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THE ELIZABETHAN AGE-DRAMA

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

(1564-1593)

FROM

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR

FAUSTUS.*

Enter Chorus.

CHORUS. Not marching in the fields of Thrasymene,1

Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens;

Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,

In courts of kings where states is over-
turn'd;

Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly

verse:

10

Only this, gentles, we must now perform
The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:
And now to patient judgments we appeal,
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Now is he born of parents base of stock,
In Germany, within a town call'd Rhodes: +
At riper years, to Wittenberg he went,
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So much he profits in divinity,

1 The scene of Hannibal's defeat of the Romans,
217 B. C. Marlowe means that his drama is
not to deal, like others, with wars and in-
trigues.

2 cope with

4 Roda, near Weimar.

it

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To sound the depth of that thou wilt pro-
fess: 9

Having commenc'd,10 be a divine in show,
Yet level at the end of every art,
And live and die in Aristotle's works.
Sweet Analytics, 'tis thou hast ravish'd me!
Bene disserere est finis logices.12

Is, to dispute well, logic's chiefest end?
Affords this art no greater miracle?
Then read no more; thou hast attain 'd that
end:

10

A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit:
Bid Economy farewell, and Galen13 come:
Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold,
And be eterniz'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?

3 statehood, majesty 5 where
The Faust legend, which embodies the old fancy
of a compact with the Evil One, had its origin
in the life of a certain German doctor
(i. e. learned man) of evil character, Johann
Faustus, who, dying about 1538, was reputed
to have been carried off by the devil. The
tales that grew up about his memory were
collected in "The History of Dr. Faustus, the
Notorious Magician and Master of the Black
Art." published at Frankfort-on-the-Main in
1587. A translation was printed in England
and Marlowe immediately dramatized
(1588); since then the story has appeared in
many forms. Marlowe's drama was probably
not printed in his lifetime. The editions
dated 1604 and 1616 differ in many particu-
lars and certainly neither of them gives us
the text as he left it. It is possible that none
of the comic scenes, the mingling of which
with tragedy came to be one of the charac-
teristics of Elizabethan drama, were from his
pen. The extracts given above present only
the central tragic theme.
followed, with scene numbers inserted to cor-
respond with A. W. Ward's divisions of the 10 taken the doctor's
1604 text.

Are not thy bills1+ hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole cities have escap'd the plague,

6 knowledge

7 Alluding to the story
of Icarus.
8 fix upon
The 1616 text is 9 choose for
sion

degree

a

profes

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And thousand desperate maladies been | WAG. I will, sir.

cur'd?

Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man. Couldst thou make men to live eternally, Or, being dead, raise them to life again, Then this profession were to be esteem'd. Physic, farewell! Where is Justinian?15

20 FAUST.

[Reads.

Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem, alter valorem rei, &c.16

A petty case of paltry legacies!

[Reads.

[Exit. Their conference10 will be a greater help to me

Than all my labours, plod I ne'er so fast.
Enter Good Angel and Evil Angel.

G. ANG. O, Faustus, lay that damned book aside,

And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul, And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head! Read, read the Scriptures:-that is blasphemy.

Exhæreditare filium non potest pater, nisi, E. ANG. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous

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[Reads. Stipendium peccati mors est. Ha! Stipendium, &c. The reward of sin is death; that's hard. [Reads.

42

Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas; If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. Why, then, belike we must sin, and so consequently die: Ay, we must die an everlasting death. What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera, What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu! 19 These metaphysics of magicians, And necromantic books are heavenly; Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters; Ay, 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 artizan! All things that move between the quiet poles Shall be at my command: emperors and kings

50

Are but obeyed in their several provinces;
But his dominion that exceeds in this,
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man;
A sound magician is a demigod:
Here tire, my brains, to gain a deity.

Enter Wagner.

Wagner, commend me to my dearest friends, 60
The German Valdes and Cornelius;
Request them earnestly to visit me.

15 A Roman emperor and law-giver.

16 "If one and the same thing be bequeathed to two, one [shall have] the thing, the other its value, etc."

17 "A father may not disinherit his son, unless, etc."

18 The Vulgate.

19 Here Faustus turns to his books of magic.

art21

70 Wherein all Nature's treasure is contain 'd: Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky, Lord and commander of these elements. [Exeunt Angels. FAUST. How am I glutted with conceit of this! Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, Resolve me of22 all ambiguities, Perform what desperate enterprise I will? I'll have them fly to India for gold, Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,

And search all corners of the new-found world23

80

For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;24 I'll have them read me strange philosophy, And tell the secrets of all foreign kings; I'll have them wall all Germany with brass, And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;

I'll have them fill the public schools with silk, Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad; I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, And chase the Prince of Parma* from our land,

And reign sole king of all the provinces; 90 Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war, Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp-bridge,t I'll make my servile spirits to invent.

Enter Valdes and Cornelius.
Come, German Valdes, and Cornelius,
And make me blest with your sage conference.
Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the
last

To practise magic and concealed arts.
Philosophy is odious and obscure;
Both law and physic are for petty wits:
'Tis magic, magic that hath ravish'd me.

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The Hebrew Psalter, and New Testament; And whatsoever else is requisite

We will inform thee ere our conference cease. Valdes, first let him know the words of art;

Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And I, that have with subtle syllogisms
Gravell 'd25 the pastors of the German church,
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg | CORN.
Swarm to my problems, as th' infernal spirits
On sweet Musaus when he came to hell,26
Will be as cunning as Agrippa27 was,
Whose shadow made all Europe honour him.
VALD. Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our
experience,

110

Shall make all nations to canonize us.
As Indian Moors28 obey their Spanish lcrds,
So shall the spirits of every element
Be always serviceable to us three;

Like lions shall they guard us when we please;

Like Almain rutters29 with their horsemen's staves,

Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides; Sometimes like women, or unwedded maids, Shadowing more beauty in30 their airy brows Than have the white breasts of the queen of love:

From Venice shall they drag huge argosies, And from America the golden fleece That yearly stuffs old Philip's treasury; If learned Faustus will be resolute. FAUST. Valdes, as resolute am I in this

And then, all other ceremonies learn'd, 150 Faustus may try his cunning by himself. VALD. First I'll instruct thee in the rudiments, And then wilt thou be perfecter than I. FAUST. Then come and dine with me, and after meat,

We'll canvass every quiddity thereof; For, ere I sleep, I'll try what I can do ; This night I'll conjure, though I die therefore. [Exeunt.

[SCENE II.]

Enter two Scholars.

FIRST SCHOL. I wonder what 's become of Faustus, that was wont to make our schools ring with sic probo.5

120 SEC.

SCHOL.

here

As thou to live: therefore object it not.1 CORN. The miracles that magic will perform Will make thee vow to study nothing else. He that is grounded in astrology, Enrich'd with tongues, well seen in minerals, 130 Hath all the principles magic doth require: Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renown'd, And more frequented for this mystery Than heretofore the Delphian oracle. The spirits tell me they can dry the sea, And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks, Yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hid Within the massy entrails of the earth; Then tell me, Faust us, what shall we three want?

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That shall we presently know; comes his boy.

Enter Wagner.

FIRST SCHOL. How now, sirrah! where's thy master?

God in heaven knows.

10

WAG. SEC. SCHOL. Why, dost not thou know, then? WAG. Yes, I know; but that follows not. FIRST SCHOL. Go to, sirrah! leave your jesting, and tell us where he is. WAG. Truly, my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner, with Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, would inform your worships: and so, the Lord bless you, preserve you, and keep you, my dear brethren!

FIRST SCHOL. O Faustus!

[Exit.

33

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the

28 American Indians 29 German horsemen 30 Perhaps in = under

SEC. SCHOL.

time of Johann

27 A magician at

Faustus.

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3 Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus, mediæval

4 matter

scholars popularly reputed to have practiced | 5 "Thus I prove" (a formula in logical demon

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