The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus/Scene 1
THE
TRAGEDIE OF
Doctor Faustus.
Enter Chorus.
NOt marching in the fields of Tharsimen,
Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens,
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,
In Courts of Kings, where state is over-turn'd:
Nor in the pompe of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt his heavenly verse:
Onely this (Gentles) we must now performe,
The forme of Faustus fortunes, good or bad:
And now to patient judgements we appeale,
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Now is he borne of parents base of stocke,
In Germany, within a towne cal'd Rhodes.
At riper yeares to Wittenberge he went,
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So much he profits in Divinity,
That shortly he was grac'd with Doctors name,
Excelling all, and sweet can dispute
In th'heavenly matters of Theologie:
Till swolne with cunning, and a selfe 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 with learnings golden gifts,
He surfets on the curst Necromancy.
Nothing so sweet, as Magicke is to him,
Which he prefers before his chiefest blisse,
And this the man that in his study sits.
Faust.
Settle thy studies Faustus, and begin
To sound the depth of that thou wilt professe.
Having commenc'd be a divine in shew,
Yet levell at the end of every Art,
And live and dye in Aristotles workes.
Sweet Analitickes, 'tis thou hast ravisht me,
Bene disserere est finis Logices.
Is to dispute well Logickes chiefest end?
Affords this Art no greater miracle?
Then read no more, thou hast attain'd that end:
A greater subject fitteth Faustus wit:
Bid Oeconomy farewell, and Galen come,
Be a physician Faustus, heape up gold,
And be eterniz'd for some wondrous cure:
Summum bonum medicinæ sanitas.
The end of Physicke is our bodies health:
Why Faustus hast thou not attain'd that end?
Are not thy Bills hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole Cities have escaped the plague,
And divers desperate maladies beene cur'd?
Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.
Couldst thou make men to live eternally,
Or being dead raise men to life againe,
Then this profession were to be esteem'd.
Physicke farewell: where is Justinian?
Si una eademque res legatus duobus,
Alter rem, alter valorem rei, &c.
A petty case of paltry Legacies,
Exhereditari filium non potest Pater, nisi, &c.
Such is the subject of the institute,
And universall body of the Law.
This study fits a mercenary drudge,
Who aymes at nothing but externall trash,
Too servile and illiberall for me.
When all is done Divinity is best:
Jeromes 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 have no sinne
We deceive our selves, and there is no truth in us.
Why then belike we must sinne,
And so consequently die.
I, we must die an everlasting death.
What doctrine call you this? Che sera, sera:
What will be, shall be: Divinity adieu.
These Metaphysicks of Magicians,
And negromanticke bookes are heavenly,
Lines, circles, Letters, Characters:
I, these are those that Faustus most desires.
O what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence
Is promis'd to the studious Artisan!
All things that move betweene the quiet Poles,
Shall be at my command: Emperors and Kings
Are but obey'd in their severall Provinces:
But his dominion that exceeds in this,
Stretcheth as far as doth the minde of man:
A sound Magician is a Demi-god,
Here tire my braines to gaine a Deity. Enter Wag.
Wagner commend me to my dearest friends,
The Germane Valdes and Cornelius,
Request them earnestly to visit me.
Wag.
I will sir. Exit.
Faust.
Their conference will be a greater helpe to me,
Than all my labours, plod I nere so fast.
Enter the Angell and Spirit.
Good Ang.
O Faustus, lay that damned booke aside,
And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soule,
And heape Gods heavy wrath upon thy head.
Read, read the Scriptures: that is blasphemy.
Bad An.
Goe forward Faustus in that famous Art
Wherein all Natures treasure is contain'd:
Be thou on earth as Jove is in the skie,
Lord and Commander of these Elements.Exit Ang.
Faust.
How am I glutted with conceit of this?
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please?
Resolve me of all ambiguities?
Performe what desperate enterprises I will?
Ile have them flye to India for gold,
Ransacke the Ocean for Orient Pearle,
And search all corners of the new found World
For pleasant fruits, and Princely delicates.
Ile have them reade me strange Philosophy,
And tell the secrets of all forraine Kings:
Ile have them wall all Germany with brasse,
And with swift Rhine circle all Wittenberge:
Ile have them fill the publike Schooles with skill,
Wherewith the Students shall be bravely clad.
Ile leavy Souldiers with the coyne they bring,
And chase the Prince of Prama from our Land,
And reigne sole King of all the Provinces.
Yea stranger Engines for the brunt of War,
Then was the fiery keele at Antwerp Bridge,
Ile make my servile spirits to invent.
Come Germane Valdes and Cornelius,Enter Valdes
And make me wise with your sage conference. and Cornel.
Valdes, sweet Valdes and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the last,
To practice Magicke and concealed Arts.
Philosophy is odious and obscure:
Both Law and Physicke are for petty wits,
Tis Magicke, Magicke that hath ravisht me.
Then gentle friends aid me in this attempt,
And I that have with subtile Syllogismes
Gravel'd the Pastors of the Germane Church,
And made the flowring pride of Wittenberge
Swarme to my Problemes, as th'infernall spirits
On sweet Musæus when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Whose shadow made all Europe honour him.
Val.
Faustus, these bookes, thy wit, and our experience,
Shall make all nations canonize us,
As Indian Moores obey their Spanish Lords:
So shall the Spirits of every Element,
Be alwaies serviceable to us three:
Like Lions shall they guard us when we please.
Like Almaine Rutters with their horsemens staves,
Or Lopland Gyants trotting by our sides.
Sometimes like women or unwedded maids,
Shadowing more beauty in their ayrie browes
Than have the white brests of the Queene of Love.
From Venice they shall drag whole Argosies,
And from America the golden Fleece,
That yearely stuffes old Philips treasury,
If learned Faustus will be resolute.
Faust.
Valdes, as resolute am I in this,
As thou to live: therefore object it not.
Corn.
The miracles that Magicke will performe,
Will make thee vow to study nothing else.
He that is grounded in Astrologie,
Enricht with tongues, well seene in Minerals,
Hath all the Principles Magicke doth require:
Then doubt not Faustus but to be renown'd,
And more frequented for this mystery,
Then heretofore the Delphian Oracle.
The spirits tell me they can drie the Sea,
And fetch the treasure of all forraine wreckes:
Yea, all the wealth that our fore-fathers hid
Within the massie intrailes of the earth:
Then tell me Faustus, what shall we three want?
Faust.
Nothing Cornelius, O this cheeres my soule:
Come, shew me some demonstrations Magicall,
That I may conjure in some bushie grove,
And have these joyes in full possession.
Vald.
Then haste thee to some solitary grove,
And beare wise Bacons and Albanus workes,
The Hebrew Psalter, and new Testament,
And whatsoever else is requisite,
We will inform thee ere our conference cease.
Cor.
Valdes, first let him know the words of Art,
And then all other ceremonies learn'd,
Faustus may trie his cunning by himselfe.
Val.
First Ile instruct thee in the rudiments,
And then wilt thou be perfecter than I.
Faust.
Then come and dine with me, and after meat,
Weel'e canvase every quidditie thereof:
For ere I sleepe Ile trie what I can doe,
This night Ile conjure though I die therefore. Exeunt omn.