THE
TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS
FROM THE QUARTO OF 1604.
Enter Chorus.
Chorus. Not marching now in fields of Thrasymene,
Where Mars did mate[1] the Carthaginians;
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,
In courts of kings where state is overturn' d;
Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt[2] her[3] heavenly verse:
Only this, gentlemen,—we must perform
The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:
To patient judgments we appeal our plaud,
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Now is he born, his parents base of stock,
In Germany, within a town call'd Rhodes:
Of riper years, to Wertenberg he went,
Whereas[4] his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So soon he profits in divinity,
The fruitful plot of scholarism grac'd,
That shortly he was grac'd with doctor's name,
Excelling all whose sweet delight disputes
In heavenly matters of theology;
Till swoln with cunning,[5] of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspir'd his overthrow;
For, falling to a devilish exercise,
And glutted now[6] with learning's golden gifts,
He surfeits upon cursed necromancy;
Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,
Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss:
And this the man that in his study sits. [Exit.
Faustus discovered in his study.[7]
Faust. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin
To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess:
Having commenc'd, be a divine in shew,
Yet level at the end of every art,
And live and die in Aristotle's works.
Sweet Analytics, 'tis thou[8] hast ravish'd me!
Bene disserere est finis logices.
Is, to dispute well, logic's chiefest end?
Affords this art no greater miracle?
Then read no more; thou hast attain'd that[9] end:
A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit:
Bid Economy[10] farewell, and[11] Galen come,
Seeing, Ubi desinit philosophus, ibi incipit medicus:
Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold,
And be etèrniz'd for some wondrous cure:
Summum bonum medicinæ sanitas,
The end of physic is our body's health.
Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain'd that end?
Is not thy common talk found aphorisms?
Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole cities have escap'd the plague,
And thousand desperate maladies been eas'd?
Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.
- ↑ mate] i.e. confound, defeat.
- ↑ vaunt] So the later 4tos.—2to 1604 "daunt."
- ↑ her] All the 4tos "his."
- ↑ Whereas] i.e. where.
- ↑ cunning] i.e. knowledge.
- ↑ now] So the later 4tos.—2to 1604 " more.'
- ↑ Faustus discovered in his study] Most probably, the Chorus, before going out, drew a curtain, and discovered Faustus sitting. In B. Barnes's Divils Charter, 1607, we find; "Scen. Vltima. Alexander unbraced betwixt two Cardinalls in his study looking upon a booke, whilst a groome draweth the Curtaine." Sig. L 3.
- ↑ Analytics, 'tis thou, &c.] Qy. "Analytic"? (but such phraseology was not uncommon).
- ↑ that] So the later 4tos.—2to 1604 "the" (the printer having mistaken "yt" for "ye").
- ↑ Economy] So the later 4tos (with various spelling)—2to 1604 "Oncaymæon."
- ↑ and] So the later 4tos.—Not in 4to 1604.
