
FAUSTUS. How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell? To give me whatsoever I shall ask,
To tell me whatsoever I demand,
MEPHIST. Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it: To slay mine enemies, and to aid my friends,
Think’st thou that I, that saw the face of God, And always be obedient to my will.
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Go, and return to mighty Lucifer,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells, And meet me in my study at midnight,
In being depriv’d of everlasting bliss? And then resolve me of thy master’s mind.
O, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul! MEPHIST. I will, Faustus.

FAUSTUS. What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate [Exit.]

For being deprived of the joys of heaven?
Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude, FAUSTUS. Had I as many souls as there be stars,
And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess. I’d give them all for Mephistophilis.
Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer: By him I’ll be great emperor of the world,
Seeing Faustus hath incurr’d eternal death And make a bridge thorough the moving air,
By desperate thoughts against Jove’s deity, To pass the ocean with a band of men;

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 Doctor Faustus – Marlowe

I’ll join the hills that bind the Afric shore, CLOWN. Yes, and goings out too, you may see, sir.
And make that country continent to Spain,
And both contributary to my crown: WAGNER. Alas, poor slave! see how poverty jests in his
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave, nakedness!
Nor any potentate of Germany. I know the villain’s out of service, and so hungry, that I know
Now that I have obtain’d what I desir’d, he would give his soul to the devil for a shoulder of mutton,
I’ll live in speculation of this art, though it were blood-raw.
Till Mephistophilis return again.
CLOWN. Not so neither: I had need to have it well roasted,
[Exit.] and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear, I can tell you.

Enter WAGNER and CLOWN. WAGNER. Sirrah, wilt thou be my man, and wait on me,
and I will make thee go like Qui mihi discipulus?
WAGNER. Come hither, sirrah boy.
CLOWN. What, in verse?
CLOWN. Boy! O, disgrace to my person! zounds, boy in
your face! WAGNER. No, slave; in beaten silk and staves-acre.
You have seen many boys with beards, I am sure.
CLOWN. Staves-acre! that’s good to kill vermin: then, belike,
WAGNER. Sirrah, hast thou no comings in? if I serve you, I shall be lousy.

15